Best Endfield Character Builds

01 / FIELD GUIDE

Who's Worth Building First?

Between Arknights: Endfield's two most commonly built operators, Laevatain and Yvonne serve different roles and reward different playstyles. Laevatain is an S-tier Heat Striker with one of the highest damage ceilings in the game, but she's timing-dependent — she converts Arts Infliction and Vulnerability from teammates into burst damage, so she underperforms without proper support. Yvonne is an A-tier 6-star Cryo Striker built around sustained critical-hit damage, considerably more forgiving to play and less reliant on precise team setup. For F2P or newer players choosing between the two, Yvonne's lower skill floor makes her the safer first major investment, while Laevatain rewards players willing to learn her burst windows and pull a dedicated buffer to support her.

Both are covered by our full tier list if you want the broader ranking context before deciding where to invest, and both remain relevant picks six months post-launch rather than being power-crept out by newer releases like Arcane.

02 / FIELD GUIDE

Laevatain: Kit Breakdown

Laevatain is a Striker-class Heat damage dealer whose entire kit revolves around converting status effects applied by her teammates — specifically Arts Infliction and Vulnerability — into massive burst-damage windows. Play her without that setup and she performs noticeably below her S-tier ranking; play her with it, and she has one of the highest damage ceilings currently in the game.

Her stat priorities: Intellect and Strength for base stats, Basic Attack DMG as the key secondary stat, and Arts Intensity as the substat to chase on gear pieces. Getting these right matters more for Laevatain than for most operators, since her damage scales so heavily off her burst windows rather than sustained output.

03 / FIELD GUIDE

Laevatain: Best Gear (Including 4-Star Options)

Best-in-slot gear: The Hot Work set (3-piece) with Redeemer Armor as the off-piece is currently considered her top endgame setup.

Signature weapon: Forgeborn Scathe — grants Heat damage and a large Basic Attack Damage bonus for 20 seconds after triggering her Ultimate, which lines up perfectly with a playstyle built around using her Ultimate as often as possible.

If you're not gunning for her full best-in-slot setup yet, here's how her build scales across progression:

That F2P route is worth calling out specifically: you don't need her signature weapon to get real value from her, and a maxed 4-star sword like Wave Tide is a completely reasonable early investment rather than a placeholder to immediately replace.

Should You Chase Her Signature Weapon?

Laevatain's signature weapon, Forgeborn Scathe, is a meaningful upgrade rather than a marginal one — it grants Heat damage plus a large Basic Attack Damage bonus for 20 seconds after her Ultimate, directly amplifying the burst-window playstyle her entire kit is built around. That said, it's not a hard requirement: a maxed 6-star sword like White Night Nova, or even a well-invested 5-star, gets you most of the way to her performance ceiling without needing the signature specifically. Prioritize maxing whatever sword you have before chasing the signature copy, since a fully leveled generic weapon consistently outperforms an under-leveled signature one.

04 / FIELD GUIDE

Laevatain: Best Teams & Tier Placement

Laevatain sits in S-tier on our current tier list, specifically as the standout DPS pick within that group. She needs a buffer who reliably applies Arts Infliction or Vulnerability, ideally paired with an SP-battery support to keep her Ultimate — and by extension her burst windows — coming around faster. Run her without that pairing and expect meaningfully less than what her ranking suggests; she's a team-dependent pick, not a solo carry.

05 / FIELD GUIDE

Yvonne: Kit Breakdown

Yvonne is a 6-star Cryo Striker built as a Handcannon-based single-target damage dealer, with a playstyle that favors sustained critical-hit output over a single big burst window. After casting her Ultimate, she becomes a considerably stronger single-target threat, and her overall design rewards consistent Crit Rate investment more than any one specific rotation trick.

Compared to Laevatain, she's simply more forgiving — she still benefits from support, but she doesn't fall off nearly as hard without it, which is exactly why she's a common recommendation for players who aren't ready to commit to Laevatain's steeper learning curve.

06 / FIELD GUIDE

Yvonne: Best Gear & Build

Best-in-slot gear: The MI Security set — specifically MI Security Overalls (armor), MI Security Hands PPE (glove), and MI Security Toolkits (kit slots) — is considered her optimal setup, built around ATK% and Critical Rate scaling that plays directly into her rapid-fire Cryo playstyle.

Alternative consideration: Swapping one MI Security Toolkit for Redeemer Seal helps reduce how many Inflictions she needs to access her Ultimate, which some players prefer for smoother Ultimate uptime over pure stat maximization.

Best weapon: Artzy Tyrannical, her signature handcannon, delivers massive Cryo damage through Critical Rate scaling and easy-to-maintain stacking Cryo buffs. Without it, Navigator is a strong alternative that performs just behind it in extended fights.

Gear Slot Basics

Every operator in Endfield equips four gear pieces total: one armor slot, one glove slot, and two kit slots. For Yvonne's full MI Security build, that means MI Security Overalls in the armor slot, MI Security Hands PPE in the glove slot, and MI Security Toolkits filling both kit slots — or one Toolkit plus Redeemer Seal if you're prioritizing Ultimate uptime over pure stat maximization, as noted above.

07 / FIELD GUIDE

Yvonne: Best Teams, Tier Placement & English VA

Yvonne currently ranks A-tier on our tier list — strong, reliable, and just below the SS/S-tier group above her. Pair her with operators that boost critical rate or apply Cryo consistently for the best results; she's more self-sufficient than Laevatain and performs reasonably well even outside a fully optimized team, which is part of why she's a frequently recommended first major pull.

On voice casting: Endfield ships with a full English dub, and character voice credits — including Yvonne's — are viewable directly in-game through the character profile's audio settings menu, which is the most reliable place to confirm current cast information as voice credits occasionally get updated between patches.

08 / FIELD GUIDE

More Builds Coming Soon

Laevatain and Yvonne get the deep-dive treatment here because they're currently the two most-built operators in the community, and we'd rather cover fewer characters with verified, tested builds than pad this page with speculative gear recommendations for operators that haven't had enough playtime yet. Arcane in particular is a likely candidate for the next full build breakdown given her SS-tier debut in the Homecoming update — check our tier list and character roster guide in the meantime for what's currently known about her.

If you haven't installed the game yet and are trying to decide whether any of this is worth chasing, our full review covers the gacha economy honestly before you commit, and our Arknights: Endfield overview is the best starting point for the bigger picture.