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Module Ratings - First of A Thousand Autumns
Ratings and discussion of the Operator Modules introduced in the "First of A Thousand Autumns" patch [Arknights]
Mal.io Introduction
Heya all, Mal here with another Modules writeup! This time it’s the “First of A Thousand Autumns” patch, which releases the Sui sibling Wang, as well as Ch’en Alter Alter.
This patch brings with it the Modules for Primal Protectors, Wang, Chen3, Ju, and a couple specialized Modules. Wang represents probably the first true DPS ceiling increase since Wiš’adel, neatly overlapping her role as an easy to use big DPS unit with minimal utility. That said, I want to try and keep the power thresholds that I consider “good enough” to be worth recommending under control. Just because Wang raises the power ceiling, doesn’t mean all units need to be judged against that standard. I still think I will be a bit harsh to units I consider unremarkable, but I will still try to compare them to their peers. When I look at a unit like Ju for example, the 5★ Welfare unit for this event, I don’t consider him to be bad because he’s not Wang, but rather I look at what roles he fills and who else he’s in competition with. If one of those units is someone like Wiš’adel or Wang, I don’t really compare him against them, but instead I try to compare Ju against more “typical” options in the 6★ range that are strong but don’t quite break the game the same way, as well as his 5★ and 4★ peers. When I make this particular comparison, I observe that Ju has no effective utility, and even just on a DPS front someone like Totter is at least on par. Anyway, the point of this exercise isn’t to dunk on Ju, but rather to help illustrate to my readers that I try not to simply compare everyone to the most broken units in the game, and while I’m still generally trying to be a bit ruthless, I don’t want to go so far as to make my recommendations equate to “Operators must be SSS tier or they’re trash”.
All that out of the way, let’s talk Primal Protectors. Yu, the 6★ unsurprisingly received a good Module. It helps him apply Burn Injury a decent bit, makes his self-sustain more accessible, and gives him some extra Arts damage amplification to targets undergoing Burn Burst which is also shared with his allies while using his S3. Overall his Module gives Yu upgrades to nearly every relevant part of his kit in a meaningful way. The only real “downside” is that if you really only want him to abuse his teleport without any regard for Yu’s damage or survivability, you need only press the button to re-route an enemy and it’s done, regardless of the Module. However I consider that a fairly innocuous weakness, when a fair amount of the strength of his teleport is that enemies are plopped on top of such a dangerous and tanky blocker.
The 5★ Primal Protectors are a bit of a mixed bag, Philae suffers too much from being the first, and her power budget simply isn’t up to snuff anymore. Furthermore, her Module is a bit confused and doesn’t lean into what she’s actually good at sufficiently, and as a result it’s simply not that impactful of an upgrade. Cairn on the other hand benefits from using a more useful type of Elemental Damage, and just generally having a slightly higher power budget. On top of that, her Module is cohesive with the rest of her kit, helping her in all the ways you’d want. Of course she’s still a 5★, and those of you breaking every stage with Tragodia or similar probably won’t find much use in her as a NI support, so I can’t recommend the Module too highly, but for those willing to bother with units that don’t clear the map with a single button press, Cairn’s Module is one worth considering.
As for the new units, Wang is the new power ceiling in the game. A big chunk of his power comes from his Module, so it should be considered a “must-build” for anyone who cares at all about meta. Chen3 is a bit more nuanced, she’s still extremely strong and won’t disappoint, but she’s not quite broken-tier. That said, her Module is also a solid one that I like. Its only real downside is that it doesn’t really benefit her dragon spam playstyle, instead helping her be a more well-rounded unit. As I expounded upon earlier, Ju is probably not worth building at all, much less investing in his Module. It does nowhere near enough to save him. Furthermore, the patch also introduced a unit in a new Medic Branch, Watchman Medic, with the debut of the 5★ Operator Taraxacum. As this is a brand new Branch, he doesn’t have a Module.
Last, we got two specialized Modules, one for IS, and one for RA. Irene gets the IS Module, while Passenger gets the RA Module.
Irene’s IS Module is really quite intricate and involved, creating a whole new playstyle for her. It’s not quite powerful enough to make her a must-pick on the Guard voucher, but it’s strong enough to pull her out of the basement and into relevance.
Regarding RA, thankfully we now know with certainty that another iteration of RA is indeed coming in the future, therefore writing about these feels a fair amount less ridiculous. Passenger’s RA Module makes him an excellent source of utility, in addition to simply making him much stronger in combat. He gets to completely nullify the negative effects of Environmental damage (like thunderstorms), while also summoning his own random thunderstorm to hurt enemies and buff allies. The upcoming RA iteration is more of a “one and done” type adventure like the previous ones, so I can understand not wanting to prioritize RA-exclusive Modules as a result, but I don’t want to hold that too hard against my ratings. How much you value a big upgrade in such a one and done game mode is an exercise I will leave to you.
Ratings System
This rating system aims to capture both the relative “meta value” of a unit as well as the strength of a Module. My aim is to have the ratings give an at a glance understanding for those just trying to figure out what is “good”, while those already interested in a unit regardless of the meta value of said unit, can read the detailed write-up of each Module to find out if it’s right for them, even if it’s a Module on a relatively low value Operator.
Each Module will be given a rating of [YES], [MAYBE], or [NOT RECOMMENDED] for whether it is worth building, as well as a recommended level to upgrade it to.
For Specialized Modules, ratings are given with the assumption that players are interested in the applicable game mode (for example Integrated Strategies).
Ratings
Primal Protectors
Yu
Tastes of Life
PRP-X
Rating
Yes
Recommended Level
Level 3
Yu is a unit jam-packed with features. From his multiple layers of survivability, his ability to shred enemies he blocks, his teleport, to his flame wall, he’s a unit that can justify a use in almost any stage. This Module improves most of those features by some degree, and as such is a decent upgrade for this already-powerful unit.
The Trait upgrade of this Module enables Yu to deal +15% Burn Injury so long as he is blocking an enemy. This most obviously synergizes with Yu’s first Talent, which inflicts Burn Injury to blocked enemies each second. The combination of this Trait upgrade and base ATK improvements via Module result in Yu requiring significantly fewer ticks of Burn Injury to inflict Burn Bust. Furthermore, this doesn’t only apply to his Talent 2, but also the Burn Injury inflicted by his flame wall, although Yu won’t necessarily be blocking enemies as consistently during his S3, so this improvement may be inconsistent. However the rest of this Module affects that use case more directly.
The Talent upgrade of this Module improve’s Yu’s second Talent. First, it reduces the condition for his recovery features, he now only requires there to be two (down from four) Operators on the field in order for his HP and Elemental Injury regeneration to trigger. This allows Yu to get his sustain up and running almost immediately in most stages, while the previous requirement could sometimes leave him vulnerable. Second, he now deals 14% more Arts damage to enemies suffering Burn Burst when there are at least four Operators on the field. While this does help Yu’s personal damage for all of his skills, more notably, during his S3 he shares his second Talent with all allies on the field. Therefore Arts DPS Operators taking advantage of his flame wall also benefit from this damage amplification.
This Module gives Yu everything he could want, more Burn Injury application, easier sustain, a decent chunk of base stats, and some damage amplification for allies using his flame wall. While this Module doesn’t affect his teleport, all Yu’s other functions benefit from its upgrades. This Module is a straightforward win that any player who uses Yu should invest in.
Philae
The Days Rubbed to Silence
PRP-X
Rating
Not Recommended
Philae had the honor of being the first Primal Protector, and her kit contains all the characteristics they are known for: substantial bulk (especially against incoming Elemental Damage), and Elemental Injury infliction scaling directly off their ATK (rather than scaling with damage dealt and having to worry about enemy RES). Unfortunately, Philae has aged poorly, both as a consequence of her direct power being on the lower end, and also due to her Elemental Damage type (Necrosis) arguably being the least useful type in an increasing number of mutually exclusive options.
The Trait upgrade of this Module enables Philae to deal +15% Necrosis Injury so long as she is blocking an enemy. This upgrade reduces the number of Necrosis ticks needed to proc Necrosis Burst on enemies, down to 5 for Normal/Elite enemies from 6, and down to 10 against Bosses from 12. The breakpoints don’t work out as favorably for Philae if the second part of her S2 has been triggered which increases her ATK if she has received Elemental Injury herself, as the number of Necrosis ticks needed for Burst remain at 3 Normal/Elite enemies while Bosses need only 5 ticks down from 6. Philae was fairly slow at triggering Necrosis Burst in the first place when her bonus ATK wasn’t triggered, and this Module does alleviate that somewhat but only marginally so. However the failure to improve her breakpoints when her extra ATK is triggered is particularly regrettable.
The Talent upgrade of this Module increases the magnitude of her Elemental Injury reduction, down to -20% Injury taken from -10%. This upgrade could possibly be nice if players are attempting to take maximum advantage of Philae’s ability to tank Elemental Damage, but that role has yet to be particularly impactful, at least, not when compared to serving as a ground Ritualist.
Unfortunately, this Module barely improves Philae’s ability to serve said niche of serving as a ground Ritualist. In fact, this Module attempts to split duty between her role applying Necrosis Injury and tanking Elemental Damage, however neither is improved enough for this Module to be worthwhile. Only the most dedicated Philae fans should consider this Module, and even niche players will find Cairn’s much better, so for everyone else it’s an easy skip.
Cairn
'Parachute'
PRP-X
Rating
Maybe
Recommended Level
Level 3
Cairn is a newer and improved Primal Protector, and clearly has a higher power budget than Philae, additionally, she has the good fortune of being built around the Nervous Impairment (NI) Elemental Damage type, arguably the most widely useful type. It synergizes the most cleanly with her role as a bulky blocker, preventing enemies from attacking her via the Paralysis effect inflicted by NI Burst. This Module leans cleanly into her niche of applying NI Injury to enemies, with the only real limitation being that Cairn’s power level still isn’t anything outstanding when compared to the NI inflicting 6★s, who are not only immensely powerful, but tend to not benefit much from lower rarity Elemental Damage units as support.
The Trait upgrade of this Module enables Cairn to deal +15% NI Injury so long as she is blocking an enemy. Cairn’s entire kit rewards players for aggressively using her to block enemies, and this condition is a very reasonable one. Furthermore, while she is using her S2, even unblocked enemies hit by the AoE will be affected by this bonus so long as she is blocking an enemy.
The Talent upgrade of this Module increases the scaling on Cairn’s NI Injury against enemies she blocks to 11% of her ATK each second (up from 9%). This may seem like a small improvement, but for pure ATK scaling NI Injury (in other words not dependent on enemy RES) each second this improvement is quite noteworthy. Between this Trait upgrade, base stat improvements, and this Talent, the number of NI ticks needed to apply NI burst decreases from 9 down to 7 against blocked enemies during S2, and down from 18 to 14 against blocked bosses during S2. While the latter isn’t quite enough for Cairn to trigger NI Burst against a Boss in one S2 activation, the continued ticks from her Talent are enough to trigger NI burst before the next skill (10 ticks during skill, 7 more offskill are required). However, before this Module, Cairn’s 2nd skill cast would be ready first. Especially due to how NI Burst inflicts Paralysis stacks, this faster cycling of NI noticeably increases the likelihood Cairn will be able to effectively tank a dangerous enemy all on her own between the Paralysis debuff and Barrier obtained from her S2.
Overall this Module is a solid upgrade to an already decent 5★ unit. This only real downside of this Module is simply that for as good as Cairn is, the standard 6★s set is so high that all this improvement still pales in comparison. Cairn’s NI application is nice, but not worth trying to pass off as “synergy” with the 6★ NI units. However, for those players at all interested in using 5★ units, Cairn is one of the better ones, and this Module is well worth investing in as part of Cairn’s upgrades.
New Operators
Wang
Beast-Shaped Stone Container
TRP-X
Rating
Yes
Recommended Level
Level 3
Wang is an immensely powerful and easy to use unit whose only downside is that he arguably makes you worse at playing the game because he makes it so easy. He can deploy absurdly deadly traps across the map that annihilate nearly anything they touch. His Module represents a fair portion of that power and thus is also quite strong.
The Trait upgrade of this Module reduces the cost of Wang’s traps (by 1 DP). This improvement makes it all the more trivial to spam Wang’s traps anywhere and everywhere on the field, deleting everything in sight.
The Talent upgrade of this Module increases the scaling of Wang’s damage amplification and RES-ignore. Linked traps will all deal 13% more damage (up from 10%), and ignore 12 RES (up from 9) per other trap linked, up to 3 times. This results in a maximum value of 39% damage amplification and 36 RES ignore (up from 30% and 27 RES ignore). Not only does Wang do absurd amounts of damage anywhere on the field, but his damage is “high quality” due to this RES-ignore. The damage amplification is yet another cherry on top. Furthermore, the mechanics of Wang’s S3 makes stacking this Talent trivial.
Simply put, this Module represents a substantial chunk of the power of the new strongest DPS unit in Arknights. There is no meta reason to skip this Module, those who want the most powerful account should consider it their top priority to build.
Ch’en the Dawnstreak
Remnant Pages of Memory
AFT-X
Rating
Maybe
Recommended Level
Level 3
Ch’en The Dawnstreak, or Chen3 has a kit packed with features, high range, Weakness Damage that always chooses the most effective damage type (between Physical and Arts), damage that scales with enemy HP, and self-sustain. This Module doesn’t improve all of these features, but helps enough of them to be a valuable upgrade.
The Trait upgrade of this Module grants Chen3 +8 ASPD when not blocking an enemy. This improvement primarily benefits Chen3’s S3, although not the flashier part of it. Chen3’s S3 is well known for launching a dragon across the map, though it also expands her range and gives her multitargeting. The latter portion is improved by this extra ASPD, as her expanded range means Chen3 is easily able to hit enemies before they are blocked.
The Talent upgrade of this Module increases Chen3’s self sustain. When not taking damage, she heals a random amount of HP between 50%-200% of her ATK every 6s, and dodges the next Physical/Arts attack. This is improved from 30%-160% of ATK, and every 7 seconds. This means Chen3 gets more dodges, more heals, and larger heals from her Talent upgrade. All around this is a great upgrade that substantially improves Chen3’s survivability, allowing her to survive adverse conditions without external support.
This is a solid Module on a great unit. While the damage increase is only to a portion of Chen3’s damage, the improvements to her survivability are substantial. The only real downside is that it doesn’t help with Chen3’s most impressive role, which is S3 Dragon spam, as a result, players who only intend to use her for that might consider skipping this Module. However, those who intend on using her as a more well-rounded unit would definitely appreciate the benefits.
Ju
Scarecrow in the Field
SIE-X
Rating
Not Recommended
Ju is a flawed unit. He has no particular niche that a dozen other units of his rarity (or lower) don’t already fill. This Module does nothing to change that.
The Trait upgrade of this Module increases Ju’s ATK to 115% when he is attacking a weight 3 enemy or greater. This scaling is a nice improvement, crucial for Ju to improve his DPH against typically higher DEF targets. Unfortunately, good DPH doesn’t compensate for his atrociously designed skills with poor DPS.
The Talent upgrade of this Module adds a feature to his Talent increasing his damage dealt to enemies below 50% HP by 12%. While this does lean into Ju’s hypothetical niche of “strong against low HP targets” the damage increase is paltry. The HP threshold function exists throughout his kit, and while this improvement is theoretically synergistic in one sense, in a more real sense it just represents yet another portion of potential damage locked behind the same impractical gate.
Ju’s limitations are substantial, and his strengths are simply far too weak to even consider trying to deal with their conditions. This Module adds nowhere near enough to his entire “hurt low HP targets more” shtick to make it worth the hassle. Those who, for whatever reason, insist on using Ju will find the most bang for their buck from his Module level 1, which could be near essential in that case, but most players should avoid building him altogether.
Specialized Modules
Irene
Irene's Specialized Badge
ISW-A
Rating
Yes
Recommended Level
Level 3
Irene hasn’t been a particularly viable IS pick in a long while, though this Module changes that. While it doesn’t quite make her the top Guard voucher pick, it makes her worth considering as a secondary pick for those who are willing to engage with its active playstyle.
The Trait upgrade of this Module, in IS, reduces her Redeployment Time by 60% and she gains 8 SP upon deployment. Crucially, under normal circumstances, 8 SP is exactly as much SP as Irene needs for her first activation of her S3, which this Module is clearly built around. While this FRD-helidrop-Irene-capability is interesting in its own right, it is in combination with the Talent effects that this improvement becomes truly noteworthy.
The Talent upgrade of this Module grants Irene several effects in IS. Firstly, when she is deployed, a field is created in the shape of her skill range. This field will persist even when Irene is retreated (or defeated), only removed when Irene is deployed elsewhere and the field is placed in that new location. Within this field, aerial enemies (including ground enemies afflicted with Levitate such as from her S3) take +140% Physical damage. Furthermore, when other Operators are deployed within this field, ground enemies are levitated for 3 seconds. When the Levitate debuff ends, if Irene is in the Deployment Area (aka not currently deployed and her redeploy cooldown is over), she will automatically deploy to her original tile and immediately activate her skill. This Talent creates a relatively involved yet powerful playstyle. While it’s certainly not quite as much of a “press the button to win” type of upgrade as some other IS Modules have been, it encourages some creative strategies, as well as synergies with some other units like Angelina with her own IS Module, and various relics which benefit Levitate-related strategies.
This Module isn’t quite one of the “must-build, top of IS” ones that have come around before, but it’s still quite powerful and enables an exotic new strategy involving Irene that is worth the trouble. For the low cost of Specialized Modules, definitely one worth building.
Passenger
Passenger's Specialized Badge
RA-A
Rating
Yes
Recommended Level
Level 3
Passenger received a RA Module. Many Operators can be incredibly powerful in combat in RA, but this Module not only enhances Passenger’s combat performance, but also grants him some extremely convenient utility within the mode.
The Trait upgrade of this Module, in RA, makes Passenger and his fellow Operators immune to Environmental Damage, in addition to giving him +60% ATK and 1 SP recovered per second. Immunity to Environmental Damage makes Passenger a straightforward solution to many potentially annoying or dangerous stages within RA, while the extra ATK and SP ensure that he’s far from being dead weight in combat either. The cycling on Passenger’s S3 has long been one of his biggest weaknesses, and thus this extra SP generation substantially improves his cycling and effective damage.
The Talent upgrade of this Module, in RA, causes Passenger to strike 5 random tiles on the map every 10 seconds, with a greater likelihood of hitting crowded enemies. Each hit deals 500% of his ATK as Arts damage and reveals the area for 12 seconds. If friendly Operators are hit, they will instead recover 2 SP. This Talent allows Passenger to “become the lightning” on any map. While the randomness of his lightning strikes makes this somewhat less than ideal to rely upon, it’s yet another bonus for deploying Passenger in RA.
RA3, like its previous iterations, allows for players to power up quite substantially without needing these RA Modules, however these Modules help players considerably in the early game, and also rely less on the mode’s upgrades to comfortably clear stages. As such, for any player interested in RA, this Module is a very cheap investment. Passenger himself might not be worth building just for this Module, especially since he’s stuck in the lower powered kernel pool, but for those who already have him built it turns him into a very convenient multitool in RA.