Battle Tactics

Battle Tactics is a game mode introduced as a part of Metal Slug Attack's 7.0.1 update. Decks are drafted together from a limited selection of units, and then sent into AI controlled battles. The best picks win the day, and at the end of each season, Medals and Tactics Coins are distributed according to the number of victories each player achieved.

The coins can be spent through the associated Battle Tactics Shop to unlock and upgrade Supporters, units which offer unique skills and abilities.

Participating in a Battle Tactics match is a Daily Quest, awarding 1,000 upon completion. Additional coins are likewise distributed throughout each season just for playing.

Battle Tactics mode has ended on January 1, 2023 (GMT+9).

Gameplay

Before starting a battle, each day a player must draft a new deck. Each season consists of fourteen days, with five chances per day, resetting at 00:00 JST. This totals to seventy battles per season.

There are five available times in which Battle Tactics can be played, all of which are one hour before the Rank Match times:

• 03:00-03:59
• 07:00-07:59
• 11:00-11:59
• 17:00-17:59
• 21:00-21:59

For each of the ten possible slots the game will offer a choice of three random categories, and then from within those, a choice of three actual units. The pools of units available varies from season to season - refer here for current and past lists. The category is only offered if there are at least three units fitting the criteria; if there aren't, then the option is not available.

Apart from seasons 1 and 2, units from the previous section carry over to the next one which also introduces newer units alongside them. Therefore, units introduced into the mode last for roughly two seasons before they're removed from the roster.

An ideal deck should consist of at least one or two <200 AP melee openers, one 100-200 mid-backup melee, one 200-300 follow-up to that (if possible) and the remaining slots should be filled with high damage/utility units. Each season has particularly useful newly introduced units which should be acquired at all costs due to their extreme versatility. While they'll still be present in the next season, they may be less effective than they used to be.

Category	Description
Low AP	Units costing <100 AP points. Relied upon to gain ground in the early stages of a battle. Pick sparingly.
Medium AP	Units costing 100-300 AP points. Typically stronger, but aren't certain to deploy until later in a battle.
High AP	Units costing >300 AP points. Used in the final stages of a battle to overwhelm the enemy.
Stagger	Attacks from these units have a chance to instantly overcome the Resistance levels of enemy units, knocking them back from the frontline and so offering your forces more opportunities to advance.
Stun	A successful Stun attack will freeze enemies in place for a short time, preventing them from moving, attacking, or evading. They'll take less damage for the duration of the lockdown, however.
Silence	Silencing attacks temporarily seal away enemy special skills, preventing them from using their own full range of abilities.
Evasion	Units that can Evade may periodically dodge away from incoming attacks. Be aware that this may allow projectiles to continue on and strike your other units!
Rare Skill	Offers units with special skills that may provide buff or healing or poison.
Faction Specific	Only offers seasonal units from the specified army.
Random	May offer any unit from the current season's pool.

Any unit available in the pools presented may be used regardless as to whether they've actually been unlocked or not, and all are provided at platinum, level 50, with all standard equip Items in place, and with all skills unlocked. Status Strengthening items are not currently in use. Assault Boost items do not apply at all.

Once all ten deck slots are allocated, the player is prompted to pick a selection of three random Supporter characters and their Support System. As of season 4, players are allowed two supporters. New supporters that arrive in the middle of a season (as a result of updates) are available to be chosen if they're pulled from the pool.

The support system can be changed prior to starting a match. If a player is left unsatisfied with the resulting deck, it can be re-drafted one additional time a day to potentially make it better, although there's always the risk of no change or even it being worse. Redrafts are only recommended when most of the deck is unfeasible, either as a result of incompatible units or particularly poor offerings. Decks are automatically cleared at midnight JST.

With a finalized deck, players can then participate in the mode via the Battle button. The game automatically matches them together and puts their drafts under AI control. The match is played out PvP style, meaning that base health percentage determines the winner of the match; if both are equal, it's counted as a loss for both players.

If a battle extends outside the session's time slot or the player disconnects, the match will not appear in the records and the chance is not refunded. Therefore, it is highly encouraged to play with a stable connection to minimize the chance of disconnecting, not intentionally disconnect in a match and avoid playing in the last 6 minutes of the session (in the event of a stall-out).

Supporters

The main purpose of Battle Tactics is to unlock Supporters for use in other game modes. Support characters do not deploy in the same manner as regular units, instead offering additional support abilities (akin to the Support Systems provided by your base), as well as passive assist skills.

Supporters can be used by all players regardless of faction type - mixing them doesn't prevent the 10% HP bonus effect granted for using a full deck of "normal" units of the one faction, nor the use of Ultimate Skills. Supporters can be used in most game modes, including PvP activities, with a cap of three. They cannot be used in Battle and Team Battle modes.

Faction	Supporters	Primary effect	Secondary effects
		Launches an energy ball at all enemy units, dealing up to 20% of their health as damage.	Increases attack of player's units, decreases health of non-boss Rebel Army units.
		Applies up to 9 seconds' immunity to stun, silence and knockback effects.	Increases health of player's units, decreases health of non-boss Regular Army units.
		Jams the enemy's support for up to 5 seconds (Metal Slug Attack, Reload, Recovery)	Increases the health of the player's base, decreases attack of non-boss Independent units.
		Repairs up to 20% health from the player's base.	Decreases player's production rate and increases opponent's (player sends units faster, opponent sends slower).
		Applies lock production on player's units for up to 7 seconds.	Increases AP gained from killing enemy units, decreases attack of of non-boss Ptolemaic Army units.
		Sorties out a task force of 5 Dragunov Special Assault Force dealing up to 30% damage of the struck unit's health as damage.	Increases attack of the player's Ptolemaic Army units, decreases attack of Space Army units.
		Restores up to 20% health for all of the player's units.	Increases health of player's units, decreases health of non-boss Regular Army units.
		Spawns a random unit in the player's deck with up to 90% of their health.	Increases attack of player's Space Army units, decreases attack of Rebel Army units.
		Provides a temporary damage reduction of 30% to allied units for up to 9 seconds.	Increases attack of player's Regular Army units, decreases attack of Independent units.
		Increases attack of player's units by 3% for each active player unit on the field for up to 9 seconds.	Increases attack of Independent units, decreases health of Ptolemaic Army units.
		Applies silence to enemy units for up to 9 seconds.	Increases health of player's Ptolemaic Army units, decreases health of Space Army units.
		Picks up to three allied units, heals them to full health and also overheals past their max health.	Increases health of player's Space Army units, decreases health of Regular Army units.
		Launches a piercing beam that hits all opponents, dealing up to 35% of their maximum health as damage.	Increases health of player's Rebel Army units, decreases attack of Regular Army units.
		Jams enemy supporters, preventing them from being used for up to 15 seconds.	Increases health of player's Independent units, decreases reuse speed of enemy supporters.

The Battle Tactics Shop offers 500 Souls for each supporter, and 100 are needed for each evolution frame. Like normal units, frames increase the effectiveness of the supporter; higher frames reduce AP cost. Unique to supporters only, higher frames also increases the level cap by 5 and also grants an additional use of the supporter's primary effect. Therefore, prioritizing levels are recommended over item equips.

Supporter-specific equip items can also be purchased, and are used both to reduce ability cooldown times, unlock additional passive skills and also reduce their initial charge time. An episode is unlocked upon acquiring the supporter and four additional episodes are also unlocked at levels 35, 40, 45 and 50.

Supporter levels cost (1,000 Support EXP each or 3,000 for Fio/Scotia's case) and improve the power of active support abilities. Passive skill levels cost the same.

Rewards

Battle Count

Players who win a Battle Tactics match obtain 2,000 Support EXP, while a loss or draw still nets 1,000. Additionally, Tactics Coins milestone prizes are also awarded just for playing certain numbers of battles throughout each season:

Battles	Rewards
1
5
10
20
30
40
50

Season Results

At the end of each season (lasting approximately two weeks), additional rewards are handed out according to the total number of victories each player achieved.

Wins	Rewards
1-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60

Battle Tactics Shop

Tactics Coins can be spent in the game's shop to help strengthen supporters in battle.

Items

Equip Items are required to unlock each supporter's full repertoire of skills, which also increases their production rate and recharge time so they can be deployed faster. Check your supporters in Build Up to see which items they each require.

Item		Cost
	Support Symbol	10,000
	Support Pants	6,500
	Support Shield	3,000
	Support Medicine	1,500
	Support Shoes	1,000
	Support Battery	500

Support EXP

Support EXP is used to increase the level of each supporter's skills and abilities. You'll earn EXP naturally while playing Battle Tactics, so only buy it if you're sure you'll have no other use for your Tactics Coins.

Item	Cost
	5,000
	25,000
	50,000

Souls

Souls are required to unlock and evolve supporters, much as Parts are used for regular Units. Evolving a supporter reduces their AP cost, increases its maximum level as well as the number of times it can be deployed within each battle. Every evolution requires 100 souls, so take the cheapest deals first. Souls that were purchased in the previous season, will be restocked/refreshed in the next season. The maximum amount of souls that can be purchased for a supporter at any given time is 500, to which the souls will be no longer purchaseable for said supporter, as they will already attain the platinum frame and be at max level.

Only Hyakutaro, Allen and Mars People are available from the shop; the remaining supporters are initially bought as pre-acquisition units. After the 30 days pass since debut, they'll be put into a Supporter Crank.

Item	Cost
	2,000
	6,000
	12,000
	18,000
	30,000

Notes

• While the units currently lack Status Strengthening, the game mode does not account for 6.0 stat balancing changes, even though their debut stats were significantly lower.
• Following the end-of-service announcement with the release of 7.13.0, Battle Tactics' rewards were changed, with the victories at the end of the season tripling the medals and battle coins gained.