STRATEGY GUIDE: ZEROTH DIRECTIVE META
The global launch of Arknights: Endfield on January 22, 2026, completely flipped the script on the action-RPG genre. By blending high-fidelity industrial automation with real-time tactical combat, it has created a loop that is as addictive as it is complex. As the Endministrator on the moon of Talos-II, your job is to rebuild the infrastructure of Endfield Industries after a total environmental collapse.
By February 2026, the game entered its “Zeroth Directive” phase, a critical period marked by a player-driven economy, permanent high-difficulty endgame content, and a series of deep optimizations designed to bridge the gap between casual play and industrial mastery. This guide breaks down everything you need to know about the current meta, from factory ratios to the overwhelming burden of thinking in combat.
The Industrial Meta: Optimizing the Automated Industry Complex
The Automated Industry Complex (AIC) is the backbone of your progression. Unlike other games where base-building is a side activity, in Endfield, your industrial efficiency directly dictates how fast your characters grow. As of early February, players have laid down over 42 billion meters of power lines, proving just how much work goes into conquering the lunar surface.
Mastering the Power Grid and Infrastructure
Your industrial output lives or dies by your power grid. You manage this through three specific nodes: the Main Protocol Automation-Core (PAC), Relay Towers, and Electric Pylons. The Main PAC provides the core energy, but to expand, you have to chain Relay Towers. Keep in mind that each tower has a maximum range of 80 meters. These towers don’t power machines directly; instead, they send a signal to Electric Pylons, which distribute wireless power to the actual machinery in their radius.
Early on, players hit a wall with the “AIC Quota”—a limit on how many facilities you can have active at once—and messy power management. Developers responded in the February 5 update by adding a “Top View” mode optimization that lets you batch toggle facilities on or off to save power. They also allowed construction outside the Core AIC Area, which has been a game-changer for open-world exploration.
Factory Ratios and High-Tier Automation
If you want to be efficient, you have to respect the math. The community standard for an optimized Valley IV setup is roughly 120,000 Stock Bills per hour. Achieving this usually requires a perfect loop for LC Valley Batteries using Originium Powder and Amethyst Components.
The bottleneck in most builds is the Fitting Unit. It takes 10 seconds to produce one part but requires five Amethyst Fibers to do so. Since a Refining Unit produces one fiber every 2 seconds, the ratios are tight. You also need a “closed-loop” system for organics. The pro strategy involves one Seed Picking Unit feeding two Planting Units; by looping a portion of the harvest back into the system, you ensure an infinite supply of the raw materials needed for Buckflower Capsules.
Once you unlock Wuling, the MetaStorage system takes things to the next level. This allows you to transport high-efficiency Wuling batteries back to Valley IV, effectively powering your old outposts with new-world tech without the need for manual transport.
Combat Mechanics: Navigating the Infliction Meta
Combat in Endfield is far more than just button mashing. It features a party of four operators fighting simultaneously, and success depends on your ability to manage elemental “Infliction” stacks and time your “Combo Skills” to interrupt enemies.
The Infliction-Reaction Loop
Operators are defined by their damage types, such as Heat, Cryo, Electric, Nature, and Physical.
- Heat (Melting Flame/Combustion): Typically led by Laevatain, this meta is about stacking Melting Flame to trigger Combustion, which creates a massive area-of-effect explosion.
- Cryo (Solidification/Shatter): Featuring Yvonne and Last Rite, this focuses on Solidification (freezing enemies). Following up with physical or heavy attacks triggers Shatter for huge burst damage.
- Physical (Vulnerability/Breach/Crush): This relies on Vulnerability stacks to trigger a Breach state, which shreds enemy resistance and sets them up for a high-damage Crush follow-up.
The community calls this the “Overwhelming Burden of Thinking” because you have to track SP bars, Combo Gauges, and Infliction stacks all at once. If you mis-time a skill, you might clear stacks before your main reaction is ready, a mistake known as “consumption poaching”.
Energy Math and Operator Tiers
The community has found that a standard Battle Skill gives 6.5 energy to the whole team, while a successful Combo Skill gives 10 energy only to the character who performed it. This makes rotations very specific. Interestingly, the early February “enemy nerf” reduced enemy HP and interrupt resistance, which actually made some high-synergy characters like Last Rite harder to use in the open world because enemies died before the three Cryo stacks could be applied.
As of February 2026, the meta is dominated by several key Operators:
| Rank | Operator | Element | Core Utility |
|---|---|---|---|
| SS | Ardelia | Nature | Universal Support; her Corrosion debuff lowers all enemy resistances. |
| SS | Laevatain | Heat | Premier AoE DPS; essential for wave-clearing with Combustion. |
| SS | Yvonne | Cryo | The gold standard for single-target DPS and Solidification. |
| S | Pogranichnik | Physical | The core of Breach/Physical teams; essential for stagger-lock. |
| S | Xaihi | Cryo | Healer and buffer with flexible energy generation modes. |
Yvonne has recently been placed on a “Watchlist” by theorycrafters. While she is incredibly powerful, her rotations are more demanding than those of Last Rite, leading to concerns about her accessibility for the average player.
Macro-Economy and the Stock Market Cycle
The Stock Redistribution system adds a layer of market speculation to the game. You aren’t just selling items; you are trying to “time” the market to maximize your Stock Bill gains.
The Sunday Dump Strategy
The community has identified a clear weekly macro-cycle in the market. On Monday resets, prices are at their lowest, often around 3,500 Stock Bills. Throughout the week, prices trend upward, peaking on Sunday at approximately 5,200 Stock Bills.
The most efficient way to get rich is the “Sunday Dump.” You should stockpile your production all week, but be careful of holding limits: you can only hold goods for 2 days in Wuling and 3 days in Valley IV. This strategy can increase your profits by nearly 50%. You can also leverage your friend list—up to 100 people—to find the best market prices in other players’ worlds if your own market has a bad day.
Technical Performance and Optimization Guide
The Zeroth Directive has seen its fair share of technical hurdles, particularly with PC optimizations and input devices.
PC Settings and “Heavy Hitters”
If you are seeing frame drops, the biggest culprits are Volumetric Fog and Shadow Quality. Turning these down can provide a massive FPS boost in open-world areas. For NVIDIA users, turning on Reflex Low Latency is highly recommended to make parrying and dodging feel more responsive. If the “Device Load” meter in your settings is high, focus on lowering Scene Details and Vegetation Density.
The Controller Bug and Mobile Performance
A frustrating bug has appeared where the game fails to detect controllers if certain high-end keyboards, like those from Wooting, are connected. These keyboards are often seen as multiple Xinput devices by Windows, which confuses the game. The fix is to unplug the keyboard, disable Steam Input, boot the game until the controller UI loads, and then re-plug the keyboard.
Mobile players on Android have reported that shoulder buttons (R1/R2/L1/L2) sometimes fail to work on Bluetooth controllers, making ziplining nearly impossible. On handhelds like the Anbernic RG406H, the game is playable but can look blurry due to the resolution scaling required to run a 22GB game on that hardware.
Endgame Content: The Umbral Monument
The Umbral Monument is the first proper endgame loop, unlocked at Authority Level 30 after clearing Chapter I. This mode features stages with Normal and “Agony” difficulties.
The real challenge is Agony mode, which disables all “Usables”. This means you cannot use healing potions or combat buffs from your inventory, forcing you to rely entirely on your characters’ innate abilities. This has made sustain operators like Ardelia and Xaihi absolutely essential for late-game survival.
Community Trends and Beginner Traps
The community is currently vocal about “beginner traps,” specifically regarding the one-time 6-star Selection Permit. Many players have accidentally claimed this permit before understanding which operator their team actually needed. This has led to the “Fell for it again” meme on Reddit, warning new players to slow down and read the pop-ups.
Regarding the gacha system, critics argue the 500 Oroberyl pull cost is high, but defenders highlight the 120-pull hard pity as being more generous than competitors like Genshin Impact or Wuthering Waves. Additionally, because 6-star weapons are essentially free through gameplay rewards rather than separate banners, the “F2P viability” of Endfield is currently rated quite high by the player base.
Looking Forward: Version 1.1 and the Inorganic Construct
As February 2026 winds down, we are looking toward the next major update on February 26. This will introduce the “Inorganic Construct” series to the Umbral Monument. Early reports suggest these enemies will have high resistance to Solidification, which might finally shake up the Cryo-dominant meta and give Heat and Electric teams a chance to shine.
Ultimately, Arknights: Endfield has successfully carved out a niche for players who want a “smarter” gacha experience. By centering the game on the “Burden of Thinking,” it rewards those who can master both the factory floor and the battlefield.