Suggestions for the 6★ ticket?

Arknights AK Q&A
#1

Hi all,

I’m a mostly-F2P player but I splurged on the monthly card and the 6★ ticket, and I waited until the last moment to use it (it expires in 5 days); really glad I did because I pulled Eyja and she was my top pick previously. Currently I’m trying to decide between Saria, Bagpipe, Ifrit, or Ceobe and would appreciate any suggestions or advice.

For context, my current active roster, omitting 3★s, levels hovering around E1 50-60 (only Cuora is E2), sorted by class:

Vanguard: Zima, Myrtle, Scavenger
Sniper: Exusiai, Rosmontis, Platinum, Jessica, Shirayuki; also have untrained Meteorite and Executor (but not Pinecone, sad times)
Medic: Gavial, Ptilopsis, Myrrh, Perfumer
Caster: Eyjafjalla, Gitano, Amiya, Haze
Guard: Lappland, Mountain, Cutter, Mousse, Utage; also have untrained SilverAsh
Defender: Cuora, Mudrock, Nearl; also have untrained Hoshiguma
Supporter: Podenco, Pramanix; also have untrained Glaucus and Istina
Specialist: Jaye, Manticore, Ethan, Gravel, Shaw, Cliffheart

My thoughts: Saria or Bagpipe seem like the meta picks given who else I have although Ifrit and Ceobe also seem super strong and fun (plus I like their characters). OTOH Saria / Bagpipe seem like they fill bigger gaps in my team. Bagpipe especially because I feel like Zima and Scavenger are often dead weight after I place stronger units down (although I don’t use their S2s and maybe I should) and I haven’t raised Vigna (although planning to esp. if I don’t get Bagpipe). Saria for that sweet sweet SP in addition to the crazy range on her S2 and all the stuff her S3 does.

For more context, my future pulling plans are saving for Dusk and Saga (I’ll have maybe 80 pulls ready) and I’m not super hype about anyone else. Class-wise that argues slightly against Ifrit and Bagpipe although I guess Dusk plays pretty differently from Ifrit and Saga plays pretty differently from Bagpipe.

Also if anyone has thoughts about who to pick for CC#4 in particular I’d also be interested in that; I haven’t watched many Risk 18 clears but I’ve seen both Ceobe and Ifrit used so far IIRC.

Thanks!

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#2

You can’t really go wrong with any of them imo.

On Vanguard heavy teams, Bagpipe’s main contribution for them would be the extra starting SP. So beyond her high damage numbers, she helps by letting other VGs use their skills faster, thus earlier DP gain. She gives that bonus just by being on the team and not necessarily on the field, but she’s a strong Vanguard that can actually be kept on the field from start to finish like Siege (if you’ve tried her).

Ceobe is a favorite against high armored enemies cause of her Talent. You have Eyja but you won’t really go wrong with having them work together.

Ifrit can sometimes have an awkward range but even just having her target one tile on a lane is good enough as long as whoever is holding the lane can hold the enemy back. But when she gets a full lane to herself, lots of enemies die before they even get to the end of the lane. More so with her S3 as it completely melts down ground enemies. And both the RES and DEF debuff she provides just means enemies become even easier to kill.

Saria is the multi-purpose Defender Operator. ST healing, AoE healing, RES debuffing, slowing, tanking and even SP charging when she’s E2 (provided the operator was actually healed). There’s a reason she’s been used in practically every high risk CC clear.

So yes, you can’t really go wrong with any of your four choices.

In terms of filling gaps on your team, Nearl is still a solid healing defender, so having Saria would fill in the more niche needs you might have (like needing more AoE healing or a little extra SP charging) and packing it all into one Operator.

Bagpipe is different from your currently raised VGs and she would actually open up new doors for you since she hits harder than Scavenger or Zima. Also, you shouldn’t worry about VGs being dead weight as you put it. To begin with, most VGs are mainly there to provide DP while holding back weak mobs. The likes of Siege and Bagpipe are kind of outliers in that they are strong enough to just be outright Guards, able to hold a lane from the start of a stage all the way to the end in a lot of cases.

Ifrit could be a better or worse pick than Eyja depending on the map layout. When she has a good place to camp out, her range would let her kill enemies before they get into Eyja’s range. But her narrow range limits where she can camp out and sometimes you have to adjust your placement and strategy to accommodate her, which may not always be viable depending on your other Ops as well as the map layout. She’s still a great pick, but temper your expectations.

Ceobe is known best for murdering high DEF enemies cause her Talent lets her deal extra damage based on enemy DEF. So the tougher the enemy, the harder she hits them. Particularly with her S2, which prioritizes high DEF enemies. But her other two skills are worth mentioning as well. S1 prioritizes unblocked enemies and binds them in place for a short while, great for stalling enemies and, in particular, reseting the movement bonus of Sarkaz Lancers. S3 turns her damage to Physical, but also makes her prioritize low DEF enemies. Great for targeting Casters (who tend to be weaker to physical damage and also typically have low DEF), but this does mean that her Talent bonus won’t be pronounced due to the enemy’s low DEF.

So either way, I can see all of them helping you up your game in some way.

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#3

Ifrit is probably the hardest/most situational of those since her range can really hinder her on some maps (but at the same time it can make her an easy button on others).

I’d always recommend going for character love over potential gameplay uses though, be true to your heart :fgo_medealove:

So clearly Saria for the prison warden costume or Bagpipe bc she’s hot

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#4

I think I would recommend Bagpipe the most. Her talent to give vanguards starting sp really helps speed up your initial deployment. And she isn’t dead weight later as she’s strong enough to act like a duelist guard.

Ifrit is a unique archetype and she definitely adds something new to your roster. But she is kind of situational. And she’s often available from the yellow cert store so you might want to get her there instead of using the ticket.

Saria is better than Nearl, but Nearl can manage in most situations, except the ones where you want to use her S3. Saria is also often in the yellow cert shop, although she just left so it might be a while before she’s back.

I really like Ceobe but if you already have Eyja then gameplay-wise, it’s hard to recommend her. She has things that she’s better at but generally, Eyja will do fine in any situation you want a normal caster.

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#5

In my Opinion, since you already got Eyja, you don’t need Ceobe

You don’t need Bagpipe, since you already have a good defensive Vanguard (Zima), a good offensive vanguard (Scavenger) and for vanguards that gives you 1 DP per kill, you’ll very soon get the 4* Imp. (Also, Reed will soon, i hope, come to the yellow cert shop)

You don’t need Ifrit because she’s Niche and for now you can get her in Friendlist as support.

You, in my opinion, strongly need Saria because you need a reliable, good Healing Defender. Nearl is good, but Saria is better and sometimes you might need to deploy 2 healing defenders on the same map. So I’ll suggest you to pick her.

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#6

All of the 4 choices will be useful, but none of them are crucial for your roster.

Bagpipe would cover DP-on-kill niche, but if you are planning to get Vigna (who is cheaper to raise, does comparable damage, has lower dp cost and much easier to raise potential, but does not provide starting SP that is cornerstone of some quick start strats), she is not really needed.

Saria is amazing but between Nearl as healing defender, Mudrock as solo tank and Cuora as turtle she isn’t really needed.

Ceobe is great for high def enemy murdering, but more often than not you can just blow things up with Eija and not worry about it.

Ifrit can be great fun, but very niche due to attack grid.

So as mentioned earlier, none of them are needed, but all will provide value for your roster. Just pick what you like most. Alternatively you could expand outside of these 4, since I think the ticket had stupidly OP Surtr, and the chainsaw kitty who would cover your missing AE guard role.

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#7

I’m going to be really obvious that you can skip Saria, Ifrit, Schwarz, Hellagur, Shining , Nightingale and Hoshiguma because they can be recruited for free instead

so i’d suggest you to get Blaze instead because she’s extremely powerful or Saria because the only option for healing defender for 6 star is either her or Blemishine (which won’t be ticketable until 2nd anniv and Blemishine is more offensive oriented)

since you already got Myrtle i’d suggest skipping Bagpipe because although she’s good you don’t really need her Phantom is good for offensive purpose because he’s offensive oriented fast redeploy compared to Gravel but Gravel is better for defensive purpose

if you’re waiting for Dusk and Saga i would suggest skipping Bagpipe because Saga is just far more powerful than Bagpipe can be because Saga has better utilities for your squad as a whole

#8

Thanks for the replies everyone, lots to think about here! Still feeling pretty torn tho. I might just end up going for the waifu pick which is probably Ceobe tbh. Gotta love how she uses “oira” as her first-person pronoun.

@Ark_9: the ticket doesn’t have Surtr, I’d probably pick her if it did! It does have Blaze who’s probably the other meta pick here that I didn’t mention. Honestly I kinda don’t wanna use Blaze but if I think about it she might actually fill the biggest gap on my team atm. I didn’t mention this above but I do have E1 52 Estelle, but she’s probably gonna be pretty underwhelming until E2 and she’s not a high priority E2 at all.

@Shainel: I didn’t think about looking at who’s recruitable, good point. I’ve never gotten a Top Operator tag but I guess I’ve only been playing a few months and it’s only a matter of time eh?

Oh, and if it changes anyone’s rec, I literally just recruited Texas (!) so that’s cool, in addition to promoting Vigna. So idk if that means “don’t go for Bagpipe because especially if you pull Saga you’ll be pretty set on Vanguards” or “go for Bagpipe because you’ll be able to Vanguardknights like a mfer”???

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#9

Um, saga being more powerful than Bagpipe is just wrong imo if you consider utility or damage, I didn’t look into Saga’s stats but as DP on kill vanguard, I’m pretty sure Bagpipe’s dps is higher than Saga’s. And as far as utility is concerned, Bagpipe provides such a huge qol improvement in general stages with her Starting SP to vanguards talent that DP never became an issue, and with DP restrictions in CC, it’s just a free risk. Saga provides skill points to other ops but it’s dependent on lots of factors, whereas Bagpipe’s Talent is unconditional you just need to have her in the team, that itself is a huge advantage imo.

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#10

Line down, Saria is the best option here

But considering she could be Recruited, Bagpipe is the next option.

Yes, Bagpipe, not Blaze, she’s the third candidate.

You do you, cheers.

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#11

Saga is a DP generator Vanguard with insane damage capabilities and her talent basically allows anyone (except Medic) to get SP everytime enemies that are marked by her gets killed either by her or anyone else Bagpipe talents only benefits herself and Vanguards like yeah damage wise Bagpipe is insane but overall team utility and performance Saga is miles better also her S2 is insanely powerful and Saga’s 2nd talent gave her more survivability options while not decreasing her offensive performance

another reminder is the fact that Bagpipe is actually in the cert shop in the last recent banner in CN so it will only take time for her to appear in shop in Global

#12

It’ll take time, so approximately 1 year of waiting is fine then…

Also, that’s what I meant by conditions weighing down saga’s talent, it depends on the enemy route, ops being placed in the enemy’s route and so on. Bagpipe just needs to be on team for her talent to activate.

As far as practical utility of saga is concerned, I didn’t look into it but if it was as good as Surtr or SA the buzz around her would have been much more imo. Bagpipe’s only considered one step below them so it’s a testament to her dps and utility.

#13

Easy question. Answer would be Bagpipe. Here’s why:

  1. Ceobe/Ifrit: Too niche. While they’re good casters, since you already have Eyja, you don’t really need either of them (especially since Ifrit is recruitable). Eyja is still the best caster around for general usage.

  2. Saria: While she’s famous for being an amazing defender, right now her main purpose in the team is to provide arts dmg buff and slow at the same time. Long story short, you need a bunch of burst arts dmg so that she can show her real value in the team. If we’re talking about her s1 and s2, Nearl have the exact same s1 and her s2 is rarely needed unless you don’t want to bring medics. In fact, within the 4 months of me playing in CN server from scratch, I never need Saria at all since Gummy already provide enough as a healing defender. Also, Saria is a recruitable 6* ops like Ifrit, so yeah…

  3. Bagpipe: her talent is busted. That’s the only thing you need to know. If you have Bagpipe, there’s no need to think about what vanguard you need to bring into a stage since the answer is always the same which is: Bagpipe - Myrtle - Elysium combo. Since you didn’t said that you have Elysium and said that you just recruited Texas, then the next best combo you could use for each and every content in the game is Bagpipe - Myrtle - Texas (which I used before Elysium got released lol). Thing is, Bagpipe is considered as the strongest vanguard ever released by HG, far exceeding Saga and even further exceeding Siege (Saga is just a slightly better Siege lmao). Hell, I’d be surprised if HG can ever release a vanguard that is even more busted than Bagpipe. Bagpipe existence alone already changed the entire meta in the game. If HG ever released a vanguard that is even more busted than Bagpipe, it’d just break the entire game lmao.

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#14

Alright, this tipped me over the edge, 2 days left and I’m going for Bagpipe. Thanks again everyone!

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#15

hey, huge thanks to everyone who told me not to go for saria because she’s in recruitment! 3 months later and i recruited her off of a solo [Top Operator] tag. phew.

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