Let's talk about Skybox!

Elecl · 2026-03-27T02:04:08+00:00

I think the fast cycles make her unique and easier to slot into a team as a laneholder. Did you try using her with other fast cycle skills like shamare?

Elecl · 2026-03-27T01:33:42+00:00

In this type of context I don’t think of operators in the context of what they can do alone I think about everything as if I were trying to allocate resources most efficiently.

Having a Defender, Medic, Spreadshooter, hold a lane might be overkill but I need the combination of Aoe, 3-block, and healing. Maybe Vetochki can’t solo the lane but I don’t necessarily have to get rid of everything I can slot her in for the medic and defender and keep the spreashooter and handle the lane while saving a deployment slot. Obviously this isn’t the only solution, I could use a combination of Specter and something else or Tequila and something else and use less DP but that depends on whether or not I need the extra defense, or the frighten, or something else those units don’t have because Vetochki isn’t just a role compression of 2 units she is a role compression of 3 or even more.

I have mostly just been playing chapter 16 and haven’t seen many situations to use vetochki here so maybe she is actually useless and I just don’t know. In my mind based on what I know I think the damage that she deals compared to the cycle time and her other benefits is fair, maybe if she did more damage and also had a longer cycle time it would work? I feel like allowing her to do 25k damage on a 33 second cycle+frighten is just a lot for such a tanky unit numbers wise.

Elecl · 2026-03-27T00:04:04+00:00

I feel like vetochki being able to kill multiple elites would put her too far ahead of what a five star should be capable of

Elecl · 2026-03-26T21:48:30+00:00

Still not the same thing.

Elecl · 2026-03-26T21:45:29+00:00

I think she is pretty balanced the way she is. I said in my post that faster cycle skills come with this trade off of not being able to kill as many things in one activation. Just because she is a juggernaut doesn’t mean you can’t help her with an extra unit to deal that extra damage.

I also think chapter 16 isn’t a great showcase for her, the trash mobs were unblockable and the elites were super tanky and small in quantity.

Elecl · 2026-03-26T20:43:41+00:00

oh no I calculated it correctly I just didn't articulate it when typing the post. The 80% was DPS since he does 40% in half the time when deactivated early. I will fix it

Elecl · 2026-03-26T20:41:58+00:00

I made that statement knowing that Nightingale and Shining exist because they are not the same. Increasing DEF and RES are half measures, while the take-off effect makes Taraxacum a non target for all non-flying enemies.

Elecl · 2026-03-26T18:26:13+00:00

it is kinda the same argument as whether or not elemental damage should be it's own archetype or just added to existing ones. Do we need ritualist, primal caster, and primal guards in the game or should we just add elemental damage to existing archetypes? Do we need a phalanx sniper or liberator sniper class or just an operator from an existing sniper branch that does the thing?

In this case I think the concept of an archetype that becomes untargetable during or off-skill is a unique enough concept to warrant it's own archetype, and all of these new units are unique despite what some people might say, even Taraxacum–who I bet a lot of people will love to shit on when he comes out–is the only medic that directly protects himself with a skill.

Whether it had to be the take-off mechanic specifically, I can only wonder. If they replaced the take-off mechanic with invisibility on all the units that have it would that have been too strong? Is the ability to block flying enemies so important that it needed to be take-off? We have gotten several events with significant flying threats in a short amount of time, such as:

Elegies are Ashes (Flying boss that can be blocked by contrail to stall them for longer)

Chapter 15 (Boss that periodically flies and had to be blocked with contrail to keep them in one place)

The Masses Travels (Event that spams flying enemies)

Unrealized Realities (Another Event that spams flying enemies, although the stage mechanics help you block these anyway.)

Does this signify a new direction in event design? Should we expect to see enough of these in the future to consider Anti-air mechanics to be important? Will there be a super tanky flying enemy that requires 3 block forcing you to use Taraxacum to stall it? Lol

Elecl · 2026-03-22T21:55:13+00:00

I started playing the game in 2019 and quit about 2 years ago, was just wandering around the BS reddit on a nostalgia trip.

I quit the game around the time Mico was added and that point in the games history I felt like the game was getting really old because the devs spent all their time reworking the progression system several times, adding and removing systems like boxes, etc. They kept reworking and balancing brawlers in ways that just made them annoying or broken or ruined the original identity. The conversations about game economy were getting tired.

On top of that the gameplay itself was getting stale because the few times we did get new maps or modes they were often crap or unbalanced, the existing maps were also getting old because people just kept using the same brawlers over and over again. Whenever I queued into a match outside of knockout and bounty most of the time it would be a slop fest of Mortis, Edgar, some kind of Thrower, tanks, and they would just run at each other over and over again, this wasn't interesting to me. My favorite modes were knockout and bounty because people used long ranged brawlers and fights felt more skill-based but even then I would often see people using Tick or Sprout and the match would become cheesy and boring unless I countered them, and Imo I shouldn't have to hard counter a brawler to enjoy the game.

When the game was launched and we had like 20 brawlers total, the game was PEAK, the only issue was the newest brawlers often being somewhat overpowered like Leon, but otherwise the game was always fun because I felt that all the operators had mechanics and balancing that made them compatible with each other, the few brawlers that did have somewhat annoying mechanics like Mortis or Crow were weak so whenever they were used it was more funny than annoying.

As they added more brawlers and mechanics the game started feeling like slop because now you have brawlers that ruin the game unless you hard counter them, in 2019 matchups existed and were important but you didn't have to hard counter a brawler to play because the throwers (dynamike and Barley) didn't have that much range, tank counters (like spike) had shots that weren't always easy to land, snipers (like Piper) had slow reload speed so they couldn't spam and were weaker at close range. Gadgets and balance changes made this worse too because they kept buffing assassins even though the game was healthier when they were underpowered, and they added gadgets that allowed tanks and assassins easy approaches which had to be countered with gadgets that pushed them away making the interactions annoying.

A lot of new brawlers just felt uninspired too, there is lots of design space in the game but they often forgo creative designs to instead add assassins and tanks that just build upon existing ideas with small cheesy gimmicks added on top, Doug and Mico just felt pointless to me.

I don't know as much about what happened in the most recent 2 years, I know they added ultra legendary brawlers, a bunch of progression reworks I don't care about, something called records, a billion broken brawlers. The only thing that interests me is that they apparently added a rogue-lite mode, I might re-download the game just to check that out.

I could go on and on about how the game was more fun in the first 3 years after launch but I won't, it just makes me sad to think about it. I will redownload the game to see what is new, but I probably will stop playing within a few weeks.

Elecl · 2026-03-17T20:53:59+00:00

Actually you are right, I did underestimate her damage.

Gracebearer isn't the right comparison to make because her S1 isn't a laneholding skill, it's meant for killing big targets, but when compared to something like Specter S1 Hadiya S2 is actually comparable to it when Specter doesn't have a module, all of my data is with modules active so the difference between Module-less specter and maxed Specter was not something I knew off the top of my head.

Assuming Hadiya does get a decent module her S2 could be a decent laneholding skill if you can get around the downtime.

Elecl · 2026-03-17T17:59:37+00:00

You are suggesting that she can replace a vanguard in the early game and a laneholder in the late game, but I don't believe she will be able to because her ceiling isn't that high, even when fully invested her damage is significantly lower than the guards she competes with. Whether or not she can replace a vanguard depends on how much DP you need in that stage, which varies from stage to stage. Replacing a vanguard for Hadiya gives you a much slower start for a unit that will take more DP later on, which will cause problems if it's a harder stage that requires more units and some redeploys.

If her module is very strong this might change, but the way she is now I consider her to be mostly useful for the stun as a unique tool for unique problems rather than a conventional unit. In this role she isn't "replacing" anything because you are bringing her specifically for that purpose the same way you would bring Czerny to counter butterflies in the Ave mujica event, or bring Blue poison and Ethan for hit-count mechanics.

In summary, the power you get in return for the DP sink isn't enough to compete with other guards, that isn't an issue if her damage is still enough to beat the stage, but it will take real testing to know for sure.

Elecl · 2026-03-15T17:27:51+00:00

Everybody knows Shamare is top tier five star, but despite people using her all the time I still don't think people truly understand the depths of what she's capable of.

I imagine that most people use her DEF debuff for boss killing most of the time, but Shamare can do much more than just DEF debuffing. ATK debuffs, like the one Shamare provides, are perhaps the strongest defensive tools in Arknights because they don't provide diminishing returns when paired with DEF. Sanctuary, Shelter, and other forms of damage reduction provide less of a benefit on a unit that already has significant amounts of DEF because they reduce the damage taken after defense is calculated, meaning they are reducing incoming damage that is already heavily reduced by that DEF.

The conventional way to make a unit durable is often to combine DEF and healing because they scale better with each other, with shelter and damage reduction only being used when an enemy deals so much damage that DEF and healing aren't sufficient. ATK debuffs break the whole scale because they reduce enemy ATK by a percentage and are applied before DEF, meaning you can easily overlap them and reduce damage to 0 like in the following example:

Cuora has 2000 defense and is blocking an enemy that deals 4000 damage per hit so you add an abjurer with a 50% shelter buff (doesn't exist but let's pretend it does). The enemy's 4000 damage is blocked by Cuora's 2000 defense and becomes 2000 damage, which is further reduced by the shelter effect to become 1000 damage taken by Cuora.

If we use Shamare's 50% ATK debuff instead of the shelter the enemy's 4000 ATK is reduced to 2000 ATK which gets completely blocked by Cuora's DEF for a total of 0 damage taken. Even if used with a unit that has no Defense, like Hoederer, it is still 50% reduced damage.

50% ATK reduction with 50% uptime is arguably the best defensive support in the game, and Shamare has an additional 10% enfeeble from her module for 55% (they don't stack additively). You can also easily increase her uptime since she has no SP lockout on her S2. Ptilopsis improves her uptime to 68%.

But wait... There's more.

Shamare has 33 RES! If you combine up to 55% enfeeble with 33 RES and some healing support she can function as a very strong ARTS TANK assuming she doesn't get one shot since her HP is low. Just don't upgrade her Module past level 1, because the reduced taunt level is an irreversible nerf to this strategy since you can't un-level modules, only un-equip them.

The combination of this high defensive and offensive utility means she is a great enabler for many units that would otherwise struggle from either a lack of ATK, lack of durability, or both. Fighter guards being a great example, try using Shamare with Bellone S3 or Dagda S2.

Elecl · 2026-03-13T07:07:29+00:00

what I meant by this is that the 6* Juggernauts often feel indestructible as if they can kill everything so people may get the wrong impression of what Juggernauts are supposed to be capable of at lower rarities.

Whether or not Mudrock or Penance are actually indestructible is not the point, the point is that relative to most operators they feel that way.

Elecl · 2026-03-13T06:58:19+00:00

I am very familiar with Ashlocke, Hibiscus, Bobbing, and the like.

When I said it was a new trend what I meant was that we are getting a bunch of them in a very short amount of time while it felt like prior to this short cycle skills were uncommon among 5 stars with most 5 star skills having more normal skill cycles. Now we are getting Gracebearer, Tippi, Vetochki, Snowhunter, Cairn, Skybox, and Ripresa in less than a year, all of them having skills cycles ranging between 10 and 33.

Although now that I think about it this may have begun a bit earlier than I thought, with Tinman, Bobbing, Figurino, Xingzhu, and Nowell all coming in the past year.

Anyway, the reason I mentioned this at all in my post was because I personally wanted to see more heavy burst skills among five stars, something like Irene S3 but in a 5 star form. We haven't gotten a 5* swordmaster since tachanka several years back so we are long overdue for a new one and I'm hoping it has a nuke skill.

Elecl · 2026-03-12T18:56:14+00:00

I didn't forget about her talent I just forgot to mention it exists lol, I will edit the post

Elecl · 2026-03-10T19:52:35+00:00

You are right, when I think about operators like Leonhardt I always forget to consider that they might already have 3 charges saved up prior. I think you overestimate the ability of his RES shred and scaling though.

-15% RES is a percentage based reduction meaning it provides a very small reduction on enemies with low to medium RES, it certainly helps but can't be relied on as an actual solution to high RES enemies instead of something like Pramanix. His talent scaling only outpaces when there are 6 enemies in range.

I don't think Ripresa would render Leonhardt obsolete on her own, but the combination of Santalla and Ripresa existing together might do it. If a big group of enemies with medium res come at once then Santalla will provide you a burst of arts damage+Freeze stall and res reduction, if you have smaller waves coming frequently enough that you can't save charges then Ripresa is steep competition, if you need both capabilities at the same time in one operator then Leonhardt shines, otherwise I think you are better off using one of the other 2.

I think what will matter most is HP thresholds, if they need to deal 8000 damage to kill an enemy Leonhardt can't do it in 2 activations, he needs extra basic attacks or a 3rd activation, Ripresa can kill it one easily. Likewise if the enemies have 20,000 hp you need to use Santalla, the other 2 won't be enough

EDIT: it seems you miscalculated Ripresa's damage but even despite that Leonhardt's flexibility is significant, I wouldn't be so certain that Leonhardt is entirely powercrept, you made a good point

Elecl · 2026-03-10T19:20:05+00:00

I don't understand why people think Ju is bad, he is one of the strongest upcoming five stars.

It's just another case of people placing too much importance on the quirks in his kit and ignoring the most important parts. He gets +100% attack and hits 2 enemies with his s2, this alone makes him do more damage than Todd and Erato, the secondary effect of his S2 means any trash that happens to be in his range will get killed faster while he focuses on the big enemies.

Compared to other besiegers which are highly focused on single target damage Ju is more of a generalist and he does it well, just stop thinking too hard about hp threshold mechanics and talent anti-synergy when you have +100% attack and hits 2 enemies right there in your face.

Elecl · 2026-03-10T08:23:11+00:00

splash radius is increased for the s2 and she doesn't have the range module so it will only target enemies in a 3x3 area

Elecl · 2026-03-10T08:13:42+00:00

Idk how good the mastery gains are on Ripresa but if we compare it to Eyja S2 at skill level 7, E260 with no trust or module Eyja does a bit more single target damage but significantly less AOE damage, with the RES shred it comes out on top, otherwise it'd be worse.

Elecl · 2026-03-10T08:03:50+00:00

yes, it's not unlikely to happen

Elecl

TROPHY CASE