Headhunting banners

Headhunting

Banners

A list of headhunting banners in Arknights.

All Operators introduced on a headhunting banner will be available from all future banners after the one they were introduced in ends, with the exception to limited Operators; see below for more information.

Rate-up Operators are those who are more likely to appear than others.

• When a 6★ or 5★ Operator appears in a pull, there is a 50% chance that said Operator will be the rate-up one(s).
  • In regular Limited banners, the primary rate-up 6★ Operators have a higher chance of 70% to be the 6★ Operator that appears in a pull, while the secondary rate-up limited Operators have a 30% chance to be the 6★ Operator that appears in a pull.
  • In crossover Limited banners:
    • The rate-up 6★ Operator has a 50% chance to be the 6★ Operator that appears in a pull as in regular banners, but they are guaranteed to appear in any of the first 120 pulls (i.e. if the rate-up 6★ Operator do not appear after 119 pulls, then they will appear in the 120th pull).
    • If there are two rate-up 5★ Operators, should either appears in a pull, the next (and only the next) 5★ Operator that appears are guaranteed to be the other rate-up 5★ Operator.
• When a 4★ Operator appears in a pull, there is a 20% chance that said Operator will be the rate-up one(s).

All Standard and Limited banners feature 4★ and higher Operators introduced after Illusions of the Past, while the Kernel banner solely features 4★ and higher Operators introduced up until and including Illusions of the Past.

List

• Limited Operators of the primary rate-up are denoted by red borders, while those of the secondary rate-up are denoted by orange borders.
• Operators available in the Store as part of the Standard Pool and Kernel banners are denoted by yellow borders.

Current

Banner/Date	Rate-Up Operators
Like Ending Like Death CN: April 11, 2024 – April 25, 2024 Global: October 10, 2024 – October 24, 2024
Standard Pool #125 (Global) October 11, 2024 – October 25, 2024
Kernel #21 (Global) October 8, 2024 – October 22, 2024

Upcoming

Main article: Headhunting/Banners/Upcoming

Banner/Date	Rate-Up Operators
The Front That Was #4 CN: April 17, 2024 – May 1, 2024 Global: October 18, 2024 – November 1, 2024	The following 6★ Operators will always be the 6★ Operator that appear in a pull: The following 5★ and 4★ Operators have a 60% and 45% chance, respectively, to be the Operator of the respective rarity that appears in a pull:
Our Kind CN: May 1, 2024 – May 15, 2024 Global: October 31, 2024 – November 13, 2024

Former

• For a list of former headhunting banners released in 2024, see Headhunting/Banners/Former-2024.
• For a list of former headhunting banners released in 2023, see Headhunting/Banners/Former-2023.
• For a list of former headhunting banners released in 2022, see Headhunting/Banners/Former-2022.
• For a list of former headhunting banners released in 2021, see Headhunting/Banners/Former-2021.
• For a list of former headhunting banners released in 2020, see Headhunting/Banners/Former-2020.

Overview

Headhunting banners are divided into four categories: Standard, Limited, Kernel, and Newbie Pool.

Standard

Standard Pool

Standard Pool banners include the previously introduced Operators and always have two rate-up 6★ Operators and three rate-up 5★ Operators, one from each rarity is available in the Distinctions Store for 180 and 45 , respectively, who can be easily identified by looking at the banner's image: the 6★ Operator is the one who uses their base artwork while the 5★ Operator is the one in the middle of rate-up 5★ Operators. Standard Pool banners are updated every two weeks.

Initially the Global and TW server's Standard Pool rotation follows the CN server's until the third and fourth, which are switched, and differs from the fifth onwards.

Special

Special (officially limited-time, but the Arknights Terra Wiki uses "Special" to avoid confusion with Limited banners, explained below) banners are always up alongside Side Story, most Story Collection, and Main Theme episode release events, which includes the Operators introduced in the respective content, always having one new 6★ and 5★ Operator (as well as 4★ on Main Theme ones), and one previously introduced 5★ Operator as the rate-up ones.

Joint Operation

Joint Operation (JO; known as Joint Action in the CN server) banners are always up alongside most Contingency Contract seasons and includes four 6★ Operators and six 5★ Operators as the rate-up ones, all of which are previously introduced ones. Unlike in most other banners, the 6★ and 5★ Operators that appear on a pull in the JO banner will always be the rate-up ones.

The Front That Was

The Front That Was (TFTW) banners always precede Main Theme episode releases since Episode 11 Warm-Up and includes three 6★, 5★, 4★ Operators, all of which are introduced with previous Main Theme episodes with the newest ones replacing the oldest ones, as the rate-up ones. Unlike in other banners:

• The 6★ Operators that appear on a pull in TFTW banners will always be the rate-up ones.
• The 5★ and 4★ Operators that appear on a pull in TFTW banners have a 60% and 45% chance, respectively to be the rate-up ones.

Orienteering

Orienteering banners are first introduced in Vector Breakthrough and features three 6★ and 5★ Operators from a player-determined selection of six Operators from each rarity like that of the Kernel Locating banners (explained below). Unlike in other banners:

• The 6★ Operators that appear on a pull in Orienteering banners will always be the rate-up ones.
• The 5★ Operators that appear on a pull in Orienteering banners have a 60% chance to be the rate-up ones.

Limited

Limited banners are named such because they introduce limited Operators and being the only way to add them into the player's Operator roster. They always feature two new 6★ Operators, one of which is the limited one, up to three old limited 6★ Operators of the same series, and one new 5★ Operator as the rate-up ones.

Under this definition, Crossover banners, part of a collaboration event with a non-Arknights media franchise, can also be included as limited headhunting banners. They always feature one new 6★ Operator and at least one new 5★ Operator as the rate-up ones.

Celebration - Vista (formerly Celebrate & Recollect) and Celebration - Kernel banners are also classified as a limited headhunting banner, but neither introduces nor features limited Operators. Instead, the first (and only the first) 6★ Operator that appears in a pull on said banner will always be a non-limited 6★ Operator outside of Kernel banners (within Kernel banners for Celebration - Kernel) that the player do not have yet in their roster up until a certain special headhunting banner for Celebration - Vista banners; if the player have all the specified 6★ Operator in their roster, then the one that appears will be randomly chosen from the specified ones. Celebration - Vista banners are always live in the lead-up to Festival events starting from Invitation to Wine (Global)/New Years (CN), with Celebration - Kernel banners following suit in the lead-up to Here A People Sows (Global)/New Years 2024 (CN).

Currently limited headhunting banners are divided into three series; note that the release of limited banners in Global follow a different schedule than CN.

Series	CN schedule	Global schedule
Celebration	November May	Late April ~ early May Late October ~ early November
Festival	February	Late July ~ early August
Carnival	August	Around January 16

• An exception to the scheduling above is Cremation Last Wish, which are released during the 1st Anniversary Celebration on January 2021.

In all limited headhunting banners, the pull count and increased 6★ Operator rate for the pity system are not carried over from non-limited banners, instead tracking them separately including from other limited banners.

When a limited headhunting banner ends, the limited Operator introduced in that banner will be available from future limited banners and the Headhunting Data Contract Store of the matching series except for those on the Celebration banners who will be available from the other next Celebration banner (e.g. Rosmontis is introduced in Forget Me Not and added to Celebration banners in Path of the Radiant rather than Deep Drown Lament), with the sole exception to W.

Contrary to popular belief, once a limited Operator is no longer included in limited banners, they are not removed from the banner altogether, but are as likely as non-limited Operators to appear in a pull on the banner and remains available in the Headhunting Data Contract Store.

From the Our Kind Celebration limited banner:

1. The oldest limited Operator in the limited banner group at the time the new limited banner is released (in the case of Our Kind, W) has their Headhunting Data Contract price reduced from 300 to 200, making them somewhat more accessible for players who missed them.
2. The limited Operator introduced in the limited banner is guaranteed to appear at exactly the 300th pull in the respective banner.

Kernel

Introduced alongside Episode 12, the Kernel banner only features 5★ and higher Operators that no longer appear in other headhunting banners (see above), which means pulling in this banner is only advisable if the player has missed out on any Operator in the Kernel banner. They also feature Headhunting Permits that can only be used in Kernel banners: Kernel Headhunting Permit and Ten-roll Kernel Headhunting Permit, and the pity system is independent from non-Kernel banners.

Instead of awarding Commendation and Distinction Certificates, obtaining Operators from the Kernel Banner awards Universal Certificate, and their Operator Tokens differ from the regular ones in which they are exchanged for Universal Certificates.

Like Standard Pool banners (see above), Kernel banners are rotated every two weeks and one of the rate-up 6★ and 5★ Operators (all on the left of Operators of the respective rarity shown in the banner) are available for purchase in the Universal Certificates Exchange Area, costing 2000 and 500 , respectively.

Kernel Locating

Every ~3 months starting from Lone Trail, which coincides with the weeks after Celebration, Festival, and Carnival events, the Kernel Locating banner will be featured in place of regular Kernel banners, where the player will be able to choose which 6★ and 5★ Operator would appear as the rate-up ones, including in the Certificate Store. Note that once the rate-up Operators are chosen, they cannot be changed for the rest of the Kernel Locating banner's period, so make your decision wisely.

Newbie Pool

The Newbie Pool banner is always available and has a discounted price of only 380 per pull instead of 600 , but are limited to 20 pulls for each account; once this limit is reached, the banner can no longer be accessed from the Headhunting menu.

A 6★ and 5★ Operator is guaranteed to appear in the first ten pulls and any of the twenty pulls within the Newbie Pool banner, respectively, which makes it the best choice for new players.

Rate-up Operators

Rate-up Operators before Episode 12: All Quiet Under the Thunder

Trivia

• The order of several headhunting banners on the Global and TW servers are different with the CN server:
  • In CN, Summer Guardians preceded Forging Steel and Frozen Land, whereas on Global and TW Frozen Land precedes Forging Steel and Summer Guardians.
  • In CN, Drillelectric preceded Enthusiasm Expansion Explosion, whereas on Global and TW this was reversed.
  • Due to Darknights Memoir being delayed in Global to mid-December 2020 and TW to mid-May 2021 instead of succeeding Contingency Contract Barrenland, which made Children of Ursus, Twilight of Wolumonde, and Contingency Contract Pyrite preceding DM, First Snowfall, Lisa of the Valley, and Misty Wild all preceded Illusions of the Past in Global and TW instead of succeeding them as in CN.
  • In CN, Quicksand Vortex was featured concurrently with Contingency Contract Blade, but in Global and TW it was featured concurrently with the rerun of Grani and the Knights' Treasure instead.
  • As the result of the above, all Operators introduced in First Snowfall, Lisa of the Valley, Misty Wild, and Quicksand Vortex are treated as Kernel banner Operators in Global from the release of Episode 12.
    • This also caused the rate-up Operators on several rerunned special banners and Joint Operation banners in Global to be different with those in CN.
• 

  The original Standard Pool 15 banner's image for JP. Note that Swire was in the middle instead of Liskarm, which is the case when the banner went live.
  Originally the 5★ Operator available in the Distinctions Store for the Global server's Standard Pool 15 banner was expected to be Swire, as seen from the early JP and KR announcements, but this was changed to Liskarm; the banner's image on later announcements were altered to reflect this.
  • Something similar had occurred with Standard Pool 02 on all servers, which showed Platinum in the middle of the three rate-up 5★ Operators and therefore should have been in the Distinctions Store, but Texas was in the shop instead, but no change was made to the banner image.
  • This was repeated in Standard Pool 54 on the Global server, where the banner's image shows Mayer as the middle 5★ Operator that should have been available in the Distinctions Store, but Istina was in the shop instead.
• Due to an oversight, an initial tweet from the official Arknights EN's Twitter account announcing Saileach on the Hill erroneously displays Saileach's Operator class as a Caster. It has since been replaced with the correct version properly showing her class as a Vanguard.
• Some banners' name were changed in the Global server:
  • Piper on the Knoll was known in CN as Grassy Bagpipe.
  • Illusions of the Past was known in CN as Past Illusion.
  • First Snowfall was known in CN as Үтро Snowfall.
  • Fractured Light was known in CN as Blemishine (no relation to the Operator; the change is likely to avoid confusion with her).
  • Holiday Stars was known in CN as Summer Stars; the change is likely because the event it was featured, Dossoles Holiday, was not actually released during the summer on Global.
  • Through a Path of Briars was known in CN, JP, and KR as Chop the Thorns, Open Circuit; the change for the EN server is likely because the original title is incomprehensible to English speakers.
• A hidden mechanic involving rate-up Operators in non-limited headhunting banners has been discovered recently, which ensures that the player will acquire them if they didn't over time. Whether this is limited to a specific banner or carried over between banners remain unconfirmed.
  • For banners with one rate-up 6★ Operators, if the rate-up Operator does not appear after 200 pulls, the next 6★ Operator that appears will always be the rate-up one.
  • For banners with two rate-up 6★ or 5★ Operators, if either of the rate-up Operators do not appear after 400 or 100 pulls, respectively, the next 6★/5★ Operator that appears will always be either of the rate-up ones.
  • For banners with three rate-up 5★ Operators, if any of the rate-up Operators do not appear after 150 pulls, the next 5★ Operator that appears will always be any of the rate-up ones.
• Earthborn Metals is the only limited headhunting banner that was rerun. This is because it was released before the spark system for limited headhunting banners were introduced in Cremation Last Wish, and the lack of a spark system was a cause for controversy among the Chinese playerbase. The rerun was therefore intended as an apology of sorts by the developers.
• A trend among limited headhunting banners is that the 6★ Operator designated as the limited Operator plays a significant role in the event that debuted alongside said banner, while the non-limited 6★ Operator on the same banner either has a major role in the event (such as Saga and Mizuki) but not to the extent of the limited Operator, or no role at all (such as Weedy and Mudrock).