Starting Arknights: Endfield feels like landing on an alien planet with a manual written in another language. You've got combat systems, factory automation, resource nodes, and gacha mechanics all competing for attention. Here's the thing: the game actually wants you to succeed, but it throws everything at you simultaneously during those first few hours.
This guide cuts through the noise. You'll learn exactly what matters during your opening sessions, which systems to prioritize, and—most importantly—what you can safely ignore until later. Let's get you moving efficiently on Talos-II.
Why Your First Two Hours Feel Overwhelming
The opening sequence deliberately gates your progression. You're learning movement, combat basics, and exploration mechanics while the story unfolds. This isn't wasted time. Around the two-hour mark, you'll cross a major bridge that unlocks daily systems, and that's when real progression begins.
Tip
Don't try optimizing during the tutorial phase. Focus on understanding combat flow and movement mechanics instead.
Until dailies unlock, treat everything as onboarding. The Arknights Endfield Ps5 Release Date announcement brought massive attention to this title, and new players often rush through early content trying to "catch up" to veterans. You don't need to.
Main story progression screen
What Drives Account Progression
Account level (authorization level) controls everything meaningful in Endfield. It gates story chapters, equipment blueprints, and premium currency sources. Here's what feeds that progression:
Dailies become your backbone. Once unlocked, they provide consistent account EXP, premium currency, and materials. Even brief login sessions that complete a few dailies keep your account moving forward. What most players miss is that dailies alone provide more daily EXP than random farming stages during early progression.
The Value of Exploration
Waypoints grant EXP and expand fast travel options. SOS puzzles reward both EXP and premium currency for minimal effort. Chests provide EXP scaling with rarity. You'll naturally accumulate all three while exploring, making aimless wandering surprisingly efficient.
Important
New waypoints unlock fast travel points that save massive time later. Prioritize discovering them over farming materials early.
Waypoint unlock rewards
Combat Systems You Need to Master
Combat in Endfield runs in real-time with your full squad active simultaneously. You control one operator while AI handles the others, but you can trigger any character's skills without switching control.
The SP Economy
Your team shares a pool of 3 Skill Points that regenerate slowly. You can accelerate SP gain through:
- Landing killing blows on enemies
- Executing perfect dodges
- Maintaining extended combos
Animation canceling matters. Many operators have heavy attacks at the end of basic combos that deal solid damage but leave you vulnerable. Hit the dodge or skill button immediately after the heavy attack connects. You'll cancel the recovery animation while keeping the damage output.
Chain Attacks Are Free Damage
Chain attacks cost zero SP, can't be interrupted, and deal significant damage. Use them on cooldown. They're essentially free cinematic finishers that keep your damage output consistent between major skill rotations.
Pro tip: Background skills let you trigger abilities from non-controlled characters instantly. You don't need to swap to them first.
Building Teams: Two Fundamental Approaches
You manage four operators, and success depends on team synergy. Two distinct strategies dominate early gameplay.
Arts (Elemental) Teams
This approach revolves around five elements: Physical, Heat, Electric, Cryo, and Nature. Using the same element twice triggers Arts Burst for massive damage. Mixing different elements creates Arts Reactions that freeze, shock, or apply damage over time.
Physical Teams
Physical teams focus on Vulnerable stacks instead of elements. You lift or knock down enemies to build Vulnerable, then consume those stacks with Crush or Breach abilities for burst damage and quick enemy elimination.
Both approaches work. Pick based on which operators you pull and which playstyle feels better.
Resource Gathering T
Gather spots scattered across Talos-II provide small EXP amounts and materials. Individually they seem insignificant, but they compound fast. More importantly, time-gated materials for breakthroughs and skills spawn at specific locations and respawn every few hours.
Start collecting early. Manual gathering beats the growth chamber for efficiency during early progression. The growth chamber produces these materials slowly and inefficiently until you upgrade it significantly.
What Your AI Teammates Can Do
Your AI squad members automatically gather resources, but only after you've collected that resource type once manually. The first time you see a new plant or mineral, grab it yourself. After that, your team handles it automatically during exploration.
Character Progression
You don't need to build everyone immediately. Focus on a small core team during early progression.
Cheap Early Power Spikes
Leveling Endministrator, Chen Qianyu, and Pearl to level 20 costs minimal resources and provides significant power increases. This helps you handle mini-bosses, open guarded chests, and access harder exploration areas.
The Level 60 Milestone
Level 60 unlocks gold equipment—the strongest gear tier in the game. Character growth involves breaking level caps at 20, 40, 60, and beyond using specific materials.
Stats matter more than set bonuses early. New players obsess over wearing four pieces of matching gear for set bonuses. That's a mistake. Match gear to your operator's primary scaling stat (strength, intelligence, etc.) first. Set bonuses come later when you have more options.
Time-Gated Materials
Breakthroughs and skill upgrades require materials that respawn slowly at specific gather spots. Start collecting them immediately, even if you don't need them yet. Future bottlenecks happen when multiple characters need identical materials simultaneously.
Premium Currency: Where to Spend and What to Avoid
Endfield's premium currency (orundum and originium) has extreme value in small amounts. You'll earn it from exploration, one-time collectibles, and activities.
One-Time Collectibles
Scattered across the overworld, these turn in at waypoints for:
- Account EXP
- Crafting materials
- Premium currency
They're part of natural exploration flow. Don't ignore them.
Battle Pass Value
The second battle pass lane costs premium currency but returns more than it costs when fully completed. For consistent players, it's effectively self-sustaining.
What not to spend on: Mindless stamina refreshes early. Premium currency has far better long-term value in progression systems rather than short-term convenience.
Understanding the Headhunting System
Headhunting is Endfield's gacha system for acquiring operators and weapons.
Banner Types
New Horizons is the beginner banner requiring only 40 pulls for a guaranteed 6-star character and weapon selector. Complete this first.
Chartered Banners feature specific operators. If you miss the featured character on your first 6-star pull, the next one guarantees them.
Arsenal Exchange handles top-tier weapons. You receive special tickets from character pulls. Every 4 tickets guarantees a 6-star weapon (25% chance for featured). At 8 attempts, you're guaranteed the featured weapon. You can also purchase specific weapons directly.
Info
The Most Anticipated Video Games Releasing In 2026 coverage highlighted Endfield's generous beginner rewards compared to similar titles.materials for upgrading ship chambers. Upgrading chambers early improves passive progression significantly.
Begin Your Journey on Talos-II
Arknights: Endfield rewards consistency, exploration, and smart planning over rushing content. Focus on dailies, account EXP sources, early exploration infrastructure, and careful resource management. You'll progress smoothly without stress.
The game appears on multiple lists Arknights: Endfield among games for good reason—it respects your time while offering depth for those who want it. Play at your own pace, enjoy the world, and let systems unfold naturally. Optimization helps, but fun comes first.