Arknights Endfield Laevatain character guide

How do you play Laevatain in Arknights Endfield? Surtr is one of the best characters in the original Arknights, and now she's in Endfield, albeit with a different name. Laevatain is a top-of-the-line Striker that inflicts Heat damage and wields a sword, which makes her the perfect fit for players who want to hack, slash, and ignite hordes of Aggeloids and Landbreakers in their wake.

Laevatain (aka Surtr) is the first six-star character to headline on Arknights Endfield banners, heralding an explosive start to the gacha game's premium roster. She's an AoE damage dealer that can clear entire mobs in a single burst, but playing her optimally demands careful management of her unique resource. Here's how to master her rotations in Arknights Endfield combat encounters and stoke her damage output to the melting point.

Laevatain abilities and attributes

Main Attribute: Intellect
Secondary Attribute: Strength

Laevatain's main attribute gives her a major boost to attack resistance, allowing her to tank any hits she takes while cycling through her basic attack string. Her secondary attribute boosts her base health for even more reinforcement and provides a bonus attack increase to ensure maximum damage.

Basic Attack: Flaming Cinders

Laevatain's basic attack is a five-string sequence that inflicts Heat damage. The final strike deals Stagger damage. When Laevatain performs a basic attack near staggered enemies, it converts to a finisher that deals massive Heat damage and recovers SP.

Battle Skill: Smouldering Fire

Laevatain's skill summons a Magma Fragment that deals continuous Heat damage over time, and grants her one stack of Melting Flame per hit. When Laevatain uses her skill with four stacks of Melting Flame, she consumes all stacks to perform an additional attack that applies Combustion to all enemies in its area of effect. This also restores ultimate energy upon hit. SP Cost: 100

Combo Skill: Seethe

Laevatain's combo skill triggers whenever an enemy is afflicted by Combustion or Corrosion. She gains one stack of Melting Flame and restores ultimate energy per enemy hit. Cooldown: 9 seconds.

Ultimate: Twilight

Laevatain summons the Sviga Lævi, a powerful fire sword that attacks alongside her for the duration of her ultimate. Laevatain's basic attack is enhanced, and its third hit applies Heat Infliction. Energy Cost: 300. Cooldown: 10 seconds.

Talent: Scorching Heart

After the main operator lands a Final Strike or Finisher, Laevatain absorbs Heat Infliction from enemies and converts them to stacks of Melting Flame. Once she has four stacks, she temporarily ignores enemy Heat resistance.

Talent: Re-Ignition

When Laevatain's health drops below 40%, she gains Protection and restores a portion of her maximum health over time. This effect can only trigger once every two minutes.

How to play Laevatain

Laevatain's kit is simple, provided you can keep a close eye on elemental application and stack management. In essence, her rotation involves inflicting Heat Infliction on enemies to generate four stacks of Melting Flame, then expending all stacks to apply Combustion and build enough energy for her ultimate.

Laevatain is relatively inefficient at Heat Infliction on her own. Instead, she relies on fellow Heat operators like Wulfgard and Akekuri to apply Heat Infliction, which she passively converts to Melting Flame stacks thanks to her talent. You can also use a Nature operator like Ardelia to support Laevatain and trigger her combo skill by applying Corrosion rather than Combustion.

Switch to Laevatain the moment she has four stacks to build ultimate energy as quickly as possible. This keeps her momentum going to pay her high ultimate cost and trigger it. In her ultimate form, Laevatain becomes self-sufficient at Heat Infliction, letting you generate Melting Flame stacks even faster.

Ideally, you only want to trigger Laevatain's skill when you've got enough Melting Flame stacks to access its enhanced version, but there are some exceptions. For example, you might want to use the regular version to rapidly acquire a fourth Melting Flame stack and advance her attack rotation, but bear in mind this can be suboptimal if you have a team member who can quickly trigger Corruption or Combustion.

Ultimately, Laevatain's kit is at its most effective against large mobs, since you can take full advantage of the AoE effects in her skill. However, it is still easy to overcap Melting Flame stacks or even stall your rotation if you fail to adapt to the number of enemies on the field. Alternatively, you could clear mobs too quickly, leaving you with an active ultimate but nowhere to expend it.

Pairing Laevatain with strong elemental applicators is a must, but there's more value to be gained from her allies' equipment. The Eternal Xiranite set offers a 3-piece bonus that applies a temporary teamwide damage buff whenever the wearer applies Amp, making it an excellent late-game option for backline units like Akekuri or Antal to passively support Laevatain.

With Laevatain bringing the heat, find the next best operator to add to your team with our Arknights Endfield tier list. A little low on headhunting permits? Redeem the latest Arknights Endfield codes for free banner currency.