Gundam Battle Gunpla Warfare: MARSFOUR GUNDAM and Gundam GP03 - Should You Pull?

Pilots!

Today we've got another addition of Should You Pull, brought to you by MNBrian on our discord server. Check out my assessment of this week's banner below!

 

 

This week, we've got two aesthetically pleasing suits of armor to check out with some pretty incredible looking weapons -- but do the sleek looks of these two mobile suits live up to the hype? Let's check it out!!

Let’s set up some ground rules so you know exactly what to expect and how you should be treating this!

This is entirely my opinion, but I will do my best to justify my opinion and explain to you why I feel a certain way. If at all possible, I’ll use real numbers as well and present an objective outlook before my opinion.

Do not pull on the banner hoping for a single Part. It’s 0.2% for a single Part, which is 50x 10-pulls or 500 pulls. In terms of real money, that’s 5,400 USD. 

SS is considered meta defining, S is meta, A is great, B is average, C is below average, D is considered well below average, and F is awful. Parts are compared to all other Parts as a whole and on how well they synergize with other Parts. This means a 4* and a 3* would be compared to everything as low as a 1* to as high as other 4*s.

There are some notations which aren’t immediately obvious:

An EX Skill with D/B at 21/6 CD means it has a D in Piercing, B in Power, a 21 second cooldown, and it’s available for use 6 seconds after the match starts.

All stats, letters, and numbers are at Max Value.

With all of that out of the way, let’s get right into the new banner and what we’re looking at this week!

This week is a normal banner, which means it will be going to Standard Gunpla Parts Capsule 2 when the week is up.

Banner Grade: B

Summary: This banner has a 2% chance of drawing something above average, and a 0.4% chance of drawing something of great value or higher.

On a banner with 2 S-tier parts, 3 A-tier parts, and 5 B-tier parts, you'd think the advice would be to PULL PULL PULL. But we've seen better banners. This one is about as average as average comes. If you've pulled on the Sokai events, you might not see anything you like here. It's really going to be up to you to decide, but my recommendation would be to wait for a better banner if you're hoarding haro. Especially because the bonuses this week are parts that you've had opportunities to pull (like the 4s Gundam pieces that were here since launch - so maximum opportunities that you might have pulled one or two).

I would skip.

Prime Pool percentages are in parenthesis

Head: C

I really wanted to give this head a D because of how uninspiring it is on all fronts. It has the same ex skill that every Gundam head has, with Head-Mounted Vulcan - has really balanced (see: bad) stats across the board -- just based on stats alone you could've convinced me this thing was a 3 star part. Its only saving grace really is the solid word tag set in Close Combat and Gundam Type. Otherwise I'd have given it a straight up D+. Overall, it might be good for a balanced Out Fighter build, but really struggles to excel at anything.

Chest: B-

This chest isn't much to write home about either in the stats department (seeing a trend here?). But at least it has the same set of good word tags in Close Combat and Gundam Type and at least it has a decently powerful Part Trait. With a Power build, this chest will reduce your cooldown (after maxed out with duplicate parts) by 20% which is significant. Still, not significant enough to really go for broke. Plenty of other chest parts offer better stats, equally good part traits, or astoundingly better ex skills.

Arms: S

These Arms (like last weeks) seem to also be changing up what is "good" in the meta. They rock an astounding 3,177 M.Atk, making them top 3 of the best melee Arms in the game. And wildly, they would fit a Defender build EXCEPTIONALLY well with a passive part trait that lowers enemy melee power by 30%. Flat debuffs like this are relatively uncommon. These arms could seriously be annoying in the arena. And again with Close Combat and Gundam Type, they have a lot of synergy with existing pieces that we've seen.

Legs: C-

The MARSFOUR legs look pretty sweet, but they seem focused on a balanced build again -- a jack of all trades that isn't particularly good at anything. Downfall is, they don't have the better tags (sporting Close Combat with For Computers), and the passive part trait (which is only active with 40% or more armor) is boosting ex-skill piercing. As we've discussed, piercing isn't nearly as powerful at this point as power. Until we get some serious tank builds, Piercing will remain to be more of a bonus and could have limited effect on your total damage numbers.

Backpack: B+

The Ex-Skill on this back is... interesting. There's been some talk that if PvP ever becomes actual player versus player (and not player versus autonomous computer version of another player), skills like this one with not quite A power but close (D/B+ 21/6) will become exceptionally useful. Because you can get it off before an A level skill and it'll do a giant chunk of damage if not kill an opponent. Still, with the game as is, maybe not something to go after hard. And being that this back piece also sticks with balanced stats and one good word tag (Close Combat and For Computers), it's hard to rank it higher than a B+ in the current meta. It could have more significant value down the road.

Slash Blade: A+

This thing sure LOOKS cool, but the Slash Blade and its ex-skill Quick Smash aren't as impressive as they appear. It could be beneficial with the right build because it knocks back enemies, but with A/D (21/3) and no status debuff or buff effects, there are better weapon options. Then again, at 3997 m.atk -- it's ranking somewhere in the top tier for weapons. The M.Atk saves this one - putting it just below S tier if it had a better ex skill or word tags. With some better ex-skills this could make a really strong melee build.

HEAT REV SWORD: S

Almost a duplicate of the Slash Blade, the HEAT REV SWORD is a dual wield option with the same m.atk and a passive instead of an ex skill. The Passive is only active with a Power attribute gunpla, and it causes a 20% speedup on the initial ex skill charge -- which is far more useful than the poor ex-skill of Slash Blade. This thing gets an S tier for the m.atk and the possibility of making a sick melee build while shaving a few seconds off that giant powerful overkill attack like Shining Finger or Trans Am Raid.

Aesthetics: S

I'm a sucker for dusty red suits. This thing really does look significantly better aesthetically than some of the parts feel in terms of usability.

Head: C

The Part Trait, which boosts Ex Skill piercing isn't exactly crazy useful for a head. Arms and Head pieces are always tough because those are the two areas where you get the most shot atk and melee atk for shooter or melee builds -- meaning anything average or middling is essentially worthless.

Chest: A

Dang the Mega-Beam Cannon [Dendrobium] sounds cool. Sporting a A+/C- (79/20) this thing is clearly built to do some damage on super tanky mega bosses or super tanky builds. Aside from Big Zam, I'm not sure that this thing is worth the 79 second wait. But it could be a sign of things to come. With above average armor and decent word tags, this thing at least belongs in the A tier -- if there were more sheer tank builds it could sneak into S without much issue.

Arms: B+

I'm not a huge fan of crit rate boosts for part traits. They're for sure valuable, but they aren't reliable or useful in the current arena, and they aren't necessarily that useful in missions. Sure it helps when you crit. But I'd rather boost sheer attack values or boost ex skill power. Still, these Arms are above average at least with commendable Melee atk and good word tags in Protag and Federation.

Legs: A

These legs are the shot attack crit increase version of the arms. At least the leg slot isn't your best slot for shot attack, making them more useful in that area.You could make a case for using these legs for a good mid shooter or long shooter build in arena in hopes of getting that crit on an exceptional overkill. Might be an interesting strategy. But the benefit here is most shooter builds don't have really useful leg slots. And this is a really useful leg slot for a shooter build.

Backpack: B+/A-

This might be controversial. I admit that this back could be an A tier piece. I'm still ranking it as a B tier because the stats are unexceptional (balanced), the ex skill is an A- tier power ex - but there are just SO MANY GOOD BACK PIECES. Like seriously. Let's split the difference and call it a B+ or A-.

Folding Bazooka: D

What a letdown this thing is. When you compare the Folding Bazooka to the New Hyper Bazooka -- you end up with the same piece only the Folding Bazooka has practically 2000 less s.atk and the same ex skill. This thing defines underwhelming. A maxed part trait 3* part is better than this.

Folding Shield: B

The folding shield is a decent shield for an Out/In Fighter -- having a passive that lowers shot damage taken, and good word tags in Protag and Federation. Certainly not a go-for-broke pull, but decent.

Aesthetics: B

Some of the Gundam style builds are starting to mesh together - which is probably good for building a both aesthetically pleasing suit as well as building one that is effective - but it does leave some wanting more. Hopefully we'll continue to see a slew of unique suits (and more Zeon suits) to go with these Gundam builds that are multiplying like mice.

Banner Grade: B-

We've got a 4* balanced In-Fighter and a 3* balanced Defender in this banner, only the star ratings are reversed from what we want and the skills and word tags seem mismatched.

Zechs Marquise: B

A balanced in-fighter isn't a really strong in-fighter. And Zechs is the definition of balanced. He's got two word tags that raise beam resist, and dually raise shot attack and shot defense, but how more shot attack helps an in-fighter is beyond me. And while increasing the Vernier recovery rate is great and all, boss fights are pretty much the only time you make it through a battle long enough for it to matter. This build screams average, and only gets a B rating by virtue of an interesting part trait and overall high stats from the 4* rank.

Lucrezia Noin: C

If you want a defender that's better than Ramba Rai, it sure ain't Lucrezia. High shot attack for a 3 star piece aside, the part trait is way more suited for a Supporter (with technique - debuff ex skill time up 22%) than it is for a defender. Stacking a part trait like that on a supporter is how you make gods. But Lucrezia is just an average defender with average stats in a small pool of defenders but the ones out there are better.