I've seen so many people saying that -def is better than -res on character than don't really make use on the res stat and would apretiate having neutral def to have easier time taking a hit on their def, i'm talking about mages that have something around 20def and 26 res.
Let's take Nino for example, she has 33hp 19def and 26res and you normally run Fury on her being her best A slot bringing her to 22def and 29res, when you look at her res you can clearly see than she can't use a special that is based on res as it isn't that high and can't run ploy so why not take a bane on res?
With neutral res she can't take more than one hit from a mage anyway so what's the use of keeping her res neutral, 26res with 33hp won't be enougth to take hits from 2 mages, but even with a res bane she won't get oneshotted by more than she would have been with a neutral res.
With neutral def she will barely have enougth def to take a hit on her def (especially if you run Fury on her) which will make entering in Desperation much more easier compared to taking a bane on def.
True you could take Ardent sacrifice to enter in desperation, but why would you trow away your assist slot just to not take a -res which doesn't change your matchups.
This comes from the experience from using a +spd -res Nino, and she was able to tank both on res and def thanks to not having a -def IV, and i think that the same thougth process can be done for ny other mage that have similar stat to her.
EDIT: forgot to mention that normally the ones that have higher atk are melee characters as mages have lower BST leading to less stat on their atk and their weapon have lower mt
This is summed up as preserving mixed bulk. You want to be able to survive one hit from each weapon type, normally to put you into desperation range. So characters you dont specialize or care much for their bulk want the most mixed bulk possible without giving up their offensive stats. Post was long-winded but still appreciated
You're acting as if people use non merged ninos. When Nino is +10 merged, she'll have 33 res and 37hp with fury which is enough to take a hit from red mages. A fully merged neutral nino with fury has 60 physical bulk. A popular green DC unit like Grima or L!Hector is still gonna 1 shot her because of atk boon, or leave her at 6hp. That being said, -def is still the best bane for her because at -def she'll still have 3hp.
But then again, -res is still good on some mages. Just not on the character you just talked about.
She is still able to take a hit from a red mage even if you take -res on her, my Nino is +10, that was just an example to prove my point, 33 res is still not enought to not take a bane on her.
WIth neutral def my Nino was able to tank hits from red swords sometimes when they didn't have a skill to make them double
If its under the context of arena I'd still say the same. +10 stats can be ignored because the enemies will be +10 too. So if you have 60 vs 57 you are possibly able to survive better from blue armors or low Atk green DC users. The extra Res doesnt really do anything for you. As what red mage are you going to fight in arena. If not in arena I still say preserve the mixed bulk
I'm with you too. If the mage can't use their res to tank or ploy, keep their physical bulk over their res. Ishtar, dump res. Linde, dump res. Mae...probably dump def, because she can ploy, especially with merges. Delthea is a hard case because with fury and neutral res she does ploy decently, but dumping HP definitely puts her in OHKO territory even with fury.
On the Nino example though I think there's actually a serious argument to be made for -def or -HP especially in the days when horses were running rampant because - I heard, but haven't tested - she tanks Reinhardt.
the only problem with that is that bulk increases at twice the rate of attack when merging.
When comparing a stat like speed, it is true that you can ignore +10ing, because speed doesn't rely on any other stat.
A units bulk however, relies on both HP and def/res; meaning that instead of increasing by +4, bulk increases by +8 when +10ed.
Units that are +10 preform differently than un-merged units because of this reason. To say "lets ignore +10's since the enemy will be +10 too" is completely ignoring a nuance of the game that a good tactician would take into account.
-def is much better on most mages, because they will do what their job, even with -def.
for your example, nino will tank Bhecktor, tiki, +atk effie, neutral or -def.
nino will die to Lhector, grima, ephraim, dorcas, neutral or -def.
nino will tank a hit from sheena, neutral or -def.
the range between 52-55 phys bulk is pretty narrow that it's not gonna make that much difference.
she'll pretty much kill what she kill, and die to what she died.
if you dump res, then she can't tank moonbow reinhardt anymore, which is what she supposed to be able to.
in that case, you better off with -HP than -res, because they both die to reinhardt, but -hp will survive at +10, while -res pretty much sent to graveyard.
I don't know what you're talking about, my Nino was able to tank Reinhard with no problem and she had -res as IV, but since i didn't take -def she was also able to tank brave bow archers and some swords as they are not able to double her, trust me -def will make her die from too many DC users.
Why would you build Nino to be a tank, she is meant to be used as an offensive unit, and as such you have to increase as much as possible the chances of geting into Desperation, -def lowers it more than -res does.
This applies to most mages, their objective is getting into Desperation and having more than 55 magical bulk becomes useless in most cases with the most common characters hitting def, unless you use Ploys Iceberg or Glacies mages don't use the res stat that much, since IS promotes armors more than anything
did you buff her ?
and did that reinhardt even built up ?
I can tank zelgius, archers, daggers with my -HP Nino too, if that what's your asking.
so which DC user actually kill your nino ?
she tank Bhector, which is one of the most powerful blue unit.
she tank +atk effie, which is one of the hard hitting blue DC unit.
she tank Ltiki, which is the most dangerous blue dragon.
and the only you manage to tank better is the one that in the 52,53,54 atk, I haven't checked all of the unit list that have that atk, but i doubt it will render -def or -hp nino useless, and make -res best for her.
I am not building her to be tank. but EPing is always much more better exp on the 1st turn, because mage is always a threat, and if you can remove them on turn1 or 2, your life will be much more easier.
and if you are going to get cornered, it's not from a phys atk unit, it's always from mage, so you are most likely to get hit by a red mage, than a red swordsman with your nino.
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