Now I know what you're thinking. Why would you give a Legendary Hero a skill that was one of the back-breaking straws that made pre-refine Alfonse one of the worst units in the game? Normally, I would agree with you, especially with that huge HP condition, but in this case...just hear me out.
Legend!Marth's weapon, Exalted Falchion, has a really amazing effect that copies any Field Buffs he has into additional Combat Buffs. For example, if he's affected by Rally Speed he'll gain an additional 4 Spd during combat in addition to the 4 Spd he was granted as a Field Buff, for a total of 8 Spd.
Well...it just so happens that (to my knowledge) the only non-C/seal skills there are that give the user a Field Buff are the Defiant skills (Atk, Spd, Def, and Res respectively). Not only that, but these Defiant skills offer a massive +7 to their respective stat, something you can't even achieve from Tactic skills.
Now you might be wondering here, why would you go for a Defiant skill when the only difference is 1 point? Well, when you consider Exalted Falchion's effect, it's actually a difference of 2 points! A difference between 12 and 14, to be exact, since Field Buffs are effectively doubled on him. A difference between 12, which he can only get from allies or if he himself had an Even/Odd "X" Wave skill, and 14, which he can get himself at the only condition of him needing to be at half or less HP.
If we're just going off of his weapon and a Defiant skill, the max values he can achieve in Atk and Spd would be 64 (67) Atk or 53 (56) Spd. Defiant Spd with his exclusive Special, Fire Emblem, he can achieve an additional 37 (39 with boon) damage just by himself. Even if you went with Defaint Atk instead, he'd still have 64 (67 with boon) Atk without ally assistance. Note that these are without assistance from Spur/Drive effects, like Lancina's Geirskogul.
The cool thing, though, is that because he needs to be at half or less health, he'd be perfectly fine with having additional skills with similar HP conditions like Brash Assault, Escape Route, Desperation, etc. Who needs to be exclusively anti-Dragon when you can instead pair up Desperation and Brash Assault with Defiant Atk and completely demolish almost any opponent? Give him Vantage and watch him deal nasty damage to any melee unit that dares to initiate on him.
Heck, with 35 Def as a boon you can even give him Defiant Def for a massive 49 Def just by himself (though Ignis in this situation would do the same damage as a Spd-boon Fire Emblem with twice the cooldown, but the thought's still there). Even going with the worst idea for him, Defiant Res, would give him 38 Res with a boon, letting him tank stupid amounts of damage from Dragons that would initiate on him (especially since Binding Shield acts as an anti-dragon Wary Fighter during the enemy phase and Dragonsweep during the player phase).
Honestly, if they eventually start making Defiant skills as Sacred Seals or even introduce hybrid Defiant skills, they truly will be able to shine on Legend!Marth and see a lot of use from him. An amusing combination I'd like to eventually see is Defiant Atk and Defiant Spd, letting him have +14 to both Atk and Spd making him a very interesting unit to play with.
Give me your thoughts! Do you think Defiant skills will shine on him, or are there far better ideas?
Do I think they'll shine? No, not really. Defiant skills require, what, 50% HP at most? Can't see many people wanting to do that. Tactic skills are probably going to be better for him, allowing his A skill to be free for something else that doesn't have such a hefty HP requirement.
He's probably the best user of the skill, but Tactics help more than just him, and he has 39 speed with his Falchion equipped. Does he really need 54 speed? Lol.
Except Defiant skills don't need assistance from other units to proc, meanwhile you'll need an ally to proc Tactic skills (he can't benefit from it himself, unless he instead goes with an Even/Odd "X" Wave skill). When you think about it, he can go with Defiant Atk, while his allies can go with the other 3 Tactic skills (if people actually had Legend!Lyn...). I'd say going with Defiant Spd and the 3 other Tactics would be easier to pull off, not to mention he'd get more Fire Emblem damage.
No, you don't need 54 Spd. I admit, it is ridiculous...except that Fire Emblem does do more damage the more Spd he has, so the more the merrier. Also, the higher his Spd, the less likely that Spd-junkies like Ishtar can double him (though tbh all he needs, Spd boon or not, is Fire Emblem's buff to not get doubled by her natural Spd threshold; in this case, he can better use Defiant Res or a Res-based Brazen skill to tank her during the Enemy Phase.
I commend your enthusiasm but Defiant Skills simply aren't good. "Grants (stat) +7 at start of turn if unit's HP ≤ 50%" at the START of turn. That's a very risky set up for a +7 buff for the next turn and at low HP he could potentially get Panic Ployed or KO'd.
Brazens just better. They offer +14 (+7 respectively) Combat Buff immediately after he reaches range which is only 80% (which is much more reasonable). At 80% HP, he'll be more likely survive following attacks before the next turn where a Defiant skill would then activate. Brazens also allow him to stack the Tactic and resulting Combat Buff from it on his Falchion which should equate to for eg: +6 Atk Tactic +6 Combat Buff from Atk Tactic +7 Brazen Atk = 19.
19 > 14 (from Defiant Atk). That 19 Atk can go higher with Team support of course and the same could be said for other stats.
So as it is, Defiant Skills simply aren't worth the hassle. They also don't score very well for Arena purposes. Hope I helped shed some light on the matter.
W8 you sure that he gain double Brazen stats? Can you post a proof for that. Spur effects not working 100% sure first thing i was testing^^.
Would be really strange if he really double Brazen stats that would be actually insane someone can confirm that?
Nevermind you mean 2 time 7stats ok.
It's a very interesting idea and I like it. It's something that wouldn't be considered the "Most Optimal" but is something that people aren't expecting and can really screw with people on Arena Defense. I personally wouldn't use it, but can definitely shine, especially if you have a -Spd Marth that quite use desperation as well as he should.
Side Note: BRAZENS DO NOT WORK WITH EXALTED FALCHION. While you do get the +7 in two stats, they are COMBAT buffs, not FIELD buffs that the weapon requires.
I can think of 3 uses where Defiant skills are decently useable (this does not mean there aren't better alternatives, just that on a budget they wouldn't be bad until you get a more premium skill). Blade Tomes (Defiant Spd/Atk particularly), Garm (Always doubling!), Exalted Falchion (+14 to any one stat).
In a way it seems like they are trying to push for the defiant skills, perhaps Defiant Lv4 will raise that HP requirement to <80% then especially in the cases mentioned they would be better or at the very worst equal to using a Brazen skill.
Defiant skills are hard to proc, and +2 to stat is not worh it.
With good support unit like Titania (she also help Marth deal with blue units), Deplhia, or some dancer he dont need selfbuffing, and can use A slot for some OP skill like
- Steady breath - proc special on every retaliation;
- Brazen X - even with normal +4buff from FE, or hone/fort give more than Defiant (2x4 + 7 > 7 + 7), is much easier to proc, and helps 2 stats instead od 1;
- something standard like Swift Sparrow, or Fury;
Defiant skills are really hard to use, and very inconsistent. They are not compleatly trash on legendary Marh, but there is much more better options. Untill Defiant skills dont get solid buff, we can forget about them.
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