P.O.W. Rescue

P.O.W. Rescue ^{(unlocked at Level 05)} is a new game mode introduced in Metal Slug Attack. The player is tasked with completing a set of 10 stages of increasing difficulty in order to get Unit Parts and Items, as well as Gold Bars (occasionally referred to as Gold Bullions) and Assault Course items, both exclusive to this game mode.

Daily quests offer 100 EXP, 2,000 MSP as well as 200 Gold Bars ^{[as of 1.3.0]} for completing one stage.

Overview

P.O.W Rescue involves the player working with a faction to save prisoners from the enemy. Players have one try each day, resetting at 4:00 A.M JST. Each day the player helps a different faction:

• Monday: Regular Army
• Tuesday: Rebel Army
• Wednesday: Ptolemaic Army
• Thursday: Space Army
• Friday: Independent
• Weekends: Any faction

Unlike in Ultimate Mission or Another Story, there is no respective faction restriction of which units to use regardless of the faction being played. There is no time limit to complete the entire run.

There are ten stages. The first nine stages may or may not have an enemy. If the stage does contain an enemy, it consists of another player's deck controlled by the AI, but none of their units will benefit from Status Strengthening Items in this game mode. If the stage does not contain an enemy, the player will either search the surroundings for various items, or free the prisoners for MSP. The final stage always contains an enemy.

When the final stage is cleared, alongside the rewards listed above, the player is also given two faction strengthening items for that faction as a bonus reward.

Assault Course

Green "Assault Boost" items can be used by the player to strengthen units of each faction permanently. Unlike with Assist Skill Bonuses, units need not be placed in a single-faction deck in order to take advantage of Assault Boost bonuses.

The Assault Course screen allows them to be applied to these statistics:

• Health: Increases HP of faction's units - caps at +50.0%
• Attack: Increases damage of faction's units - caps at +50.0%
• Prod: Increases production rate of faction's units (faster to deploy) - caps at -100 ticks (-3.3 seconds)

The health and attack buffs also stack with other buffs, such as those provided by skills or Status Strengthening Items. Each Assault Course trait can be increased to a maximum of level 50, with the item costs increasing along the way:

• Levels 1-10 cost 1 item each.
• Levels 11-20 cost 2 items each.
• Levels 21-30 cost 4 items each.
• Levels 31-40 cost 8 items each.
• Levels 41-50 cost 10 items each.

It hence requires (1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 10) * 10 = 250 Assault Boost items to max out a single boost type for a single faction - or 3,750 items to complete each of the three boosts for all of the five factions. As a maximum of six items can be acquired for one faction each week (assuming the weekly is put into one faction only), the rate of which these items are acquired are extremely slow. Thus, it is recommended to either spread the items equally.

There are occasional sales for Assault Boost items where players can buy 20 and 10 faction packs. Although expensive as they require real-life currency to obtain, they significantly speed up the leveling process.

P.O.W. Shop

As with other Shops, merchandise selection is randomised and refreshes 3 times a day at 1200 hours, 1800 hours, and 2100 hours based on server time. In exchange for Gold Bars players can get:

• x5 Unit Parts ( Regular Army) - 500 ( 350 during Sale Day).
• x1 Items (Silver) - 200 ( 140 during Sale Day).
• x1 Items (Gold) - 1,000 ( 700 during Sale Day).
• x1 Items (Platinum) - 10,000 ( 7000 during Sale Day).

Current stock can be refreshed immediately for 30.

Though similar to the Battle Shop, Team Battle Shop, and Guild Shop, the P.O.W. Shop's unique trait is that it offers only Regular Army units.