I started this guide for fun while playing Super Robot Wars: Original Generations (SRW: OGs), partially because I felt certain pilot and mech combinations were underused in the community. I also enjoy needlessly optimizing this easy game. This guide is far from complete, but I thought it would be more useful to publish it now and add to it over time. After all, no one can utilize my advice if the draft is indefinitely hidden away on my site’s backend!
My qualifications are that I’ve gotten every Skill Point on both Original Generation 1 and 2 during single playthroughs on fresh files. Right now, this guide is focused on OG1. I will note when I am speaking about OG2.
Also, be sure to check out my general guide for SRW.
Want me to cover a specific mech and/or pilot? Just let me know in the comments or contact me with this form!
Original Generation
Pilots (and Recommended Mechs)
Giada
Skills
Armorlion
Grungust Type 2
Wildschwein
Giada wants to be punched in the face a lot for his Will gains, which is a problem, because he has no defensive Spirits whatsoever. However, he does have a particularly high Defense stat, for whatever that’s worth. His Accel Spirit also encourages him to be in the frontlines. As such, he needs a mech that can take a serious beating. He offers early access to Valor to help with killing fleeing bosses, Spirit as a means to raise Will, and an odd blend of support role abilities with Faith, Resupply, and Support Attack/Defend.
Hit & Run is out of place on such a Melee-focused pilot, so mechs that suit him and can take advantage of that Skill are rare. Counter can help him stay alive, but due to his Will gains, it’s actively detrimental when he’s in a tanky-enough mech, so try and drop it ASAP with a single level of In-Fight or Potential. Giada’s Ace Bonus increases his evasion and defense by 10%, and while the evasion is likely to be a wash due to his terrible Evade stat, the defense is certainly appreciated.
Giada’s Spirits are ridiculously expensive, so Concentrate is a given. As desirable as Attacker is, he can do surprisingly well with Break Will Limit. Between Spirit and his Will gains should you make him a durable frontliner, it’s not rare for him to break 150 Will. This raises his attack power and survivability further, albeit potentially mid-to-late Scenario. Giada often struggles with accuracy, so a Hit-boosting Part is generally recommend. However, it’s worth noting that he gains Will for missing.
The Armorlion conveniently meets most of Giada’s needs and quirks. Critically, it’s one of the most durable mechs in the game, especially after receiving its FUB, and it comes with a Beam Coat. Giada can use Spirit to quickly access all of its attacks, too! Even better, its Square Cluster ALL attack makes Giada’s Hit & Run Skill valuable when it’s otherwise almost useless; it allows him to take convenient shots at enemies that line up during enemy phase without falling behind. The Armorlion’s variety in attack ranges and its low EN cost, spammable weapons complement Giada’s Support Attack, and his Support Defend obviously fits as well. The Armorlion only has a B Ground Rank, so I highly recommend a Dustproofer. Giada really wants bonuses from terrain to help him take hits and land his own.
The Grungust Type 2 shares a similar niche to the Armorlion in that they’re both Melee-focused mechs with Ranged ALL weapons that aren’t post-move, giving value to Giada’s Hit & Run Skill. Giada can’t utilize the TK Field, but he actually wouldn’t want to, as nullifying damage doesn’t trigger Will gains from being hit. This also makes the Type 2’s FUB useless for Giada, freeing him up to choose either EN or Armor. The extra EN is nice, as Torment Blade is an excellent Support Attack, which Spirit helps him reach quicker. When using the G-Hawk, Accel will easily keep Giada on the frontlines where he can soak up hits and build Will. Just be careful, of course, as he isn’t invincible. Equipping a Beam Coat Part isn’t a bad idea. An AB Field is superior, but you want to mitigate damage without making it 0 and robbing Giada of potential Will.
The Wildschwein’s massive Armor stat when including its CFUB makes it a great pick for the ever-fragile Giada. Not only that, Giada can use Spirit to immediately access the Circle Zanber, and Accel gets him up-close and personal so that he can use it.
Still, there are a lot of issues with the Wildschwein as well. Its Armor isn’t enough to allow Giada to tank as much as needs to before its CFUB, meaning it requires a significant investment of Funds for it to do its job. This isn’t terrible, as the Wildschwein is a usable mech for the entire game, but focusing on it could leave your other mechs with less upgrades than they would have had otherwise.
Fully upgrading the Wildschwein also means maxing its Mobility, which makes it into a pretty confident dodger. This helps Giada survive, but he gains no Will for evading. Additionally, Giada’s Ace Bonus grants him +10% Evasion, so it’ll eventually be even better at dodging, whether you want it to or not.
Also, the Wildschwein has no built-in, non-post-move weapons, so his Hit & Run Skill will be basically deadweight. You should naturally give the Wildschwein some ranged weapons for counterattacks, but on Giada’s own turn, he is almost always better off using the Circle Zanber. He could maybe finish an enemy off, then head deeper into enemy lines, but there isn’t much a niche here, as other pilots slower than the Accel-happy Giada can probably just pick off his leftovers, anyway. Equip an M13 Shotgun, as Twin enemies are rare enough to where you may only have an opportunity to attack one if you don’t move. You could also equip a Graviton Launcher, if you don’t mind wasting the best Option Weapon in the game… Giada can use Spirit to quickly wield it, and for the same reason, give him a Leap Slasher. It will be active as soon as the Zanber is, and its power somewhat makes up for Giada’s poor RNG stat.
Katina
Skills
Mechs
Alteisen
Giganscudo
R-Gun
Schutzwald
Katina is an anomaly of a pilot. Despite her aggressive, in-your-face personality, her stats are much more tuned towards ranged combat. She has among the lowest DEF stats in the game, has conversely amazing EVD, slightly below average MEL, and is otherwise more or less average. You may be inclined to stick her in a dodgy RR, and some of her Spirits such as Charge and Persist complement this role, but there’s one major issue.
Katina’s Will gains do not suit an evasive mech. Katina gets nothing from evading, but receives +2 Will upon being hit. Likewise, she receives no Will for hitting enemies, but does get some for missing attacks. This means she’s heavily reliant on taking hits to gain Will, which is not something most RRs like to do. That can be circumvented somewhat once she learns Drive, but that isn’t until she reaches level 30. While these traits work against her in many mechs, they come back around to being her best attributes when in the right machine.
In general, Katina has a fantastic Spirit list. She covers all of the essentials for an offensive pilot while having the very rare and valuable Drive, to boot. She’s one of the first pilots to get Valor (at level 1, even), and has the ever-useful Soul as her Bond Spirit. Her Bullseye has an expensive 20 SP cost, however. Another downside and the reason she’s not actually a reliable dodger is her complete lack of the Focus Spirit. A 30% difference in Evasion between her and every pilot who actually has Focus heavily undermines her outstanding EVD.
Her default Skills are Potential (default max level of 5), Revenge, and Attacker. Potential is yet again a poor fit for an evasive unit, though Revenge does suit a pilot who’s tanking or dodging while delivering a bevy of counterattacks. Attacker is phenomenal to get for free, and Drive allows her to immediately activate it. This combination of factors makes Katina one of the easiest pilots to demand immediate, heavy damage from. Katina’s Ace Bonus is +10% to Accuracy, and -10% damage received. This further pushes her towards tanky, clumsy mechs.
As for additional Skills, further levels of Potential isn’t a terrible idea, as it allows Katina to take more hits. On the other hand, the four levels of Potential she’s missing still adds up to 110 PP, if my math is correct, so that’s not a insignificant investment. Infight and Gunfight are fine, as usual, depending on her mech. With a mech that suits her Will gains, combined with Drive, Katina is one of the few pilots who can realistically make use of Break Will Limit, and that also increases her defense as well as offense. Guard can be a fine choice. Concentrate is mandatory in my opinion, unless you’re ignoring her access to Soul and Drive (which you shouldn’t). A lot of her preferred mech choices really benefit from Hit & Run.
So, what to do with such an odd pilot? Actually, there’s quite a few mechs Katina does very well in. One mech she does not do well in is her default MP Gespenst Mk-II. It can’t dodge reliably even with her high EVD, and it sure as hell can’t take the hits she wants for her Will gains. It gets nothing out of Charge or Drive without Option Weapons, and Katina has to use Persist every turn to simply continue existing. Swap her out of that sucker ASAP.
Katina has very similar Spirits to Kyosuke, so she likewise does well in his default mech, the Alteisen. The main weakness here is her mediocre MEL, but it’s not unusably low. You could slap on a Graviton Launcher for a Ranged finisher. The most important thing is the Alteisen is capable of taking hits needed for Katina’s Will gains. It’s not super sturdy, so her high EVD can occasionally come in handy.
If any combination of pilot and mech sold me on the idea of “non-canon” pairings, it’s the duo of Katina and the Giganscudo. It’s difficult to overstate just how ideal these two are for each other, even if it might not seem so on paper. Katina is an odd pilot in that she has a poor Defense stat, yet wants to take hits due to a +2 Will gain. This encourages her to be in a tanky SR, but her dominant offensive stat is Range, limiting her options. She could be placed in a heavy artillery unit, but this potentially wastes her still-decent Melee stat. By process of elimination, the Giganscudo is the best choice. But the justifications don’t stop there.
Katina has Accel, mitigating the need to fix the Giganscudo’s low Move with Parts (and its slots are very valuable). Charge gives her potentially insane range with the Gigan Blaster. Drive gives her turn one access to all of the Gigan’s attacks, which is especially important in OG2 where the Duro’s only post-move attack with more than 1 range is its 120 Will finisher. Her early Valor and access to Soul are just generally good traits to have, as is her innate Attacker Skill that gets further mileage out of Drive. Potential is best on units with high HP, which the Gigan certainly qualifies for, and Revenge benefits from something capable of tanking so many hits that it can reliably counter in every exchange. She even has Potential, making her even less likely to be shot down, as well as progressively punishing enemies for targeting her thanks to the added Accuracy and Critical bonus. OG2 replaces Attacker with Focused Attacker, which is a shame, but she still gets increased value out of the Gigan’s excellent ALL weapon (Gigan Blaster).
The only “wasted” part of Katina’s kit is her Persist Spirit, as the Gigan isn’t too in need of further reducing damage. On the plus side, that frees up SP she wants to use on Accel, Valor/Soul, and Drive. Her expensive Bullseye (20 SP) doesn’t pair well with the Gigan’s low accuracy, but an accuracy-boosting Part or someone with Attune can cover that weakness. All the same, Katina gains Will from missing enemies, so even that aspect of the Gigan can be to her favor. And to top it all off, Katina’s Ace Bonus is a bonus +10% to Accuracy and a -10% damage reduction. Good lord. It’s almost like they were deliberately pushing this combination.
The most common counterargument for Katina in the Gigan is that her higher offensive stat, Range, doesn’t complement the Gigan’s Melee finisher. I think this is really splitting hairs when compared to the dozen other benefits of Katina in the Gigan. Also, the bulk of the Gigan’s damage contribution during any map is likely to come from the Gigan Blaster, a Ranged attack. Its massive 3-9 range makes it the most common counter option, especially when the Gigan is in the frontlines like it ought to be. As such, Katina’s Ranged stat still doesn’t go to waste, and she boosts it further with the Revenge Skill. Regardless, the difference between the two stats is fairly insubstantial, usually maxing out at 10 points at the very end of each game. It really is irrelevant compared to everything she gains from the Gigan.
There are a few things to keep in mind when optimizing this pairing. For one, do not upgrade the Gigan’s armor more than necessary. In OGs, nullified damage does not count as taking a hit with regards to Will gains. You want the Gigan to be durable enough to take damage, but not so durable that its AF Field nullifies damage outright. Also, some HP loss contributes to getting the most out of Potential. Prioritize HP and Energy, and feel out when to upgrade Armor based on Katina’s frontline performance. Ignore Mobility until you’re ready to get the Gigan’s FUB, as Mobility on the Gigan is irrelevant but the FUB is quite good and should be obtained eventually. I would also recommend getting rid of Counter ASAP in OG2, as it just potentially robs Katina of a chance to be hit and gain Will. Just put one level of Potential or In-Fight over it once you can.
When it comes to extraneous Skills, the big one is Break Will Limit. Katina is already heavily incentivized to use Drive at the start of every map, and her perfect Will gains for the Gigan make her one of the most likely pilots to hit 170 Will. The Gigan devours EN, so E-Save is a valid choice, too. In-Fight’s boost to Movement on top of Melee attacks is certainly nice. Potential is a fine Skill to have for free, but it’s not strong enough for me to recommend investing more levels into it. The two will have an S rank in Space by default, but getting Katina to be an S on Ground will help with the Gigan’s survivability and is worth prioritizing over filling every Skill slot. I would consider Concentrate a must-have just for Drive alone.
If I haven’t convinced you of this OTP yet, you’re the problem here. Put Katina and the Giganscudo in the frontlines and watch the mayhem unfold. Between her natural offensive capabilities and the Gigan’s MAP weapon, Katina is routinely my Top Ace and often runs out of things to purchase with PP.
Also, the Giganscudo is red. …Why the fuck did they give this thing to Tasuku?
It may sound counterintuitive, but Katina is actually one of the R-Gun’s best pilots in OG1. Accel and Drive fix the R-Gun’s two biggest problems, which are its Movement and Will requirement for Metal Genocider. Making things even better is the R-Gun’s inexplicably high Armor stat in OG1, permitting Katina to take hits to the face and raise her Will even further. The only thing lost by Katina not having the Telekinesis Skill is the TK Field, which Katina wouldn’t want to use anyway, because voided damage counts as a dodged attack, which would prevent her from gaining Will upon being hit. Naturally, you may want to avoid upgrading the R-Gun’s impressive Mobility until you’re ready to nab its FUB, because it will dodge quite consistently when combined with Katina’s high EVD stat.
Just slap a 1-3 range post-move weapon on, and you’re good to go. Getting Hit & Run for Katina isn’t a bad idea, but thanks to Accel and her desire to take hits, you may be fine just keeping her in the frontlines and having most of her Metal Genocider use come from counterattacks.
This heavy artillery unit takes advantage of both Katina’s long-range preferences and her Will gains from taking damage. The combination of these two fits like a glove, with the biggest knock against it being that the Schutzwald simply isn’t a standout unit in anyone’s hands. Still, if the pilot and mech find themselves free—why not? Like Rai, Katina even has Accel to make up for this mech’s low Movement. On the other hand, the Schutzwald gets nothing out of Drive. You could fix that by equipping a Graviton Launcher and also provide the Schutzwald with a finisher worthy of the endgame, but its attributes otherwise overlap heavily with the Twin Beam Cannon, which you may be better off just upgrading to avoid redundancy. if you do, to fix its D rank in Water.
Use Rai’s yellow Schutzwald over Radha’s silver one. Not only does it match Katina’s hair color; it also has a more accurate TBC. That TBC costs more to upgrade in exchange, but it’s worth it due to lowering Katina’s dependency on her expensive Bullseye Spirit. The Schutzwald’s custom FUB gives it an AB Field, which helps Katina take even more hits.
Radha
Stats
Skills
Spirits
Mechs
Huckebein 009
Twin
Radha is one of OG1‘s support-focused pilots. Instead of contributing with combat prowess, Radha uses Spirit commands that assist her fellow pilots in multiple ways, and her own stats and Skills help her survive rather than dish out damage.
Of particular note is Radha’s phenomenal evasion rates. She possesses the incredibly powerful Precognition Skill (+30% evasion during Enemy Phase), her Ace Bonus grants her +10% evasion and +20 SP, and she can use her 10 SP Focus every turn at no cost thanks to having innate SP Regen. Since SP Regen is an essential Skill for every pilot, this frees you PP to be spent on other Skills helpful for support pilots, such as Concentrate.
While Radha’s combat isn’t her specialty, she does better with ranged attacks than melee, which further helps her with dodging enemy attacks. She also makes a particularly good Twin sub-unit as I describe further down.
Radha’s best stats are her SP and EVD, which are roughly 30-50 and 5-10 points above average, respectively. Her base RNG is about average at the start, but it grows at such a slow rate, that she’s eventually outpaced in it even by MEL-focused pilots. As for her MEL; the less said about it, the better. Radha’s MEL is the second-lowest of all player-controlled pilots, being only marginally higher than Garnet’s. Her SKL and DEF are mediocre, while ACC, like EVD, is only marginally above-average.
Stat-wise, Radha can complement a heavy artillery unit about as well as a light, evasive one, but her Skills and Spirits make her vastly favor the latter overall.
Radha boasts a fairly great set of Skills. Support Attack and Defend max out at level 3 (pilot level 31), and are never bad to have. Support Attack helps her make up for her low damage, while Defend can help her build Will, with the confidence that enemies will have a hard time hitting her to finish her off.
Her unique Skill, Precognition, can’t be purchased and gives her an incredible +30% to her final Evasion during Enemy Phase while she has at least 130 Will. Lastly, she comes with SP Regen; the best Skill in the entire game. This saves you some PP for other Skills.
As for what Skills to give her, Concentrate is obviously essential, given her desire to use many Spirits (a few of which are quite expensive). From there, things get… complicated. It might seem like a good idea to give her SP Up, and it’s certainly not without merit, but I personally do not like the idea. At max level it’s +45 SP, but this is in return for literally hundreds of PP. That’s not even enough to give her one more use of Enable. Considering the situations you would want to use any of her Spirits, you can instead invest in Skills that would provide her more permanent assistance in those situations.
What I’m getting at is that it’s not a waste to invest in Radha’s combat potential. You don’t need to go crazy or anything—she doesn’t even have Valor—but her ranged combat isn’t unusable or anything. With Support Attack, any combat prowess pays dividends in additional damage. As such, I think Attacker is a more viable consideration than some people give it credit for. It’s not as essential as it is for a combat-focused pilot, but more damage is still more damage.
Whether you get Attacker or not, Radha’s reliance on Precognition makes Will surprisingly still relevant for her. Casting Focus every turn will still make her nimble, but Precognition can save you having to cast Focus entirely, allowing more liberal use of other Spirits (again, limiting the value of SP Up). A Will-boosting Skill can be very helpful. Resolve is simple enough, but only a small amount of Will. Morale takes too long for my tastes, especially since I’m always aiming for Skill Points.
In theory, Will+ (Evade) is a natural fit, but it conflicts with Support Defense requiring her to be hit. Radha’s Cautious personality type still gives her +2 Will in that case, at least. Will+ (Damaged) doesn’t play into her spammable Focus and Precognition once she hits 130+ Will. You could forgo the former and just run her as a mixed-defensive pilot in a high-Armor mech, but I’m just not sure it’s worth it. It’s worth noting that Will+ for taking damage is +2 Will, while Evade is +1, so the choice here isn’t completely meaningless. Also, if you’re not using Focus, Radha’s accuracy is fairly unreliable and will cut into her damage per turn.
As a ranged attacker, Hit & Run is pretty necessary for Radha, especially because she lacks Accel. Without it, she will have a hard time keeping up with your army while attacking. You could try and get by with Booster Parts, but OG1 lacks powerful post-move ranged finishers. You can upgrade one, or use Custom Ammo to make a post-move one. If so, those are likely to be high-range weapons, meaning she can still keep her distance from attack targets to maximize her evasion rates.
While Radha’s amount of SP is quite generous, it’s mitigated somewhat by her Spirit costs being relatively high. Other than Flash and Focus, all of her other Spirits cost 30 or more SP, and they’re all ones you’d like to use often. Concentrate helps in dealing with this, but you should still try and spread Spirit use across your pilots (i.e., have multiple support pilots trading off using Bless or Attune, etc.)
Focus can make Radha’s evasion so high that Flash is functionally worthless. Using both is extra insurance she rarely ever needs, and you can’t always guarantee the enemies with the best hit chances will target her before Flash is used up. Beyond that, you obviously want to conserve SP for her other Spirits, so you should rarely ever be touching Flash.
The strength of Radha’s Spirits are that so many high-end, rare support Spirits are tied to this one pilot. Most pilots who have Attune, Bless, Rouse, or Enable only have one of them, but Radha has them all. She’s lacking Cheer, Trust, Faith, and Renew, but those are more common in general. Obviously, she lacks Valor, so she can’t work as a hybrid support/combat pilot as well as, say, Aya can.
Her Bond Spirit, Hope, recovers 50 points of a pilot’s SP. Interestingly, Concentrate reduces Hope from a 50 SP cost to 40 SP, which means you can have Radha use Hope to target her own Twin partner and have them gain 10 more SP than what they spent to use Hope. You still have a net SP loss due to Radha losing 40 SP, but I’ve found this useful when it comes to having to make due with whoever Radha is adjacent to in order to finish off a boss.
Radha’s default mech is the Schutzwald, but as a tanky unit, it doesn’t suit her well. Her various ways to buff her evasion will be less helpful, and while her Will gains allow her to utilize a mixed-defensive unit, there’s no particular benefit to doing so. Radha should go all-in on an evasive mech, so I would recommend taking her out of the Schutzwald.
There’s no shortage of long-range, evasive mechs that work perfectly for Radha. Any Huckebein, the Wildraubtier, or any Lion are just some examples of effective mechs. The Wildschwein can dodge well enough to take advantage of her evasion while also having excellent Armor, but its Circle Zanber is basically wasted on Radha.
High-Armor Supers aren’t unusable for Radha, but the same logic as the Schutzwald applies, just to a lesser extent due to Supers having superior Armor. They also tend to focus on melee attacks, which Radha is terrible with. Still, if you really want to do something different…
The Huckebein 009 is a fairly ideal mech for Radha, as it lacks any quirks that would be better in the hands of more specialized pilots, meaning there is little opportunity cost for giving it to Radha.
The 009 also has Afterimage, which can boost Radha’s evasion to being nigh untouchable, if she can reach 120 Will. How you do that is up to you, but if you’re intent on doing so, you may as well keep the 009’s default Leap Slasher due to its 110 Will requirement and fine base damage. Give the 009 various other ranged weapons that will make sure Radha is never without the right weapon for a Support Attack or Twin sub-unit attack.
Because most Reals have built-in finishers, the 009 is a good candidate for the Graviton Launcher. Keep in mind that it’s an ALL weapon, however, and any unit Radha is attacking alongside will need an ALL weapon of their own to do so.
Unless Radha is in a Twin with a high-move unit, the 009 should be given at least one Booster. An accuracy-raising Part is also a good idea, as Radha’s hit rates aren’t great, and it could reduce reliance on Focus to conserve SP. Use Will-boosting Parts as needed. Also, go for the generic Mobility +10% FUB; the extra weapon space is worthless.
Radha has many interesting traits that make her particularly desirable as the sub-unit of a Twin. She has no Accel Spirit, but wants to keep up with your army to utilize her Support Attack/Defend, and being a target for enemies helps her take advantage of her high evasion. Pairing her up with a pilot that has Accel and similar attributes, like Gilliam (whom she also gets a Friendship bonus from) with his own sky-high evasion and preference for ranged combat, can make her a more potent fighter. As a sub-unit, Radha will be partially protected and gain more opportunities to build Will and contribute damage.
If you want to make Radha primarily a Twin sub-unit, it could be worth giving her Focused Attacker. This boosts her damage more than Attacker does while she’s in a Twin. Resolve plus the additional default Will from becoming an Ace can start her at 110 Will and ready to enter a Twin.
By equipping her with a Repair and/or Resupply Module, she can occasionally separate from Gilliam, Support Attack an attack from Gilliam, then use her Modules and re-Twin next turn. Gilliam also has Hit & Run, which lowers the need for Radha to purchase it herself.
It’s also worth noting that Radha has the same Friendship bonus with Viletta, so she is also a great choice for a partner, as she has many similarities to Gilliam. However, she lacks Hit & Run, and she is a route-exclusive character.
Rio
Skills
R-Gun
Rio has two particularly standout attributes, which is her early access to Valor (level 12), and possessing Drive (level 28). There are only five pilots with Drive in OG1, and one of them is mech-locked, another is one-stage only, and yet another is route-exclusive. Rio and Katina are therefore the only two standard pilots with Drive that are consistently available. Better still, there’s enough differences between the two to where they don’t have to compete for too many of the same pilot seats.
Rio is a well-balanced pilot with fairly equal MEL and RNG stats. Her other stats are also about average, though her SKL is very slightly lacking. Her early Valor pairs well with her Bond Spirit, Earn, which allows her to gain double PP from her next attack. Strategic use of this can give Rio a significant lead in PP and allow her to overtake other pilots.
Her Will gains primarily want her to consistently land hits and receive them for +2 Will each. Those are extremely good gains, but she loses 1 Will for missing. Given all of these traits, Rio wants a mech that will go through many rounds of combat on Enemy Phase, and can also benefit from Drive. Many Super Robots fit this bill perfectly, and there are a few RRs that could also really utilize Drive.
Rio’s Ace Bonus is +10% to Funds and EXP from each enemy she defeats/battles. That might sound nice, but it’s a pretty bad AB, all things considered. With Rio splitting her kills alongside other allies, the extra Funds amounts to little more than chicken scratch, and her bonus also does not stack with the Luck Spirit. The same logic applies to the EXP boost, and it’s especially redundant given her Gain Spirit. The only value it has is possibly helping Rio learn Drive faster.
Her Telekinesis Skill caps at level 8, giving her a solid boost to accuracy and evasion. Her Potential goes up to level 5, and her Support Attack and Defend can reach level 2. The accuracy boost from TK is especially helpful for all of the SRs she’s compatible with, and Potential likewise pairs logically. However, Potential isn’t that powerful in OGs, and the PP required for the final 4 levels might not be worth the investment.
Other than the Big 3, Rio’s easy Will raising makes her a prime candidate for Break Will Limit, as she can plausibly hit 170 Will consistently. Many mechs that suit Rio also get varying benefit from Hit & Run, whether it’s a mech with a ranged finisher, or an ALL attack.
In my opinion, the R-Gun’s best pilot is Rio, and Rio’s ideal mech is the R-Gun. The main justification is Rio’s access to the Drive Spirit and the TK Skill, allowing her to immediately use the Metal Genocider attack and utilize the R-Gun’s TK Field. As luck would have it, her stats slightly favor the R-Gun; Rio’s Ranged stat is higher than her Melee stat, and her Defense is roughly average relative to the entire cast. That Defense stat is just enough to where, when combined with the R-Gun’s bizarrely high Armor stat, she will be able to nullify some damage with the TK Field. She also has a decent Melee stat to take advantage of the Beam Katars, though that’s admittedly a very negligible attack. Her Ace Bonus increases the Funds she earns by 10%, which pairs nicely with the Metal Genocider’s ALL trait and general high power/range. The accuracy boost provided by her TK Skill will mitigate the hit % lost when using the Metal Genocider’s 3-9 range. Drive is her only particularly expensive Spirit, so she’s not terribly inconvenienced from using it at the start of every Scenario.
Unfortunately, Rio isn’t outright perfect for the R-Gun. Her innate Support Attack is somewhat wasted due to the MG being an ALL weapon, and her role as a long-range unit doesn’t pair well with Support Defend. Furthermore, Potential can be harder to trigger due to the TK Field, though it can also contribute to the TK Field nullifying even more damage due to its Armor boost. Most importantly, Rio has the Super Strong personality, making her Will gains favor frontline Melee units. She gains +2 Will from being hit, but doesn’t receive any if the TK Field nullifies the damage, creating a conflict of interest. The significance of her suboptimal Will gains is mostly offset by her using Drive to access the Metal Genocider regardless. Capping her Will to do even more damage is overkill and of niche relevance.
When using Rio in the R-Gun, you’ll want something to help her keep up with your other units. 6 Move is fairly low, and Accel users tend to dominate maps. A Megabooster can be enough, but ideally you’d want the Hit & Run Skill to complement spamming Metal Genocider. After you acquire SP Regen, you may want to consider whether you want Concentrate, Hit & Run, or Attacker next. Concentrate mitigates the cost of Drive, Hit & Run makes her more mobile, and Attacker gets the most out of Drive and Metal Genocider. I don’t think there’s a perfect answer here. The increased damage from Attacker might seem obvious, but that damage doesn’t mean much if she’s attacking less enemies throughout a Scenario due to lagging behind. Still, I might recommend prioritizing Attacker just because Metal Genocider’s ALL targeting makes it so convenient during the game’s final stages, which are rife with enemy Pairs. Attacker makes the R-Gun better at its biggest niche, and it’s something few other than Rio can utilize thanks to her Drive Spirit.
Equip Leap Slasher to Rio’s R-Gun, as she will also hit its Will requirement by using Drive, and it will occasionally save her some EN while providing her with a Ranged Support Attack. A Slash Ripper will cover her gap at 2 Range. You could also run a Magna Beam Rifle with Post-Movement Custom Ammo. The high range and post-move qualities will help ensure she always has enemies to target even when she falls behind. Its lack of 1 Range is covered by the Beam Katars. You can even apply a Custom Ammo Part that increases its Will requirement in exchange for another benefit, as Rio will null that requirement with Drive.
Rio in the R-Gun pairs very well with Kusuha in the Grungust Mk. II. They have similar Move, will be exceptionally durable due to their TK Fields, receive a hit and evade bonus from their Friend Relationship, and they can Support each other with their long-range ALL weapons.
Mechs (and Mech-Locked Pilots)
Alteisen
Weapons
Parts
FUB
Pilots
The Alteisen is something of a hybrid Real/Super mech. It’s durable, but not among the highest in the game. In exchange, it has 6 Move and average Mobility; something usually lacking from Supers. Its built-in weapons can be very powerful despite its size, and Revolver Stake is exceptionally good due to its 1-3 Range and no Will requirement. It has a terrible +10 Accuracy modifier, however, so an accuracy-raising Part or pilot with a cheap Focus/Bullseye Spirit is appreciated. Its two strongest innate attacks are not post-move, which can be difficult to work with. They’re just barely powerful enough to warrant additional SP spent on Charge, especially the Heavy Claymore due to its ALL property. Rampage Ghost is a very powerful Combination Attack that requires Kyosuke pilot the Alteisen and Excellen pilot the Weissritter. It’s very energy-efficient relative to its power level. Unquestionably, Revolver Stake and Rampage Ghost are the main selling points of the Alteisen.
After Scenario 23, the Alteisen gains the Trump Card attack but permanently loses 5 Mobility. This is likely a developer oversight due to “each” Alteisen having a separate internal mech ID in the game’s code, and it’s probable that someone forgot to apply an altered Mobility stat to every Alteisen ID. The game’s upgrade formula means this amounts to a net loss of 7 Mobility at the highest upgrade (outside of Special mode, etc.).
Rampage Ghost unlocks after Scenario 24.
The Alteisen should always be equipped with a high-range weapon, because there’s literally no reason not to. Even if its pilot has a poor RNG stat, it enables more counterattacks, and some damage is better than none at all. EN-based ranged weapons work nicely, because the Alteisen’s only other use for EN is Rampage Ghost. If you want to conserve EN for RG, ammo-based weapons are perfectly fine.
If the pilot has Accel, or if the Alteisen’s Move is boosted, you may want to favor something with a lot of ammo—enemies seem to love targeting the Alteisen. The Alteisen has so little need for Option Weapons that you may as well equip a Leap Slasher in addition to something with longer range and no Will requirement. It will provide a little extra power and ammo to make up for a pilot’s low RNG stat or the Alteisen’s frequent combat.
It’s a shame the Alteisen only has two slots, as it has more than two problems to fix. Pilots without Accel will absolutely want a Booster for 1-2 extra Move. Units with 8 or more Move tend to dominate the endgame, and the Alteisen wants to be on the frontlines. An accuracy-raising Part for Revolver Stake is recommended unless your pilot has 10 SP Focus or Bullseye. Armor is always nice, as it puts the Alteisen about on par with your average Super Robot. Depending on your pilot, you might prefer to increase its Mobility so that it can compete with the dodge rates of Huckebeins and the like. A Hyper Jammer is another fine way to increase survivability. Range-boosting parts can make it easier to take advantage of Heavy Claymore in addition to the other obvious benefits.
The Alteisen’s unique FUB gives its built-in weapons an S Rank across all terrains. This is an extremely good FUB, and it’s among those that should be prioritized.
The Alteisen wants pilots capable of taking hits or dodging, as its armor isn’t failproof. Focus and/or Guard Spirits are highly recommended. Persist is good if the pilot has especially high EVD, and/or if the Alteisen is equipped with a Mobility-raising Part. Charge or Hit & Run are necessary to make the most out of Heavy Claymore and Trump Card. Accel is desirable to avoid the need for Movement-increasing Parts.
Kyosuke is the best pilot for the Alteisen. Yeah, there’s no getting around the fact that only he can use Rampage Ghost. He mostly complements the Alteisen in other ways, too. 15 SP Focus is unfortunate, because he will eventually need to use it to survive, and it cuts into spare SP needed for Charge. Still, this is a trifle compared to gaining Rampage Ghost. Kyosuke also builds Will by being hit, so while Counter can help keep him alive, it also works against him. His Ace Bonus boosts his counterattack damage, however, so you may as well keep it. After you get The Big 3, Guard or Predict are nice Skill choices. Commander is a decent Skill, so you could max it out, but Accel could keep Kyosuke out of range of the rest of your team, depending on your team setup. In-Fight is always good.
Giganscudo
Weapons
Parts
FUB
Skills
Pilots
Ladies and gents, show respect to one of the game’s largest lads. The Giganscudo defines “tank,” being a massive, almost literal wall against enemies. As is only appropriate for its size, the Gigan can also dish out some serious pain with a large variety of weapons.
But not without serious costs; the Gigan is an extremely awkward unit that not just any pilot can properly use. Its Will requirements are absolutely ruthless, like requiring a minimum of 110 Will to use any attack with more than one range. It also has terrible accuracy, partially due to its size difference compared to most enemies. Oh, and it’s obviously slow, lacking not just Mobility (this thing will never dodge), but also having 5 Movement. Perhaps worst of all is its obscene EN guzzling. It’s not enough to be intelligent with your most costly attacks, because this thing’s AB Field consumes 10 EN every time it procs from an enemy’s beam attack. Since the Gigan is meant to absorb hits, running out of EN is never a question of “if,” but “when.”
That is a lot of downsides that have to be accounted for, and if they’re not, the Gigan risks being deadweight that barely gets to contribute to a Scenario.
There’s no question that the Gigan is strong, but that won’t amount for much if it’s unable to even attack. Sadly, this is a real concern, as this mech has poor movement and initial attack range. Only the one-range Gigante Knuckle is usable without Will, and 110 Will only grants you the 1-3 range Sheath Thunder. Another 10 Will allows for the Giga-Wide Blaster, an amazing ALL weapon with a huge 4-9 range. At 130 Will, you can finally use Gigante Uragano, a straightforwardly powerful one-range finisher, and the G-Circle Blaster.
The G-Circle Blaster (GCB) is a MAP weapon, but it’s a hell of a lot rougher around the edges than something like Cyflash. It not only requires so much Will that you might miss opportunities to best take advantage of it, but it also has 1 ammo. That’s right: fire this sucker once, and it’s gone until you replenish the Gigan—which costs Will. Oof. Oh, and I should probably mention that, unlike Cyflash, the GCB hits enemies and allies, further limiting your ability to use it effectively. Still, a MAP weapon is a MAP weapon, and that utility is not to be underestimated. It’s also 400 attack strength higher than Cyflash, so those drawbacks aren’t for nothing. Good luck hitting enemies without Bullseye, however, as the GCB has a -10 Accuracy modifier on top of what the Gigan already loses from being larger than most of its targets.
In what’s perhaps an attempt to offset its power, the Gigan’s weapons have low Crit modifiers across the board. A pilot with a high Skill stat is thus appreciated.
With a Solar Panel, the Gigan at max natural EN (including CFUB) recovers around 35 EN per turn. That just barely covers a single Sheath Thunder, but the point is to run out of EN at a later turn than normal, not to have an infinite supply. This effect stacks, so you can even equip two of them. I prefer to have at least one high-end accuracy-boosting Part, as that can allow my pilots using Drive and Spirit to conserve some SP instead of needing to cast Bullseye or Focus. If your pilot lacks Accel, a Megabooster is a bare-minimum must. You could use the Twin command to have a different pilot/mech ferry the Gigan around but this would obviously be a pain in the ass.
The Giganscudo’s custom FUB is +15% EN and +10% Armor. It could not ask for more. Pick it without a second thought.
E-Save: Pretty obvious; the Gigan guzzles EN.
Break Will Limit: The Gigan’s pilot really ought to be able to build Will easily, and getting quick access to the Gigan’s powerful attacks will help snowball those Will gains. Pilots with Drive have a plausible chance of hitting 170 Will, further boosting their offensive and defensive power.
Potential: Potential’s boosts aren’t amazing in OGs, but the Gigan has particular use for them thanks to their contributions to Accuracy, Armor, and Crit.
Revenge: The Gigan can and should counter a ton thanks to Giga-Wide Blaster. It’s likely most of the Gigan’s damage will come from counterattacks, and this pushes it further.
Predict: This is just for the added Accuracy. Costly for just a 10% boost, but pilots with Drive can activate it instantly.
Guard: As rock-solid as the Gigan is, it’s not literally invincible. Being able to save SP due to not having to use Persist and Flash as much is nice, and Guard might help you save just a bit more. You could also be more confident in returning counterattacks instead of defending, whilst in the middle of enemy hordes.
With only two Part slots, the pilot will need to address at least some of Gigan’s many problems themselves. In my opinion, the Gigan’s most significant issue is its Will requirements. Having to use one of its coveted two Part slots on a very rare Will-boosting Part is not ideal, so I would highly recommend using someone with Spirit, or preferably, Drive. Drive grants immediate access to all of the Gigan’s weapons, allowing you to, at the very least, take advantage of its exceptional power. Only three pilots have Drive: Katina, Rio, and Kai. Several pilots have Spirit, which is tolerable enough due to it at least giving you a 1-3 range post-move weapon in Sheath Thunder.
The Gigan can’t dodge to save its life, yet it should still serve as a lightning rod for enemy attacks due to its durability. As such, its pilot has to not mind being constantly hit; even better if they want to be hit, as some pilots gain Will from taking damage. As ideal as that sounds, there is a caveat: if the Gigan’s AB Field reduces damage to 0, the game treats it as evading, potentially “robbing” you of Will (depending on the pilot).
The Gigan is also slow and can’t hit the broad side of a barn, so a pilot with Accel and Bullseye/Focus is also highly recommended.
Believe it or not, I do not recommend Tasuku stay in the Giganscudo. He’s not terrible in it, but his lack of ways to quickly raise his Will really hurts him. His only way of doing so is Love, and his costs an enormous 70 SP. Wall is basically redundant, as the Gigan doesn’t need help taking hits. His low RNG stat undermines the Giga-Wide Blaster, which ought to be the Gigan’s most-used weapon, and his low SKL will not offset the Gigan’s low critical hit chances. His TK Skill is nice for boosting the Gigan’s accuracy, at least. Lucky has a 1.5% activation rate, so its impact is not worth considering. Tasuku plays into the Gigan’s strengths, but doesn’t fix enough problems with using those strengths. Kick this sucker out of the pilot seat.
Katina is pretty much completely ideal for the Giganscudo, having every single Spirit, Will gain, and stat distribution it could want. See Katina’s pilot section above for more details.
Lion F
Weapons
Parts
FUB
Pilots
I’ve seen a lot of people dunk on the Lion F. Many consider it to be among the worst units in the game, but I just don’t think that’s true. Maybe it was that bad in the GBA version; I’m not interested in comparing the two at the moment. But in OGs, it’s far from a meritless unit. Hell, it’s a downright shame it’s route-exclusive and absent from OG2 for seemingly no reason (Ryusei’s route has both the Lion F and Armorlion; they aren’t necessarily the same machine). Well, whatever. Let’s get into it.
It’s intuitive to assume the Lion F isn’t a great unit. It’s literally an enemy grunt mech, and those typically have unremarkable stats when compared to the customized variants and prototype mechs that run wild amongst the playable cast. But really, the main thing that makes enemy grunt mechs suck as hard as they do is the lack of human control. They rarely ever get upgrades, they almost never have Parts equipped, they don’t have our exceptional non-generic pilots controlling them, etc. At lot of grunt mechs don’t fare that poorly when comparing their statistics to unique mechs, and the Lion F is one example.
For starters, the Lion F is a Real Robot through-and-through. It’s a flimsy yet nimble fighter that specializes in ranged, ammo-centric combat. Simply put, it wants to dodge and counterattack with its long-range guns. Pretty basic, regardless of whether a mech can do it right or wrong. The Lion F is also able to fly while most OG1 Real Robots cannot without the use of a Part.
An interesting trait of the Lion F is the fact it has 10 upgrade bars in every stat other than Mobility, which has 6. Because each upgrade bar is a fixed-percent increase, this generally means greater gains per bar as you raise them. Therefore, the more bars, the better. It’s a little more complicated than that due to base stats and percentage gains decreasing past a certain point (so stats don’t inflate out of control), but it’s generally true.
What does this mean for the Lion F? A max HP of 6750, which outstrips basically anything short of a Grungust. 1650 Armor, which beats any common Gespenst unit. And most notably, 149 Mobility. Normally, that’s just a decent Mobility stat. But with the Lion F’s custom FUB adding 15% Mobility, it becomes 171 and ranks among the highest in the game. For perspective, the Cybuster in OG1 tops out at 169—it needs to be in Cybird mode to outclass it.
The Lion F also tends to outdo the Huckebein models, but it cuts it close. Some Huckebein CFUBs are so terrible that one is likely to choose the generic +10% Mobility, which means there are a couple mechs that can essentially beat out the Lion F in Mobility. They’ll still lose on HP, but I’d be lying if I said that mattered much—you should consider any high-Mobility unit taking a hit unacceptable. Anyway, the Lion F’s high number of upgrade bars make it a tad expensive to fully upgrade, but what you get in return certainly has its value. I would not recommend using the Lion F long-term if you’re not going to spring for its CFUB.
But wait, there’s more! The Lion F’s built-in weapons aren’t too shabby. They’re entirely Ranged, use ammo, and none require any Will to use. Their attack power certainly isn’t impressive by the end of the game, but they’re relatively cheap to upgrade and keep useful. The Machine Cannon and Railgun both have S ranks for Sky and Space terrain, giving them a consistent 10% boost to damage that further benefits from increasing their power. The two real flaws with these weapons are their lame critical rates (40/0/10; still beats the Guarlion’s!) and mediocre range. Its sole post-move weapon, the Machine Cannon, is a meager 1-2 range. The Homing Missile and Railgun are both 2-6, and other than its higher accuracy, the HM is strictly inferior to the Railgun and only serves to save you the latter’s ammo on occasion.
An M13 Shotgun with Custom Ammo can give you ALL utility and a 4 range post-move weapon all at once. While it’s easy enough to slap a 1-4 range post-move Option Weapon on the Lion F, the Railgun is a bit more of a conundrum. Sure, you could toss a Graviton Cannon on the thing, but that discourages investment into the Railgun, and if you’re not capitalizing on the Railgun, then you’re downplaying one of the Lion F’s unique benefits. I suppose there’s still something to be said for the Railgun’s attributes relative to the fact it requires no Will, at least. If you get the Lion F +2 range either through Parts or the Gunfighter Skill, you pretty much never need to touch it again, but that’s potentially a big investment. Range-boosting Parts are rare and in high demand, though Gunfighter is a Skill that’s nice to have on any ranged fighter regardless. I should mention that the Lion F has no innate use for its EN stat. Like, at all. Option Weapons that consume EN may be preferable for this reason, as you can save ammo weapons for your EN-centric units, like the R-2.
Four part slots, and one of them should always be a Dustproofer. By god, it’s mandatory. The S ranks in Sky and Space are likely to make up for the fact the Lion F is usually worse off when grounded despite any terrain benefits, but a Dustproofer turns that into an overcorrection, giving you S ranks everywhere except Water. This applies to the Machine Cannon and Railgun too, saving you from using an A-Adapter or S-Adapter. Not many mechs are competing for Dustproofers, and potentially none of them suit one as well as the Lion F, as the ranks of the aforementioned Parts are wasted outside of Water. You may temporarily want to fix its water issues due to Ryusei’s route having plenty of Water terrain, but this eventually becomes unnecessary.
Slap a Mobility-boosting Part on it or two to give it a nigh-unhittable dodge rate. 6 Move is mediocre, so that should be addressed unless your pilot has Accel. Even then, it might be worth it just as a “filler” Part(s). Slap a Beam Coat or AB Field on it to give its EN stat any use at all and potentially save it from being killed by an enemy’s lucky Beam attack. Range-boosters are helpful for the reasons I describe in the Weapons section.
There’s essentially zero reason to choose anything other than +15% Mobility, the Lion F’s CFUB.
A dedicated ranged fighter. Preferably someone with Accel. A support attacker to make use of its easily spammable weapons. Someone who can consistently dodge attacks. Focus and Persist Spirits help.
Recommended Pilots: Leona, Gilliam, Radha, Garnet, Aya
R-Gun
Abilities
Weapons
Parts
FUB
Pilots
Unlike what its appearance suggests and its stats in later OG games, the R-Gun’s stats in OG1 are ludicrously high. With the exception of its low HP, the R-Gun has exceptional endurance thanks to its high Mobility, Armor, and TK Field Ability. It’s no slouch offensively, either. You may think this makes the R-Gun a versatile, appropriate mech for any range-focused pilot—and you’d be right. However, not everyone can use it to its full potential.
The TK Field is… pretty pointless. With a TK pilot, it’s able to nullify damage equal to 200 times the pilot’s TK level; the maximum threshold is therefore 1800. 1800 is over a quarter of the R-Gun’s max HP, so it’s not totally irrelevant. It’s also not that unlikely to proc, considering the R-Gun’s Armor, and you can make it even easier with Armor-boosting Parts.
But in my experience, the TK Field’s relevance never seems to come up, even when I have the R-Gun in the frontlines. It simply dodges too consistently, and it’s not difficult for late-game enemies to go over the threshold. Also, enemy AI seems to prioritize targets based on the potential damage it can inflict to them, so if the AI sees it will only do 1800 or less damage to the R-Gun, it’s likely to target something else.
The TK Field’s damage nullification also counts as an evaded attack, which matters for some pilots’ Will gains and can be a detriment. It also consumes a small amount of EN per use, though that’s unlikely to matter. I’m basically saying that there’s many reasons to not mind giving the R-Gun to a non-TK pilot.
The R-Gun’s finisher, the Metal Genocider, is a 3-9 range ALL weapon whose 4800 base power can lay waste to enemy Twins. So much of this mech’s value is tied to the Metal Genocider, and it’s strongly recommended that its pilot can build Will extremely fast to begin firing it with reckless abandon. Its 50 EN cost may seem hefty at a glance, but the R-Gun’s EN exceeds 400 with its CFUB (+20% EN), so it’s actually a very spammable weapon.
The R-Gun’s other two weapons are barely worth mentioning. To be more specific, one is barely worth mentioning, and the other will only be mentioned because of my thoroughness. The latter is the Vulcan Cannon, which sucks almost as much as it usually does. Normally, its only use would be very rarely saving the Ammo and EN costs of other weapons.
Except, the Beam Katars make the Vulcans even worse than usual. They both share the dreaded one range, and the Beam Katars’ base power being over twice that of the Vulcans means it’s far more likely that the Katars will be within the required damage range to finish off an enemy and save resources. Granted, the Katars consume 10 EN per attack, but who cares? Just equip a melee Option Weapon that doesn’t.
Since 2/3rds of the R-Gun’s weapons suck, you should definitely put on some of your own. You’ll want to cover its built-in two-range blind spot at the very least, but you should also have Ammo-based ranged alternatives to the Metal Genocider to both save it EN or to use while building up Will. I like the Slash Ripper on the R-Gun, as it slots in at a perfect 1-3 range, and it outpowers the Vulcans and Katars. If you’re using a pilot with Support Attack, remember to give the R-Gun a non-ALL ranged weapon.
Definitely a Movement-boosting Part or two, unless its pilot has the Accel Spirit. The R-Gun has no S Ranks to speak of across the entire board, so Parts addressing that can improve its defenses, damage output, and hit rate. If you don’t want to spare an S-Adapter, it’s a particularly good candidate for the Tesla Drive S, since it already needs the Movement increase. This also allows it to get around water terrain, which gives it a movement penalty without a Water Jet (another fine choice).
Armor Parts to increase its HP and Armor can help, especially the latter if you want TK Field to do anything. Accuracy-boosting Parts will definitely be beneficial, as the MG’s huge range can come with major Hit penalties. Will-boosting Parts are recommended if its pilot doesn’t have Drive. Solar Panels and Generators are an option, but I rarely ever see the R-Gun run out of EN once it’s fully upgraded.
I personally wouldn’t ever put a pilot without Spirit or Drive in the R-Gun’s pilot seat. Without the Metal Genocider, the only thing the R-Gun has going for it are its oddly high Mobility and Armor stats. Do whatever you can to make the MG immediately usable. The R-Gun isn’t in desperate need of Parts, so you can stack Headbands on it, but I think that should be avoided.
OG1‘s pilots with Drive that can pilot the R-Gun are Rio, Katina, and Kai. In my opinion, Rio is the best possible pilot for the R-Gun. She’s very nearly ideal for it, but I highly recommend teaching her Hit & Run. Katina is nearly there and has Accel, but her Will gains don’t complement the R-Gun’s high Mobility, as she gains no Will for dodging. Kai has a mediocre RNG stat, but he is the only one of these three to come with Hit & Run. His Ace Bonus helps the MG crit more, which is a significant damage boost, and he has E-Save to make EN problems virtually impossible.
The only pilot with Spirit that I would recommend the R-Gun to is Bullet. His Ace Bonus is perfect for it, giving a +10% boost to Crit and Accuracy. In-Fighter will also boost the R-Gun’s Movement, even if it does little for its weapons. If you’re really bored, you could have Excellen pilot the R-Gun and open every map using Love to build Will. There are many more pilots without Spirit or Drive that can use the R-Gun—basically anyone with decent RNG and/or Accel/Hit & Run—but I don’t think that’s exceptional enough to be worth noting.
The TK Field isn’t a big deal, but if you really want to use it, every TK pilot works well in the R-Gun other than Kusuha and Tasuku due to their cruddy RNG stat. Leona’s paper-thin DEF will make the TK Field less likely to trigger, mind.
Hit & Run and Accel are highly recommended to keep the R-Gun in the frontlines where it should be countering enemies with the MG.
Wildschwein
Weapons
Parts
FUB
Pilots
The Wildschwein is a standalone mech of no story relevance and practically no canonical pilot. This already odd machine becomes further such when considering its unusually balanced stats. It has high Mobility without being among the most evasive units, and its Armor stat is well-above its Size M counterparts. However, the Wildschwein’s unique FUB grants it a whopping +20% to its base Armor, bringing it up to a staggeringly high 2340. This Armor stat is only marginally lower than the Gust Lander and Grungust Type 0 of all things.
To my knowledge, the only mech that has a noteworthy lead in base Armor is the goddamn SRX, which tops out at 2610 without applying a generic +10% Armor FUB. The Giganscudo’s custom FUB puts it at 2612, which might be the highest among all playable units. The Wildschwein is a seriously thick bastard. Again, one has to consider its Mobility stat as well, which is unheard of among mechs with this high of Armor.
So, case closed, right? The Wildschwein is the best mech in the game because it has big numbers. Of course, not quite. Its HP is fairly average for an M Size unit, and it’s a few thousand below the average HP of Super Robots. Its relatively smaller size also means it takes increased damage from larger enemies, and both of these factors cut into its otherwise astonishing durability. Still, it’s granted such a large buffer that it hardly even matters, especially if you pair it with the right pilot and Parts. Helping matters some is the additional 10% defense granted by its S rank for ground terrain, and a built-in Beam Coat.
The Wildschwein’s other claim to fame is its one-and-only built-in weapon, the Circle Zanber. This highly efficient weapon costs 15 EN, requires 110 Will, and does Piercing Melee damage with a base attack of 3600. It gains 10% further attack on any terrain other than water thanks to its nearly universal S ranks and boasts a respectable if not impressive +40 Accuracy and +25 Critical modifier. Likewise, it has a short 1-2 range one might expect from a Melee weapon. Despite a few unremarkable attributes, the average value of all of these traits—the low Will requirement, cheap cost, decent base power, S ranks, and workable Acc/Crit—are rarely ever seen together on the same weapon.
And that’s basically it. You have a super tanky, decently dodgy Real Robot with a spammable weapon that’s good in any kind of encounter other than long-ranged ones. It’s worth noting that to get the most out of these characteristics, i.e. if one wants to use the Wildschwein for the entire game, it needs investment. Paying the cost to get its FUB at some point should be considered mandatory, as its part of what makes it a notable unit. This is in contrast to other machines that can freely ignore putting any Funds into stats they don’t use. Fortunately, the cost to fully upgrade the Wildschwein is only around the average of all of your mechs.
The Circle Zanber is worth investing in, as its base power is impressive at the time the mech joins your roster, but will gradually become fairly unremarkable. At the same time, it’d be a shame to let all of its positive elements be obsoleted by powerful (secret) Option Weapons, so I would recommend committing to strengthening it. Unfortunately, it’s not a cheap weapon to upgrade. It’s not in the highest-cost upgrade tier, but it’s not too far off, either. But, keep in mind that its S Ranks mean that you’re essentially adding an additional 10% to its power with every upgrade, and the low EN cost means you can basically use it as much as you want. And let’s not forget that Pierce quality! So yeah, getting the most out of the Wildschwein basically demands fully upgrading it and pumping at least some money into the Circle Zanber.
Is the Wildschwein worth that investment? Yeah, I would say so. You get it fairly early on in the game, so any investment can potentially pay off for a long time. You can absolutely take it to the endgame, as it is undeniably a cut above your typical MP Gespenst Mk-IIs and such. Lastly, it’s worth touching on its 6 Move that’s unimpeded by water terrain, massive 170 W Capacity, and 3 Part slots.
Obviously, there’s no reason to not put high-range weapons on the Wildschwein in the likely event the Zanber can’t reach an enemy. I would recommend non-Beam weapons since it’s often going to be in water and isn’t worth equipping a terrain rank-boosting Part to. I have a standard setup for the Wildschwein that works exceptionally well for many pilots.
Equip a Leap Slasher, as any pilot utilizing Spirit to access the Zanber will also meet the Will requirement for the Slasher. Its 3-6 range has its blind spot partially covered by the Zanber. The Slasher doesn’t have that high of range, but you can kill two birds with one stone by equipping a single range-increasing Part, allowing the Zanber to totally cover the Slasher’s blind spot while also raising the latter to a respectable 7 range. With just one more range boost, you meet the standard 1-4 range for a post-move weapon with the Zanber, and the Slasher’s 8 range will be enough to counterattack almost any enemy. With this setup, you’re basically ready for anything with just two weapons. It’s also nice that the Slasher is one of the strongest long-range Option Weapons, as it helps mitigate the low Ranged stat common among the Melee-oriented pilots who’d want the Wildschwein’s pilot seat.
Mixed offensive attackers might consider forgoing one of two range-boosting Parts by equipping a Slash Ripper, which will become a 1-4 range post-move weapon. Extra weapon space can go to an M13 Shotgun for the utility of its ALL attack, status-inflicting weapons, and weaker, “filler” ranged weapons that may occasionally save some of the Leap Slasher’s ammo when finishing off weakened enemies. The Graviton Cannon also pairs well with the Wildschwein, as a Spirit user can immediately put themselves halfway (or more) to accessing it, and it still provides an ALL weapon. Its base range is high enough to not require Parts, and its 1 range blind spot is likewise covered by the Zanber’s default range.
While the two weapons both use EN, the Zanber’s cost is so low that this should rarely ever cause conflicts. The downside of this decision is having two high-power “finisher” weapons on one mech, as many situations will only have you needing one. However, the GC’s high base power could justify not pouring money into the Zanber. Encouraging the Wildschwein to prioritize ranged combat also undermines the value of its high Armor, as its more likely to dodge and not receive counterattacks at higher ranges. Still, there’s enough synergy here to make the GC well-worth considering, particularly if you’re using a pilot with mixed offensive stats.
The Wildschwein has very few innate issues to solve via Parts. As mentioned above, one of those few is the Zanber’s low range. Without much competition from other Parts, range-boosting Parts are certainly a great choice and synergize with several Option Weapons the Wildschwein benefits from. Before unlocking its custom FUB, Parts to raise Armor and/or Mobility are useful. Movement-boosting Parts are essential for any pilot without Accel, and perhaps even with it, as the Wildschwein wants to be on the frontlines where its Zanber can reach enemies and its high Armor can be put to use.
For the reasons mentioned in the overview, you’d be insane to not take the custom FUB.
So, who’s good for this thing? Well, not Ingram, for starters. Naturally, Ingram is such a good pilot that he can certainly make the combination work, but he’s not one to take great advantage of the Wildschwein’s traits. Ingram is much better at dodging than taking hits, and his offensive stats favor ranged combat, limiting the Zanber’s efficacy. The best thing Ingram brings to the Wildschwein is Accel, which offsets its painfully mediocre Move, something needed to close the distance when attacking with the 1-2 range Zanber. Go put Ingram in a Huckebein or something.
In my opinion, the Wildschwein should have a pilot who prefers to take hits or simply needs to survive long in general, favors Melee or can tolerate mixed weapon types via Option Weapons, and has Spirit to make the Zanber immediately usable. There’re actually a pretty wide range of pilots that meet these criteria. The Zanber and the Wildschwein’s poor Move also greatly appreciate anyone with the In-Fight Skill or Accel Spirit.
Recommended Pilots: Giada, Irm, Bullet
Other Choices: Katina, Kyosuke, Rio, Radha
Original Generation 2
Mechs (and Mech-Locked Pilots)
R-Blade
Weapons
Parts
FUB
Pilots
The R-Blade is an extremely odd mech—perhaps more so than any other in the game. Its intended purpose is still a mystery to me. My best guess is that it’s designed to be part of the generic grunt-killer archetype commonly occupied by mechs like Gundam Deathscythe in the mainline series. Its primary weapon, the Blade Tonfa, has zero cost and does decent damage, can pierce barriers, and has 1-4 range with a decent +35 Critical modifier. Its Mobility stat is fairly good, so I believe you’re meant to throw the R-Blade into a crowd of enemies and dodge repeatedly while countering infinitely for respectable critical-hit damage.
In practice, everything about the R-Blade comes up just a little too short. The Blade Tonfa’s base power scales poorly to the endgame even when taking into account its non-existent cost, and its Mobility comes up short compared to other dodgy RRs. The unfortunate end result is one of the game’s most superfluous mechs. It’s usable… but for what? Even for grunt killing, its efficiency is irrelevant compared to the large amount of powerful mechs you can field that will relieve the burden of each others’ individual weapon costs. The R-Blade has no niche, and even as a generic mech, there are far too many options with more meta-relevant traits. Even its Blade Tonfa has its lunch completely devoured by the secret (yet easily obtainable) Boost Hammer weapon.
Well, if you’re using the R-Blade, you may as well lean into the Blade Tonfa. With some upgrades, it’s a 1-4 range no-cost standard attack that competes favorably with other mechs’ weapons of similar functionality. The problem is that it needs a lot of Funds to gain attack power worthy of a finisher, and that’s all money you could spend on something with higher base power.
If you want to leapfrog over that problem, you can equip the R-Blade with a new finisher. I would not recommend the Boost Hammer, as it makes the Tonfa almost completely irrelevant. The G-Impact Stake provides nice power, while the Tonfa’s added range and infinite usage comes in handy to preserve Stake ammo. The Graviton Launcher solves the issue of needing a high-range weapon while giving you more respectable damage, so they pair nicely.
Regardless, you obviously want to slap some long-range weapons on the R-Blade so that it can counterattack more. The Neo Chakram Caster would allow you to keep it entirely Melee-focused, but that’s an extremely high-demand weapon for better mechs like the Alteisen and Wildwurger. The R-Blade’s EN stat is low but generally worthless, so you might prefer giving it your EN-based rifles.
The R-Blade’s one other weapon is the Vulcan Cannon, which reaches a new level of worthless when considering the Tonfa is already always usable. Oh, and the Tonfa only has A ranks for every terrain, while most finishers by the end of the game have S ranks in common terrain. Come on!
Mobility. Mobility, Mobility, Mobility. The R-Blade should be throwing those Tonfas around, and it needs to be able to dodge everything because it will die from a maximum of two hits. Enemy hit chances above 10% are unacceptable. Otherwise, boost Movement unless your pilot has Accel. Added Range for the Tonfa is a cute idea, I guess. A Beam Coat and AF Field make for good filler Parts that might save it from a rogue attack. An Enhancer can help you get the most out of the Tonfa. A Custom CPU can solve multiple issues, but its boost to Accuracy will be mostly wasted. For all of the R-Blade’s flaws, it having 4 Part slots is nice, at least.
The R-Blade’s custom FUB is the ever-worthless Weapon Space +30. Do not waste your time with it. Instead, I highly recommend getting the generic Mobility +10%. The R-Blade’s natural Mobility is not enough to reliably dodge by the end of the game, and this gets it closer. Its otherwise too frail to justify anything else. The EN isn’t even enough to fire the Graviton Launcher one more time.
The R-Blade wants a pilot that can reliably dodge and/or has the Persist and Focus Spirits. They should have a functional Melee stat, with a decent Ranged stat being preferable due to it needing a long-range Option Weapon. A high Skill stat to make the Blade Tonfa crit more often also helps take advantage of one of the mech’s few decent traits.
Ling works pretty well in the R-Blade. Her amazing stats cover all of its strengths and weaknesses, and her poor Will gains aren’t relevant to the Blade Tonfa. This does somewhat waste her Drive Spirit, however, unless you slap on a Graviton Launcher or something. Also, her Ace Bonus, should you manage you get it, raises her Evasion and Critical chance by 10% each, which works beautifully for the R-Blade. Even without Focus, I almost never saw Ling’s enemies’ hit chance go above 0%. Remember to get the 10% Mobility FUB.
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