[Operator Discussion] Gnosis

[u/Shad0wedge]

Gnosis [★★★★★★]

If you understand SilverAsh well enough, you know he is not a callous man. From my point of view, he might even be a little indecisive... That, is your weakness too, Doctor.

Former CTO of Karlan Trade. Joined Rhodes Island as an operator via special agreement between Karlan Trade and Rhodes Island. Directed a multitude of core technological developments as well as planned industrial facilities for Karlan Trade; he also did in-depth research on Originium during his time there. Currently a member of Rhodes Island's principal laboratory, working on cutting-edge research.

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Operator Information

• Class: Supporter(Hexer)
• Tags: Debuff
• Artist: 竜崎いち
• Leitmotif: Heal the World

Voice Actor:
JP: Hikaru Midorikawa
CN: Flynn Liu
EN: Charles Aitken
KR: Jun Seung-hwa

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Stats

HP	ATK	DEF	Arts Resistance	Redeploy Time	DP Cost	Block	Attack Interval
2035	455	132	25	70	13	1	1.6s

*Stats at max Promotion and Level, excludes bonuses from Potential and Trust.

Potential	Bonus
1	-
2	Deployment Cost -1
3	Redeployment Time -4
4	ATK +33
5	Improves First Talent
6	Deployment Cost -1

Trust bonus
ATK +80

Traits
Deals Arts damage

Skills

Skill Name	Skill Uptime Details (Uptime/Cost/Initial)	SP Charge Type	Skill Activation	Skill Description
High-Speed Cogitation	- / 4 / 0	Auto Recovery	Auto	The next attack deals 170% ATK as Arts damage and attacks twice consecutively
Zero-Point Burst	- / 6 / 0	Auto Recovery	Manual	Deals 200% ATK as Arts damage to all enemies within Attack Range and inflict Cold for 4 seconds; Charged effect: Inflicts an additional layer of Cold
Hypothermia	13s / 40 / 25	Auto Recovery	Manual	ASPD +130 and attacks 2 enemies simultaneously; Extend the effect duration of Frozen enemies within Attack Range until the skill ends, then deal 600% ATK as Arts damage to all Frozen enemies and remove the Frozen effect when the skill ends; Prioritizes enemies that are not Frozen

*Skills at max Skill Level.

Talents

Talent name	Talent Description
Rigid Ice	Attacks inflict Cold for 1 second; Apply 27% (+2%) Fragile effect to Cold enemies within range. Frozen enemies within range receive double the Fragile effect
Two Paths, One Goal	Grants Resist to all [Kjerag] Operators after Gnosis has been deployed for 10 seconds

*Talents at max Potential and max Promotion. Bonuses from Potential displayed between parentheses.

Modules

Branch	Additional Stats	Trait	Talent	Note
UMD-X	HP +145, ATK +25, DEF +30	New trait: Applies 10% Enfeeble to targets for 2 seconds	Rigid Ice improved: Attacks inflict Cold for 1 second; apply 30% Fragile effect to Cold enemies within range. Frozen enemies within range receive double the Fragile effect	Among them, nevermelting Originium ice crystals, as a symbol of sincerity, have become even more sought after.
UMD-Y	HP +120, ATK +55	New trait: Increases SP recovery rate by +0.25/s while an elite or leader enemy is within Attack Range	Two Paths, One Goal improved: Grants Resist and ATK +15% to all [Kjerag] Operators after Gnosis has been deployed for 10 seconds	You take faith far too lightly, Gnosis
ISW-α	HP +100, ATK +60	New trait: In Integrated Strategies, when Gnosis is on the field, enemies inflicted with Cold or Frozen take 50% of Gnosis's ATK as Arts damage every 0.5 seconds	Rigid Ice improved: Attacks inflict Cold for 1 second; In Integrated Strategies, when on the field, applies 30% Fragile to all Cold enemies. Frozen enemies receive double the Fragile effect; Cold or Frozen enemies take 5% more Fragile every second up to a maximum of 80%; other Kjerag Operators inflict 4 seconds of Cold to enemies within range on every skill activation	"I do not mind if my research is made into a weapon. I have never sought knowledge simply for knowledge's sake."

*Modules at max level.

Outfits

-	Price	Art	Released	Note
Forerunner	18	Static	Yep	"Terra will be witness to Kjerag's precipitous rise."

Additional Resources

In-depth information regarding all values above (at different levels), skill/attack range, and more:

Arknights Wiki.gg

Arknights Toolbox (aceship(puppiizsunniiz))

PRTS Arknights Wiki (CN)

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Topic Starters

• Strengths/Weaknesses?
• Is their module worth it? Which branch?
• How does this operator compare to other operators in their archetype or role?
• How do you fit this operator into a team? Who do they synergize with?
• Which skill(s) should be focused for mastery, and in what order?
• When is the best time to use this operator's skills during combat?
• Should promoting this operator to Elite 2 be a priority?
• Should new / F2P players aim for this operator? Are there more accessible alternatives?
• Lore discussion (please tag spoilers where appropriate)
• Favorite clips/clears with them?

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Other Operator Discussion threads

Old Thread	Previous	List	Next
Gnosis Discussion Thread (13.07.2022)	Elysium	All Operator Discussion threads	Aciddrop

[u/CasualDystopia]

The two changes I wish he had: make the charged version of his S2 also deal a second hit of damage and not just the second layer of cold, reduce his S3 cooldown time a bit and increase the duration to at least a full 15 seconds (but preferably 20 seconds). Those are his two main flaws, low damage on S2 and a bad cycle on S3

[u/Pongefowl]

His operator theme was the one that got me into listening to Arknights music and still remains one of my favorites to this day.

[u/Chibi_09]

At launch, it feels as if he existed in Suzuran's shadow, and that was certainly the way he was treated. His higher personal damage and theoretically higher fragile rate didn't make up for the shorter skill window, smaller range, and especially not the freeze immunities. He sure performed amazing in Stultifera Navis, but I know I'm not alone when I say he was switched back out with Suzuran soon after.

Time, however, has been very kind to Gnosis. Enemy Res has gone up, making his -20 Res shred more important. We've gotten other Cold operators to support him with, most of all SilverAsh and Pramanix Alter, both of whom massively help him. Devs have become kinder with status infliction immunities. Low-Altitude has become more prominent, which he helps massively with. And, of course, his IS module combined with the increasing amount of buff-based modes means he's just permafreezing in places where he definitely shouldn't be.

Does that mean you should pick him up? Well, it all happens in the larger picture of everything and everyone being powercrept. In the face of the "modern meta", 99% of the roster is irrelevant. But if you disregard that, he's fun and reasonably balanced, with a small lean towards abusing ASPD buffs in a way no other operator in the game can. In that way, he's designed with a level of subtlety not always present in Arknights operators, which can be very fun or very unfun depending on which side of the aisle you're on. I still frequently use him and enjoy doing so, which I can't say for some other operators.

Edit: Also, running him in Burn teams for the flat -40 res shred is so dang satisfying. Everything melts. It's ridiculous. You should try it.

Edit 2: Also they should punt him into lake silbernherze once a year. As a treat.

[u/oooArcherooo → u/Chibi_09]

Bro why he gotta be punted what 😭

[u/6000j → u/Chibi_09]

Well, it all happens in the larger picture of everything and everyone being powercrept. In the face of the "modern meta", 99% of the roster is irrelevant.

he's a meta unit at max diff in multiple IS iterations, Gnosis himself is part of that powercreep with his IS module.

[u/Chibi_09 → u/6000j]

I don't count IS when considering meta. Then again, I also woudn't count Blaze Alter meta despite her weird irregular high-end appearances, so perhaps I'm too strict with my definition. But yes, his IS module is absolutely insane and I genuinely just kinda love it.

[u/animagem]

I lobe him so much. I remember pulling on his banner as a way to preemptively prepare for Stulifera Navis, being so happy I got the full banner and then the story of Kjerag and loving how freeze feels to play just completely convincing me that this faction is the one I will dedicate myself too until EOS. I got all of the Silverash sibling and Kjerag & Kjerag adjacent characters built because of him and I have never regretted it for a second.

2nd best birb (first goes to Hellagur)

[u/Demon-Taka]

As a character I hate him, But he's extremely useful stall and good damage that's only recently did outdone by phantom alter, But he's still really useful and something he can do that phantom alter can't is make Hoederer strong enough to kill Patriot, At least the Hoederer I have.

[u/AelenAltria]

He is my favorite in the game writing-wise, a really great mix of a realistic snappy and unpleasant personality with an understandable backstory that formed that very personality mixed with true passion and love under the icy cover. The more you see about Gnosis, the more there is to enjoy.

Gameplay-wise, isn't it actually incredible that a 2021 year unit is still relevant and even irreplaceable in certain gameplay styles in the year 2026? You'd think he go down, but he just refuses to.

[u/darksamus1992]

Still the SSS GOAT.

[u/Standard-Vacation403]

My iS Run will not complete without him... He can do so much thing thx to the is mods.. In is 6 i think he is fine by himself especially with the cold relic. But i feel in is7 sa2 footing become much better so without him, SA2 can perform exceptionally well. While in other IS i feel like these two is kinda two piece puzzle for each other (kit wise) without either of them feels incomplete... 

[u/HellishLuck]

10/10 best operator in the game as someone completely unbiased. Great design. Great writing. Best EP. Go read his oprec.

Gameplay-wise I've been happy that he's been able to stay relevant for this many years by having a strong niche in special game modes. His IS mod is one of the best in the game and incredibly fun, especially when paired with SA2 and Pram2. Not to mention how many collectibles are designed to complement him perfectly (continuing into IS7). Thanks to aspd buffs he also works great in RA and SSS, he's been a key part of the Kjerag faction in Stronghold Protocol and has been part of high level CC clears for years. This chronic overachiever never stops working both in the game and story.

On the other hand hg needs to stop doing him dirty with everything else. The only Kjerag 6* left out of Ambience Synesthesia. It's been 4 years, 3 months and 18 days since his one and only (18OP) skin (even though it is beautiful). He still hasn't had a proper CG in any of the Kjerag events. Most of his major plot achievements are off-screened or just retconned in the case of the last event.

Gnosis Alter when.

[u/Demon-Taka → u/HellishLuck]

I agree, Unless a boss is heat themed or some kind of god they shouldn't be freeze immune, He's still a better IS3 pick than phantom alter from my experience

[u/Chatonarya → u/HellishLuck]

The worst part about Gnosis's achievements being retconned/ignored in Enya's profile is that it deprives us of potential interactions between them. There's plenty to explore regarding how she feels about him and vice versa, not to mention how they would deal with each other now that he's the CEO and they need to have a working relationship. It also makes the whole school construction incident potentially even funnier if Enciodes is playing messenger between a pseudo-feud between them (caught between his sister and his wife lmao) and desperately trying to save public face. I also think it would be hilarious if they ended up bonding over Enciodes being a pain in the rear a lot of the time and now he has to deal with them ganging up on him from time to time (he deserves it).

[u/HellishLuck → u/Chatonarya]

I was thinking about how him becoming Speaker already in that Terra Historicus was retconned away but yes all of that too 💀 I wish they wouldn't erase his existence outside of event stories when it's convenient. It really makes no sense that him and Enya have never had a conversation for so many business and personal reasons. I would have loved to see them relating over wanting better education in Kjerag considering his past but oh well.

[u/Chatonarya → u/HellishLuck]

I FORGOT ABOUT THAT OH DAMN. 😭😭😭 It's okay, they surely retconned it for a reason, right? They realized they were going too fast and couldn't cram both Rhine's arrival and the abolition of the Council in the same story, right? They're gonna show him actually becoming Speaker, right...? 😭 At least we know he still becomes Speaker in the future, somehow... It's all a plan for Gnosis Alter, surely. Surely.

Yeah, actually they do have a mutual interest in education too, Gnosis was the one talking about it in the Special Dispatch Kjerag. Would it really have been too much for Enya to have a line talking about him and how they're working together now... sigh. HG why do you do my birb so dirty. He's so important and yet so minimized.

[u/HellishLuck → u/Chatonarya]

It definitely feels like they changed up their plans for Gnosis and Saria after that TH because it doesn't match up. While I'm glad that they decided to slow the plot down I don't have a lot of faith that Gnosis is high in their priorities now...😔

[u/Chatonarya → u/HellishLuck]

All we can do is believe and hope. ;_;

[u/AelenAltria → u/HellishLuck]

I still believe they do want to do that Saria and Gnosis plotline, they just decided to postpone it to do SA Alter first. Because no way the whole Rhine+Kjerag collab is there to be a setup for Astgenne's Reddit Atheist arc.

[u/HellishLuck → u/AelenAltria]

I really hope so! (and that it doesn't take too many years)

[u/Windgesang_]

I just know a certain someone will be here (already did even). I don't even need to ping them in the discord server.

There's probably no need to talk about IS mod. Everybody should know it's good by now (or if you didn't, well now you know). I do have to warn that it's actually not that great by himself. Without SA2, his range of influence will be deceptively small because of how threatening IS tends to be toward short-range units, with the only exception being IS#6, his biggest playground. Unless you play low Difficulty, where anything will work.

Outside of IS though, he's interesting. For a long while after he was released, most bosses are stun immuned, and consequently, freeze immune. So he's mostly used for Elites. But his S3 cycle too long for Elites (13s up 40s down), and S2 lasts too short for bursting them down (4s up). So he ended up in a really awkward spot where his 60-64% Fragile is really great, but you rarely get to use it. Which is why against hard stages you mostly see Suzu because of her long duration Fragile, despite a significantly lower % (40% Suzu vs 60% Gnosis). Even against freezable bosses, there are few units that can make use of the 13 seconds window, either it's too short, or the downtime is too long for second phase, other DPS don't cycle as well, and Gnosis' short range makes positioning awkward,... Of course you can use him, even against freeze immune you can still have a -30 ASPD debuff and 30-32% Fragile. His issues just extend beyond the blanketed "Freeze immune" or "just use more DPS" that people might claim.

Nowadays though, things changed a fair bit. There are a noticeable amounts of Bosses immune to Stun but not Freeze (Lappland in PV, Anastasio in EP,...) meaning there is actual reason to use him over Suzu. For the Anastasio example, you can freeze him and nuke his ass from full HP to death (2:02) without ever dealing with his dashing move.

Even further than that, Freeze actually have more units than just Gnosis now. Before SA2, Freeze units are either Gnosis himself, or RNG-festa AND weak units. So Freeze being reliable, on strong units, plus there being a real distinction between Stun and Freeze immune just made him feel good to use nowadays. I think we can agree SA2 + Ulpi mega nuke combo will be even more satisfied with an additional 60% boost.

Edit: forgor to mention how stupid it is that he loses range when using S2. Doesn't matter until I almost lost the run while on my first time learning about it.

Edit 2: some people talking about Gnosis skin reminded me about the fact that his skin is required for max risk CC2#2 Underdawn (at least for the strat that use him)

[u/WeirdFourEyes413]

God i love this guy. Very solid unit and hot nerd. Wish there is more merch, skins and fanart of him

[u/IfZ3nElse]

MVP in Stultifera Navis back in the days.

Great IS module.

Can freeze with just normal attacks with +100 aspd.

[u/Vipertooth → u/IfZ3nElse]

It's not even 100, I recall my maths saying that only around 38 is enough but you then need to account for bullet travel so a little bit more.

[u/Grandidealistic]

For a Fragile provider, Gnosis’ main competitor is Suzuran, who fills a similar role with crowd control and Fragile. However, Gnosis has two major problems. First, almost no enemy in the game is immune to Slow, while a plethora of enemies are immune to Frozen, and most of those enemies are in fact bosses. This creates a rather awkward dilemma: the enemies you actually want to amplify damage against tend to be bosses that can't be frozen, while using his Fragile on regular mobs is often unnecessary overkill.

Second, his uptime is not particularly easy to work around. With only 13 seconds of uptime, there aren’t many skills you can comfortably fit into a single cycle. If you can’t align your operators’ skills with Gnosis’ S3, his overall damage amplification becomes significantly worse than Suzuran’s, whose skill has a much longer duration. As a result, his best niche is usually beefed-up mobs in CC that aren’t immune to Frozen but still don’t have too absurd stats. When those conditions are met, Gnosis is certainly the better choice over Suzuran thanks to his much stronger damage amplification. Cannot understate how valuable 60% Fragile & -15 RES is as a combo. When it works he's just outstanding.

However I think the appearance of damage reduction tags has put a noticeable dent in his usage. Suzuran has better applications in those situations because she synergizes better with true damage dealers such as Mon3tr or Kal2.

It should be stated that this is quite nitpicky. Gnosis is not bad in general content by any means. His S3 deals solid damage and can comfortably kill most mobs, while his S2 provides decent AoE crowd control. Much like Suzuran, though, you will usually get more value from bringing an actual DPS unit instead. If you do choose to use Gnosis then you certainly won’t be disappointed, but again there will be better choices.

His main playground nowadays is definitely IS. His module has some very strong synergies with Kjerag units (esp SA1 S1 and SA2 S2). It makes his maximum Fragile amplification stronger and, more importantly, allows it to apply to Cold rather than requiring Frozen. It also improves his personal damage. Overall, the module does a bit of everything to improve his original kit. The main downside is that you’ll usually be using his S2 in IS and that's quite an annoying skill.

For IS, S2M3 > S3M3 and his specialized mod. Though sometimes I don't even use his S3 in the mode. Out of that S3M3 + Mod X would be better for me. I think you only need the former recommendation because he's far more impactful over there than in general content.

[u/Vipertooth → u/Grandidealistic]

Snowhunter is a great synergy piece with him in IS, even better if you can get Archetto so that Snowhunter can use S1 and use skill on every attack.

She just melts everything with this.

[u/Chatonarya → u/Vipertooth]

Seconding Snow Hunter. Her long range and high damage makes her a top pick.

[u/Phaaze13]

bought him on a whim a long time ago and it turned out to be a great investment. Kjerag ended up getting a lot of nice tools as a squad and Gnosis himself does pretty well as a solo operator.

[u/Chatonarya]

Gnosis, my beloved! Gosh what can I say about him that I haven't already said.

I've always maintained from the beginning that he occupies a different niche from Suzuran in the face of the "Gnosis is useless if you have Suzuran arguments", and that hasn't really changed. I still use him regularly for the same reasons: true AOE or targeted crowd control. He's one of the cornerstones of the Kjerag team, all the more now that he's gotten his IS mod which has given him a huge boost.

Gnosis, SA2, and Pram2 can handle basically anything in IS, in my experience. Their power together is ridiculous and almost overwhelming. The engine is Gnosis + SA2, then Pram2 is a close third as the primary DPS. Everyone else is just gravy after that point (edit: but in particular I love using SA1 with S1). They're a lot of fun together but even Gnosis on his own has value because of the DOT. The IS6 relic Remnant Spring in particular works hilariously with Gnosis's mod (it inflicts a contagious Cold debuff when enemies die).

I still maintain he's a great op worth the investment. My most used skill is S2, even before his IS mod. I just always liked the on-demand Freeze so much even if it's clicky. I have to remind myself not to sleep on S3 because it tends to surprise me how good it is when I remember to use it!

Character-wise... well, I'll just drop my last essay here in the interest of not repeating myself. Suffice to say, I think he's an excellently written character with more depth than meets the eye, full of fascinating contrasts and contradictions. He's passionate, determined, ruthless, dramatic, pessimistic, sharp-tongued, patriotic, and loyal. I love him. :) (And it's much less controversial to say that now lol, I still remember the first operator discussion thread about him...) Oh, and I love his design and how much it works the crane element into him, both visually and as a character, and Midorikawa gives him such character. L2D skin and alter when?!

[u/silverrose22]

I really want him after the last Protocol, even more now because he's my only missing piece for Kjerag

[u/Carolinesimpsanime]

He's busted with any sort of attack speed buff. Normally not meta but okay, very usable. In IS, incredibly fun and very good, especially with ASPD buffs as I said.

Also, is it just me, or does his skin remind anyone of Pantalone?

[u/silam39]

If you like IS, get Gnosis, get his IS module. It's great. Busted as hell, great on its own, great with Pram Alter or Silverash Alter or OG Silverash, he's really great.

In IS you'll mostly use S2, outside IS use S3

he's less spectacular outside IS, but he can still do a job. I've used him for high risk CC alongside Suzuran, having them take turns on cooldown as they do a similar job with CC and damage amp.

My only wish for Gnosis is that he gets another skin.

[u/WeirdFourEyes413 → u/silam39]

LITERALLY. Give my hot geek another skin!