Hitting a wall in Arknights: Endfield where the story just stops and won’t move forward is one of the most common early-game experiences. The game doesn’t warn you it’s coming — one moment you’re clearing story missions, the next you’re locked out with a level requirement you didn’t see coming. This is a deliberate soft lock built into the game’s design, and understanding it is the key to never being caught off guard again.
This guide covers everything that actually moves the needle: how Authority Level works, where to farm Operational EXP most efficiently, how to level characters without wasting resources, and why your factory needs to be running from day one.
Understanding the Two Progression Systems in Arknights: Endfield
Before anything else, you need to know the difference between the two main progression tracks, because confusing them is what puts most players behind.
Authority Level is always the bottleneck. Fix that first, then worry about everything else.
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Best Ways to Farm Operational EXP and Level Up Your Authority Fast
Protocol Spaces are your most reliable source of Operational EXP once you’ve exhausted quests. These are the game’s dungeon-like portals — floating black geometric structures scattered across Talos-II. Every Protocol Space costs Sanity to enter and drops Operational EXP on completion, regardless of what other rewards it offers. When Sanity is full, burn it here. Check the Index tab in your Operational Manual to see which spaces are available and what they reward as your Exploration Level rises.
Story missions and side quests are what carry you through the early game. Every cleared mission delivers a chunk of Operational EXP automatically. If the main story locks you out, it almost always means you skipped side quests along the way — open the Missions tab and clean those up first.
Daily Tasks take under five minutes and add up over time. They compound well with Protocol Space runs since you can knock them out during the same session. The Operational Manual’s Simulation tab is worth checking early too: it’s a set of tutorial tasks tied to factory machines that rewards decent EXP and teaches systems that become mandatory anyway.
Exploration fills in the rest. Unlocking Teleport Points, opening chests, collecting Aurylenes, and interacting with Protocol Dataloggers all give small amounts of Operational EXP. None of them are worth going out of your way for, but if you’re exploring anyway, they add up.
One thing that doesn’t work: grinding regular field enemies. Defeating mobs gives no Operational EXP. Don’t waste time on them beyond what combat requires.
| Source | EXP Volume | Repeatable? |
|---|---|---|
| Protocol Spaces (Sanity) | High | Daily |
| Main Story Missions | Very High | One-time |
| Side Quests | Medium–High | One-time |
| Daily Tasks | Medium | Daily |
| Operational Manual Nodes | Medium | One-time |
| Teleport Points / Chests | Low–Medium | One-time |
How to Level Characters Without Wasting Resources
Character progression has three distinct cost phases. Levels 1–20 are cheap and high-value — get every Operator you plan to use to 20 as quickly as possible. Levels 20–60 cost noticeably more and this is where most of your early focus should land. Levels 60–99 are resource-heavy and simply not meant to be rushed until you’re deep into the game.
The single most important decision you’ll make early on is who to level first. Spreading Combat Records across six or eight Operators leaves your whole roster too weak to clear anything efficiently. Pick four Operators with good role coverage and commit to them. Lower-rarity Operators are perfectly viable in early chapters — don’t hold off on building them just because you’re hoping for something better.
Once you have a character at their level breakpoint, the upgrade priority looks like this:
- Character Level first — the fastest way to get raw stat increases
- Key skills second — one well-timed skill upgrade can outperform several character levels in practice; focus on skills you actually use in every fight, skip situational or defensive ones for now
- Weapon third — characters and weapons share a Lv. 20 cap initially; as soon as the cap is raised by story progress, farm materials to keep both moving up
- Operator Potential last — requires rolling dupes and delivers the weakest return of any upgrade category
The skill investment point is worth taking seriously. Skill materials get expensive fast at mid game, and upgrading the wrong skills early can drain weeks of resources. Ask yourself whether you use the skill in every single fight before spending on it.
Why the AIC Factory Directly Affects Your Combat Power
The Automated Industry Complex is not a side activity. It’s the system that produces gear for your Operators, and gear becomes mandatory before endgame. The factory runs passively — even while you’re offline or exploring — but only if you’ve set it up. A dormant factory means no gear production, which eventually creates a hard wall that no amount of character leveling will fix.
The good news is you don’t need to min-max it early. A basic functional setup does the job until mid game. The priority when you first unlock the AIC is: Power node first (everything needs power to run), then Originium refining, then basic gear production using green components. Once you unlock the second row of the AIC tech tree, add Planting (automates plant farming so you’re not gathering by hand) and Packaging Tech (enables automated production of Industrial Explosives and Batteries).
Regional Development connects directly to AIC output. Your sub-bases generate Valley Stock Bills — a currency required for gear upgrades, system unlocks, and progression purchases later in the game. Raise Regional Development level by rigging mining spots for the first time, upgrading Outposts, and unlocking Recycling Stations. If you ignore this early, you’ll feel it when you hit mid game and can’t afford the upgrades you need.
Daily Sanity Loop: How to Structure Each Session
Sanity caps, and capped Sanity is wasted EXP. That’s the core rule. The regeneration doesn’t pause — it just stops accumulating once the bar is full, so any overflow is gone.
The most efficient daily session order:
- Complete Daily Tasks (five minutes, free EXP, done)
- Burn all Sanity on Protocol Spaces
- Push Main Story if a new chapter is available
- Handle exploration and side quests while Sanity recharges
One thing to do while exploring: submit Aurylenes at The Hub. This can reward an extra Sanity bar, Origeometry, and Operational EXP. It takes thirty seconds and is easy to forget.
Progression Mistakes That Will Slow You Down
These aren’t obvious traps — they’re things that look fine in the moment but cost real time.
- Leveling too many Operators at once. Six underpowered characters clear content slower than four strong ones. The resources you spread around are resources you can’t spend efficiently.
- Letting Sanity cap overnight. If you log in to a full bar that’s been capped for hours, that’s a lot of Operational EXP that never existed.
- Leaving the AIC idle. A factory that isn’t running isn’t producing gear. A few days of idle production early on means gear shortfalls in mid game.
- Chasing gear set bonuses too early. Set bonuses only meaningfully impact performance at high gear tiers. Before that, main stats on individual pieces matter far more. Don’t farm sets before you have Level 70 gear.
- Grinding field mobs for EXP. They give nothing. This is a common mistake coming from other ARPGs. Move on.
- Stopping story to grind side systems. Most major systems are locked behind Authority Level, which is tied closely to story progress. Stopping too early slows everything else down with it.
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Stage-by-Stage Progression Checklist
Early Game — Authority Level 1–1
- Push Main Story to first soft lock
- Unlock all Teleport Points in the current region
- Complete all Operational Manual starter missions
- Set up AIC: Power node → Originium refining → basic gear production
- Level core team of 4 Operators to Level 20
- Spend Sanity daily on Protocol Spaces — never let it cap
Mid Game — Authority Level 15–30
- Promote core Operators past Level 20 (farm Protodisks, Pink Bolete, T-Creds)
- Upgrade AIC: add Electric Mining Rig Mk II, Planting, Depot Bus
- Start Regional Development — rig mining spots, upgrade Outposts
- Focus skill upgrades on high-use skills only
- Begin farming blue gear through the factory
The One Rule That Ties Everything Together
Authority Level is the real gatekeeper in Arknights: Endfield — not character power, not gear score. Every day Sanity caps is a day of lost progress. Story drives unlocks, the AIC feeds gear, and a focused team of four will always outperform a spread roster of eight. The game is built around consistent daily activity across all its systems, not grinding one thing hard. Do the basics well every session and the progression takes care of itself.
