Snowbreak CZ - Which operative to choose in Elite Recruit

We give you the low down on which operative to choose in Elite Recruit in Snowbreak: Containment Zone. Elite Recruitment is a permanent event that allows players to choose one of the five orange-tier operatives once they've progressed far enough in the game. In our Snowbreak Elite Recruit Guide, we will discuss which operative seems to be the best option for beginners and who offers the best value to your team.

Snowbreak CZ - Which operative to choose in Elite Recruit

Snowbreak Elite Recruit

This permanent event can only be unlocked once you've reached Adjutant (player) level 35. Once you do, you'll be able to pick one of the five orange tier (5-star) operatives for free. You can also get these operatives from various character banners in the game's Echo (gacha) system so it's possible to have one or two of them already by the time you unlock this feature. Orange-tier operatives are incredibly powerful, thanks to their available skills, ultimate, and scaling, so having a few of them will really help boost your squad's firepower, survivability, and overall effectiveness.

Which operative to choose?

When deciding which operative to choose from the selection, you should consider the following:

• Your personal taste (which operative strikes your fancy?)
• To fill a role in your squad (do you need a powerful close-range brawler, good at crowd control, or someone adept at long-range engagements?)
• To have someone capable of dishing out specific elemental damage
• Someone capable of using an orange-tier weapon you happen to have
• To have manifestations? (duplicate copies that can be used to boost the character)

As much as possible, choosing an operative that you'll enjoy using is not a bad idea. However, out of all the considerations we listed above, you should try avoiding using this selector to obtain duplicates of an operative you already own. This is because the stat boosts you'll gain for boosting the operative's Manifestation level (through the use of duplicate shards) is tiny compared to the overall value another orange-tier operative can bring to play.

Elite Recruitment Operatives

The operatives featured in this selector may also have 4-star versions. Their 4-star (purple) counterparts are treated as separated units or entities since they have different skill sets - even if they're compatible weapon type is exactly the same. Their manifestation shards are also treated separately (for example, you can't use Lyfe - Wednesday's shards to further improve the manifestation level of Lyfe - Wild Hunt.

Lyfe - Wild Hunt

This Frost-oriented version of Lyfe has outstanding crowd-control abilities, thanks to her reliable application of the Freeze effect that also immobilizes enemies for a short amount of time. She can launch numerous homing Frost Fangs that trigger small explosions upon impact. The number of Frost Fangs she can fire at a time and the chance of freezing and immobilizing enemies can be improved through neuronics and leveling up.

Her support skill allows her to damage all enemies around the player while also freezing and applying DoT on them. Finally, her burst deals massive Frost damage and freezes enemies within range. She's still using an SMG (submachine gun) as well, offering great rate of fire at short and medium ranges.

Yao - Winter Solstice

This 5-star version of Yao is a major deviation of her 4-star version (which kit relies heavily on healing and support). Yao - Winter Solstice is an outstanding ranged DPS, capable of dishing out solid shots from her sniper rifle. Her skill loads a powerful thermal bullet that causes an explosion when it hits the target, while also interrupting the target's special skill. This skill is very potent especially if Yao is able to land headshots, allowing her to deal 5-digit damage values easily.

Her support skill has great area control as well, launching enemies in the air and dealing thermal damage while applying the burning DoT on them. Finally, her ultimate gives her super armor that resists all types of damage while temporarily giving her access to a powerful thermal weapon. Overall Yao - Winter Solstice is a solid choice for those who prefer taking out enemies from a distance or taking out huge chunks of a boss' HP per shot.

Fenny - Coronet

Fenny's 4-star version is one of the starter units in the game and her 5-star version does her justice by keeping her style of serving shells up close and personal even more reliable. Her weapon of choice is still the trusty shotgun. When she uses her skill, she disperses an electrical field that damages enemies and puts her in a state where she earns "Mercy" points for each ammo pellet that hits the target. The more Mercy points she gains, the faster her shooting speed will be. Since each shot releases a blast of several pellets, this allows her to accumulate Mercy significantly, allowing her to dish out even more damage thanks to the ability to shoot more often with the Shooting SPD buff. Since she's a shotgun user, Fenny will be able to easily break through enemy guard, shield, or armor, making her an ideal unit for softening targets up close.

Her support skill allows her to apply the same Shooting SPD buff to the operative on the field and finally, her ultimate generates a large AoE electrical field that damages all surrounding enemies while also interrupting their special skills.

Fritia - Hush

Fritia uses an assault rifle which allows her to deal consistent damage reliably at medium and long ranges. When she uses her standard skill, she will throw a chain that groups up to five (small) enemies together before exploding, dealing thermal damage while also preventing them from using special skills. Even when dealing against larger enemies, you can still rely on this skill to deal thermal damage and inflict skill interruption.

Fritia's support skill buffs the operative on the field with a 5-stack Fire God Protection that reduces damage received and burns surrounding targets. Finally, her ultimate allows her to fire a steady fire blast for a few seconds which she can manually control and will pass through several targets at once.

Marian - Swift

Marian is another sniper that specializes in dealing Kinetic damage. Her standard skill allows her first shot to deal damage and mark the target, while the second shot automatically homes in on the marked target. Both the skill's marking shot and homing shot can crit and hit weakspots.

Her support skill allows her to fire a special shot that deals considerable kinetic damage, knocks back all targets along the path, and interrupts their special skills. Finally, her ultimate deals massive kinetic damage to all targets in the path while launching them in the air and interrupting their special skills as well.

Summary

So with all things considered, which of the free operatives will you choose? Here's what we think:

• Reliable crowd control: Lyfe - Wild Hunt
• Outstanding damage potential against single targets: Yao - Winter Solstice
• Aggressive close-range combat, shield or armor breaker: Fenny Coronet

In our opinion, Marian doesn't seem to bring that much value compared to the other choices available in the selector, unfortunately. Fritia is a decent AR unit but if you want thermal DPS, Yao - Winter Solstice will still be a better option when compared side by side.