Anouleth Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Bartre/Ilia Route Today, I plan to prove that Ward, or Wade, or whatever the hell his name is, is a superior character to Geese, and to be honest, part of me feels I don't even need to say anymore. Ward and Wade are manly, tough names, the kind of names that makes you think of lumberjacks killing dragons, while Geese makes you think of well, geese. However, I will indulge myself and prove it. Before anything else, I would like to address the issue of supports. Ward has a great support list, being able to support Lott, Dieck, and Thany, all considered good characters. These supports are not only fast, but in the case of Lott and Dieck, they share movement. The bonuses from these supports are also desirable - Lott/Ward gives half hit, full attack and full avoid, while Ward/Dieck gives full crit instead of full attack. Ward/Thany gives full atk/hit/crit, best of all. It's not hard to see that these characters can thus form a support square, which is more desirable than a support triangle because not only is it possible to build all four supports at once, but you can split into pairs quite easily to cover more ground. As a result, Ward will almost certainly be able to build supports with two of Lott/Dieck/Thany. And they are fast enough that he can get an A quite quickly. I managed to get Alan and Lance to A by Chapter 10, and I can't imagine Lott/Dieck being behind. Geese has a far inferior support list, however. Four 1+1s and Cath? Joining in Chapter 11? It's hard to imagine he'd ever get any support. Ward joins in Chapter 2, a full 10 chapters before Geese. Anything he can do in these chapters is something that Geese cannot do and thus makes Ward better in comparison. These chapters are quite difficult and high enemy base stats mean that even great units like Alan and Lance can't ORKO for shit, so you frequently need as many hands as you can get dealing damage. Base level Ward 16 attack, 73hit, 5AS, 28HP, 3DEF Base level Lot 15 attack, 78hit, 7AS, 29HP, 4DEF Base level Lugh 9 attack, 107 hit, 6AS, 16HP, 3DEF (note that def/res gap is negligible on Soldiers and Fighters, it's only significant on Cavaliers and Knights) So while Ward isn't knocking off anyone's socks or anything, he is still useful. Now, I'm going to skip towards the first chapter with Geese in it because there's no real point in comparing Ward to... nothing (spoilers: he wins) Chapter 11 Level 14 Ward, A Lott C Dieck 37HP 43AVO 19CEV 9DEF 3RES w/Iron Axe 25ATK 95HIT 7AS w/Hand Axe 24ATK 80HIT w/Steel Axe 28ATK 80HIT 5AS Base level Geese 33HP 27AVO 9CEV 8DEF 0RES w/Iron Axe 18ATK 87HIT 9AS w/Hand Axe 17ATK 72HIT 8AS w/Steel Axe 21ATK 72HIT 5AS It's obvious that Ward wins in every parameter here, except one - AS. However, this advantage is irrelevant when compared to Ward's advantages. It does not allow Geese to double any enemies in Chapter 12, except a single 4AS Armour Knight, but since the Knight has 15 defense, Ward deals better damage to it anyway. It does allow Geese to avoid getting doubled by the Warrior and the Sniper, but both Geese and Ward are incredibly poor choices to fight them - Geese with a Hand Axe deals only 8 damage to the Sniper's 39HP and with an Iron Axe, 6 damage to the Warrior's 53HP. Ward's attack and accuracy lead is relevant, however. For example, Ward can 2HKO Archers, and he does so at 58 display hit to Geese' 50. He also 2HKOes Fighters with an Iron Axe, again with better accuracy (even with a Steel Axe, Ward doesn't 2HKO). Finally, Ward is more durable. With his 43 avoid, Shamans and Archers have only a ~44 display hit on him. He can also survive a Shaman + Steel Bow Archer, while Ward would be killed. So I don't think it's in question that Ward is a superior unit over the course of the Western Isles, because Geese has only a single, situational advantage while Ward is superior in every other area. So let's move on to Etruria: Level 16 Ward, A Lott B Dieck 38HP 51AVO 22CEV 9DEF 3RES w/Iron Axe 27ATK 100HIT 21CRIT 8AS w/Hand Axe 26ATK 85HIT 21CRIT w/Halberd (effective) 49ATK 90HIT 21CRIT 6AS w/Killer Axe 30ATK 100HIT 51CRIT Level 12 Geese 33HP 30AVO 10CEV 8DEF 0RES w/Iron Axe 19ATK 90HIT 10AS w/Hand Axe 18ATK 75HIT 9AS w/Halberd 41ATK 80HIT 6AS w/Killer Axe 22ATK 90HIT 10AS 35CRIT As you can see, Ward still wins every parameter except AS handily. While this might seem more important here than in the Western Isles, since it allows Geese to avoid getting doubled by Cavaliers that don't weigh themselves down, largely it's a worthless advantage. The only time a Cavalier won't be weighed down is if it's using a Killer Lance or Killing Edge, which gives it 35 crit. Because he has 60 effective avoid against Killer Lances and high cev, Ward only faces a 9% chance of death. Geese faces a 17% chance of death, which is actually higher. A similar thing applies against the Killing Edge Cavalier. So the only enemies that Geese' AS advantage is actually significant against are the Paladins, and he actually wins durability against everything else. However, Ward has his own advantages - namely, better strength and accuracy. If the Halberd still exists, for instance, Ward can use it to OHKO Cavaliers, while Geese is too weak to OHKO and is less accurate. Against sword-wielding Cavaliers, Ward can 2HKO with the Swordreaver and Geese cannot, only dealing ~15 damage out of ~39HP. The Swordreaver also weighs him to 8AS down so he also starts getting doubled but without the advantages of Ward's avoid and cev. Ward's 28 attack with WTA + Iron Axe also deals around half damage to Lance using Cavaliers. 20ATK is a 4HKO, on the other hand. So even when Ward's low attack speed is prone to letting enemies double him, he can still eke out a win over Geese. Let's go to Ilia then, shall we? Level 3 Ward A Lott B Dieck 51HP 60AVO 24CEV 13DEF 3RES w/Killer Axe 36ATK 113HIT 54CRIT 11AS w/Hand Axe 32ATK 98HIT 24CRIT w/Iron Bow (effective) 31(43)ATK 128HIT w/Armads (effective) 43(79)ATK 123HIT Level 1 Geese 47HP 41AVO 13CEV 13DEF 1RES w/Killer Axe 29ATK 103HIT 68CRIT 14AS w/Hand Axe 25ATK 88HIT 38CRIT w/Armads (effective) 36ATK(72)ATK 113HIT Defensively, Ward is winning. He can push his avoid up to 80 or even 90 with a forest and WTA. Even Mercenaries only have about 40 display hit on him (and 6HKO), so even though they double him he doesn't really care. In fact, anything in Ilia not using a Sword or Axereaver can't really touch him, even Archers have like 30 display hit on him. Ward is pretty much the same but with less avoid and faces more crit from Killer Lance users. For example, a Killer Lance using Pegasi has 40-45 display hit and 26 crit, as well as 5HKOing, so he could potentially die if not at full health. Silver Lance Falcoknights actually 3HKO him at 30-40 display hit. And Geese actually gets 2HKOed by Shamans at 40-45 display hit. While this is not an issue in Chapter 19 where he can stand on a peak, there are no such lucky opportunities in Chapter 17, 18 or 20. Offensively, you might think that Geese is winning - however, you would be wrong. With an Iron Bow, Ward cleanly OHKOes all Pegasi. While Ward 2HKOes Pegasi with anything, pretty much, he often falls short of doubling when the Pegasi switch to lighter weapons and his accuracy is terrible against Axereaver Pegasi (50 display hit even with a Killer). So Ward's ability to OHKO with good hit trumps Geese' unreliability. This even extends to the Falcoknights which are never slow enough to be doubled. Finally, the Iron Bow option gives Ward an accurate weapon against Mercenaries and Shamans, something both of them struggle with. It's also valuable against sword-wielding Cavaliers in Ch19, who have ~45 avoid with WTA to Geese' ~105 hit and are too fast to double. So even in Ilia, Geese fails to establish a convincing lead over Ward. Maybe Bern will be Geese' time to shine? Level 7 Ward A Lott B Dieck 54HP 64AVO 27CEV 15DEF 3RES w/Killer Axe 38ATK 118HIT 55CRIT 12AS w/Silver Axe 42ATK 108HIT 25CRIT w/Hand Axe 34ATK 103HIT w/Halberd 37(57)ATK 108HIT w/Armads 45(81)ATK 128HIT w/Steel Bow 36(54)ATK 118HIT Level 5 Geese 50HP 47AVO 15CEV 14DEF 1RES w/Killer Axe 31ATK 106HIT 68CRIT 16AS w/Silver Axe 35ATK 96HIT 38CRIT w/Hand Axe 27ATK 91HIT w/Halberd 30(50)ATK 96HIT w/Armads 38(74)ATK 116HIT 19DEF Both of these characters are by this stage, virtually indestructible. With Forest and Peak avoid respectively, Ward and Geese have 84 and 87 avoid, enough to reduce Wyverns to 0 hit and even Dragon Lords to about 10 display. So the only relevant question here is offense. Even against Steel Lance Dragon Riders, Geese is still iffy about doubling, and almost every Dragon Rider also carries a Javelin which puts them out of range for him to double. He can't even switch to a hand axe to try to encourage them to engage him at close range because with only 28 attack, he doesn't 4HKO them. Finally, he fails to OHKO Dragon Lords with Armads, something that Ward can do. Ward can use a Steel Bow to cripple a Wyvern on Player Phase, on the other hand, and he reliably 2HKOes with Silver and 3HKOes with a Hand Axe. He can also 3HKO (borderline 2HKO against Riders) with Killers, while Geese 4HKOes Riders and 5HKOes Dragon Lords. Finally, Ward has superior accuracy, getting 90 display hit while Geese has 80 display hit. I'm willing to concede, however, that Geese is winning in Bern, because Steel Lance Dragon Riders are so prevalent. And that's the whole game. Ward wins in Lycia due to existing, again in the Western Isles due to existing and just being better, and they're quite comparable in Etruria and Ilia. Geese only wins in Bern. So because overall, Ward wins for longer than Geese, he is a superior character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeaponsofMassConstruction Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I realize it's been a week, but I will get to this soon enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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