Lifeng Complete Guide: Skills, Builds & Teams

TL;DR - Key Points

Lifeng is an enabler, not a carry — applies Physical Susceptibility + 3 Vulnerability stacks per rotation, but consumes none of them himself
Beginner banner guaranteeable — one of five 6★s on the New Horizons banner and a free 6★ Selector pick after Break the Siege
Optimal rotation: BS → Final Strike → Combo → Ultimate — the loop that turns a “mid” feeling unit into a top sub-DPS in 12 seconds
Stop investing at P1 — Breaking the Obsession relaxes his Battle Skill trigger condition and is the only mandatory potential
Best weapon: Mountain Bearer — but Valiant (free selector) closes most of the gap and Chimeric Justice (5★) is the F2P floor
Meta team comp — Endministrator + Chen Qianyu + Pogranichnik + Lifeng is the consensus T0 Physical lineup in V1.2
Element-locked to Physical — no Crush, no Breach, no business in Heat/Electric/Arts comps
Read his character page for the live stat sheet, dupe math, and rotation video

Why Lifeng Is the Most Misunderstood 6★ in Arknights: Endfield

Let’s get this out of the way first.

Lifeng is the only male 6★ guaranteeable on the New Horizons beginner banner. He’s the one a huge percentage of new players walk away from their first 40 pulls with. And he’s also the one most new players misuse, mis-tier, and end up benching by Chapter 3.

Here’s the thing nobody tells you in the launch hype videos: Lifeng is not a carry. He looks like a carry. The animations are flashy. The Ultimate has him hurling a spectral Vajra into a crowd. The Combo Skill summons a literal aspect of wrath.

But play him like Endministrator or Chen Qianyu, and you’ll spend the next 20 hours wondering why your damage feels mid.

The truth: Lifeng is an enabler. A tempo-setter. A condition-stacker who hands the kill to someone else. Once you understand that, he stops feeling mid and starts being one of the most cost-efficient sub-DPS units in the entire launch roster.

The rest of this guide is structured around that single shift in framing. If you came here from a tier list that called him “B-tier”, we’re going to fix that misread.

Who Is Lifeng? The Lore Most Players Skip

Before we get to skills and team comps, you need to understand who this kid actually is — because his entire kit is built around the contradiction between how he presents himself and who he actually is underneath.

The Cheerful Surface

Lifeng’s signature voice line is: “Hey Endministrator, it’s me, Lifeng! I’m still a bit green, but I’ll work super hard!”

He’s 16 years old. He’s an intern at the Specialist Tech Division of Endfield Industries. He gives senior operators “senpai” energy and gets visibly excited when the Endministrator assigns him work.

On the surface? Pure shounen protagonist. Wuxia disciple energy. The earnest kid trying his best.

The Trauma Underneath

His real name is Bai Yong. His little sister is Bai Yuan. And ten years before the story begins — when Bai Yong was six years old — something the in-game records call “the Great Wall incident” killed both his parents and crushed his right arm.

His parents were Tianshi — Yanese scholars and arts-practitioners — who were directly involved in building Wuling City’s defensive infrastructure. The accident happened during that construction.

That’s where the chrome prosthetic comes from. That’s why he meditates. That’s why his Operator File describes him as “ancient yet young, stiff yet flexible.”

His mentor, Da Pan, is the only person who really knows. And there’s a beautifully dark detail in the lore: Da Pan, terrible with children, tried to handle a young inquisitive Bai Yong by buying him over 600 video tapes of folk festivals and traditional plays from a Hongshan antique shop. The boy actually absorbed real martial fundamentals from them.

Lifeng learned his spear forms from kung-fu movies. And then made them real.

The Halo Question Everyone Asks

The dark, smudgy ring floating above Lifeng’s head is not a holy halo. It’s a racial trait.

Lifeng is an Anasa — a race descended from an ancient Sarkaz leader who migrated to the eastern lands of Terra and developed a separate cultural identity. The Anasa are designed after Buddhist and Hindu demigods. The halo is meant to read as iconographic, not religious — closer to the visual language of a temple statue than a Christian saint.

This connects Lifeng directly to original Arknights lore: the Sarkaz are one of the original game’s most prominent races. The Anasa are essentially the eastern branch that intermarried with Yanese culture.

Cross-reference for OG Arknights players: Lifeng’s faction, Hongshan Academy of Sciences, is “subordinate to the Tianshi Bureau of Yan” — the same institution that produced Wei Yenwu and the Yan storyline you know.

Lifeng’s Class, Element, and Combat Identity

Time to get into the actual mechanics.

Spec	Detail
Rarity	6★
Class	Guard
Element	Physical
Weapon	Polearm
Main Attribute	Agility
Sub Attribute	Strength
Faction	Hongshan Academy of Sciences (HAS)
Pool	Standard / Permanent (not limited)
Launch date	January 22, 2026

So: a Physical Polearm Guard. The Guard class in Endfield specializes in applying and exploiting Physical Vulnerability to stagger enemies and set up bigger damage windows.

Lifeng’s job inside that class? Apply the conditions, not consume them.

Lifeng’s Skills: The Complete Kit Breakdown

This is where most guides get lazy and just copy-paste tooltips. Let’s actually break down what each skill does in practice.

Basic Attack — Ruination

A 4-hit polearm combo dealing Physical damage.

Hit	Multiplier
1	55%
2	65%
3	79%
4 (Final Strike)	152%

The 4th hit — the Final Strike — is the important one. It applies Stagger when Lifeng is your controlled operator, and it’s the trigger condition for his Combo Skill.

If you basic-attack a Staggered enemy, your basic transforms into a Finisher dealing 900% ATK and refunding some SP.

What this means in practice: Your basic attack isn’t filler. Hit 4 is the entire setup for his rotation. Don’t skip combos.

Battle Skill — Turbid Avatar (100 SP)

Two polearm strikes (86% each) followed by a ground slam dealing 268% ATK in AoE with Knock Down.

The crucial line: If the enemy hit by the last strike has no Vulnerability stacks, it instead receives Physical Susceptibility (+12% Physical DMG taken).

This is his opener. This is the entire reason he exists.

Combo Skill — Aspect of Wrath (16-second cooldown)

Trigger: When the controlled operator (any teammate, not just Lifeng) lands a Final Strike on an enemy that has Physical Susceptibility OR Breach.

Lifeng summons a spectral spear-warrior aspect for a thrust dealing up to 480% over two hits, AND grants the team the Link buff — which supercharges the next Battle Skill or Ultimate.

Why Combo Skill is the soul of his kit: This is the bridge. He applies Susceptibility, somebody Final-Strikes it, the Combo triggers, Link gets stacked, and now any teammate’s next big spell hits harder.

Ultimate — Heart of the Unmoving

Summons an aspect that slams an Immovable Vajra dealing 400% Physical DMG and Knock Down in a huge AoE, then pulls remaining enemies to the center. After a delay, a second slam deals another 400% and another Knock Down.

If a Link is consumed by this skill, it deals an additional 600% Physical DMG hit.

Translation: one Ultimate = three Knock Downs = three Vulnerability stacks generated. Plus a grouping pull. Plus the Link bonus.

This is the single best Vulnerability-stacking tool in the launch roster.

Talents

Illumination: Every point of Intellect and Will further grants +0.10% ATK. This is the weirdest line in his kit — it converts off-stats into damage. Gear with Intellect or Will rolls isn’t dead weight on Lifeng.
Subduer of Evil: Applying Knock Down also deals 100% ATK Physical damage. Since he Knocks Down three times per rotation, this adds up.

The Optimal Lifeng Rotation (Memorize This)

Forget everything else. This is the rotation:

Open with Battle Skill → Applies Physical Susceptibility + 1 Vulnerability stack
Land a Final Strike (basic combo hit 4) on the Susceptible target → Triggers Combo Skill, grants Link
Fire Ultimate → Consumes Link for the 600% bonus, applies 2 more Knock Downs
Switch to your main DPS → They consume the 3 Vulnerability stacks via Crush or Breach for massive burst
Cycle back when SP refills and Combo CD resets (~16-20 seconds)

That’s the loop. Master it and Lifeng goes from feeling mid to feeling essential.

Lifeng’s Strengths (Why He’s A-Tier)

Let’s be honest about what he does well.

He generates Vulnerability for free. Three stacks per rotation. None of them consumed by Lifeng himself. That’s a uniquely team-friendly resource pattern.

The Ultimate is a multi-tool. AoE damage. Double Knock Down. Grouping pull. Link consumption. One button does four things.

The Talent rewards messy gear. Most carries need perfect Crit Rate / DMG rolls. Lifeng’s Illumination talent means Intellect and Will rolls are real damage. Off-stat gear is more useful on him than on almost any other 6★.

He’s accessible. Beginner banner guarantee. Free 6★ selector option. You probably already have him, even as a F2P player.

Lifeng’s Weaknesses (Why He’s NOT S-Tier)

I’m not going to gas this guy up if I’m being honest.

Animation lock is real. His Battle Skill commits you to a slow slam. The Susceptibility only applies at the end of the animation. In faster fights, that delay punishes you.

Strict trigger conditions. Without his P1 dupe, his Battle Skill only applies Susceptibility to enemies with zero Vulnerability stacks. If anyone else on your team applies a stack first? Lifeng’s Susceptibility just… doesn’t happen.

He can’t consume Vulnerability himself. He has no Crush. No Breach. He builds the buffet and then sits there hungry. You need a Crush or Breach DPS partner.

Element-locked. Physical comps only. If you’re running a Heat team, an Electric team, an Arts-reaction team — Lifeng’s bench warmer.

Best Lifeng Build: Weapons, Gear, and Stats

This is the meat of any guide. Let’s get into the build.

Best Weapon: Mountain Bearer (6★ Signature)

Mountain Bearer is his signature polearm and the BiS pick. It grants up to +43.33% Physical DMG, plus a stacking “Weight of Mountain” passive that adds +32% damage to Vulnerable enemies and +12.8% to All Attributes on each Vulnerability and Physical Susceptibility application.

Because Lifeng’s Talent converts Intellect/Will → ATK, the All-Attributes buff hits harder on him than on almost any other Polearm user. It’s the cleanest stat line in the game for him.

F2P Alternative: Valiant (from the 6★ Selector)

Valiant is the play if you’re not pulling on weapon banners. Pure ATK%, Agility, Physical DMG. No conditional. You can grab it free from the New Horizons Weapon Supply box after completing 40 beginner pulls.

Honestly? In some scenarios Valiant outperforms Mountain Bearer because of the missing conditional. F2P players are not getting a worse weapon here.

Budget Backup: Chimeric Justice (5★)

If you don’t have either 6★ polearm yet, Chimeric Justice is the F2P floor — Crit Rate plus a Vulnerability proc. Perfectly viable for early-game progression.

Best Gear Sets

Set	Use Case	Why
Bonekrusha (3pc)	Highest damage ceiling	Agility/Strength substats, +Battle Skill DMG after Combo triggers
Swordmancer (3pc)	Stagger anchor builds	+20% Stagger Efficiency, 250% ATK proc on Physical Status application (15s CD)
Roving MSGR (3pc)	Early-game bridge	Agility + Physical DMG; don’t sleep on it during your first progression push

Stat Priority

In order, prioritize:

Agility (main stat — converts to ATK and crit)
ATK%
Physical DMG
Intellect / Will (yes, really — Illumination talent makes these matter)
Crit Rate (only if you’re not sacrificing the above)

Skill Upgrade Priority

Level in this order: Turbid Avatar (Battle) → Aspect of Wrath (Combo) → Heart of the Unmoving (Ultimate) → Ruination (Basic).

Exception: if you’re running Lifeng as the controlled operator most of the time, bump Basic up to third priority because you’ll be landing Final Strikes constantly.

Best Lifeng Team Compositions

A guard like Lifeng lives or dies by his teammates. Here are the comps that actually work.

The Meta Comp (V1.2 Top Tier)

Endministrator + Chen Qianyu + Pogranichnik + Lifeng

This is the consensus T0 Physical team across every reputable tier list right now. Here’s why it works:

Pogranichnik applies Breach (a separate damage multiplier from Susceptibility)
Lifeng applies Susceptibility + 3 Vulnerability stacks per rotation
Chen Qianyu and Endministrator dump Crush rotations to consume the stacks for massive burst

Every operator has a defined role. No overlap. No wasted skill activations. If you want a deeper breakdown of why this lineup beats Arts hypercarries on speedclears, the Physical Team Meta: Big Bonk Strategy post lays out the framing.

The F2P Comp

Endministrator + Lifeng + Ardelia + Da Pan (or Akekuri)

Don’t have Pogranichnik? No problem. Ardelia is the free 6★ from the 14-day login event — she provides healing AND a stronger version of Physical Susceptibility, which actually frees Lifeng to lean harder into damage.

Da Pan is Lifeng’s literal in-lore mentor and a 5★ Physical Striker. Thematically perfect, mechanically solid. Akekuri subs in if you need a cheaper SP battery — and if you’re weighing him against Pogranichnik later, the Akekuri vs Pogranichnik SP generation comparison covers the math.

The Panda Comp

Da Pan + Chen Qianyu + Pogranichnik + Lifeng

Da Pan as the primary finisher consuming Vulnerability stacks. This is the comp for players who love the master-and-apprentice flavor and want to see Lifeng and Da Pan fighting side by side. Mechanically a half-step below the meta comp but still very strong.

Builds by Player Type

The “best build” answer depends entirely on where you are in your account.

Day-1 F2P (No 6★ Weapon Yet)

Weapon: Chimeric Justice (5★), upgrade to Valiant the moment your New Horizons Weapon Supply box opens
Gear: Roving MSGR 3pc until you can farm Bonekrusha
Talents: Battle Skill → Combo only; leave Ultimate at base for now
Goal: Get the rotation working. Damage will follow.

Mid-Game F2P (Valiant Acquired, Some Endgame Gear)

Weapon: Valiant (fully refined)
Gear: Bonekrusha 3pc + flex slot
Talents: All four skills to M9 minimum
Potential: Push for P1 via Standard Headhunting spook dupes or the Designation Selection Permit

Whale / Sig-Holder

Weapon: Mountain Bearer (R1 minimum, R5 for the dupe stack)
Gear: Bonekrusha 3pc + Swordmancer flex, all gold-substat
Talents: All four to M12
Potential: P1 mandatory, stop there unless you spook P2+ for free

Common Mistakes (Most Players Are Making One of These)

The pattern: Most “Lifeng feels mid” complaints come down to misusing his trigger conditions, not his stat sheet. Fix the rotation before you blame the build.

Mistake 1: Letting someone else apply Vulnerability first. Without P1, Lifeng’s Battle Skill needs zero stacks on the target to apply Susceptibility. If Chen Qianyu opens with a Crush, you’ve eaten your own Susceptibility window. Lifeng leads the rotation. Period.

Mistake 2: Treating his Ultimate as filler damage. Without a Link consumed, the Ultimate loses the 600% bonus hit. Always Final-Strike into Combo before firing Ultimate.

Mistake 3: Building him crit-first. Crit is fine, but Illumination is the unique talent. Intellect and Will rolls genuinely scale his damage. Don’t reroll perfectly serviceable gear chasing a crit-only stat line.

Mistake 4: Pairing him with a Heat or Electric DPS. No reactions, no element synergy, just two operators fighting over team slots. Physical comp or bench him.

Mistake 5: Auto-bencing him after Chapter 3. This is the most common one. Players hit a damage wall, blame Lifeng, swap him out. The wall was usually the rotation, not the unit.

Lifeng’s Potentials: Where to Stop Investing

Here’s the truth most guides bury at the bottom: stop at P1.

Potential	Effect	Verdict
P1 — Breaking the Obsession	+5% Physical Susceptibility; Battle Skill triggers on enemies with up to 2 Vulnerability stacks	Mandatory — smooths the entire rotation
P2	+15 to all attributes	Fine, not essential
P3	Raises Illumination scaling	Whale-tier
P4	-15% Ultimate energy cost	Convenience
P5	Adds 250% ATK + 5 Stagger proc to Subduer of Evil every 15s	Tier-list mover but not pull-worthy

Diminishing returns kick in hard after P1. Unless you’re spooked extras from Standard Banner pulls, P1 is the stopping point.

How to Get Lifeng

Good news: this is the easiest 6★ in the game to acquire.

Lifeng is one of five guaranteed 6★s on the beginner banner — alongside Ember, Ardelia, Last Rite, and Pogranichnik.

You earn the four required New Horizons 10x Permits from Chapter I main missions. Do 40 pulls total. You’re guaranteed one of the five. Many players actually get two or three from this banner alone.

The Free 6★ Selector

On February 5, 2026, Gryphline added a free 6★ selector for anyone who finished the Break the Siege main mission. Lifeng is one of the five options.

Standard Headhunting

He’s in the permanent pool — both Basic Headhunting and Chartered Headhunting include him. He’s not limited. You’ll never miss a window.

Designation Selection Permit

The rarest token in the game lets you handpick any standard 6★, Lifeng included.

Bottom line: If you played at launch and did the basic progression, you almost certainly already have Lifeng. The question isn’t how to get him — it’s whether to invest the resources to build him.

Lifeng’s Voice Cast

For those who care about VA work (and we do):

English: Yung-I Chang (Skoll in Fire Emblem Shadows, Byakuran in Reborn!)
Japanese: Ishibashi Hiiro (Miguel in the Japanese dub of Coco, Yuga Ohdo in Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens)
Chinese: Guo Hongbo
Korean: Kim Yoon-gi

Yung-I Chang publicly confirmed the role with a heartfelt tweet: “After yearning my heart out for this project, it is my pride and pleasure to share that I’m the English voice of Lifeng in Arknights: Endfield!”

The English performance is genuinely strong — earnest without being saccharine, with the right youthful crack on the bigger emotional lines.

Trivia Worth Knowing

A few details you can drop in chat to look smart:

The Vajra reference. Lifeng’s Ultimate is named Heart of the Unmoving and throws an Immovable Vajra. Both reference Acala (Fudō Myōō), a Vajrayana Buddhist deity called “the Immovable Wisdom King.” Fitting for an Anasa character.

The zipline gag. Lifeng is one of only two operators (the other being literal panda Da Pan) who uses the lower handle on the in-world ziplines. It’s a sight gag about his height — he’s the shortest male in the launch roster.

Wuxia trope direct hit. His “learned martial arts from watching old movies” backstory is a deliberate wuxia genre wink. Da Pan literally says: “The kid barely scratched the surface of the martial arts. Sure, his attacks look great and the flourishes are pretty, but true combat got nothing to do with that.”

The romanization confusion. You’ll see his name written three ways across the internet: Lifeng (the only correct official spelling), Li Feng (common informal split), and Lin Feng (just plain wrong — don’t use it). The Hanzi is 黎风, meaning “dawn wind.”

Watch List: What Would Change Lifeng’s Ranking

Forward-looking factors worth tracking:

Patch 1.3 (early June 2026): Mi Fu is rumored as a Physical Guard. If she eats Lifeng’s role as the Vulnerability anchor, he drops a half-tier. If she’s a Crush partner, he goes up.
Camille’s release: First non-standard 6★ male, polearm Physical. Could compete for the same team slot — or stack alongside Lifeng for a dual-polearm physical comp.
Contingency Contract modifiers: Endfield’s incoming CC mode applies ban-style restrictions. Comps with no element overlap (like the Endmin/Chen/Pog/Lifeng core) gain enormous value when other comps get modifier-walled.
Pogranichnik availability changes: If Pogranichnik moves off the standard pool or gets restricted, the F2P comp (Lifeng + Ardelia + Endmin + Da Pan) becomes the de facto Physical floor.

If you’re new and trying to figure out where Lifeng fits into the broader 2026 progression curve, the Arknights Endfield Beginner Guide 2026 has the full F2P roadmap.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lifeng worth building in Arknights: Endfield?

Yes — especially if you’re F2P or new. He’s guaranteed from the beginner banner or the free 6★ selector, and he forms the backbone of the strongest Physical team comps in the V1.2 meta. Just understand he’s a sub-DPS enabler, not a primary carry.

Is Lifeng better than Pogranichnik?

Pogranichnik is rated slightly higher in current tier lists because Breach scales harder than Susceptibility in V1.2. But they’re best together, not as alternatives. If you can only invest in one, choose Pogranichnik first; Lifeng is the second priority.

What is Lifeng’s best weapon?

Mountain Bearer is his signature 6★ polearm and the BiS pick. F2P-friendly alternative: Valiant from the free 6★ Weapon Supply box. Budget floor: Chimeric Justice (5★).

What tier is Lifeng on the meta tier list?

A-tier on Mobalytics, Game8, and Icy Veins (V1.2). S-tier specifically for sub-DPS on endfield.gg. He’s not in the top-1 spot, but he’s a confident A-rank pick.

How old is Lifeng?

16 years old. Birthday July 16. He’s the youngest male 6★ in the launch roster.

What does Lifeng’s halo mean?

It’s a racial trait of the Anasa, a Sarkaz-descendant race designed after Buddhist and Hindu demigod iconography. It’s not religious in-universe — closer to the visual style of a temple statue than a Christian saint’s halo.

No. He’s in the permanent Standard pool, available on Basic Headhunting, Chartered Headhunting, and the beginner New Horizons banner.

Do I need P1 Lifeng for the meta team comp?

Without P1, Lifeng’s Battle Skill only applies Susceptibility to enemies with zero Vulnerability stacks — which means he has to lead every rotation. With P1 (up to 2 stacks tolerated), team-order pressure relaxes significantly. P0 works; P1 is meaningfully smoother.

Can Lifeng replace Pogranichnik in a Physical team?

No. They do different jobs — Lifeng applies Susceptibility, Pogranichnik applies Breach. The strongest comp runs both. If you’re missing one, prioritize Pogranichnik first because Breach is the bigger multiplier in V1.2.

What’s the difference between Lifeng and Da Pan?

Lifeng is a 6★ sub-DPS enabler (Susceptibility + Vulnerability stacks). Da Pan is a 5★ Physical Striker — actually consumes Vulnerability with Crush. They’re complementary, not redundant. Run both if you have them.

The Final Verdict on Lifeng

Lifeng is the easiest 6★ to misjudge in Arknights: Endfield.

Look at him as a carry and he’ll disappoint. Look at him as an enabler — the kid who sets the table so your real DPS can eat — and he becomes one of the most cost-efficient picks in the entire launch roster.

He’s also one of the most thematically interesting characters Gryphline has written. The cheerful disciple with the dead parents. The chrome arm under the silk sash. The Buddhist halo over the wuxia spear forms. The shortest guy in the room wielding the biggest weapon, swinging it because he learned how from movies, which doesn’t make the swings any less real.

Build him. Pair him with Pogranichnik and Endmin. Stop at P1. Watch the Vulnerability stacks pile up. Watch your carries melt elite enemies.

For the live stat sheet, dupe math, and progression matrix, the Lifeng character page is updated patch-by-patch as the meta moves.

And maybe — when you’re cycling through his voice lines in the lobby — take a second to listen to the one where someone asks him why he meditates, and he answers:

“Because… the Anasas are an old and wise race, but I’m still a little young…?”

It’s the most Lifeng line in the game. And he means it.