Rend Heaven vs. Luna

[SSJDennis]

Which should I try to get most of? Also, what would be good pairings to get as much as possible? Trying to plan out for my Lunatic playthrough. Or is Darting Blow the way to go? Exactly how does the latter work?

[ShadowStar77]

Rend Heaven has a very high trigger rate but can be absolutely useless in certain circumstances. Luna is a bit weaker in this game due to lower caps and all but it still packs a punch and has an alright trigger rate. Personally, I prefer Dragon Fang w/ Hoshidan Unity.

[eclipse]

Darting Blow - When you initiate the attack, the calculation for doubling is modified to this:

Speed + weapon speed modifiers (Raider, Steel, etc.) + 5

It's a decent skill, unless you're Setsuna (who will double everything anyway).

[FlameUser64]

Darting Blow makes your Speed effectively 5 points higher for purposes of triggering a double attack, but only when you initiate combat. Also of note is that it doesn't protect you from enemy double attacks: if your enemy's Speed is 5 points higher than yours, they will double you even if you initiate with Darting Blow. The same goes for other effects that make follow-up attacks easier, such as Raider weapons. It also goes for weapons that make follow-up attacks more difficult, such as Steel weapons: a Steel weapon does not mean that a foe only has to have 2 more Speed than you in order for them to double, but it does mean you need 8 more Speed than them for you to double.

As for Luna versus Rend Heaven, personally I prefer Luna just because I think it has a cooler animation. Effectiveness-wise, Rend Heaven is pretty much useless if you're a physical unit attacking a pure magic-user or a magic-user attacking a pure physical unit.

Edited March 20, 2016 by FlameUser64

[cgRIPPER]

In general, offensive trigger skills are very unreliable. With that in mind, I find that Rend Heaven is more reliable because it's not an omnipresent hope that only exists to let you down. You can expect it to work on enemies that it will work on more than luna will work at all.

[Karis]

Rend Heaven works best on classes that use both physical and magical attacks without relying on the magic weapons like Levin Sword and Bolt Axe. So classes like Nohr Noble, Basara, Dark Falcon, etc.

[Leif]

I find that Rend Heaven works best on physical units. Let's say you have a Kinshi knight that uses their bow against a Berserker. That way, their damage will take half of the berserker's high strength.

Magic units would have to target Sorcerers or Onmyoji's, which isn't as useful since there are be way more physical units than magic units.

[Dark Holy Elf]

To sum up what I said in another thread:

On a physical unit, Rend Heaven is the clear winner:

-Most enemies have more Str than Def, which is what Rend Heaven requires to deal more damage than Luna.

-The few enemies with really low Str are typically very easy to kill.

-It has a higher activation rate.

On a magical unit, the reverse is likely true, because some enemies, including some hard-to-kill ones, have really bad Mag (even 0). Of course, Rend Heaven's higher activation rate does at least make it debatable.

[Soonaynay]

Darting Blow makes your Speed effectively 5 points higher for purposes of triggering a double attack, but only when you initiate combat. Also of note is that it doesn't protect you from enemy double attacks: if your enemy's Speed is 5 points higher than yours, they will double you even if you initiate with Darting Blow. The same goes for other effects that make follow-up attacks easier, such as Raider weapons. It also goes for weapons that make follow-up attacks more difficult, such as Steel weapons: a Steel weapon does not mean that a foe only has to have 2 more Speed than you in order for them to double, but it does mean you need 8 more Speed than them for you to double.

As for Luna versus Rend Heaven, personally I prefer Luna just because I think it has a cooler animation. Effectiveness-wise, Rend Heaven is pretty much useless if you're a physical unit attacking a pure magic-user or a magic-user attacking a pure physical unit.

Sorry, but are you sure the highlighted points are correct? I remember Raider weapons and Darting Blow helping preventing enemy double attacks, but I could be wrong. Do you have a source by any chance?

[FlameUser64]

Sorry, but are you sure the highlighted points are correct? I remember Raider weapons and Darting Blow helping preventing enemy double attacks, but I could be wrong. Do you have a source by any chance?

I don't have a source, unfortunately, and I'm not certain about it, but it's been my experience that just getting a "makes follow-up attacks easier" boost doesn't mean you won't get doubled. At the very least, I remember that a Steel weapon doesn't make it easier for you to be doubled, based on personal experience with Oboro having decidedly mediocre Speed and wielding a Steel Naginata.

[Jedi]

I think they are both solid for their own reasons, Rend Heaven is super clutch against powerful foes, and Luna helps quite a bit versus bulky ones.