Zephiel or Effie

Looking purely at the two units themselves, stat wise and color/weapon. Setting aside armor emblem and armor buffs. Just looking at the individual units by themselves. Which one would be the better choice as a stand alone defensive unit in Aether Raids.

I'm asking because the results in combat sims are pretty equal but slightly better for Zephiel. I know combat sims aren't 100% accurate so I'd appreciate some opinions. Thank you in advance.

For both of them I'm considering this build:

Slaying Edge+ DEF / Slaying Lance+ DEF
Bonfire
Distant Counter
Wary Fighter
Panic Ploy / Odd Def Wave
SS: Distant Counter

Effie +1
Boon: DEF Bane: SPD

HP 56
ATK 55
SPD 19
DEF 40
RES 23

Zephiel +1

HP 61
ATK 49
SPD 16
DEF 43
RES 24

(Got stats from combat sim so may be off)