GUNDAM BATTLE: GUNPLA WARFARE PART FEATURETTE #1

It's that time again, Pilots!  I've got you for a few blocks of text, so don't you go anywhere, because we've got a new segment we hope you're going to really enjoy.  We're going to go over three parts; specifically two Standard Parts and one Part from the Featured Banner that is especially stand-out in some way, shape, or form.  In this article, I've chosen the three from the suggestions of players at the r/gundambattle subreddit discord, and they're mainly Parts that are either underrated or viewed in only a singular fashion.

This week, we're going to go over the Gundam X Divider Head, the Duel Gundam (Assault Shroud) Arms, and the break-out Victory Gundam Beam Saber which is undeniably the hot ticket this week.  So without any more of that, let's dive in!

So really, the intent of this article isn't specifically to yammer on about stats; as you can see, the X Divider Head doesn't have a particularly high allotment of them whatsoever.  That's not why you want this part in your repertoire.  The ability to buff your entire team's offense in both Shot Attack and Melee Attack by 30% at base value is extremely powerful.  Right now, higher end builds are settling into 15,000 of their desired attack stat, and a 30% increase is absolutely massive. 

We're not going to really talk about the cooldown or buff values at the maximum EX level because of how hard it is to get a duplicate naturally...  But rather the fact that on a Gunpla with a Supporter Job License, this buff has the potential of nearly 100% uptime.  The 50% cooldown reduction to support skills granted by the Supporter License puts this cooldown almost identical to the specified effect time.  It's powerful, it's synergistic, and it provides more than another Gunpla that does damage.  For Big Zam? This is going to be an imperative tool in your arsenal, as it's going to allow your team to both achieve a high rate of initial burst damage, and maintain those damage gains over a longer period of time with this combination.

Additionally, this is one of those critical tools you'll need in order to achieve a higher Battle Assessment modifier score in Arena matches, as you'll need to be able to buff your attack values to a high enough point for extreme overkills on your opponent.  There are only a select few Parts in the game that have these sorts of abilities, and one of them is an Event Part that we don't know if we'll ever see again.  Out of all of the other Parts, this is the one with the best natural stat values, as it is the only natural 4* Part with a full squad buff for Offense Up, and the others only raise the values of the user's stats.

Okay this is admittedly part of a little pet project of mine, but bear with me on this one.  Again, the stats here are poor; there's not a high value here beyond Shot Defense and Armor, and those are even pretty average.  However, magazine-based EX skills are heavily underrated, and the damage values you see on them with the Power modifier should be considered on a per shot basis.  You have, initially, 4 shots of a Power D EX skill with high piercing immediately available upon starting the match.  Being able to move while firing is also under-appreciated, as it allows you to maneuver out of tight spots while providing heavy fire.

Now, the reason I'm really focused on this is that I've been working on a build revolving around the Assault Arms as a large element.  You load your Gunpla up with magazine-based EX skills and a heavy shot attack Pilot, and work out a combination to hit the High Firepower Word Tag at least.  i'm calling this super simple build "Shot Support".  Physical Shot EX Skills seem to have a high rate of staggering the opponent, and come packing high Pierce values, so it gives you a shooter that gives your team support by staggering the enemy repeatedly while the rest of your squad cleans up. 

In addition to this, when we're organizing teams for Big Zam runs, you're going to want to have someone like this capable of doing heavy burst damage to Big Zam's legs, in order to bring him crashing to the ground for damage to the "head" of the boss.  These EX skills generally have manageable cooldowns, as well, and this is a Part that should be considered based on EX skill and synergy with your build's goal in mind.

Man oh man oh man.  This Part.  Wow.  Absolute sheer excitement aside, this is the one part on our list here that we're going to talk about because of stats.  3997 Melee Attack puts this baby in the category of "most powerful Beam Saber currently in-game", and that feels like it was too long in actually happening.  There are a lot of reasons to use Beam Sabers, due to a good amount of Parts that require you to wield a Beam Saber to activate certain traits. 

One of such Parts is actually the F91 Beam Launcher, which is a very powerful Bazooka which gives 17% increased EX skill power with a Beam Saber equipped.  That is fairly substantial when you consider that EX skills provide a massive inflation of damage vs stats. This is a synergy that would be immensely powerful on any balanced build, or given to an Out-Fighter build in order to cover both areas of Shot and Melee.  An extra 10% damage added to strong melee attacks granted by the Part Trait is a welcome addition, and this weapon in particular is going to make anyone looking to ramp up their melee damage very happy.

Additonally, as a point of note, if you put Mikazuki Augus into the Pilot seat for a build like this, he'll deliver a whopping 1,000 melee and shot attack to the build and provide an extremely powerful Trait of reducing initial cooldown speed, and provide a Defender License for strong blocks against Big Zam.

I realize we didn't go over Word Tags here, but frankly, the Tags on these particular Parts are either pretty common, or not as helpful to the actual reasoning of why we're choosing the Parts as important, stand-out, or build-around staples. If a Word Tag is a clear factor that helps put a Part into a stronger category of usefulness, or is a reason toward us talking about it, we're more likely to include that aspect of the discussion.

                Got an idea for a Part for us to go over next time? Got some feedback for me?  Come find me in the discord!  You can get there from the r/gundambattle subreddit; just ask for "Dazed Mika" or find the surprised profile pic; I'm usually around!