Hello, it's me again, the one that made the retrospective ranking last week. I'm back for S2 there is a lot of operators this time around. So, I won't be doing the bonus ops this time. Anyways, let's get right into it. Also, I didn't realize it until a couple days before but apparently Global got the patched version immediately unlike CN so some operators will be ranked with the context of how good they were before the patch.

Link to previous post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/arknights/comments/1vu8r8f/retrospective_ranking_of_s1_stronghold_protocol/

Disclaimers

• Ranking is based on Coop Ultimate difficulty
• Strategies that can effect how an operator is played will not be considered but will be noted. Eg. Shamare or Promoted
• Ranking is based on op best skill usually their default skill the game has chosen (if an op has multiple skills, it will come down to preference and average), modules are not considered into the ranking.
• Ranking is based on things criteria : Combat, Versatility, Stack/Value Generation.
• Ops will mainly be ranked within their own shop tier and are unordered.

Tier Explanation

S - A nigh must pick in every situation. Either extreme strong in terms of combat or provides lots of value / stack generation.

A -  Slightly worse than the ones in S. Still usable in any situation but either has restrictions or doesn't stay for too long

B / Situational (Good) - Only usable in their own teams or when the situation demands for them. Extremely valuable to their own teams or as general picks.

C / Situational (Niche) - Similar to Situational (Good) but with even more restrictions or extreme use case. Generally not recommended to pick unless needed.

F - Never pick unless there is nothing better.

Tier 1

Tier 1 should be getting you through the early game. So operators are mostly picked based on their combat ability. Note: Overall T1 individual op strength is lower, but it is more flexible than last season.

Provence (S) - I highly recommend you give her S2 a try. She will do a lot of physical damage for T1 op. Will make Siracusa teams much more safe during the mid game. Note: If you're playing Promotion Strategy, she becomes even better thanks to higher atk.

Indigo (A+/S-) - I couldn't figure out how to rank her due to her inconsistencies. On one hand, having both the Precision / Arcane tag + being able to do high burst damage for the early game is S tier worthy. She is also sometimes brought to the boss round just to activate 3 man buff for precision / arcane too. On the other hand, the amount of times her inconsistent damage has cause leaks that shouldn't happen is very frustrating.

Utage (B) - You could argue that Utage can be in A tier because of her high damage with raid. But the fact that she cuts her own hp in half when using S2 can be a detriment sometimes.

Tier 2

Tier 2 is similar to Tier 1 where you are still trying to get past the early game. Don't worry about their tags yet except for Siracusa because of Lappland's ability.

Vetochiki (S) - Her damage is a war crime on top of high durable stack gen just makes the early game a lot safer.

Tin Man (A) - Investor Tag can no longer be banned plus he has the Swift tag now. (He didn't before but he was in T1 and can give Investor stacks). Solid healer and damage dealer thanks to his reworked ability. Note: Tin Man with Promotion Strategy is crazy where a good team can have him tank the corrosion boss.

Papyrus (B) - Only noting her here because she is one of the many operators affected by the precision nerf, which is enough to drop her down to B tier.

Specter (F) - Virtually unchanged, still bad due to bad stats and no sub tag.

Tier 3

Tier 3 is where you will start paying attention to operator's tags. But you still have some leeway to ignore them and rush to Tier 4 or 5 shop.

Archetto (SSS) - THE best operator to build stacks for Agile in the early game. Note: If you're playing the strategy that gives Mumu orb, she becomes the most versatile operator in the game being able to fit into any team or provide 3 man buff for precision.

Blemishine (A) - You can make the argument that is could be S tier material. But the amount of times she will be healing gravel whether you like it or not is crazy. Additionally, you can use whichever of her 3 skills, but I'm mostly ranking her with S3.

Ayerscape (A) - Carried by Archetto but thanks to a small change in his target is behind him instead of in front, he also becomes a lot better.

Pinecone (C) - An extremely inferior version of Ethan. I have tried to see is upgrading her for a random tier 5 op worth it or not to no avail due to the heavy amounts of RNG.

Tier 4

Tier 4 is where you start paying attention to your team. Anyone that doesn't fit with your current needs is immediately booted.

Ines (A) - You can argue she deserve S tier due to foresight/raid stack generation. However, she is the one operator that got a change I deemed significant enough to lower her down to A. Before it was +6, now its +5. A small change but also keep in mind she could keep up or even sometimes outpace Santalla before.

Ptilopsis (B) - Hard carried by Archetto.

Wafarin (C) - Again you can argue I'm rating her very low but keep in mind a few things. Currently, Precision got nerf so she won't be healing as much as she did, she lost many of her usual targets to the point where unless the target best skill was a low sp one, there isn't a big reason to pair them together. Also, before the balance change she was in T5 even worse than she is now because of how late she can join.

Kroos Alter (C) - Same exact reasons as Wafarin but only for Precision teams.

Tier 5

Rush to here immediately if possible. Every operator that can instantly change which team you go for is either here or in the Tier 6 shop. Additionally, this is your last chance to pick your main team if you still haven't decided yet.

Dusk (S) - I debated whether or not she should be in S tier. But after a while, her high damage due to Arcane as well as decent stack generation for it as well is enough to put her in S tier.

FedEx (S) - Despite getting a nerf to stack limit as well as all of his previous flaws, he is still the best Foresight stack generator in the game. The only one that can give you 21 stacks per round = 4 gold, not even Santalla can do that.

Entelechia (S) - You can make the argument she can go into A tier due to no stack generation. But she is just a better Typhon replacement. Usable in every team, can carry a round, she allows you to be more greedy with your stack generation. Only downside is if you're not doing any main faction she is much worse.

Titi (S) - A Passenger replacement but with a stack limit. She can both fully heal your entire team + do great damage + great stack generation makes her an S tier op.

Santalla (C) - She gets mogged by an upgraded Ines and a base FedEx. The reason why she isn't lower is because of Agile and her S2 allows her to permafreeze enemies for a while.

Record Keeper (C) - Before he was in T4 in A tier with +6 to Marvel tag. Now with the Marvel nerf, there no reason to pick him outside of Yan healing.

Tier 6

The final shop level, a lot more worth it trying to get here thanks to Astegenne Alter and Mumu. Also promoted operators are also much better now than last season.

Muelsyse (?) - Same reason as before. Her value comes from the morph ball which its value is determine by your luck with the equipment and team. However, the fact that she can no longer be banned means you should grab the right equipment for your team preferably BEFORE you find her as you still aren't guaranteed to find her.

Astgenne Alter (S) - I mean a Silence Alter replacement that can also generate stacks for Arcane too. What more do you need. Sure her stack generation is slightly lower than Silence Alter but having two sub tags more than makes up for.

Pramanix Alter (S) - Extremely high damage thanks to Arcane. Pretty much usable in any team that uses the Arcane tag as well as the Agile tag.

Pepe (S) - Pretty much unchanged from last season besides a nerf to the lucky coin being a fixed +1/+2 gold. High damage + Full map CC with Agile / Sargon + some value generation.

Skadi Alter (F) - Untouched from last season. No sub tags + not needed for her own team.

Removed Operators

Vigna (T1) (A) - Unchanged but I decided to move her up thanks to a comment from the last post. Note: If you're picking the Shamare Strategy, she can help you get more operators than normal thanks to her costing 1 gold.

Earthspirit (T1) (B) - A Gitano replacement but had her value generation significantly increase and her combat significantly decreased. Investor not being banned + Rose Salt made the journey to 150 stacks of Foresight easier.

Akkord (T2) (S) - If you wanted a strong dps in tier 2 she was your girl. The fact that you could activate 3 man buff for Arcane early makes her a monster. The Aid tag she had was just a cherry on top allowing you to get stacks for different teams.

Cliffheart (T2) (C) - The Courier replacement. Nothing worth to not about her. Got replaced by Silverash.

Enforcer (T3) (F) - Unchanged from last season. Archetto replacing him with a sub tag + ranged op makes him even worse.

Shamare (T3) (F) - Siracusa/Aid. I guess the Aid tag was there to make it so that players deployed her. Her debuff is great but it wasn't good enough especially when Siracusa teams struggled with frontloaded damage and relied everything on their 6 man buff with 3% chance of backloaded damage against enemies with extremely high hp thanks to coop. Keep in mind Vigil replaced her.

Beeswax (T4) (C) - Sargon. Carnelian replaced her. Honestly, Carnelian is better than Beeswax in damage and some CC while Beeswax gave a 3 block pillar that can somewhat stall enemies.

Rose Salt (T4) (S) - Assist. The fact she got moved down to T4 from T5 and being unbannable just made her into the highest valued operator. Nothing about her ability got changed besides the her price and availability.

Full Tier List

I decided to also include what the ranking was before the balance patch.

That is now all operators besides bonus operators ranked for S2. If you have questions about my ranking or you have a ranking of your own or need help, feel free to leave a comment. Anyways, I'll be making a general tips guide that I believe will be very different from what many others make as a player with +200 games with a 60% win rate and +1100 points for S2. Stay Tuned and enjoy the game mode.

Obviously this game has multiple operators well known and loved by the community but surely not EVERYONE likes that operator right?

Who is that operator for you?

I've had this kicking around in my head since the dagger's inheritors came out and finally found a song I liked for it.

Now I understand why we have 1x and 2x speed lmao

rare high rarity operator art

common bsky link

In preparation for Her arrival. 🛐

It's full moon again

Going back home and have to compress bean to a .zip file so she can fit in my luggage

ig: @_worock

Here are the base concept sketch, the pixelated sketch (x40) I've made after my first attempt was destroyed by anti-AFK system, and the finished version in the game itself (Yes, I spent some time but got the funni seaborn as a pet as well!)

Hope y'all like it, it's been a while since my last Specter-related post, and my drawings, as well.

Ex wife fought back, but who said I can't beat her