This is a comprehensive guide for new (or middling skill) players wishing to improve, which contains tips, tricks, and things to avoid on your way to becoming a better pilot in Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation 2.
Introduction
With the constant doomsayers, “This game will die” crowd, “Blame your team, never yourself” posters, and “The game can’t connect, ree!” Lagtypes, I thought I’d put this guide together for new players to learn, and possibly to help with some of the issues you all face.
This is coming from someone whose clan contains several members of one of the top US Clans on PS4, and a top-10 of PC (before their temporary disabling), so while you may take things with grains of salt, it’s genuine advice given to try to help the health of the community to see a game we all want to do well, flourish.
Connectivity Issues:
To begin with, this game currently uses an obviously dated P2P connection technology. This means that if you have a wifi connection, things will be difficult for you. This fact is the root of disconnects, latency issues, and the dreaded “good work out there”. These are your best options for resolving these issues:
1.) First and foremost, make sure that you have a *wired* Ethernet Connection to your internet. Packet Loss and “Connection Jitter” (the fluctuations of what your ping actually is versus the median that is shown in things like speed test or fast.com tests) play hell with things – if your wireless isn’t perfectly stable you will disconnect. Period. A personal recommendation to find your jitter would be https://speed.cloudflare.com/ – a site that while it takes several minutes, gives a very comprehensive test.
2.) Port Forwarding : To forward your ports for this game, you’re going to need access to your router. 192.168.0.1 is the default gateway for connecting to it and changing settings, though exact instructions will depend entirely on your make/model for actually setting them.
Steams ports for this game are as follows :
TCP: 27015, and 27036
UDP: 27015, and 27031 through 27036
Opening these ports will help you match better with people of a similar ping to you, lessening the issues caused in actual matchmaking.
3.) Know your time zones. If you try to connect to games during peak JP hours, you’re going to match almost exclusively with them. And I promise you, this game *will* favor them as the hosts – Japan has internet as a basic requirement, and if it’s in the cities, it’s going to be gigabit – something even a lot of the US doesn’t have yet.
4.) It should go without saying, but make sure you’re not streaming, downloading, watching things, etc, when trying to play. As stated above, any fluctuations can severely affect experience. While of course having a fast enough, and more importantly *stable* enough connection can mitigate that fact, you will still be playing with a different latency than normal that can change on a dime.
The Combat Triangle
The Mobile Suits in Gundam Battle Operation 2 are divided into three categories : Raid, General, and Support, and what they do and are meant for greatly different from each to the next.
In addition, there are advantages and disadvantages between categories, and the amount of damage you do or take varies greatly depending on it.
Advice for each category are as follows :
Raid Types:
- Strong in close combat, mainly Mobile Suits with excellent mobility.
- Their “Advantage State” is strong against support and weak against generals.
- There are many Mobile Suits with excellent skills and attack power, but they are weak and extremely fragile, making it difficult to operate.
- In addition to knowledge of the Mobile Suits at the current rating, it is also required to have the ability to quickly see through the opponent’s team composition, habits and how they coordinate.
- If you can get close to support Mobile Suits that are not good at close combat, you may be able to shoot them down in an instant, and even against general-purpose Mobile Suits that are disadvantageous in terms of correction in close combat, you can stand on equal terms with your high attack power if properly played.
- Your job is to interfere with enemy supports that cause great damage to allied generals, and to surprise enemies who are fighting with allies.
- If you choose to fight a support or general opponent head-on, you will likely lose due to the difference in the number of shots and Advantage State
General Types:
- Mainly Mobile Suits with well-balanced shooting ability, melee ability, and mobility.
- The Advantage State is strong against raids and weak against supports.
- Rather than generals, it is closer to being positioned as an all-purpose weapon, capable of adapting to various situations and developments, becoming the frontline of the battlefield and shaping how it plays out.
- In order to respond to any situation and control the flow for the team, a wide field of view and adaptability are required to always see and feel the situation on the spot.
- It’s simply disadvantageous to have a shooting battle against a support, and even if you get close, you’ll often get a big hit due to the Advantage State. Even if you fight with an raid that is advantageous in terms of advantage state, the distance will be shortened by their mobility or you will be beaten one-sidedly.
- Battling an opponent who has a performance advantage but a battle that has a disadvantage in compensation, or battling an opponent who has a performance advantage but a battle that has a disadvantage in compensation, etc. It rarely finds itself in an impossible scenario, but when it does, it dominates the performance with just one unit. I’m not in a position to do that right now.
- There are a wide variety of things to do, such as combating the enemy front line, following an assault, and escorting supports.
Support Types:
- Although inferior in mobility, it mainly has a long range and excels in shooting battles.
- Advantage State is strong against general, weak against raid.
- The advantage itself is strong for generals, but since it is a Suit meant to support the battlefield, it is unwise to engage any opponent when fighting face-to-face.
- Their job is to provide offensive support to the generals to help break the enemy line, as well as information support through skills such as Informational Data Link .
- Due to their difficulty to play in defense and mobility, and in order to make it easier for allies to stand around, a wide range of knowledge and accuracy of the strengths and weaknesses of each unit in addition to the map and environment is required.
- You’re already dead to a raid by the time you’ve finished reading this.
Stunning, Staggers, and You
The staggering condition is one of the most notable aspects of this game’s battle system. The enemy may stumble if they are struck by a bazooka, cannon, some beams, or melee (other than “downswing” combat and special ones). Additionally, if the stagger value of a weapon surpasses 100 without the use of damage-reduction skills, you will be made to stagger. You won’t be able to move or attack while you’re staggered for a short while.
Strong Stagger (Also known colloquially as Heavy Stun) is an attack that is even stronger than stagger , and can be overwritten on stagger. If you receive an attack with this attribute, the unit will make a kneeling motion and will be in a strong stagger state, and will continue to receive damage for a longer time than in a staggered state. This is also the state that you are put into if you overload your legs.
Knockdowns follow this, and typically only come on the ground in the form of down-swinging / heavy melees. They can also happen from being in the air and being staggered out of your flight. Knockdowns last the longest, but when finished, you gain about 10 seconds of invulnerability (unless you attack, transform, or fall from an ally).
If you work with an ally, you can incapacitate the opposition for a considerable amount of time, allowing you to gang up and beat them without suffering any damage. It is challenging to continuously dazing and knocking down opponents with a single unit. It’s also conceivable. Because of this, covering is crucial.
The same notes are given for instant and buildup stun: Buildup stun occurs after a particular amount of damage has been dealt, usually from rapid-fire rounds, and is built up over time. For instance, the Vulcans of Nero Trainer will stun in 13 to 18 shots, whereas outfits like the GM Sniper 2 will force you to reload before you even reach halfway.
What should be noted is that buildup stun does not affect allies, while instant stun does.
You can safely shoot your machine guns, your beam rifles (uncharged) or throw (some) grenades into the melee to help add on damage without worrying about stunning your allies, but while aiding in the buildup of stun for your enemies!
General Gameplay Tips
Now, on to general gameplay tips.
One of the first things to note is something I personally see a lot : Ignoring of points.
Arctic Base aside given how small it is, points should not be simply ignored in attempt to rush down the enemy team, nor should you leave a single person to capture the starting point without any backup for similar reasons. In 5-person games, 3 people will start at A side and it’s not uncommon for a raid to try to take a side path on, for example, Ruined City, to kill the capturer (who is typically a Support given they’re left behind) for an easy kill and decap. Don’t try to push the opposite side of the map without controlling yours first.
*Stop “Wiggling” in front of your allies.* While you make yourself marginally harder to hit by enemies, you are also making yourself far more likely to be shot in the back by your allies – leading to at best, wasted damage and ammo, and at worst, you being chain-staggered to death – all because you stepped in front of your allies rocket.
*Group Up*
One of the most common things I notice is “main character syndrome” with people rushing about alone as if they can affect the match on their own. This game will almost always come down to numbers, and the only way to win is to stick with your side and cover each other. Very few suits are designed to be capable of functioning alone. It’s always ideal to have your team cover you, and vice versa.
**
*Stop rushing for base bombing***
Base Bombs are meant to be a comeback mechanic, and therefore even if you do plant the bomb, untill <2:00 on the clock you get negligible points for planting one, even if it goes off. In planting early you are sabotaging your team in two key ways : You are making the game a 4v5, or 5v6 situation, and if the bomb does go off, your enemy no longer has to play around the base being a factor. They can push forward, trap you, and bomb your own base at their leisure because they no longer have a reason *not* to push forward and guard their own.
**
*STOP Recklessly Using the Supporting Fire***
I cannot stress this enough. You are more likely to hurt your allies in a supporting fire than you are to kill your enemies. It does not discriminate on who it damages, and anyone inside it is going to die if they’re caught. “Supporting Fire Missed It’s Target” is something you will hear far more often than “Supporting Fire Dealt Damage” – There are *some* exceptions to this; such as a player on the enemy team on his own who hasn’t been moving, aka trying to be a sniper, and making themselves an easy target; or if you have a single ally trying to fight the entire enemy team – he’s likely to keep their attention long enough to at least get *some* damage, but these are *RARE* instances.
On the instance stated before of people playing “sniper”…
Please stop trying this.
Some Support-type units have the ability to use long range sniping, however this is not how you want to be playing. If you are sitting back and taking random potshots (I’m looking at you, GM Sniper 2 Players) then you are nothing but easy food for the enemy Raids. Move closer to the battle lines, *support* your Generals, so they can be the front line that allows your Raid unit to get to their own support. You deal massive damage to the enemy General frontline, and being close to your own Generals allows them to peel the enemy Raid Types off of you.
A typical team should look something like this, though keeping in mind that there are of course exceptions based upon map, communication with your allies if you are in voice, etcetera : ” 1 Raid, 3 Generals, 1 Support”, “2 Raids, 3 Generals, 1 Support”, “2 Raids, 2 Generals, 1 Support” – Support is by and far away the weakest role of the game, as this is a stun-and-melee focused meta, and they are only used for their skills in most cases. Radar Uplink, Viewing enemy Health, etc; the bulk of your team should make up that General-use role. They’re General-use for a reason.
Stop taking the kills from the Ace!
A kill from the ace is worth three times as many points as if you kill it. Get things low, sure, but never take the kill from the ace if you can help it. Set them up to be knocked down and you won’t be losing Ace matches anymore – they’re Ace for a reason. They are the best player on your team!
Animation Canceling and Timing : Learn it.
I notice a lot of people wondering why people constantly appear to be able to tackle before them while they’re both staggering each other, or why someone can swing first; this is the complete cause, aside from latency. You can boost as soon as your suit begins its standup animation after a stagger or stun – long before you can walk. Boosting to the side, quickly boosting back into a tackle, and so on are all done as a result of this. Consider it in the same way that you would consider your melee down-swing cancellations while knocking opponents down.
Something that a lot of people don’t know that I’ve noticed : Vulcans can be fired while boosting. For some suits with powerful vulcans (GP02, Nero Trainer, etc etc) this is an incredibly useful tool to buildup stun while chasing, or fleeing.
The big one, mainly for generals, but raids apply : When an enemy is down, stop trying to all crowd around and downswing it. Let your strongest melee suit do that, while everyone else piles on the damage to the legs from range. If it’s you and one other person ganking someone, take turns. Whoever knocked them down with a downswing will boost back to reset their melee – get a single downswing then boost away and let them do their duty afterwards. Being greedy only hurts your team – Remember : Allies that you downswing don’t get the i-frames when they’re getting up, that they would if the enemy did it.
**PARTS, PARTS, PARTS.**
So much more important than suits, getting your parts from the DP Counter is an absolute must. Don’t waste your early DP on suits!
*DO NOT* Play higher cost than you are comfortable with.
The higher cost games, the faster paced the action, and the more you’ll be expected to know what you’re doing without dragging down your team.
Stick with 450 or lower how you can, until you’ve acclimated and begun to learn all your basics. Then work your way up to the higher costs.
Tier, Suit, Level, and Choice Advice
Now, some general suit choice advice, depending on tiers.
As a general rule, taking a Lv3, Lv4, or Amuro-forbid a Lv5 suit into a room? Bad idea. You do not have the rank to have the weapons that make that possible, and you will be leaving yourself without the tools to survive. Far too often I see people in Lv4 Guncannons at 500 cost, or Geara Doga Heavy Arms at 700. Leave those suits at their cost and take something native – it’s very rare for a higher level suit to be viable higher than native, and it usually requires the Step-Up-Reward-Only, %-based parts that are based on the level of the suit.
Stop taking GM Sniper’s. 2, Custom, it doesn’t matter. The only useful GM Sniper is typically the Missile Launcher custom, and you don’t bring the rifle – you bring the rocket bazooka. Snipers do not fare well in this fast-paced game.
Same goes for Gouf Custom. It’s bad. *any* other Gouf is better. Personally, I love the Thunderbolt Flight Unit.
Nero Trainer, Dom Gnomides, EWAC Jegan. (Lately;) Toedsritter, are all suits that appear only (or in Toedsriters case, easier to get because of rank requirements) in the Recycle Ticket shop. All of them are fantastic suits – Nero Trainer being the premier, Meta-definer 450-cost Raid suit. It’s always worth waiting for a RT-exclusive than wasting it on a camouflage or piece of clothing.
What follows is a general tier list of some of the best or meta-defining suits of each general cost:
700 Cost
- Phenex [NT]
- Dag Doll
- Sinanju Stein
- Sinanju
- Sazabi [Horn Funnels
- Unicorn Gundam
- Moon Gundam,
- Asshimar (Lv4)
- Nu Gundam [LRFF] (Coming Soon)
- Kshatriya
- Hi-Nu & Nightingale (Both coming at an estimated October 26th; math may be off.)
650 Cost
- Gundam Delta Kai
- Toedsritter
- ReZEL (Defense b-Unit)
- *Zeku Zwei*
- Dijeh (CA)
- Rebawoo
- The-O
- MP Quebeley
600 Cost
- Geara Zulu (Angelo Custom); SPECIFICALLY with the Gacha-only Bruno Gun only.
- Hyaku Shiki Kai,
- Byarlant Custom,
- Mass-Production ZZ Gundam,
- Geara Zulu (EH)
550 Cost
- Sisqueide
- Geara Doga (And Kai; neither are meta but both are fantastic suits)
- GP00 Blossom
- GP01 Aqua
- GP02 MLRS
- GP02 Beam Bazooka (Noticing the GP Trend, yet?)
- Gaplant
500 Cost
- Gundam Titania
- Gundam Pixy (LA) *(Important, this is the Code Fairy Pack Pixie. NOT the base Pixy. This is a skill suit that is very squishy, but very strong. NOT NORMAL PIXIE.)*
- Mudrock Gundam Lv2
- Bolinoak Sammahn
- Jegan Type D
- Prototype Stark Jegan (Important: You will see far better results with the bazooka found in the gacha, than with the Jegan beam rifle)
- GM Night Seeker Space Type (V) (WITH THE FEYADEEN RIFLE. This comes from owning the Hamrabi, available in the DP shop)
- Hazel II
- Jamru Fin
- Psycho Zaku MkII
- Gundam Unit 5 (Bst) (Note : This may seem like a ranged raid. It is NOT. This things melee is insane, and the minigun is actually quite terrible.)
450 Cost
GM III Powered
*Nero Trainer* (Recycle Shop exclusive)
Mudrock Gundam
Silver Haze Kai
Ga-Zowmn [Gunner Type]
Gelgoog (High Mobility Type)
Gundam Alex (Chobham Armor)
Zock (Admittedly more of a meme unless your team supports you, but very fun)
Hizack Cannon AA
400 Cost
- GM SP III [Medium Range Support Unit]
- Pezun Dwadge
- Gouf [F Unit] [TB]
- Red Rider
- Pale Rider
- Blue Destiny Unit-2
- Gelgoog Marine
- Playing a Better Cost.
350 Cost
- Guncannon Aqua [TB]
- *Efreet Nacht*
- GM Sniper Custom [ML] (With the rocket bazooka, not the sniper rifle)
- Gundam Marine Type
- Zaku II (Stutzer)
- Playing a Better Cost
300 Cost
- GM Kai [Shadows WR] (Clan-match exclusive)
- Efreet (DS)
- Zaku Half-Cannon (MB) (Exclusive to the Code Fairy Pack)
- Gundam Ground Type
- Guncannon Mass Production Type
- Aqua GM
- Agguguy Lv2
- GM Guard Custom
- PLAYING A BETTER COST
- (And because R/GBO2 would Lynch me if I didn’t list it…) Gogg
The Noob Traps
The following is a list of “noob trap” suits – these are suits to be avoided at all costs along with small blurbs as to why despite their appealing nature they are listed here – Typically it is because there are far better options even in the same suits with different variations.
In no particular order:
- Gouf Custom (Other Goufs at the same cost do what this does better. It loses its heat rod in exchange for a shock whip, which cannot be used in multi-directional attacks.)
- Gundam Pixy (Just…Just no. Don’t do this to your team.)
- Gundam White Rider (While a high-power shot sounds tempting, it requires 20 seconds to charge and has an incredibly long cooldown time. You’ll feel the miss.)
- Pale Rider D2 (Sustained, but low, damage, and requires a charge on beam)
- Pale Rider Dullahan (Nerfed to hell, and generally powercrept)
- Gundam Unit 05 (NOT 05 Bst. There is a large difference)
- Gundam Unit 04 (Same as above)
- GM Night Seeker (V) (Non-space-type)
- Full Armor Gundam [Type B] (High firepower, but incredibly slow, and likely to stun your own team)
- Gundam Ez8 [WR] (This unit is far too slow with long switch times on weapons)
- GM Sniper – Pretty much any of them. (Noob-traps. People see “sniper” and think “oh boy, long range!” …These things are slow with long reloads, and paper armor. You will die.)
- GM Sniper II [White Dingo] – (This is here to check if you’re reading, mainly. As much as I LOATH to admit it, this thing is meta at native cost. Instant-stun beam rifle into downswing, you play this as a close-range general, rather than a sniper.)
- Gunner Gundam (This thing is just…Terrible. In every sense of the word. Even BamCo’s attempts to make it viable in applying a radar option to its weapons is simply just… It’s probably the worst suit in the game.)
Closing Notes
While I’m not especially pleased with how this guide has turned out and am aware that there is much room for improvement, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for reading it in the first place. A lot of teamwork and time has gone into this, and as a last note, I’d want to give one last piece of information in the form of movies.
These videos are made by a player who is possibly (though he may deny it) the best player in GBO2; in the world. They have no voiceover, but show the potentials of suits at their fullest, and many things can be learned simply through watching. I greatly recommend this man, as even the Japanese players respect (and fear) seeing him in a game.
https://www.youtube.com/@TopTierGBO2
I would also like to thank not just him, but the rest of my clan as well for their aid and input in what things to include in this guide: TB12eX, Prouf667, Treble0110, Voltronimus Prime, AriochNova, Breaker, and though he is no longer with us, Leomog. Without their input this wouldn’t exist.
Credit to: Jaroma
How do I get better at Battle Operation 2?
Improve your “stunning” skills, which involve obstructing an enemy’s movement or actions and then striking them in the melee for maximum damage. One of the important abilities you must perfect in the game is the ability to stun adversaries and melee them. You must simultaneously prevent being dizzy.
Can you play Gundam Battle Operation 2 solo?
The Playstation-only “Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operations: Code Fairy” is the game’s single-player counterpart, and it was released after this one. You cannot play GBO2 single player, with the exception of the battle simulation activity.
How do you play with friends on Gundam Battle Operation 2?
Select the mission you want to play by talking to “Patrick Curtis” in the base camp under sortie reception. 2. Choose the mission sortie and then “Multiplayer” or “Solo Play”. You can invite friends to play multiplayer with you in groups of up to two.
Does Gundam Battle Operation 2 have PvE?
Battle Operation 2’s VS CPU (PvE) mode may make you fear that your initial customizations and changes won’t be taken into consideration, but our development team thinks that adding this PvE option will increase interest in PvP.
What is rated match in Gundam Battle Operation 2?
The most often used Match Menu style is Rating Match, where participants compete in the hopes of accumulating Rating Points to raise their Rating. Every two hours, the four lines that make up Rating Match alternate between the categories of ground, space, various fees, and game types.