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Headhunting banners
| Headhunting | Banners |
A list of headhunting banners in Arknights.
Each banner has rate-up Operators who are more likely to appear than others, with their mechanics elaborated below.
List[edit]
- 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[edit]
 Date: July 4, 2025 – July 18, 2025 |
Rate-up Operators      |
 Date: July 15, 2025 – July 29, 2025 |
Rate-up Operators      |
Upcoming[edit]
- Main article: Headhunting/Banners/Upcoming
 CN date: January 22, 2025 – February 5, 2025 Global date: July 17, 2025 – July 31, 2025 |
Rate-up Operators       |
Former[edit]
- For a list of former headhunting banners released in 2025, see Headhunting/Banners/Former-2025.
- 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[edit]
The rate-up 6★ or 5★ Operators have a 50% chance to be the Operator of said rarity appearing in a pull, while 4★ ones having a 20% chance instead.
Headhunting banners are divided into three categories: Standard, Limited, and Kernel.
| Operators available in all banners | |
|---|---|
| 4★ |                                              |
| 3★ |                 |
All Operators introduced on a headhunting banner, with the exception of limited ones, will be available from all future Standard banners after the one they were introduced in ends.
Standard[edit]
| Operators available in Standard banners | |
|---|---|
| 6★ |                                     |
| 5★ |                                    |
| 4★ |  |
Standard Pool[edit]
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[edit]
Special 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[edit]
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[edit]
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 rate-up percentage of 5★ and 4★ Operators in TFTW banners is 60% and 45%, respectively.
Orienteering[edit]
Orienteering banners are first introduced in the Vector Breakthrough event 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 rate-up percentage of 5★ Operators in Orienteering banners is 60%.
Limited[edit]
Limited banners are named such because they introduce limited Operators and are the only way to add them to the player's Operator roster. They always feature as rate-ups two new 6★ Operators, one of which is limited, up to three old limited 6★ Operators of the same series, and one new 5★ Operator. Other Operators that may appear in limited banners are the same as those in Standard banners (see above), plus any other limited Operators from that series.
The rate-up 6★ Operators in limited banners are divided into primary and secondary:
- Primary rate-up accounts for 70%, split between the new limited and non-limited 6★ Operator (35% each).
- Secondary rate-up is the remaining 30%, split between the older rate-up limited Operators.
Crossover banners, part of a collaboration event with a non-Arknights media franchise, are also classified as limited headhunting banners. They always feature one new 6★ Operator and at least one new 5★ Operator on rate-up, and their rate-up mechanic works differently:
- There is no rate-up percentage increase for the limited 6★ Operator, but they are guaranteed to appear within 120 pulls (i.e. if the limited 6★ Operator does not appear after 119 pulls, then they will appear in the 120th pull, regardless of pity).
- If there are two rate-up 5★ Operators and either appears in a pull, the next (and only the next) 5★ Operator that appears will be the other.
Celebration & Vision (formerly Celebration - Vista and Celebrate & Recollect) and Celebration - Kernel banners are also classified as limited, but neither introduce nor feature 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 available in Standard banners up to a certain up to a certain date (or all available Operators in Kernel banners for Celebration - Kernel) that the player does not yet have in their roster; if the player has all the specified 6★ Operators, then the one that appears will be randomly chosen from among them. Celebration & Vision banners are always live in the lead-up to the New Year (CN)/Festival events starting from Invitation to Wine (Global), with Celebration - Kernel banners following suit in the lead-up to New Year 2024 (CN)/Here A People Sows (Global).
Currently, limited headhunting banners are divided into three series; note that their release in Global follows a different schedule to CN's.
| Series | CN schedule | Global schedule | Operators (Global) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Celebration | Nov. 1 and May 1 | Mid/late April and mid/late Oct. |           |
| Festival | Late Jan./early Feb. | Mid/late July |   |
| Carnival | Late July/early Aug. | Around Jan. 16 |     |
An exception to the scheduling above is Cremation Last Wish, which was 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 biannual Celebration banners who will be available from the Celebration banner after the next (e.g. Rosmontis was introduced in Forget Me Not and added to Celebration banners in Path of the Radiant rather than Deep Drown Lament), meaning a year's gap between their first and second availabilities, with the sole exception being W.
Contrary to popular belief, once a limited Operator is no longer included as a rate-up in a limited banner series, they are not removed from the banner altogether, but are as likely as any non-rate-up Operators to appear in a pull on future banners in the series and remain available in the Headhunting Data Contract Store.
From the Our Kind Celebration limited banner:
- The oldest limited Operator in the series at the time a 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.
- The limited Operator introduced in that banner can be claimed for free from the banner menu after the player has done a total of 300 pulls on it, regardless of whether they were pulled already. This guarantees any player able to make 300 pulls on the banner will receive a minimum of two limited Operators, one of which can be freely chosen.
Kernel[edit]
Introduced alongside Episode 12, the Kernel banner only features 6★ and 5★ Operators that no longer appear in Standard headhunting banners.
| Operators available in the Kernel banner | |
|---|---|
| 6★ |                                   |
| 5★ |                                                      |
The Kernel banner also features Headhunting Permits that can only be used on said banner: 
Kernel Headhunting Permit and 
Ten-roll Kernel Headhunting Permit, and the pity system is independent from Standard and Limited 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, the Kernel banner is 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[edit]
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 the regular Kernel banner, where the player will be able to choose the rate-up 6★ and 5★ Operators, 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 they should be chosen wisely.
Starter[edit]
The Starter Headhunting 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.
| Starter Headhunting rate-up Operators |
|---|
|
| Starter Headhunting rate-up Operators before Path of Life |
|---|
|
| Starter Headhunting rate-up Operators before Episode 12: All Quiet Under the Thunder |
|---|
|
Trivia[edit]
- 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.
- 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[note 1] 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.[1]
- 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).
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Notes[edit]
- ↑ Utro; "Morning" in Russian