Version 1.6 is no longer leak territory. GRYPHLINE has officially unveiled Sanctuary of Ink, and the final banner lineup is more interesting than the early rumors suggested. Si opens the update on October 15. Tangtang returns mid-version on a RE-Factor banner. Then Hongshan's mounted guardsman arrives in Phase 2 as Argent Flow, his official English name.
The biggest correction is Si herself. Early leaks labeled her a Heat Caster. The official reveal confirms a 6-star Cryo Supporter instead. Her kit is built around Artful Intent, a detachable Inksoul, Fixed DMG, and buffs for both Cryo and Heat teams.
Argent Flow isn't the Electric Vanguard many leak posts described, either. He is a 6-star Electric Guard whose rotation converts Electric Infliction into stronger Electrification, Vulnerability, and a big Crush detonation.
This guide covers the confirmed Arknights: Endfield 1.6 banners, both kits, signature weapons, and free pulls. It also explains which accounts benefit most from each Operator. If your Oroberyl still falls short of a 120-pull featured guarantee, an Arknights: Endfield top up on GamsGo can cover the final gap.
Update status: The release date, banner order, classes, elements, weapons, and core skill mechanics below are official. Exact numbers, such as multipliers, SP costs, and durations, come from a preview build. We will update them once Version 1.6 goes live.
Arknights: Endfield 1.6 Release Date and Banner Schedule
Version 1.6 Sanctuary of Ink launches on October 15, 2026. The date is official, and the Steam version launches the same day with cross-platform account sync.
Si's Rejuvenation banner runs from the end of maintenance until November 5 at 11:59 server time. Argent Flow follows at 12:00 on November 5. Tangtang's separate RE-Factor banner runs from October 29 to November 19, so it overlaps both of them.
The full maintenance window and any server-specific timing will appear on the official Arknights: Endfield news page.
Confirmed Arknights: Endfield 1.6 Banners
Si takes Phase 1 and Argent Flow takes Phase 2. Tangtang's RE-Factor rerun opens between them. That makes 1.6 a three-banner patch rather than a simple two-character cycle. If you're saving for both new Operators, treat Tangtang as a separate temptation, since RE-Factor pulls don't build Chartered pity.
Each new Operator also gets a seven-day sign-in: Spirit's Restoration for Si and The Stars Are With Me for Argent Flow. Each one awards 5 limited Chartered HH Permits for that Operator's banner. The Acquisition Center adds another 5 permits per banner, while the New Version Guide webpage awards 1,000 Oroberyl. Claim these before you work out how much you actually need to spend.
Phase 1
Si
6★ Cryo Supporter
October 15
Inksoul control, stored Fixed DMG, and Cryo/Heat team buffs
Mounted charges, Vulnerability, Electrification, and Crush bursts
Leak check: The early schedule leak was right about Si and the Hongshan guard appearing in Version 1.6, but wrong about both roles. Si is officially a Cryo Supporter, not a Heat Caster. The second Operator is officially named Argent Flow, not the placeholder name from older English posts. He is also an Electric Guard, not a Vanguard.
Si: The 13th Sui Proxy Steps Into the Roster
Si matters for more than a Phase 1 slot. She is one of Endfield's strongest links to the original Arknights mythology: the 13th Proxy of Sui. Sui is the Feranmut whose twelve original fragments became the siblings players know from the first game, including Nian and Dusk.
She came into being long after those twelve, and she is the only Proxy of Sui known to be on Talos-II. For longtime Arknights players, that makes her a very different kind of debut from the usual new Operator.
Si's Role in the Wuling Story
On Talos-II, Si works alongside the Hongshan Academy of Sciences and wields Ink-and-Scroll powers. During the Marker Stone crisis, she entered the North Wuling Exclusion Zone and helped stabilize the Xiranite Nexus. Then she stayed behind as the final line of defense.
Her butterfly-shaped Ink Spirits carried messages to Arcane, and one of her scrolls unfolded into a vast space the Endministrator could move through. Later, she was the one who realized that the body Nefarith destroyed was only Ardashir's vessel.
How Si's Design Connects to the Sui Siblings
Her design makes the same connection visible. Light jade-green hair, black horns, a long tail, floating ink constructs, and butterfly motifs tie her to the Sui lineage without copying any single sibling.
Players have spotted three sibling echoes in her look. The ink and painted creatures recall Dusk. The blade-like constructs and metal rings recall Nian. Her living, cultivated feel points to Shu. That doesn't prove who made her, but it explains why the “artificial Feranmut Heart” theory feels built into her silhouette.
Wuling's crisis, Hongshan's Feranmut research, and the older Sui mythology all run through her. Endfield has been dropping hints about Si since the Marker Stone arc, and 1.6 is where those story threads finally come together.
Si's Official Kit: Artful Intent and the Inksoul
Si's kit revolves around Artful Intent. Her Battle Skill, Brushwork Realm, damages a target, marks it, and applies an Infliction based on the Operator in team slot 1. With a Heat Operator in slot 1, Si applies Heat; otherwise, she applies Cryo.
Artful Intent records part of the damage the marked enemy takes, then releases that amount as wide-area Fixed DMG when the mark expires. According to the developers on the preview stream, this stored burst ignores DEF, RES, and damage reduction.
Recasting the skill as Initial Stroke spends a small amount of SP and pulls an Inksoul out of the marked enemy. Anything you hit the Inksoul with, damage and effects alike, also lands on its host. The preview stream showed why that matters. Nefarith teleported to the far side of the arena, so the team pulled an Inksoul and dropped Laevatain's Ultimate on it.
Nobody had to chase, and the damage still reached the boss. Skills cast on the Inksoul can also interrupt the host's charged attacks from range. The free follow-up, Final Stroke, sends the Inksoul back early and sets off the stored Artful Intent burst on the spot.
Her Combo Skill, Fully Envisioned, triggers when Cryo or Heat Infliction is consumed or absorbed. Si summons an Ink Lung for a multi-hit attack, and its final hit grows stronger with the number of Infliction stacks used. Her Ultimate, No One Spoils the Fun, deals AoE Cryo DMG and gives the whole party Cryo Amp and Heat Amp.
After it, her talent shortens the slot-1 Operator's Combo Skill cooldown. Even her basic attack finisher restores SP. That keeps her cycling back into Brushwork Realm instead of standing idle.
Si Teams: Laevatain, Yvonne, and Cryo Carries
Si works best as a flexible amplifier rather than a replacement for Laevatain. Put Laevatain in slot 1, and Si's Battle Skill applies Heat Infliction. Her Ultimate then buffs Heat DMG and cuts Laevatain's Combo Skill cooldown. The result is a faster Combustion loop, and Artful Intent spreads the team's single-target burst as splash damage.
Cryo teams get the same structure with Cryo Amp. Yvonne can supply the Infliction consumption that triggers Fully Envisioned, while Si adds Fixed DMG that stays valuable against high-defense targets. The official program also showed Si as the main damage dealer. That setup depends much more on her final multipliers and SP economy.
My pull read: Si is the safer all-round pick in 1.6. Her value doesn't hinge on one team. She works under a Heat carry just as well as a Cryo one. The Inksoul also handles slippery bosses in a way nobody else on the roster can. Laevatain and Yvonne owners have the clearest reason to pull right now.
Argent Flow: Hongshan’s Mounted Electric Guard
Argent Flow headlines the second-half banner from November 5. The official English reveal drops the old leak name and confirms him as a 6-star Electric Guard from the Hongshan Academy of Sciences.
His story brings him into Si's painted world to help treat the Endministrator, only for Si to coldly drive him away. The two clearly share history, and Argent Flow also carries an old, unfulfilled promise connected to the Endministrator.
Argent Flow's Design and the Longma Fantasy
Visually, he's easy to pick out: long blond hair, beast ears, a white-and-gold military outfit, a sword and lance, and the bearing of a heavy-cavalry officer. That look has already earned him the nickname “horse guy” in community videos, along with instant Młynar comparisons.
Młynar belongs to the Nearl family, but the details point elsewhere. Argent Flow is Yanese, and the 3D model shown on stream has a scaly, dragon-like tail. Combined with his horse-like cavalry look, that tail fuels the leading fan theory. Many players think he belongs to a new race inspired by the Longma, the dragon-horse of Chinese mythology.
Nuli Is Part of the Kit, Not Just the Artwork
The mount speculation was right. Argent Flow fights with both sword and spear, then calls his warhorse Nuli for Bolt Rush and his Ultimate. Players had been guessing about that cavalry silhouette for months, and the mounted charge confirms it. It also gives his rotation a sense of speed. Set up Vulnerability, draw the sword, then ride through the target to cash out the Electric stacks.
Argent Flow's Official Kit and Weapon
Argent Flow's base Battle Skill, Darkness Cowed, is a spear sweep that deals Physical DMG to nearby enemies and Lifts targets in front of him. Applying Vulnerability triggers his Combo Skill, Stars Shifted. This multi-hit sword draw deals Electric DMG and adds Electric Infliction. It also turns his next Battle Skill into Bolt Rush.
Bolt Rush mounts Nuli and charges through a wide area, eating up the Electric Infliction on enemies. The more stacks it consumes, the higher the Electrification it applies, and it adds another Vulnerability stack on top.
His talent, Zenith of Voltmancy, makes that Electrification raise every type of damage the target takes, Physical included. It also applies the same number of Sunderization stacks. In the stream's Arts demo, teammates stacked 3 Electric Infliction on a Craghowler. One Bolt Rush turned them into level 4 Electrification and 4 Sunderization.
Those stacks wait for a Crush hit. Crush DMG against a Sunderized target is increased and detonates every stack for extra Electric DMG on the target and nearby enemies. In the Physical demo, the Endministrator's Battle Skill supplied that Crush.
Argent Flow can also do it himself with Heavens Sundered. He charges forward on Nuli and drags lighter enemies along. Then a wide lance strike applies Crush and sets everything off at once.
Where Argent Flow Fits
He doesn't replace Arclight as a 6-star SP battery, which is what the early Vanguard leak implied. Argent Flow is a hybrid setup-and-burst Guard who makes Electrification amplify all incoming damage, then turns Crush into a detonation tool. That lets him work in Electric teams with stacked Infliction, and it also opens Physical teams built around Vulnerability and Crush.
My pull read: Argent Flow has the higher skill ceiling of the two. He wants a clean sequence—Vulnerability, Stars Shifted, Electric stacks, Bolt Rush, then Crush—and rewards teams that can supply those pieces quickly.
Pull him if you enjoy rotation-heavy burst teams or want one Operator who can bridge Electric and Physical cores. If your account lacks reliable Vulnerability, Electric Infliction, or Crush, Si will be easier to slot in right away.
Where Version 1.6 Takes the Wuling Story
Sanctuary of Ink picks up after the battle with Alleikhreos. The Aether mark on the Endministrator keeps clashing with the Originium inside their body. To treat it, Si brings the group into her painted world and puts them up at Yuanyuan Manor.
That setting gives the patch a smaller, more personal entry point without abandoning the Wuling plot. Si's paintings are no longer just visual symbolism. They become the explorable map, the source of new enemies, and part of the treatment itself. Argent Flow adds the human side of the story. He brings an old promise, a shared past with the Endministrator, and a tense history with Si.
Version 1.6 Signature Weapons
Si's likely signature is Jade Vessel, a 6-star Greatsword featured in the Seal of Jade Issue. Its preview stats focus on Intellect, Cryo DMG, and an Efficacy passive, which matches her Supporter kit and Artful Intent setup. The Issue opens with Version 1.6 and stays available across three Chartered banners, starting with Rejuvenation.
Argent Flow's matching weapon is Lunar Calling, a 6-star Sword in the Moongleam Issue from November 5. Its preview profile includes Will, Attack, and an Infliction passive. That fits a kit built on applying and consuming Electric stacks.
The Inkscroll Protocol Pass also adds two selectable 6-star alternatives: the Greatsword Long Heritage and the Sword Complexed Industry. Wait for the final passive values before calling either signature mandatory. Both Operators already have complete loops without them.
Yuanyuan's Blazing Stoves: Farming and Innkeeping
The ranch-and-inn system is officially titled Yuanyuan's Blazing Stoves. Players automate crops and livestock, turn the produce into dishes, and serve guests at Yuanyuan Manor. The mode stays permanently after its event period, so it's a real expansion to Endfield's management layer rather than a one-off minigame.
Version 1.6 also adds Arena of Games on October 29 and sets up the next Contingency Contract season, Indigo Experimental Operation. Together with the new painted-world story map, that makes this a much bigger patch than Version 1.5, which added only one new 6-star.
Version 1.6 Pull Strategy and Oroberyl Planning
Chartered Headhunting has one planning trap worth spelling out. A 6-star is guaranteed within 80 attempts, and that pity carries between Chartered banners. The featured Operator is guaranteed within the first 120 attempts, but that progress resets when the banner ends.
In practice, walking in with 70 pulls builds pity for later without securing the character in front of you. Each pull costs 500 Oroberyl, so a full 120-pull guarantee works out to 60,000 Oroberyl per Operator.
If you decide to spend, GamsGo also offers Origeometry, which converts into Oroberyl for your pulls. Start from how many pulls you're missing for the guarantee. Then buy only what covers that gap.
What to Prepare Before Version 1.6
With the banner order and combat roles confirmed, your prep can be much more focused:
- Oroberyl and Chartered HH Permits: Count the 10 banner-specific permits available for each new Operator from sign-in and the Acquisition Center before spending Oroberyl.
- T-Creds: Two new 6-star builds can drain upgrade currency fast, even before weapons and gear enter the picture.
- Operator EXP materials: Stock enough universal EXP to raise one 6-star immediately, or two if you're committing to both phases.
- Skill upgrade materials: Hold them until launch. Then level the key skills first: Brushwork Realm for Si, and Stars Shifted and Bolt Rush for Argent Flow.
- Arsenal Tickets: Save them until you can see the signature weapons and realistic alternatives side by side.
- Gear: Keep Intellect and Cryo DMG pieces for Si, and Will, Attack, and Electric DMG pieces for Argent Flow. Final sets still depend on launch-day ratios.
Review your roster by mechanics, not just element. Si wants a strong Cryo or Heat Operator in slot 1 and teammates that consume or absorb Infliction. Argent Flow wants Vulnerability to trigger Stars Shifted, enough Electric Infliction to strengthen Bolt Rush, and a reliable Crush hit to detonate Sunderization.
Final Thoughts
Version 1.6 looks like Endfield's most mechanically ambitious banner cycle so far. Both new Operators look very different from what the leaks promised. Si is a Supporter who can turn one marked boss into a second target. Argent Flow is a mounted Guard whose damage depends on how well your team sets him up.
If you want the strongest general account value, Si is my first recommendation. Even if your main team changes next version, she probably comes with it. Argent Flow is the sharper specialist: harder to run well, but very rewarding if your roster already has the pieces to feed him.
The good news is that 1.6 hands out plenty of free pulls. You get 1,000 Oroberyl from the version guide and 5 limited permits from each sign-in. The Acquisition Center adds 5 more per banner. Claim those first and try both Operators. Then decide how much of your 120-pull safety net has to come from savings or an Arknights: Endfield Oroberyl top up.
Arknights: Endfield 1.6 Banner FAQ
Does Version 1.5 Pity Carry Into Si's Rejuvenation Banner?
Yes. Rejuvenation is a Chartered Headhunting banner, so your 6-star pity count from Winter Hunt carries over. If you ended Typhoeus's banner at 50 pulls without a 6-star, one is guaranteed within 30 more pulls on Si. Yvonne's and Tangtang's RE-Factor banners use separate counters.
What Are the Confirmed Version 1.6 Banner Dates?
Si's Rejuvenation runs from October 15 until November 5 at 11:59 server time. Argent Flow's The Hearth Fire Beckons the Starry Flow begins at 12:00 on November 5 and runs until the next version maintenance. Tangtang's RE-Factor rerun runs from October 29 to November 19.
Do Free Urgent Recruitment Pulls Advance Pity?
No. The free 10-pull you earn at 30 attempts is a bonus. It doesn't count toward the 80-pull pity, the 120-pull guarantee, or milestone rewards. When you check whether Si or Argent Flow is guaranteed, count only attempts paid with Oroberyl or eligible permits.
Which Version 1.6 Operator Should I Pull First?
Si, for most accounts. She fits into whichever Cryo or Heat team you already run, so she's useful from day one. Argent Flow becomes the better target when your roster can already apply Vulnerability, stack Electric Infliction, and land a Crush hit.
Should I Pull a Character or Their Signature Weapon First?
Secure the Operator first, since a signature weapon can't fix a kit you don't own. Once you have the Operator, weigh Jade Vessel or Lunar Calling against the Greatswords and Swords you already own. The preview confirms their stat directions, but the final passive values decide whether either weapon changes the rotation enough to justify Arsenal Tickets.
How Does the Headhunting Dossier Help With Phase 2?
Hitting 60 qualifying attempts on a Chartered banner earns a Dossier that converts into a 10-pull permit for the next Chartered banner. That means a Dossier earned on Si's Rejuvenation can be used on Argent Flow. Use it before it expires, and look at the in-game rules panel for exactly which milestones it advances after the 1.6 update.
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