Sideroca

Sideroca is a 5-star character in Arknights. Sideroca's weapon type is Sword and class is Guard. Faction: Minos.

On our Arknights tier list Sideroca is C tier, 235th of the 293 characters ranked, from where 11 current tier lists put Sideroca.

Sideroca deals arts damage in melee, which makes her effective against high-DEF, low-RES enemies, and Regeneration Gamma heals back a big chunk of her max HP so she barely needs a Medic to keep going. Restorative Surge buffs her ATK and adds ongoing HP regen, though it shrinks her attack range down to the single tile she's standing on while active, and Mercenary's Tenacity kicks in an attack-speed and status-resistance buff once she's racked up enough kills.

She's a C on our list, limited by blocking just one enemy, but she's built to stay on the field a long time and hold her own against tough, high-ATK targets.

A Minoan Forte mercenary swordswoman hailing from the bustling city-state of Corinnia, Sideroca led a successful mercenary career as she served the rivaling city-states.

Since forming a permanent contract with Rhodes Island, she has consistently demonstrated impressive swordsmanship, pragmatism, and prior combat experience.

Operator tab

Her codename derives from the Greek word meaning "iron." It might also refer to Sidero, the second wife of Salmoneus in Odyssey.

The bull in her Elite 2 artwork is possibly the Highland cattle.

Due to an oversight when Hymnoi Wisdom is live in the Global and TW server, Sideroca's faction was not changed to Minos as in the CN server and remained as part of Rhodes Island, except in the Network section of the Archive where she was properly shown as part of Minos, which had the side-effect of making Sideroca not affected by Pallas' talent Birth of a Hero.

This was fixed on a flash update for Global on January 6, 2022 and TW server in The Great Chief Returns Rerun, and her faction had changed back to Minos.

Ceaseless: As a longtime weathered mercenary, Sideroca's well-versed in coping with enemies and their attempts to pull her negative side out in battles of attrition.

As combat gradually turns white-hot, Sideroca's exceptional constitution and tempered gains will all come into prominence.

Enemies will realize: no matter how they break through, no matter how they affect her, the Forte before them is still going to fight as bravely as ever.

AFT-Y: "Thou shalt love Corinia." Thus reads the inscription that crowns the stone pillar marking the city's gate.

Its carver must have pictured that all those departing the city would read it the moment they lifted their heads.

Now, though, stallkeeps and mercenaries throng the gate as tightly as packed fins, and those who look up will see nothing but smoke-stained graffiti and billboards.

These used to be Sideroca's stomping grounds as a child—she'd watch aging mercs grumble as they waited to find employers, snippets of their words helping her piece together a map in her head—the map she'd use for her escape plan one day.

It's been years since then. She's returned, here beneath this gate once more.

The branch director who'd referred Sideroca to Rhodes Island is here with her now, touring the old haunt together and talking about old times.

The director confesses that back then, more than anything, she'd rushed to sign up Sideroca because she didn't want to let a talent like her go anywhere else.

Sideroca had that little something extra compared to your average drifter.

Real recognizes real, so to speak.

A freight boat needs a ballast to sail, and the wandering mercs and merchants of this citadel need something spiritual to weigh down their legs, lest they be trapped behind the mountains.

Sideroca was barely an adult when she found her legs, firmer ones than any merc drowning their life away in booze.

So what did keep her so rock-steady?

She doesn't have an answer right away. She scrutinizes Corinia once more, this city built on the idea of an eye for an eye.

She can't stand the place in all its dark, bloodied glory.

It sickens her how the books you learn to read from here teach you all the different names of money.

She despises how children play pretend by copying the way grown-ups haggle and bargain and use each other for their own gain.

To her, Corinia is one giant example of what things shouldn't be.

With every step, she's reminding herself: don't end up like this.

Don't end up like the merchants who peddle fakes beneath the gate, or the mercs who cry ripoff and smash their stalls up.

A crude rock can be carved into pillar decorations or boat ballasts.

Yet, if you price it as a jewel and cling to it, you'll waste all your energy and sink to the river's bottom with it.

The further Sideroca travels from her homeland, the more clearly she understands this and many other things.

She has no interest in entering the city itself.

Just as she's about to go, the branch director asks if she's ever seen how that inscription has a second half:

"For thy countless paths begin from here."

Free Operator of Darknights Memoir, awarded by completing the Hit List mission (clear DM-3 with Sideroca's Token); obtainable via Record Restoration since 2022/11/25