This Arknights beginner guide 2026 breaks the late-October schedule into three tracks. Yesterday Sea part 2 closes on Oct 23 03:59, the Salvage Plan hands you the 5-star event Operator and the Harbour Club furniture set, the Oct 22 04:00 refresh swaps the standard banner and the certificate shop to Nifu and Bope, and the Hengyuan Jinliang sign-in costs zero sanity. Below you also get a Arknights team building guide angle on whether the new 5-star is worth promoting, which stage to farm this week, and what to hold before the Oct 24 anniversary stream.
Applicable version: as of the 2026-10-16 update (16:00 hotfix; the game has no version-number system)
Arknights Yesterday Sea part 2: the stage window that opened on Oct 16
Yesterday Sea is a SideStory that runs from Oct 9 12:00 to Oct 30 03:59 and unlocks after clearing main story 1-10 . It did not ship in one drop.
The second half has a seven-day window
Part one, "Rea-Iberia", opened on Oct 9 12:00 and runs to Oct 23 03:59. Part two, "Our Iberia", opened on Oct 16 16:00 and closes at the same Oct 23 03:59 . That gives part two a single week. If you wait until Oct 24 you cannot backfill the first clear.
The Salvage Plan pays out an Operator and furniture
The Salvage Plan inside the event trades stage progress for rewards, and the announcement lists a 5-star event Operator plus part of the Harbour Club furniture set as the headline rewards . Furniture is one-time, an Operator joins your roster, so push the stages that move the progress bar before you go back and tidy up three-star clears.
Arknights new 5-star value: how to judge an event Operator
Event 5-stars follow a pattern: interesting mechanics, modest stats. The question is never whether the new Operator beats your best 6-star, it is whether your roster has a hole she fills.
Check whether the slot is actually empty
If you already run a stable high-ground damage core and a control chain, the event 5-star is a collection piece and a contingency pick for Annihilation. If your account is still mid-story with a thin 6-star pool, an event Operator is one of the few units you get without pulling, and the promotion materials are worth committing.
Do not fight the event shop for promotion materials
During an event, shop exchange usually beats farming the permanent material stages. If the promotion materials for the new 5-star are purchasable in the event shop, buy them there in one pass late in the event, and only farm permanent stages for whatever the shop does not stock .
Arknights Oct 22 banner and certificate shop: how to sequence your pull currency
The Oct 16 hotfix announcement contains two "resource preload" lines: the standard banner refreshes on Oct 22 04:00, and the purchase centre Distinction Certificate section refreshes at Oct 22 04:00 with Nifu and Bope available .
Preload is not a live banner
Preload only pushes assets to the client. The banner and the exchange actually go live at 04:00 on Oct 22, which means there is no reason to burn Originite on Oct 21 unless a single pull completes a key exchange.
The certificate shop is the real decision
The certificate section carries two Operators at a time, and both are "nice to have, not required". The test is whether you hold enough Distinction Certificates for one exchange, not whether the banner art looks new. If you are short, keep saving; the window is not a single day.
Arknights Hengyuan Jinliang and Integrated Strategies: the zero-sanity tracks
Hengyuan Jinliang, the National Library crossover, opened at 16:00 on Oct 16. It does not compete with Yesterday Sea because its rewards are sign-in and shop based rather than combat based.
Three sign-in days for furniture
The announcement is explicit: three cumulative sign-in days award furniture including the Fluff Reading Companion set . Sign-in rewards cost no sanity. Skip them and you lose value for free.
Bundles and the Integrated Strategies expansion
The same announcement lists the Book Collection bundle as 800 Orundum plus three avatars. The Oct 16 hotfix also opened expansion one of the Integrated Strategies theme The Black Current Tree Sea. That track consumes time rather than sanity, which makes it a good slot after your event first-clears.
Arknights sanity and material plan: what to farm this week
Natural sanity regenerates at 240 per day, roughly 1680 per week . With three overlapping activities, that budget needs an order.
Priority for material farming
Event stages come first: event shop exchange usually beats permanent material stages, and part two closes on Oct 23 03:59. Second come weekly fixed-income modes such as Integrated Strategies and Annihilation. Permanent material stages are last, reserved for filling gaps after the event ends.
Hold something back before Oct 24
Producer Communication #70 states that the 2026 anniversary preview stream airs on Oct 24 at 19:30 . That stream will cover the anniversary event and a new limited banner. Between Oct 21 and 23 the safer play is to sit on Originite and Orundum until the stream lands.
Arknights FAQ
When does Yesterday Sea part 2 close?
A: Part two "Our Iberia" closes on Oct 23 03:59 and the whole event ends Oct 30 03:59.
Should the new 5-star be promoted to E2?
A: Promote if your 6-star pool is thin; if it is deep, stop at E1 and buy shop materials instead of farming.
Is there a new banner on Oct 22?
A: Oct 22 04:00 refreshes the standard banner and the certificate shop, with Nifu and Bope available .
Does Hengyuan Jinliang cost sanity?
A: No. Three sign-in days give furniture and the bundle is 800 Orundum .
Arknights action list for this week
- Clear every stage of "Our Iberia" before Oct 23 03:59 to finish the Salvage Plan.
- Log in for three Hengyuan Jinliang sign-in days, collect furniture, spend no sanity.
- Check the standard banner and certificate shop after Oct 22 04:00, keep saving if certificates are short.
- Hold Originite and Orundum until the Oct 24 19:30 stream.
- Queue permanent material stages behind event stages and fill gaps after Oct 30.
You can cross-check this schedule against the guide section on gghubs.com; the order gets revised when the version changes.