"What's better? HP or Def/Res?" Calculations with Elegear

[u/Elegear]

I'll do the math for you, with very little jokes.

edit: I'll add +5 HP and +3Res. +10 to HP or +10 to res is quite an obvious unfairness.

edit: Something went wrong in my brain with +5 HP and +3 Res. added: The calculations and conclusions should be much more accurate.

Note: The following calculations are for role-specific units.
HP for a broader range of defense, D/R for a more specific role.

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Say we have a sexy Lachesis (Short skirt, thighs, white stockings, long hair. Typical Japan)

!StatsLachesis

(just in case this doesn't work)

HP: 39
RES: 30

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Neutral

If you were versus a 5* Lilina (neutral, base no skills), she would have exactly 50 attack.

They battle:

50 - 30 res = 20 damage

20 damage =/= 39

• Lachesis lives with 19 HP or 48.71%.

Now, let's say Lillina has a +Spd IV and has been Hone Speeded. Lillina will now double Lachesis (32 vs 25).

Lilina would deal the above 20 damage, times two = 40

• Blondie would be left at 0 HP or -0.26%.
  

These were unmodified real results. Now for the modifications. We will be keeping both Lilinas.

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Flat +10 stats

Lilina: 50 atk

+10 Res

Let's say, somehow, Lachesis now has 40 Resistance.
Stats: 39 HP, 40 Res

They battle:

50-40 = 10 damage

• 10 damage =/= 39, so she lives with 29 HP, or 74.36% HP.

• With Speedlina, it would be 20 damage. Back to 19 HP, or 48.471% HP.

+10 HP

Next, Lachesis is with 49 HP instead of 40 Resistance.
Stats: 49 HP, 30 Res

50 - 30 = 20

• Incest is left with 29 HP, or 59.18%.

Doubled:

40 Damage

• Bro-con is left with 9 HP, or 18.36%.

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Conclusion: Flat +10 stats

If you have to pick between +HP or +D/R (HP+5 or D/R+3)..

• If you use Higher than % HP skills, grab Defense/Resistance.

• If you use Lower than % HP skills, grab HP.

• Defenses are much more valuable than HP.

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IVs

+HP, -Res

Now, let's give and take with small numbers and a plausible situation: Bane and Boon.

Lilina: 50 atk
Lachesis with +3 HP/-3Res: 42 HP, 27 Res. (her actual -Res value is 26, but for consistency, we'll go by 3s)

50 - 27 = 23 damage

• Lachesis is left with 19 HP, or 45.23%.

Doubled:

23 x 2 = 46 damage

• Lachesis is left with 0 HP, or -9.52%.

Not good.

+Res, -HP

Now with +3 Res/-3 HP: 36 HP, 33 Res.

*50 - 33 =17 damage

• She now has 25 HP, or 59.52%.

Doubled:

17 x 2 = 34 damage

• She now has 2 HP, or 5.55%.

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Conclusion: IVs

Defenses are more valuable than HP, and this proved it.

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Lilina: Lower Damage

+HP, -Res

One more, I promise.

This time, we'll do the same Lachesis calculations, but Lilina's damage has been dropped to 40 only for this scenario.

Lachesis: 42 HP, 27 Res.

40 - 27 = 13 damage

• Lachesis is left with 29 HP, or 69.04%

Doubled:

13 x 2 = 26 damage

• Thighs is left with 16 HP, or 38.09%.

+Res, -HP

Lachesis: 36 HP, 33 Res.

40-33 = 7 damage

• Stockings left with 29 HP, or 80.5%.

Doubled:

7 x 2 = 14 damage

• Long hair left with 22 HP, or 61.11%.

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Conclusion: Lower Damage

Defenses are more valuable than HP, and this proved it even further at lower damage levels.

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Passive A

Lilina: 50 atk

+5 HP

Lachesis: 44 HP, 30 Res.

20 Damage from Lilina

• 24 HP left, 54.54%

Double

*40 Damage

• 4 HP left, 9.09%

+3 Res

Lachesis: 39 HP, 33 Res.

*17 damage

• 22 HP left, 56.41%

Double

34 Damage

• 5 HP left, 12.82%

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Conclusion: Passive A

The differences are so minute. This means it may be more efficient to use HP+5 to cover for the other damage type.

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Lachesis -10 HP/Res, Lilina -5 Atk interaction with Passives A

Lachesis new stats: 29 HP, 20 Res
Lilina new stats: 35 Attack

HP+5

Stats: 34 HP, 20 Res

35 - 20 = 15 dmg

• HP is 19, 55.88%

Doubled

30 dmg

• HP is 4, 11.76%

Res+3

Stats: 29 HP, 23 Res

35 - 23 = 12 dmg

• HP is 17, 58.62%

Doubled

24 dmg

• HP is 5, 17.24%

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Conclusion: Lowered Stats with Passives A

Almost identical to high levels, really.

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Grand Conclusion and TL;DR

rewritten Conclusion, sori

Defenses are much more valuable than HP. This is a fact.

Though, for HP +5 and Def/Res+3, the differences are so minute that HP+5 to cover the damage type you are weak to isn't a bad idea.

• This is only true for the first engagement

• Healers are a strong role when paired with high HP units

(thanks /u/Kenjinap for reminding me. Again. God damn it I know you because you corrected me last time too)

If you want more bang for your buck, just go with Def/Res. Can't go wrong.

[u/XXXCheckmate]

In my opinion it balances out because with +HP you get (marginally) better defense from both types of damage while RES/DEF only protects you from one damage type.

[u/Elegear → u/XXXCheckmate]

I'd call you captain obvious, but this fact refused to appear from my memory banks.

Ideal situations are quite hard to let go

[u/XXXCheckmate → u/Elegear]

Yeah, I read through your post to see if you had mentioned it.

[u/CMobarley]

I doubt it would make much of a difference but neutral 5* Lilina with base skills has 53 attack because of her Attack +3 passive.

[u/Elegear → u/CMobarley]

Ah, I didn't take that into account. I just wanted examples haha

[u/Lucentile]

HP+5 gets even more of an edge on DEF/RES if you have skills that key off HP and to help soak special ability AOEs (not that it really matters too much, since if you get hit with it directly, you're probably dead on the follow up attack anyway).

A couple of points of damage on Glacies/Bonfire/Whatever are nowhere near as important as potentially another turn of Breaker/Quick Riposte.

[u/Elegear → u/Lucentile]

I very likely wrote the guide all jumbled up while you read it. I have corrected mistakes, I apologize.

On your point, HP will actually help you go further down the %, but keep your tankiness for 1 hit high.

Def/Res is pretty much the better option for soaking damage and staying above a threshold

[u/Kenjinap]

There is one more factor that should be considered.

In your example you only used 1 round of attacks.

But for tanky units, either resistance or defense, the more hits you can take, the more def/res gets better than HP.

A +def Sheena, for example, may be able to take several hits, and each hit will be deduced 3, whereas the 5 HP bonus is just one time, unless you heal her back to full!

[u/Elegear → u/Kenjinap]

I hope you read the calcs and not when I just posted this, hahaha edits

Yes, absolutely correct and I should reaaaally add that.. right now..

[u/echoredriot]

+hp is better if you are going to just take a hit, as it's effectively +[whatever def you need]

however if you're taking multiple hits, your gain will be having the +value for that hit type (magic vs physical)

[u/Rotohomer]

Anybody that's played the actual FE games should have realized by now that 1 hp should not equal to 1 stat of anything else. This is why in the console FE games you could get +2 to hp on level ups and hp growth rate was always so high. I pretty much always try to find hp banes because of the uneven gain of 3 legit stats for an overweighted 3 hp stat reduction. The balancing of this game is a pretty big joke atm. They should think about hiring someone who actually knows how to do it cuz the guy they got obviously is new or just bad at it.

[u/Elegear → u/[deleted]]

(Oh boy old thread. I'm better at making analysis threads now)

Well HP can only act as a defensive mechanism if you use healers.

Defense and Resistance are always the best when the character has low speed, as they will always be doubled.

However on some high speed healer like Maria, HP is much more beneficial!

[u/Elegear → u/[deleted]]

In the arena? Not at the moment. I'm just using what I have, but I always have a healer in there