Gundam Battle: Gunpla Warfare - Part Featurette #2

Welcome back, Pilots!  I'm really excited for this week's featurette, and there’s a few reasons.  With this being such a new segment, I’d like to experiment with some formatting and try to cover as many Parts that are exceptional that people may not be aware of.  When I compose each of these segments, I try to consider overall Part availability as well, and again we’re going to look at each Part with maximum stat value and base level 1 Ex Skill level.  Since this is the more likely scenario for 4* Parts, it just seemed easier. 

Naturally, you’ll be digging deeper on things like Event Parts, or maybe you have a load of Kampfer Backs kicking around, and you may know these are good.  Lately though, I’ve found that a lot of people still seem unaware of our navy-and-gold gun-back overlord, and even that many are not aware of just how good the DODS Rifle and Atomic Bazooka really are… So let’s hope to fix that!

(Again, this is not a simple evaluation of specifically tier, meta, or large-stat Parts. These are Parts that are stand-out in some way, and keep in mind, that does make them good.)

I really questioned myself on this slot for this week, and the fight was between a lot of parts that ended up being some sort of gun or explosive, finally settling between Kampfer Back, and Kampfer Legs.  I finally decided… We’re going to talk about the Back, but I'll drop the Leg stats down below this as we’ll try to be brief (HAHA).

On the surface, you've got another 3* part that doesn't really cut above for stats, though Kampfer is easily not terrible in that area.  The major things you're going to look at Kampfer pieces for are the readily available "High Firepower" Word Tags, but also these frickin sweet Ex Skills.  Pierce B with Power D doesn't seem like much, but magazine-based skills need to be evaluated per shot. This is above-average Pierce and FOUR magazine rounds deep, which is actually a lot better than you think... Kampfer back fires two rounds per magazine use, and at level 4 Ex, this increases to five. 

It isn't excruciatingly difficult to get Kampfer, as you have a chance of pulling 3* parts out of any banner except Pilots and Friend Points.  Most people see blue and think unlucky, but this is just a sort of "budget Pale Rider" with increased availability.

Additionally, this is physical shot-based, and will receive any and all bonuses associated with that category when you build using parts that affect it (Pale Rider arms add power to physical shots, for example), and magazine-based Ex Skills tend to stagger frequently.  With an initial cooldown of ZERO, and a very manageable final cooldown reduced by upgrades, this is a 3* back worth eventually taking to 5* without a doubt.

In this same vein, yet slightly different, are the Kampfer Legs.  A lot of similarities here in a different slot, with no magazine-based skill, replaced by a B+ in Power, a D in Pierce, and a cooldown at a 50% base in comparison (first use 8 seconds).  The Part carries the same Tags (High Firepower being the one of note), but what needs to be outlined here is that the Ex tends to do monstrous damage even at somewhat lower Shot Attack values.  This is due to the yet-unknown damage modifier value that is applied by these letter grades in Power value, and that a value of B+ is so close to an A that it should almost be considered similarly.  Also, the Ex launches two missiles that seem to both do similar damage (though most things have trouble surviving one). 

The availability on this is identical to the Back, and in some builds may actually be even more effective due to the staggering damage values you can get off the Ex; which, when upgraded, becomes a frequently accessible tool.  These are two 3* Parts you are going to want to hang on to, and are easily built around or fit into your shooter builds to really bring the beats.

The DODS Rifle is an extremely potent addition to any Gunpla you're aiming to push into a Power Attribute, just at a glance, even.  What's more is that a lot of people aren't typically going to give this thing a second's notice, considering that it's an Event Part with very low Shot Attack values, and usually a gun with low values is just poor.  Unless you use it in a melee build, where shot doesn't matter.  That should just be an easy bet, and with a cooldown reduction of 3% on an Event Part, which you can just buy enough of to maximize the skill level, the differences can be massive and immediate.  Usually we don't talk about final values of EX skills/Traits, but on Event Parts this is a much more feasible outcome, and you'll see an increase to 12% max on this one.  This makes all of your Bisect and other crazy skills hit much faster; well before your opponent, and this Part may eventually become "meta" in the right build.

That build could be an intensely strong melee Gunpla with Mikazuki Augus in the AI seat.  Now, a note about "Initial EX Cooldown Reduction" seen on Mika, and "Initial EX Charge Boosted"... these two terms are the same exact thing.  When you couple Mika's very powerful Part Trait, and this Trait, you combine the effects for the very low asking price of both requiring that you have a P Attribute.  Both Mika, and the DODS Rifle, are P Attribute Parts, and enable you to be more flexible with the rest of your build (considering Red Frame Astray Legs are S type, etc).

We don't often have amazing Event Parts, and out of the three decent ones this time, the DODS Rifle takes ALL of the cake.  Pick yours up this week before it's too late!

Ah, the Nuke 'Zook.... We meet at last.  The Atomic Bazooka is unbelievable.  We have a whopping 3997 Shot Attack (let's just call that 4,000, okay?) and a deceptively powerful EX Skill that is anything but deceptive in application.  With these attack values, it puts the Atomic Bazooka comfortably in the "Second Best 'Zook" slot, with maybe being around the fourth best gun in the game.  The Pierce value of A- on this bad boy is absolutely mind-blowing, and the Power of D usually makes people think it's just a dud.  Let me just say that the description is bang-on, but it doesn't even begin to let you know that you always fire nukes.  Actually using the EX Skill will show you a swift projectile with an explosion radius that is so large it’s hard to tell exactly how far across the zone it reaches.

With the knowledge that there will eventually be 3v3 Arena, this Nuke seems horribly unfair in certain scenarios.  A lot of matches will be a dash to "kill the guy with the nuke 'zook" or face an inevitability (of 18 seconds at the longest time) of an undodgeable, likely unblockable, extremely difficult-to-mitigate explosion.  If they backed up the Bazooka with two magazine-based EX Skills to buy time and provide cover fire?  Well, you're in even more trouble than you know.

Trust me when I say that you may want to consider this as your 4* Part Selection at the end of the Premium Material Campaign on October 29th...  All of these factors about this 'Zook are just icing on a very nuclear cake.

New this week! Please, sound off in the comments below so we can know what you want to see from future Part Featurettes, and what you think