G17

Overview

G17 rarely sees meta use thanks to her mediocre kit.

The first and main problem of G17 are the buffs her tiles provide and her buff tile formation. Evidently, G17 was designed to be a sort of hybrid defensive HG, buffing both the tanks and the damage dealers while providing a solid utility Skill. Her tile formation, however, does not buff adjacent tiles besides directly forward, making it hard for her to give her buffs to both the damage dealers and the tanks. The buffs themselves aren’t phenomenal either, buffing Accuracy and Evasion; and while both of these buffs have decent utility in small amounts, it’s very difficult to utilize them in bulk.

G17 sees some salvation in her Skill, but not much. While her unique Damage debuff Skill is certainly good, it’s not good enough to make up for her less than ideal tiles. At best, it only guarantees her niche usage.

Strengths

Unique Skill

G17 is one of the very few units with a Damage debuff skill, which at least guarantees her some sort of niche usage.

Weaknesses

Awkward Tile Formation

G17’s tile formation is basically an X formation with an additional buff tile directly in front of her, making her awkward to place in many Echelons.

Mediocre Tile Buffs

G17 buffs a large amount of both Accuracy and Evasion -- and while these buffs aren’t terrible by themselves, no doll needs them in bulk.

Full Analysis

G17 is an extremely niche doll, just barely seeing some use thanks to her Skill.

The main drawback of G17’s kit is her tiles, which make or break an HG. Outside HGRF Echelons, most battles involving any Echelon will end too quickly for HGs to make full use of their Skills, making tile buffs more important in comparison. G17, however, has extremely mediocre tiles.

The first problem with G17’s tiles is the tile buff itself. The two stats G17 buffs are Accuracy and Evasion, and although these buffs by themselves aren’t bad, neither of these buffs are needed in bulk in the manner that G17 provides them. Accuracy buffs have very diminishing returns for most damage dealers, while Evasion buffs, only help tanks. There also exists the problem that G17 provides neither of the main offensive buffs (Damage and RoF), which reduces her appeal drastically.

Another problem with G17’s tiles is her tile formation. As stated in the previous paragraph, G17 provides both Accuracy and Evasion buffs, which makes her role seem like a type of hybrid buffer, providing buffs to both the tanks and the damage dealer. Looking at her tile formation, however, achieving this goal is nearly impossible in a typical Echelon. G17 buffs all four diagonal tiles along with a tile directly to the front of her -- this forces her to be either used to buff the front row only, which makes her Accuracy buffs almost pointless, or used in the front row to buff the damage dealers, which makes her Evasion buffs useless. Even in SGMG echelons, where she can buff both the damage dealers and the tank, her Evasion buff is wasted, as SGs have inherently low Evasion and do not dodge tank.

The main reason behind using G17 -- when she is used -- is her Skill, which debuffs enemy Damage by 25%. This skill is very unique, and her main competitor with it is, M1895, who is a 2 star and although G17 has a stronger skill due to her being a 3 star, as M1895 has a much better tile buff, she is usually preferred when this Skill needs to be used. Nearly all occasions where Damage down Skills are needed will require as sizeable of a debuff that is possible, though, so G17 does see some use despite being outclassed. The type of Echelon G17’s Skill will see use in is SGMG Echelons facing enemies with high HP and Damage in elongated fights, which is the perfect condition for G17 to shine in. This type of fights are first seen in the Deep Dive story event, more precisely in the EX ranking map, so her niche does not see any practical use just yet.

All in all, G17 is a mediocre unit all around, with only a few situations where she’s useful. There are better HGs that will offer greater utility than her, which therefore makes her difficult to justify investing in.

Team Options

PK

Gr MG5

Negev

M37

Am KSG

PKP

MGs

As most MGs appreciate Accuracy buffs, G17 can be used with almost every MG. Several things must be kept in mind when using G17, however. First of all, some MGs, such as M1919A4 and LWMMG, are self-sufficient, and don’t need any more Accuracy buffs. Another factor to consider is that when using G17 for her Skill, its purpose is to increase the defenses of the SG as much as possible, making MGs that can buff Armor more valuable. A final thing to keep in mind is that G17 will often only be used in long battles, making Negev a strong contender to be used. Other MGs that also work well are MG5, PKP, and PK.

SGs With Damage Buffs

No MG really needs another Accuracy buff after G17’s, so any SGs with Damage buffs work. Some good SGs are M37 and KSG.

Recommended Formations