Lute vs. Cormag (Eirika route)

[Rewjeo]

So, Lute joins in Chapter 4. This gives her almost nine chapters of availability over Cormag. In a 22 chapter game, that's pretty significant. Now, since she's over with with Vanessa alone, she's clearly saving us turns in chapter 4.

Then, in chapter 5, we've got 7 open slots, and we can fill them with Seth, Franz, Gilliam, Vanessa, Moulder, Garcia, Ross, Neimi, Colm, Artur, and Lute herself. She's only got to be better than three of them.

Lute Base Fire

ATK: 11

HIT: 106

CRIT: 3

AS: 7

Ross 5/0 Hatchet

ATK: 11

HIT: 96.6

CRIT: 1.7

AS: 4.2

Neimi 3/0 Iron Bow

ATK: 10.9

HIT: 99

CRIT: 3

AS: 7.2

Colm 4/0 Iron Sword

HP: 19.5

DEF: 3.5

AVO: 31

ATK: 9.8

HIT: 104

CRIT: 2

AS: 11.3

Lute 3HKOs Soldiers at 98 displayed and doubles. She's almost guaranteed to hit and 2RKOs. Ross 3HKOs at 100 HIT but doesn't double. Neimi's basically the same as Lute, but has 91 displayed hit, which is still 98+ true. Colm 4HKOs and doubles at 81 displayed and is borderline 2HKOd back.

Lute 3HKOs Fighters and doesn't double. Ross 4HKOs and doesn't double at 83 displayed HIT. Neimi does the same. Colm 4HKOs while doubling and guaranteed hitting. He's 2HKOd, but can pretty reliably dodge.

Archers. Lute 3RKOs. Ross and Neimi 3-4RKO. Neimi must take a counter. Colm 2RKOs.

Brigands. Lute 3RKOs. Ross and Neimi 4RKO. Colm 5HKOs and doubles.

So, Lute's easily the best against loldiers, is best against brigands thanks to not taking counters. She's close on archers and fighters. So, she probably beats these three. And even if she doesn't beat Colm, Gilliam sitll might be worse thanks to lol4MOV.

From here she just gets better. Gill's MOV becomes a bigger problem, she beats all of them n ATK growth (In fact, best non-Myrrh in the game) on top of targeting RES and beats Neimi and Colm in EXP gain. Especially Neimi since you can set Lute up for a small enemy phase.

By the time of the route split, she's pulling some of your best offense:

9/0 Lute Fire/Thunder C Artur

ATK: 16.2/19.2

HIT: 106/96

CRIT: 4/9

AS: 9.6/7.6

In order for Franz to pull 19 ATK at 1-2 range, he has to be level 16. Can he pull almost two levels per chapter? Maybe starting around chapter 6, but not in the early, early game. And even if he was, Lute's hitting RES. Only Seth might win, and even then, only if there's a <4 DEF/RES gap.

And defensively?

HP: 20.6

AVO: 37

CEV: 16.6

DEF: 5.2

RES: 9.2

So that's mostly 3HKOd, AKA she has an enemy phase. She's never going to be facing crit unless the enemy has a killer weapon. And she's facing 50-60 HIT. Toss her on a forest and she's facing 30-40. 2RN makes this more like 25 real. That's a 98.5% chance of surviving three attacks. That means the player can exercise her great offense on enemy phase, as well. Especially since she can counter attack all of your enemies. She's clearly become much better.

Oh, and now, about 5 chapters after that, Cormag finally decides to show up.

16/1 Mage Knight Lute Thunder/Elfire B Artur

HP: 26.75

DEF: 9.25

RES: 13

AVO: 53/45

CEV: 24.75

ATK: 26.75/28.75

HIT: 109/114

CRIT: 11/6

AS: 13.75/9.75

11/1 Cormag Killer Lance/Javelin

HP: 34.7

DEF: 12.5

RES: 3.3

AVO: 33

CEV: 4.7

ATK: 26.1/22.1

HIT: 96/91

CRIT: 36/6

AS: 13.9

If some enemy has 6 or less AS, then it would have to have something like 40 HP/10 RES to not be ORKOd. If it pulls 7-10 AS, it 'only' needs 40 HP/8 RES or 36 HP/10 RES to survive. Needlessly to say, if she's doubling, she's ORKOing.

Now, for something to escape being 2HKOd by Cormag at 1-range, it needs 33 HP/10 DEF, or around there. He's probably gonna 2HKO most everything, but he might still miss some things. Although if it does, he's got something like 51% chance of critting once. But, wait, look at that hit! 13-18 hit advantage for Lute is big, especially when you factor in 2RN. And it only gets worse if he goes 1-2 range. He can't crit it (or if he can, he's got some 2% chance, so w/e) and loses 4 MT and 5 HIT. All of a sudden, 25 HP/10 DEF is 3HKOd, and, say, 20 AVO puts him at ~10-15% chance of missing. That's ~30% chance of missing one in two attacks. Meanwhile Lute's hanging at at least 98 true hit. OH NOEZ 4% chance of missing once!

Yeah, she wins offense. Oh, but what about defense, you say? Well, besides RES at least. 13 ATK 4HKOs Cormag, tinks Lute. 18 3HKOs Cormag, 6HKOs Lute. Yeah, awesome.

But physical defense (ignoring bows) he might win? Well, yeah, but does it matter much? 20 ATK (higher then I expect you'll see) 3HKOs her, and 5HKOs him. Wait, player phase. He only has 1 extra hit in him! Now 16 ATK (more reasonable, I think) 4HKOs her and 11-12HKOs him. Sure he's more durable there, but she still isn't exactly having problems. Especially thanks to her AVO. If an enemy has 100 HIT, it pulls 67 on him. 78.55 true. 3-4 damage is now only 2.3565-3.142 damage. He's, on average, 12-15RKOd. She, however, is facing 44.65 true. That's only 3.1255 on average, not 7. So, on average, she's 9RKOd. Even less of a problem. And it gets better when she sits on a forest and only faces 14.85 real, but I'll leave those results up to your imagination. Oh, yeah, 4-5 CEV means he can take crits fairly easily.

But Cormag has flier utility! Well, sure, he can get places faster, which is nice. But he doesn't have that much of lead with rescue utility. After all, 1 MOv and flying isn't huge for rescuing, although it is nice.

But she's got the advantage of D Staves, too!

So it comes down to flier utility, slightly superior rescue utility, awesome physical defense vs. passing physical durability, freaking huge magic durability leads, staves, and superior offense.

So, let's look at chapter 18, where we have enemy stats again. Let's give them both 4 levels. Lute's also got a great claim on a Body Ring. I guess Cormag's also got a pretty good claim on the Delphi Shield, so I'll give him that, too.

16/5 Lute A Artur Excalibur/Elfire

HP: 28.35

DEF: 10.85

RES: 17.6

AVO: 51-54/61-64

CEV: 31.55

ATK: 59.35/31.35

HIT: 131/126

CRIT: 16/6

AS: 15.55(Excalibur gives +5 SPD)

11/5 Cormag Vidofnir/Spear

HP: 38.1

DEF: 18.5/13.5

RES: 3.9

AVO: 38

CEV: 6

ATK: 48.3/30.3

HIT: 114/99

CRIT: 5/10

AS: 15.7

So, how's that doing?

Well, offensively, they both OHKO with their S-Rank weapons. However, in order to counter Demon Surge, Cormag needs to take out his Spear. Let's see how that does offensively...

Well, he's pulling ~80 true hit to her... 99.9-100. Now, while he's still 2HKOing, he's got a 36% chance of missing the KO. Compared to her guarantee (or close enough) of KOing, that's pretty huge. Plus, if he wants to be set up for EP, he has to take a counter. 80% of taking 30 damage? Well, he's not gonna get an enemy phase thanks to a 64% chance of death after TWO rounds of combat. Now, Lute's not GREAT, but she's only got 40% chance of death. Of course, if she's OHKOing one first, she can actually get an enemy phase since she can take a hit. So yeah, he can take out eggs SLIGHTLY faster, but she's much better at dealing with the Gorgons.

But what about the other enemies? Lute OHKOS them all. Cormag's borderline on the Gargoyles and has a small but extistant chance of missing. He doesn't get any Baels, bar the weakest ones if he's slightly blessed in STR. He usually gets the Baels with the Spear, and she has no problem. But he still has a small chance of missing.

In 19, it's more offense vs. defense. 20's pretty similar to 18.

So, endgame, let's give them both five more levels since those chapters are EXP mines.

16/10 Lute Excalibur A Artur

HP: 30.8

DEF: 11.6

RES: 19.6

AVO: 70

CEV: 34

ATK: 59.6

HIT: 134

CRIT: 17

AS: 17.8

11/10 Cormag Vidofnir/Spear

HP: 42.35

DEF: 19.75/14.75

RES: 4.65

AVO: 44

CEV: 8

ATK: 51/33

HIT: 119/104

CRIT: 7/12

AS: 17.95

60 ATK on RES OHKOs everything but Elder Baels (whom she easily 2HKOs, even with, say, fimbulvetr) and drackozombies. His 51 ATK on DEF misses Deathgoyles, Elder Baels, the Maelduin, the drackos, and is borderline on Gwyllgis who he also only pulls 80% true on. Which brings me to something else. He's always got a chance of missing. Lute doesn't. And even on the Gwylgis, she pull 95 true. Not bad. And she has a better chance of scoring a critical, so she can get the enemies she might not. Of course, she only misses 5 enemies to his 10-12. And if he goes Spear, well you know.

Oh, but durability! We know she wins magical durability (11 AVO and 14 RES even with WTD over him) so we'll just ignore that.

Elder Baels: 2HKO Lute at .55% true. That's practically invincibililty. Cormag is 3-4HKOd at 20 true. She actually has the edge, especially since he's more likely to be poisoned.

Gwylgis: 2-3HKO Lute at ~50 true. He's 5HKOd at 80. Meh.

Drackozombies: Borderline OHKO her at too much hit, basically guaranteed to hit him with a 2HKO. Sucks for both of them.

Wights: 3HKO her at varying hit rates- roughly 25 true- and 10HKO him ~60 true hit.

Maelduin: 8HKO him at poor hit rates, 3HKO her at poor hit rates. But she can OHKO him first.

Deathgoyles: Same thing, he takes more hits, she is less likely to be hit.

So come endgame, it's more offense vs. defense. He might win here, but not by much.

Lyon has like 3 more RES than DEF, so Cormag doesn't really win that by much at all. lolDK.

And then you might say "but he flies" and I'll say "but she heals"

So, she comes nine chapters before him and contributes. Then she beats him at first when they're both there, and he slowly gains until they're about equal. If he does win at the end, her extra NINE chapters easily outweigh it.