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ATK PLOY > DULL-RANGED?

I'm heavily debating between defensive skills, which happen to be Guard, Dull-Ranged & QR as B-slots in conjuction one of QR or Distant Def Seals.

It should be noted that the examples I'm using are when it comes to countering Lynhardt, since they're likely the most prominent ranged enemies by far.

So where does Atk Ploy fit into this? Just came to my attention that +6s are usually the most common and highest visual buffs (since no one uses Defiant skills); so isn't it close to the same thing to have a -5 debuffing skill as a C-slot? That means you're not taking up a B-slot, which means it doesn't cost one of Guard/QR or Distant Def/QR Seal...

Am I missing something?

Asked by Nogitsune6 months 3 weeks ago

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Answers

Well, while they do share some of the same functions, Ploys and Dull Ranged have some differences that can make them pretty different.

Dull Ranged is only helpful for the unit it's on. However, it not only targets one stat, but all at once. If you have Atk Ploy, but still die from a double, it's not very useful. However, its also useless if the enemy has no buffs.

___Ploy needs to have good positioning, otherwise it won't work. Also, there are the Res restrictions. However, it can be used whether or not the enemy has buffs on them, and will be able to be used by other allies as well.

So, basically, Dull Ranged is waaaaay better as a defensive option if the enemy is buffed. The Ploys are generally much more versatile, though they are harder to use eficiently. It really depends on what you want out of them.

Guard is still probably the best B slot if you aren't running QR, though. Makes tanky things tankier.

The only time I find Dull-Ranged better is against Blade Tomes (something I forgot to consider). If I'm letting an opponent come up to me, it's likely that they're doing little to no damage as it is.

If it's only B.Lyn and Reinhardt you're trying to shut down, I would actually suggest bowbreaker since any unit besides W.Tharja that can take them both probably doubles Reinhardt naturally. It also provides limited protection against firesweep+CA B.Lyn; otherwise it probably wrecks her with any other weapon regardless of her speed. The HP threshold is also a lot lower than for QR or guard. I'm even considering to put noontime on my raven/TA H.Henry to regain some HP in case I'm tanking Reinhardt first and get quick moonbow'd (but I'm using QR2 on him). Again, if B.Lyn comes before Reinhardt, I've got her with the QR and Reinhardt gets natural-doubled if he manages to survive one hit.

That's the issue of guard - if B.Lyn strikes first, you'll probably get knocked out of the HP threshold to keep the guard up when Reinhardt comes in.

The advantage of dull ranged is that you will also block blade tomes quite well. You...might still get doubled just because the mage is so darn fast to begin with, but there's a good chance glimmer isn't happening due to cooldown delay and your res can handle their unbuffed atk, especially if you have the res to consider stacking atk ploy on it.