This video contains two recent matches I had with the LV4 and LV1 Zaku III on Gundam Battle Operation 2. It is a 550-700 cost general with excellent stagger accumulation, high melee damage, pretty good ranged damage, multiple stagger options, great durability from 600-700 cost and high mobility. Its primary weakness is that it is quite large, with no Damage Control skill to go with it. So it is easy to shoot at and break through its Maneuver Armor with accumulated stagger. This suit has always been a pretty amazing pick for 550-600 cost; versatile enough to either go frontline, screen for raids with its high stagger accumulation or play mid-range with its good shooting options. The first match in this video is making use of the New Anti Melee Armor part, which allows you to take up to 70 melee armor. Even with just 61 resist you can see the amazing results, you barely take any damage from melee. I hope that you enjoy watching!
Its primary weapon at LV4 is a beam rifle with 1552 (2185) power, 10 ammo, 1 second cooldown, 16 seconds reload, 0.5 sec swap time, 365m (415m) range, 3.5 seconds focus time and 50% stagger value. This doesn't have the highest damage but it has a ton of ammo for a beam rifle, it has pretty good stagger accumulation as well. By alternating between this and your head beam gun, you can constantly be shooting out good stun accumulation.
Its primary melee weapon at LV4 is a beam saber with 2760 power, 3 seconds cooldown, 0.5 seconds swap time and standard modifiers. This has below average power for 700 cost and longer than normal cooldown time, but it has fast swap time and great reach which makes it easy to use. The power isn't such a big deal anyway, since you can combo it into your heat bayonet for great damage.
Its first sub weapon is a head beam gun with 640 power, 20% heat, 0.5 seconds cooldown, 20 seconds overheat, 0.5 seconds swap time, 250m range and 35% stagger value. This has mediocre damage output and short range but it has incredible stagger potential. It can stagger regular enemies in just 1 second, it being able to be fired while boosting makes it an excellent tool for going on the offensive or for when retreating.
Its second sub weapon is a waist beam launcher with 1800x2 power, 90% heat, 7 seconds cooldown, 18 seconds overheat, 0.77 seconds swap time, 350m range and 5%x2 stagger value. This stops to fire and has a high heat rate, but it instantly staggers and does great damage. This can really chunk enemies at range and it isn't even that bad for using before melee, since it has short rigidity time.
Its third sub weapon is a heat bayonet with 2185 power, 2.5 seconds cooldown, 0.5 seconds swap time, 70% combo modifier and 200% downswing modifier. This has short reach and seemingly low power, but the incredible downswing modifier means that this actually can do incredible damage. If you have the opportunity, starting and ending combos with this downswing will do insane damage even at 700 cost.
The LV4 Zaku III has 24500 HP, 29 ballistic/beam resist and 39 melee resist. It has LV1 Emergency Evasion and Maneuver Armor for defensive skills, with a 25% reduction buffer for the legs and 30% reduction for the right shoulder shield to further improve defence. This alone is incredible durability for 700 cost, making it one of the bulkiest available. But the slot layout of this suit gives you the opportunity to take New Anti Melee Armor, allowing you to take 60-70 melee resist comfortably. This makes you nigh invincible against melee attacks, able to shrug them off without issue. Raids will probably do about 1000 damage with a normal melee attack, even less in some cases.
In terms of mobility it has 140 (143 including ground affinity) hover speed, 220 boost speed, 70 thrust and 69 (75 including affinity) turning speed. Boost speed and thrust are a little bit lacking for 700 cost, but otherwise it is quite nimble and capable of keeping up here. It is rather quick for 550-650 cost. It lacks Flight Control but has LV2 Forced Injectors.
Overall I feel like the Zaku III is a great choice if you are adept with stagger accumulation and are able to handle large MS. A well rounded suit like this can do well quite consistently, no matter the situation you have a good answer for it. I can highly recommend the 550-650 cost versions, but the LV4 is only really worth taking if you have overtune style parts to increase its power and durability. Thanks for watching, and I hope that you enjoyed it!
Music used:
Digital Devil Saga, Big Battle
Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2, Mirage