FF M249SAW

Overview

As an exclusive drop from 5-6 or 5-4E, FF M249SAW may draw some attention from completionists or players who are simply curious as to whether it’s worth trying to obtain her or not. Unfortunately, M249 is among the worst of MGs as her low base Damage and the long Initial Cooldown on her Skill leave her with low overall DPS -- especially in short battles when compared to passive Skill MGs such as M2HB or PK.

Strengths

Oddly High Accuracy and RoF

M249SAW is tied for highest Accuracy among MGs with Negev, and tied for highest RoF with both Negev and MG4, which makes M249 ever so slightly more effective against high-Evasion enemies. Unfortunately, SAW’s low base Damage and awkward Skill more or less renders her exceptional Accuracy useless in most cases.

Weaknesses

Very Low Base Damage

M249 is tied for the lowest base Damage among MGs, which means that her overall DPS is generally much lower than that of other MGs if her Skill does not activate.

Awkward Night-Focused Skill

M249’s skill provides its maximum Damage bonus during Night battles. Unfortunately, MGs are relatively ineffective in Night battles due to their low accuracy and inability to equip PEQ, which means that M249 simply falls behind other MGs in terms of DPS even in the rare cases where battles go long enough for her Skill to activate.

Weak Formation Buff

Although her buff tiles do not have terrible placement, M249 only provides RoF and Accuracy buffs to affected SGs -- both of which are not terribly important stats for SGs.

Full Analysis

M249 has very polarizing stats, being tied for the lowest Damage but also the highest RoF and Accuracy among MGs. Although her low Damage can be made up for somewhat with proper Formation buffs or HG Skills, M249 will still generally have lower overall DPS output than other MGs.

M249’s Skill, Lock and Load N, provides her with a 45% Damage increase (10% during Day battles) and increases her current clip size by 4 at max level. This Skill would potentially be powerful during extended battles, but the long Initial Cooldown of 8 seconds generally means it will not activate in the short one-volley battles that high level MG Echelons tend to have. Additionally, M249’s low base accuracy combined with her inability to equip PEQ sights means that she will not be landing hits very often if at all during Night battles, which further renders her skill ineffective.

M249’s Formation buff is also not particularly impressive. Although the tile placement is not terrible, it only provides Accuracy and RoF boosts to the affected SGs. Since both ACC and RoF are relatively unimportant stats for SGs, players should prioritize positioning MGs with Armor or Damage buffs over M249 so that the SG(s) in the Echelon can get optimal buffs.

Overall, M249 should generally not be used unless there is some extreme waifuism going on, as better budget MG options are readily available in the forms of M2HB and LWMMG. Her low Damage and underwhelming Formation buff leave her unable to keep up with other MGs in terms of both DPS and utility -- even in Night battles -- given her Skill’s long Initial Cooldown and the low base Accuracy that plagues all MGs.

Team Options

M1895 (Nagant Revolver)

Grizzly

M37

Am KSG

HGs Or SGs With DMG Boosts

DMG buffs from HGs such as M1895 and Grizzly or SGs such as KSG and M37 benefit M249 by increasing her total damage output.

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