AN-94/Strategy

AN-94

Strategy

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AN-94 attribute analysis, detailed descriptions, performance review and compatibility suggestion.

Individual Performance

Skill

Graphical effect of Doll Trigger proc

Her active ability Doll Trigger is also one of a kind, her shots deals damage twice while active, this also happens whenever she switches to a new target as a passive effect. A special graphical effect will appear over the enemy units whenever Doll Trigger procs, seeing the effect means the target received the second damage.

The skill itself has the same timer as ^AR AK-12AK-12 's, an AR type T-doll released together with AN-94. 6 seconds initial cooldown, 5 seconds of active duration, followed by 8 seconds of skill cooldown.

Note that crit rate for the second damage caused by Doll Trigger effect is calculated separately, the first damage is critical does not mean the second damage is also a critical hit.

Stats

Similar to AK-12, AN-94 also has SS rank growth rate, her late game attributes are relatively high amongst AR dolls. Her highest attribute would be accuracy, she boast the second highest accuracy rating just behind ^AR RFBRFB . Her lowest rated attribute would be rate of fire, which is still somewhere in the middle ground when compared to all the AR dolls.

Combat Performance

Note that AN-94 does not have to finish off the target herself for Doll Trigger passive to proc on the next, she merely has to switch target, the faster targets dies on the field, the more potential damage output AN-94 can unleash. Though every shot she makes will have guaranteed Doll Trigger effect upon skill activation.

Combined with the effectiveness and the short cooldown of her skill, AN-94's damage output places her among the top ARs in terms of damage output in the game, she is possibly the strongest DPS AR when sweeping through average enemy units. The other high damage output AR dolls are AK-12, modified ^AR ST AR-15ST AR-15 , ^AR AUGAUG  and ^AR G11G11  (modified ^AR M4A1M4A1  is subject to debate due to her modded skill activation prerequisite).

Formation

Tile Bonus

AN-94 features a very large front row buff tile, she provides a formidable amount of evasion and accuracy bonus to SMG units, her tile bonuses are considered defensive orientated.

Tiles

Affects Submachine guns

Increases accuracy by 55%

Increases evasion by 16%

High magnitude

AN-94 is able to provide tile bonuses similar to and exceeding ^AR G41G41 's, a 16% evasion and 55% accuracy bonus is beneficial to all SMG units. AN-94 can boost three bonus tiles, her 16% evasion bonus is considered high for a twin bonus three effect coverage tile.

Other examples evasion/accuracy effect three bonus tile AR dolls are ^AR M4 SOPMOD IIM4 SOPMOD II , ^AR RFBRFB  and ^AR FALFAL . SOP2 can provide 15% evasion and 50% accuracy bonus, RFB can provide 18% evasion but only 30% accuracy bonus, FAL can provide 20% evasion but no accuracy bonus.

Flexible placement

AN-94 is the only AR doll with this tile shape, it is essentially a inverted version of AK-12's, she is typically placed in position 7, as she is able to buff tile 8, 5, 2 while standing on 7.

Typically the three effect coverage tiles are usually shaped like this (see below), it is the case with the three example ARs mentioned above. This tile shape is considered versatile, the placement for it is flexible, it means the doll can be placed anywhere on the back line and still provide bonus to at least 1 on the front row.

AN-94's bonus tile has a similar feel, even though she is unable to buff dolls standing above her, she can deliver bonus to a tile that is not directly adjacent/diagonal to her standing position. This means her compatibility within an echelon is still considered more flexible than some other AR dolls, players can still find it easy to place her within an echelon.

Compatibility

Similar to K2, there are two ways of boosting AN-94, or somewhere in between the two depending on players' desires.

Boost Damage:

Stacking up damage attribute and maximize AN-94's volley damage, Doll Trigger effect duplicates another damage on the same target, higher damage means more chance of killing the said target and move on to the next, gaining the target switching bonus and proc Doll Trigger on the next shot. Even if AN-94 was unable to finish the target in one shot, high base damage means the target would have taken a lot of damage from Doll Trigger effect, which makes it easier for other units on the team to finish off.

Ignoring rate of fire would mean that AN-94 benefits less from her ability's active effect, she will not be able to shoot as many guaranteed effect proc shots if her rate of fire is too low, since her default rate of fire is considered fairly average.

Examples of SMG units who provides damage attribute on their formation tiles are ^SMG PP-19PP-19 , ^SMG UMP45UMP45  and ^SMG Type 79Type 79 

Boost Rate of Fire:

AN-94 can receive up to 58%(57.9%) rate of fire bonus before hitting the 120 cyclic rate of fire cap. High rate of fire will benefit the active skill effect of Doll Trigger, as she is able to unleash more guaranteed effect shots while the skill is active. Higher rate of fire also meant she is able to switch between targets easier to capitalize upon the passive skill effect.

Though ignoring damage tile buffs and focusing solely on rate of fire bonus will result in low damage value, meaning she might not be able to penetrate (or effectively penetrate) high threshold armored enemy units.

Example of SMG units who provides rate of fire attribute on their formation tiles are ^SMG MP7MP7 , ^SMG RO635RO635  and ^SMG UMP9UMP9 

Equipment

Slot 1

VFL 6-24x56	Note that the crit change of the second hit of Doll Trigger effect is calculated separately, high crit rate will benefit AN-94 a lot more than it benefit other AR dolls.
PEQ-16A	It is advised to equip night optics for night sorties, if one wishes to hit high evasion units effectively.

Slot 2

APCR High-Velocity Ammo

Most AR dolls can only High Velocity ammo in their slot 2, incidentally a fully upgraded 5* HV ammo provides +20 damage attribute, which meant slot 2 equipment have the highest impact on an AR doll's damage dealing performance.

Slot 3

IOP X4 Exoskeleton

One can neglect the upgrade of exo-skeletons on AR dolls, since evasion rating does not contribute to their damage output performance and they are not expected to soak damage for the team.