Arknights Beginners Guide – Classes, Sanity, and Your First Squad (September 2026)

Arknights hands you a grid, a squad, and almost no explanation. You place Operators on tiles, block a lane, and watch Reunion troops walk into it. Then the game piles on promotions, certificates, and a stamina bar called Sanity. This Arknights beginners guide strips that down to what a fresh Doctor needs on day one. You get the class roles, the smart way to pull, and the traps that quietly cost you weeks.

Every Arknights Operator Class and What It Does?

Eight classes cover the whole roster. Each one splits further into branches, but the core job never changes.

Class	Tactical Role	Key Strengths	Top Budget Starter
Vanguard	Early-game lane blockers & DP printers	Low DP cost, generates squad points	Myrtle, Courier, Fang
Guard	Melee damage dealers & duelists	High damage, holds isolated lanes	Melantha, Midnight
Defender	High-health armor tanks	Blocks up to 3 enemies, high physical DEF	Cuora, Gummy
Sniper	Ranged physical physical DPS	Targets flying drones first, fast attack speed	Kroos, Shirayuki
Caster	Ranged magic (Arts) damage	Shreds heavy armor, ignores physical DEF	Amiya, Gitano, Steward
Medic	Squad sustain & healing	Keeps frontline blockers alive	Ansel, Perfumer
Supporter	Slows, debuffs, & battlefield control	Decelerates enemy rushes, buffs allies	Orchid, Podenco
Specialist	Utility, displacement, & quick stallers	Pushes/pulls enemies into holes, fast redeploy	Gravel, Shaw, Rope

Vanguards

Vanguards generate DP to fund the rest of your squad. Standard Vanguards (like Fang or Courier) block two enemies and produce points using automatic skills. Flagpipe-style Vanguards (like Myrtle) stop attacking during skill activation to print massive piles of DP instantly. Never start a stage without at least two Vanguards in your roster.

Guards and Defenders

Defenders block up to three enemies at once and soak physical punishment. Guards sit right behind or beside your defenders to dish out raw melee DPS. Duelist guards like Melantha assassinate dangerous rogue casters, while Centurion guards hit every enemy they actively block.

Snipers and Casters

Snipers sit on elevated tiles. Marksman snipers automatically prioritize flying drones, which will end your run if left unchecked. Casters split into single-target and splash variants. Use them whenever shield-bearing enemies walk onto the field.

Medics, Supporters, and Specialists

Medics keep your blockers standing. Single-target medics offer long-range bursts of healing, while multi-target medics heal three allies at once. Specialists manipulate the map itself. Units like Shaw and Rope shove dangerous heavy hitters directly into death pits for instant kills. Fast-redeploy specialists like Gravel act as disposable meat shields to absorb high-damage boss sniper shots.

How to Build Your First Arknights Squad?

Aim for a core of roughly a dozen Operators. Spreading resources across forty units is the fastest way to stall.

A safe early spread looks like this. Two Vanguards, two Defenders, two Snipers, one or two Casters, two Medics, and a Guard. Leave one slot free for whatever a map demands.

Low rarity units carry real weight here. A 3★ costs less LMD to raise, less DP to deploy, and reaches max level quickly. Kroos, Melantha, Hibiscus, and Ansel clear early story without complaint. Plenty of veterans still field 4★ units like Myrtle in serious content.

Amiya joins you for free as a 5★ Caster. She is not a trap. Raise her, because Arts damage solves armored enemies your Snipers cannot dent.

The Best Low-Rarity MVP Operators to Use Early On

1. Kroos (3★ Sniper): The undisputed queen of budget physical damage. Her skill fires multiple bursts, shredding early waves and flying drones for a bargain DP cost.
2. Melantha (3★ Guard): Boasts massive raw HP and attack power. Drop her right on top of enemy boss casters to eliminate them before they reach your front line.
3. Cuora (4★ Defender): A budget defensive monster. Activating her second skill raises her defense sky-high and increases her block count from three to four.
4. Myrtle (4★ Vanguard): One of the best DP generators in the entire game. She remains a permanent staple in endgame tournament squads. Promote her to Elite 2 early.
5. Gravel (4★ Specialist): Costs almost nothing to deploy and recovers in seconds. Drop her into enemy fire to soak lethal boss attacks, retreat her, and repeat.
6. Perfumer (4★ Medic): Heals three allies at once within her grid. Her passive talent restores a flat percentage of health to all squad members globally, even units deployed far outside normal medic range.

How Headhunting and Recruitment Work in Arknights?

Two systems hand you Operators, and they work nothing alike.

The Beginner Headhunting Banner

New accounts get access to a discounted starter banner. This banner guarantees at least one six-star operator within your first 20 pulls at a 20% discount (spending 8 pulls of currency for a 10-pull batch).

Notable starter six-stars include:

• SilverAsh: A powerhouse guard who unlocks the legendary “Truesilver Slash” at Elite 2.
• Thorns: An indestructible ranged guard who solos entire lanes once his skill charges.
• Eyjafjalla: A volcano of pure Arts destruction who deletes crowded chokepoints.
• Mountain: An ultra-cheap brawler who heals himself and holds whole paths alone.

Recruitment: Free Top-Tier Operators

Recruitment costs zero premium currency. You spend one Recruitment Permit and a few hundred LMD, pick up to three descriptive tags, and set a countdown timer.

• Always set your recruitment timer to 9:00 hours. Setting it to 9 hours minimizes the chance that your selected tags drop off during the search.
• Watch for rare tags: Senior Operator guarantees a five-star unit, while Top Operator guarantees a six-star unit.
• Never let a Top Operator tag expire without locking it in at 9:00 hours. Tag combinations like “Top Operator + Melee” or “Top Operator + DPS” lock down specific six-star carries without spending a dime.

Core Combat Rules Every Arknights Player Must Master

Positioning mistakes end missions faster than under-leveled units. Before spending resources on upgrades, you must understand the core rules that govern every map.

1. Deployment Points (DP) and Cadence

Every operator costs Deployment Points (DP) to place onto the map. DP regenerates passively over time on standard maps, but tough challenge stages slow this gain down to a crawl. If your team costs too much DP, fast-moving enemies will slip past before you place a single defender.

2. The Facing Direction Trap

When you drop an operator onto an open grid tile, you must drag your finger to choose which direction they face. Operators only attack enemies and heal allies within their highlighted attack range. You cannot rotate an operator once they land. If you aim a sniper in the wrong direction, you must retreat them, wait out their redeployment timer, and pay increased DP to drop them back down.

3. The Target Priority Rule (Aggro)

Ranged enemies do not target characters randomly. Enemy casters and snipers always attack the most recently deployed operator within their firing range.

• Drop your frail snipers and casters onto high ground first.
• Drop your healers second to cover incoming splash damage.
• Drop your high-health defenders and guards last.

Because your tank lands last, enemy archers and drones lock onto them, leaving your fragile damage dealers completely safe.

4. Physical Damage vs. Arts Damage

Arknights calculates damage through two simple mathematical checks:

• Physical Damage vs. Defense (DEF): Damage dealt equals Raw Attack minus Flat Defense (ATK – DEF). If an enemy has 600 DEF and your sniper hits for 650 ATK, you only deal a measly 50 damage per shot.
• Arts Damage vs. Resistance (RES): RES works on a flat percentage reduction. If an enemy has 30 RES, they take 30% less Arts damage.

Against heavy armored bruisers, physical snipers will ping off them for minimum damage. Swap in an Arts caster, and that armor melts in seconds.

• Camp Expansion increases training batch size rather than training speed. Grab the first tiers to unlock what sits below it, then leave it alone. Later levels cost weeks for a benefit you will barely notice.
• Late Tooling Up tiers lose value once your buildings are mostly maxed and your build queue starts idling. Unfinished construction can also be saved as event scoring fuel.
• Most output skills, unless you are running a dedicated farm account.
• Deep class-specific attack and defense nodes, at least until lethality and health are handled across your main troop types

Sanity Is the Real Arknights Currency

Sanity refills one point every six minutes. That works out to ten per hour and caps at 135 once your Doctor level is high. Roughly 240 points pass through your account daily, and that number decides your progress speed.

One habit doubles your early gains. Levelling up refills Sanity to full, so burn your bar down before the bar fills. Spend it low, hit the level, and collect a free top-up.

Your weekly income breaks down like this:

• Daily missions pay 100 Orundum each day.
• Weekly missions add 500 more.
• Annihilation pays up to 1,800 per week once you unlock the higher caps.

Annihilation deserves a warning. Automatic DP generation switches off there, so Vanguards are your only income. Runs push up to 400 enemies, and rewards scale with your kill count. Clear it once properly, then let Auto Deploy repeat the run every week.

Speaking of which, Auto Deploy unlocks after a three star clear without a borrowed Support Unit. That single rule is worth remembering before you lean on a friend’s 6★.

Upgrade Priority in Arknights: Promotions, Skills, and Modules

Levels are the cheap part. Everything after that eats materials.

Elite 1 raises the level ceiling and opens a second skill. Elite 2 costs far more, adds a third skill on most 6★ units, and boosts talents. Skill levels one through seven use shared materials and apply to every skill at once. Mastery ranks come after Elite 2 and target a single skill.

Modules sit behind Elite 2 plus a level requirement, so ignore them for now.

Here is the order that works for a new account:

1. Push a small squad to Elite 1 and level them properly.
2. Raise skill levels to seven, since that upgrade is cheap and hits everything.
3. Promote one strong Vanguard and one healer to Elite 2 before any flashy carry.
4. Chase Mastery only after your story progress stops moving.

Trust quietly helps too. Deploying an Operator in battle or in your base builds Trust, and high Trust grants permanent stat bonuses. Free stats beat almost anything else you can farm.

Setting Up Your Arknights RIIC Base for Passive Cash

Do not ignore your base. The Rhodes Island Infrastructure Complex (RIIC) generates massive amounts of daily LMD and EXP Battle Records while you sleep. A well-managed base provides more daily progression value than burning all your stamina on farming stages.

Standard Base Layouts (2-4-3 vs. 2-5-2)

The most common beginner-friendly base setup is the 2-4-3 formation:

• 2 Power Plants: Provides clean electricity to power all facilities.
• 4 Factories: Produces Pure Gold bars and Battle Record EXP tapes.
• 3 Trading Posts: Sells produced gold bars to trade partners for free LMD.

Advanced min-maxers sometimes run a 2-5-2 layout for slightly higher output, but a 2-4-3 layout is much easier to manage without constantly stressing over operator morale.

Managing Facility Morale

Operators placed inside working rooms burn through their morale bar. Once their morale hits zero, their production bonuses shut off entirely. Rotate tired workers into your Dormitories to rest. Build comfortable furniture inside your dorms to raise the room ambiance, which speeds up morale recovery rates dramatically.

Top Arknights Beginners Tips to Beat Hard Stages

Progression in Arknights demands patience and map awareness. Apply these practical Arknights Beginners tips to save sanity and push through difficult bosses:

1. Burn Practice Plans Before Real Sanity: Every map allows you to run practice drills using free daily drill plans. If a stage looks tricky, run it in practice mode first. Failing a real stage refunds most of your Sanity, but failing challenge modes penalizes half your spent stamina.
2. Never Level Operators Beyond Elite 2 Level 40 Early On: Promoting a unit to Elite 2 unlocks their ultimate third skill and upgraded talents. However, leveling an operator from E2 Level 40 up to Level 90 costs an obscene amount of LMD and EXP for minimal stat gains. Leave them at E2 Level 30–40 and spend those resources promoting other squad members instead.
3. Cap Your Weekly Annihilation Runs: Annihilation stages reward up to 1,800 free Orundum every single week. Unlock higher Annihilation tiers as soon as your squad levels allow. Once you clear a map with a perfect 400/400 kill count, use skip tickets or auto-deploy to claim your weekly gacha funds in minutes.
4. Borrow High-End Support Units: Stuck on an impossible story boss? Tap the “Support Unit” tab before starting a stage and borrow a maxed-out Elite 2 unit from another player. A borrowed carry like Surtr, Młynar, or Wis’adel can blow past roadblocks while you upgrade your own core team.
5. Keep Your Originite Prime for Outfits or Smart Refills: Originite Prime (OP) is the game’s premium currency awarded for clearing stages with a 3-star rating. Do not convert OP directly into Orundum unless you never plan to buy cosmetic skins. Outfits can only be purchased using raw OP.