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[Anouleth]

Ward vs Barth

Let's begin right at the beginning... specifically, Ward's beginning:
Ward lvl 2
w/Iron Axe
28HP 16ATK 5AS 72HIT 14AVO 3DEF 0RES
w/Hand Axe
15ATK 57HIT

Obviously, he's not knocking anyone's socks off, but this early on in the game, you need every hand you can get, and Ward can at least 1-round Soldiers along with Lot. If he procs a point of speed early, he can even use the Poleax in Chapter 4 against some of the slower Cavaliers, but that's not very likely. This isn't a great deal but it's still better than Barth's nonexistence.

So we will skip forward to Chapter 8, when Barth joins. Ward will likely have gotten to around level 9 or 10, but he could also have supports with Lot and Dieck. Both of these characters are good, and they not only have a relatively fast support, they also share movement. If for whatever reason, one of these is unavailable, Ward can take a less desirable Thany support, or wait for Echidna, or even attempt with Alan. Barth's supports are all with awful characters, however - more sucky Armour Knights, OJ and Lilina. It's hilarious to note that aside from Astohl who is only there for stealing utility, every single person on Ward's support list is at least two tiers higher than every single person on Barth's tier list.

Ward lvl 10 C Lot C Dieck
w/Iron Axe
34HP 21ATK 88HIT 11CRIT 7AS 6DEF 32AVO 1RES 8CEV
w/Hand Axe
20ATK 73HIT

So how is Barth doing?
lvl 9
w/Iron Lance
25HP 17ATK 83HIT 5AS 14DEF 12AVO 1RES 2CEV
w/Javelin
16ATK 68HIT

Wow, Barth is literally losing in every combat parameter except defense. He is even losing in movement!

So you might think that with this overpowering defense lead, Barth is going to have better durability than Ward. Well, you'd be wrong. Looking at the enemies in 8x, it's predominately axe using enemies. The Steel Axe users have 22-25ATK, so they 3HKO Barth, but because even these inaccurate enemies have some skill, they also have 1 or 2 crit on Barth. Ward gets 2HKOed, but his high avoid reduces them to ~30-35hit, meaning they have only around a 20% chance to even hit him. And there are also mages on the map. While Wade is getting ~3HKOed at ~60 hit, Barth is getting 2HKOed at about 90 hit, again with crit. There's also an Armourslayer using Myrmidon that can 1-round Barth!

Obviously, there are also Mercenaries and Archers than Barth wins against, but I think it's clear that Barth does not have a significant durability lead - it's actually pretty close. With this in consideration, Ward's offense lead and movement lead makes him obviously the superior unit here.

What's more, this is something that continues throughout the Western Isles. While the odd Mercenary does give trouble for Ward, the maps are dominated by axe users such as Fighters and Pirates. This compounds Barth's accuracy and durability issues. With this in mind, it's easy to see that Ward's lead on Barth will continue throughout these midgame chapters, especially once we can buy Killer Axes. So let's go to Chapter 13, the first map in Etruria:

Ward lvl 16 B Lot C Dieck
w/Iron Axe
38-39HP 25ATK 14CRIT 95HIT 8AS 8DEF 41AVO 2RES 17CEV
w/Killer Axe
28ATK 44CRIT
w/Hand Axe
24ATK 80HIT

Barth lvl 16
w/Iron Lance
32HP 22ATK 4CRIT 87HIT 6AS 17DEF 15AVO 1RES 3CEV
w/Javelin
21ATK 72HIT

The offense lead is even more overpowering now that Ward has Killer Axes at his disposal. That being said, both of these characters do pretty badly in these maps. Ward, for example, is doubled and ORKOed by Paladins and is at risk of ORKOing by Killer Lance Cavaliers. Even more stuff doubles Barth, and his cruddy 3LUK faces crit from even Steel Lance Cavaliers. On the lower route, you also have mages that 1-round Barth. However, Ward can use the Poleax to blick Cavaliers more accurately than Barth and has better offense in other areas due to Killer Axe access. Barth is just a lot offensively weaker and doesn't have the durability to make up for it, along with awful movement.

So in the Etruria chapters, both are really poor because they constantly get doubled, but again, Ward has superior offense. In particular, Barth is weaker in the desert because only unpromoted Thany can pick him up.

Here, we split for Ilia and Sacae. It wasn't specified which was assumed, so I'll do both, but they'll have similar levels at the start of them, so:

Ward lvl 20/3 A Lot B Dieck
w/Iron Axe
51HP 33ATK 113HIT 24CRIT 11AS 60 AVO 30CEV 14DEF 3RES
w/Iron Bow (effective)
31(43)ATK 128HIT
w/Killer Axe
36ATK 54CRIT
w/Hand Axe
32ATK 98HIT
w/Armads (effective)
43(79)ATK 123HIT 19DEF

Barth lvl 20/3
w/Iron Lance
42HP 29ATK 94HIT 5CRIT 11AS 27AVO 5CEV 23DEF 4RES
w/Javelin
28ATK 79HIT
w/Killer Lance
32ATK 99HIT 35CRIT

Now that Barth has caught up in speed, you might think that he's finally better. Not at all. On Ilia route, Ward can OHKO Pegs with a Bow and Wyverns with Armads, and with an axe on a forest will reduce Pegs to single-digit hit rates. Even the Falcoknights only have about 15 hit, so he's just as indestructible as Barth... but with higher movement. Barth can only cross 1 forest at a time, while Lot can cross three. We can't even rescue-drop Barth because he has 18CON. So not only is Lot boasting a respectable offense lead on Ilia route, he has a massive mobility lead because of all the terrain.

But surely with that high defense, Barth will win in Sacae against all those Nomads? Nope. Nomads have 18-20ATK, so even though they double Ward, they deal not a lot of damage and can't crit. He can easily take 5 or 6 rounds of combat, which is more than enough. He also does way more damage. Nomads have ~50 avoid, so Barth is looking at around 30 hit on them, to Ward's ~80 hit (that's 92 to 18 hit in true hit), along with crit and better damage. While Ward's movement advantage is less important here, he still has a significant offense lead due to having so much more accuracy. So even in Sacae, Ward is still better than Barth.

Now, Bern, the last place in the game:
Ward lvl 20/8
w/Killer Axe
55HP 38/39ATK 118HIT 55CRIT 12AS 64AVO 32CEV 15DEF 3RES
w/Silver Axe
42/43ATK 113HIT 25CRIT
w/Steel Bow (effective)
36/37(54/55)ATK 118HIT 25CRIT
w/Armads (effective)
45/46(81/82)ATK 128HIT 25CRIT 20DEF

Barth lvl 20/8
w/Killer Lance
47HP 35ATK 103HIT 36CRIT 12AS 30AVO 6CEV 25DEF 4RES
w/Silver Lance
39ATK 93HIT 6CRIT
w/Javelin
31ATK 83HIT
w/Maltet (effective)
41(73)ATK 118HIT

Chapter 21 and 23 are dominated by Wyvern Riders and Lords. Here, because they are overwhelmingly lance users (even the Paladins are using Lances), there is again the situation where Barth cannot establish a durability lead over Ward. Ward has an effective 74 avoid against enemies in the 80-100 hit range, and can even stand on a forest to expand his durability even further. Barth is doubled by the Wyvern Lords, and they 4HKO due to their monstrous 39/40ATK, and they have a good 5% chance to crit. Ward actually has a durability advantage, for once! But again, Ward has superior accuracy. He can pull 95+ hit against the Wyvern Riders and 85+ against the Wyvern Lords using a Killer Axe (also giving him a ~45% chance to crit and OHKO). Barth struggles to 3HKO Wyvern Lords with the Killer Lance and has only ~60 hit, as well as crit rate in the 20s rather than the 40s. And if necessary, Ward can weaken a Wyvern with a Steel Bow for someone else to kill, since he leaves them with single-digit HP (Lords will have 10-20HP, which is still easy to kill). Against the Paladins, both 2HKO, except that Ward can do it with the Killer (giving him almost perfect hit and a chance to crit), and Barth needs the Silver (driving his hit and crit down even further).

But Chapter 23 is one of the few chapters where Barth might actually win! With all the Heroes and Mercenaries, you'd think he'd be able to... but there are also a load of Druids, which Ward is better against thanks to his high avoid and more accurate 1-2 range, as well as not facing crit from them. I'd put them as pretty comparable.

That just leaves Chapter 24. There's not really much to say, except that with his higher movement and better 2-range for weakening Mamkutes (as well as high cev), Ward is clearly winning that chapter as well. In addition, Armads is a less heavily contested Divine Weapon than Maltet. Maltet could go to a number of great high-move units, like Percival, Alan, Lance, Miledy, or even Thany/Tate. Whereas Ward is only beaten out by Gonzales and Lott.

So there you have it. Thanks to having a good selection of fast supports with great characters, Ward is capable of establishing significant leads in avoid, cev, hit, crit, and attack. The only thing Barth ever wins in is defense, which is usually completely overkilled and in some cases isn't even enough to protect him from high-attack enemies. This is consolidated by a mobility lead over the entire game, as well as having access to Bows, a useful option in a game with so many enemy fliers and inaccurate 2-range options.

The only time Barth even comes close to Ward is in Etruria, just before Ward can take advantage of his promotion bonuses.

Plus, Barth kind of sounds like 'barf'. So icky!

[Anouleth]

So, am I going to get a response?