Echoes of War: Season Schedule, 6-Stage Mechanics & Kill Order — Arknights: Endfield
Echoes of War is Arknights: Endfield's SEASONAL combat mode, where each cycle picks 3 stages from the current roster and challenges you across 3 difficulties. This page collects the schedule of the currently running Season of Recalling (ends Aug 9, 2026), breaks down the unique buff mechanic of all 6 stages released so far, and builds a table found nowhere else: which enemy to kill first in Scars of Landbreaking depending on the team you're running.
What Echoes of War Is & Unlock Requirements
Echoes of War unlocks once you reach Authority Level 40 and clear the main story stage Chapter I Process II: Paving the Way. It's a PERMANENT mode that runs in SEASONS: each season has several rotating cycles, each cycle opens exactly 3 stages out of a fixed 8-stage roster (6 have appeared so far), each stage has 3 difficulties and its own one-off buff/debuff gimmick.
Current Season & the 3-Cycle Schedule
Season of Recalling (2026-07-16 → 2026-08-09)
This season has ended. The next season's exact date hasn't been announced yet.
| Name | Release date | Stages in this cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Cycle of Recalling I | 2026-07-16 → 2026-07-23 | Scars of Landbreaking Silver Watercutter Howling of Undying Beasts |
| Cycle of Recalling II | 2026-07-23 → 2026-07-30 | Skirmisher's Æthillu Silver Watercutter Age of Axes |
| Cycle of Recalling III | 2026-07-30 → 2026-08-09 | Pulverizing Ammunition Scars of Landbreaking Age of Axes |
The ★ Rating System, [Lustrous] & Season Titles
Clearing a stage on Normal earns 1★, Hard earns 2★, Brutal earns 3★. Clear Brutal AND fully complete the bonus objective and that stage's rating gets a [Lustrous] mark. A cycle's total rating caps at 9★ (3 stages × 3★) and RESETS when a new cycle starts — but the HIGHEST total you ever reached across every cycle in the season is what decides your final season title. Earning [Lustrous] on all 3 stages within the same cycle upgrades that title to its [Lustrous] version.
| ★ | Title |
|---|---|
| 0★ | No Ratings |
| 1★ | Nameless Trekker |
| 3★ | Wildlands Greenhorn |
| 5★ | Frontiers Veteran |
| 7★ | Accord Elite |
| 9★ | Band Legend |
| 9★ [Lustrous] | Band Legend (Lustrous) |
Mechanics of Every Stage
| Stage | Mechanic |
|---|---|
| Scars of Landbreaking | 4 enemies appear but only 1 is exposed to fight at a time — the other 3 are shielded and passive. Defeating the active one grants YOUR TEAM (not the enemies) a fight-long buff matching that enemy's specialty: kill the Vanguard → +50% Break efficiency, kill the Arsonist → +100 Arts Intensity, kill the Executioner → +100% Skill damage, kill the Heavy Ram → +100% Normal Attack damage. Buffs stack as you go, so kill order decides which combo of buffs you're carrying into the toughest enemy. |
| Silver Watercutter | 18 small enemies spawn in waves, each individually squishy but numerous; the final boss has noticeably more HP. Landing 20 total Arts Infliction procs across the stage unlocks +50% Final Damage for your whole team for the rest of the fight — procs on different targets all count toward the SAME counter, so wide-AoE application characters rack it up fast. |
| Howling of Undying Beasts | Just 1 boss (Skydrummer), and NO buff for your team in this stage. Right at the start, it locks in +50 resistance to EVERY element and NEVER enters an enrage window (no opening to dump extra damage like typical bosses). This stage is a pure damage check, not a reaction-combo or phase-exploit fight. |
| Skirmisher's Æthillu | Many enemies stand still, spread very wide across the map — normal AoE-taunt gathering doesn't reach far enough. The key: landing a FINISHER hit on the purple Æthillu makes every remaining enemy automatically gather into one spot, turning a spread-out fight into a tight cluster. |
| Age of Axes | A single boss with no special gimmick beyond a strict TIME LIMIT: just 1 minute to bring it down. This is a pure burst-DPS check — there's no time to figure out mechanics or rotate teams, just enough raw damage output in a short window. |
| Pulverizing Ammunition | Hard-hatted enemies spawn in 2 waves of 2. They continuously spew smoke around themselves that strips your ability to DASH and PERFECT-DODGE while you're standing in the cloud — a melee-punishing gimmick that makes closing the distance risky. |
Rewards & Medals
The first time you hit each star milestone on a stage, you receive Honor Rewards — typically Oroberyl, T-Creds, operator upgrade items (like an Advanced Progression Selection Crate), and Operational EXP. This is a ONE-TIME reward per milestone per stage — it never resets on a new season or cycle, so there's no rush. Exact item quantities cannot yet be cross-checked against gamevika's own official data files.
Numbers compiled by the community — the developer has not published an official reward table.
All 6 Stages Released & Their First Appearance
| Stage | First cycle | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Scars of Landbreaking | 1 | 2026-07-16 |
| Silver Watercutter | 1 | 2026-07-16 |
| Howling of Undying Beasts | 1 | 2026-07-16 |
| Skirmisher's Æthillu | 2 | 2026-07-23 |
| Age of Axes | 2 | 2026-07-23 |
| Pulverizing Ammunition | 3 | 2026-07-30 |
Which Team Type Suits Each Stagegamevika exclusive
Each stage punishes or rewards a different playstyle, so the optimal team changes stage by stage instead of staying fixed. Below is a team direction gamevika worked out ourselves from the operator and build data already in our own system for each stage — not a lineup copied from any outside source.
Scars of Landbreaking
Suits SKILL-BURST teams like Laevatain or Zhuang Fangyi — take down the Executioner early to secure +100% Skill damage and carry it through the rest of the fight.
Silver Watercutter
Suits wide-AoE elemental applicators like Perlica (auto-triggers reactions continuously) or Estella (applies Cryo Infliction) — hit the 20-proc mark early to enjoy +50% Final Damage for most of the fight.
Howling of Undying Beasts
Because resistance is high across every element and there's no enrage window to exploit, favor STEADY sustained damage over reaction combos — e.g. durable Physical Guards like Mi Fu or Chen Qianyu, who don't rely on stacking elemental effects to deal damage.
Skirmisher's Æthillu
Prioritize a character with a reliable finisher/counter to land the purple Æthillu hit as early as possible (saves you from chasing scattered enemies one by one) — a dependable counter-hitter matters more here than raw damage output.
Age of Axes
Bring your single strongest burst hypercarry lineup (Laevatain, Yvonne, Zhuang Fangyi...) — since the fight only lasts 1 minute, don't spread slots into defense or support you don't need.
Pulverizing Ammunition
Prioritize RANGED characters (guns, bows, ranged casting) so you never have to enter the smoke and lose dash/dodge — Perlica, Wulfgard, or Gilberta are examples that can deal damage or support without closing in.
gamevika's own team suggestion (not an official loadout)
Who to Kill First in Scars of Landbreaking
In Scars of Landbreaking, defeating one of the 4 enemies grants YOUR TEAM (not the enemies) a fight-long buff matching that enemy's specialty. Since the other 3 stay shielded and you only ever fight one at a time, you're fully in control of the order — the table below suggests who to kill first based on the playstyle your team is running.
| Name | Buff granted | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Bonekrusher Vanguard | +50% Break efficiency for your team | Teams that need to break shields fast to open a combo |
| Bonekrusher Arsonist | +100 Arts Intensity for your team | Teams that lean on elemental/Arts damage |
| Bonekrusher Executioner | +100% Skill damage for your team | Skill/Ultimate-burst hypercarry teams (Laevatain, Zhuang Fangyi) |
| Heavy Ram | +100% Normal Attack damage for your team | Teams built on sustained Normal Attacks with less skill reliance (Physical Guards/Strikers) |
Cross-Mode Warning: "Kill → Buff" Doesn't Mean the Same Thing Everywheregamevika exclusive
Already 3★? Do You Need to Replay?gamevika exclusive
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Echoes of War reset weekly?
Not weekly — it runs in CYCLES (roughly one per week) within a SEASON (roughly 3-4 cycles). Star ratings reset every cycle, but Honor Rewards never reset.
Why does my star rating reset but my season title stays?
Because the season title uses the HIGHEST rating you ever reached in any cycle of that season, not your current cycle's rating.
Do I need to clear all 3 difficulties in order?
You don't have to clear them back-to-back in one sitting, but to claim the ★ and Honor Rewards of every milestone you still need to clear Normal, then Hard, then Brutal, in that stage's actual difficulty order.