You know what I like? SMG performance when I pay SG-like costs.

Strictly speaking, their evade is quite high, and their performance is on the high end of SMGs, but you have other options for tanks. YMMV. Personally I've never used these, and frankly there's a better thing on the way anyway (the SWAP Rippers)

Strictly speaking, theyre quite decent as AR equivalents and I sometimes wonder how SF never won. Honestly they have passable all-round performance.

Practically speaking their skill is awful and you have other options, so raising them is kind of a waste unless you already have lots of everything else

Hot art (Why dont we get their proper portraits Mica? The damned Aegis do), a big gun, decent performance, low cost, no frills. She's a DPS unit that deals damage. Decent Firepower, High Acc,... surprisingly good evasion for a DPS. The skill she gets is pretty much what SWAP Jaegers torture players with. Also punches through some armor.

Good general purpose if you have room in the team.

Honestly not the best tank (Think Thompson if she didnt have Invul) but can shield allies (with stacking shields) that last for a few seconds. Surprisingly has good firepower actually, so honestly better as a beatstick than a tank. Still not a great tank.

She has high HP, Moderate Eva, and no armor. As a tank, you'll find she melts considerably faster than similar G&K units.

So remember how when you first met brutes, they mostly kinda just died unless you had a shotgun front row? Yeah they basically do that.

Her skill is hit or miss (+damage early in the fight, though its a BIG number so it can be worth it) but her big thing is just continuous DPS. Unlike G&K MGs, she never runs out of ammo. Otherwise, quite similar to G&K MGs with basic AP loads. Surprisingly low cost too.

1 downside is she mostly gets replaced by her SWAP version.

Yeah, she's not the worst unit, but she's a 2-star (so good luck finishing her), and she's not exactly exceptional. Most pros and criticisms of the Guard still apply. The most common use for her is stacking her shields to tank AoE shots (like Typhon lasers), but otherwise, ehhh.

Unlike the basic Dragoon, this one has an infinite (until shot at) duration shield that replenishes itself at regular intervals. She also has higher stats than the basic version, and the 2nd skill reduces enemy stats.

Basically, if your enemies ignore Armor making AEGIS unsuitable for your frontline, these might work out better. SWAP Rippers are broken, but sometimes these will last longer depending on the specific fight you're gearing up for.

The SWAP Striker has higher offensive stats, better multipliers, and notably higher accuracy than the base version, so it can actually hit things. The main downside to this is it costs 6 instead of 4 to put into your echelon.

The most ridiculous SF tank in the game. She doesn't have Armor, but she has high Evasion, and her second skill works off your echelon setting. In defense mode, every time she loses a link OR her main skill activates, she gets a 9999 power distortion barrier that lasts for a few seconds, meaning that no matter what, she's going to buy you some time. In other modes, it becomes an attack buff that contributes a bit to DPS. And that's her passive. For her active, it triggers her passive and defense mode gives her a considerable 120% Evasion boost, on top of the barrier. In other modes she gets an attack boost that stacks multiplicatively with her passive.

If an SF team needs something ridiculous tanked and you absolutely need to buy time, she is currently the last word in.

Almost across the board, it's an improvement for the Vespid. However, its a pain to get a full formation of them because its a 2 star base unit, and as a DPS unit you want it at full stacks. Also, it's not really significantly better than stuff like Jaegers and Strikers. They're not useless, but there are just much better SF units to spend effort and slot points on.