The passive helps but I mostly meant the raw stat upgrade, particularly that 49% increase in Defense. Dark Knights and Heavy Armor both get hit with UP increases post Awakening but they do appear to get an extra half scoop of stats in exchange. It's part of why I've been one of the people who favors Awakening Bernice before Iris--the latter unit is deployed more often but her benefit from Awakening is somewhat marginal compared to the boosts tank classes get. You don't always need bulky tanks but when you do they really make their presence felt.