After almost 4 years into the game's (global) launch and around 260 operators in the game, Arknights is getting some much need adjustments to it's gaccha systems!
Special Standard Headhunting
To simplify, they are basically adding a guarantee to all Arknights banners that feature a single NEW 6 star operator such as:
(this is a screenshot of a previous banner I am showing for an example)
How the banner will work is if you fail to get the rate up featured 6 star operator in 150 pulls, the NEXT 6 star you get is Guaranteed to be the rate up operator. Something important to note is that this doesn't mean you instantly get the rate up at 150 pulls but instead is guaranteed when you hit the 2% chance for the 6 star operator. On a side note, there will be a pull counter on the banner as well (FINALLY). The pulls accumulated does not carry over to the next special standard banner and the guaranteed only applies once.
In addition to these changes, the OG operators that launched with the game and some of the older six stars that released (mainly during year 1 of AK) will be withdrawn from the standard headhunting and limited headhunting banners. Meaning you cannot get them as a off rate if you lose the 50/50. Instead these operators will be moved to a permanent banner called the Kernal Headhunting.
Kernal Headhunting
You can refer to this pic above to see all the operators that are moved into the Kernal Banner. The pity and gaccha in Kernal banner works the same as the regular old Standard banners. In short, all this means is that the Kernal banner will also cycle in and out of the game just like the Standard banner.
Other Changes
This new Kernal Headhunt does also mean we will be getting a new type of "blue certificate" when pulling on that banner for the certificate shop. You can use these blue certificates to buy operators featured in the ongoing Kernal banner through the new "blue certificate shop" section that will be added. I recommend properly reading through this if you care that much about those details:
Something really good is that you can also use the gold certificates you get from majority of other banners to also purchase the featured operator in the Kernal banner within the "gold certificate shop" section:
(In this case, Hellagur and Texas are in the featured Kernal Operators)
And finally, the Starter Headhunting banner available for new accounts is changed to:
My Thoughts
With Arknights going strong for almost it's 4th anniversary, these are necessary changes as the total number of operators are around 260. By separating the older and newer operators, it helps alleviate the chances of getting a dupe of a older six star operator instead of a newer six star operator that you might not have in the event of a off rate. And if you want to get an old operator, your chances will be just better in the Kernal Headhunt.
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2023-10-24