# Headhunting

> Arknights' gacha in detail. The 2% six-star rate, the published escalation that reaches 100% by pull 99, the weak featured guarantees, and how the counter carries between standard banners.

- Canonical URL: https://gachawiki.com/arknights/wiki/headhunting
- Part of: the arknights wiki on GachaWiki (https://gachawiki.com/arknights)
- Verification status: verified (facts checked 2026-07-09)
- Last updated: 2026-07-09
- License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Attribution: "Headhunting", GachaWiki, https://gachawiki.com/arknights/wiki/headhunting

Headhunting is Arknights' gacha. A single headhunt costs 600 Orundum or one Headhunting Permit; a 10-pull costs 6,000. Its design predates the HoYoverse pattern and solves the bad-luck problem differently: instead of a hidden ramp and a hard wall, the escalation is printed in the rules text. [[1]](#ref-1)

## Rates and escalation

| Parameter | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Base 6-star rate | 2% per pull |
| Escalation | after 50 pulls without a 6-star, the rate rises 2 points per pull: 4% at 51, 6% at 52, reaching 100% by pull 99 |
| 5-star floor | a 5-star or better is guaranteed within a banner's first 10 pulls |
| Cost | 600 Orundum per pull |

Because the escalation is official, the expected cost is computable exactly from published rules: about 34.6 pulls per 6-star on average, a widely cited community computation. The worst case is 99 pulls. This makes Arknights one of the few games where no part of the pity math relies on community measurement; compare the unpublished soft pity ramps in the HoYoverse games on the [pity system](/wiki/pity-system) page.

The escalation counter carries over between successive standard banners, but limited, collaboration, and Kernel banners track it independently. [[1]](#ref-1)

## Featured guarantees

The featured side is weaker than the rate side. On standard banners each 6-star has a 50% chance of being one of the two rate-up operators, with no loss protection and no carry-over: a plain fractional [rate-up](/wiki/rate-up), not a 50/50. Limited banners guarantee that the first 6-star after 150 pulls is a rate-up limited operator, once per banner, and collaboration banners guarantee the featured 6-star within 120 pulls. [[1]](#ref-1)

Since 2024, limited banners add a real ceiling through [Headhunting Data Contracts](/arknights/wiki/headhunting-data-contracts), the game's spark system, which caps a limited operator at 300 pulls.

## References

1. Headhunting rates and escalation rules (community documentation of in-game disclosure) (Arknights community wiki): https://arknights.wiki.gg/wiki/Headhunting (accessed 2026-07-09)