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Doll review

Overview

M1897, or Trenchie/Trench Gun, is an infamous SG that in Girls’ Frontline lacks the punch its real life counterpart has. As she is a 3 star SG, she suffers from average HP pool and Armor, and as she is a budget SG, she suffers heavy competition from M500 and SPAS-12, both which are Career Rewards, and login SGs, such as HSM10 and TS12, which return as farmables in events. As SG use is already niche, using budget SGs is hard to justify. In the end, M1897 fails to be a relevant DPS SG, and a relevant budget SG.

Pros

Cute

M1897 is cute. That’s her only strength

Cheap, but…

Being a 3 star SG theoretically means that she is easier to acquire than her 4 and 5 star counterparts. She is also cheaper to raise core-wise

Cons

3 star

Being a 3 star, M1897 can neither be acquired through True Core Masks like the 5 star SGs, nor has a rate-up like her 4 and 5 star counterparts. In fact, the SG rate up actually decreases the 3 star SG rate in favour of increasing 4 and 5 star. Thus it’s not unusual to see longtime Commanders that still lack M1897 or RMB-93.

Average HP pool

Even among us her 3 star peers, M1897 has an average HP pool of 1265 HP. When compared to all of her SG peers, she loses to Career Rewards’ SPAS-12 and M500 Mod (1320 and 1375 HP respectively) and lags behind golden standard SGs like S.A.T.8 and LTLX (1410 and 1375).

Average Armor stat

Neither too high nor too low, M1897 has a base armor value of 21. While her competitors, SPAS-12 and M500 also have the same Armor stat, they make it up with a larger HP pool

DPS shotgun

As Shotguns are meant to tank bullets, they rarely excel at being DPS Dolls. M1897 is no exception to this rule. With an 8 seconds ICD, she’s bound to fire past the 10s mark, unless Commanders kite her so she won’t be reloading when her ICD ends. Even then, her Skill does not deal enough damage, nor is enough to help mitigate incoming damage.

Mod review

Overview

Taking up on her notorious reputation as a crowd control shotgun M1897 Mod receives a kit that further enhances her crowd control capabilities. Her Skill 2, based on the infamous flechette rounds, allows her to deal a massive 20 instances of damage.

Insert gif of flechette round

That means she can deal a big amount of damage to a single target (like Data Dummy), even with the damage falloff of up to 90% (meaning the rounds deal 10% of the original damage), or deal a widespread damage, which is useful against enemies compositions where there are low HP, non armored enemies escorting a highly dangerous enemy, such as Strelets and Gundams or Cyclops and Hydras. Unfortunately, those types of compositions neither are common, nor are faced with a team with an SG in it. Moreover, with Chapter 13 finally in EN, Commanders can also opt to use Defender if they wish to Data farm. In the end, M1897 Mod is more of a meme use than an actually usable DPS shotgun. Lastly, her Flechette has random targeting, which means it’s possible that it can target the dangerous enemies instead of mopping up the mobs.

Pros

Decent HP pool

At Mod 3, she has an HP pool of 1355, which is on the high end of her SG peps. That means M1897 Mod can also tank more shots. If only her Armor stat also increased…

Delete single targets but…

Even with the damage falloff, M1897 can deal sufficient damage in some scenarios to oneshot enemies. Before Defender released, a M1897xodia was used in Datafarm to achieve sub 1 second farms, but Defender does that at a much cheaper cost.

Useful against low Evasion mobs

Due to her improvements on Accuracy and Damage, as well as her ability to equip PEQ, she can be adequately used against enemies comps full of low Evasion mobs, such as Cyclops and Strelets.

Cons

M500 Mod exists

A 3 star SG that gets a mod, who could it be? Chances are M500 Mod crossed your mind. M1897 Mod has to compete with the Neural Upgrade of M500, a 3 star SG everyone receives from Career Rewards. And, unlike M1897 Mod, whose use is niche, M500 Mod is among the best SGs in the game.

…Defender exists

M1897 Mod had a use case in Data Farming, due to the galloping 20 instances of damage against a single unit. However, she was dethroned by Defender, an SG specialized in deleting single targets, and that is a farmable unit in chapter 13. Even though M1897 is a 3-star Mod, she still is significantly more expensive than Defender, who doesn’t need to be crafted and can have dupes farmed.

Still has average Armor stat

Unlike M500 Mod, M1897 Mod doesn’t receive a buff on her Armor stat. That means she still has the average Armor stat she had before her Mod, and thus still suffers from it.