Stats are hard capped at 99

[JesterInBlack]

I was doing a silly playthrough that involved stacking a lot of defense, and I ran into a hidden mechanic, so I thought I would share this fun factoid.

There is a second stat cap. Even with bonuses, stats cannot go over 99 (except HP, which is not displayed under "stats" in the unit details window). The normal stat caps for units are low enough that it is quite difficult to hit this second stat cap. Here's how it works: Let's say you have a Balthus with 84 defense normally, and he has Defense +2, Defiant Defense (+8), Rally Defense (+4), King of Grappling (+6), and cooking bonuses (+3). Even though that should add up to 107 total defense, it displays as 99 defense and both combat calculations and the stats total counter treat it as if you only had 99 defense. Bonuses to stats from cooking and abilities (including rallies) are limited by this.

Protection, Resilience, or Attack/Mt bonuses (usually from accessories, weapons, and battalions) still stack above this limit and allow you to reach 100 or more in these derived stats. Damage reducing or damage increasing abilities (such as Flayn's Lily's poise, or the Enlightened One class's Sacred Power) also appear to stack beyond this limit, though I have not tested all of these.

At first, I thought this was a bug. I used rally defense to try to survive 10 elites buffed Nemesis' Heaven's Fall combat art (which has 142 attack), and it did not help at all. The attack still dealt the same damage. But when I looked into the cause, it seems like this is an intentional power limit. One that is unlikely to come up in normal play, but can limit certain builds, especially in regards to fully buffed Nemesis.

[Anathaco]

Can confirm since I did this exact same build in order to do this exact same fight. Balthus is indeed a god.

so yeah it means the highest possible prt stat in the game is 115 (99 defence + 6 from the aegis shield/similar + 10 from Dedue’s paralogue battalion).

Although I wonder if armoured blow would still reduce damage even after you hit 99 defence, since it specifically says that it boosts defence, not prt? It wouldn’t help in regards to surviving Heaven’s Fall since they can only operate on opposite phases but it would still be interesting to know. Maybe I’ll try it out at some point since I kept my old file.

But yeah it’s something that will only ever come up with Nemesis. Even something like Maddening Dimitri at Gronder can’t do any damage to a 115 prt unit, even with Atrocity. As for res, I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to reach 99 (Flayn has the highest cap at 72, so 72 + 5 from the statue buff + 5 from bishop + 4 from cooking buffs + 4 from rally res + 8 from defiant res = 98 res. Oof. I could be missing something, but I’m pretty sure a res buff from something like transmute won’t stack with the rally, and she can’t equip res + 2 because it’s lord class only.), not that there’s anyone on the magical side of things that hits as hard as Nemesis.

Ok ramble over.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

3 hours ago, Anathaco said:

But yeah it’s something that will only ever come up with Nemesis. Even something like Maddening Dimitri at Gronder can’t do any damage to a 115 prt unit, even with Atrocity. As for res, I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to reach 99 (Flayn has the highest cap at 72, so 72 + 5 from the statue buff + 5 from bishop + 4 from cooking buffs + 4 from rally res + 8 from defiant res = 98 res. Oof. I could be missing something, but I’m pretty sure a res buff from something like transmute won’t stack with the rally, and she can’t equip res + 2 because it’s lord class only.), not that there’s anyone on the magical side of things that hits as hard as Nemesis.

How about the Ward spell? I believe it can stack with everything else - in which case, it would add 7, for up to 105 resistance. There's also Pure Water, but I think it's the same effect as Ward (which would mean they can't stack).

3 hours ago, Anathaco said:

Can confirm since I did this exact same build in order to do this exact same fight. Balthus is indeed a god.

Your location checks out!

[Anathaco]

3 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

How about the Ward spell? I believe it can stack with everything else - in which case, it would add 7, for up to 105 resistance. There's also Pure Water, but I think it's the same effect as Ward (which would mean they can't stack).

Oh? I didn’t actually know that about Ward, that’s pretty neat. Guess I figured it would count as a stat buff. But yeah, then I guess Flayn can reach 99 res.

(that’ll probably be my next play through)

3 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Your location checks out!

I legitimately forgot I had that set as my location and was so confused lol.

[JesterInBlack]

On 6/30/2021 at 7:34 PM, Anathaco said:

Although I wonder if armoured blow would still reduce damage even after you hit 99 defence, since it specifically says that it boosts defence, not prt?

I tested it by removing my shield and battalion Prt, and it looks like Armored Blow is considered a defense buff. Armored Blow does not increase your defense above 99, does not increase your Prt, and does not impact Armored Strike's damage once you're at 99 Def, either.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

6 hours ago, JesterInBlack said:

and does not impact Armored Strike's damage once you're at 99 Def, either.

Does it boost Armored Strike's damage when you're below 99 Def, though?

[LoneRecon400]

33 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Does it boost Armored Strike's damage when you're below 99 Def, though?

None of the scaling arts benefit from any of the - Blow skills. Take Warding Blow and Soulblade for example.