Shift
Certain Operators in Arknights, notably Push Stroker and Hookmaster Specialists, are capable of forcefully moving enemies by either pushing them away from or pulling them into the Operator, or shifting them, with their skills.
Shifting an enemy will also interrupt their actions, which can be useful for crowd-control.
The shift capability is influenced by the source's "force level" (or simply "force") and the enemy's weight.
Force and weight
Force varies between -1 to 3, while enemies have a weight of at least 0. Shift force is not directly shown, instead displayed as the following:
| Designation | Force |
|---|---|
| Very slightly | −1 |
| Slightly | 0 |
| Moderately | 1 |
| Significantly | 2 |
| Greatly | 3 |
To know how far and how long the enemy would be shifted, simply subtract the enemy's weight from the force, with the results listed below.
Note that the final force can never be greater than 3 – excessive force(s) are effectively wasted in those cases.
| Final force | Push distance | Push duration | Pull distance | Pull duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| −3 or below | Cannot be shifted | |||
| −2 | 0.12 tiles | 0.2 sec. | 0.03 tiles | 0.5 sec. |
| −1 | 0.44 tiles | 0.4 sec. | 0.35 tiles[note 1] | Varies[note 2] |
| 0 | 1.7 tiles | 0.8 sec. | ∞[note 3] | |
| 1 | 2.14 tiles | 0.9 sec. | ||
| 2 | 2.96 tiles | 1.067 sec. | ||
| 3 | 3.53 tiles | 1.167 sec. | ||
For instance, if FEater were to use Destructive Fist against FrostNova (who have a weight of 5) with the skill at Mastery 3 (thus having a force of 3), FrostNova will be pushed about 0.1 tiles away for about 0.2 seconds, since the final force would be -2 (3 - 5).
Most shift skills will have their force increased as they are upgraded, but deploying an Operator capable of shifting enemies on a Specialist Tactical Point increases their shift force by 1.
Trivia
- Deploying a unit on the tile where there are blockable enemies can push them away slightly, regardless of their weight, which can be influenced by the unit's facing to some extent. This is not technically considered to be shifting enemies, however.
- Prior to the Rhodes Island Icebreaker Games update, pull effects will linger after the source leaves the map, which can be exploited in certain situations. The update makes it so the pull effect will prematurely end when the source leaves the map, which is likely done to avoid it from being abused in the I.G. mode.[1]