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anadventurerisfail · 2 years

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An Arknights Analysis

or AAA for short :D

So I’ve been thinking on and off about Scavenger and Courier for a while, specifically their skills and their usage. Instead of keeping it all inside, I’ve decided to type it all out and share it with everyone who sees this. This most likely has already been talked about and/or doesn’t really matter and isn’t important, but I’m making this post anyway. Suffer. I’ll be nice and put it under a Read More. It’s long and rambling.

As part of the same Archetype and Star rating, both Courier and Scavenger have the same Skill 1 (presented at Skill Level 7 with Mastery 3 changes being in [square brackets]): Instantly generates 9 DP. 33[30] second Auto Recovery, Auto Activation. Over time this comes out to effectively 1 DP every 3.667[3.333] seconds.

But their Skill 2 is where they start to show their own Niche within their Archetype, but still very similar. Scavenger is more offensive oriented, so she has for S2: Instantly generates 11 DP and increase ATK +40%[+70%] for 15 seconds. 34[30] second Auto Recovery, Manual Activation. While Courier is more defensive oriented, exemplified with his S2: Instantly generates 3 DP and increase DEF +50%[+80%] for 15 seconds, gradually gaining another 8 DP over the duration. 34[30] second Auto Recovery, Manual Activation. As a skill doesn’t start to recover until its effect has ended, these both have a 49[45] second cycle. Over time these skills end up generating 1 DP every 4.4545[4.0909] seconds. Slower than S1, but getting a possibly important buff to help when fighting.

As only one Skill can be available on an Operator at a time, when determining exclusively for DP generation one would reasonably look at these numbers and conclude that S1 should be used. Not only does it have a higher DP per second, it also occurs Automatically whereas the S2 needs to be Manually Activated which can/will bring it below its optimal DP per second. HOWEVER, I was MEAN (mwahaha) and left out an important piece of information: when an Operator is deployed, their skill doesn’t necessarily start from 0. Each skill has a point it starts at when an Operator is deployed, anywhere from halfway to activation, to close to activation, to from 0. For the skills we’re looking at, it’s in the halfway to activation range.

So, Courier/Scavenger’s S1 has a start point of 10[13], meaning it’s a 23[17] second wait until the first activation. Scavenger’s S2 has a has a start point of 15[18], giving it a 19[12] second wait until first activation. Courier’s S2 has a start point of 14[17], giving it a 20[13] second wait until first activation. ...It wasn’t until I was writing this out that I realized there was even a difference between the S2s here...

And here is where it isn’t so cut and dry. Because S2 can activate sooner than S1, there is a period of time where S2 has actually generated more DP. Scavenger’s S2 generates 33 DP (3rd activation) faster than S1 generates 36 DP (4th activation, about 5 seconds later), but then S1′s faster generation rate has caught up and surpasses. Courier’s S2 only gets 2 activations before S1′s faster DP per second brings it ahead. The third activation immediately brings it up to 25 DP generated, then, while it’s gradually going up to 33, S1 would hit 36 generated.

So, in terms of DP generation, if you deploy Scavenger Skill 2, activate the skill right as it is available, you have these time windows to retreat Scavenger and have generated more DP than Skill 1 in the same amount of time; not quite 40 seconds after the first activation, around 20 seconds after the second activation, and around 5 seconds after the third activation. At Skill Level 7 this is over the course of around 120 seconds, at Mastery 3 this is over the course of around 100 seconds. Courier’s S2 only beats in terms of DP generation until 84 seconds at Skill Level 7 and 73 seconds at Mastery 3. Scavenger can last at least 30 seconds longer. Make of that what you will.

But, DP generation is only part of their S2 power. They also get an ATK buff and DEF buff respectively. So how far do these buffs get them? Going to assume max Trust and Potentials.

Scavenger at E1 60 has 445 ATK, and a talent that increases ATK and DEF by +7% while not adjacent to any other ally bringing it up to 476.15 while active. With S2 (at Level 7 because that’s the highest it can be at E1) that becomes 623 without talent and 690.9 with talent. While this is a respectable amount of damage on its own, when we look at other offensive oriented melee 4 stars, Scavenger brings herself to middle of the pack with her skill and talent active. And that talent is not a guarantee, any ally adjacent to her deactivates it, losing her both a bit of offense and defense. Of Operators with less than 690 ATK, they all still have their Skill to bring their own ATK/damage higher and additionally they: hit multiple enemies, deals Arts damage instead of Physical damage, can attack at range as well actually, has a faster attack speed, damages twice per hit, debuffs the enemy in some way, or possibly multiples of those especially including talents and skills. Hell, there’s even a Defender unit that can out ATK her, with Arts, hitting multiple enemies. Granted, it’s an Offensive Archetype of Defender, but still, Scavenger’s thing is supposed to be her ATK but it’s not that impressive in the grand scheme of things. And that’s the price to pay for being able to generate DP.

Courier at E1 60 has 356 DEF, and a talent that increases DEF by +11% while blocking 2 enemies bringing it up to 395.16. With S2 (again at Level 7) that becomes 534, and 573.16 with talent. For comparisons with other defensive oriented 4 stars (really... the Defenders), with only his talent he is not that far behind any of the Offensive Archetypes of Defender. Healing focused Defenders and High Health focused Defenders have a bit higher DEF but not much. And his talent is not that hard to have active, and it IS active when it is needed, blocking two enemies. Then, once he has his skill active, his DEF stat dances with the base DEF of Defense focused Defenders, even those of Higher Rarity! Only reason he isn’t a Defender Actually is because he only has 1.3k HP at E1 60, whereas the ONLY Defenders with less than 2k HP is the 3 star Healing Defender at 1833 health (stuck at E1 55) and the 2 star Defender at 1670 health (stuck at E0 30). Even though Defense focused Defenders have skills to send their DEF higher, the fact that Courier CAN reach that high is Actually Impressive. Doesn’t seem like he’s paying that much to be able to generate the same DP as Scavenger.

So when choosing only one of these, Courier is the most often picked one. Especially once you consider that Marksman Snipers offer good DPS and are not that much more expensive than the Pioneer Vanguards. You can bring both, of course, but three or more DP generators starts eating into the effective strength of the squad as a whole and the cost of delaying your stronger units can be not worth placing down more DP generators. The Vanguards don’t generate their DP instantly, after all, and the enemies won’t necessarily give you a break in the opening.

But ultimately, all of this doesn’t really matter because another Vanguard archetype exists: The Standard Bearer. And specifically Myrtle.

The Standard Bearer, or Flag Bearers, or DP Printers, is an Archetype devoted solely to generating DP. While their skills are active they stop doing anything, attacking or blocking enemies, and focus solely on making your DP go up. Bringing in Myrtle as she’s the 4 star unit of this Archetype.

Myrtle S1 L7[M3]: Stops attacking and recovers 14 DP over 8 seconds. 25[22] second Auto Recovery, 10[13] starting amount (15[9] second wait time till first activate), Manual Activation. Coming out to 1 DP every 2.3571[2.1428] seconds. Assuming activation right when it’s available, it has the same cycle time as Courier/Scavenger S1. Courier/Scavenger S1 is 1 DP every 3.667[3.333] seconds, with a 23[17] second wait time till first activate. Myrtle’s S1 activates sooner and provides more DP than Scavenger’s S2.

Myrtle has faster DP generation, has more DEF than Scavenger, more ATK than Courier, and less HP than Scavenger; though with only 1 Block and no Block during skill use the total damage she can/will be taking is less comparatively. And she’s cheaper to deploy. By 2 points, which may seem small, but those 2 points plus her earlier start to DP generation means being able to be put out a Stronger Unit faster, possibly your Strongest Unit. And for the times when there is a rush of early enemies that this Hyper Focus on DP Printing can’t hold back, can just bring one of Courier/Scavenger to hold them while Myrtle goes to town. And being a 4 star unit, Myrtle is as easy to get as Scavenger is.

And which one holds out better against multiple enemies, especially once you have a Ranged unit providing extra damage? Which one can go longer without needing a Healer? I actually resented Myrtle for a bit.

Well, it wasn’t Myrtle herself, it was her Archetype and what it did to the game that I resented at first. Now I’m just apathetic, accepting its strength to carry. Myrtle was my first E2 unit, solely to be able to pull other E2 Support Units.

So yeah. This was my rambling analysis of two 4 star Vanguards that ultimately doesn’t matter because a different 4 star Vanguard exists.

#Arknights #Courier #Myrtle #Scavenger #Scavenger at E2 max has 555 ATK and 627.5 with talent #with S2M3 that's 943.5 and 1015.65 #Vigna at E2 max has 642 attack with 10% chance for a 110% increase #with S2M3 that's 1926 attack with 30% chance for 110% increase #and changes from attacking every 1s to every 1.5s #compared to Scavengers 1.05s interval #and Vigna has slightly higher DEF and a smidge higher HP with only 1 block but only generates 1 DP on a kill #Scavenger's been done dirty #I also have ideas for if the FFXIV classes were made into Arknights units #and oh yeah vanguards don't generate dp instantly after all #say hello to bagpipe #increasing how many points skills have on deploy #making flagbearers near instantly able to generate dp #but i'm not qualified to discuss that part #Courier at E2 max S2M3 has 805.95 Defense #Mudrock only has 662 without pots #and 860.6 during S3M3 #Arknights Analysis

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