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SWAP Guard (Protocol Assimilation)

Article by Soulmuse

Stats

Non-Ringleader stats are determined by Rarity and Growth Factor. The stat range from XS to XL will be shown below. 

Level 100 5★ XS -> Level 100 5★ XL

HP 1287→1373 Evasion 124→131
Damage 111→120 Rate of Fire 81→86
Accuracy 129→138 Armor 0→0
Critical Rate 20% Critical Damage 150%
Armor Pen 50 Move Speed 16

Rank Up Cost

Level Petri Dish Rarity
30 100 ★★★
70 150 ★★★★
90 300 ★★★★★

Tags:

Skills

Adaptive Coating
ICD: 5 Seconds
Provide all friendly Dolls with an HP shield equal to 4% of own HP lasting 10 seconds. If the Doll already has an HP Shield, increase Damage by 10% for 5 seconds. If the Doll does not have an HP shield, boost Evasion by 50% for 5 seconds. (Cooldown: 8 Seconds)
Anti-Ballistic Coating
ICD: 3 Seconds
Reduce Damage Taken by 20% for 5 seconds. When this buff expires or is removed, dealing 1.2x Damage to all enemies in front of self. (Cooldown: 6 Seconds)

Analysis

In every way, the SWAP Guard improves over its regular brethren, in both Stats and Skills. They even come with a whole entire 50 AP, how exciting. Long term, SWAP Guards are still hamstrung by the same issues of being a Melee unit, and not being a Manticore.

SWAP Guards start strong, with Adaptive Coating giving a shield with a long uptime, and additional effects depending on if a Unit already has a shield or not to all T-Doll type units. Shielded units gain a Shield refresh and a small Damage buff, while unshielded units are given an Evasion buff on top of a Shield. The Damage boost is small, but given the higher base Damage of Coalition units will still be felt, with the serious caveat that it takes two Skill activations to obtain. While fights are getting longer, most battles should still be completed in less than fifteen seconds, meaning that this Damage buff is unlikely to weigh heavily in most fights. The Evasion boost is more noticeable, although Evasion tanking has still fallen off in usefulness due to rising enemy Accuracy.

Anti-Ballistic Coating is a flat Damage reduction on a short cooldown with a spike of Damage Dealt when the buff expires. This goes some distance towards mitigating the lack of Armor, having near-perfect uptime at Skill Level 5. The Damage component is unlikely to factor into battles, between the long windup, and positioning requirements. While only reducing Damage by a percentage is not going to replace the Flat reduction of Armor it does slightly boost the survivability of SWAP Guards.

All in all, SWAP Guards struggle to outshine their competition. Manticores will do more Damage, have better utility effects, and will be more durable. Aegis (and upcoming SWAP Aegis) are going to be more durable, while still being constrained to Melee range. Keeping one around for the odd scenarios when the team-wide shields are useful is recommended, but unless the RNG has been unkind, other frontline units should be used before SWAP Guards.

Skill Priority

Adaptive Coating
ICD: 5 Seconds
Medium-Low Priority Leveling this to Skill Level 3 to improve Shield HP and shave a second off the Cooldown is not a bad idea if you intend to use a SWAP Guard frequently, but can be skipped if one has better options available.
Anti-Ballistic Coating
ICD: 3 Seconds
Low Priority The boost is small, and the biggest return is uptime. Unless you are using a SWAP Guard often this isn’t going to matter much, and data can be saved.

Peak Value Analysis

Dummy Link Effect
1 Extra Link
2 Extra LInk
3 Extra Link
4 Extra LInk
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About the Author(s)

aka Soulmuse basically everywhere. Discord: soulmuse#8741.

Guide writer for Girls Frontline. KSG and G3 Propagandist. Writes the occasional fanfic.  

Feel free to send guide suggestions and feedback via DM on Discord or Reddit. You can also find me in the GFL section of the community discord. Also on twitter