Hey guys, welcome to the latest New Unit Analysis! Today we'll be having a look at Rowgen, the latest 6* thunder unit in Global.

We'll be seeing how Rowgen compares to fellow single target damage dealers before having a look at how he fares in the current metagame and his future prospects.

Disclaimer: As always, I try to keep these as objective as possible, but they're ultimately my opinion and yours may differ. Please read them with an open mind and a view to make your own decisions. :>

Lightning Gun Rowgen vs. Rickel, Lira, Darvan, Lilith

Rowgen's stats:

Lord: HP 6072 ATK 2314 DEF 1903 REC 1599

Max imp bonuses: HP 750 ATK 300 DEF 300 REC 300

LS: Increases critical hit damage, attacks have a chance of ignoring DEF (crit damage 100%, DEF ignore chance 15%)

Hit count: 1 (drop check count 20/hit)

BB: 1 hit single target Thunder damage and chance to inflict Weakness (13BC to fill, Weakness 80%, drop check count 18/hit, damage modifier 540%)

SBB: 1 hit single target Thunder damage, fills own BB gauge to max (42BC to fill, drop check count 30/hit, damage modifier 620%)

• Really nice stats, Rowgen's an excellent boss killer with phenomenal ATK, good HP and great DEF. His REC suffers slightly as a result but it's more than enough to suffice. His imp bonuses are average all round. His Leader skill pales in comparison to Maxwell's, however it's actually quite good if you exclude her from comparison, being one of the more powerful damage augmenting leader skills in the game. Every single one of his attacks has a hit count of 1, which is awesome given his sniper theme. Luckily he has lots of drop checks on all his attacks so his BC generation isn't bad at all for a single target character and the advantage of having one hit attacks is that when you spark, you spark REALLY hard. His normal attack and BB aren't bad at all (though weakness is a pretty bad status to be stuck with) but you won't see Rowgen making use of those very often at all because like Lilith, his SBB refills his own BB gauge to max meaning Rowgen can self-sustain infinite SBB for himself with no support. This makes him one of the premiere boss killers in the game, much like Lilith.

• Our first unit up for comparison is Rickel. Compared to the dual wielding Cowgirl, Rowgen has better HP ( 505), ATK ( 315) and DEF ( 580) but loses in REC (-640). Rickel's REC advantage is just not enough to make up for the huge differences in the other 3 stats so Rowgen definitely wins the stat comparison hands down. Comparing their SBBs, Rickel's actually pretty great. Her SBB only costs 30BC to fill, and her normal attack has 32 drop checks so she'll be able to dish out some pretty nice damage (damage modifier 680%) pretty often. She also comes capable of inflicting two really nice statuses with high probability (Paralysis Poison at 80% each). Unfortunately for Rickel, her base ATK doesn't really compare to Rowgen's, so he actually ends up doing more raw damage with his SBB even though his damage modifier is slightly lower at 620%. Over time, he widens that gap even further, since even though Rickel has a pretty good SBB upkeep time, Rowgen's is peerless at 100%. Rowgen's BC generation over time also ends up being a bit higher since his SBB has 30 drop checks compared to Rickel's SBB's drop check count of 20. Rowgen's single hit makes it easy, with some practice, to achieve maximum spark damage with him while it's definitely more difficult to spark all of Rickel's 20 hits. However if you don't manage to spark with Rowgen, that's much more disastrous than missing a couple of hits from Rickel's SBB. Overall though, Rowgen's a single target boss slaying powerhouse and his consistent damage and MUCH better stat profile is probably a better pick in most scenarios, unless you know the boss you're slaying is susceptible to Poison/Paralysis.

• Next up if Lira. Compared to the former queen of Arena, Rowgen has better HP ( 220), ATK ( 375) and DEF ( 110) but loses in REC (-195). Again, Rowgen has really nice stats and Lira's REC advantage isn't enough to compete with him. Rowgen wins statistically. Comparing their SBBs, Lira's SBB does surprisingly good damage. She makes a fine boss killer though has to sacrifice a bit of her arena prowess to do so. Her SBB only costs 30BC to fill and with a damage modifier of 600%, it definitely packs a punch. Unfortunately, Rowgen does everything she does but... a lot better. While his SBB does cost more to fill (42BC), you only ever have to fill it once and then he's got infinite SBB for the rest of the battle unless the boss has a way to drain your BB gauge. His damage modifier is higher at 620% and his base ATK is higher too so he does significantly more damage. He even generates more BC since he has 30 drop checks vs. Lira's 13. The only real thing Lira has going for her is her dark typing, but that's definitely not significant enough to overcome much at all. Rowgen is by far the better boss killing unit.

• After Lira, we have Darvan. Compared to the hulk, Rowgen has better ATK ( 525), DEF ( 115) and REC ( 35), but loses in HP (-120). Even though Darvan wins in HP, the fact that Rowgen has the DEF advantage means that defensively these two units are probably about on par, and Rowgen beats him in every other area (particularly ATK, wowza), so Rowgen wins the statistical comparison. Comparing their SBBs, Darvan loses damage-wise with a lower damage modifier ( 600% vs. Rowgen's 620%) and lower base ATK, his fill rate is better at 35BC but Rowgen doesn't care about fill rate at all with his infinite SBB, and he also loses in drop checks (16 vs. 30 for Rowgen). So looking pretty grim for Darvan. Luckily he has a few things that Rowgen doesn't, namely, he can bestow the water attribute buff which is obviously nice, in addition he inflicts Injury and Paralysis, two great statuses at extremely high probability (90%), which is fantastic against bosses susceptible to those statuses and he has the option of using his multiple target BB against trash mobs. In most scenarios, I'd probably still go with Rowgen, unless you're trying to one-shot a fire element boss (and even then I wouldn't count Rowgen out). Having infinite SBB around is definitely not something to take lightly so Rowgen wins this comparison as well.

• Finally we have Lilith. Compared to his fellow boss killing machine, Rowgen has better HP ( 65), ATK ( 490) and DEF ( 110) but loses in REC (-50). There's no planet where that REC difference actually means anything and given that Rowgen wins in every other stat (again, particularly ATK by a large margin) means that Rowgen is the better unit statistically. Comparing their SBBs, these two units are the only two units in global who have access to a self-supported infinite SBB. Soon they will be joined by Sergio and a bit later, by Arth from the latest Japanese batch, but for now, these two are the premiere single target boss killing units by a large margin. Both units have the same damage modifier, which means that Rowgen does quite a lot more damage overall due to his higher base ATK, however Lilith has very slightly better BC generation (32 drop checks vs. 30). These are minor differences, the biggest differences are basically that Lilith is a Light type which is a better offensive element but Rowgen has a single hit for his SBB which is a bit of a double-edged sword. It means that if you can spark consistently, Rowgen is definitely the better unit overall since he'll definitely outdamage Lilith by a huge margin if you can spark his one hit every time. However, if you're not quite skilled enough to do so (and it is harder than it sounds since often against a single target boss, you're not spamming SBBs with huge hit counts), then losing that spark with Rowgen hurts him pretty badly. Overall, which one will perform better is a bit reliant on user skill. Rowgen definitely performs better if you can spark with him consistently but Lilith is a bit more forgiving if you're not great with timing.

• A unit with an infinite SBB is pretty much never going to be a bad unit.

Rowgen: Indepth Look

• Really great stats. HP is good at over 6k, DEF is great at 1.9k and his ATK is through the roof at over 2.3k. His imp stats are average all round too which is actually quite good for him since units with high ATK generally have low ATK imp caps (see: Hogar, Mariudeth, ignore: Kajah).

• His REC suffers a bit, but to be brutally honest, it's almost a meaningless stat these days. It's still important to have enough of it, but there... really aren't many units that don't have enough of it. It might become more important in the future, but for now, it's not something to worry about.

• His Leader skill is definitely inferior to Maxwell's, losing to her even when just comparing the crit damage component, nevermind the fact that she also boosts elemental weakness damage by a large amount. If you have her, there is no reason to ever use Rowgen as a leader.

• If you don't have Maxwell, he's actually not that bad. 100% crit damage is a large increase to total damage output given you have a decent crit rate buffer. It outscales every ATK LS in the game, outscales the 50% spark damage LSs and probably outscales even the 75% spark buffs depending on your team composition. Being outshined by a unit that's technically free sucks, but that doesn't mean it's a bad LS.

• The DEF ignore component is largely useless, but the Trials of the Gods are a thing and DEF ignore leader skills were a good option if you lacked a DEF ignore bestowing unit for those special dungeons. Technically also good for metal parade but... I would recommend against using Rowgen the one-hit wonder in Metal Parade.

• All of Rowgen's attacks have one hit. Pretty awesome considering he's a sniper. I can appreciate lore being thematically translated into gameplay. :>

• His normal attack has 20 drop checks which is pretty decent. You're only really going to be seeing his normal attack until he fills his SBB gauge for the first time, but it'll help speed up the process of getting there.

• His BB will... probably not ever be seen. It's not bad, costing only 18BC to fill and having a large damage modifier with a good chance to inflict Weakness, but it's not GREAT either, and there's no real reason to ever use it once you have his SBB unlocked and levelled.

• His SBB is definitely his crowning glory. Being able to sustain infinite SBB by yourself is just as ridiculous as ever. There's a reason why Lilith, with her mediocre base ATK is still regarded as one of the best boss slayers in the game. A constant, source of SBB level single target damage is always going to be a really big asset to have on your team.

• Rowgen can solo Karl by the way. So... he's good, alright?

• Having only one hit on his SBB is a bit of a double edged sword. If you're skilled, it's a good thing. If you can spark that one hit consistently, Rowgen will gain full damage augmentation from sparks, which is pretty huge and it'll also boost his BC generation substantially (don't ask me the mechanism though because we don't know).

• In the same vein though, if you miss the spark, he gains 0 spark augmentation and 0 BC generation augmentation which really cripples his potential, a lot more than most units.

• Rowgen suffers a bit more from this than the other low hit count units (Hogar, Dilma, Mariudeth, Loch etc.) since he's often used on boss killing teams where BC generation is scarce. This means that the attacks he's going to be attempting to spark with are going to be normal attacks, and not your 30 hit SBBs, a lot of the time.

• Normal attacks typically don't have great hit counts so it may actually be quite difficult to spark Rowgen's single hit. Definitely doable with a bit of practice though and the rewards for doing so are well worth it so you shouldn't let this stop you from using him.

• If you are able to spark with him consistently, he's probably the best single target boss slayer in the game.

• Running multiple Rowgens on a team is possible, but... difficult. I haven't tried it myself personally (I might though in the future), but I'd imagine sparking the both of them would be... quite difficult.

• Don't get me wrong though, even if you don't spark with him every time, he's still amazing, he'll still outdamage Lilith even if you spark like 50% of the time.

• In the future, there are 2 more units currently that are known to possess a self-filling SBB. There's Sergio who is a contender, but probably isn't an upgrade and the newly released (in JPBF) Arth who is looking pretty good. I actually don't think he's necessarily better either because he has lower ATK after imps and there aren't really any huge differences other than that but he's a nice fire typed side grade as well.

• Definitely a strong unit! Congrats if you have one. :>

Typing Discussion

• As always, the most important thing to note here is that if typing is the only thing holding you back from using a unit, you should definitely just go ahead and use them. Please don't discard units because their typing isn't 'optimal'.

• Breaker's really nice for Rowgen given his role as an excellent single target damage dealer. The extra ATK is really nice.

• Anima's also really nice. Perfectly reasonable for you to consider this as his best typing as well since it'll give him a bit of a survivability boost in the longer fights that Rowgen will most likely be used in.

• Lord next since the next two types probably hurt him slightly more than they help.

• Guardian and Oracle probably about on par. Oracle preserves his ATK which is nice but hurts his survivability while Guardian pads him up a little bit but cuts his ATK which isn't appreciated at all. I actually personally would probably use an Oracle Rowgen over a Guardian one, but any typing is viable, as always.

That's it guys! Thanks for reading! <3

As always, I welcome your comments/criticims/encouragements. If you found this helpful, please drop an upvote on your way out, I'd really appreciate the support. :>

Until next time!

Links to previous Analyses