Hardin, Dark Emperor (WIP)

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

General

Base Stats
HP: 41 / 45 / 48
Atk: 31 / 34 / 37
Spd: 24 / 28 / 31
Def: 33 / 36 / 39
Res: 29 / 32 / 35

174-175

Originally known as "Emperor with maximum in every stats" Hardin is very much the image of a classic tank in this game. Hardin had the 175 base stats of newer Armor units distributed in a rather even manner in every area, giving him a competitive base stats in every area. Even Hardin's speed sits in a comfortable place with Boon(31) which allows him to avoid notable amount of doubles. Hardin further comes with a distinction amongst Armor units for having a free A slot thanks to Distant Counter weapon, a traits shared only with Zelgius, giving him access to wide variety of powerful A slots such as Brazen and Stances without sacrificing his phase efficiency. Hardin had an interesting place in the meta where faster Red units is completely helpless against him, Blues require a tons of effort to break through his fantastic bulk especially with proper support, while the vast majority of Green in the meta such as Hector, Myrh, and Fallen Robin are fairly slow, allowing Hardin to run through them in some situations despite the color disadvantage.

Hardin's most relevant weakness outside the standard lack of mobility for Armors are arguably his reliance on Quick Riposte Seal on Base Set, and his off-meta color where Greens are some of the more common color for meta units. Hardin is also vulnerable to some Hyper Offense build in the game - for example, Raven is easilly able to cleanly blow past him, and classic Lancebreaker Reinhardt is able to survive 1 strike from Hardin.

Finally its notable that Hardin is one of few units affected by awkward BST placement - stats that you'd consider less important are subject to Superbanes(-4 reduction to stats towards HP and SPD) with no way to make up the stats drop. Realistically speaking Res Banes and Neutral are the only plausible set for Hardin that aims to stay in 175 BST.

 

 

Sample Build:

 

 

I'll RUN YOU THROUGH "Budget"

Spoiler

Weapon: Gradivus

Assist: Flexible

Special: Moonbow, Aether, Bonfire, or Ignis

A Passive: Brazen DEF+RES/Deathblow/Fury 3

B Passive: Bold Fighter/Quick Riposte

C Passive: Flexible

Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte Seal/Flexible

 

This is the budget set for Hardin, granted, having a very strong mixed phase performance of all his build so its surprisingly not far from optimal by any stretch of imagination. Brazen DEF/RES can activate in both phase of combat provided Hardin maintained his HP at 80% marks or above, giving him an amazing 45/43/39 Bulk. Bold Fighter allows Hardin to make a guaranteed Double, giving an almost guaranteed proc of Moonbow or Bonfire. 4 CD such as Ignis can be used to stock up high powered nukes, while Aether offers a mix of sustain and damage output. Finally Quick Riposte Seal allows Hardin to make a double attack on Enemy Phase as well.

On a case of lacking the QR seal, you can opt to drop Hardin's player phase for a stronger enemy phase performance. Another option is to keep Bold Fighter and customizing Hardin for player phase offense. When used this way, its reccomended to snipe dangerous Greens out of the way, and then duel Blues. Hardin will always double with Bold Fighter, so its important to make use of his obscene bulk to secure Red match up from the get go

 

BREATHE OF THE WILD PLAINS  "Enemy Phase"

Spoiler

Usage intention: General use

Nature: Boons: Any, ATK DEF and RES being his most important stats followed by SPD

Banes: SPD. Regarding BST bracket, Neutral or -Res

Weapon: Gradivus
Assist: Flexible
Special: Moonbow, Aether, Bonfire, or Ignis, Noontime
A Passive: Steady Breath/Warding Breath/Fierce Stance/Brazen
B Passive: Wrath/Vantage/Breaker/Renewal/Bold Fighter/Vengeful Stance/Wary Fighter
C Passive: Flexible
Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte Seal/Distant or Close Defense/Quickened Pulse/Flexible

 

A possible way to customize Hardin is to improve his Enemy Phase performance through the use of the Breath or Stance skills. Hardin is able to do this while maintaining his distant counter. Theres a lot of ways to mix and match the skillset here:

- Breath skills can synergizes with Quick Riposte Seal for a guaranteed Special Proc.

> You can further customize his B slot by using Bold Fighter for a mixed offense, or Wrath for pure nuke damage. The former are pretty much his budget build with stance in place of Brazen D/R

- Vengeful Stance will offer Hardin the advantage of Breath Skills with a built in Quick Riposte

> As a result, Stance skills that does not offer Special Cooldown augmentation become an option. Alternatively generic stats augmenting skills can be used on the A slot

> This opens up Sacred Seal slot, and the choices for this are flexible.

- Note that the Wary Fighter Quick Riposte interaction requires 2 instances of Quick Riposte. Wary Fighter on Hardin are used more to take advantage of his mixed bulk to minimize damage to one hits. Virtually nothing but the strongest of Brave Attackers are able to blow up Hardin from max HP to 0 in one round of combat, so this can be a notable combination with Quickened Pulse

- Breakers are used ideally with QR to allow Hardin to have advantageous match up against 4/6 of his supposed match ups(that being Red Sword, Tome, and Dragon + either of Blue Lance or Tome). One thing Hardin had over his other competitions is that because of his mixed bulk, he have a rather strong Dragon match up.

- Renewal can allow Hardin to regenerate HP to reactivate Quick Riposte and Brazen skills

Closing Thoughts:

While not really relevant towards Hardin's overall value as a unit, i personally believe Hardin to be the most self sufficient unit in the game out of the box. Distant Counter weapons means you did not need to make the expensive investment in that area, and while A slot and B slot tend to be the highest investment cap of every skillslot, Hardin's default Brazen Def/Res and Bold Fighter gave him a very strong mix performance in both phases especially when backed with Quick Riposte Seal. As a result, builds for Hardin are usually ones that aims to make him lean towards either player of enemy phases.

A support choice that is fairly strong with Hardin is Marth. While Marth is pretty much THE best support for pretty much every unit when it comes to solo optimization(besides Lancina and *class with Goads and Wards*), Hardin makes an effective use of every stats which allows him to make full use of RefinedArchanea!Falchion. Marth is also able to handle dragons, Axes, and in some situation Green Tomes and tops up Hardin's HP repeatedly with Recriprocal Aid or Ardent Sacrifice especially when boosted with Renewal. Other than that, Red Armors makes for the strongest pairing for Hardin especially with Goads and Wards in the equation

 

Edited February 25, 2018 by JSND Alter Dragon Boner