Friend ID Thread

[Lied]

As mentioned before, thanks to the High Defense of a character like Cepha, she's able to take about half the damage from regular 12-5 mobs as Paulia would, making her right on par with her for survivability. However, when fighting against bosses with their higher attack, the damage reduction isn't nearly as plentiful, only about 25% at most compared to Paulia, which is where the High-HP units shine (with maybe a 30% HP/Dmg buffer), especially in 12-5, where nearly every dam pest is actually a boss.

That would be true if the bosses actually had high attack values, but they don't. The most dangerous enemies are actually the "Important" pests at the very start of the level. Those usually hit for ~900 damage with the defenses I have but they usually die or just get one hit off. The mini bosses (and everything else in the level) in 12-5 actually have much lower attack and can't really scratch people (they do ~ 400-500 damage to most of my chars or ~400-500 to multiple of my chars if they use a skill) but those die in 2-3 turns so they usually only get 1 or 2 attacks off as well. Similarly, the final bosses also have low-ish attack and do only slightly more than the minibosses. The thing that makes it actually matter is that it has 3 times the life so it can actually get lots of hits off.

[Miu]

I have been wondering, is defense simply subtracted from damage or is it more complicated than that?

[Lied]

I have been wondering, is defense simply subtracted from damage or is it more complicated than that?

Was curious so I logged numbers from the first pest fights of 12-5 over 2 runs, since they only do normal attacks:

First Run
Everyone but Edelweiss gets 12% def buff
929 - Bipinna (Important)
478 - St Paulia (Junior)

Everyone but St. Paulia gets 12% def buff
1119 - Orchid (Important)
570 - Orchid (Junior)
979 - Canola (Important)

Everyone but Canola gets 12% def buff
914 - Edelweiss (Important)
449 - Bipinna (Junior)

Second Run
Everyone but St. Paulia gets 12% def buff
461 - Canola (Junior)

Everyone but St. Paulia gets 12% def buff
913 - Bipinna (Important)
474 - Canola (Junior)

Everyone but St. Paulia gets 12% def buff
430 - Bipinna (Junior)

Base Defense + Equipment Defense
Edelweiss - 1720 + 691 = 2411
Bipinna - 2220
Orchid - 1750 + 111 = 1861
Canola - 1576 + 619 = 2195
St. Paulia - 1480 + 690 = 2170

Enemy Attack Values
Important - 3125
Junior - 2138

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So it's more complicated than that (otherwise high defense would actually be really good) and there's a damage range or random factor. I know with enough defense you can end up taking only 1 damage from stuff though.

EDIT: Also, my Orchid has 550 less DEF than my Edelweiss (616 less DEF with Bipinna's buff), but is only taking 205 less damage from Important (less than a 20% damage decrease). St. Paulia has 5300 more health than Cepha Lanthera but 660 less DEF. With similar scaling, Cepha is going to go down 2-3 turns earlier, which is often a full extra battle earlier.