"Steel Boasting Shining Bullet" Warsman Review: Shining Simplicity

When “12 Million Power” Warsman got first place in the poll to determine which units were going to get a Bond Awakening form during over the next few months, I was quite surprised, because, all things considered, it was a simple but effective unit, having a solid niche in the Mongolman raid. 

Barbed Wire Resist/Spider Web Resist (Also I hate how small his artwork is)

Over the several (Rope Resist/Killer Ability) units that would really appreciate a Bond Awakening, considering how limited their usefulness is for most of them.

"Devil's Finisher" REBORN Asuraman, one of the two units with this skill set that got in the list, has Current Rope Healing (Medium)/Light Attribute Killer (Medium)...funnily enough one of the better units of this kind as you can see

 At first I thought “A lot of people really likes Warsman”, but then I remembered that there were other Warsman gacha units that needed a rework way more than this one.

 

"Hell's Bears" Warsman only has Ice Rope Resist/Finisher Timer Reduction...then again Im not surprised if Warsman fans don't wanna remember that he was in Ultimate Tag

In the end I guessed that a lot people liked the fight this versión of Warsman appeared, and I dont blame them. 

Maths are your friend

 After being portrayed as a silent killing machine in the previous arc, during the this fight it was the first time that we saw a more emotional Warsman, being clearly disadvantaged agaisnt Buffaloman, being intimidated by his 10 million power, but still giving it all until the end thanks to Suguru's support, being able to cut one of his horns and showing that he wasnt as untouchable as he seemingly was.

 

No gonna lie, I hate how "Chyojin" ruins the scene for me

It shouldnt be surprising that most people were bummed that an unit based on one of the big moments of the original series' early arcs was saddled with quite the basic set of abilities and techniques.

 

Considering that Dena has a inconsistent way to give Bond Awakenings, with some cases being a straight upgrade to the base form, and in some cases a completely different unit that mirrored the base form (having different rope and hazard resists), I wasnt sure what to expect about his bond awakening, just that I was sure that they wouldnt make him a Blast Rope unit. They already did that the previous month with Chaos so why would they I am right?

BLAST ROPE Boost (Strong)/Dimensional Hole Resist/Akuma Choujin Killer (Medium)

 Sigh (I will talk about Dena’s Blast Rope Fetish in the near future)

 

In a similar way to Chaos, they took a different approach (which I hope it doesnt became the norm for these units) about what skills should Warsman had. Instead of just adding a new ability or just making a counterpart, they practically did both at the same time, making a counterpart of the base Warsman, giving him a simple skill set reminscent of the previous one, while adding something new.

So without futher ado lets start the review comparing Warsman with the other units that share his skills…

Yeah, at face value this unit leaves anything but a good first impression.

Ignoring his Akuma Choujin Killer ability (we will talk about it in a bit), [Blast Rope/Dimensional Hole Resist] Is a really, really, REALLY common tándem in skillsets…and they are always accompanied with 1 or 2 more non-Killer skills to boot, with the exception of Cannon Baller, but he is a PvP unit, so thats expected.

Blast Rope/Dimensional Hole Resist, bad support attack, vanilla finisher...still the one of the best units you can get from PvP #Respect

 At first glance what Warsman offers to the table its so little its almost outragous in constrast to the supportive capabilities of the Walrus Family, Jaqueline and Sneagator.

Sneagator has Blast Rope Recovery (Strong)/DimHole Resist while also resisting Counter, Jaqueline ups the ante by having the same skills, plus a special ability that allows her to heal allies at a certain radius at the end of her turn, and the Walrus family not only resists Blast Rope and Holes, but also Spikes, damage dealt by Blue Attribute units AND his finisher heals a large amount of HP (Jesus).

And the offensive capabilities of Mantaro, Neptuneman, Gazelleman, Mariposa and Terry the Kid.

Mantaro is remarkably similar to Warsman, with the only difference skill-wise being that Manta has Blue Attribute Killer, and Attribute Killer ablities are better than Typer Killers most of the time. Terry has Counter resist alongside the tandem and Time Choujin Killer, Gazelleman, Neptuneman and Mariposa get versatility points for resisting other kinds of ropes alongside Blast ones, while also having respective Killer abilities (in Mariposa case an Attribute one, oof)

While there are many units that have the same skillset than Warsman, down to having a killer ability, plus other stuff, I think the unit we should focus on in order to determine how good Warsman is Turboman.

Poison Boost/Blast Rope Resist/DimHole Resist/Akuma Choujin Killer (Strong)

 As you can see, Turboman not only has Wars’ BlastRope/DimHole tándem, but also shares his Akuma Choujin Killer ability…and he has it at Strong, unlike Warsman’s Medium Killer ability…while also having Poison Boost to boot.

All in all, a complete downgrade, but just like on his fight with Buffaloman, Warsman wont give up, having one last ace up his sleeve, something that puts him over Turboman that should be noted: his Attack Type.

While Turboman is a bouncer, Warsman is a piercer, going through enemies rather than just bounce of them. While boucers may deal more damage by themselves than piercers (specially on this case), is really hard to deny the value of being able to go through enemies and actívate your allies’ Support Attacks that can change the turn of the Round, giving Warsman a solid niche as a more manageable Akuma Choujin Killer as an alternative to Turboman’s higher damage output but umpredictability in terms of trayectory. Also should be that Mantaro, a unit with a near identical skillset than Warsman, is also a bouncer.

In the end, I think Dena nail it this time, unlike with Chaos.

Ironically enough, if Chaos was a piercer, he wouldnt be Muscle Shot's biggest dissapointment this year

This versión of Warsman comes from a simpler time, where the series was starting to transition from the silly comedy series into taking a more action and fight-heavy approach, but without never losing the comedic touch, turning into the cult classic that is today.

Remember how Buffaloman had a beard when he first appeared? Who knew the route the series could have taken if Yudetamago kept it

Like I said at the start, “12 Million Power” Warsman, despite having a basic skillset, it still was a really solid and useful unit, just the series was back then was more simplistic in nature in comparison to later arcs, but still enterteining on its own right.

And now "Steel Boasting Shining Bullet" Warsman makes me feel the same. From the looks of it, Dena knew that this unit had to have something unique to differenciate it from the other units with similar skillsets, while retaining his simplistic nature. 

And they succeeded.

(Special thanks to Pluto for traslate me the names of the units)