Arcane vs Liino in Arknights: Endfield 1.4 — Teams, Weapon Need & Long-Term Value

About to commit pulls to one of Version 1.4's two new 6-stars? Make sure the currency you spend goes as far as possible. Topuplist offers discounted Origeometry packs, the Monthly Pass and bundles for Arknights: Endfield via its Arknights: Endfield top-up page — fast processing, secure channels and 24/7 support for every top-up.

Version 1.4 "Homecoming" is the biggest patch in Arknights: Endfield's history: two brand-new 6-star Operators, the Wuling main story finale, a permanent challenge mode and a wave of events. The community's biggest question this month is simple — Arcane or Liino? One is a dual-form Nature Caster who can switch between burst DPS and utility support; the other is a universal Electric Supporter who heals, buffs and supercharges reactions from off-field. Their banners run back-to-back, which means most players can only afford one. This guide breaks down both Operators on role, team fit, signature weapon dependence and long-term value, using data compiled from mainstream English wikis and community testing such as the Game8 Arknights: Endfield wiki and the official Arknights: Endfield website, so you can decide who actually belongs on your account.

Version 1.4 Homecoming at a Glance

Version 1.4 released on July 16, 2026 (UTC+8) and runs until around August 30. It brings the two banners below, five new weapons, two new Wuling maps (Yinglung Pass, North Wuling Exclusion Zone), new main missions through Chapter II Process VII and the permanent Echoes of War mode.

Banner	Operator	Element / Class	Period
North Yearns the Rift Vigile	Arcane	Nature Caster	Jul 16 – Aug 9
Good Morning From Your Dawnstar	Liino	Electric Supporter	Aug 9 – Aug 30

Arcane's signature weapon, Type 42: Solemn Phalanx, shares his Phase 1 window on the Military Grade Issue Arsenal banner; Bedazzling Night Debut accompanies Liino on the Bedazzled Issue banner from August 9. Both new 6-stars join a Chartered banner pool that also includes Camille, Mi Fu, Ember, Lifeng, Ardelia, Last Rite and Pogranichnik.

Who Are Arcane and Liino?

Arcane — The Dual-Form Nature Caster

Arcane (Li Zhiyan) is the captain of the Yinglong Special Task Force and the first Operator in Endfield who can switch combat attributes mid-battle. His form is decided by his out-of-combat stat panel:

Intellect ≥ Willpower — DPS form: high-frequency Combat and Combo Skills dealing massive AoE Nature damage. His Basic Attack is a 5-hit combo that executes low-HP enemies for bonus damage and SP refund; his Combat Skill manifests a sword domain that deals continuous Nature damage and pulls enemies in; his Combo Skill triggers on Nature Infusion or Elemental Anomalies to shred enemy resistances; his Ultimate detonates a huge sword array with bonus flat damage.

Willpower > Intellect — Support form: his Combos and Ultimate grant universal Elemental Infusion, crowd control (pulling), slows and damage amplification, with the Ultimate applying a global Magic Vulnerability debuff.

In other words, Arcane is two units in one depending on how you build him — but you must commit to one form on the stat screen, and his DPS form demands serious investment in stats, gear and skill levels. His DPS stance rewards high-frequency skill usage and execution plays: finishing low-HP enemies refunds SP, which loops back into more Combo Skills and faster Ultimate cycling. That makes him rewarding for players who enjoy active, rotation-heavy gameplay — and punishing for anyone who levels him casually and expects top-tier damage. He excels as a Nature DPS core or a boss-nuke sub-DPS (especially in high-DEF, time-attack endgame stages), and pairs naturally with the new Nature-focused content of Version 1.4, where his Resistance shred and Magic Vulnerability debuffs turn tanky elites into cleanup duty.

Liino — The Universal Electric Supporter

Liino, the Sarkaz idol known as the "Morning Star of Lavandoma," is the game's first true off-field universal support. Her kit is built around Vocalist Stance:

Battle Skill → Vocalist Stance: she stops basic attacking and instead provides a continuous team-wide ATK buff and AoE healing, periodically firing automatic Electric attacks at enemies. The stance has a very low SP cost, giving it near-permanent uptime, and it auto-follows the controlled Operator even when she is off-field.

Combo Skill: triggers automatically when the party applies or consumes an Arts Reaction (Electrification, Corrosion, etc.) while in stance — dealing Electric damage, healing the active Operator and generating Ultimate energy. It also grants a 10 SP refund to the next Electric teammate's Battle Skill, turning SP-hungry Electric teams into SP-neutral or even SP-positive engines.

Ultimate — Cosmovoice Stance: heals the whole squad, then applies ATK, Electric Amp and Nature Amp buffs while forcibly applying Electrification and Conductive to every enemy in range.

Liino deals almost no personal damage — she is pure enablement. She consolidates healer, buffer, anomaly enabler and rotation engine into a single slot, which is why the community has been calling her the missing piece for Zhuang Fangyi's Electric team. Her gameplay loop is deceptively simple: press Battle Skill, stay in stance, let reactions fire her Combo Skill automatically, and recast Ultimate around your carry's burst window. Because her stance follows the controlled Operator and her SP costs are low, positioning mistakes that would kill a fragile healer barely register with Liino — a huge quality-of-life boost in the game's hardest two-Operator and MAXED-mode content.

Arcane vs Liino: Head-to-Head Comparison

Aspect	Arcane	Liino
Element / Class	Nature Caster	Electric Supporter
Weapon	Arts Unit	Polearm
Banner	Phase 1 (Jul 16 – Aug 9)	Phase 2 (Aug 9 – Aug 30)
Role	Burst DPS or off-field debuffer	Off-field heal + ATK/Elemental Amp engine
Best teams	Nature DPS teams, boss nuke	Zhuang Fangyi Electric (T0), anomaly comps
Signature weapon	Type 42: Solemn Phalanx	Bedazzling Night Debut
Weapon reliance	High — ceiling drops without it	Low–moderate — strong free alternatives
Build investment	High (stats, gear, skill levels)	Low (one skill focus, standard gear)
Playstyle	Active, timing-heavy	Passive, low skill floor

Team Fit and Roster Context

Pull Arcane If…

You lack a strong Nature or Arts DPS and want a caster who can carry a team.

You like flexible kits and are willing to invest in stats to unlock his DPS form.

You are building toward a Nature element team or need a boss-nuke sub-DPS for endgame time attacks — his Resistance shred and Magic Vulnerability debuff are premium utility.

You can afford his signature weapon and gear, because his damage ceiling is tied to investment.

Pull Liino If…

You run Zhuang Fangyi, Perlica or any Electric/anomaly-focused team — community consensus places her as a must-pull key piece that pushes the Zhuang Fangyi comp to T0.

You want a healer that also buffs, replacing a dead-weight 4th slot with one unit that does everything.

You are F2P or low-investment — she works at modest investment with free or farmable weapons.

You want long-term versatility: her buffs slot into Nature, Electric and hybrid reaction teams alike.

Pull Both — or Skip Both

If you have the budget, Arcane and Liino do work together: a common high-end comp is Zhuang Fangyi + Perlica + Liino + Arcane, where Liino sustains and amplifies while Arcane provides AoE shred and burst for boss stages. If you play a purely physical-focused roster or are saving for Si (estimated for Version 1.5, around August 30), skipping both is a legitimate plan — neither is essential for clearing the permanent game modes.

What a Guarantee Actually Costs

One pull costs 500 Oroberyl (10-pull: 5,000), and the premium currency Origeometry converts at 1:75. Soft pity guarantees a 6-star at 80 pulls (40,000 Oroberyl) with a 50/50 on the rate-up; hard pity guarantees the featured Operator at 120 pulls (60,000 Oroberyl). That hard guarantee does not carry over between banners and can only trigger once per banner — so the single most important rule for Arcane and Liino is: do not start a banner you cannot afford to finish. If you lose the 50/50 at 80 on Arcane and do not have the remaining 20,000 Oroberyl, the guarantee resets on August 9 and you walk away with nothing but a different 6-star.

Every Chartered banner refunds a free 10-pull at 30 pulls and a Headhunting Dossier (free 10-pull for the next banner) at 60 pulls. A 240-pull commitment grants a bonus duplicate token (Potential) for the rate-up Operator. Because Arcane's banner ends August 9 at 11:59 (server time), his 30/60/240 milestones can only be finished in the first phase — another reason to decide early. And remember: featured units join the off-rate pool for the next two Chartered banners afterward, so Arcane can still spook you on Liino's banner — just at standard 6-star odds, not rate-up odds.

Accounting for weapons and gear, Liino is cheaper: she functions at full power with a free or farmable polearm and standard gear, while Arcane's ceiling leans on Type 42: Solemn Phalanx and a tuned Intellect build. On a per-pull basis both cost the same, but the total investment to field a finished unit is clearly lower for Liino — a decisive factor for accounts with limited Arsenal Tickets and upgrade materials.

Signature Weapon Dependency

Type 42: Solemn Phalanx and Arcane

Arcane's signature Arts Unit boosts Intellect, Ultimate Energy Rate and Onslaught, directly feeding his DPS form's burst loop. He works without it, but his damage ceiling drops noticeably, and the pool of strong Nature casting weapons is still small. If you pull Arcane, budget for his weapon or accept a lower ceiling — and if you do go deep, securing Origeometry at a discount first through Topuplist's Arknights: Endfield top-up page makes that budget hurt less.

Bedazzling Night Debut and Liino

Liino's signature polearm boosts Will and Healing Efficiency with a Healer attribute — useful, but her core contribution (ATK buff, healing, SP refund) is mostly independent of her weapon. Community testing shows J.E.T (a 6-star Polearm granting 15-second Spell Damage boosts after Combat/Linked Skills) and the free Chimeric Justice (Ultimate energy) both perform well on her. That makes Liino substantially cheaper to build than Arcane.

Budget Alternatives

If you skip the Arsenal banners, the difference matters: Arcane wants his signature to feel complete, while Liino runs happily on farmable or off-banner polearms. For players on a tight budget, this is one of the strongest arguments for Liino.

Long-Term Value and Meta Outlook

How Each Unit Ages

In Arknights: Endfield's meta, supports age better than DPS. Liino's healing + ATK buff + SP refund + anomaly application is the kind of utility that stays relevant patch after patch and only grows stronger as more Electric and anomaly Operators release. Arcane's dual-form design is unique — no other Operator can pivot between DPS and support — which protects him from direct replacement, but he is ultimately a DPS whose ceiling depends on stat creep, and future Nature casters could compete for his slot.

Reruns and Off-Rate Appearances

After their rate-up ends, featured Operators join the off-rate pool of the next two Chartered banners. Arcane already appears as an off-rate 6-star on Liino's banner (August 9–30), so players who skip him still have a small chance to pull him while chasing Liino. Official rerun dates have not been announced for either unit.

Version 1.5 and Beyond

The Feranmut Proxy Si was revealed during the 1.4 livestream, with her banner estimated for August 30 / Version 1.5. If you are considering her, factor her into your budget — the 120-pull hard guarantee (60,000 Oroberyl) is a big commitment, and splitting resources across Arcane, Liino and Si is how accounts end up with none of them.

Final Verdict: Who Should You Pull?

Decision Factor	Winner
Value for F2P / low spenders	Liino (cheaper to build, works at low investment)
Team impact for existing rosters	Liino (T0 Electric upgrade) / Arcane (Nature + boss nuke)
Versatility across teams	Liino
Damage ceiling	Arcane
Weapon cost	Liino
Long-term account value	Liino (slight edge)

If you can only pull one: Liino is the safer, more flexible pick for most accounts — especially if you run Electric or anomaly teams, or value a unit that will stay relevant for years. Choose Arcane if your account specifically lacks a Nature DPS, you enjoy active dual-form gameplay, and you are prepared to invest in his stats and signature weapon. And if neither fits your roster, saving your Oroberyl for Si in Version 1.5 is a perfectly reasonable third option.

When you decide, make your pulls go further: pick up discounted Origeometry and the Monthly Pass from Topuplist's Arknights: Endfield top-up page before you roll.

FAQ

Are Arcane and Liino both 6-star Operators?

Yes. Arcane is a 6-star Nature Caster and Liino is a 6-star Electric Supporter, both debuting in Version 1.4.

Which one is better overall?

It depends on your roster. Liino is more versatile and cheaper to build (heal + ATK buff + SP refund fits any reaction team); Arcane has a higher damage ceiling in Nature teams but needs heavy investment.

Who should F2P players pull?

Liino. She performs well with modest investment, has strong free weapon options, and her support kit does not depend on signature gear or dupe levels.

Does Arcane need his signature weapon, Type 42: Solemn Phalanx?

He benefits strongly from it — his DPS ceiling drops noticeably without it — though he still functions. Treat it as a high recommendation, not a hard requirement.

Does Liino need Bedazzling Night Debut?

No. The free 6-star Chimeric Justice and the J.E.T polearm are solid alternatives, making her much cheaper to complete than Arcane.

Do Arcane and Liino appear on each other's banners?

After a rate-up ends, a unit joins the off-rate pool of the next two Chartered banners. Arcane is already an off-rate 6-star on Liino's banner (Aug 9 – Aug 30).

Will Arcane and Liino get reruns?

Official rerun dates have not been announced. Until then, the only way to obtain them is their current banners and the off-rate pool — another reason to plan your pulls carefully.