Equipping SR-3MP for any situation
SR-3MP is a 5-star offtank SMG with a strong FP-buffing skill. While her damage output can be nice in the right circumstances, SMG-level accuracy is a significant problem. Getting her the right equipment is essential for maximizing your damage output, and the decision is not quite as simple as an AR's VFL+HV pick (until the new equipment arrives).
Accuracy#
First important variable: how much accuracy Shrimp is getting from other sources. If you have very little of it, accuracy is very important and Shrimp will probably need an ITI to hit anything. If you have lots of it from tiles or fairy auras, her hit rate may be good enough to get away with a crit scope or EOT.
So, with no other factors at play, you can find your victim's evasion here, your net accuracy buff on the x-axis, and pick the equipment whose zone you fall into.
Relatively normal echelons will usually have 100% or less accuracy buffs, and most enemies start at ~15 EVA. If you don't want to think about it much, it's fine to just go with an ITI. Oath stat bonuses change exact thresholds a little bit, but aren't a big factor.
Command and Crit Auras#
Given Shrimp's low offensive stats, the additive bonuses of an EOT and ITI are worth a lot. However, sufficient crit damage from things like a Command fairy will make VFLs much more viable:
The point where you'd switch from a VFL to an EOT is past where you'd go from an EOT to an ITI, so this can be brought down to two options. Given the 36% crit damage buff of a 5-star command, a VFL on Shrimp is reasonable if you have at least a 50% accuracy buff on her. Extra crit rate can help the case for VFLs even more, but please don't be using Type56-1 or UMP40 in your ARSMGs.
Frame breakpoints#
A fully leveled Shrimp has 90 ROF, making her fire once every 16 frames. An ITI's -1 ROF penalty is just small enough to not slow her down, making it compare better vs an EOT (whose steeper penalty brings her down to 17 frames). Some levels of ROF tiles will cause both options to slow Shrimp down, or for neither to - making EOTs significantly more viable.
The charts above assume no ROF tiles, so VFLs and ITIs are faster than EOTs. Let's briefly cover the other possibilities with two examples. Here's a 20% ROF buff, where ITIs are slowed:
And here's with a 10% ROF buff, where speed is the same across the board:
Extra: with Command added back. See also: this extra with JS 9 for a case where ITIs are worse off even with no ROF buffs.
Chips#
A whole lot of new equipment pieces have been released. The #2 chip, equippable by ARs and SMGs, provides +15 FP and +25 ROF at maximum enhancement in exchange for a -50% crit damage penalty. Particularly considering how low the base FP of SMGs are, this is a massive DPS boost.
So, if you pick your scopes well, a chip setup will always be more DPS than an exo setup for Shrimp under these conditions. As for the percent improvement:
That's 25-55% more DPS, depending on the evasion range. Note that other factors (heavy ROF tiles, even more crit damage) can change these numbers, and it may be possible for exos to be better for DPS under extraordinary circumstances. In general, it's a massive increase.
As for the evasion loss, one arbitrary example: given +50% EVA from tiles/auras and 50 enemy accuracy, trading an X-Exo for a chip is about an 18% survivability loss. These aren't directly comparable, but considering that your maintank should be doing most of the tanking anyways, it doesn't seem like an unreasonable trade.
For a range of accuracy buffs, here are the best scopes to pair with chips:
Even with a strong crit damage aura and lots of accuracy, it looks like VFLs are not a viable option. EOTs become relatively stronger, making them a good choice as long as you have a ~50% or better accuracy aura for normal enemies.
Limitations#
Shrimp can put out decent DPS. However, she depends heavily on her link count and being able to stay in place to deal damage. If fighting multiple battles in a row, she may take damage, lose links, and become much less effective. Using more defensive options to counteract this (MDR, Shield fairy) will often be a net DPS loss and are not advised. Kiting-heavy fights may negate most of her skill.
DPS numbers aren't the only thing that matters. Depending on the encounter, there are all sorts of utility skills that may be more useful.
Picking the best equipment doesn't mean it's good - the chart may tell you an ITI is "optimal" against Patrollers, but it's nowhere near enough for her to contribute significant damage.
Do not build teams around Shrimp. If you want big damage numbers, build a team around a strong DPS unit or two like Type88 mod, R93, ST AR-15, or something.
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