Arknights Endfield Arknights Endfield Jake Skudder 21 January 2026 0 Comments

Arknights Endfield Role and Class Guide – Understanding Each Operator Type

Arknights: Endfield groups Operators into a small set of clear Classes that define their main job: tanking, front‑line damage, burst, support, SP generation, or ranged Arts. Learning what each class actually does in combat makes building balanced, early‑game teams much easier.

Class Overview

Endfield currently has six primary Operator Classes: Defender, Guard, Striker, Supporter, Vanguard, and Caster. Each class leans toward a specific role, with elements and weapons further shaping how they play.

Defender – Frontline and Protection

Defenders are your main frontline, offering high stagger, damage reduction, shields, and emergency healing. They keep enemies off your backline and often provide utility like SP generation or Cryo zones.

Typical job: Soak damage, hold aggro, stabilize the team when bosses or elites push in.
Example: Snowshine is a hybrid Cryo Defender who retaliates with Cryo damage, creates Snow Zones that solidify enemies, and provides strong burst and over‑time healing.

Guard – Melee Physical DPS and Control

Guards focus on close‑range Physical damage and crowd control. They can act as main DPS in Physical teams or help lock down dangerous enemies with stagger.

Typical job: Constant melee damage, stuns or knockbacks, and holding choke points with high DPS.
Example: Physical cores like Endministrator, Ember, Lifeng, and Chen Qianyu form the backbone of many Physical starter teams, stacking Vulnerable and Physical susceptibility while providing frontline damage and survivability.

Striker – Burst DPS and Stagger

Strikers are aggressive frontliners built for burst, stagger, and elemental inflictions. They often consume elemental stacks (Heat, Cryo, etc.) to deliver massive combos or Ultimates.

Typical job: Explode elites/bosses during stagger windows and drive elemental gameplans.
Example:
- Laevatain (Heat Striker) transforms basic attacks into huge Heat chains during Ultimate, stacking Combustion and ignoring resistance at high Melting Flame stacks.
- Last Rite (Cryo Striker/Nachzehrer) builds Cryo stacks then cashes them out with an invulnerable multi‑slash Ultimate, deleting bosses while staying safe.

Supporter – Buffs, Debuffs, and Utility

Supporters exist to make everyone else stronger via buffs, debuffs, and utility effects like Focus or Amplified damage. They are the glue in many meta teams.

Typical job: Apply damage‑amp debuffs, elemental susceptibility, healing, or SP/energy support to keep your carries online.
Example: Antal, a 4★ Electric Supporter, applies Focus that increases Heat/Electric damage taken and detonates Electric explosions when enemies under Focus are hit by status inflictions, while his Ultimate massively buffs Heat/Electric teammates and even heals them through talents.

Vanguard – SP Batteries and Early Pressure

Vanguards generate SP and tempo, letting your team spam skills and Ultimates more often. Many also debuff enemies or deal solid early‑wave damage.

Typical job: Accelerate SP/energy regeneration, provide early field presence, and set up kills for Strikers and Guards.
Example: Pogranichnik is a top‑tier Vanguard who refunds SP, stacks Physical and Breach vulnerability, and acts as a strong sub‑DPS while buffing your main Physical carry.

Caster – Ranged Arts and Elemental Damage

Casters (in Endfield’s terminology) are ranged Arts units who focus on elemental damage types like Nature, Heat, or Electric rather than pure Physical. They apply elemental statuses and exploit resist weaknesses from a safer distance.

Typical job: Deliver Arts/elemental damage from range, apply key inflictions (Corrosion, Cryo, etc.), and enable reaction‑style team synergies.
Example: Ardelia is a Nature Arts Caster/Support hybrid whose kit applies Corrosion, inflicts Physical and Arts susceptibility, and floods the field with Nature‑damage Dollies while healing allies through Talent effects.

Understanding these six Classes, who tanks (Defenders), who brawls (Guards/Strikers), who fuels skills (Vanguards), who buffs/debuffs (Supporters), and who nukes from range (Casters), is the foundation for building balanced, efficient teams in every stage of Arknights: Endfield.