IDW/Strategy

IDW

Strategy

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Overview

IDW is a front row evasion tank sporting one of the highest base Evasion stats in the game--even among higher rarity SMGs. While this does come at a cost of her own HP being on the lower end of her class, her class and skill synergy often more than makes up for it in actual combat. Her skill, Cover Focus, has the advantage of being able to be activated multiple times during battle due to a low cooldown of only 3 seconds at max rank. In addition, leveling her skill is not as a priority if players are short on resources as even at lower levels it will scale naturally with her evasion stat growth. This combination of a high evasion stat coupled with an evasion buff skill allows IDW to fill a unique niche of solo-tanking without defensive buffs from AR or HG T-Dolls. As a result, IDW can function well as a general-use budget tank in any formation until more ideal or specialized SMGs can be obtained.

IDW's greatest weakness is perhaps her low HP pool. High accuracy enemies like Jaegers can kill her very quickly even with her skill active if not defeated quickly enough. For this reason Guard/Jaeger teams can give her trouble if she is set up with an AR team who can't burn through the opposing front row before the Jaegers get into firing position. Vespids can also pose a threat to IDW due to their moderate accuracy and damage coupled with a high fire rate that can wear her down through her evasion. Placing her in a RF team is a great counter to Guard/Jaeger teams while AR teams, in addition to providing defensive buffs, can quickly kill Vespids and Scouts before they have a chance to wear down her HP. In addition her tile buffs, while improving the survivability of your ARs with generous coverage, does not grant significant bonuses until equipped with fully upgraded 5-star exoskeleton gear. Her tile buffs also find very little usage as ARs are generally not meant to be in the line of fire due to their generally low HP and Evasion stats.

Skill & Formation Buffs

IDW's skill is Cover Focus, which increases her Evasion by 60-110% depending on the skill's level. It is a fairly straightforward and easy skill to use, and is recommended for beginners who are still getting used to the command interface for the game. Due to its low up-time and short cooldowns, it can be used multiple times in a single battle which helps to give IDW much more field presence during longer fights.

IDW's tile buffs cover the entirety of the column behind her in the formation grid, providing a fairly generous 20% increase to Evasion for all ARs. While finding less use, it can come in handy if Commanders expect their ARs to be receiving enemy fire.

Equipment

An ideal loadout for IDW would be to have her equipped with a T-type exoskeleton along with a silencer to maximize her evasive capabiliteis . HP ammo is generally not ideal on her as she is a largely defensive T-Doll. Therefore one can save their relatively rare ammo equipment for more offensive SMGs with damage skills or HGs whose high accuracy can make better use of the additional damage.

If commanders wish to optimize IDW's offensive capabilities, red dot sights can greatly improve her accuracy to acceptable levels alongside formation buffs. Due to IDW's naturally high evasion and skill synergy, she can afford to skip out on some of the more vital SMG equipment like T-type exoskeletons and suppressors which can be a great boon if Commanders need to allocate those resources to other T-dolls. However bear in mind that these accuracy benefits will be nullified during night missions. It is therefore advised to leave offensive roles to the dedicated DPS classes like ARs and RFs and instead let IDW do what she does best by playing to her strengths as a frontline dodge-tank.

Echelon Composition

While IDW gives no offensive buffs, she can be useful in AR teams that end up using a cross-formation. Her evasion buff tiles can benefit the ARs who are placed in the middle column of the grid as they will be more likely to receive return fire from enemies during battle.

Alternatively she can serve as an excellent tank in T-formation RF teams if Commanders feel like they need a main tank as opposed to running the usual 3HG-2RF team setup. This same strategy can be applied to MG teams if the player is lacking in shotguns from T-doll Production.

IDW can alternatively be used in tandem with ^SMG SuomiSuomi , a 5-star doll with the same skill, to cover for the latter's lower base Evasion which leaves her vulnerable to incoming damage especially at higher levels. If skilled enough, Commanders can time their skills so that they activate one after the other while continuously switching positions to ensure that the doll with the active skill is always in the line of fire. A similar strategy can be utilized with forcefield SMGs (^SMG ThompsonThompson /^SMG G36CG36C /^SMG MP5MP5 ).