To me this is less a tactical question and more a strategic one.
Nevermind (rant?)
I think this is too much a strategic question. I mean to prepare for the future by making choices. Even the unknown future. To think of future short-term ability and comfort. That’s strategic effort for future tactical superiority, in some views. Atleast, people can approach the thinking like that.
Personal though. I like enjoying the possibilities of the game. I don’t worry of victory or defeat as much as ventures gained.
Whatever. In order to max level an operator a player must invest pretty heavy. They’d probably be fans or fanatics if they don’t atleast spread some. Such as just winging it with their favorites.
And why not? It’s fun to flex in times of peace. Many of my ops are higher level for random reasons.
Whatever (kinda rant)
Too big topic. Real life thing: people can be driven to slave away for local rulers in fear of what happens if the army ain’t fed properly next time the barbarians invade. Even people that never saw a barbarian. Funny thing.
But if it’s a personal question, then I’d suggest you lock on your own motives and goals, and game related methods. Exusiai is really good with buffs & debuffs for example. To the extreme, Shamare S2 + Exu S2 + Pramanix S2 is really absurd. You could have Shamare in a remote place pitching in whenever…
Problem is no matter the dps potential, foes not in range take 0 dps. Also, even a full phys dmg team can’t keep peak debuff endlessly. True dmg is limited. Arts would be absurd if too easy to area spam & debuff. Theoretical wipe-outs with enough slow & stall…
I’d say reinforce your working strategies. The most power creep thing in arknights isn’t foe stats as much as their number, spread & speed. Case in point that you can’t lose all your Hp, just your sanity.
And the problem with enemy skills isn’t their dps or vitality. But the ability to knock out things to stop others from stopping them.
Well. I’d recommend thinking not stats but power coverage. Versatily & effectiveness is vital. Multi-hit is multiplicative. Time of target in range is multiplicatve. Viability of attack is multiplicative. Phys dmg has great peaks & horrible lows. Skill timings are multiplicative but inflexible. Targeting issues change many multipliers absurdly.
I’d note that if you’re maxing out only certain ops. Their synergy potential that you can reach matters. With Exu, if maxed, I’d consider both S2 and S3 at M3 seriously. Exu actually has stronger hit spam potential than both Archetto and Ash situationally. Temp buffs & debuffs are strong on her. But if you don’t debuff, she’s not Surtr. Sustained deploy has targetting issues vs ground.
TLDR
Goal is to stop leaks. Or prevent friendlies being harmed / destroyed. If maxing is what you want, I’d recommend maxing out those ops that don’t cut it but would, in upcoming situations. If you want.
Personally what cuts it is my fun. Which is half what Azurem said. Probably also half proper comfort or strategy & 3/4 blowing things up.
Hmm
Please also note that an operator that gets K.O.ed at a bad moment is not cutting it. Hence the greatness of healers & high def blockers. Also, keeping foes in range or switching their positions helps AoE / single targets. So honestly, frontliners tend to need sufficient stats. Summoners / blockers / dps. Less so for buffers & debuffers. But if you bring them often, more arts damage is generally nice. Healing is critical at thresholds.
Honestly. Stat breaking points matter, but I care more of range breaking points. Like a medic that can’t reach that one square just can’t. Which, sets limits.
Ops
Blaze is notable. She gains absurd casual power. High level enough and she can dual Defense Crushers and win after recovering from knockout once. And sometimes eliminate a just on time mob with two or three hits so they don’t leak either.
May can better solo flying units & unblockables on S1. Let her solo finish a low def engineer or spent bomber drone from the rear. Pretty neat. Also dogs. Better dps coverage for self-stun related leaks. Although I don’t need that last one so far. I had Blaze before Specter.
Perfumer for global healing? Useful. Extends op survival on levels with poison & without.
Some burst physical dps ops. Especially high atk speed units. Any solo self-sustain. Pretty much all block 1 units are somewhat stat dependent.
Honestly. I’d just recommend not pushing it if you don’t feel a need. It’s no obligation to max meta ops.
I mentioned dps gets multiplied by many things? Well. More raw stat with less ideal positioning can easily get lesser dps by lack of good situational multipliers. So I’d prioritize build planning or varsity. Not min maxing.
It’s neat to have stat comfort, but the highest end is super costy.
Final thoughts
If looking for numbers, you could check the xp / lvl costs. It really increases by multiples. Cuora is my only op at Max lvl. And everyone else is 10 + from max I think. Lvl 80 is way costly. E2 40-60 is generally way more worth it than beyond, really. As a defender, Cuora can use/need those stats in stalling. My dps can be spread out though. Blaze & Saria are the other two strong cases for me. As I tend to coordinate offensive skills. And usually my ranged dps can overkill easy with timed combos.
I’d probably go sniperknights if I had to choose, though.
Then Guardknights or just no-block.
Personal observations
I’ve noted that many dmg multiplers are pretty tight. There are many levels where Vanilla or Popukar won’t leak early foes by a tight margin. I do remember noticing multipliers in skill duration and stuff. I tend to study as a hobby. And I didn’t care to truly investigate, but some skill thresholds seem somewhat non-random. Looks like things are cut so individual operators are not too op solo, too.
Strong stun spamming operators have chance procs, which seems fitting, design wise. Because of how they stack.
A large perma-stall set-up isn’t too easy to do.
6 Stars have op-like skills with very generous but steep trade-offs. And generally a good general or cleaning skill. Also good stats, but that’s not the foundation. Just the final touch.
There’s more, but balance doesn’t look aimed at uncoordinated solo ops. Rather the opposite.
I wouldn’t worry too much about max level stats. It’s a nice feature for those who seek some form of perfect. Something to pursue. Not for all to have. It isn’t meant for everyone to reach the ultimate road or hidden boss, figuratively speaking. I think masteries are way more for everyone, in terms of reach.
Tactical gameplay point of view?
Well, if it ain’t randomly clear. I favor varsity. But also coordinated focus in that varsity. Ops that can support each other, switch in & out, etc.
And I think the peak performance being so much better around max level is not statistically random, but not really anything needed to be reached, either. Makes more since to max level those who are called perform in small groups or solo. Like Surtr or Mon3er. Because they may stray solo often. Or most healers.
It’s a strategy question dependent on taste though. If game design permitted, you could max everyone. But I’d reiterate. It isn’t meant for everyone to reach the ultimate end like that. It would remove a real-time strategy element of team building.
Essentially. Suit yourself. That’s what I’m doing right now, not sleeping for a night. Helps me sort out my emotional state. Too much noise from constant contact with others & I sometimes forget myself. Spending some of the calmest times awake actually helps me sleep. If that makes sense.
Night
I’m tired for the first time in weeks. And I ain’t sleeping more than a few hours till next night. But I’m good. One nice thing I noticed young. Is that while adults are indecent enough to be forceful at times. Encyclopedias tend to be polite and say the average height of human males / females. Not standard but average. Even so, probably database-related or something. Not all countries are identical. Thus they are, by some definitions, unequal.
I’d finally say I like your challenge things. However, max levelling ops would go into subjectives. Like those math problems with multiple “solutions”. My solution to those is the same as to rubiks cubes: looking further doesn’t look fun, goodday goodbye. See ya later. Maybe. And that’s how I live, most of the time. That’s all.
It’s great to feel free! Cheers!
