Levin VS Tino

[Dr. Tarrasque]

This should be interesting... I'll post the opener sometime tomorrow.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Alright, it's Barst VS Abel. Abel is the undeniable winner in Normal Mode but let's see how the 2 compare in H5 where Abel's Barst comes automatically at the start of chapter 2 with the following:

Level 3

HP 24

STR 10

SKL 6

SPD 9

LCK 5

DEF 6

RES 0

MOV 6

AXES D

Steel Axe

Hand Axe

Abel comes in chapter 1 and has a good chance of being Level 3 (possibly level 4 so let's compare their averages when the 2 are available.

Level 3

HP 21.3

STR 6.8

SKL 8

SPD 8

LCK 2.5

DEF 7.4

RES 0

MOV 9

SWORDS E

LANCES D

Iron Sword

Javelin

Barst is winning in HP, STR, SPD and LCK. Losing in SKL by 2 (which means 2 Hit % and 1 Critical %) DEF by 1.4 which at this point, is irrelevant due to every single one of your units besides Jagen dying in just 2 hits. The MOV lead is much less significant in H5 than it is in NM. Why? Because in H5, your team will often have to be together and some chapters are better dealt with through "sit and wait". A cavalier who strays too far from his team is a dead man.

Now let's look at chapter 2 to further analyze who wins join time. Chapter 2's pirates have SPD of 8-9, ATK of 19-20 and hit rates of 99-102. The Cavaliers are the same except they use only Iron Lances and their ATK is 2 less than the Pirates'. In terms of durability, Abel takes 2 less damage than Barst when holding an Iron Sword against the but it still results in 2 hits = death for Abel and it's the same for Barst as well so against the enemies, their durability in this chapter ends up being a tie. Against the boss, Abel wins should the boss have 11 SPD and Barst wins should the boss have 12 SPD since Abel's getting doubled unless he gets 9 SPD by the time Gomer's the only one left. On a side note, Hunters would double Abel if he didn't get any SPD or if his AS is 7 with the Javelin, which is what he'll be using most of the time (they'll also have a critical hit rate on him, pretty minor but it's there and it means 1HKO).

Now when it comes to combat, Barst wins due to higher STR and better ranged weapon.

Chapter 3, the enemies are pretty much the same, durability for both is pretty much the same and combat is once again Barst's for the same reason as chapter 2 but if that's not enough, Chapter 3 holds the Devil Axe which is very helpful in the early chapters of H5 and can only by used by either Barst or Bord at this point. The Axe is best on Barst since he has higher STR, AS, DEF and LCK at this point. Throw in the fact that Devil Axe + Killing edge is the best way to take down Reynard (boss of chapter 3) and that Abel's useless against the boss due to being doubled (the boss has 14 SPD, Barst is getting doubled as well but he's dealing the last blow so this is null).

Chapter 4, Reclass comes in which is bad news for Abel. Abel's already at his best class at this point. Changing him to anything else means just a small increase and decrease in some base stats and ditching his best STR and DEF growth and his best weapon rank for the time being. Reclass for Abel may be more beneficial later (after promotion or when he's level 20 waiting for promotion) but at this point, it's just plain bad because it's only gonna help his speed by +15 or 20% (Myrmidon and Archer respectively) at the cost of reducing his damage output and usefulness he gets thanks to his lance Level.

Reclass on Barst comes with mostly benefits and little consequence. Right now, Barst is fine as a Fighter since he still has a lead on the same stat as previously mentioned and could perform well in chapter 4 as any physical class (exclude pirate since it's just Fighter with -1 SPD and -2 HP for the ability to walk on sea). Cav Abel and Fighter Barst will match AS at level 8 and Abel's SPD growth beats Barst's by 20%. This is easily remedied by Reclassing Barst into a Merc which results in him doubling enemies and makes his durability better than Abel's. Of course, the slight AS lead Abel will have before promotion will hardly result in Abel's damage outdoing that of Fighter Barst's.

Then there's supports... pretty insignificant in this game let me just get them out of the way... Barst has Marth, Ogma, Cord and Bord. With the exception of Bord, all of them are usable units in H5 so we're looking at +30 Hit and Avoid in the midgame. Abel has Marth, Cain, Palla and Est. Cain and Marth are good, usable in H5 while Palla and Est come by the time Barst already has his supports at B and neither of those 2 are usable in H5 anyway (Palla could be but not so much). Barst wins.

Looking at the stats for H5 enemies, Barst wins during the early game which is by far the most difficult time in H5 as well as the midgame and has good opportunities to beat Abel in the late game. In H5, it's extremely likely that your healer will be the first to promote and if you've got a mage, chances are the he'll get the 2nd Master Seal since it is optimal to Reclass a Mage to Curate/Cleric and those level up quite fast. That being said, most physical fighters will have to wait as level 20 unpromoted for some time, during this time, Barst has the opportunity to earn some WEXP for Bows and Lances which results in making him another candidate for General, which is probably the most useful late game class (excluding healing) since they're the only ones who can take Brave weapons attacks well (when brave weapons come in, it usually results in 2 round KO for most units, Generals last longer).

Eh, to avoid making this tl;dr, I think I'll stop here.

EDIT: Tino conceded, which is why I'm closing this.

Edited March 3, 2009 by Levin