Introduction
Inori (M82A1)
So M82A1, or Inori for the intimate, the RF that prob would be one of the best if Grape wasn't so utterly unbalanced. How does she fare inPL?
M82A1, also known as Inori because of the shared artist, is another unique charged shot RF. The first interesting note is her limited number of skillshots per fight. However, with 3 separate shots, this is a non-issue, because the fights should not last significantly longer than 22 seconds to begin with. The next curiosity is the fact that her skillshot’s damage increases for every victory à la Combo Fairy, up to 3 stacks. With the sheer number of easy fights that the campers need to take, it is trivial to let her reach maximum stacks. What’s great about her is that even without the stacks, she is already quite a serviceable charged shot RF for the KCCO campers for similar reasons to the other charged shot RFs. All together, this makes her suitable for a KCCO camper pick.
Naruhodo. So off to KCCO she goes to yeet the military into oblivion. Remember, she's Inori, but she is also not Inori, so you can oath her without feeling guilt of NTR.
Also remember, if Grape didn't exist, our dear Inori would be one of the top picks for RFs.
Sad Soul noises
M82A1 is another unique charged shot RF as she has 3 skillshots per fight, with the last one coming out at the 22 seconds mark. She also has a buff similar to Combo Fairy for every battle her echelon wins, up to 3 stacks. As the campers face many easy fights, reaching the max stack is a trivial task. As she is a serviceable RF for having a charged shot with no aim time, or charge stacking, on top of good stats, she goes to KCCO camper. Note that she doesn't reset targets when using her skill, so, with bad targeting management, Commanders may end up using her skill on a half dead target.
IWS2000
Next is IWS, a part of (in my opinion) one of the most interesting relationships in GFL.
IWS 2000 is a deceptively simple self-buffer RF. Upon skill activation, she increases her FP by a massive 180% at the cost of a 35% RoF penalty, for a net 82% increase in DPS. This massive self-buff has led to many memes, especially the infamous IWSxodia (4 HGs + IWS) that does not work in practice for most enemies. Note that the major FP increase also brings a very important problem into mind: she has a tendency to overkill generic mobs like crazy, meaning that she wastes most of the damage of each shot against typical fights. However, if the enemy happens to have enough HP to soak up most or even all of each of her "nuke" shots (as in some of the later KCCO fights), she does, in fact, enjoy a very large DPS increase. Overall, this gives her a spot on one of the KCCO campers.
So back in the day IWSxodia was an actual thing for 10-4e?
Aight. Remember, the auto skill button isnt that scary. Using it can save you a lot of headache.
And with this we're done with the RFs. RFHG teambuilding will come in the next HG section.
Reminder: Description of the RF Role during Polarized Light
RFs are the backbone of most of the echelons fielded in PL. The map is dominated by armored KCCO enemies, making RFs the natural choice of DPS with their ability to equip AP ammo to counter armor, and their naturally high sustained DPS (as opposed to MGs’ high burst damage but poor sustained DPS) to handle the longer KCCO fights. They are usually paired with HGs for their buffing abilities and the RFHG synergy, enabling the echelons to take on most fights with relatively light damage. Some players may also opt to replace one buffer with a force shielder SMG to assist in tanking the fights with Orthrus (AKA Doggos), which RFs struggle with killing in a timely manner due to their low base RoF.
In particular, RFHG and RFHGSMG echelons are nigh mandatory for the KCCO camper echelons. They are also typically used for the Deathstack Support and Paradeus echelons as well, because the few fights that these teams do take on tend to be easier with RFs than ARs as DPS.
Description of the HG Role during Polarized Light
Do I really have to explain what the role of a handgun is? How many brain cells do you have? Two? Stop being EN.
Jokes aside, handguns are pretty much your main allies in this ranking, since you’re going to use a lot of rifles, buffs and debuffs are going to be important and their disposal will be even more important.
Five-SeveN - Battlefield’s Frenesy
First is Desti's personal [REDACTED] 5-7
Is she as useful as she is hot?
I don't know how Crally came to the conclusion that Five-seveN is a "non-meta doll."
At all.
Probably let the horni take over all his rational side.
She is a premiere HG that buffs both RoF and crit rate, and especially the latter to the high heavens. When paired with Px4 Storm, the two HGs give a far larger DPS boost than is fair. In fact, she's good enough that there's potential to put her on one of the deathstack teams. Some of you may have heard of the PPBB team, which for PL ranking, typically consists of Hanyang mod, KSVK mod, Calico mod, Webley, and P22/StechkinMod/Grizzly. One potential alternative is swapping out two of the HGs for Five-seveN and Px4 Storm, which is still entirely usable for some of the deathstack fights.
More like Crally activated "omega hornt mode" (I suspect Desti had a hand in this) and let the hornt choose his HG pick.
One of the esports finalist used this sort of PPBB.
That said, 5-7 has been a staple of "farm as many as you can" for a long time. Does that still hold true?
With the introduction of Stechkin mod, we now actually have another position 4 RoF buffer that does the job even better than Five-seveN herself does, even in a Px4 team. Furthermore, given that Stechkin is more readily available, and she only needs to be brought to Mod 1 for the vast majority of her performance, it is actually advised to dupe more copies of Stechkin mod (although two copies of Five-seveN doesn't hurt).
So to the person who has 14 oathed 5-7 (looking at you Faye) the new meta is 14 P22 Stechkin.
Is it true that 5-7 is replaceable by PPK
If you're only looking for crit rate buffing, then PPK can do the trick, but she gives far more crit rate than is ever needed unless you're able to run Jill's Bleeding Jane. As a 2*, her tiles are also significantly weaker, and the FP buff on her skill is pitiful. Overall, she's a budget option, yes, but not a long-term replacement.
Naruhodo. And outside of PPBB 5-7 works on any KCCO RFHG
Correct. She's excellent, anywhere, anytime. Don't listen to Varz. Stechkin mod might be cute, and her wedding dress cuter, but 5-7 is the wife you'll have for life.
Guess we're throwing her to face the might of Yegor simps.
After that, it'll be time to ping Desti to raise back 5-7's affection after dealing with so many nasty deathstacks. She'll be in sore need of [REDACTED].
To the one (Crally) that actually thought suggesting Five-SeveN would be suggesting a non-meta doll, I applaud your HORNT. But I think some explanations are needed for everyone to understand why suggesting Five-SeveN was a mistake from this guy in detail.
For that, we’re first going to talk about the alternative to KordBoat EN dalaos and theorycrafters created, the formation called Pew Pew Bang Bang (or PPBB, for short). That team can take down deathstacks and can even, with the original and optimized setup, kill the ID01/02/06 deathstacks with brute force.
“But what does this have to do with FenFen?” Come on, let me explain.
The original setup of PPBB is P22/Grizz/Stechmod, Webley, Calico Mod3, Hanyang Mod3 and KSVK Mod3. But another alternative was created that didn’t really stick, since it is around 10% weaker than the original version of the comp. That composition was able to take down non-typhons death stacks without any problem, and was able to deal with ID03 and ID04 with some casualties.
That comp was made of: Px4 Storm, Five-SeveN, Webley/Calico Mod3, Hanyang Mod3 and KSVK Mod3.
In the end, Crally thought he was suggesting a non-meta doll, a forgotten one, but suggested a hidden monster hiding behind a cute ferret mask.
Since she can also be fielded in a team fighting deathstacks, where every ounce of FP matters, it’s safe to say she can fit any sort of KCCO team.
5-7 is also used on the infamous paradrop team, with Grape, P22, MP5 and Wawa, as her ROF and Crit Rate buffs are very welcome. The original team had C93 there, due to her passive, but she was later overthrown by our favourite bunny.
MP-443 - Military’s Flower
Next we have mp443. Pink hair, smug look, nice voice. I can see why Kawa simps for her
So what does she actually do?
She debuffs enemy FP by 25% for 8 seconds, and her tiles buff FP by 20% and evasion by 20%. As a debuffer, this already puts her in a very bad spot, and her weak tiles and poor tile shape simply means that there's always a better option than her for KCCO campers.
However, there is one place where that FP debuffing actually comes in handy: for reducing enemy FP to a level where we can armour tank. More on this later, but for now, this means she goes on the Paradeus team.
So she a relic of a past time when HG debuffers had some use
At least she has her looks and personality for some.
Wait, that's all?! You two are so mean!!
Sorry Kawa, she's so out of meta, and basement doesn't warrant a big discussion, so there wasn't much to talk about her.
Look on the bright side, more people (including me) will know she exists!
Sad Kawa noises
While they play "pass the blame", let's wrap up her anal:
Here comes the 2nd weakest, if not the weakest, handgun we chose for this edition of Waifu Wars. MP-443 isn’t that bad if you’re just looking for a stat enhancement, but her tiles are too weak and too badly disposed to get her in a KCCO Camper team, not to mention her terribles stats. If it wasn’t enough, MP-443 is a debuffing Handgun, which means there’ll always be a better option than her in KCCO.
But why are we placing her in Paradeus instead of a non-fighting team such as the deathstack support team though? Well, it’s mainly because one of the girls we have to fit in this ranking is called KSG, and is also going to Paradeus. And there, if you are aware that Shotguns have Armor, you should have guessed what we planned here. Damage debuff on enemies, Armor stacking + Shield with LWMMG and KSG’s skill, Gunners won’t be a massive threat in front of that.
CZ52 - Religious Intelligence
Next is cz52. Cute monocle, very aristocratic vibe, totes would have tea with her on an autumn afternoon.
What does she do though?
She is a budget version of Grizzly, so to speak. As a 3* login doll, she is basically Grizzly but with weaker tiles and a weaker skill multiplier (20% FP and 20% evasion tiles, 20% FP buff). However, since her skill at least buffs ally FP, she gets put on a KCCO camper where her skill is at least useful.
It’s a bit like Grizzly’s case, but it’s also a bit different since she is slightly weaker. Well, in fact, slightly is a poor word to describe how much she falls behind Grizzly. But why is she in a KCCO Camper team while another similar doll got thrown into Paradeus (with almost the same tiles and tiles buffs)? Simple: The skill makes the difference between the monocled aristocrat and the smuggling flower. While MP-443 debuffs enemies, CZ52 reduces her weaknesses by buffing allies, which will always be appreciated by FP-hungry Rifles.
GSh-18 - Adam’s Nursery
Nothing much to say: GSh-18, when she isn’t modded, isn’t good enough to help a KCCO Camper, while when she is, she can. DPS handguns don’t have a good time in this event, and there was no guarantee that we would have goitten her mod before the official run. Her tiles do buff FP, but her skill just doesn't do her any favours.
Imagine reading.
From the in-game description: "Dual wields for 6 seconds to deal two hits of guaranteed critical damage per attack."
Nothing much to say: GSh-18, when she isn’t modded, isn’t good enough to help a KCCO Camper, while when she is, she can. DPS handguns don’t have a good time in this event, and since we didn’t get her mod, we placing her on Paradeus team.
Grizzly - Hell’s Bicycle
next is Grizz, owner of one of the most weird expressions I seen in a damaged art (I can never unsee that, thanks Faye :heh:). Also known as numba one option for ARSMG postion 4, but this time we're dropping her on RFHG team since her big damage doesnt help ARs this time.
This time, we're now questioning how Destination came up with the idea that Grizzly is a "non-meta doll." My bet is that, looking at Shilling, he was overcome by her wedding dress.
Although, to be fair, Grizzly has become a bit "forgotten" with all the other newer powerful FP buffers. However, do not underestimate her massive 30% FP tiles or her 25% FP skill buff, which is still top-of-the-line. Furthermore, the unconditional skill buff and the versatile tile shape means that for certain deathstack fights (which require unconventional tile formations), Grizzly is actually preferred over the infamous P22! Even outside of the deathstack teams, she is still very much so an amazing position 4 FP buffer, so she can go in either the deathstack teams or the KCCO campers.
I think Desti was just too horni for Grizz after her wedding skin came out :dogered:
So our grizzled veteran will still see many battles in the future, but for now, is her eva buff welcome to HGs on 5 in KCCO campers?
It's something, I suppose, but not a primary consideration.
Which other HG comes close to Grizz' buffing, besides P22?
Surprisingly, Mk23, even during the day, when considering both the tiles and the skill, outperforms the two in terms of raw FP.
And here I thought on skipping on fielding her for PL.
Webley in leader position also gives the same FP in her skill, but her FP from tiles is slightly less (although compensated by some much needed RoF buffs).
It's nice to see one of my first HGs to raise (and candidate to best girlfriend in GFL) is still relevant now a days. Congrats Faye, you get to say your waifu is very meta.
So, in the end, Grizz remains a strong option, although more suited to buff ARSMGs since her competitors take the position of an SMG tank. For now, off to KCCO team she goes. Whether deathstack or standard RFHG, is up to you Commanders.
And we have a second HORNT among us! This time, the HORNT is Destination! I wouldn’t throw a stone at him though, since Grizzly is a real “forgotten” or “underrated” doll.
It is pretty much for the same reason as Five-SeveN, but even worse. In fact, P22 is replaceable by a lot of other handguns (Mk23, Stechkin (with SPEQ), C93, Python, Deagle, etc…) in deathstack teams, you’ll just lose some micro due to the shield/EVA buff missing. That would make this PPBB’s composition Grizzly, Calico Mod3, Webley, Hanyang Mod3 and KSVK Mod3, and it only loses something like 10% performance compared to the original. The biggest downside, once again, is against ID05, since P22’s shield is really important for that specific fight.
And even outside of deathstacks, Grizzly isn’t shamed by many other dolls, with her tiles and skill perfectly suiting a KCCO camper, especially for FP-thirsty rifles like most of the RFs we chose, such as Kar98k, NTW and Mosin.
C-93 - Unholy Butterflies
Lastly we have my newly adopted dauteru, C93. A very cheeky, sweet girl, who buffs teams on paradebuff despite her skill saying it won't :heh:
Does that mean she is numba one pick for Paradrop (be nice)?
C93 was actually quite promising for the Paradrop teams! In spite of what her skill says, her passive actually does buff teams debuffed by the Parachute Fairy's infamous debuff. This also makes her active significantly stronger than it would be on any regular old team. In fact, many dalaos on foreign and EN actually used C93 for their Paradrop teams.
However, it is also important to note that her tiles can be very awkward to work with. Unlike typical position 4 buffers, C93's tiles force an RF to sit on position 4, which can actually cause problems for kiting some of the mid to late Paradrop fights, where to stall the enemy for as long as possible, after the typical kiting cycles, we kite once more by swapping the main tank with the position 4 HG. This becomes impossible with an RF sitting there instead.
More awkward and harder to time than to position 4.
The micro for these fights is already quite intensive, no need to make it even more so.
Another important note is that Parachute debuff actually includes the team's crit rate, which means that Five-seveN is actually another valuable option for the Paradrop team. This is intense competition, which's why C93 ended up being phased out in favour of 5-7.
It's okay, it just means it's less risky situations for my dauteru to face :heh:
So Paradrop it is.
With this we finished HGs and RFs. So how does our pairings look like?
If Grizzly is not going to PPBB, she should go on the same team as Kar98k because her multiplier is relatively weak. I'd pair Kar with NTW because the very different ICDs would be helpful to throw nukes at the enemies multiple times.
IWS with Springfield, since both of them appreciate the same type of buffs (namely, RoF).
And finally, I'd pair M82A1 with Mosin because they're leftover, very strong ones at that. I'd throw CZ52 with them because these two RFs appreciate FP buffs a bit more, but aren't overly in need for it.
Note that none of these groupings are anything close to strict, they are simply an opinion of what could be considered relatively close to optimal.
C-93 is a forgotten doll... except in PL, where she was used in both deathstack MGSG teams (because, remember, rate of fire buff increases MGSG reload speed and a damage buff is always good to take.) and can be used in… PPBB. Again. This time, the culprit isn’t Crally, but Arikira.
She can also go to KCCO campers, because, once again, her buffs are always good to take. But that isn’t what’s interesting to us right now. Let’s look at her passive, which grants buffs when you’re getting debuffed.
C-93’s skill : Pigeonwing Echoes
- [Passive]: Grants self +3 Pigeonwings upon the start of the battle. When an allied unit has received a stat-decreasing debuff, increase that ally's rate of fire by 8% for 4 seconds. This effect cannot stack with itself. This boost does not trigger other passive effects, and cannot take effect on the same unit within 3 seconds. When C-93 receives debuffs, activate passive effect for self and grant self +1 additional Pigeonwing, up to a maximum of 6 Pigeonwings can be stocked.
- [Active]: Increase all allies' damage by 18% for 8 seconds and consumes all currently stocked Pigeonwings. For each Pigeonwing consumed, increases an ally's rate of fire by 8%, stacking up to 2 times max. This skill prioritises unaffected allies with the highest current DPS and can stack with Passive skill effect. Once skill expires, grants self +3 Pigeonwings.
Now, let me make you use your brain for 5 seconds and ask you this: “What does Parachute Fairy do once you use her skill?” Exactly, she debuffs all your dolls on the field. And if you read C-93’s skill correctly, you understand what this means. Basically, C-93 in Paradrop will enhance your cleaning abilities.
G36 would be proud of you.
Description of the SG Role during Polarized Light
KSG - Cold War
Aight. Next we have Red's and Soul's beloveds: KSG and Saiga. Let's start with Red's beloved
Where will she suffer less? Remember Red is very possessive, and will hurt you if you put Saiga in danger.
Just kidding.
There are only two places where the SGs will survive more than two or three fights: Paradeus, and ELID. We've decided to place KSG in Paradeus, because the enemies there have relatively little FP, while KSG has the highest base armour of any SG in the game. Recall that we also put MP-443 here! This helps us out by reducing the amount of chip damage KSG will take. We also have another card up our sleeve which we'll get to later, but by going all-in on the defensive attributes of the team, we are able to somewhat mitigate the poor DPS our Paradeus team has. (Note that it is still far more optimal to just bring enough DPS so that the enemies rarely shoot, if ever.)
Red's beloved is Saiga but oh well.
So seems like KSG lucked out. Press F for Red.
Still need to kite Rodeos since they ignore armour though.
You were the one that put KSG in front of Saiga. I blame you because I actually read.
Yes, you need to kite Rodels.
I forgot you're not acquainted with who's whose waifus
And here comes the last piece of our Paradeus comp. The highest base armor shotgun, and an armor and evasion self buffer on top of that, the one and only KSG. At this point, there shouldn’t be any explanation of why she is there, but let’s recapitulate things for the less attentive people: the Paradeus team has pretty bad DPS RF, which is something we are trying to hide by using unconventional choices. We first brought MP-443, to give us damage reduction to reduce KSG’s chip damage to a minimum. We then brought another doll, LWMMG, that can give shields to KSG if she is on LWMMG’s unique tile, which is going to reduce the chip damage even more. All that set-up makes our poor DPS irrelevant. In fact, we could even say that KSG is the superstar of the Paradeus team. She is, just like Soulmuse, the final boss of our thoughts.
Saiga12 - Bullet sponge
Alpha Team.
Bravo Team is already being forced to make compromises on just about everything, while Alpha Team is currently lacking a main tank.
(Note that it is still far more optimal to just bring enough DPS so that the enemies rarely shoot, if ever.)
Because Bravo won't even be able to kill ELID properly if we take even more DPS away from it. Saiga's tiles don't do anything useful for the DPS of an ARSMG, while a good SMG main tank's would. Also, I'm sorry, but no.
(Hint: it cannot. At least, not without lots of HOC coverage, or playing in easy mode.)
Description of the MG Role during Polarized Light
LWMMG - Defensive shots
And to wrap up we end with my beloved, the one and only, LWMMG. And just to make your life and Sheele's harder, we are not looking at her where she is typically fielded, which is in Ares team.
Because of course we wouldn't. At least Adam had the good sense to remove her from the one place she made any sense, so that she isn't a meta doll. Interestingly, however, we have still managed to find a good spot to make use of her mod skill. Specifically, in the Paradeus team, where we have an SG tanking. LWMMG's skill provides HP shields to the ally sitting on her tile, which, when combined with armour, makes SGs nigh immortal. This means that KSG won't even be taking significant amounts of scratch damage.
Rodeos are still lasering her no?
So, first, let’s recap the advantages of LWMMG: Decent stats for a 2*, a strong skill against Paradeus, and shields for your tank when she is modded.
If you were attentive enough when we talked about MP-443, you would know exactly what we are trying to do here. A damage reduction on enemies, a shield, an armoured doll with an armor buff skill… It’s all coming together. Outside of that, there’s isn’t much to add about LWMMG when she is not on Ares.