So hear me out. A 4 Star (+10) A!Tiki would have base 38 Defense and 48 Attack with Lightning Breath (+). I have (+ATK/-SPD) and (+DEF/-SPD) IV for her and I was wondering what would be the best option so she can excel in her own way or if I should instead just go all-out cookie cutter (ish) to reach 55 Attack and 40 Defense w/ Fury/Vantage, (+ATK), and an Attack Seal.
What I have discovered in my research is the following... A!Tiki could reach 53 effective Defense, as well as an extra 5 by using Threaten Attack. At this point her speed would largely be irrelevant, and would in fact be best to have as low as possible so that she gets doubled and charges her special faster.
(+DEF) A!Tiki reaches 48 Attack/41 Defense w/ Defense Seal. If you have Fortify Dragons (I do, luckily) her defensive stats are bumped up to 47/32. If you run Close Def 3 this is made into 53 DEF/38 RES vs. swords, axes, lances, and dragonstones.
Now, is this more useful than having Fury and an Attack Boon? Consider the effectiveness of having a 48 Attack/ 53 Defense (47 against non-physical/melee attackers) magically damaging walking red wall with Quick Riposte and Distant Counter. How many times, at least, do you think she'd pull off Quick Riposte, with and without Fury or Close Def + ATK or DEF IV?
A 4* (+10) Fury with Vantage,
(+ATK) with Threaten Res has been my other choice for a while now but something about the idea of her massive defense being compromised by the Fury self-damage really bothered me. 55 Attack (+5 if Threaten Res.) is nothing to scoff at with Vantage, especially since it's a magical red unit which helps her deal with her own color, but I felt it'd have limited use somewhere but this might just be my imagination.
Falchion users aren't much of an issue by the way as a Dragon Emblem team made up of Nowi, Fae, A! Tiki and Ninian can cover up that... rarely seen (Lucina) weakness but they do have trouble dealing with Julia.
So what do you all think? Will the (+DEF/-SPD) A!Tiki maximizing Quick Riposte and Defense idea truly shine the way I described, or will the (+ATK/-SPD) A!Tiki cookie cutter Fury and Vantage revenge killer set be the optimal build despite it all?
+Def is way better if you are not planning to run Swordbreaker.
Of course +Atk would benefit QR and Vantage too, especially since she has a Distant Counter built-in her Breath. Both choices are ok but imo an Atk boon isn't mandatory since it won't unlock more OHKO potential while a Def boon will increase her survivability by quite a lot (against red lords, brave weapons and massiv burst specials).
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