How to Level Up and Promote Characters in Arknights Endfield – Complete Guide

When you first step into Arknights Endfield as the Endministrator—a character who wakes up with no memories on a hostile planet constantly besieged by dangerous creatures—the tutorial eases you into the basics. But once Chapter 1 begins and you’re tackling technology restoration alongside your Endfield Industries teammates, one truth becomes crystal clear: upgrading your characters isn’t optional, it’s survival.

Leveling up and promoting your operators directly impacts your combat effectiveness. Higher levels mean more HP to survive brutal boss encounters, increased attack stats for faster enemy takedowns, and improved core attributes like Strength, Agility, Intellect, and Will that define your operator’s build potential. Whether you’re optimizing a powerhouse like in our Laevatain best team comp guide or building from scratch, understanding these systems is fundamental.

For comprehensive coverage of all game mechanics, visit our Arknights Endfield guides hub.

How to Level Up Your Characters in Arknights Endfield

The leveling process in Arknights Endfield follows the familiar structure of action-adventure RPGs, but with its own specific resource requirements.

Accessing the Level Up Screen

First, you’ll need to unlock the Operators menu. This becomes available after completing the “Rally and Unite” quest in Chapter 1. Once unlocked, click the mannequin icon in the top-right corner of your screen to open the Operators section, then navigate to the Level Up screen.

Using Combat Records

Character progression runs on Combat Records—consumable items that grant experience when used. Think of them as your primary leveling currency. You’ll feed these to your operators to increase their levels gradually.

Where to Get Combat Records:

• Exploring the Talos-II planet during open-world activities
• Clearing Protocol Space: Operator EXP rifts (repeatable content designed for farming)
• Trading at the AIC Quota Exchange

Combat Record Types and Values

Not all Combat Records are created equal. There are three tiers, each providing different experience amounts:

Advanced Combat Records are obviously the most efficient, but you’ll accumulate all three types naturally through gameplay. Don’t hoard them—use them strategically on your main damage dealers and core team members first.

For stat optimization insights, check our stats guide to understand which attributes matter most for different operator classes.

Understanding the Level Cap System

Here’s where Arknights Endfield adds a twist: the maximum level is 90, but you can’t rush straight there. The game implements a level cap system that gates your progress at specific milestones.

How It Works:

1. You level freely until you hit level 20
2. At level 20, you must perform an Elite Promotion to raise the cap to 40
3. This pattern repeats at levels 40, 60, and 80
4. Each promotion unlocks the next tier: 40 → 60 → 80 → 90

You can’t skip promotions or level past a cap without completing the required promotion first. This system ensures steady progression and prevents you from over-leveling too quickly without the corresponding gear improvements.

How to Promote Your Characters in Arknights Endfield

Elite Promotions aren’t just about raising level caps—they fundamentally strengthen your operators by unlocking higher-rarity gear slots and increasing base stats.

Accessing Promotions

Once you reach level 20 on any operator, the promotion option becomes available in the same Level Up screen where you use Combat Records. After completing your first promotion, subsequent promotions unlock only when you’ve:

1. Maxed out the current level cap
2. Completed the required Outfitting upgrades (explained below)

Promotion Requirements and Costs

There are four promotion tiers total. Each requires specific materials and T-Creds (the game’s primary currency):

Promotion I (Unlocks Level 40):

• 8 Protodisk
• 3 Pink Bolete
• 1,600 T-Creds

Promotion II (Unlocks Level 60):

• 25 Protodisk
• 5 Red Bolete
• 6,500 T-Creds

Promotion III (Unlocks Level 80):

• 24 Protoset
• 5 Ruby Bolete
• 18,000 T-Creds

Promotion IV (Unlocks Level 90):

• 36 Protoset
• 20 Metadiastima Photoemission Tube
• 8 Bloodcap
• 100,000 T-Creds

Notice how the costs escalate significantly, especially for Promotion IV. This final promotion represents a massive resource investment—100k T-Creds alone is substantial. Plan your promotions carefully, prioritizing your main DPS operators and essential supports first.

Material Farming Tips

• Protodisk/Protoset: Common drops from various enemies and exploration activities
• Boletes (Pink/Red/Ruby): Gathered from specific zones on Talos-II, with higher tiers in more dangerous areas
• Bloodcap: Rare material from endgame content and specific boss encounters
• Metadiastima Photoemission Tube: Obtained through advanced crafting or special events

If you’re looking to maximize your resource gathering efficiency, our best settings guide can help optimize your gameplay performance.

Understanding Outfitting Upgrades

Here’s the crucial detail many players miss: Outfitting upgrades and promotions are interconnected systems. You can’t advance to the next promotion without completing the required Outfitting upgrade first.

What Are Outfitting Upgrades?

Outfitting upgrades are gear enhancement milestones that expand your operator’s equipment capabilities. Each upgrade allows your characters to equip higher-rarity gear pieces, which provide better stats and defensive bonuses.

Why They Matter

The game forces you to improve your gear quality alongside your character levels. This prevents the common RPG problem of high-level characters running around in low-tier equipment. As you promote your operators, they gain access to better gear slots, making them progressively more durable against increasingly difficult enemies.

This system ties directly into building optimal loadouts—check our guides on Laevatain’s best build to see how gear choices interact with character progression.

Progression Strategy: What to Prioritize

With limited resources, especially in the early game, strategic prioritization is essential:

Early Game (Levels 1-40)

• Focus on your main DPS operator first (get them to 40 immediately)
• Level your healer/support to 20-30 for sustainability
• Keep other team members at level 20 until your core is stronger

Mid Game (Levels 40-60)

• Push your main DPS to 60
• Promote your primary support/healer to at least 40
• Begin leveling your second DPS or sub-DPS to 40

Late Game (Levels 60-90)

• Only push characters to 80-90 who are permanent team fixtures
• Promotion IV is expensive—reserve it for your absolute best operators
• Diversify your roster breadth before maxing depth

Understanding team synergies helps you decide who deserves investment—our characters guide covers various operators and their roles.

Resource Management Tips

Combat Record Efficiency: Don’t waste Advanced Combat Records on low-level characters. Use Elementary and Intermediate records for levels 1-30, saving Advanced records for the expensive 60-90 range where experience requirements spike.

T-Creds Conservation: T-Creds are used for everything—promotions, crafting, shop purchases. Budget carefully and avoid impulse spending on cosmetics or unnecessary items early on.

Material Stockpiling: Farm materials during events or when specific zones are boosted. Having promotion materials ready when you hit a level cap means no progression downtime.

For additional free resources, check our redeem codes guide and Twitch Drops guide.

Getting Started

Ready to begin your journey? Download Arknights Endfield on Google Play or the Epic Games Store to start building your operator roster.

New players should also review our reroll guide to potentially secure strong operators early, and our gacha system guide to understand pull mechanics. If you’re interested in playing with friends, our multiplayer and co-op guide covers collaborative features.

Understanding elemental reactions will also help you maximize your leveled operators’ effectiveness in combat.

Frequently Asked Questions