[ Phase 06: Gelgoog (Beam Naginata) ]

MS-14 Gelgoog (Beam Naginata-type). Start running.

That awkward moment when university stomps you flatter than Stella stomped Berlin.

Oh, I'm going to pay for that later, I'm sure. I can already see Shinn wanting to knock my teeth in for it. Or at the very least devolve into berserked, heavenward screaming for that little lost Extended pet of his. Either way, completely worth it. No regrets.

I digress. The past month or so I've been absolutely plagued with misfortune, from a hard drive failure on my laptop to various illnesses and maladies to just getting steamrolled by classes. Since I can seldom find the time to sleep, let alone game, I figured I'd take a minute to do another quick review on something I know like the back of my hand and don't have to be able to log in to test and review - The BR-rank Gelgoog (Beam Naginata). This is the unit that makes people cry in the Destroy the Moon Base mission. You know, the one that gangs up on you in groups of thirty and melees you down. Yeah, that one.

I first capped this unit back in the Closed Beta test. I got Rising first, and that was my go-to Rock-type. Then I picked up my Gelgoog while trying to get my hands on an Aegis, and after using it MAYBE three times I said to myself, "I NEED one of these in Open Beta." Sure enough, once Open Beta got started and everything was reset, the Gelgoog was the first thing I spent all my points on. It was also the first unit I had to get my Rey-custom white-and-purple paint job. Since I've had this unit since I was a complete neophyte at the game, and I loved it then as much as I do now, that should speak to the unit's ease of use.

This unit is definitely geared for PvP, and can be an absolute terror if used properly. It can even give some S-rank a run for their money in terms of the damage it cranks out. I've given Freedom and Strike Freedom in particular quite a few headaches with this unit, since most SF users forget that the thing has swords and therefore try to shoot and/or funnel down anything that moves, but the Gelgoog's main weakness is in its durability - or lack thereof. The Beam Naginata Goog cannot take too many hits, nor should it, really. It's meant to be a fast, death-dealing powerhouse unit, not a walking wall.  To that end, in PvP, Assault parts work very nicely on it, sacrificing HP, Shield HP and Defense for the sake of Attack, Dash Speed and Duration, and Agility. 

Its skills don't do too much to help it stick around a match, but they certainly make it a potent threat. In a PvP room with no limits on respawning, like Normal or Boss Matches, this means its potential is essentially unlimited, since you can just come back and do more damage if you die. In Death Matches and the like, you have to play a little more carefully and be very cognizant of where your foes are at all times. It comes equipped with Art of Fighting: Mobile Suit skill, which lets it drop "red criticals" when it attacks more often than not.  This skill is deadly when paired with the Beam Naginata's Stab attack (weapon three), and can do some terrifying damage. It also packs Special Attack Awakening, which gives its specs a lot of punch when its HP is low.  For added potency, feel free to equip it with a second Special Attack Awakening skill in the Factory and have fun dropping Psychos and other such bulky things by around half of their HP with a well-placed spec.  In PvP, anyway. This Gelgoog excels in matches where it's pitched against higher-rank units, like A's and S's. It can crank out damage that's comparable to them, but is fragile like a B-rank and only nets the opponent three points for shooting it down (or respawns more times in a Death Match setting). Conversely,  it actually doesn't fare so well against C-ranks due to the fact that it isn't durable, and in a Death Match, they'll probably respawn enough times to shoot you down and deplete you of launches.

The Beam Naginata Gelgoog does lack a bit on the ranged front, and in tandem with its limited staying power, this somewhat limits its potential as a mission-grinder. Its ranged attack consists of a pretty standard three-shot machine gun with about twelve rounds loaded into it. It hurts a lot and the reload rate is fairly decent, but it's very definitely a mid-range weapon, and it doesn't reach very far, even for that. You could probably do a few Easy and Normal missions with it, but I wouldn't advise pushing it too much beyond that. At its core, this Gelgoog is most definitely a PvP unit.

The Beam Naginata Gelgoog tends to get overlooked a fair bit in favour of flashier B-rank melee units with shiny debuffs or dash attacks - like most of the BB Senshi units. As a result, you don't see too many of these around. If you do, though, bear in mind that in the right hands, it can be an a complete nightmare - it has higher damage output potential than the Casval Custom Gundam that everyone's raving about. In fact, the two units are somewhat comparable - what Chardam loses out on in attack, it makes up for in defense. Of course, Chardam has a different skill set that makes it a whole other beast to deal with, but at their cores, the two units have similar stats; identical on all fronts except a swapped attack and defense. Only a few units in my hangar do I love enough to warrant painting them in my white and purple colour scheme (since White Paint costs Astros no matter how you slice it, so I really have to justify painting them), and this is definitely one of them. This is definitely one of my favourite units, despite my own reluctance to PvP.


Ratings:

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PvP Potential:
Mission Potential:
Enjoyability:
Frequency of Use:

Trivia: In PvP, Gelgoog's machine gun is reflected by Akatsuki's Yata-no-Kagami. In Missions, it's not. And it hurts. Just ask my poor Oowashi.