Operator Leveling & Promotion Guide

Leveling your operators is the primary progression system in Arknights: Endfield. Understanding promotion brackets, material requirements, and optimal leveling priorities will accelerate your account growth significantly.

Operator Level System Overview

Operators can level from 1 to 90, but you can't just pour EXP into them continuously. The system uses promotion brackets that act as level caps.

Level Cap Brackets

At each bracket cap (20, 40, 60, 80), you must promote your operator to continue leveling.

Leveling Materials: Combat Records & Cognitive Carriers

Combat Records (Levels 1-60)

Combat Records are EXP items used to level operators from 1 to 60.

Three rarities:

• Basic Combat Record: 200 EXP
• Intermediate Combat Record: 1,000 EXP
• Advanced Combat Record: 2,000 EXP

Where to farm:

• Protocol Space: Operation EXP (Core AIC Area)
• Manufacturing Cabin on your OMV Dijiang (passive production)
• Event rewards and mission rewards

Cognitive Carriers (Levels 60+)

Once operators reach level 60, Combat Records no longer work. You must use Cognitive Carriers instead.

Where to farm:

• Protocol Space: Operation EXP (Higher difficulties for better drop rates)
• Manufacturing Cabin (passive production)
• Event shops and high-tier rewards

Important: Cognitive Carriers are rarer than Combat Records, so level 60+ progression slows down significantly.

Promotion Materials

Protodisks (Promotions 1 & 2)

Required for promoting operators at level 20 and level 40 brackets.

Where to farm:

• Protocol Space: Promotions (Core AIC Area)
• AIC Quota Exchange (trade duplicate operator tokens)
• Daily/Weekly mission rewards
• Event shops

Protosets (Promotions 3 & 4)

Required for promoting operators at level 60 and level 80 brackets.

Where to farm:

• Protocol Space: Promotions (Higher difficulties)
• Event shops (limited quantities)
• High-tier mission rewards

Note: Protosets are significantly rarer than Protodisks. Late-game promotion is a major bottleneck.

Rare Growths (Promotion Requirement)

In addition to Protodisks/Protosets, each promotion requires Rare Growths—special plants found in the open world.

Pink Bolete (Level 20 Promotion)

Required: 3x Pink Bolete

Location: The Hub
- South of Old Water Plant
- West of Old Water Plant

Spawn: Up to 6 per location
Respawn: Every 24 hours (real-time)

Red Bolete (Level 40 Promotion)

Required: 5x Red Bolete

Location: Originium Lodespring
- Various Rare Growth nodes across the zone

Spawn: Up to 6 per location
Respawn: Every 24 hours

Ruby Bolete (Level 60 Promotion)

Required: 5x Ruby Bolete

Location: Jingyu Valley (Wuling region)
- Rare Growth nodes scattered throughout the zone

Spawn: Up to 6 per location
Respawn: Every 24 hours

Bloodcap (Level 80 Promotion)

Required: 8x Bloodcap

Location: High-level zones (exact locations TBD at launch)

Spawn: Up to 6 per location
Respawn: Every 24 hours

Total Material Requirements Per Operator

From Level 1 to Level 90

These are per operator. Multiply by your roster size to understand total progression requirements.

Promotion Priority Strategy

Who to Promote First

Tier 1 Priority (Promote immediately):

• Your main DPS operators (highest combat impact)
• Limited 6-Star characters (hardest to replace)
• Operators you use in every team (universal value)

Tier 2 Priority (Promote when materials allow):

• Secondary DPS and sub-DPS
• Key support operators with powerful buffs/debuffs
• Specialists for specific content (e.g., boss killers)

Tier 3 Priority (Promote eventually):

• Niche operators for specific strategies
• Collection favorites (waifu/husbando picks)
• Duplicate role fillers (if you already have better versions)

Leveling Breakpoints

Not all levels provide equal value. Focus on hitting key breakpoints where operators gain significant power spikes:

Critical breakpoints:

• Level 20: First promotion unlocks
• Level 40: Significant stat boost
• Level 60: Second major power spike
• Level 80: Endgame scaling, required for Deep Dives

Recommendation for F2P players:

• Get your main team to level 40 before pushing anyone to 60
• Get your top 2-3 DPS to level 60 before pushing anyone to 80
• Get your primary DPS to level 80 before leveling secondary operators past 60

This ensures you have a functional team at each content tier rather than one max-level operator who can't solo carry.

Optimal Leveling Path

Early Game (Authority Level 1-20)

Goal: Build a functional team for story progression

Priority:

1. Level your best DPS to level 20
2. Level your second DPS to level 20
3. Level support operators to level 15-20

Materials focus:

• Farm Combat Records from Protocol Space: Operation EXP
• Collect Pink Boletes from The Hub daily

Don't:

• Don't spread EXP across too many operators
• Don't promote more than 2-3 operators until you have stable income

Mid Game (Authority Level 20-40)

Goal: Push your main team to level 40 and start farming late-game materials

Priority:

1. Promote your main DPS to level 40
2. Promote your second DPS to level 40
3. Level support operators to level 30-40

Materials focus:

• Farm Protodisks heavily (you'll need hundreds eventually)
• Collect Red Boletes from Originium Lodespring daily
• Start farming Protoprism/Protohedron for skill leveling

Don't:

• Don't push anyone past level 40 yet—material costs spike dramatically
• Don't ignore skill leveling—it provides more value than raw levels at this stage

Late Game (Authority Level 40-60)

Goal: Push top DPS to level 60-80 for endgame content

Priority:

1. Promote your primary DPS to level 60
2. Promote your second DPS to level 60
3. Keep support operators at level 40-50 (diminishing returns past this)

Materials focus:

• Farm Protosets (extremely limited supply)
• Collect Ruby Boletes from Jingyu Valley daily
• Start attempting Deep Dives for high-tier materials

Don't:

• Don't promote operators past 60 unless you need them for Deep Dives
• Don't neglect weapon leveling—weapons become as important as operator levels

Endgame (Authority Level 60+)

Goal: Prepare for Deep Dives and hardest content

Priority:

1. Level 1-2 primary DPS to level 80
2. Level key support operators to level 60-70
3. Build specialized teams for different content types

Materials focus:

• Deep Dives for gold-tier materials
• Bloodcaps from high-level zones
• Massive Protoset farming

Don't:

• Don't try to level everyone to 80—material costs are astronomical
• Focus on quality over quantity

Leveling Efficiency Tips

Sanity Management

Daily Sanity priority for leveling:

1. Protocol Space: Skill Up (highest impact per Sanity)
2. Protocol Space: Promotions (when approaching level caps)
3. Protocol Space: Operation EXP (only if you have excess Sanity)

Why: Skill levels provide more combat power than raw operator levels. Don't waste Sanity farming EXP when you could be farming skills.

Passive EXP Generation

Manufacturing Cabin setup:

• Assign operators to produce Combat Records and Cognitive Carriers 24/7
• Check and collect every 12-24 hours
• This provides ~20-30% of your total EXP needs passively

Don't: Don't ignore this—it's free EXP that accumulates while you sleep.

AIC Quota Exchange

When you pull duplicate operators from gacha, you receive character tokens.

Trade tokens for:

• Protodisks (immediate promotion value)
• Skill materials (long-term value)

Priority: Always trade duplicate tokens for Protodisks until you have a surplus. They're a major bottleneck.

Common Leveling Mistakes

FAQ