If you’ve spent hours grinding stages in the original Arknights and were hyped for the open-world spinoff announcement, you’ve probably already scoured every trailer for looks at Arknights Endfield girls. I got access to the recent closed beta test, and spent nearly 40 hours testing every playable female character, running through side quests, and wiping way too many times against the first world boss while testing weird team comps. Most new players make the mistake of picking characters based solely on design, but there’s a ton of nuance to how each unit fits into different playstyles, whether you prefer exploring the open world or tackling endgame challenge rifts. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to pick the right units for your roster without wasting rare upgrade materials on bad fits for your playstyle.
Key Roles Arknights Endfield Girls Fill in Every Team Comp
Every viable team in Endfield is built around three core roles, and female characters make up the majority of top-tier units for every single one. You don’t need a unit for every niche, but you will need at least one strong unit for each core role to avoid constant party wipes. Let’s break down what each role does, and what to look for when picking a unit for your team.
Defender Tanks are your frontline units, built to absorb massive amounts of damage for the rest of your party. Unlike the original Arknights, Endfield’s combat is real-time, so you’ll need a tank that can hold aggro against multiple enemies at once, especially when you’re clearing out large enemy camps in the open world. The best tanks also have secondary perks, like elemental resistance buffs for the whole party or small damage reflection effects.
Elemental DPS Units are the core of your team’s damage output, since Endfield’s combat revolves heavily around elemental reactions. Matching the right elemental DPS to the enemies you’re fighting will cut clear times in half, even if your unit is a lower rarity. For example, a 4-star ice DPS unit will deal 3x more damage to fire-type world bosses than a 5-star fire DPS unit, so don’t sleep on matching elemental weaknesses.
Utility and Support Units handle healing, party buffs, debuffs, and even exploration perks that make traversing the open world far less tedious. A lot of new players skip building support units early on to focus on DPS, but a good support will make your entire team far more effective than adding a second DPS would.
After testing dozens of team comps during the beta, these are the three most common mistakes new players make with role selection:
Hidden Lore Easter Eggs Tied to Playable Female Characters
One of the biggest surprises for long-time Arknights fans in Endfield is how many small, easy-to-miss references to the original game are tied to playable female characters. You’ll miss almost all of these if you rush through the main story and skip side quests, so it’s worth slowing down to read character dialogue and explore hidden areas off the main path.
The Perlica character, your default assistant at the start of the game, has a small, barely visible marking on her wrist that matches the official Rhodes Island logo from the original Arknights. If you complete her first personal side quest, you’ll find a hidden research log that mentions a “doctor with amnesia” leading a medical relief organization off-world, which is a direct nod to the original game’s protagonist. I didn’t notice this detail on my first playthrough, and it changes a lot of assumptions about how Endfield ties to the original Arknights timeline.
Other characters have smaller, more lighthearted references too. The fire DPS unit Li Xia has a line about missing “good Sichuan food from home” that’s a reference to a similar line her original Arknights counterpart says in a limited time event. Even common NPCs will drop small hints about the larger Arknights universe if you take the time to talk to them in towns and outposts.
Completing character personal quests also unlocks exclusive upgrade materials and skins you can’t get anywhere else, so they’re not just for lore fans. The first personal quest for Perlica unlocks a 10% healing buff for her that makes her viable all the way through endgame content, so it’s worth completing as soon as it unlocks at level 15.
Best Arknights Endfield Girls for New Players to Prioritize
You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on premium pulls to get a strong, viable team. Some of the best early and mid-game units are either free, or available from the standard permanent banner that you get free pulls for every day. I ran a full team of these units through 90% of the beta content with no issues, so don’t feel pressured to pull for limited banner units right away.
Perlica is the free 4-star healer you get at the very start of the game, and she’s better than nearly every 5-star healer for general play. Her healing skill scales with her attack stat, so you don’t have to waste rare defensive upgrade materials on her to make her effective. Her ultimate skill also heals the entire party for 70% of their max HP and gives them a 20% damage resistance buff for 10 seconds, which is a lifesaver against world boss AoE attacks.
Li Xia is a free 4-star fire DPS unit you unlock after completing the third main story arc, and she’s perfect for clearing out large groups of overworld enemies fast. Her elemental burst deals massive AoE fire damage that can wipe out entire enemy camps in one hit, which cuts down on farming time for upgrade materials massively. She also has a passive skill that increases the party’s running speed by 15% when she’s in your active party, which makes exploring the open world far faster.
Valeria is a 5-star defender tank available from the standard banner, and she’s the best tank in the game for general play. Her shield skill absorbs 120% of her max HP in damage, and reflects 20% of that damage back to enemies attacking her. She also has a passive that increases the whole party’s elemental resistance by 10% when she’s on the field, which makes fighting elemental bosses far easier. You’ll get enough free standard pulls in the first two weeks of play to have a 70% chance of unlocking her, so don’t waste premium currency on trying to get her early.
Once you have these three units fully upgraded, you can start pulling for limited banner units that fit your playstyle. You don’t need any other units to clear the entire main story and most mid-game challenge content, so don’t waste resources pulling for random 5-stars before you have this core team set up.
Common Misconceptions About Arknights Endfield Female Characters Debunked
I’ve seen a ton of bad advice floating around social media from players who only watched trailers and didn’t play the beta, so I want to clear up the most common myths that lead to new players wasting resources and making avoidable mistakes. A lot of these myths come from people assuming Endfield plays exactly like the original Arknights, which it definitely doesn’t.
The most common myth I see is that lower rarity units are useless once you get 5-star units. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Many 3 and 4-star units have unique utility skills that no 5-star unit has, like the 3-star support unit Momo, who can generate 20% extra stamina for the whole party when you’re exploring. No 5-star support unit has that perk, so Momo stays in my exploration party even now that I have every 5-star support in the game.
Another big myth is that you have to build characters exactly the way tier lists say to make them viable. The game’s upgrade system is incredibly flexible, so you can build a healer to deal supplemental DPS if that fits your playstyle, or build a tank to have higher elemental damage if you’re fighting enemies with weak physical defense. The only time you need to follow a strict build guide is if you’re trying to clear the highest difficulty challenge rifts, which are entirely optional endgame content.
I’ve also seen a lot of people claim that limited banner units are always better than standard banner units. Most limited units are designed for very specific team comps, and they’ll underperform heavily if you don’t have the right support units to pair them with. I’ve seen so many new players waste 100+ pulls on a limited banner just because a tier list said the character is S-tier, only to realize they don’t have the support units to make them work, and end up stuck with a roster that can’t clear even basic story stages.
At the end of the day, the best Arknights Endfield girls for your roster are the ones that fit your personal playstyle, whether you care more about exploring the open world, beating tough bosses, or collecting characters with interesting backstories. Don’t let tier lists pressure you into pulling for characters you don’t actually like, since you’ll be spending dozens of hours running around the world with them. If you take the time to test out different units and experiment with team comps, you’ll find a setup that works perfectly for you without wasting any rare resources. If you have a favorite character that you think is underrated, drop a comment below to share your build tips with other players.