- What to know
- What Protodisks are used for in Endfield
- How Protocol Space Promotions work for Protodisk farming
- Where to farm Protodisks in Arknights Endfield
- Best farming tiers and efficiency considerations
- Managing activity points and farming limits
- Using AIC trading as a supplemental source
- Exploration and missions as passive Protodisk income
- Protodisk farming in Arknights Endfield
What to know
- Protodisks are Tier-3 promotion materials used to raise Operator level caps
- The most reliable source is Protocol Space Promotion rifts
- Higher difficulty tiers give better returns for the same entry cost
- Exploration and trading act as secondary, supplemental sources
In Arknights Endfield, progression is tightly controlled by materials rather than raw experience alone. Protodisks sit at the center of this system once you move beyond early Operator development. They are not rare in the sense of being hidden, but inefficient farming can quickly stall your roster growth. Understanding where Protodisks come from and which activities are worth your time is essential once promotion costs start climbing.
What Protodisks are used for in Endfield
Protodisks are classified as Tier-3 progression materials and are primarily consumed during Operator promotion. Promotion raises an Operator’s level cap and unlocks higher stat growth, which directly affects survivability and damage output in mid- to late-game regions. Without a steady supply of Protodisks, even well-built squads will hit progression walls, especially when tackling higher-tier Protocol Space encounters or story missions.
Because promotions scale quickly in cost, Protodisks transition from “nice to have” to “always needed” surprisingly early in the game.
How Protocol Space Promotions work for Protodisk farming
Protocol Space is the single most important system for farming Protodisks. These are instanced combat challenges accessed through Rift Tears scattered across the world map. Only Protocol Space entries labeled as Promotions reward Protodisks, making it critical to check the activity type before spending resources.
Each Promotion instance offers multiple difficulty tiers. While lower tiers are faster to clear, higher tiers provide significantly better Protodisk yields without proportionally increasing entry costs. This creates a clear efficiency curve where running mid-to-high tiers becomes optimal as soon as your squad can handle them consistently.
Once inside, the objective is straightforward combat completion. After clearing the encounter, you must explicitly claim the rewards, which consumes activity points tied to your progression level. These points regenerate over time, placing a natural cap on how many Protodisks you can farm in one session.
Where to farm Protodisks in Arknights Endfield
If you’re specifically asking where to go on the map, Protodisks are farmed from Protocol Space: Promotions rifts. These appear in the world as hovering black shard clusters (often called Rift Tears) and are usually placed near major traversal routes and hubs.
In Arknights: Endfield, the most reliable locations are around main areas like the Hub. Early and midgame regions almost always have at least one Promotion-type Protocol Space close to fast-travel points, making them easy to revisit for repeated farming sessions.
Best farming tiers and efficiency considerations
For most players, mid-range Promotion tiers provide the best balance between clear speed and reward quantity. While the highest tiers offer the largest Protodisk payouts, they demand tighter execution, better Operator synergy, and more time per run. If your clear times drop or failures become frequent, your effective Protodisk gain per hour actually decreases.
A common strategy is to farm one tier below your absolute maximum. This ensures consistent clears while still benefiting from improved reward scaling. Because the point cost remains similar across tiers, efficiency comes from reward volume rather than speed alone.
Managing activity points and farming limits
Protodisk farming is not limited by Sanity alone. Activity points, displayed in the interface when claiming Protocol Space rewards, act as a secondary throttle. These points regenerate gradually over time, with occasional free resets available every few hours depending on progression.
As your overall Operator level increases, your maximum point capacity also rises. This means Protodisk farming naturally becomes more flexible later in the game, but early on, you must plan sessions carefully. Claiming rewards only from Promotion Protocol Spaces ensures every point spent contributes directly to Operator growth.
Using AIC trading as a supplemental source
The Acquisition Center provides an alternative way to obtain Protodisks through AIC Trading. Protodisks here are available in unlimited quantities, but they require premium AIC Quota currency. While convenient, this method is best treated as a backup option rather than a primary farming route.
Using AIC Trading makes sense when you are just a few Protodisks short of a promotion and do not want to wait for point regeneration. Relying on it exclusively, however, will drain resources better spent elsewhere.
Exploration and missions as passive Protodisk income
Outside of structured farming, Protodisks occasionally appear as rewards from story missions, side quests, and exploration chests across Talos-II. These sources are inconsistent and cannot be repeated, but they add up over time.
Exploration rewards are best viewed as passive income. Opening every chest and completing optional objectives ensures you never leave free materials behind, even if they cannot sustain promotions on their own.
Protodisk farming in Arknights Endfield
| Source | Reliability | Efficiency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol Space Promotions | Very high | Best | Primary farming method |
| AIC Trading | High | Low | Emergency top-ups only |
| Missions & exploration | Low | Passive | One-time rewards |
Protodisks are a long-term progression bottleneck in Arknights: Endfield, but they are also one of the most straightforward materials to farm once you understand the systems behind them. Protocol Space Promotions should form the backbone of your strategy, with tier selection based on consistency rather than raw difficulty. Supplement this with smart point management, occasional AIC purchases, and thorough exploration, and you will rarely find yourself blocked by promotion requirements.
Thanks for taking the time to go through this where to farm Protodisks guide for Arknights Endfield. If it helped you understand things better, do share your thoughts, impressions, or doubts in the comments section. We keep a close watch and try to respond promptly to ensure you always get the support you need.
