POW hunting

Easy and fast how to maximize your bonuses and get achievements.

Why release POW?

In order to release the POW, the special attack (after clicking on unit) of our unit must hit the place where the POW is located. It is difficult because you cannot see them right away, only when we free them we know that they were there - we will find out thanks to the inscription "rescue" and animations.

Releasing POW is cost effective, why? Well, in most missions they give us a bonus (usually it activates after releasing one POW in each skirmish of a given mission, and it can be increased by freeing 100% of POW) or unlocks a new unit (in this case we will get a unit by releasing POW), additionally in world1 and world2 we will get achievements for saving 100% POW. I will describe which bonuses are the most useful in the further part of the guide, if you are interested in what units you will unlock later in the game, please read the following guide and the article about units on the fan forum of the game [metalslug.fandom.com]:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=436319314
Have a nice reading, in this tutorial I will not describe the units that can be bought (as DLC), but that can be obtained in the game through game progress.

Polish version
Polska wersja

Which units are the best?

At the beginning:

Soldier
Soldier is one of the first units that we get to start. His special attack - a grenade throw - turns out to be the best option on start "looking for" POW.

Tarma
We get it by winning the second mission in world1. His special attack may prove useful.

SV-Camel and Ostrich Slug
This is not a good unit strictly for POW recovery, but it is one of the better units you will deal with in the beginning and not the worst one for POW release. To recover it, all POWs should be released to the final stage world1.

The Ostrich Slug is a weaker version of the SV-Camel and not a good unit. However, at the very beginning it can be obtained as a login reward (day 9), so you can use it until you get the SV-Camel. The only advantage is higher speed, but for the same AP (80) price we have an SV-Camel with more HP and a better special attack available, and that's what we want.

Later:

Samurai planes
We get for freeing all POWs in another world in a special mission available only on Sunday. Other units can be used, however, if you are not going to buy a DLC - this is the best unit for POW release as it shoots at a significant part of the map.

Mars People
A Martian might even be good at helping a POW, but still better at finding items. We get it for releasing all POWs in boss stage 4 world2.

Slug Copter
Small, but good at finding POWs. Opponents can destroy it quite easily - a samurai plane will be a better solution. To be obtained as a reward for freeing all POWs in another world in a special mission available only on Fridays.

Mars People Cadre
This is a better version of Mars People that can be obtained as a reward for unleashing all POWs in boss stage 4 in world3. It is similar to its predecessor, but has more HP.

Fat Tarma
This is a better version of Tarma. We get it for freeing all POWs in another world in a special mission available only on Tuesday. Like Tarma, it can prove useful, but is not recommended for POW searches.

Important bonuses - which to focus on at the beginning

At the beginning, I recommend that you release 100% of POW in missions that unlock better units for releasing POWs, then bonuses:

• MSP of the stage clear time increase
  
• Max. value of the sortie pt. increases
  
• AP gained rises with every enemy defeated
  
• HP of the unit is significantly up
  
• Attack power unit is significantly up

Radar

We can get the radar as a reward for completing a mission or buy it in the store for medals. The radar gives us a 100% chance to release one POW if we win the match. Is it profitable to use it? I think so. However, you should use them carefully and think about whether it is better to repeat this battle a few times more than to use the radar, which may turn out to be much more useful in a more difficult mission.

Example method

An example method, in my opinion it is better to play the way you want. Here I will present just one of my simple tactics for releasing POW at the beginning of the skirmish.

We start with buying an AP upgrade for 40AP, then we buy a samurai plane (I was lucky and I released one POW right away).

Then we send a unit with a lot of HP, I used a combination of a turret (NOP-03 Sarubia) and a camel (SV-Camel). The next part is just another AP upgrade for 80AP and using another samurai plane, then repeating what we have already done.

Practical use of this tactic: