On this page
Once your reroll is done, the thing that actually slows you down in Arknights: Endfield stops being your operator pool and starts being resources: power, Stock Bills, promotion materials, and the account-wide levels that gate which regions you can even walk into. This guide covers what to open first, what to level, and in what order to move through content, plus what map exploration really gives you and what to leave alone in your first days so it doesn’t get devalued by a patch.
TL;DR
- After a reroll, progress is capped by Regional Development, Authority Level, and Stock Bills, not by which operators you pulled.
- Unlocking sub-bases and the electrical grid is the real first milestone, before you chase story chapters.
- Closing out a region’s exploration is not cosmetic — it feeds Regional Development Level, which hard-gates factory upgrades and currency.
- Don’t dump finite currency or limited materials into a rushed early build; a lot of that value resets or gets outscaled fast.
- This is written against Version 1.4 (“Homecoming”); Hypergryph and Gryphline patch the game every six to seven weeks, so specifics shift.
What Actually Gates Your Progression After the Reroll?
Endfield runs on a stack of overlapping meters instead of one level number. Regional Development tracks how developed a specific region is, and it’s the game’s exploration and core mechanic system that monitors how much of a certain region in Talos-II has been developed, gauged by a Regional Development Level (RDL) that increases via a Regional Development Metric, earned by upgrading factories and outposts, finishing missions, and placing mining spots around the map. Layered on top of that is Authority Level, which governs how much of the overworld even opens up as your account grows, and Area Status, which is a local rank per zone. Each explorable region has four Area Status ranks that govern enemy strength and resource density, and upgrading it usually requires raising local Outpost Level and sometimes finishing regional quests. None of these move because you got a lucky pull; they move because you fed them resources.
| Gate | What It Controls | How You Raise It |
|---|---|---|
| Authority Level | Which parts of the overworld are accessible at all | General account progression through missions and exploration |
| Regional Development Level (RDL) | Story gates, factory upgrades, and Stock Bills within that region | Regional Development Metric from outposts, missions, mining nodes |
| Outpost Level | Local production output and Area Status ceiling | Upgrading the outpost itself with materials |
| Area Status | Enemy strength and resource density in a zone | Outpost Level plus regional quest completion |
| AIC Index | Research speed inside the AIC Plan tech tree | Collecting Protocol Dataloggers while exploring |
Progression Order: What to Open, Level, and Explore First
The intuitive move after a reroll is to chase the story so your new operators start fighting. That’s backwards. The system that actually decides how fast everything else moves is Regional Development, and your first major progression milestone is unlocking sub-bases and gaining access to Regional Development. Everything downstream — factory tiers, Area Status, tougher content — sits behind that.
Tip
Grab every Protocol Datalogger you walk past even if you’re not actively farming. Protocol Dataloggers unlock AIC Index points, which fuel research in the AIC Plan, and skipping dataloggers slows factory evolution dramatically. They’re easy to miss because they don’t look like a combat reward.
| Stage | What It Unlocks | Where Players Usually Get Stuck |
|---|---|---|
| First sub-base / Regional Development access | The whole RDL system for that region | Not realizing story missions alone won't raise RDL |
| Electric grid (post–Mining Rig) | Full map traversal, ore routing, base power | Skipping the grid to keep pushing story, then hitting a power wall |
| Outposts fully connected | Higher Area Status, tougher and richer zones | Stock Bills and RDM run out faster than materials get farmed |
| AIC Plan research nodes | New automation recipes and factory efficiency | Ignoring Protocol Dataloggers during exploration, which stalls the whole tree |
| Later regions (Wuling and beyond) | New story arcs, operators, gear | Authority Level and promotion materials lag behind the story's pace |
Follow this sequence to get it done fast.
-
1
Clear the intro missions into your first sub-base
this is what actually opens the Regional Development system, not a story flag you can skip past.
-
2
Unlock the electric grid milestone
once you unlock the Electric Mining Rig, your focus should shift to full map control, so treat this as your cue to stop rushing story.
-
3
Physically walk the whole accessible map
don't just glance at the map screen; physically explore every accessible part of the map instead of just opening the map screen and moving on, traveling through it to uncover ore nodes, rare resources, and key points of interest.
-
4
Route power to every ore node you find
from the core area, begin building a large-scale electrical network, and any time you see an ore icon, route electricity to it using relay towers and pylons.
-
5
Reinvest in Regional Development, not just combat
connect all resource nodes, invest in Regional Development, and upgrade production buildings as the system unlocks them, then repeat the loop the moment a new area opens.
Where Progression Resources Actually Come From
Once you’re past the opening hours, resources stop trickling from the story alone and start coming from systems you have to run on purpose. Story and side missions hand out a base layer of materials and unlock flags. Field exploration adds gathering nodes and combat pockets you clear for a payout. Outposts and the AIC turn that raw material into a steady output instead of one-off drops. None of these fully replace each other — a rushed player who only follows the main quest will keep hitting RDL and Stock Bill walls that combat alone can’t fix.
| Source | What You Get | Requirement | Who It Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main and side missions | Base materials, unlock flags, story-tied rewards | Following the mission chain | Anyone just past the reroll |
| Rare Growths (field nodes) | Operator promotion and skill-upgrade materials | Physically finding and clearing the node | Players gearing up specific operators |
| Energy Alluviums | A chest after a combat wave | Clearing the temporary enemy spawn | Players who want combat-tied loot over pure gathering |
| Outpost / AIC production chains | Recurring materials and Stock Bills over time | Outposts built, connected, and upgraded | Anyone past the first sub-base milestone |
Map Exploration and Region Closure: Why It Isn't Cosmetic
It’s tempting to treat exploration percentage like a checklist achievement, something you finish later for completion’s sake. That’s not how it functions here. A region’s map is built to reward players who explore it deliberately rather than racing through the story, with its collectibles, resources, and Authority Level all feeding back into one another. Closing out a region raises its RDL directly, and RDL isn’t flavor text — it’s a hard wall. Regional Development Levels hard-gate story progression, factory upgrades, and Stock Bills, and ignoring RDL is the number one reason players get stuck in mid-game chapters. If you’ve been wondering why your outposts feel stuck despite decent combat power, RDL is usually the actual answer, not your squad.
Traversal tools tie into this too: ziplines and travel points are limited per map, so learning those systems once, activating your travel points early, and keeping an eye on your Authority Level will make the map open up smoothly as your account grows instead of feeling like a slog every time a new area drops. Exploration missions specifically matter because some of them guide you toward upgrading the various AIC outposts and resolving problems they encounter, which loops straight back into RDL and production output.
What Not to Do in Your First Days
Don’t max out a base layout before the grid exists
Building out a full production layout before your electrical network is routed just means rebuilding it. Power comes from the grid you place after the Mining Rig milestone, and early placements often get torn up once ore routing actually matters.
Don’t burn limited materials on whoever you rolled first
Promotion and skill materials are finite early on. Spending them on the first operator you happen to like, rather than whoever’s actually filling your team’s real gap, is the kind of decision that ages badly once you understand your account’s needs better.
Don’t skip exploration to “save it for later”
Collectibles and dataloggers you walk past now don’t wait for you conveniently. Some are tied to missions that get harder to backtrack to once the story has moved you into a new region, and the RDL you’re delaying is the thing gating your next unlock.
Warning
Endfield is still a live, versioned game — systems, costs, and unlock thresholds get adjusted with patches roughly every six to seven weeks. Treat specific numbers you see in community guides as a snapshot of one patch, not a permanent rule.
Common Misconceptions About Endfield Progression
“A stronger roster fixes a stalled account”
Combat power doesn’t raise Regional Development Level or Stock Bills. If you’re stuck, the fix is almost always more RDM from outposts and missions, not a better team clearing the same content faster.
“Exploration percentage is just a completion stat”
It’s directly tied to RDL and Authority Level, which gate real systems. Skipping exploration to rush story is skipping the resource that unlocks the next chunk of story.
“Outposts run themselves once placed”
Outposts are an anchor point, not a set-and-forget farm. They’re a progress gate and a multiplier that only pays off once you keep feeding them upgrades and connecting them into the wider grid.
Our Take: Is the Grind Worth Managing Closely Early?
Our Take
Yes — the first stretch after a reroll rewards patience with systems more than it rewards a lucky pull.
Endfield front-loads a lot of overlapping meters, and that’s disorienting if you’re used to gacha games where roster quality is the whole game. Here, the account that explores deliberately and reinvests in Regional Development will outpace one that just chases story with a “better” team. The tradeoff is that this makes the early game feel slower and more like bookkeeping than combat, which won’t land for everyone.