Arknights Endfield beginner guide 2026: first steps and what to prioritise

This Arknights Endfield beginner guide covers what to do in what order. The game front-loads a lot: a long tutorial, a factory system that shows up unannounced, a gacha with several banner types, and a squad you don’t yet know how to build. Here are the early decisions that actually matter later.

Arknights Endfield Beginner Guide: Your First Session, In Order

The opening is long. Here’s the sequence worth following rather than wandering:

• Complete the tutorial and reach Authority Level 5
• Finish Chapter 1 — this awards Endministrator, a free 6-star Physical Guard
• Unlock the Headhunting (gacha) system and clear the beginner banner
• Establish your first AIC base and set up basic mining
• Log in three days running to claim Ardelia, a free 6-star Supporter
• Start doing daily missions for premium currency

Reaching the gacha system takes roughly 20 to 45 minutes depending on how much you skip. Some cutscenes can’t be skipped at all.

Should You Reroll?

Short answer for most people: no.

Endfield makes rerolling deliberately painful. There’s no guest account, so every attempt needs a fresh email address, and you have to play through the prologue again before the gacha unlocks. That’s 20 to 45 minutes per attempt at best. Targeting one specific operator can stretch total reroll time past 17 hours.

What makes it unnecessary is that the two operators you’d most want are free anyway. Endministrator is a functional 6-star carry from Chapter 1, and Ardelia — widely regarded as the best support in the game, with healing plus Physical and Arts Susceptibility debuffs — arrives after three daily logins. A free account already has a working core.

If you reroll anyway, the commonly targeted 6-stars are Last Rite (Cryo damage), Ember (Heat damage), Pogranichnik (support and SP), and Laevatain when she’s available on a limited banner. The pragmatic version is: reroll until you get any 6-star from your standard pulls, then stop.

Where to Spend Your First Pulls

Clear the beginner banner first. It runs at a discount and guarantees a 6-star within 40 pulls, plus a weapon selector. Nothing else in the game offers that rate.

Then save. Target roughly 120 pulls before committing to a banner featuring an operator you actually want. Scattered pulls across banners you’re lukewarm on is how free-to-play accounts end up with nothing.

Skip weapon banners early unless you can reach the pity guarantee. Weapons are a late-account optimisation, not an early-game fix.

Never spend premium currency on stamina refreshes or revives. It converts badly. That currency is for pulls.

Set Up the AIC Before You Need It

The single most common beginner mistake is treating the Automated Industry Complex as optional side content and coming back to it later.

It isn’t optional. Your gear comes out of the factory, and there’s a point in the mid-game where gear stops being something you can coast without. Players who set up basic mining and production in their first few hours never notice the wall. Players who skip it hit it hard.

You don’t have to enjoy factory games to handle this — shared blueprints let you import a working layout with a code instead of designing anything. Our base building guide covers what to unlock first and how outposts convert production into gacha pulls.

Build One Team, Not Five

Investment materials are scarce early, and the instinct to level every operator you pull is the fastest way to end up with a roster of half-built units that clear nothing.

Pick one core team and build it properly. The strongest fully free option is Endministrator, Chen Qianyu, Pogranichnik and Lifeng — every member is free or from standard banners, and it clears endgame content once geared. Our team composition guide covers that squad and the element-focused alternatives in detail.

Ardelia belongs in almost any team you build, so investing in her is never wasted.

What Endfield Is and Isn’t

Two things worth knowing before you settle in.

It’s single-player. There’s no real-time PvP and no co-op exploration. You’ll see other players’ blueprints, not other players.

It’s genuinely free to finish. You can complete the story and every main system without spending. The premium currency, Oroberyl, is for pulls and convenience. The gacha economy is tighter than the original Arknights, which is the most common criticism of the game — but “tight” isn’t “paywalled.” For the full picture, read our Arknights Endfield review.

Five Mistakes to Avoid

• Ignoring the AIC. It gates gear, and gear gates progression.
• Levelling too many operators. One built team beats four half-built ones.
• Spending Oroberyl on stamina or revives. Poor conversion rate, every time.
• Pulling on weapon banners early. Not worth it before you can hit pity.
• Rerolling for hours. Your two best early operators are free regardless.

FAQ

Is Arknights Endfield free to play?
Yes, on PC, PS5 and mobile. The full story and all main systems are accessible without spending.

Is rerolling worth it in Arknights Endfield?
For most players, no. There’s no guest account, each attempt takes 20–45 minutes, and the two strongest early operators — Endministrator and Ardelia — are free anyway.

How do I get free 6-star operators?
Endministrator comes from completing Chapter 1. Ardelia comes from logging in three consecutive days.

What should I spend my first pulls on?
The beginner banner. It guarantees a 6-star within 40 pulls at a discount and includes a weapon selector.

Do I have to play the factory system?
Yes, at a basic level — gear production runs through it. But shared blueprints let you import working layouts, so you never have to design one yourself.

Does Endfield have co-op or PvP?
No. It’s single-player, with no real-time PvP or co-op exploration.

Where to Go Next

• Endfield team composition guide: best comps for every element
• Endfield operators explained: classes, roles, and who to invest in
• Endfield base building guide: how the AIC connects to combat
• Arknights Endfield review: is the factory-builder gacha worth it?

Current banner schedules and patch notes are posted on the official Endfield site.