M1014

Overview

M1014 is a 4-star SG T-Doll with a unique skill, Stress Allusion, which boosts both her Damage and Armor in exchange for a longer initial cooldown and lower stats on both buffs compared to other SGs who focus on one specialization.

Although M1014 has an above average HP pool and passable Armor stat, she is not the most effective as a main tank SG due to her awkward tile placement, requiring positioning her at a corner tile to effectively buff MG T-Dolls in her echelon. She is therefore most suited for use in a 2SG 1HG 2MG echelon, with a different main tank SG T-Doll standing in the middle lane to prevent enemies from walking past the frontline.

M1014’s skill is a “jack of all trades” that boosts both her offense and defense, although the associated tradeoff of a lower multiplier may limit its efficacy in situations that require substantially higher increases to Armor than the 30% offered by Stress Allusion. M1014’s strong tile buff and her innate ability to tank as a SG means she can nevertheless still find a place on any MGSG echelon the commander may wish to field, so long as it’s against enemies where her shortcomings do not present a significant drawback.

Strengths

Good Tile Buff and Coverage

• M1014 has good tile buffs that provides 20% Damage to MG T-Dolls, affecting tiles 1 and 7 from tile 3, making her suitable for 2 MG, 1 HG, 2 SG formations.

Weaknesses

Low base armor

• M1014 reaches a maximum base Armor value of 21 at max level, which is relatively low for SGs but still generally acceptable. 

Long Skill Initial Cooldown

• The initial cooldown of Stress Allusion is very long at 10 seconds, which will typically not activate in fights involving MGs as they tend to end within a few seconds. 

Low Skill Effectiveness Due to Split Effects

• M1014’s skill provides a boost of 50% Damage and 30% Armor, which is much less effective at boosting armor than comparable armor boosting skills. 

• Additionally, the damage-enhancement aspect of M1014’s skill confers a relatively ineffective boost to her offensive performance compared to other SG T-Dolls with offense-oriented skills, both due to its very low Damage multiplier and its lack of any additional effects that supplement the knockback action of SGs, such an increase to Rate of Fire, Ammo count, or targets hit.

Full Analysis

With an above average HP stat of 1375 and an okay Armor stat of 21, M1014’s statline is fairly standard for her rarity. Her tile buff and tile placement are also not ideal for commanders who wish to use her as the sole main tank of a MGSG echelon.

While M1014’s tile buffs can theoretically provide a much-appreciated boost of 20% Damage for two MGs positioned on tiles 1 and 7, M1014 must stand on tile 3 for that to occur. Placing a SG T-Doll at tile 3 poses a problem: when facing tough competition, a second SG must be placed at tile 6 to prevent enemies in the top lane from running past M1014 and dealing damage to the fragile backline MGs, which results in a 2SG echelon composition.

A 2 SG setup is frequently used for added survivability in long fights, such as the battle against Chapter 9’s Sangvis Ringleader, Judge. 2SG setups will eventually become slightly more useful in future story chapters and events where hard-hitting enemies may spawn in point-blank range, leaving no room for ARSMG or RFHG echelons to kite.

For most content, however, a single SG positioned at tile 6 provides sufficient damage absorption for the echelon to function, on top of being more cost efficient than an echelon that must resupply two SG T-Dolls. When using M1014 as a main tank, the lack of a shield like S.A.T.8 or a stronger Armor buff like KSG limits her survivability compared to the dedicated defensive SGs. Additionally, her tile buff would only cover the MG T-Doll positioned directly behind her, and depending on echelon formation there may not even be a MG located there, such as teams with a 2 MG/2 HG set up in a sideways T-formation.

M1014’s unique skill is not shared by other SG T-Dolls, but it comes with an initial cooldown timer of 10 seconds, which would not typically activate in the short battles that MGSG echelons tend to be most effective in.

Stress Allusion is a hybrid of two non-synergistic buffs, providing increases of 50% Damage and 30% Armor for 8 seconds to herself. The damage output of SG T-Dolls is typically much lower than the MGs in the same echelon, and even if the battle drags on long enough for the skill to activate, an additional 50% increase to an already-small number will generally not be a game changer. Furthermore, SGs with pure Damage increases, such as SPAS-12 and Type97S, gain an additional effect that increases the number of enemies hit from 3 to 5 and boast a much more impressive multiplier of 120%. In comparison, the Damage boost provided by Stress Allusion is insubstantial.

The other aspect of M1014’s skill, a 30% Armor buff to 21 base Armor (32 with maxed 5* equipment), has an initial cooldown on par with the skills of Am KSG and M590, but with a much lower armor multiplier than the aforementioned T-Dolls possess (at 60% and 70%, respectively). A 30% Armor increase may still be effective against specific enemies where it is sufficient to reduce their damage to 1, provided that the fight lasts long enough for Stress Allusion to activate. As this set of criteria is rather narrow, the encounters in which M1014 performs optimally are thus limited in number.

While M1014 does not excel in any particular niche, her high HP pool and innate tankiness as a SG means she can still be expected to do her job adequately in most situations, whether as the main tank at position 6, or as an offtank at position 3 for commanders who wish or need to run a formation containing two SGs.

Team Options

SAA

M1895 (Nagant Revolver)

M1918 (BAR)

M2HB

M1919A4

LWMMG

PK

Gr Mk23

Gr MG5

Mk48

Spitfire

PKP

Contender

K5

Jill Stingray

MGs

All MGs appreciate the damage tile buffs, and the commander is free to use any MG they desire. The Big 4 (PKP, PK, MG5, and M2HB) and MGs with the Hunting Impulse active skill (LWMMG, M1919A4, and Mk48) are generally strong picks for commanders looking to burst enemies down ASAP, while MGs that buff their second volley of attacks like M1918 can work well for fights that last long enough for both M1014’s and their skills to activate.

HGs with Damage Buffs.

More damage is almost always the right answer when it comes to MGSG echelons. By using HGs with strong Damage tile buffs, the odds of clearing all enemies on the first volley can increase substantially with supports like Contender, Spitfire, K5, Jill, Mk23, M1895, SAA, or anyone else capable of providing a strong Damage tile buff to MGs in the echelon.

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