Overview

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Contender carries a mix of Damage and Crit Rate tile buffs, a feature that was previously unique to M1895. Contender’s tiles, however, provide much stronger coverage and trade 2% Damage for 4% Crit Rate. It is this tile layout that makes Contender a much more versatile pick than M1895, and makes her a good fit in a vast amount of Echelons without strict placement restrictions, unlike M1895 who is relegated to tile 4 virtually all the time. Contender’s Skill, Inquisitor’s Bullet, provides a small burst of damage as well as a focus fire with 40% Damage amplification on the target, meaning that it can potentially halve a boss’ effective HP. While this Skill does not see much use against the rather weak bosses present in chapter 0 to 8, Contender can create one-salvo opportunities for MGs against chapter 9’s boss as well as chapter 10’s boss, Judge. Contender consolidates her place as one of the strongest HGs throughout all stages of the game thanks to her tiles early on, and in addition her Skill later on. She can fit ARSMG, Nuke RFHG and MGSG teams alike, though MGSG Echelons take a maximum advantage of her entire kit.

Full analysis

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Contender is one of the few HGs to carry a mixture of Damage and Crit Rate tile buffs, and among them, she’s the best one. Contender’s tile buffs and coverage allow her to fit in a variety of team compositions, though she is primarily used in tile 5 as a replacement to Mk23 in MG teams due to her exceptionally strong synergy with HGs (such as Spitfire and SAA) who buff MGs Accuracy from tile 4. Contender also allows for a much better usage of Crit Scopes by MGs thanks to her tiles, and combined with the Accuracy buffs provided by Spitfire or SAA, MGs need not worry about using EOT and can instead pursue the much higher DPS boost granted by VFL. Furthermore, in Nuke RFHG (and by extension 5HG bossing teams) Contender is an amazing choice as she provides the highest damage amplification in the game against bosses, which is just what Nuke RF need. Although Contender can be employed in ARSMG teams, her impact in these compositions is not nearly as high as in MGSG, and she faces a much tougher competition by the likes of M4A1, Ribeyrolles, and Zas M21 for a position in tile 4, and SR3MP, Vector, UMP45 and RO635 in the frontline. When it comes to brute-forcing armored enemies, Contender cannot compete with Mk23 and Grizzly due to her damage amplification being limited to a single target, but she can still be a viable alternative regardless, even if she’s not an optimal one. Contender’s Skill, Inquisitor Bullet, proves to be an absurdly strong tool against high HP bosses that can be found after Chapter 9 as well as in the Deep Dive story event. Due to the incredible damage output of Chapter 10’s boss, Judge, Contender is a prime pick to take her down in a single amplified MG salvo after Judge’s shield breaks and her damage doubles. The importance of Contender against Judge cannot be understated as this boss is capable of taking down SGs very quickly after her shield breaks — and trying to mitigate this with Armor stacking requires far too much investment and possibly the usage of subpar units. Overall, Contender can be a good fit in many Echelons, though she is best used in MGSG due to her amazing tiles and later on against high HP bosses. Her versatility and utility is difficult to match, making her an excellent choice of investment.