[ Guide ] Arknights: Preparing for Contingency Contract #0: Operation Barrenland

Confusing naming conventions aside, the next iteration of Arknights Contingency Contract event is coming soon in mid-September! As with the previous CC, there are certain Operators who would be extremely useful in tackling what you can call end-game content. This guide will cover the Operators used for the permanent map only. Once again, you need to only reach the maximum of Risk 18 for maximum rewards.

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THE MAP

This map – dubbed Shattered Avenue – is special in that it has the heat pump tiles that will deal pure damage (ignores defense/resistance) to enemies walking on it. It does suffer from some randomness, but overall, it allows for certain strategies that lets players work off lower level requirements. Notice the single yellow high tile on the bottom lane: that will be coming into play for said low level strategies, for Push Specialists.

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VANGUARDS

MYRTLE

This little lady has earned her crown as the premier DP generator, and easily makes any lower DP regeneration contract a cinch. She does have the disadvantage of not being able to block while she’s providing DP, so you would prefer to pair her with another Vanguard if you need to stop the first wave.

COURIER

An easy to raise Vanguard, Courier is a choice for stalling strategies thanks to his defensive slant. He’ll be there to hold the line if you lack anyone else.

ZIMA

Similar to Courier, she also has a more defensive slant and benefits from more stats due to being a 5-star unit. At Elite 2 promotion, she also reduces the DP cost for all other Vanguards you have in the squad if you happen to bring more than one.

SIEGE

The VanGUARD returns to shine in another iteration of Contingency Contract, providing the DPS with either her Skill 2 or Skill 3. She won’t be used to stall, but if you need extra damage, she’s your girl.

NINO BAGPIPE

Expected with the arrival of Barrenland, Bagpipe is a premier VanGUARD many would consider game-changing, due to how much damage she can deal. As you might expect from such a description, she’s a DPS unit, capable of incredible burst. Her Elite 2 talent event boosts the starting SP for all Vanguard skills in her squad, allowing them to use their skills – including herself – much faster.

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GUARDS

BLAZE

Blaze will either be your rock-steady DPS or burst. Her most commonly equipped skill will be her second at Mastery 3, for consistent DPS and its ability to extend her range by one-tile, earning her a nickname of “Wall-hacker”. Her Skill 2 also grants her increased ATK and DEF, churning through even the toughest foes like butter with her chainsaw. Being an AoE guard, she shines at Elite 2 when her block count – therefore the number of units she can hit – increases from 2 to 3. Otherwise, her Skill 3 charges up to deal AoE damage in a 3 by 3 area at the cost of 25% HP.

She’s incredibly resilient; her Talents enabling her to cheat death once when hit below 25% HP, and getting 50% status resist (e.g. stun).

CH’EN

Once again, Ch’en is most likely to be used for her burst damage with her Skill 2 at Mastery 3 – where she can use it immediately upon deployment.

HELLAGUR

Reprising a similar role from the previous Contingency Contract, Hellagur can be used to block specific enemies, namely enemy Mages. With his Skill 2, he can also be used to take down other dangerous foes provided the physical dodge from it activates.

SILVERASH

SilverAsh also takes up the mantle of being the deploy-and-retreat DPS with his Skill 3. His talent of revealing invisible enemies can also see more use in this round of Contingency Contract, but if you’re immediately retreating him, then it won’t be too high impact. His Talent of reducing redeployment cooldown will still be useful, of course.

SKADI

Outshone by Hellagur in regards to mage assassination due to lack of staying power, Skadi is nonetheless used with her Skill 2 to drop and take out squishier units with her brief burst of power. She doesn’t have the self sustain that the old man has, but she’ll do the job the best she can. Reducing her own redeployment time on Elite 2 is an added bonus.

LAPPLAND

Exploding spiders are added with this round of CC, so her silence ability – 5 seconds at Elite 2 promotion – can shine. With her Skill 2 active, she’ll be dealing Arts damage as well to high defense enemies.

SPECTER

The nun breaks out her chainsaw once more with her Skill 2. She’s a different kind of durable compared to Blaze, who still will go down since her Talent only activates once, while hers will last as long as the skill is active. Handy for especially dangerous enemies to deal damage before she gets stunned.

UTAGE

Bannermate with Bagpipe, she is a 4-star variant of Hellagur. Her Skill 2 will let her reach critical mass DPS faster than Hellagur and deals Arts damage to boot, but her rarity can hamstring her full potential in regards to pure stats. Since Hellagur is used to snipe mages, her Skill 2 changing her damage type would see her be less effective against them due to their higher resistance.

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SNIPERS

EXUSIAI

With some lightly armoured units – i.e. exploding spiders – coming with this iteration of CC, Exusiai has time to shine by taking them out. If you are able to buff her, she’d be able to shred even more heavily armoured units! That’d require you to build your team around her, but if you love her, you’d do it.

SCHWARZ

A sniper who shreds armour? Look no further than the swimsuit panther. Again, the usual caveat of knowing where to place her applies.

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DEFENDERS

HOSHIGUMA

The ever present stalwart defender, Hoshiguma’s talent could see her dodge death to survive long enough to get healed. Either her Skill 2 or Skill 3 may be used, with the saw of death providing more DPS and a sharp boost of DEF when the big guys come.

NIAN

If you managed to score this lazy lass during her limited banner, she’ll help beef up defense even more by increasing DEF and Block Count with her Skill 3 to hold the enemies back, leaving them on the burning tiles.

SARIA

Boasting a whopping 98.38% use rate for this edition of CC, Saria is, as always, a massive enabler for strategies with her sheer utility as a Healing Defender. Her Skill 1 is most likely to be used here in strategies manipulating the heat pumps, to heal the primary Defender.

NEARL

If you have Saria, you might not use Nearl, but strategies also use them together. With Nearl’s improved Talent at Elite 2 promotion, every bit of extra healing could prove the difference between a scuffed run or a successful one.

GUMMY

As a Healing Defender, her sole job is to keep the party around her alive. Her Skill 1 heal doesn’t require the unit to be below 50% health, but she might end up burning charges unnecessarily, and her Skill 2 might take too long to recharge. Still, that frying pan is a fearsome one if you know where to put her.

CUORA

As always, if you just need a solid wall, Cuora’s your gal. Nobody can go wrong raising Cuora.

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MEDICS

Once again, with the availability of Healing Defenders, Medics tend to be the first to get cut. The original write-up on them for the first run of Contingency Contract still applies.

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SUPPORTERS

MAGALLAN

With her Skill 1, this penguin is probably the biggest key to success in stalling enemies. Due to her eating up deployment slots with her drones – as with every Summon-type Supporter – and needing to find deployment spots to fully utilize any of her 3 types of drones, she might not be finding as great a success in this run compared to the previous, but she deserves a mention after being skipped the previous time.

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CASTERS

CEOBE

Expected prior to Bagpipe’s banner, this feral dog’s skill 2 has been put to the test in more recent runs of Contingency Contract. For this one in specific, with the ever present high armour enemies and her incredible attack speed, her Skill 2 – along with her Talent of dealing more Arts damage the higher an enemy’s defense – she could be key to shredding the big guys to ribbons.

IFRIT

This firestarter’s unusual, straight-line range makes her a unit for special occasions, which she just might get more of this CC. With Ifrit’s Talent of reducing resistance of enemies within her range, she could clinch out Arts-heavy compositions if you play your cards right.

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SPECIALISTS

While this tile did appear in the previous Contingency Contract, most probably overlooked it: it’s often locked out if you used a ground-based strategy,and ranged units other than Push specialists would likely be occupying this spot instead. This time, it plays an important role in a specific strategy for Shattered Avenue in particular, discussed further below.

CLIFFHEART

Pull specialists now get their chance to shine. In Cliffheart’s case, she’s used in strategies to pull in enemies into the heat pump tiles. Her Skill 2 is used in this case, which also briefly stuns enemies while dealing damage – which ignores defense and resistance – so she can deal both her own damage while “resetting” enemy attack animations. At Mastery 1, she can pull in 3 enemies instead of 2.

While Snowsant and Rope exist, Cliffheart can be considered a superior choice especially for her stun.

FEATER

With her pushing power increased by being on the above described tile, having just her Skill 1 equipped will do the job. She also needs to push more consistently, rather than having a manual trigger push.

MANTICORE

Just like the previous CC, she’ll often be used in conjunction with Ethan to slow down enemies should you be utilizing a stalling strategy. Her Skill 1 remains the one to use.

PROJEKT RED

Red’s job this time is to stun enemies on the heat pump tiles, hence the use of her Skill 2. She does some damage to go with it too, before she’d probably get instantly evaporated from the tiles.

ETHAN

With his Skill 2, he could work to bind enemies onto the heat pump tiles. His Talent is still random, hence paired with Manticore for more effective crowd control.

GRAVEL

More tanky than Red thanks to her Skill 2, she’ll be able to hold back enemies on the heat pump tiles for that little longer, though unlike Red, she won’t be thrown directly onto the tiles due to her lack of stuns.

SHAW

Rap god extraordinaire returns to do her Push job, occupying the same tile as FEater will. You will most likely only be using either of them, not both.

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A STRATEGY

Arknights allows for many strategies to be used, should you know which Operator to raise and use. Here’s an example strategy this guide has been alluding to:

The red spot is part of the “splitboxing” strategy: where an enemy’s position is between two tiles. Placing a Fast-Redeploy here will block one enemy which will be both on the heat pump tile, and the regular tile. It will still take damage from the heat pump tile when it activates, while taking off the heat (hah) off your Defenders. “Split-boxing” is typically saved for the exploding spiders.

The higher level your Operators, the arguably easier time you will have with the event, but if you play your cards right, even your 3-star Operators can bring you to victory. This is merely one strategy you can use, and you don’t even need to rush it in the first week.

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EVERYTHING ELSE

The shop is expected to have an event Operator, the 5-star Guard, Bibeak.

She has a similar archetype as Ch’en, as she hits twice with every attack. In return, she has lower base damage, but her Skill 2 can hold up to 3 charges, deals Arts damage as well as briefly stuns. A stunning display!

Clearing out the limited shop is recommended, as always. For those who missed out on Amiya’s Newspaper Girl outfit, it should be returning with the event shop. The shop will also have infinite quantities of Orirock Clusters which every Operator seems to need, or Coagulating Gel if you need them, so that could be where the rest of your currency will go to.

Permanent maps will get rotated in as daily maps, so these Operators will still be valid choices when the time comes.

Good luck, have fun!

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