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Glossary

Table of Contents

This glossary defines shorthand acronyms and terms that may be used in the guide. It is not meant to be a comprehensive overview of game mechanics, but may give some overview of the terms for clarity.

General & Article Terms and Conventions
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Ceiling
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This isn’t a guide or specific term, but is used in many places when assessing strength and value. It typically refers to the upper limit of viability a unit can reach. As a rudimentary example, Vulpisfoglia has a higher ceiling than Courier. Courier does the basic Pioneer job well enough, but Vulpisfoglia has control, sustain, and generation, so we would say she has a higher ceiling. In the context of this guide, it is typically used to refer to units that have (or lack) the ability to reach a bit higher in potential, justifying higher priority. “Floor” is the opposite, although rarely used here.

Waifu / Husbando
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I probably don’t need to explain to you what these terms are. Google them if you don’t know. This guide tends to use them as shorthand to mean “favorites to the point where you use them over better options.”

Niches
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There’s two ways the word niche tends to be used in Arknights. In this guide, it usually refers to self-limiting teams. For many people, playing only the most powerful units is boring, so some high-end players will begin to do some sort of challenge or theme in their clears. Common examples are 4★s only, Male only, specific race only, 1-tile, and many more. Check arkrec for many of these record clears.

Although uncommon in this guide, “niches” also tends to be used to refer to operators that have a specific role. They do something uncommon really well. This tends to make them poorer for general use, but great when that niche is called for. For example, True Damage is often considered a niche. It is usually inferior DPS-wise to Physical or Arts, but is tremendously valuable when an enemy has a lot of DEF and RES. This guide tends to use the word “situational” instead, to avoid confusion.

RNG
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A typical term in gaming to refer to randomness. It’s typically a bad thing in Arknights, especially if the numbers are low since it results in high variance, especially if you don’t have the patience to attempt a stage multiple times, but some effects are worth the frustration.

QoL
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Quality of life. This is not a game specific term, but generally refers to something whose main purpose is to make life easier as opposed to something performance related.

SYP
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Should You Pull. A section of the main article which discusses whether the banner is worth pulling on.

HG
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Hypergryph, the developer of Arknights. Yostar is the publisher for the global region and is not involved in the development of the game itself (so I can’t blame them for design decisions, no matter how much I want to).

LD
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Lungmen Dragons. The biggest EN Arknights player organization, primarily focused on niche play. I publish the main articles on the LD website as well as Reddit.

Welfare
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Units which can be obtained without gacha pulls. Typically refers to units which are event rewards or available by other means such as red certificates. However, note that recruitment OPs are excluded since they are rare to obtain that way. This guide doesn’t use the term to refer to 3 and 4★s, however note that many are often included in the “Welfare-only” niche (if appropriate). Event Welfare units are available again during the event rerun (approx. 1 year after original run) then permanently via Record Restoration (approx. 2 years after original run).

<Name>2 (ex. Exusiai2)
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This is shorthand typically used to refer to alts. For example, Jessica2 refers to Jessica the Liberated, the alt to the 4* Sniper, Jessica. Within the community, nicknames are common, but not everyone is aware of what they mean, so this guide tries to consistently stick to the “2” nomenclature. Be aware that some alts have different names from their base forms. In this case, either may be used depending on the context, but will usually default to the newer name (ex. Vina instead of Siege2).

prts.wiki
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This is the CN wiki. While it is in a foreign language, it is by far the most comprehensive resource we have. Use it in Chrome and use the “Translate this page” feature. The MTL is usually perfectly legible. The search box can be used using the English operator and stage names.

arkrec
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This is a website that catalogues record clears. It often contains some of the highest skill clears in the game! However, be wary of using it for general evaluations. Niches inherently skew usage numbers and have different valuations than general clears. Also note that all entries are user submitted, so it isn’t comprehensive, as many high-end players don’t submit their clears.

Combat Stats and Effects
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DEF
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Defense. The stat counters Physical damage. It is calculated using subtraction. Final ATK - DEF = Damage dealt (5% of ATK minimum).

RES
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Resistance. This stat counters Arts damage. It is calculated as a percentage. Final ATK * ((100-RES)/100) = Damage dealt (5% of ATK minimum).

DPH
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Damage per hit. DPH is important for Physical damage dealers since higher DPH is needed to overcome higher enemy defense, so hitting harder is usually better than hitting more frequently. DPH does not matter for Arts damage since RES reduces the damage by a percentage, so hitting harder doesn’t help more than hitting more frequently.

DPS
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Damage per second. While a useful general metric, not all DPS is created equal in Arknights, particularly with Physical damage. DPH and enemy DEF will influence what the effective DPS actually is. For example, Marksman Snipers often have high DPS but low DPH, meaning they rarely realize that full DPS value. DPS numbers are usually given against 0 DEF or RES unless explicitly stated otherwise.

HPS
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Healing per second.

DR
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Damage Reduction. DR may apply to different kinds of damage on a case by case basis, including True damage in rare cases. This is usually explicitly stated in the game.

ST
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Single Target. Effects which only target or affect a single target.

MT
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Multi-target. Refers to attacks or effects that hit multiple enemies (or allies), but with a cap on targets.

AoE
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Area of Effect. Refers to attacks or effects that hit multiple enemies (or allies), but with no cap on targets and usually in a small splash radius. However, the term is often used as a general term as well for things that would be considered Multi-Target such as Centurions.

True AoE
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An AoE attack or effect that hits all enemies in range. Typically refers to a full attack range as opposed to a splash radius.

MVSPD
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Movement Speed. This is used as shorthand when referring to effects that directly change an enemy’s movement speed. It usually comes as a percentage decrease. It’s similar to, but different from the Slow keyword. Slow is always -80% and doesn’t stack with other Slow effects, but MVSPD effects do stack, both with Slow and with each other. Movement Speed reduction is sometimes referred to as “snare”.

Attack Interval
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Attack interval is a specific stat which defines the time between attacks. For example, a Marksman has an Attack Interval of 1 second, so they attack every second.

ASPD vs Interval Reduction/Increase
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These are both effects which change the Attack Interval. ASPD does so roughly as a percentage. Interval Reduction meanwhile is a direct change, usually a flat amount applied as addition or subtraction. ASPD is much more common and effects which influence others, such as buffs, are always ASPD. Interval Reduction meanwhile is usually unit specific as part of their skills which only affect themselves.

As a matter of balance, and notable for this guide, for whatever reason HG has tended to make interval reduction much more valuable than ASPD. Many units with interval reduction changes over Mastery have higher grades for this reason. For example, La Pluma’s S2 improves from -40% interval reduction at S2M2 to -50% at S2M3, an amount equivalent to a whopping 33 ASPD! However, this isn’t universally true either, and is less true in more recent units.

You can find more information about the exact mechanics over on the wiki.

Increasing damage dealt vs increasing ATK
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The exact wording of these two will vary depending on the unit (HG has a consistency problem), but there is a significant difference between them with Physical damage. Increasing a unit’s ATK means the calculation is done before enemy DEF. Increasing the damage dealt is done after. This means improvements to damage dealt are less valuable since DEF is already applied, so the starting base value is lower.

However, be aware of some confusing terminology at times. Sometimes a skill will say “deals XXX% of ATK as Physical damage” which is effectively an ATK increase rather than a damage increase. There’s even more nuance here since this case applies after all buffs, but that depth is a bit beyond the scope of this glossary.

DoT
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Damage over time. Effects which deal their damage over a period of time. These are relatively uncommon in Arknights, but do exist. Notable examples include Necrosis burst, Thorns, and Blue Poison.

RES-shred vs RES-ignore
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These unofficial terms refer to ways of bypassing enemy RES, but they are different. RES-shred is generally a debuff which reduces the RES for all attackers (ex. Ifrit’s Talent 1). RES-ignore is generally specific to the attacker rather than a general debuff (ex. CCR-X Module). These can apply to DEF as well (DEF-shred, DEF-ignore) but is less common since it’s usually less valuable.

Elemental Effects
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Elemental Injury
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Refers to the type of damage that fills up the elemental circle, eventually triggering some burst effect. May also be referred to as XXX Damage, where XXX is the type (i.e Necrosis Damage). Elemental Injury is the umbrella term for all types. It is countered by Effect Resistance.

Elemental Damage
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Refers to direct damage dealt to an HP bar. This is similar to Physical Damage or Arts Damage, but is typed Elemental. Elemental is not affected by DEF or RES, so it is often referred to as “pseudo-True Damage”. However, be aware that it is not True Damage and there are some effects that will influence one but not the other such as dodge. It is usually dealt by the burst effect itself or by Primal Casters / Primal Guards. It is countered by Elemental RES.

Unlike Elemental Injury, Elemental Damage is not further typed. The damage dealt by Burn is the same type as the damage dealt by Necrosis. If you see a specific term like “Burn Damage” it is usually referring to Injury instead. But be aware, not everyone uses the terms exactly right all the time and there is a lot of inherent confusion in the mechanic.

Term Confusion
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Due to similarity in terms and an originally confusing translation (it’s confusing in Chinese too), these terms are often confused. I’m guilty of it myself at times as well. I try to be consistent through the guide, but be aware that sometimes mistakes creep in…

Effect Resistance
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This is the official term for an enemy’s defense against Elemental Injury (i.e. RES vs filling the circle).

Elemental RES
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This is the official term for an enemy’s defense against Elemental Damage (i.e. RES vs the resulting real damage).

Burst
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Refers to being under the effect of an elemental status. This is the duration of the effect (when the circle is cooling down). Various unofficial terms have been used over the years and you may encounter terms such as Fallout as well.

NI
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Nervous Impairment, a form of Elemental burst. Unlike Burn and Necrosis, it has a rather long name so is often abbreviated. NI deals 6000 Elemental Damage and inflicts 3 stacks of Paralysis. These stacks each negate one enemy attack and persist even after the burst effect ends.

Elemental Healing
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This is not an official game term, but is used as shorthand to describe the Wandering Medic effect of healing hostile Elemental Injury.

Game Modes
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Convention
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A specific number after a game-mode abbreviation indicates a specific iteration. For example, IS#5 refers to the fifth iteration of Integrated Strategies, Sarkaz’s Furnaceside Fables.

IS
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Integrated Strategies, also known as the roguelike mode. All iterations but the first are permanently available.

RA
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Reclamation Algorithm. There is currently only one iteration permanently available as of this writing, RA#2.

CC
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Contingency Contract. A high difficulty mode where various enemy buffs / unit debuffs are taken to increase the “risk” level. CCs are seasonal and not permanently available. Technically, CC is retired in favor of CCBP, however CC as a general term is still often used to refer to either.

CCBP
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Contingency Contract Battleplan. This is again Contingency Contract as above, but specifically refers to the newer iterations which were renamed and the numbering reset. So CC#4 is not the same as CCBP#4. As with CC, CCBPs are seasonal and not permanently available.

Integrated Strategies
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EM
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Emergency. These are the harder versions of IS stages, and also refer to the alternate version of boss stages.

ED#
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Ending #. Refers to a specific ending in IS. For example, IS#5 ED1 would be Fremont.

SW / BN / FS / GT
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These are sometimes used for difficulty levels in different IS iterations. The name changes in every iteration so this guide avoids using these abbreviations for consistency.

Skills & Modules
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S1 / S2 / S3
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Refers to a specific skill. For example, S1 is a unit’s first skill.

M1 / M2 / M3
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Refers to a specific Mastery level. This and skill numbers above are often combined. For example, S2M2 refers to a unit’s second skill at mastery level two.

SL7
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Skill level 7. This is the highest skill level a unit can have before Mastery is required, so this is often used as a “baseline” reference. These base skill levels are very important and relatively inexpensive, and levels below 7 are only transitory states for newer players, so they are almost never considered in any guides.

Breakpoint
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This is an unofficial term used in the guide which represents a point along Mastery with an above average gain for a low cost. See the grade definition on the front page for more detail. Breakpoint may also be occasionally used in other contexts to represent any point where there’s a large single point of improvement, such as a new trigger threshold for Elemental Injury.

Auto Activation vs Manual Activation
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These two terms refer to ways that a skill can be activated. For Auto Activation, the skill is automatically activated as soon as their SP is full. A valid target may have to be in range as well, depending on the skill. For Manual Activation, the skill is only activated when you manually do it by pressing their skill icon. Generally, if all other aspects are equal, Manual Activation is better due to increased control, but many people prefer Auto Activation for their simplicity.

Auto Recovery vs Offensive Recovery vs Defensive Recovery
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These three terms are the different ways skills can charge. Auto Recovery skills generate automatically passively at a base rate of 1 SP per second. Offensive Recovery skills generate 1 SP per base attack the unit does. Defensive Recovery skills generate 1 SP every time the unit takes a hit from an enemy. Generally, Auto Recovery is best, and frequently Offensive and Defensive Recovery is a large downside. However, this is not universally true either.

Charge-based
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An unofficial term used to describe any skill which can store more than one use or “charge”. Skills which are Manual Activation and also Charge-based tend to be relatively powerful. This is NOT the same thing as the “Charged” effect, which is an official term for skills with two SP bars and more powerful effects.

AFK-skills
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An unofficial term often used to describe skills which require no or minimal interaction to use. They may be infinite duration skills such as Ulpianus’ or Blaze’s S2 or skills which are Auto Activation, such as La Pluma’s S1. AFK-skills are generally popular due to their ease of use, but that often (but not always) comes at the expense of ceiling, so this guide advises against them in many cases.

Helidrop
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The term helidrop can mean different things to different people. This guide usually uses it to refer to a situation where the skill is intended to be used immediately or very shortly after deployment. This is as opposed to needing to be set up in advance. While not universally true, it usually refers to skills with very short, or no initial SP requirements, and require minimal, if any, set up to work.

Uptime
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Specifically refers to a skill’s duration. As of this writing there are no effects that impact a skill’s duration, so uptime is usually just the listed value. There are some exceptions such as ammo-based skills or skills which can be manually deactivated.

Downtime
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Generally corresponds to a skill’s SP cost. However, other factors may influence it so it more specifically refers to the amount of time a skill is not active.

Cycle time
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This refers to the total of the downtime and uptime. Or put another way, the total time from when a unit activates their skill until they’re ready to activate it again. Often useful for understanding how skill rotations lineup, but is also sometimes useful shorthand so write-ups don’t get cumbersome.

Windup time / Initial Windup
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How long it takes a skill to be ready. This is usually just the difference of initial SP to SP cost, but there are sometimes other factors involved too such as the Liberator’s Trait.

Generic Skills
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Most skills in the game are unique to any given operator, but a handful are not. These skills are basic ones, often being just “filler”, especially in older units. I personally loathe them as they represent design laziness. As far as the guide goes, they’re rarely good too. However, there are exceptions such as Swift Strike, Support (Standardbearer S1s), and First Aid. You can usually tell a skill is generic by looking for a Greek letter after it, which varies with rarity. For example, Power Strike γ, however there are exceptions. Some skills are also functionally generic, even if they technically have a unique name.

Mod#
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Shorthand to refer to a Module level. Mod1 would be the base module only. Mod2 and Mod3 would refer to their respective upgrade levels.

ISW-α / RA-α
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These Modules refer to specialized Modules which only work in certain gamemodes. ISW is for Integrated Strategies and RA is for Reclamation Algorithm. They apply to all iterations of their respective gamemode. A unit’s first is denoted with the alpha symbol (α). No unit has a second ISW or RA Module yet, but if it did it would be denoted with the beta symbol (β). You may see them typed as ISW-A, although this guide tries to stick to the Greek symbol.

SO-α / SO-β
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These Modules are Raidian’s Modules and are currently unique. They behave like ISW Modules, but only apply to IS#6. The SO moniker may be generic to reference Modules that only work in specific iterations, but as of this writing we don’t know for sure since Raidian is the only one with them.

Δ
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This symbol represents a delta (Δ) Module (for example, Logos’s CCR-Δ), a special Module units sometimes get with unique effects.

Unit & Archetype Terms
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Class
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Refers to the eight major groups of units. These are Vanguards, Guards, Defenders, Snipers, Casters, Medics, Supporters, and Specialists.

Branch / Archetype
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These terms refer to the specific sub-groups of units within a class. For example Standard Bearers are a Branch within the Vanguard Class. Branch is the official term, but this guide tends to use Archetype simply out of old habit.

Laneholder
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Laneholder is a somewhat nebulous term, but generally refers to a unit that is capable of mostly holding a section of the map on their own or with minimal help. They tend to have balanced DPS and bulk, and often have some form of self-sustain. While not always true, this tends to come at the expense of ceiling.

This guide often refers to laneholders not being the favored solution in the modern meta. This is due to how powerful the average unit is now. With so many powerful burst DPS options, who often have incredible amounts of role-compression built in, laneholders are usually just simply not necessary.

In the first few years “cornerstone” was another common term, including in this guide. It made more sense when there were only about four units who really qualified for the term, but has since fallen out of favor since there are now plentiful options. The term is rarely, if ever, used now.

Cornerstone
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See “Laneholder”. This is a dated term no longer used by most people. You might find it if you happen to come across older versions of this guide.

Musha
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This is the old archetype name for what is currently known as Soloblades. Zuo Le, Hellagur, Utage, and Akafuyu are all examples of this archetype. This guide tries to stick to official terms, so Soloblades is typically used, but may still include Musha for clarity for older or returning players, or for older write-ups that haven’t yet been updated.

Enmity
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Enmity is an umbrella term often used to describe units which cannot be healed through conventional means such as Soloblades, Reapers, or Juggernauts.

Flag(s)
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A shorthand way to refer to Standard Bearers such as Myrtle, Elysium, or Saileach. They were commonly called Flagbearers before the official change to the archetype names and has stuck around in common parlance since it’s shorter.

FRD
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Fast Redeploy. This usually refers specifically to Executors which have the shortest redeployment time, but can often be a catch all for other units with similarly short times like Merchants or Agents, depending on the context.

Medium Redeploy (MRD)
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This refers to units with reduced redeployment times, but who still have times significantly longer than a typical FRD. Typical examples would include April, Skadi with DRE-X, or Heavyshooters with ARC-X. “MRD” is rarely used since they’re less common and not an official game term.

Puller and Pusher
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Unofficial terms used to refer to the Hookmaster and Push Stroker archetypes respectively. These are used because HG chose some real awkward names for the archetypes (Pushers especially) which can make some write-ups clunky and unclear. While official names are used in most cases, these are an exception due to how weird the official names are.

Shifter
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An umbrella term for units whose primary purpose is Shifting enemies around. This is usually only Hookmasters (Pullers) and Push Strokers (Pushers), but in some contexts may include other units who strongly feature Shifting mechanics.

Other
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Effective DP
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A term which describes a net gain in DP costs due to some other mechanic besides providing raw DP. This is typically for Strategists. In addition to generating DP directly, Strategists can also reduce a unit’s DP cost. There are some subtle differences between this and raw DP, so it is often referred to under this term to be more precise.

Celebration / Carnival / Festival
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These three are the official names for the different pools of limited OPs, which surprisingly, some people may not have heard of given they are rarely used in game in visible places. Celebration is the anniversary and half-anniversary OPs. Carnival is the OPs from the summer themed events, which occurs during the summer on CN. Festival is the Sui sibling events, more commonly called CNY, which is when it occurs on CN. Since both sets of names are somewhat flawed given how the times of year don’t match between the servers, both are included for clarity.

Collab
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Short hand for collaboration and refers to units which are part of a collab event. Collab units are rarely, if ever, rerun (it depends on the specific contract of the collab) so collab units are likely unobtainable.