Gamers love to flex their free-to-play status especially when they strike gold in gacha rolls. But recklessly relying on RNG can be a damaging endeavor especially when Lady Luck frowns upon you. You’d also have to contend with the fact that you need to save up the free Orundums and Headhunt permits before hitting that Rate-up Banner. It can be pretty exciting to get the latest characters or all the five stars. But such liberties aren’t available to F2P players.
You need to strategize when and which operators to get to make the best possible team. A great team can take you to clear challenging levels that offer more rewards in return. So in this article, we’ll discuss how you can effectively manage your gacha rolls as an F2P player. If done right, you’d have the best operators at your disposal in no time.
Recruiting The Best Operators Takes Time
First things first, there are two ways to get operators: Recruit and Headhunt. Recruit is the least risky way to pull for Operators, however, the rates for getting SSR are lower than Headhunt. You only need a few LMDs and a Recruitment Permit to fill in one Recruit slot.
Here, you should find a time adjustment along with some tags like Sniper, Vanguard, Starter, Support, Shift, stuff like that. You can click up to three of these tags. The time can be set up to 9 hours. The more time spent recruiting, the higher the chance for a 4-star operator.
If you do get lucky, there will be times where you encounter rare tags. “Top Operator” is a guaranteed 5-star pull while “Senior Operator” is a 6-star pull. Occasionally, a “Robot” tag will appear that lets you recruit just that. These come in the Recruit sections rarely so use them on the next highlight banner. Additionally, if you want a specific Operator class within the Top or Senior Operator, choose another tag. If you can’t wait for hours for a recruit, you can always spend an Expedited Plan to finish the process. However, Expedited Plans are very rare.
Find The Best Among The Rest In Headhunt
Headhunt is the bread and butter of gacha pulls in Arknights. This is the main test of your tolerance towards buying Originites and a test of salt. Most of the time, the Headhunt has two banners: the “Standard” banner and the highlight / spotlight banner. The standard banner includes SSRs of past Operators while the spotlight banner is the newest SSR in the game.
Take note that if a new banner comes up, your next 10 rolls on it will guarantee one 5-star Operator. If you do get that guaranteed operator, the bonus is gone and now you have to pray even more thoroughly to the RNGods.
It’s not necessary to use the 10x rolls though. You can do it one by one if you want to and the bonus still applies. And if you don’t get the SSR, do not fret yet; the game has a pity system.
For every 90 pulls without an SSR, your 91st pull will guarantee you get it. It may not be the one on the banner, but an SSR operator is one of the best. On special occasions – especially yearly banners – that pity may have to be up to 300 pulls. Moreover, every pull requires 600 orundums. 10 pulls equals 6000 orundums. If you have Originite Primes, you can convert these into orundums as well. You can also use Originite Primes to buy costumes.
Utilizing The Credit Store & Certificate
Certificate has two categories that allow you to spend on operators: Distinctions and Shop Vouchers. Distinctions serve as pity coins that allow you to select the 5* or 6* operator you want. Each cost 45 and 180 Distinctions respectively. Another pro tip is to click on the Token tab at the bottom to convert excess dupes into certificates. Shop Vouchers have two utility Operators which are quite cheap to buy but not much of a meta pick. And then you have the Credit Store where you can purchase the best boy Courier or best girl Gavial.
As a Free-to-Play player, you’ll need to spend time playing Arknights so you can save up some orundums. The best way to do it is to finish your daily and weekly missions. You can also complete the weekly Annihilation. It gives the highest amounts of Orundums provided you survive up to the last wave. The devs are also generous enough to give free orundums through log-ins and gifts. Lastly, events play a huge role in getting Headhunt permits, and currencies so make sure to do them whenever possible.
Once you saved enough for gacha pulls, all you need to do is wait for the specific Rate-up banner. Never pull on every single one especially if you have little care for the rate-up character. Choose which SSR operator you want and save up for it. You’ll have a team of your most powerful and favorite operators in no time. So hop into Arknights on PC! Play one of the best free-to-play games in the community!
