+ Front runners are playing a fundamentally different game versus other running styles. Building them isn't too hard, and their + careers tend to be easy, but the things you need (and don't need) to make a really good front runner are sometimes surprising. +
++ This document is advanced material. The target audience intends to win Champions Meet Group A Finals. This is meant for + players who are already strong at training: players who can take a target stat line and skill set and turn it into a horse. + This is about what those stat lines and skill sets should be, along with why. +
++ Two or three weeks after Global launched, my friend told me to get a job, so I sent him a screenshot of me clicking the + install button on Umamusume. Since then, I have been a mostly-F2P player, with the single exception of the First Anniversary + SSR pick ticket. (I haven't even spent the accompanying paid carats.) +
++ I'm committed to running exclusively triple fronts for every Champions' Meet, starting since CM8 Sagittarius Cup (Arima + Kinen). I've messed up a lot doing it, and gotten second in more CMs than not. In other words, I've figured out what makes + good fronts by seeing a lot of things that make bad fronts. +
++ Well, that, and I'm very familiar with KuromiAK's Race Mechanics doc, to the point that I make my own tools to calculate the benefit of obscure mechanics. And I've talked to a lot of + exceptionally knowledgeable folks on the + GameTora Discord server + to learn about ideas like lane combo and spark farming. +
++ I want to share the knowledge I've accrued about front runners, because teaching is my favorite thing. Definitely not just to + rationalize running triple fronts for every CM even though most of my favorite horses are late surgers. +
++ Most front runners enjoy easy careers thanks to strong kits and little chance to be blocked. This chapter details the minutia + of career races, especially in MANT. +
++ Contrary to advice I sometimes see, you can, in fact, take skills during career without Fast Learner. When you take skills + mid-run without Fast Learner, and you happen to get it later, you effectively lose 10% of the SP you spent to that point. + However, you also prune hints: taking the first level of a skill removes it from the pools for support card hint bubbles, + MANT rivals, UC bursts, and everything else except events that grant specific hints. Each front-specific skill you own improves + your chance of getting skills you don't have hints for. +
++ Early Lead is a snap take skill. The only time to sit on Early Lead is when you happen to get the first +1 hint + the turn before inspiration. (Even then, I'd probably still take it.) Early Lead is one of the strongest skills in terms of + lengths gained, it applies to all tracks and conditions, and it saves late starts, which are your only source of losses + on most races after junior year. Moreover, it has a base cost of only 120 SP; even if you do get Fast Learner after taking it, + your opportunity cost was 12 SP. If you prune Early Lead and a hint lands on Fast-Paced or Leader's Pride instead, you gave up + that potential 12 SP to save 18. It's incredibly good to take early. +
++ On parent runs, or exactly one of your three CM horses, Lone Wolf is another snap take. Base cost of 60 SP for +40 speed, + which can secure a lot of races, especially early in career. Be extremely careful not to take it on multiple horses on a team. Save + and quit from the career if you need to check. It's technically better to have it on two horses than zero, but it's tremendously + better than that to have it on one. +
++ Angling and Scheming is a strong consideration as a mid-career take. Inheritance events are more likely to activate green + sparks than white sparks, so the risk of missing out on SP by taking it early is higher. However, Angling is an almost automatic + win condition for career (outside a few certain tracks). Taking Angling early can save a lot of clocks, and it can rescue runs that + don't get what is normally the minimum speed to win races before summer. +
++ Front Runner Savvy is a skill you will pretty much always want at least the first level of. Wit is a strong stat for front + runners, and Savvy is a guaranteed Groundwork trigger. It's also the second cheapest front-specific skill, after Dodging Danger. + On parent runs, it might be worth sitting on it until the +2 or +3 hint, because taking the second level gives a slightly boosted + chance to generate the spark, and hints save twice as much SP on the double circle. +
++ Front Runner Straightaways and Corners are strong and cheap. If you've taken Early Lead and Angling, they probably + won't change the outcomes of any races, but it's still reasonable to take the first level to prune. As a corollary, outside parent + runs, you should have a specific distance in mind, so your distance straights/corners should also be quick takes. +
++ If you get a +3 hint, Focus can act as a backup to Early Lead to prevent late starts that can kill your horse. Without a + +3 hint, it's expensive for the magnitude of its effect. It's also not a great skill for an ace on its own, so it's pretty skippable + in general if you aren't expecting Conc. +
++ Niigata Junior Stakes is the first non-sprint graded race in career, which means it's very likely to be one you run. It's also + an oddly anti-front race. Late race starts a good bit past the final corner, which means front runners don't have any skills + that can secure a win. (Unless you're inheriting Pasta? But VPP isn't really a good take mid-career.) +
++ An interesting consequence of the shape of Niigata 1600 is that duels can start before late race. If you're doing a guts + build, having that happen will give quite a good chunk of accel and speed for the entire spurt, which is usually enough to get + the win. Duels are also pretty likely, because career races have more runners—as long as you're not a solo front. +
++ If you do commit to the race and find yourself as the only front runner, switch to pace. You cannot win this race as a solo + front. +
++ As a corollary, you also cannot win this race with B mile. A miraculous start can get to 350 speed for this race; a B mile + runner with 350 speed is equivalent to an A mile runner with only 207 speed in career. See the spurt calculator. (This race is why I made it.) +
++ An even more anti-front track is Ooi 1200 Dirt. This one is actively malicious. Visually, it looks like late race starts on a + corner, but the portion before the stretch is a special neither corner nor straight property. That means Angling won't activate, + and Pasta is delayed (though still within the accel period). +
++ Fortunately, JBC Sprint is after summer, which means you should be able to stat diff your opponents. If you are planning to + win this race, e.g. for the +30 stat epithet for doing it twice, you may want to prioritize a bit of extra speed training, or + take Front Straights/Corners. Don't be too surprised if you lose a clock or five to a Taiki Shuttle rival. +
++ The main concern with 3K races is always stamina. Front runners are punished on long distances because they convert stamina to + HP less efficiently than other styles. +
++ A stat line like x/450/x/500/600 should be enough for a guts/wit build to win Kikuka Sho against most rivals, possibly at the + expense of a clock or two. TSS seems to need something more like x/700/x/700/700 if you don't have any recoveries; I haven't + tested much without them, because I don't like throwing away my runs. +
++ Since approximately every front runner career will either be Valentine's Bourbon, whose unique skill has a recovery component, + or have Bourbon Wit, who gives the option for a guaranteed Moxie hint on her first chain event, you'll almost always have a + recovery available to take. Kitasan Black is the exception, since she has TTL built in. Regardless, if you end up overstam at + the end of the run, buying Moxie can be -162 SP, which is certainly not a trivial amount. +
++ An alternative option to buying a recovery is to switch to Late Surger for those races. I've won Kikuka Sho with circa 300 + stamina this way. Personally, I've decided I prefer buying Moxie in MANT so that rivals have a chance to give a useful skill, + but it's probably the wrong choice. +
++ All that said, the stamina requirement is instantly much higher if the rival is Super Creek, Mejiro McQueen, or Rice Shower. + As rivals, those three will have very strong HP-oriented builds: on TSS, 650 stamina and at least one gold recovery. You will + burn clocks rolling for them to fail wit checks unless you also have a gold. +
++ One last consideration for front runners on 3K races: Angling is a dead skill. If you're borderline on stamina, you'll have a + hard time if you're on Long C. +
++ Kitasan Black doesn't get the easy careers that other front runners do. For one thing, if you're training Kitasan, you + probably don't have Sei as a parent since their uniques don't mesh (except on Nakayama 2500). Kitasan's own unique is also + very weak outside of long races and unable to even activate on some miles, notably Niigata 1600. And for early races, notably + Niigata 1600, you likely won't even have the opportunity to get Front Straights/Corners, especially since you don't need + Bourbon Wit. +
++ Kitasan benefits a lot from running as a Pace Chaser early on, just for the higher effective speed. Rivals are best defeated + with your intended style, but in career, winning is more important than front running. +
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