How to Play GBO2 for New and Intermediate players.

This guide is for anyone that wants to get good at the game, and possibly learn something new about the game to my fellow PS4 players. The Tutorial to the game is not in-depth enough to be able to know how to play any suit you want to learn, or what you can do in this game. I'm going to break this game down for you so you can learn your suits better, your game plans, even Help you refine yourself as a fellow player.

I'm not a professional in making these kinds of things, but I'm making this as a community worked on guide for new players.

Be aware that this game has a lot of In-Depth details to it, that can change the way you look at this free-to-play game. Not only does it have a wide variety of suits, it has a wide variety of Mechanics behind the game to play your suits.

Thanks for checking this out by the way.

Major Notes to the game

This game is a little buggy, and is entirely online play, The Matchmaking is a bit garbage, where the Matchmaking can drop someone or entirely, because two people can't connect with each other. It's very Annoying, and I hope one day that the Devs will fix this issue.

The game also has a cool matchmaking system with running as a team of 2 to 6, the game will look for the same number of people that are queuing, so the game stays as fair as possible. The Downside is queuing with your friends will slow down the chances of getting proper games in when it's more than 2 people together, I'd recommend either running 2 or a full team of 4/5/6 depending on the game mode.

Basic Misc. Information

Some of the Information I will provide in this section isn't for all Mobile Suits or Units, this is to help provide information for all players as this will be noticeable info for the battlefield, This is a helpful introduction for all players in the form of a list of things in the game, that you yourself can do.

I find that this information is essential to all players that wish to be good at the game, no guide will be perfect.

Don't forget to play with your Controller bindings, the default controls aren't ideal, so experiment, even your weapon select, always customize those, keep it comfortable for you, it will help you win games by having controls that let you boost to the side while shooting, then going to a different weapon while still boosting, it makes you unstoppable when you have full control of your suit.

1. Mobile Suit Categories, General, Support, Raid. They each work in a Rock paper Scissors system on how much damage you deal. the Damage different is about 30%
   
   • Supports are Strong against Generals, but are weak to Raids.
     
   • Generals are Strong against Raids, but are weak to Supports.
     
   • Raids are Strong against Supports, but are weak against Generals.
2. Weapon Swapping, this game is made in a way, where you need to work on weapon swapping, just running a Bazooka all day can only get you so far, you have a downtime between shots, swap to you Vulcans, the amount of downtime you have between shots you can save a life or even get a good kill in you thought you wouldn't be able to make.
   
3. Stunning, and Staggering, There are Two types of reactions a suit makes to damage Stunning, and Staggering. These can happen from bazooka hits, shield destruction, even just getting damaged enough(refer to Build Stun)
   
   • Stun, usually happens from a Bazooka Hit, Charge Shot, Melee, even just gradual damage to a suit(Refer to Build Stun). This mechanic will prevent a suit from doing actions such as boosting, jumping, even charging a weapon, it's great to stop enemies from doing something, and even can save teammate from a big beam. It's not super long and it's not recommended to melee after causing one, as it's easy to counter a melee from one of these on top of the small window for the swing.
     
   • Stagger, aka "Heavy Stun" Longer and the suit will kneel to the ground to regain balance, which is perfect for getting in for melee combos, because it not only stops a suit, it stops them for way longer, and it's much harder for them to react to your actions.
4. Build Stun, When you hit a suit consecutively you can cause suits to Flinch even Stagger, It's most noticeable when you Use a Weapons that fires fast, it can take 3 to 50 shots, and you can even hit a shield to build stun a suit as well. There is a lot of experimenting involved, some suits have more resistances than others(Check Raids Section), so you'd need to use a Rocket then use an alternate weapons to stun a suit.
   
5. Toppling, Basically a suit goes down on the ground, it immobilizes a suit for a short amount of time, and and leaves them open to damage, but is also perfect to focus on other suits because someone is on the ground.
   
   • The downside to a toppled unit, means when they get up they go into invulnerability for a brief moment, which makes it hard to predict what that suit can do, so if you topple your enemies, either use it with the team to secure something, NEVER stick around if you toppled someone and you're by yourself use this as a good time to either go back to your team, or get to a spawn point where your teammates are going to spawn and assist you when they can spawn(this depends on how your situation looks, just look at your radar and how healthy your team looks).
6. Melee Combos, Some suits can melee Combo(Mostly Generals and Raids), not like a Fighting game, but When you swing, you have the options to Forward, left/right, or down Swing, all of them are different with how you hit a suit and effect damage numbers and back Melee can topple a suit. When you Combo, usually you want to start with a forward or a side wing, then finish your combos with a down if you can help it. It's more situational to use your combos at times, either study units or work with someone in the moment.
   
   • Forward Swings usually are the kind that reaches the furthest.
     
   • Side swings are great with people trying to Circle you.
     
   • Back Swings, knock.
7. Countering, will Stop a suit from meleeing you, does a little damage, and get's them on the ground(you also get to see some unique animations and camera angles), It will also put you in an invulnerable period so it's great for additional survival when you're being crowded form the enemy. it's great if you need to punish someone, but risks all of your boost. so be careful with it, it's about precise timing with this mechanic.
   
8. Crippling Mechanics, are separate things to look out for, You Head and your Legs/Back also have a health bar, but you need to hit someone in the Head, Legs/back to effect it, especially.
   
   • Crippling the Head Will get rid of the Radar, Mini-map and will also lower all damage an Suit will do, it also effects screen with a Static effect
     
   • Crippling the Legs, can only happen on ground levels, it stops suits from walking and will hard Stagger any suit that does any boosting or jumping movement, Unless the suit can dodge roll, and it will not change the way Countering works(refer to Countering)
     
   • Crippling the Back, can only happen in Space will get rid of all major thrust a suit will have, they can't dodge roll, not even counter, they can only move as at normal pace, but can't boost around to manage dodging(as if you ran out of boost). Your boost gauge will signify full red, to show that you can't boost at all.(working on this one a bit more.)
9. Pilot Mode, it get you out of your suit, and you can do a lot as a Pilot, you're Given a set of Weapons and Tools that can help you deal with the Battlefield, You can Stagger Mobile Suits with the Rocket Launcher and sometimes the Hand Grenade, you can use your Rifle to kill pilots, you even get a knife to one tap other pilots, you can call in Support Fire, and even plant a bomb at the enemy Base(don't worry, you can disable a bomb Plant on your base as well).
   
10. Bomb Panting, it requires 10 seconds to plant, then goes off after 1 Minute and will get you a Teams worth of points, and also increases the points amount when the game has 2 Minutes left, (Yes, you can plant as 3:09 then goes off as 1:59 and you'll still get the increased points). Don't forget you can Also Disarm Bombs, they take 10 seconds to disarm and it leaves an enemy out of the game, but the trade off is it's worth a Team Wipe maybe more. So, plan carefully whenever Bomb planting happens. Sometimes you can get a bomb plant and you're team will still be losing, because they'd be down one person.
    
11. Beacon Capture, Provides a new Spawn point every time one is captured, they can be used to provide support fire and makes your team harder to predict, so capturing those is important, since your team can support the front sooner, instead of spawning at the base, then rushing to the front, where everyone is already dead.
    
12. Support Fire Is very important when you need to cover an area, they are hard to predict and they can wipe out your enemies, even take their numbers down, but be careful, if you or your teammates are caught in it, everyone gets stuck at 1hp and most likely will be give some broken Legs, but they will kill the enemy team(Refer to the Crippling Section).
    
13. Encouragements, You can only get these by playing the game, there are monthly missions and they can increase the drop rate of Boxes post-match, which get you Suits, Weapons, and In-game Currency

Game Modes

There are many Game mode in GBO2, Not only do they all play differently, they all have many ways to help turn a game around

1. Simple Battle, You're in a match you can't leave your suit and all the beacons are accessible. You can't plant bombs and it's all about pure Skill.
   
2. Basic Match, it's like Simple Battle, but you're able to leave your suit, to go plant a bomb, call in support Fire(some maps don't allow), and is the main game mode to the game.
   
3. Ace Match, This game is like running a Basic match for the first 5 Minutes of the game, there is no bomb planting especially, then the last 3 minutes you have a Ace on each team, and the
   • Ace is determined by who has the most kills, and you want to focus on killing the enemy ace, and widdling down the other enemy units, so the ace can secure more kills.
     
   • The Ace is worth 3 Times the amount of Points, From both Kills that they secure and Deaths they get, so It's ideal to protect the Ace and leave your enemies low for the Ace to secure points off of. They can turn a losing game into a winning game.
     
   • If you are Ace, do not panic and do not Rush in alone, you want to stick with your team, and don't push for kills, pepper enemies if you can, use your melee if your teammates give you staggers, they are supposed to coordinate together to make sure you get kills.
4. Target Shuffling, Very similar game plan to Ace Match, but with a twist. the Ace Changes every minute of the game, and at the very start of the match, you want to make sure you have Captured Beacons(refer to Basic Information).
   
   • It's random with who is Ace, and they are worth 3 times the points just like Ace Match.
     
   • The game only picks one Person as Ace at a time, so you can be ace, then someone else from the enemy team, then back to one of your teammates, so be prepared every time it happens.
     
   • Do not break from your team especially when the game is about to make your team the next Ace.
     
   • You're Natural Game plan is to widdle the enemies down until your team has Ace, and only kill the enemy ace.
5. Mix-Up, This game mode is similar to Basic Match, but the biggest differences are, You need to get kills to lower 17,000 points to 0 to win the game, and that you can run any Cost, you can see the enemy teams suits and their cost for points, and all suits can be buffed to have better Stats to keep up with the other costs. There is also a damage buff i your team get below a certain amount of points, It's a little gimmick that should be advised against realistically.
   
   • the Game plan is to continuously wipe the enemy team away as much and as soon as possible
     
   • You'll notice that this game is the only game mode that has the chance of not Running out of Time to finish the match.
     
   • It's better to Run higher Costs for this game mode, but nothing will stop you from bringing you're 100 Cost suits. The reason behind higher cost is that higher cost units have more skills, higher stats, lots of room to make them better, and all of those factors matter a lot. If you're running a lower cost unit, playing it smart is the best thing you can do, stick with something that can be effective, as long as you know what you're doing.
6. Free Fore All, You're pitted Against everyone on the Field, Suits only, all Beacons available, no bases. You need to work by yourself to track down a fight in progress, or find someone to rush-down, Raids are usually found in this game mode, but you can play anything effectively, especially when you know the map and have a strong skill to the game. this game mode is iffy, as this game was not designed around 1v1 Combat either.
   
7. Duel, Fighting in this game mode can be tough, it can be a 1v1 or 2v2, even with locked unit types(Support/General/Raid)+ Combinations, it's a fun game mode, and it's closer to a fighting game mode than what you'd normally see, with limited lives and visible stun values, it really makes a difference in experimenting or even learning specific things. Unfortunately it doesn't help that it does not give you dailies or post-match rewards. So save your encouragements for any of the other games. I've played on it a lot, with my clan, I find it best for hands-on learning over anything, so do this game mode with friends, and rotate between teams to see where improvements can be made or see if an MS is good or not. that's just what I think though.

Game Plan

1. Team Composition is one of the most important part of the game, not only do you want to be a good player, you need a good looking team, so You'll want to run all Generals with a Support, and maybe a Raid. Generals are your bread and Butter to a winning game, not because of how well they can tear down that Raid,
   
2. Coordination Is also important, stick with your team, and you can help with staggering enemies, and putting in a few downswings to help get enemies on the ground(Refer to Basic Information), Even Protecting your teammates will help you secure the wins.
   
3. Single Spawning can cause problems, it leaves you alone on the field, and your team can't work together without everyone there, everyone being there makes your team unstoppable, especially when your team comes in and all the enemies are even half low on health, you can wipe the enemy back with a full and healthy team.

There are Exceptions to these rules

Do not take previous idea seriously, It's more of a Fundamental, and a good focus for how a team should look.

Realistically, you can run any way you'd like, but you'll find some difficulty in learning the game when everyone is going the same exact same suit type. And without experimenting, you'll hit a brick wall in your skill as a player, pretty quickly.
So, if you see an all General team, don't hold it over the team to have someone go Support, you can do the Support role, or you even can just go Raid. All ways are viable, and just play with what you can feel confident with, especially in the role of the suit you're playing with.
Just, don't expect it to be a perfect game, use that opportunity to find new ways to approach that kind of situation.

• Team Composition can be all Raids, or All Supports, but those are usually pure Defensive, or Pure Unga. These are Exceptions to the Rule of Thumb of One Support, all Generals, maybe a Raid with that. Team Coordination is what matters most with those matches.
  You don't want to be caught in that, and I know it's hard to deal with the all Raids, but trust me They are Coordinating heavily, and it can be hard to counter.

Mobile Suit Categories

Generals

Strong against Raids, Weak Against Supports
Generals, They are most of your team, and are great for new players, not only do they teach you how to play as a team, they also provide all forms of Team Composition, They can be better at Melee or Range compared to the Raids and Supports, but not only that, they get mobility on their side. Some Generals have a Dodge Roll(Refer to Basic Information for more), But they all can excel at Melee, Range, Barrage, movement, Staggering, Defense, Rush-down, even be all around. They are great to keep a front line, and they can be great to push, Just Experiment and you'll find what you'll like from a suit with This suit type.

Supports

Strong against Generals, Weak Against Raids
Supports are oriented around Range Damage, They are great to help Provide Information to your team, They share how much health enemies have, and them being oriented around range damage, they can help with destroying Generals to help widdle down numbers, Especially when you can see the health of an enemy being super low, someone can land some last hits and the enemy is down one person a bit.
I wouldn't recommend them as lone sharks, they are needed to provide a Radar, so them being with the Defensive line will both keep them away from raids, and they are helping the team with damaging the enemy front line as well.

Raids

Strong against Supports, Weak Against Generals

Raids are powerful, they are more melee oriented usually, and they are hard to Stagger. They can Provide help with the front-line line by flanking and taking out that pesky Support, but they need to be careful about the Generals. Some Generals are better at Melee than some Raids, so be careful if you're going to Rush in from the back and just do a big knock down on half the enemy team.

• There are exceptions to the Sideline tactic too, some Raids can front-line, way better than Generals, not because they can tank hits better(especially when they are boosting), but because they can be way more intimidating too, for how hard some can be to avoid.

You also, usually want to Capture points in this role, it helps not only you as a side liner, but your team with having better points.

Mobile Suit Skills

All suits have a set of Skills to help improve their usefulness on the battlefield, some suits are able to Dodge Roll, Others can Tank a Bazooka, Or supply information for the team. Not only that, it Effects Melee Combos, Boost Consumption, Movement, even Details that a Mobile Suit can Fly or has a Special ability that requires activation, there are even abilities to make a Suit more powerful at low health.

I'd supply a detailed list of everything but I'd rather refer to a different guide since it'd take forever to get all the skills, their names, what they do, how effective they are, percentage values, levels of those skills, what level effects, why higher levels of one skill matters more than others, and tons of more information.

I'll add a list below of some of the standard ones you'll find in most of the roster when I have freetime again(Darn you college)

Here is one I moved from an upper category before adding this section in, be aware this isn't a skill on ALL units, they're on a good percentage though.

• Dodge Roll, a Skill called "Emergency Maneuver" that only some suits will have in the game, Mainly Generals, it has the ability to get you out of Danger, but also Sacrifices your boost(or most of it, based on the suit and your build). it's great to get out of situations, but can be hard to recover with, it doesn't use your legs for recovery either.(Check the Crippling Section)

Recommended Suits For Beginners

This list was made by the community of GBO2, and was put together from the experience of our highest Ranked players.

This is a list updated from April, 2022. This game goes through updates very often and they do buff or nerf according to win/lose scores on units(please don't take that as a reason to throw a game on your favorite MS), BB Studios adding new suits in and reworking certain things, even adding new maps to the game will change the effectiveness of certain units. Just be aware, lists like this can be outdated overnight. trust me, I know how it feels when your favorite MS has a small nerf and now you have to play something else that isn't nowhere nearly as fun.

(I want to supply a link here to a much more active recommended unit list, perhaps even include a meta list from the most dedicated of players in this small community)

There is a little mark on the corner of the portraits of units and that's a BB Studios recommendation Unit, I'd advise getting units in the store and look at the recommended and 'Inspect MS' so you can see the kit that unit has, to see if it fits with your play-style. That's just some advice

General Units

Ground and Space Use

• Cost 400 - LV1 Gundam
  
• Cost 200 - LV3 Zaku II
  
• Cost 250 - LV4 Zaku II
  
• Cost 300 - LV1 Zaku II FZ (Fritz Helmet)
  
• Cost 200 - LV3 GM
  
• Cost 250 - LV4 GM
  
• Cost 200 - LV1 GM Night Seeker
  
• Cost 300 - LV1 GM II
  
• Cost 200 - LV1 GM Kai
  
• Cost 350 - LV1 Powered GM
  
• Cost 400 - LV1 Pezun Dwadge
  
• Cost 450 - LV1 Marasai
  
• Cost 450 - LV1 Gelgoog High Mobility Type
  
• Cost 250 - LV1 Zaku High Mobility

Ground Use Only

• Cost 300 - LV1 Efreet
  
• Cost 350 - LV1 Gundam Ez8
  
• Cost 200 - LV1 Zaku Desert Type
  
• Cost 250 - LV1 GM Command
  
• Cost 200 - LV3 GM Trainer
  
• Cost 250 - LV1 Armored GM
  
• Cost 300 - LV1 Gundam Ground Type

Space Use Only

• Cost 250 - LV1 GM Command Space Type

Support Units

Ground and Space Use

• Cost 350 - LV1 Guncannon
  
• Cost 200 - LV1 Gigan
  
• Cost 450 - LV1 Gelgoog J
  
• Cost 200 - LV3 Zaku Cannon
  
• Cost 250 - LV4 Zaku Cannon
  
• Cost 200 - LV3 GM Cannon
  
• Cost 250 - LV4 GM Cannon
  
• Cost 300 - LV1 GM Sniper Custom
  
• Cost 300 - LV1 Guncannon Mass Production Type

Ground Use Only

• Cost 250 - LV1 Zaku Cannon [Rabbit Type]
  
• Cost 200 - LV1 Zaku II [Heavy Arms]
  
• Cost 250 - LV1 Desert GM
  
• Cost 350 - LV1 Dom Cannon Multi Gun Type
  
• Cost 400 - LV1 galgoog Ground Type
  
• Cost 250 - LV1 Guntank Mass Production Type

Space Use Only

N/A

Raid Units

Ground and Space Use

• Cost 450 - LV1 G-3 Gundam
  
• Cost 400 - LV1 Gelgoog Marine
  
• Cost 200 - LV3 Zaku I
  
• Cost 250 - LV4 Zaku I
  
• Cost 300 - LV1 GM Guard Custom
  
• Cost 200 - LV3 GM Light Armor
  
• Cost 250 - LV4 GM Light Armor
  
• Cost 250 - LV1 Zudah
  
• Cost 350 - LV1 Prototype Gundam

Ground Use Only

• Cost 200 - LV1 Acguy
  
• Cost 300 - LV1 Efreet (DS)
  
• Cost 250 - LV1 Gouf
  
• Cost 350 - LV1 Gouf Custom
  
• Cost 250 - LV1 GM Ground Type [M-MSV]

Space Use Only

• Cost 200 - LV1 Dra-C

Thanks

The Team No Pants Discord Server
my Fellow Clan members

AuraFlash for Insight to the more minute mechanics
Zero Taicho for additional proofreading(I forgot to finish that section on Raids)

I'm still working on this whole Guide to the Game, so check back when you can, I'm trying to update it daily as I discover new things, or find something I messed upon, even run out of text on some of these sections(I'm looking at you 'Basic Information').