ARKNIGHTS ENDFIELD 1.3 RELEASE DATE & RECAP

The Arknights Endfield 1.3 release date is locked in: Phase 1 goes live June 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM (UTC+8) with the Mi Fu banner, followed by Phase 2 on June 26, 2026 at 4:00 AM (UTC+8) with Camille. The “Sketches of Lost Heirlooms” Preview Special Program has wrapped, and Hypergryph delivered the patch every Arknights veteran has been circling on the calendar since Endfield launched: Contingency Contract is live. Two new operators, Mi Fu and Camille, headline the banner schedule, a Wuxia-flavored exploration area arrives in Sword Vault Dale, and the long-awaited bulk artificing pass finally lands as a QoL headliner.

This is the round-up: every new operator, every endgame mode, every QoL tweak, and the early 1.4 teases worth saving Oroberyl for. For the official two-part content overview that breaks down every side mission, banner, Arsenal Issue, and limited-time event released across Phase 1 and Phase 2, see our 1.3 version update overview. Once you are caught up on what shipped, our Sketches of Lost Heirlooms Development Insights breakdown covers the post-launch retrospective, where the designers, artists, and cinematic team explain why Contingency Contract, Sword Vault Dale, Mi Fu, and Camille were built the way they were.

Release schedule:

• Phase 1: June 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM (UTC+8) — Mi Fu banner
• Phase 2: June 26, 2026 at 4:00 AM (UTC+8) — Camille banner

Mi Fu, the new 6★ Physical Guard headlining Version 1.3’s first banner. Her Sarkaz race classification has already sparked a community lore debate given how Kylin-coded her design is.

TL;DR — Key Points

• Contingency Contract launches — the original Arknights endgame mode, retooled for the ARPG, with player-selected difficulty and rewards distributed at the lower end so casuals are not shut out.
• Mi Fu (Physical Guard) — greatsword + gauntlets, fast-hitting, self-shielding, interruption-resistant, 3-sequence battle skill with Crush. Slots into physical-damage and vulnerability-stacking compositions.
• Camille (Fire Vanguard) — team support, SP and Ultimate Energy generation, fire/heat infliction. Pairs with Laevatain, Rossi, and the existing fire roster.
• No new main story chapter — story content this patch is delivered via the new operator character quests instead.
• Trial of Swordmancy — Umbral Monument-style combat mode where you compose the enemy loadout.
• Sword Vault Dale — new explorable area with Xianxia / Wuxia cultivation themes.
• Bulk artificing, automatic essence locking, batch lock/dismantle — the QoL pass long-time players have been asking for since 1.0.
• Version 1.4 teasers — Arcane and a new idol operator, biggest AIC update yet (gas products, Xiranite + Cuprium overhaul, new mining nodes), the Rooted Realm.

What Sketches of Lost Heirlooms Actually Delivers

The livestream framing was unusual for an Endfield update: instead of leading with a marquee new operator, Hypergryph led with a system. Contingency Contract has been the most-requested endgame feature since closed beta, and putting it at the top of the broadcast tells you where the dev team thinks the player base is right now — past the early-game power curve, hungry for repeatable challenge content, and willing to grind for a vanity medal if the gameplay holds up.

Two operators still anchor the banner schedule, but neither Mi Fu nor Camille is being sold as a “must pull or your account is over” unit the way Zhuang Fangyi was in 1.2. Both are situational power-ups for existing archetypes. That framing matters for pull planning — we will get to that below.

New Operators

Mi Fu — 6★ Physical Guard

Mi Fu is positioned as the new physical-damage anchor for vulnerability-stacking teams. The combat pitch is deliberately counter-intuitive: she carries a greatsword and gauntlets, but plays nothing like the slow, deliberate heavy-weapon archetype the genre usually puts on a unit with that silhouette.

What stands out from the trailer footage:

• Attack speed. Her sword swings have none of the wind-up tax you would expect on a greatsword. Hypergryph specifically called out that she is fast and “hits hard” without “the usual weight associated with greatswords.”
• Self-sufficient frontliner. Self-shielding and interruption resistance baked into the kit. This is rare for a damage-first Guard — most physical Guards in the current roster have to rotate in a healer or a Defender ally to stay vertical.
• 3-sequence battle skill. Her core damage rotation is a three-stage chain, ending in a hard-hitting payoff hit. This is the same design language Hypergryph used on Laevatain’s Heat combo — expect Mi Fu to reward execution and sequence memorization.
• Crush in the kit. Crush gives her direct stagger uptime, which slots cleanly into physical-vulnerability compositions where keeping the enemy locked is the whole point.

Where she fits:

• Physical-vulnerability teams. Stack vulnerability on the target, drop Mi Fu’s burst, repeat.
• Ember pair. Ember’s healing covers the rare gaps in Mi Fu’s self-shielding, and Ember’s vulnerability application directly amplifies Mi Fu’s payoff hits.
• As a Laevatain-team alternative. If your account is Heat-saturated, Mi Fu offers a clean physical-damage axis without needing to rebuild from scratch.

She is not a hypercarry replacement for Zhuang Fangyi. Treat her as a roster expansion, not a re-investment.

Camille — 6★ Fire Vanguard

Camille is the more interesting pull for the meta crowd. He is a Fire-element Vanguard built almost entirely around team support — SP generation, Ultimate Energy capabilities, damage buffs, and heat infliction.

What the kit actually does:

• SP generator for the team. This is the headline. Fire teams in 1.2 hit a ceiling where Laevatain’s damage was elite but her SP economy was tight. Camille is the answer.
• Ultimate Energy enabler. He pushes the team’s ultimate cycle, which is huge for ult-dependent damage dealers.
• Heat infliction. Adds heat without taking a damage slot, which means he stacks well with Rossi and any fire DPS that monetizes heat stacks.
• Combo skill enabler. His presence opens up combo skill activations that were not viable in single-element teams.

Team compositions to think about:

The team-comp tease from the livestream was specific: Hypergryph called out replacing Akekuri or Wulfgard with Camille — or running all three together. The triple-Vanguard frontline is the kind of composition that only works when one unit explicitly enables redundancy, which strongly implies Camille’s SP/Ultimate Energy contribution is generous enough to break the usual one-Vanguard cap.

Pull priority verdict: Camille is the higher-value pull of the two for accounts that already own Laevatain. Mi Fu is the higher-value pull for accounts deep into physical-vulnerability compositions. If you skipped Zhuang Fangyi and your roster is still Heat-anchored, Camille moves the needle more than any unit since the Laevatain debut.

New Weapons — Stats & Essence Farming

Four new 6★ weapons land in Version 1.3: two banner signatures and two standard pool additions. Stats below confirmed from the in-game armament reveals.

Amaranthine Tassel — Mi Fu Signature (Greatsword)

• Type: Greatsword
• Main Stat: Strength Boost
• Sub Stat: Attack Boost
• Attribute / Skill: Attack / Combative
• Signature: Mi Fu

Pure physical-damage scaling. Strength main with Attack Boost stacks cleanly into Mi Fu’s vulnerability-payoff sequence, and Combative is the cleanest skill tag for a Guard who wants frontline uptime rather than burst-window dependency.

Blessing of Lustrous Carmine — Camille Signature (Polearm)

• Type: Polearm
• Main Stat: Agility Boost
• Sub Stat: Heat DMG Boost
• Attribute / Skill: Heat DMG / Flow
• Signature: Camille

Agi-main Polearm with Heat DMG sub — unusual for a Vanguard, but it slots Camille directly into the Heat axis. Flow as the skill tag implies sustained uptime rather than burst, which lines up with the SP-generator / Ultimate-Energy framing of his kit.

Phantom Pain — Standard 6★ Greatsword

• Type: Greatsword
• Main Stat: Strength Boost
• Sub Stat: Arts Intensity Boost
• Attribute / Skill: Intensity / Suppression

The standard-pool answer for Intensity-scaling physical Greatsword users. Pairs naturally with Arts-Intensity carries that want a melee anchor without rolling for a signature.

Beacon of Duty — Standard 6★ Polearm

• Type: Polearm
• Main Stat: Agility Boost
• Sub Stat: Ultimate Gain Efficiency Boost
• Attribute / Skill: Ult Gain / Efficacy

Ult Gain main with Efficacy as the skill tag. Slots into ult-rotation comps where you want to push another cycle out of an Agi-scaling Polearm carry — strong utility, low team-comp friction.

Essence Farming Quick Reference

All four are tracked in our Essence Farming Tool — auto-locking and routing recommendations update with the 1.3 patch.

Story — Character Quests Only

There is no new main story chapter in Version 1.3. This is a deliberate pacing decision after three consecutive patches of main-story content (1.0 launch, the Wuling arc, and 1.2’s Xiranite Dam climax). The team needs to set up the next narrative beat without rushing it.

What you get instead is a substantial pair of character quests for Mi Fu and Camille. Both operators have backstories tied to the Xianxia / Wuxia themed Sword Vault Dale area, which means their quests double as the lore foundation for the new exploration content.

If you are a story-first player, this is the patch to fully clear character archives and bonds. The voice acting and cutscene budget for character quests has been climbing patch over patch, and the two units headlining a banner traditionally get the highest production tier.

Contingency Contract Arrives

This is the headline addition of Version 1.3, and the patch’s reason to exist. Contingency Contract — the legacy endgame mode from the original Arknights tower defense — finally lands in Endfield’s ARPG framework.

If you played CC in the original game, the skeleton is intact: player-selected difficulty modifiers stacked into a single contract, with reward tiers distributed across the difficulty curve. If you have never touched the original, here is the design philosophy in one line:

Rewards land at the lower end of the difficulty range so everyone gets them. The harder tiers exist purely for the players who want a real challenge.

This is the most important sentence in the entire livestream. Hypergryph is explicitly decoupling material rewards from peak difficulty — the same model the original Arknights used to keep CC accessible for the casual player base while still serving the hardcore crowd.

How CC Works in Endfield

You pick a contract by stacking modifiers. Each modifier ticks the difficulty up (and unlocks higher-tier reward thresholds) but the reward floor stays low so you do not need to brick your team to clear the headline drops.

Example modifiers teased on the broadcast:

• Dodge is disabled — execution-heavy. Forces you to play around enemy patterns rather than i-frame through them.
• Ultimate abilities deal no damage after the first usage — burst-window compression. One shot to make the rotation land.
• Enemies leave behind lingering damage pools on death — positional pressure. The encounter does not end when the enemy dies.
• …and more. The full list will not be visible until the patch ships, but expect 12-20 modifiers per season.

Who CC Is For

What CC Means for Operator Investment

The big strategic implication: deep rosters get more valuable. Modifiers that ban specific elements or roles mean the player who built three different team archetypes will out-clear the player who built one team to 6/6/6 and stopped.

If you have been single-axis investing — Heat-only, Physical-only, Electric-only — CC is the patch where that catches up to you. Use the next month to diversify, not to deepen.

Our deeper read on the system framework is in our earlier Contingency Contract analysis — written before the formal reveal, but the broad strokes hold up.

Trial of Swordmancy

Trial of Swordmancy is a new combat-focused mode where you compose the enemy lineup rather than the game throwing a fixed roster at you. The gameplay framing is similar to Umbral Monument — pick your encounter parameters, fight, repeat.

This is the second player-driven encounter system in the game (after Umbral Monument itself), and the implication is that Hypergryph is building toward a stable of these. Each one serves a different appetite — Umbral Monument rewards build optimization against fixed enemy patterns, Swordmancy rewards build flexibility against player-curated chaos.

The mode officially opens June 12, 2026 at 12:00 (server time) with a daily Dataplate-draw loop, a 10-Battle-Point reward sweet spot before Data Overflow penalties kick in, three Rewarded Trial attempts per day, and a limited Trial Algorithmics event that closes when Sketches of Lost Heirlooms ends. We unpack the full mechanic set — Dataplate draws, Rewards Doubling, the 3-day deck reset, and Free Trial Mode — in our Trial of Swordmancy permanent combat mode breakdown.

What to test in the first week:

• Off-meta operators against curated weak matchups. Build viability checks for units sitting on the bench.
• Element-stacking experiments. Pile multiples of one weakness on the enemy lineup and see how much of the damage curve actually scales.
• Vulnerability ceilings. How many vulnerability stacks does the game actually let you pile on a single target before diminishing returns kick in?

Sword Vault Dale

Sword Vault Dale is the new explorable area, and the aesthetic shift is significant. Hypergryph leaned hard into Xianxia and Wuxia themes — cultivation, martial arts, sword sects, the whole canonical genre vocabulary.

This is the first major area in Endfield that visually departs from the Wuling industrial-tech aesthetic. It signals that the world map is broadening beyond Talos-II’s central narrative — and that the team is willing to spend art budget on cultural specificity rather than safe sci-fi defaults.

What to expect from the exploration loop:

• Mi Fu and Camille’s character quests are anchored here.
• New collectibles and exploration milestones consistent with prior area releases.
• Faction-flavored NPCs and side content. The “sword sect” framing means we should expect a distinct local cast.
• Likely new resource nodes for AIC pipelines — patch-over-patch Endfield has used new areas to introduce a new gathering node or two.

Quality of Life — The Patch’s Quiet Power

Hypergryph dropped a full slate of QoL upgrades, and several of them are genuinely meaningful for daily play, not just clipboard wins.

Production & Crafting

• Bulk artificing. No more click-by-click rerolls. This is the QoL ask the community has been making since Day 1, and it is finally here.
• Automatic essence locking. Pick a target weapon; any matching essence rolls auto-lock. Removes the friction layer that has been quietly losing essences to dismantle queues.
• Batch lock and dismantle for weapons. Same principle, applied to the weapon inventory.
• Expanded Crucible auto-resolution for multiple formulas. Crucible blockage was a silent productivity killer. Auto-resolution removes the daily babysitting tax.

AIC & Base

• Backup Power. A short power burst for your base, intended for rebuild scenarios and blueprint testing. This is a quiet game-changer for anyone iterating on factory layouts.
• Daily Task adjustments. More options, faster clears. The exact mechanics were not detailed — expect a “skip if redundant” or “claim-all” pass.

Combat & UX

• Off-screen attack indicators. More prominent. Specifically called out as a CC-readiness change — the new mode introduces attack patterns where the camera will not always be on the threat.
• Return-to-Dijiang button. When you visit a friend’s base, returning home now goes straight to your own Dijiang instead of dropping you at your last location. Tiny change, huge daily QoL.
• Seamless controller / keyboard-mouse switching. Hot-swap inputs without a menu loop. For PC players with both peripherals at the desk, this is the unglamorous fix that improves every session.

Why the QoL Pass Matters Right Now

CC is going to surface every existing friction point in the game. Players are about to run the same encounter 30+ times for medal completion, and any sub-optimal click count multiplies fast. The QoL pass is timed to land with the new endgame mode, not after it. That sequencing is correct.

Player Type Verdicts — Who Should Pull, What Should You Save

For the Casual Player

• Pull one of Mi Fu or Camille based on the team you actually play. Skip the other.
• Run CC at the lowest difficulty tier that unlocks the full reward floor.
• Use the QoL pass to clean up your inventory backlog.

For the Mid-Game Player

• Camille is the higher-impact pull if you own Laevatain. Mi Fu is the higher-impact pull if you do not.
• Use CC as a roster diagnostic. The modifiers will tell you what your account is missing.
• Save 1,200+ Oroberyl for the 1.4 Arcane banner — the teaser was specific enough to warrant a dedicated savings bucket.

For the Whale / Hyper-Engaged Player

• Both Mi Fu and Camille. The triple-Vanguard frontline tease alone justifies Camille; Mi Fu is the cleanest physical Guard since Rossi.
• Push CC to its peak modifier stack and start theory-crafting solo runs.
• Audit your AIC. The 1.4 AIC overhaul will retro-actively reward whoever has clean, modular pipelines today.

For the Returning Player

• Skip both 1.3 banners unless your roster is genuinely thin in physical or fire.
• Save for 1.4. The Arcane + idol operator + AIC overhaul + Rooted Realm package is the bigger event.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Version 1.3

• Pulling Mi Fu “just in case” without a vulnerability composition. Without vulnerability stacks driving her damage payoff, she is competing with operators you already own.
• Skipping Camille because Vanguards “are not the carry.” SP and Ultimate Energy support has the highest team-DPS multiplier in the current meta. Camille is not a carry — he is a force multiplier on the carry you already have.
• Stacking CC modifiers for max difficulty on Day 1. The reward floor is at the bottom. Hit the floor, then ramp. Do not brick your weekly drops chasing prestige.
• Ignoring the QoL pass. Bulk artificing alone is worth 20+ minutes per week. Auto-essence locking compounds across the patch lifecycle. Use the new tools — they pay back faster than any operator investment.
• Not saving for 1.4. Arcane is a teased headliner. Spending your full Oroberyl reserve on 1.3 banners and arriving at 1.4 empty is the most predictable trap in the patch cycle.

Version 1.4 Teasers — What to Track

The end-of-stream teaser block was generous, and it changes the savings calculus for the rest of 1.3.

Arcane and a New Idol Operator

Both teased silhouettes. Arcane is the obvious meta headliner — element and role were not confirmed on stream, but the framing strongly implies a hypercarry tier release. The idol operator is the more interesting unknown — Endfield has not had a true idol-archetype unit yet, and the genre traditionally ties idol units to support / buffing kits. The community has already filled that silhouette with leaks, but our Endfield 1.4 idol operator analysis separates what the teaser actually confirms from the datamine rumors.

Action item: Treat 1.4 as a confirmed savings target. Bank 1,400+ Oroberyl across the 1.3 patch cycle.

Two New Maps — One Map Per Major Version Going Forward

Hypergryph confirmed every major version will ship with at least one new explorable map from 1.4 forward. This is a significant content-cadence commitment and changes how to read the patch roadmap — areas are no longer a “sometimes” feature.

The Biggest AIC Update Yet

This is the line that should make every factory player stand up:

• Gas products — new product category, almost certainly new building chain.
• Massive additional equipment, formulas, and products for Xiranite and Cuprium — the two pipelines under-served since launch.
• More mining nodes — direct response to the resource-bottleneck complaints that have been building since Wuling.

For our existing read on AIC bottlenecks and what the overhaul is likely fixing, see our AIC factory optimization guide.

The Rooted Realm

A new area with “special combat mechanics.” The phrasing is intentionally vague, but “special combat mechanics” in Hypergryph’s vocabulary historically means a new layered system — element interactions, environmental modifiers, or a stance / form mechanic tied to the area itself.

Final Read

Version 1.3 is a systems patch wearing a banner’s clothing. The two new operators are good, situational additions — neither is required reading. The real headline is Contingency Contract going live, the QoL pass arriving exactly when it needs to, and Sword Vault Dale extending the world map in a direction nobody saw coming.

The 1.4 teases meaningfully changed the savings math: if you skip both 1.3 banners and CC-grind through the patch instead, you arrive at 1.4 with full Oroberyl, a deeper roster, and a baseline read on what your account can actually do under modifier stress. That is a stronger position than “I pulled Mi Fu.”

Pick your shots. Hit the QoL floor. Push CC to your skill ceiling. Watch the 1.4 silhouettes.

Sketches of Lost Heirlooms summary infographic. Note: not the final summary — some changes are still to apply.

Summary Infographic — Extracted

New Operator(s)

• Mi Fu — Greatsword User / Guard / Class: Physical
• Camille — Polearm User / Vanguard / Heat
• Phase 1 Release: June 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM (UTC+8)
• Phase 2 Release: June 26, 2026 at 4:00 AM (UTC+8)

New Weapon(s)

• Amaranthine Tassel (Greatsword) — Mi Fu signature
• Blessing of Lustrous Carmine (Polearm) — Camille signature
• Phantom Pain (Greatsword) — standard 6★
• Beacon of Duty (Polearm) — standard 6★

New Gear(s)

• New gears for the existing Qingbo Stockade and Swordmancer gear sets
• New gear set: Grizzled Edge Gear Pack
• Plus new ornament(s)

New Area

• “Kurakendani” (from JP translation) / Sword Vault Dale
• Search for Sword Vault Dale (guide event) — “Exploring the Valley”

New Modes / Events

• Umbral Monument: Contention of Deathly Silences
• Trial of Swordmancy (permanent game mode)
• Crisis Fragment (new permanent game mode)
• Contingency Readiness (sanity event)
• Kali’s Wuling Picture Book (photography event)

New Addition (QoL)

• Mi Fu & Camille Story quest
• Bulk Artificing for gears
• Weapon Batch Dismantling
• Lock Management Function (lock or unlock all 5-star weapons with 1 click)
• Optimized essence farming (can select weapons you need essence on and auto-locks corresponding essence for that weapon)
• Optimized switching logic between controller and keyboard & mouse controls
• Regional development will now show what you need to upgrade to increase your regional development level
• AIC emergency Backup power
• Easier daily tasks

Contingency Contract debuts as the headline new mode this version.

FAQ

When is the Arknights Endfield 1.3 release date?

Version 1.3 “Sketches of Lost Heirlooms” releases in two phases. Phase 1 launches on June 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM (UTC+8) with the Mi Fu banner. Phase 2 launches on June 26, 2026 at 4:00 AM (UTC+8) with the Camille banner. Both phases are part of the same patch cycle.

Is Version 1.3 a skip patch?

For pulls, partially — both banners are situational rather than mandatory. For systems, absolutely not. CC alone is the largest single feature addition since launch, and the QoL pass is unmissable. The patch is rich in content; just be selective on banner spend.

Should I pull Mi Fu or Camille?

Camille if you already own Laevatain or play any Fire-focused composition. Mi Fu if you play physical-vulnerability stacking compositions. If you do not have a clear team need for either, save for 1.4 Arcane.

Is there a new main story chapter?

No. Story content this patch is delivered through Mi Fu and Camille’s character quests, which are tied to the new Sword Vault Dale area. The next main story chapter is expected in 1.4 or 1.5.

What’s the reward floor for Contingency Contract?

Hypergryph specifically called out that all material rewards land at the lower end of the difficulty curve. Concrete numbers were not given on stream, but expect the full reward tier to be reachable without stacking maximum modifiers. The pattern is intentional and matches the original Arknights CC design.

Can casual players actually clear CC?

Yes. That is the explicit design intent. The reward floor is positioned for the casual player base. Higher difficulty tiers exist for prestige and personal challenge, not for material gating.

Will bulk artificing change essence farming priorities?

Yes. The action-cost of rerolling drops to near zero, which means your essence raw-material throughput becomes the new bottleneck rather than the clicking. Audit your essence farming routes — anything bottlenecked on patience rather than supply is about to outperform.

Is Camille a better pull than Akekuri?

For most teams that own Akekuri, Camille is the upgrade. He has stronger SP economy, contributes Ultimate Energy generation that Akekuri does not, and adds heat infliction as a damage axis. The triple-Vanguard tease (Akekuri + Wulfgard + Camille) implies they can stack — but if you can only run one, Camille is the higher-ceiling pick.

What should I save for in 1.4?

Arcane is the confirmed headliner. Bank 1,400+ Oroberyl. The idol operator is a secondary watch — kit details are unconfirmed, but the silhouette warrants attention. The AIC overhaul does not require Oroberyl, but it will reward whoever has a clean factory layout ready to slot the new buildings into.

Does the QoL pass affect any active grinds I should pause?

If you have been holding off on dismantling essences or weapons because the per-click cost was too high, pause until the patch lands. Batch dismantle and auto-essence locking will save hours of cleanup. Same for any Crucible blockage — backup formulas will resolve queued blockages automatically.

When does Contingency Contract refresh?

Hypergryph did not give a concrete cadence on stream. Original Arknights ran CC on roughly a quarterly seasonal cycle. Expect Endfield to match or shorten that pattern, with seasonal modifier sets rotating in. Watch the next 1.3 sub-patch for confirmation.

Related Reading

• Mi Fu & Sui Shisan Meta Analysis — pre-livestream leaks meet confirmed kit details.
• Camille Blood Hunter Deep Dive — fuller kit breakdown ahead of banner launch.
• Contingency Contract Analysis — system-level read on what CC means for Endfield’s endgame structure.
• Version 1.3 Expansion Cycle — patch-level read on how 1.3 fits the broader content cadence.
• Zhuang Fangyi Pull Drought Strategy — savings framework for the 1.3 → 1.4 transition.