SAR-21

Overview

SAR-21 shares a Skill with AUG that allows her to exceed the usual ROF cap at the expense of switching targets with every shot. Unfortunately for SAR, her stats leave much to be desired as they fall behind in Damage and Accuracy. While SAR does boast excellent ROF outside of her Skill’s active window, this does little to mitigate the rest of her issues. SAR’s tile buffs provide her some utility in formations looking to utilize Damage self-buff SMGs, but such formations are limited and SAR’s lower than average damage output offsets any additional DPS her tile buff may confer to SMGs. 

Strengths

Good Tile Buffs

Providing both Accuracy and Damage to all three tiles in front of her, SAR can be used in any echelon focusing on a damage dealing SMGs such as SR-3MP thanks to the ability to provide her tile buff from either position 4 or 7.  

Weaknesses

Poor Stats

Outside of her ROF, SAR sits at the bottom end of ARs due to the inability to improve either her Damage or Accuracy on her own.

Full Analysis

SAR-21 joins AUG in having the unique ability to break the game’s Rate of Fire cap and sweeping the entire enemy echelon with fire. Unlike AUG, however, SAR’s tile buffs apply strictly to SMGs, and her stats are also straight up worse than her counterpart. Sitting at 44 base damage, SAR’s place is cemented in the bottom half of ARs in terms of base damage output, alongside her 46 accuracy. With upcoming content featuring enemies with increasing Armor and Evasion values, SAR’s struggle to deal damage will only increase. While a base RoF of 80 is fantastic, it does not synergize with SAR’s Skill which fixes her effective Rate of Fire at 150. 

SAR’s supporting capability is quite good as she can occupy both the 4 and 7 positions and still provide buffs to Offtanks. In this regard, SAR is an excellent choice for echelons looking to utilize Damage self-buff SMGs such as SR-3MP; since SAR provides a hefty boost of 55% Accuracy and 20% Damage which is appreciated by both self-buff and grenade-based offtanks.

SAR’s Skill, Great Meteor Storm, functions identically to AUG’s Rain of Burial, although with one less second duration. The bump to 150 RoF means that SAR fires once every 10 frames, or three times per second, nearly doubling her base damage output. The downside, however, is that she enters Sweep mode which causes her to switch targets every shot. The forced target change means that when a single shot from SAR does not kill an enemy dummy link, they are left alive potentially forcing her tanks to take unnecessary damage. This problem is more pronounced at lower skill levels, as the accuracy penalty cuts further into SAR’s ability to do damage. 

Overall, while SAR could serve as a possible replacement for Commanders lacking AUG, her inability to provide good DPS means SAR doesn’t make for a very good one.

Team Options

SAA

Vector

PPS-43

ST AR-15 (Star)

Gr G41 (Homete)

FF FNC

Grizzly

Z-62

Gr G11

SR-3MP

Zas M21

Damage-oriented SMGs

SAR’s tiles provide an excellent buff for SR-3MP, Vector, and other Offtank SMGs while being able to occupy both the 4 and 7 positions, leaving the option of additional buffs from other Dolls open. 

Damage-Buffing SMGs and HGs

As SAR-21’s skill fixes her Rate of Fire to 150, she does not benefit significantly from RoF buffs. SAR-21’s damage output can instead be improved through Damage buffs from T-Dolls such as Grizzly, SAA, or Damage-buffing tiles from SMGs such as Z-62 or PPS-43.

High DPS ARs

AR’s with a high damage output, such as ST AR-15, G11, G41, or FNC, can help finish off enemies that SAR was unable to KO due to her sweeping fire, boosting the survivability of the frontline as a result. 

Zas M21

The unique effects of Howl of the Nightingale make Zas M21 the perfect partner for sweeping-fire ARs like AUG and SAR-21. This is due to the initial AoE Damage from the grenade eliminating a large number of links and the lingering debuff making it easier for the sweeping fire to take out any stragglers.

Recommended Formations