M6 ASW

Overview

M6 ASW is an SG that dips between the roles of DPS and tank. She unloads her entire clip on the first shot, then switches to an RF mode complete with AP and backline targeting. This early DPS is generally favored by first-volley MGSGs. After her RF mode is over and M6 reactivates her SG mode, she gives herself increased survivability with an HP shield. In terms of application, M6 ASW is useful against certain enemies that need to be bursted down or just when a little extra damage is needed. Her ability to tank is above average, improving after 7 seconds, but she still falls into the niche and hardly used category of DPS SG.

Strengths

High Accuracy

15 Accuracy is slightly higher than average for an SG, which will help in knocking back enemies in SG mode or DPS in RF mode.

Good Tile Buffs

While the tile shape is slightly awkward, M6 ASW’s tile buffs are very strong and useful for MGs.

Unique DPS Skill

When her passive is up, M6 ASW turns into a DPS unit, an RF, while also tanking.

Taunt Effect

Can draw enemy fire when skill is activated, redirecting enemies that might target the backline DPS

Weaknesses

Slow Survivability Skill

At a 5 second initial cooldown and 2 second reload time, M6 ASW’s HP shield comes rather late compared to other more common HP shielders.

Reduces Own Ability to Tank

M6 ASW debuffs her own evasion in RF mode, which means she’ll take ever so slightly more damage over time from enemies than usual. Not much more. She also loses the ability to knockback enemies to relieve pressure.

Full Analysis

M6 ASW is another gun-type switching doll, similar to RPK-16 who specializes in early burst damage.

The first portion of her passive makes it so ASW dumps her entire first clip on the first shot. This only happens with her first clip, and any subsequent reloaded clips will be fired individually.

The second part of ASW’s passive sets her into RF mode whenever she runs out of ammo instead of reloading. During this period she:

• Can attack despite not having any bullets left in her clip
• Removes her taunt effect
• Loses the ability to knock enemies back
• Changes from attacking 3 to attacking 1 enemy
• Changes from frontmost to furthest on the x-axis targeting
• Ignores slug ammo bonuses
• Raises her rate of fire cap to 120 instead of 60
• Doubles her firepower and rate of fire
• Triples her accuracy
• Lowers her own evasion by 10%
• Gains 100 AP

In terms of tilebuffs and skills, ASW still counts as a SG, but many of her stats and behaviors are slightly similar to an RF. She still can armor tank, and has her healthpool, which is useful since SGs usually are situated in the front.

The active part of ASW’s skill sets her back into SG mode. It gives herself a taunt effect, reverts all changes listed for RF mode, then reloads her clip for 2 seconds, and finally makes a 5 second 75 HP shield.

So what does M6 ASW’s RF mode do to her?

The reduced evasion on her skill would only take her down by 2 points of evasion at worst, making a very small difference.

Using ASW’s base stats and assuming she uses buckshot (since slug ammo is cancelled out by the switch), after the buffs and equipment, she has 108 FP, 45 Acc, 56 RoF, 115 AP, 172% crit dmg. The accuracy is insanely low compared to an RF’s base stats, the firepower is slightly on the lower end of RFs, but the rate of fire is a lot higher than what RFs reach. Some enemies have more armor than ASW’s 115 AP can handle. On top of this, she has no extra self-buff to match the RFs after they use their skills.

ASW’s accuracy issue depends largely on what equipment she runs. Her accuracy can be as good or far better than RFs if she runs an ITI or PEQ depending on the time of day. VFLs would be better for low to 0 evasion enemies.

During RF mode, since M6 ASW no longer knocks back enemies, and no longer targets the front, pressure can increase and she could take more damage than an average SG. This can also be a non-issue if M6 ASW ends up sniping what is shooting her in the first place.

When using M6 ASW’s SG mode, M6 ASW essentially switches back to tanking. The taunt effect can distract enemies like coeus from attacking the backline. The HP shield is far slower than most other HP shielding SGs, taking 7 seconds to appear, but it is massive at 75HP. However, 7 seconds is pretty long in most MGSG fights.

M6 ASW is focused on dealing out high amounts of early burst DPS. Using up her entire clip on the first shot and then switching to RF mode means M6 ASW can likely deal more damage than other DPS SGs within 5 seconds. On top of this, if the enemy is still alive after the burst, M6 ASW also has her taunt and HP shield to help her perform better than an average SG at tanking.

Unfortunately, DPS SGs are not very highly demanded. While M6 ASW has good potential to outperform other DPS SGs in the role, it simply is not a widely demanded niche. As for her survivability, other defensive SGs have faster HP shield skills and tanking stats than M6 ASW.

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