Arknights: Endfield throws a lot at you in the first few hours — a four-member combat squad, six Operator roles, and an Automated Industry Complex (AIC) that keeps producing resources whether you're playing or not. Get these three systems set up correctly early and everything after Talos-II's opening zone goes a lot smoother.
Understand the Six Operator Roles Before You Build a Team
Every Operator you recruit falls into one of six roles, and knowing which bucket each one lives in matters more than chasing rarity. Guard and Striker are your physical damage dealers — Guards fight up close and apply Vulnerable and Stagger to lock enemies down, while Strikers lean on setup-heavy mechanics that pay off once conditions are met. Caster fills the Arts damage slot and is your answer to high-Defense enemies, since Arts damage ignores a chunk of what physical hits can't get through. On the support side, Defender tanks and counterattacks, Supporter stacks buffs and debuffs to swing fights in your favor, and Vanguard exists to refill skill points for the rest of your squad. Build your first team around one Guard or Caster as your main damage source, a Vanguard to keep their skill points flowing, and a Defender or Supporter to keep everyone alive — you'll have Ardelia, a free healer, by day three, so slot her in as your safety net while you figure out the rest.
Learn the SP Economy Before You Learn Rotations
Combat runs on three skill point (SP) bars, and you start every fight with two of them already full. Each Operator's kit is built from a Basic Attack chain, a Battle Skill, a Combo Skill, and an Ultimate — and the Combo and Ultimate tiers are where SP actually gets spent, so burning it the moment it's available is the single biggest mistake new players make. Instead, watch for Stagger: landing enough hits on an enemy locks them into a vulnerable state, and finishing them off during it restores SP instead of costing it, which is what lets aggressive teams chain Combo Skills back to back. Pay attention to Arts inflictions too — stacking two matching inflictions on an enemy triggers an Arts burst, while mixing different elements causes a reaction with its own separate effect. Switching characters mid-combo doesn't cost you your rhythm here the way it does in a lot of action games, so get comfortable rotating through all four squad members rather than parking on one Operator the whole fight.
Set Up Your AIC Factory on Day One
The AIC is Endfield's second core loop, and it runs in the background generating materials even while you're off exploring or logged out entirely. Don't overbuild on your first visit — place two electric mining rigs and connect them to relay towers so ore collection runs hands-free without you babysitting it. Run power to the site with electric pylons linked through automation cores, then set up a battery production line before you start feeding raw Originium Ore into thermal banks; doing it in that order avoids the power shortages that stall a factory out in its first hour. Stay on Tier I and Tier II technology until you have power flowing reliably and a basic mining-to-refining loop closed — jumping ahead to fancier production chains before your foundation is stable just means rebuilding later.
Spend Originium and Amethyst on the Right Gear
Originium Ore isn't just factory fuel — it's also the backbone of character upgrades and gear crafting, so don't let it pile up unused while you're short on combat power. Early on, craft low-rarity green gear using Originium and Amethyst to get an immediate stat boost while you're still leveling; it's cheap enough that there's no reason to go into story missions under-geared. What you shouldn't do is dump heavy upgrade materials into 3-star or 4-star weapons — save those investments for 5-star and 6-star weapons instead, since the stat jump at higher rarities makes early investment a wash. If you're saving pulls for a featured banner, budget for around 120 to guarantee the unit through pity, though the New Horizon beginner banner only needs 40 pulls to guarantee a 6-star, so clear that one first.
Build a Daily Routine Around Authority Level
Your Authority Level gates weapon selectors and unlocks, so treat your daily checklist as core progression rather than optional busywork. Clear your operation manual tasks each day for roughly 1,150 Authority XP, and push toward Authority Level 45 as your first major milestone — it hands you a free 6-star weapon selector, which is a huge head start on gearing your main damage dealer. Spend your stamina down fully before it caps out, and target higher-level missions when you have the choice, since rewards scale with mission difficulty rather than staying flat. One thing worth checking every login: rare growth sites on the map refresh daily and disappear if you don't harvest them in time, so sweep your explored zones before you queue up story content.