RUNNERS' STEEPLECHASE GUIDE: 3★ TIMES AND REWARDS
Table of Contents
Runners’ Steeplechase opens on October 1, 2026 at 12:00 server time, and it is the easiest Oroberyl of the back half of Version 1.5. It’s four short platforming races in Wuling City with no combat team and no roster check, worth 1,200 Oroberyl if you 3★ every track and pick up at least 35 of the 41 balloons.
The official announcement only gives the headline rewards. We pulled the time limits, balloon counts and every reward bundle from the game’s event tables, and they add up to exactly the 1,200 Oroberyl on the notice.
Runners’ Steeplechase. Graphic © Gryphline.
[Runners' Steeplechase] Event Details
- Arknights: Endfield (@AKEndfield) September 28, 2026
The MOST POPULAR integrated annual athletic event amongst the joggers of Wuling is starting soon! ...
Wait. Something's different about the Steeplechase this year.
The [Runners' Steeplechase] Fun & Games Event will kick off on October 1, 2026. Joggers, get ready to hit the track and give it your all!
#ArknightsEndfield #Endfield
The official event announcement. Source: Arknights: Endfield official (@AKEndfield). © Gryphline.
TL;DR - Key Points
- Dates: October 1, 12:00 server time, until the version maintenance (October 15, 06:00 UTC+8 / October 14, 17:00 UTC-5).
- Unlock: clear main mission Chapter II Process II: Ready the Easterlies, then go to Wuling City.
- Four tracks, unlocked over three days: Pavilion Hop and Wind Step on day one, Bastion Trek on October 2, Cloud Stroll on October 3.
- 3★ times: 200s, 150s, 150s and 240s. The 1★ limit is generous (300s, or 390s on Bastion Trek).
- 41 Chubby Lung Balloons exist. The last milestone needs 35, and balloons count even on a failed run.
- Route videos are up for Pavilion Hop, Wind Step and Bastion Trek, each collecting every balloon on the track. Jump to the videos.
- Best operator: Pogranichnik on straight runs, Arcane on long vortex chains, Zhuang Fangyi for big drops. Any operator can still 3★. See the dash comparison.
- 1,200 Oroberyl = 720 from stars + 480 from milestones. The 1,500 from the Ridgeline Flows of Autumn sign-in is a separate event.
Dates, Unlock and Track Schedule
The event window is time_activity_wuling_racing in the game data. It opens October 1, 2026 at 12:00 and closes October 15 at 06:00 on the Asia server. That’s the same moment as October 14 at 17:00 on the Americas and Europe server, so the race ends at the next version maintenance just as the official notice says.
To enter, you need the main mission [Chapter II Process II: Ready the Easterlies]. Some early wiki pages say Process I, but both the in-game rules text and the official infographic say Process II.
Tracks unlock by date and by clear. Each new track needs the one before it cleared once:
| Track | Opens | Also requires |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pavilion Hop | Oct 1, 12:00 | Ready the Easterlies |
| 2. Wind Step | Oct 1, 12:00 | Clear Pavilion Hop |
| 3. Bastion Trek | Oct 2, 04:00 | Clear Wind Step |
| 4. Cloud Stroll | Oct 3, 04:00 | Clear Bastion Trek |
All times are server time. After October 3 nothing new unlocks, so the whole event is doable in one sitting once Cloud Stroll opens.
How the Race Works
You race a fixed course in Wuling City against a timer. Reaching the finish line before time runs out completes the race, and your clear time decides the star rating. Chubby Lung Balloons are scattered along the route. Collecting them fills the Runner’s Milestones bar, and balloons you grab still count if you fail or quit the run. That changes how you should play, as covered below.
Each track has its own gimmick:
- Vortex: touching one gives a temporary speed boost. Pavilion Hop, Wind Step and Bastion Trek are built around chaining them.
- Banana Peel: a trap. Step on it and you slip and fall, which costs far more time than a slightly longer line around it.
- Cloud Stroll lowers your falling speed, so the track rewards long floating jumps over the ground route.
It’s a movement and routing challenge rather than a combat one, so gear and operator levels do not matter. Which operator you control does matter a little, because some operators have faster double dashes (see Best Operator for Runners’ Steeplechase). If you enjoyed the parkour sections of The Rooted Realm, this is the same skill set on a stopwatch.
Finishing every race earns the event’s exclusive engraved medal (the Steeplechaser’s Medal achievement), and 3★ on all four tracks upgrades it to the trimmed version.
The official event details infographic. Graphic © Gryphline.
Best Operator for Runners’ Steeplechase (Dash Speed)
Short answer: Pogranichnik or Arcane, depending on the track, with Zhuang Fangyi as the pick for tracks with long drops. Players have been asking whether the fancier double-dash animations are actually faster. They are. Most of the roster shares the same double dash, but a few operators with special dashes cover ground faster, and a few are slower than just running.
| Rank | Operator | Why | Best on |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcane | Her double dash is a blink with no pause in it. Vortex and wind boosts stretch it more than anyone else’s, so she is the fastest operator inside a long boost chain. | Wind Step, Bastion Trek |
| 1 | Pogranichnik | The fastest double dash in a straight line with no boost. There’s a short pause before he pulls himself forward, which is why Arcane overtakes him once boosts are involved. | Pavilion Hop, flat sections |
| 3 | Zhuang Fangyi | The longest double dodge in the cast. She needs less room than Arcane or Pog, falls faster, and her jump attack drops her quicker than anyone else’s. | Cloud Stroll, long falls |
| 4 | Liino, Camille | A small gain from wind boosts. | Boost sections |
| 5 | Most other operators | Effectively the same double dash. | Any |
| Slow | Gilberta, Purrchena | Gilberta’s dash (and Liino’s outside boosts) is reported slower than running plus a normal double dash. Purrchena is reported as the slowest operator in the race. | Avoid for time runs |
What this means per track:
- Wind Step and Bastion Trek are built around chaining vortices, so Arcane gains the most. One player cut their Bastion Trek best from 2:01 to 1:57 just by switching from Pogranichnik to Arcane.
- Pavilion Hop has more straight running between boosts, where Pogranichnik’s raw dash speed is hard to beat.
- Cloud Stroll has a long falling section. Zhuang Fangyi’s faster fall and jump attack suit it, and Arcane is the backup pick.
You don’t need any of these operators for stars. The 3★ limits are generous enough that a clean route with any operator gets there, and the route itself saves far more time than the dash does. Swap operators only when you’re a few seconds short of 3★, or when you’re chasing a personal best.
How we ranked this: the order comes from community side-by-side comparisons posted by players on r/Endfield and a dedicated Arcane dash test video, gathered on October 3, 2026 (Version 1.5). “Fastest” means the most distance covered per double dash on these tracks. We have not timed every operator head to head ourselves, so read the ranks as community consensus. Some players report that Pogranichnik’s dash also gets extended by boosts, but nobody has tested that properly yet.
3★ Time Limits and Balloon Counts for Every Track
This is the table most players are searching for. The limits are the clear times the game checks for each star, taken from the event’s stage goal text:
| Track | Balloons | 1★ | 2★ | 3★ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pavilion Hop | 9 | 300s | 240s | 200s |
| Wind Step | 7 | 300s | 200s | 150s |
| Bastion Trek | 14 | 390s | 290s | 240s |
| Cloud Stroll | 11 | 300s | 200s | 150s |
| Total | 41 |
Wind Step and Cloud Stroll have the tightest 3★ windows at 150 seconds, half their 1★ limit. Bastion Trek is the longest course and carries the most balloons, so it’s where most of your milestone progress comes from.
Route Videos: 3★ and All Balloons on Every Track
We ran each track on the live event and recorded the clears. Each video shows the full route with every Chubby Lung Balloon on it, so you can learn a track before you go for the time.
Pavilion Hop: 3★ (under 200s) with all 9 balloons
Our Pavilion Hop clear: 3★ and all 9 balloons in a single run.
Wind Step: 3★ (under 150s) with all 7 balloons
Our Wind Step clear: 3★ and all 7 balloons in a single run, inside the tightest timer of the event.
Bastion Trek: all 14 balloons, 3★ under 240s
Our Bastion Trek clear: 3★ and all 14 balloons in a single run, on the longest track of the event.
Cloud Stroll: 3★ (1:41, under 150s) with all 11 balloons
Our Cloud Stroll clear: 3★ in 1:41 and all 11 balloons in a single run, with nearly 50 seconds to spare on the 150s limit.
Official Track Previews
Endfield posted a short preview for each track. Here they are in unlock order, with the official one-line pitch for each course.
1. Pavilion Hop
“Take the treacherous road and do the pavilion hop to get a scenic view of Fangxing Avenue.” A city course of stairways and plazas, with vortices along the route.
Pavilion Hop track preview. Source: Arknights: Endfield official (@AKEndfield). © Gryphline.
2. Wind Step
“Lighten your form and do the wind step to assume the dashing flair of a true jogger.” A rooftop course with speed-boost gates and vortices. It shares the tightest 3★ limit (150s).
Wind Step track preview. Source: Arknights: Endfield official (@AKEndfield). © Gryphline.
3. Bastion Trek
“Step onto the open path and do the bastion trek to strengthen the might and prestige of Wuling.” The long riverside running-track course, with the most balloons (14) and the most forgiving timer.
Bastion Trek track preview. Source: Arknights: Endfield official (@AKEndfield). © Gryphline.
4. Cloud Stroll
“Saunter into the skies and do the cloud stroll to look upon the world from up high.” A sky course of floating platforms where falling speed is reduced, so long glides beat careful hops.
- Arknights: Endfield (@AKEndfield) September 28, 2026
Cloud Stroll track preview. Source: Arknights: Endfield official (@AKEndfield). © Gryphline.
Star Rewards
Every star on every track pays 60 Oroberyl and 10,000 T-Creds, plus one progression material. The stars are cumulative: a 3★ clear on your first attempt grants all three rewards.
| Track | 1★ | 2★ | 3★ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pavilion Hop | 10 Advanced Combat Record | 10 Arms INSP Set | 50 Protoprism |
| Wind Step | 40 Elementary Cognitive Carrier | 10 Arms INSP Set | 15 Protohedron |
| Bastion Trek | 5 Advanced Cognitive Carrier | 15 Arms INSP Set | 15 Protohedron |
| Cloud Stroll | 5 Advanced Cognitive Carrier | 15 Protohedron | 3 Advanced Progression Selection Crate I |
12 stars × 60 = 720 Oroberyl and 120,000 T-Creds from stars alone.
Runner’s Milestones (Balloon Rewards)
| Balloons | Rewards |
|---|---|
| 5 | 160 Oroberyl, 1 Mark of Perseverance, 1 “Rolling Chubby Lung” Energy Drink |
| 10 | 160 Oroberyl, 1 Mark of Perseverance, 1 Energy Drink |
| 15 | Portrait Frame: Champion Runner, 2 Mark of Perseverance, 1 Energy Drink |
| 20 | 160 Oroberyl, 2 Mark of Perseverance, 1 Energy Drink |
| 35 | 5 Advanced Progression Selection Crate I, 50,000 T-Creds, 1 Energy Drink |
The milestones pay 480 Oroberyl in total, and the jump from 20 to 35 balloons is where most players will stall. The “Rolling Chubby Lung” Energy Drink restores 40 Sanity each, so the five from milestones are worth 200 Sanity of farming.
Mark of Perseverance is the rare skill-mastery material, and six of them is a meaningful chunk of an operator’s mastery. It’s arguably the most valuable non-Oroberyl reward here. The Advanced Progression Selection Crate I lets you pick an advanced progression material, and between the stars and the final milestone you get 8 of them.
Where the 1,200 Oroberyl Comes From
| Source | Oroberyl |
|---|---|
| 12 stars × 60 | 720 |
| Milestones at 5, 10 and 20 balloons | 480 |
| Runners’ Steeplechase total | 1,200 |
That matches the official notice exactly, so nothing is hidden behind a leaderboard or a shop. You get the full 1,200 by 3★-ing all four tracks and reaching 20 balloons. The 35-balloon tier is for crates and T-Creds, not currency.
Not Part of This Event: What Else Opens October 1
Some event summaries fold these into the Steeplechase and quote 2,700 Oroberyl. They are separate events that open the same day:
- Ridgeline Flows of Autumn (7-day sign-in): 500 Oroberyl on days 1, 3 and 5 (1,500 total), a “Rolling Chubby Lung” Energy Drink on days 2, 4 and 6, and the Go Forth and Run portrait on day 7, plus smaller material bundles each day. It’s themed around the race, which is where the confusion comes from.
- OrbiPom! MERGE!: a web-based merge game worth 300 Oroberyl and T-Creds, per the version notes.
All three together are worth 3,000 Oroberyl, six Headhunting pulls at 500 each, landing the day after Typhoeus’s Winter Hunt banner closes on September 30. That leaves Yvonne’s RE-Factor Headhunting as the limited banner it can go into, and our RE-Factor Headhunting guide explains how its milestones and 120-pull guarantee work. The Version 1.5 update guide has the full October 1 wave.
Plan by Day
- October 1: clear Ready the Easterlies if you haven’t, then run Pavilion Hop and Wind Step. Go for balloons on your first run, not time. Balloons bank even if you run out the clock, so a slow sweep costs you nothing.
- October 2 (after 04:00): Bastion Trek opens. It has 14 balloons and the most generous timer, so sweep it first, then replay for 240s.
- October 3 (after 04:00): Cloud Stroll opens. Learn the float jumps before chasing 150s.
- Any time before October 14/15: go back for any missing 3★ with a clean route. Once you know where the balloons are (the route videos show every one), a time run can ignore the ones off the racing line.
- Log in for Ridgeline Flows of Autumn on seven separate days. It needs seven sign-ins in total, not in a row, but the window is only two weeks.
Method
Every number on this page comes from the game’s own event tables, checked on September 28, 2026: track names and star goals (ParkourUiTable), star rewards (ParkourGameplayTable, RewardTable), milestone thresholds (ActivityConditionalMultiStageMilestoneTable), the unlock schedule (ActivityConditionalMultiStageTable, TimeRangeTable) and item names and effects (ItemTable). We then checked them against the official notice and infographic. The Oroberyl totals match exactly. Balloon locations and routes come from our own clears of the live tracks, recorded October 1 to 3 and embedded in the route videos section.
For the rest of the version, see the Version 1.5 event calendar and the Dreamscape of Wind and Snow livestream recap. Also redeem any live Endfield redemption codes before they expire.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Runners’ Steeplechase start and end in Arknights: Endfield? It opens October 1, 2026 at 12:00 server time and closes at the version maintenance: October 15, 06:00 (UTC+8) for Asia, which is October 14, 17:00 (UTC-5) for Americas and Europe. Two tracks open on day one, Bastion Trek on October 2 and Cloud Stroll on October 3, both at 04:00 server time.
How do I unlock Runners’ Steeplechase? Complete the main mission Chapter II Process II: Ready the Easterlies, then visit Wuling City. Each track after the first also needs the previous track cleared once.
How much Oroberyl does Runners’ Steeplechase give? 1,200 in total. 720 comes from stars (60 Oroberyl for each of the 12 stars across 4 tracks) and 480 from Runner’s Milestones (160 each at 5, 10 and 20 balloons).
What are the 3-star times in Runners’ Steeplechase? Pavilion Hop 200 seconds, Wind Step 150 seconds, Cloud Stroll 150 seconds and Bastion Trek 240 seconds. Every track gives 1★ at 300 seconds, except Bastion Trek at 390.
How many Chubby Lung Balloons are there in Runners’ Steeplechase? 41 across the four tracks: 9 on Pavilion Hop, 7 on Wind Step, 11 on Cloud Stroll and 14 on Bastion Trek. The final Runner’s Milestone needs 35, so you can miss six. Balloons count even if you do not finish the race.
Is the 1,500 Oroberyl sign-in part of Runners’ Steeplechase? No. Ridgeline Flows of Autumn is a separate 7-day sign-in that opens the same day and pays 1,500 Oroberyl plus the Go Forth and Run portrait. Stack both and you get 2,700 Oroberyl, but only 1,200 of that comes from the race itself.
Where are all 14 balloons on Bastion Trek? Bastion Trek has 14 Chubby Lung Balloons, the most of any track. Our Bastion Trek video above collects all 14 in a single 3★ run. Sweep them on a slow run first, because balloons still count if you fail or run out the clock.
How do you get 3 stars on Wind Step? Finish Wind Step in 150 seconds or less. Chain the vortices for their speed boost, go around banana peels instead of over them, and skip any balloon you already banked. Our Wind Step video above shows a 3★ clear that still picks up all 7 balloons.
How do you get 3 stars on Cloud Stroll? Finish Cloud Stroll in 150 seconds or less. The track lowers your falling speed, so use long floating jumps between platforms instead of dropping to the ground route. Our Cloud Stroll video above clears it in 1:41, well inside the limit, while collecting all 11 balloons.
Who is the fastest operator in Runners’ Steeplechase? It depends on the track. Pogranichnik has the fastest double dash in a straight line, but Arcane is fastest wherever the track has long vortex or wind boost sections, because boosts stretch her blink dash the most. Zhuang Fangyi is a strong pick for tracks with long drops, since she falls faster than the rest of the cast. This is based on community comparisons, not our own timed tests.
Does double-dash speed differ between operators in Endfield? Yes. Most operators share the same double dash, but a few special dashes really are faster: Pogranichnik, Arcane and Zhuang Fangyi lead, and Liino and Camille gain a little from wind boosts. Gilberta and Liino are reported to be slower than a normal run and double dash, and Purrchena is reported as the slowest.
Endfield Hub is a fan-made resource for Arknights: Endfield and is not affiliated with Hypergryph or Yostar. Event graphics and embedded posts © Gryphline. Updated October 3, 2026 with route videos for all four tracks: Pavilion Hop, Wind Step, Bastion Trek and Cloud Stroll, plus a best-operator dash speed comparison.
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