[ Phase 05: FAZZ ]

FA-010A FAZZ. No, not that FAZZ.

This is the FAZZ we don't have yet.


Well, it's the FAZZ that most people don't have yet. I earned one in an event back in... December, maybe?  It involved getting Legend and TYPE-D Dynames up to OC 6 and posting a screenshot proving it in the forums. I think it was December, anyway.  December was a good month for me, SDGO-wise - I ended up with quite a few units that weren't (or still aren't) otherwise available, like OO Raiser, FAZZ and AGE-1 Titus. If OGP continues being predictable, this FAZZ should be made available for everyone later in July of 2013, in Capsule Machine 67.  For now, there are very few of them - in fact, mine is the only one I've seen since the event ended. I know there's more of them out there, but they've yet to surface in any of the matches I've played.

So, what's it like as a unit?  On first glance, it comes off as a pretty standard Long-Range type.  Three-hit knockdown melee, long-ish mid-range gun, one-shot long-range flashlight. When I first got it, I was actually pretty underwhelmed, and a bit disappointed that I went to all the trouble with Legend and Type-D for it. Once you get using it, though, it really starts to shine.

First off is its firepower.  Because it's not the quickest unit out there, it does some pretty impressive damage to make up for it.  Not the best, but it definitely leaves a mark on an opponent caught unaware. The melee combo, while it is the standard three-hit knockdown that is common on Long-Range units, also has some Area of Effect features, as FAZZ swings its totally-not-compensating-for-anything huge gun around itself. Speaking of that gun, though - as I mentioned before, it's a flashlight-type weapon, meaning it has amazing range and knocks the opponent down from the other side of the map. FAZZ's also runs piercing damage. In the North American server, for whatever reason, people have decided that to make a unit OP, it pretty much has to either pack some kind of homing weapon or a flashlight, and anything without one (or both) of those is mediocre. Honestly, I don't agree with that at all. I could take the flashlight or leave it - it's nice on FAZZ, but it doesn't make or break the unit (or any unit, for that matter) by any means.

Second is its skill set. It packs Reload Up, which is helpful on any unit meant to shoot at things until they die. Sure, there are better options out there for it, but it could definitely be worse. FAZZ doesn't really seem to suffer too badly from a lack of ammo anyway, but it does help you light up fields more often with your flashlight. Its second skill, Enhanced Close-Range Defense, though, is something really special.  As the name suggests, it greatly reduces the damage that FAZZ takes at close range, and enables it to ignore an opponent's melee combo if it switches to its own melee attack, allowing it to counterattack when you should, by all rights, be stagger-locked. I call it a melee "attack" and not a "weapon" because FAZZ fights unarmed on the close-range. This means that really, its attacks shouldn't have much reach, but because the FAZZ improvises and uses its gun as a club, it manages to turn it into a 360 degree AoE swing. The Enhanced Close-Range Defense Skill kicks in when you're at 70% HP or less, which gives you plenty of time to wreak havoc before you go down yourself, especially since the skill inherently increases some of your defenses. This gives FAZZ, despite not being a transforming unit, unprecedented flexibility, with reliable coverage over the long, medium and short ranges. To top it all off, it has a powerful beam special, with its base Special Attack stat being among the highest it's got.

FAZZ is also fairly easy to use. The only thing that makes it a bit challenging is the fact that it does have a bit of an unorthodox melee, but once you get used to that (which should only take a couple of runs in any mode, really), it flows very smoothly. Because of its versatility, FAZZ seems to do quite well in both Missions and PvP. Prior to G-Gen's addition it was essentially the bane of Rock-types everywhere, with its Paper-typing and ability to counter on close-range. It would force Rock-types out of their comfort zone and necessitate them to run to whatever guns they had, because meleeing down a FAZZ when it's below 70% HP is tough.  And then FAZZ really has an advantage, because ranging is what it does best.  With the removal of the RPS system, FAZZ has still remained an annoyance to close-range units, but it's not quite as big of a threat as it used to be, because it doesn't do enhanced damage on them anymore. It still hurts, but not quite as badly. That doesn't change the fact that it's a very versatile unit with a lot of potential in whatever it tries its hand at.

The thing for me that completely makes this unit incredible is the Enhanced Close-Range Defense skill. Long-Range units are generally pretty unreliable on close-ranges, which is a pain in both Missions and PvP. FAZZ is a solid unit all around, with not too many weak points.  It IS slightly more vulnerable to mid- to long-range counter-attack than other units that fill a similar role on a team, because Enhanced Close-Range Defense doesn't affect mid- or long-range defense in any way, and it doesn't run a common defensive skill like I-Field.  That being said, FAZZ's defense stat isn't too bad to start with, so it's not a critical flaw.

After I first got my FAZZ, I went on a very long hiatus from playing SDGO and didn't return up until a few months ago, so I really didn't use it too much until G-Gen went through.  All in all, FAZZ seems to have come out the other side of the patch more or less unscathed, and remains a solid, easy-to-use Long-Range unit. If I had to guess, I'd say that when it comes out it will be overlooked quite a fair bit, especially given that it'll be coming out in the same update as The O (Awakened) and Zeta (Awakened), and that the rest of the units in its capsule machine aren't anything too special. But if you've got some extra points to throw around and you're looking for something new, I'd recommend trying to cap one of these.

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Frequency of Use:	(For now)