Doll Info :: Claes
Claes
Type: MG
Rarity: EXTRA
Obtainable from:
- • Limited-time campaign 【Gunslinger Girl】rescue reward
Affects SG
- Increases damage by 15%
- Increases armor by 15%
| Stat | Value (per dummy link) |
|---|---|
| HP | (x1) (x2) (x3) (x4) (x5) |
| RECOV | (x1) (x2) (x3) (x4) (x5) |
| DMG | |
| ROF | Max cap |
| ACC | |
| EVA | |
| CRIT % | % |
Equipment
Thinker's Key
ICD: S.
CD: S.
Doll review
Overview
Don't think Claes is just another MG! She's wildly different in just about every aspect and her role is essentially determined by your choice of special equipment.
Claes cannot attack while she's in Charging Mode, and while you can technically activate her skill instantly to make her work like a regular MG, she won't gain any stacks (so her skill is essentially useless), and her base stats equivalent to M249 SAW results in disappointing damage output.
How long should Claes stay in Charging Mode?
Letting Claes charge to 5 stacks is almost always preferable to using her with no stacks (barring situations where you need an initial volley like tarantulas). Charging Mode only works if:
- Claes is not moving, firing, or reloading
- 2 seconds elapse (so no stack at 0s when battle starts, and after reload the first stack also takes 2 seconds of charging)
We'll cover her main variations below:
Meteorite
Claes provides a stacking +Damage buff to all allies every 2 seconds while charging.
The buff % is small (+5% per stack, +15% maximum) and it takes time to ramp up, making it weaker than a strict HG buff. Furthermore, Claes lacks the +DMG tiles that HGs would have - so this makes her even worse as a buffer.
Even with Claes's self DPS factored into the equation, she ultimately will contribute less to overall team DPS than a dedicated HG buffer.
Spectacles
In this mode, Claes constantly shields allies in front of her* every 2 seconds. The shield itself is not very strong, but it stacks up to 40 HP and is reapplied frequently - meaning Claes can potentially substitute for a shield HG if only the frontline needs to be shielded.
Claes loses in shield/second compared to HGs like P22/HS2000 or even Sei and doesn't provide a damage buff, so in general there's no situation in which you'd use Claes over a shield HG.
To add insult to injury, there is currently a bug wherein Claes stops adding more shield to allies after she's provided a total of 40 HP in shielding - so Claes underperforms even worse than her fairly unremarkable on-paper numbers.
Wristwatch
This is the pure DPS mode for Claes, giving her up to 5 extra ammo before she starts shooting.
Unfortunately, even though Claes deals incredible per-hit DPS in this mode, she still underperforms relative to other MG - the lack of a first volley means Claes ends up dealing roughly 30% less DPS than 2nd volley competitors like Lewis or M1918 Mod. (In other words, similar DPS output as MG4...)
Why is delayed DPS bad?
Because damage taken depends on the number of enemies remaining, compare Claes with MG4, whose over-time DPS is comparable.
It should be self-evident why Claes causes your team to take more damage than MG4 despite similar over time DPS:
Pros
Low Skill Level Requirement
Claes's Skill only scales her self +Damage% per stack - the supportive effects are unaffected by Skill Level. This means you don't have to invest a lot of Training Data to use Claes for her supportive niches.
15% Armor Tile Buff
While +15% Armor in Girls' Frontline is not as rare as it was previously, players low on high-rarity MGs that need to armor stack could use Claes in a pinch and pair her with Spectacles to help reduce incoming damage.
Free Event Reward
Players can earn Claes simply by purchasing her from the Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino Collaboration event shop, using event currency that can be earned for free - there's no need to roll the production gacha for her.
Cons
Poor Base Stats
Claes inherits M249 SAW's statline, making her DPS fairly lackluster among MGs.
Poor Skill Scaling
While Claes can theoretically do a lot of different things, she always underperforms relative to units dedicated to those niches - possibly as an intentional "jack of all trades master of none" design.
Shield Skill Bugged
Claes stops adding more shield to allies after she's provided a total of 40 HP in shielding (and maxed out her own stacks). To make her add shields again, Claes must be forced into Attack Mode so she reloads and goes back to reading again.
As a result of this quirk, Claes underperforms even worse than her fairly unremarkable on-paper numbers.
Extremely Low DPS
Claes spends most of her time in Charging Mode and doesn't shoot. Even with the +125% Damage (yes, the stacks are additive) self-buff at max stacks, this is not enough to offset her massive downtime, bringing Claes performance similar to that of one of the lowest DPS MGs in the game, MG4.
If Claes is simply left on auto skill to shoot without charging, her DPS is even worse.