Overview
Type 88’s (hereafter Hanyang) Neural Upgrade radically redefines her role in your Echelons, taking her from a traditional RF to a wide area damage dealer. This comes from her second Skill ‘Almighty Power’ which is discussed at length below, as it has several quirks that should be considered, alongside being rather lengthy.
Outside of her second Skill, Hanyang gains much-needed Damage from her Neural Upgrade, as well as a massive boost to her Rate of Fire, bringing her more in line with the DPS rifles that are typically used. While a six-point jump in RoF does not seem like much, thanks to the low base RoF of the RF class, it has a substantial effect of letting Hanyang fire eight frames faster (see
here for details). Even better, the entirety of her Rate of Fire boost, and most of her Damage is front-loaded to Mod 1, although Hanyang needs Mod 2 at minimum, and prefers to be pushed to Mod 3 for maximum effectiveness, which somewhat mitigates this value. Her Damage Focus Skill also gains a slight multiplier boost bringing it in line with her new rarity, as well as a movement speed increase. Both of these are nice to have additions, but neither radically change how Hanyang is used, not when compared to the Almighty Power. This is further bolstered by a Damage boost from her Special Equipment, both from Mod 3 and later the Black Market, which provides five additional Damage each.
The downside to this is that Hanyang absolutely needs her Mod 2, and peaks at Mod 3 with further investment beyond that important for those looking to maximize her potential, as her final point of Damage is not obtained at level 115.