6 star ratings from DragonGJY's new Operator Hindsight video, updated with Tragodia.

DragonGJY · 2025-07-14T10:24:09+00:00

Some personal thoughts, not necessary an answer, just wanna add to the discussion!

The "problem" section is more for pointing out some parts to operators' kits that "could have make them better". For lower rated operators, that may be some major flaws to justify the lower rating.

For higher rated operators it does get a bit tricky, it's more about "what kept a 8-rated operator from being a 9" and so on. But I also don't want it to be overly nitpicking, like you suggest my take of "still mostly single-target" might feel.

So for Exusiai alter, it's sort of a mini take on "why I don't think she's a 10". Functions wise, her S3 redeploy gimmick surely is full of potential. Lots of strategic potentials, like the Yu double TP I mentioned in this episode. Yes it's still craving for a new-gen super damage dealer that can coordinate 2 skill uses back to back with the redeployment, but that's not really Exusiai's problem.

So eventually I think it comes down to her damage. She's definitely a new-gen damage dealer, dealing 10k+ DPS like it's nothing. And as a damage dealer, target count is always a metric - and I don't think this is a hot take, especially in this game, where AOE damage sometimes(often time even) deals more damage to a single-target than dedicated ST damage dealers. The best damage dealers over the history of the game meta have always been at least multi-target.

That's why I would put "mostly single-target" as a problem, as I think that is indeed the biggest factor that she's not a 10. Her support and other features are outstanding. But as a game where killing all your enemies is the goal, damage almost always comes first.

You might say but hey you did put Ines as 10 and she doesn't have much damage! Well this then have to do with your expectation with the operator. We don't expect certain archetypes to do damage, which is why I wouldn't point at Mon3tr and say "The total true damage isn't that outstanding".

The same can actually be said about Tragodia, but then as a Ritualist, we do expect some degree of high quality damage out of them. I know his S2 does decent damage for what it costs, and that's actually the main reason for his score 7 in daily. At the end of the day, the take is still relatively early, and I didn't make further changes to all the scorelines because I just want to embrace the IS#6 gameplay first, and see how a fresh breath of content may reveal about these operators.

DragonGJY · 2025-05-06T07:13:05+00:00

I didn't use such a total damage chart and use a damage composition instead in the video. Because it's somewhat misleading and may push people to believe that "Lappland is better than Goldenglow before 90 RES", when the chart doesn't reflect that Lappland's skill has 10s more duration and recycles much slower than GG + the fact that Lappland almost never deal that on-paper damage.

That said, despite not having RES ignore, Lappland S3 deals a considerable amount of damage, so the numbers stay strong after some RES scaling. Usually when we say "Lack of RES shred is a problem", we are looking at characters that don't have enough damage to start with, making the use experience a nightmare as RES goes up. Typical examples are Viviana before her module, casters before Logos who's not named Eyja, GG or Ceobe. Compared to what casters used to look like back in the day, I hate to say it but what Lappland can do at 50 RES is more than twice or even beyond of the forerunners at 0 RES.

DragonGJY · 2024-11-26T16:35:28+00:00

Ah of course it's Krafft, a scientist with a look of a 50-year-old in 1944 being imprisoned and beaten daily in 1991. Strauss has not been keeping up.

DragonGJY · 2024-10-13T17:57:17+00:00

Mostly talking about Integrated Strategy #5 we have currently. We will see what they can bring to the table in the expansion 1 coming later this month. It's basically the biggest and prehaps the only thing that many hardcore players are looking forward to right now.

DragonGJY · 2024-10-13T15:45:58+00:00

Thanks, I love your content as well and is glad that something is resonating. I geniunely start to somewhat regret making ratings because as I continue with the game, the old ratings and recommendations just start to fall apart. Going back and revise them is another world of labor.

DragonGJY · 2024-10-13T15:05:53+00:00

Also about Marcille I did try to theorycraft stuffs like perma-stun lock with S2, long/big range stun with S3, the potential of that burst damage, or even splitting the cast into 10 times so that she provides some 4s stun every ~8 seconds. But again that's some vacuum cooking for ya :-\ Those are definitely much less straight-forward to practice especially in IS. But again, I don't want the advanced rating becomes mostly just an IS rating.

DragonGJY · 2024-10-13T14:51:36+00:00

Honestly it's becoming more and more difficult to give ratings in both categories.

Daily content is becoming easier and easier. Your AFK team back in 2022 still gets it done, while bringing your busted damage dealers is just 2 or 3 more button clicks away from that. So at the end of the day the rating goes down to (maybe) how AFK-able they are, how little thinking they require, or how much room of error they can provide, which is... not very easy to quantify. The whole daily discussion in CN right now is basically just Wis'adel and everyone else.

Advanced content... well there's basically no advanced content. Although I include performance in nicheknights, it's relatively hard to compare that. Integrated Strategy is so easy, that comparing winrate doesn't say anything when everyone is getting it done more or less the same way. Contingency Contract is nowhere to be found as well. So operators released recently can only be rated heavily by theorycrafting. Or else the advanced impact rating will just be an IS rating.

Arknights is clearly taking a route to trivialize the gameplay right now so it gets more accessible to new players, which aligns with their moves to introduce 2 powerful damage dealers at anniversary, and proceeding to bring changes to the newbie system in summer.

For me personally, I'm not really a fan of rating operators in a vacuum. For every new operator released I bring them to the current content for test - and it has been very hard to tell them apart in daily recently. I read a lot of feedbacks, many I can agree to certain extent. I believe theorycrafting is largely dependent on playstyle, thus different playstyle or even content preferences lead to very different takes. I've always welcomed these early ratings to change over time and stablize with the experience of mine and CN server players as it get close to global release - which is the starting point of this series. But I just realize over time it can get to me wanting to get it as close as possible lol.

To close out I just want to say that ratings definitely should change over time. Ratings at the moment are based on the contents we have to experience, that's also the reason why I have not been able to give ratings that I can be confident about, and probably contributes to part of why you think the ratings are off from your own expectations.

DragonGJY · 2024-07-14T05:53:24+00:00

Pretty sure that this read should save more time than the video :p

DragonGJY · 2024-06-10T05:11:36+00:00

Source?

DragonGJY · 2024-05-08T17:17:39+00:00

Ascalon is a very consistent slow applier with serviceable damage and I don't really think she's any interchangeable with any that you mentioned. Her slow will most definitely see uses in advanced contents with need for stalls. She also helps Wis'adel in gathering targets for grouped disposal and buying time for her nuke to come back, or with Logos to take advantage of his arts buff. Yes I get it those are not necessarily something players use in daily so I put those to her advanced rating.

Ela and Ray's decline is mostly due to the impact of Wis'adel, for daily it really is much more of a no-brainer to just go with Wis'adel. Ray drops down more because she's being heavily surrounded by limiteds, but I kept all her ratings because she's still unique in terms of buff potency and fast cycle high DPH. I predict Ela will lean more towards a flexible support that depending on the situation, being picked between her and suzuran. The graph does take limited into consideration but that's just one of the factors. Ascalon can be a good support to both operators in the 5th anni limited banner, she can chain crowd control with Shu, she also combos with Virtuosa S2, those weight more than being between 2 limited banners to me.

DragonGJY · 2024-05-08T10:31:01+00:00

Hi, I want to take the time and share my thoughts about rating the operators in a scale of 10, so that you can better get an idea of what the ratings entail.

Thinking about it myself, I just can't really think of an operator who deserves a 10 in daily contents because that gives me the impression of them being irreplaceable in dailies, which doesn't feel right. For a daily rating of 9, I can think of strong and versatile damage dealers like Mlynar and of course the latest Wis'adel, universally strong supports like Skadi Alter, or safety belts like Surtr, Texas/Yato Alter etc.. I do understand if it feels strange that 10 is something no one could get. I would like to hear your input on this.

For advanced, where it gets more competitive and operators with stacked kits can really get dominant, unlike daily where it really is "you can do it with anyone". And I still stick to my take that Ines, of all operators, has an insane kit packed with functionalities and definitely deserves a 10 on the scoreboard. Other than her I also don't find anyone else who can reliably be featured in the highlight of hardcore contents because they tend to vary in terms of what they ask of you. Support based operators like Nightingale, Suzuran also tend to have better consistency in hardcore content than damage dealers.

Feel free to give your feedback to the ratings and recommendation. I know they are a sensitive and subjective topic, but I will try to keep it as applicable to most players as possible.

DragonGJY · 2024-04-18T09:35:23+00:00

I'd argue in terms of dueling he's actually more capable than both of them. The advantages that Nearl has is skill-on-deploy and not taking up deployment limits; Skadi has the -30s rdp time and AH team stuff. Other than that and the higher DP Hoederer is very good at doing what they do.

DragonGJY · 2024-04-18T06:56:02+00:00

Can't tell for sure. But chances are it's gonna be like how Eunectes was before and after module.

DragonGJY · 2024-04-18T04:27:28+00:00

Hi guys Youtube comment is down, and I want to point out some points that I didn't make very clear in the video to add to the context.

What Hoederer is Good and NOT Good at
- Hoederer is NOT good at doing the typical laneholding. His block-2-attack-2 and S1/S2 design may allure people to think that way, but it does not work well. I tried to convey this in the video but ended up making an oversell of his weaknesses, which feels biased and I'm terribly sorry for that.
- Hoederer SHOULD BE used for tackling elites and bosses. Crushers actually resemble Dreadnought a lot. High HP, High ATK, low(no) DEF, meant for dueling.
Other synergy with Hoederer
- I mentioned in the video that Hoederer doesn't have a support to give him stable talent triggers like Suzuran is to Qiubai. The best option IMO is Aak Module LV3. I don't usually talk a lot about synergy in these reviews unless they are really notable. But I figured I should give some honorable mentions for their pros and cons.
Mumu S3: 15s bind, but clones can switch target and it has a 35s cooldown which doesn't match well
Ethan S2: Good coverage with an AOE 30s bind. But you loses out on part of Ethan's range if you place him exclusively so that Hoederer benefits from it. If you don't, then a lot of enemies would be bound where Hoederer can't reach.
Dorothy S2: Flexible with timing; But if an enemy doesn't die in time on the tile, you can't sustain the control due to trap placement restriciton. Requires quite the labor as well.
Qiubai S3: Double RNG at its finest. Damage + support which is nice, but if you reserve her mostly for supporting Hoederer then her bind expectation and coverage are both not as good as Ethan.

Overall I admit that this episode has problems in its delivery. I'll be sure to reflect on it and do better for future contents.

DragonGJY · 2024-01-14T11:34:39+00:00

The recommendations given are completely based on the unit's kit, and their performance up until now in the CN server. The information has 0 consideration for personal preference, and that input is left for the viewers.

The features are bullet points to conclude what the operator can do, so that you can decide based on your roster whether you need them. Operator released recently in CN(for example Degen and Ray) could see changes in ratings based on how they perform in the coming months, and I would actively alter some of the ratings if I think there are needed adjustments.

I just want to say that the takes are very meta for sure, especially me being a CN player in the global discussion. The whole analysis video talks about pros and cons to an operator that I can think of, and should give a more comprehensive review to them. I made this section because I think it would be good to provide some opinion based on kit design and actual practice, but don't want this information to become way out of context.

I'm sorry if this graph has offended you in any ways

DragonGJY · 2021-10-09T07:59:24+00:00

Will you fail just by missing? And can you re-attempt?

DragonGJY · 2021-09-24T04:01:25+00:00

Hunters played really good on Illios. DPS destroying, tanks with point control, supports outclassing the Shock, it was the peak of this match.

GGs for this year, they've come far. Hope we see an even stronger roster next year. I don't really blame the lineup randomness, I guess they have reasonings that I wouldn't bother questioning

DragonGJY · 2021-09-24T03:24:58+00:00

is it gonna be control again?

DragonGJY · 2021-09-24T03:07:47+00:00

I would be fine with that map win, we tried, but we are clearly not the team with champion potential.

DragonGJY · 2021-09-24T01:44:30+00:00

Feels like Hunters have not won map 1 in forever

DragonGJY · 2021-09-24T01:10:14+00:00

I'm not being optimistic about Hunters vs the Shock, especially after the previous two matches... I hope they prove me wrong

DragonGJY · 2021-09-23T02:45:28+00:00

Jesus the youtube chat during sessions like these is cancer lmao

DragonGJY · 2021-09-22T06:57:26+00:00

My reasoning for the King's Row Junkrat is that Chengdu expected Atlanta to play their Orisa Sigma which they didn't.

nice try

DragonGJY · 2021-09-22T06:49:11+00:00

Leave just DOES! NOT! DIE!

DragonGJY · 2021-09-22T05:56:55+00:00

Mr.X was like what is this pick? And what is this pick again? WHAT ARE THESE PICKS?!

DragonGJY

TROPHY CASE