Invading the contient of champions #1: Reicher

[Monkeyfinger]

There's a problem with the "vs. the world" topics that crop up every so often: "a dur dur let's pit the entirety of mid and low godlike against this champ caliber monster." It is useful to get a grip on how a godlike with ranking potential and a lot of oomph stacks up in practice, but for the strongest ones, most of the lower quarter of the division is kinda pointless.

So here's the rub: Reasonably rankable, strong godlikes are going to face champions. No one else.

Some people in chat said that I should include people like Xorn and Loki who don't have titles but really really should look at their numeric ranks honest. I won't. Don't let me stop you from writing votes on those folks in but I am going to ignore them when (if) I tally things up. Exception: Isolde's quite likely to win a title in a few days so she's in.

Also Menardi is disqualified.

First up: Reicher from Mana Khemia 2, who, with his sword of light, seeks to cleave his way through this group of tyrants for his just reward of a fake 70's pornstache, a mountain of candy, and a nondescript white van.

Reicher vs. Kuja
Reicher vs. Sephiroth
Reicher vs. Fou-Lu
Reicher vs. Ghaleon
Reicher vs. Orlandu
Reicher vs. Ash Lambert
Reicher vs. Albedo
Reicher vs. Melfice
Reicher vs. Myria
Reicher vs. Ryu3
Reicher vs. Ryu4
Reicher vs. Yuna
Reicher vs. Piastol
Reicher vs. Kefka
Reicher vs. Zophar
Reicher vs. Luca Blight
Reicher vs. Yuri Hyuga
Reicher vs. Profound Darkness
Reicher vs. Jade
Reicher vs. Emelious
Reicher vs. Jenna Angel
Reicher vs. Lady
Reicher vs. Empyrea
Reicher vs. Cloud of Darkness
Reicher vs. Heat
Reicher vs. False Althena
Reicher vs. Isolde

[Monkeyfinger]

Reicher vs. Kuja: Surprisingly close due to Kuja's quick, solid ITD damage, but I don't respect FF9 speed quite enough for him to manage the blitz.
Reicher vs. Sephiroth: Shadow flare beatdown.
Reicher vs. Fou-Lu: Physical AND holy walling? Shit man, not cool.
Reicher vs. Ghaleon: Mocks chaos shield, and gets a lot of time to pile on those timed spheres because Ghaleon's offense isn't that great and his strongest attack's a physical.
Reicher vs. Orlandu: Holy absorbtion. Night sword's pretty gimp here but I gut that it's enough to outpace Reicher's neutered skillset.
Reicher vs. Albedo
Reicher vs. Melfice: Perfect evaaaade
Reicher vs. Myria: hahahahaha
Reicher vs. Ryu3: He only needs to be able to outslug 1 dragon, then the timed spheres on the field break and tear poor human Ryu to shreds before he can morph a second time. Bonebreak's pretty trashy here, and Ryu's giving up that crucial first turn so Reicher can start winding up. Kaiser only lasts 4 turns which is too little, and other dragons just get outfought.
Reicher vs. Ryu4: Same idea.
Reicher vs. Yuna: Opens with protect, shrugs off an opening move, then summons an Aeon. This Aeon will be killed but protect + obnoxious evade will let Yuna survive the storm of spheres, then keep the aeon rape train going.
Reicher vs. Piastol: Hey look, fighter beats Reicher, how bout that. Just enough durability respect for Piastol here.
Reicher vs. Kefka: If piastol can arguably pull it off, Kefka's got it easy. Inferior durability doesn't matter much in this kind of fight.
Reicher vs. Zophar
Reicher vs. Luca Blight
Reicher vs. Yuri Hyuga: breaks Yuri in short order, before he can set up the buffing game.
Reicher vs. Profound Darkness: oh sweet GOD.
Reicher vs. Jade
Reicher vs. Emelious: see Melfice.
Reicher vs. Jenna Angel: Jenna's hitting the wrong defensive stat with Bhairava, and debil doesn't really do shit here - no affect on timed spheres.
Reicher vs. Lady: A little closer than Jade!
Reicher vs. Empyrea: I think Empyrea fails to 4-round, which lets Reicher pile it on just thick enough.
Reicher vs. Cloud of Darkness: Particle beam makes him sweat, but not enough.
Reicher vs. Heat: After losing some HP Reicher has decent MT to quickly cut tentacles, and then timed spheres slip on through. Heat can't take much of that.
Reicher vs. False Althena: Reicher doesn't get the time to exploit FA's crap defense.
Reicher vs. Isolde: I...close. Think Isolde's knockback tips it? Sets back Reicher a surprising amount, and she hits the right defense.

12-14

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Reicher vs. Kuja - Kuja has the right type of damage! Kuja is faster! Kuja also gets essentially one-rounded once Reicher's first set of cards gets going.
Reicher vs. Sephiroth - Hilariously, I think that works. Seph is faster, but he's getting 2-rounded by Reicher's cards (2x PC HP is more than enough there to me), and pulling up Wall doesn't change the fact he also needs to work through like 5x PC HP worth of offense... which he can't really do before Reicher's offense gets to him, particularly not with the Chaos Shield clones to contribute. Also, while Shadow Flare hits the right defense, it is -not- ITD.
Reicher vs. Fou-Lu - Now this is what Reicher wishes he never had to face. ITD damage and hilariously retarded physical walling just get him too badly. Fou-Lu can handle this just fine.
Reicher vs. Ghaleon - They're not that far apart in durability, and Reicher is faster. Timed cards are also great at handling Chaos Shield.
Reicher vs. Orlandu - The physical defense makes Orlandu's healing suck. Good luck there, girl. Absorbing Holy doesn't really do much, Remote Mines are plenty good here.
Reicher vs. Ash Lambert - Ash's evade makes the fight sorta annoying, but the game ends as soon as Reicher starts breaking Ash.
Reicher vs. Albedo - um.
Reicher vs. Melfice - The evade, like against Ash, is difficult, but Melfice is just frail enough to suffer too much here.
Reicher vs. Myria - waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall
Reicher vs. Ryu3 - Hmmmm. Kneejerk for "Ryu get turn lol" is strong. But Reicher kinda has an argument -even so-, which is very impressive. But nah, the pdur is just too good.
Reicher vs. Ryu4 - Think it works for Ryu4 about as well as it did for Ryu3, but less extreme.
Reicher vs. Yuna - Yuna gets turn, shenanigans ensue. Her evade also makes Reicher really have problems even after killing an Aeon.
Reicher vs. Kefka - A set of cards should one-round Kefka, and Kefka somehow manages to miss a 2HKO after factoring the initial shield in. Amazing. Losing some respect for the speed also means no 3-2 happens and that's that.
Reicher vs. Zophar - EBO.
Reicher vs. Luca Blight - Trivial.
Reicher vs. Yuri Hyuga - Also trivial. Yuri's Break-baitness gets him slaughtered.
Reicher vs. Profound Darkness - ... jesus christ Reicher hits weakness once he hits 75% HP and gets to buff too. Yeah, that adds up real fast.
Reicher vs. Jade - Yeah, just so much more durable and Jade even has comparable damage...
Reicher vs. Emelious - Um evadable physicals against Emelious doesn't work.
Reicher vs. Jenna Angel - He tanks two Bhairavas. He fucking tanks two Bhairavas.
Reicher vs. Lady - um wow. I think he just misses surviving two Lady turns. -very close-, though.
Reicher vs. Empyrea - Big durability difference here.
Reicher vs. Cloud of Darkness - FF3j CoD is annoying, but too much of an offensive difference.
Reicher vs. Heat - huh, Monkey is right. Heat's offense also doesn't help much. Somehow, Reicher manages to beat Heat even though he's not spamming doubles.
Reicher vs. False Althena - Yeah.
Reicher vs. Isolde - Will look at it later.

[Pyro]

Reicher vs. Kuja: It's nice when you don't have to think.
Reicher vs. Sephiroth: I suppose he just Shadow Flares.
Reicher vs. Fou-Lu: Physical spoiling (holy spoiling doesn't even matter that much!)
Reicher vs. Ghaleon: Ghaleon's evade was rather good, IIRC.
Reicher vs. Orlandu: night Sword is worthless before Reicher's defense. Also don't think it drains health through the barrier. And Reicher just scores a stun and smites.
Reicher vs. Ash Lambert: Like Orlandu but easier. Although I guess Ash's evade could be super-awesome enough? Screw him, though.
Reicher vs. Albedo: Just outslugs.
Reicher vs. Melfice: Evade?
Reicher vs. Myria: Should beat Myria 3.
Reicher vs. Ryu3: I think Kaiser is too much.
Reicher vs. Ryu4: I am much less certain here.
Reicher vs. Yuna: Shouldn't have any issues.
Reicher vs. Piastol: I guess.
Reicher vs. Kefka: Eh. See Snow.
Reicher vs. Zophar
Reicher vs. Luca Blight: Just better at what he does.
Reicher vs. Yuri Hyuga: Breaking.
Reicher vs. Profound Darkness:The durability and OHKO level magic damage do it.
Reicher vs. Jade: More pain.
Reicher vs. Emelious: Evasion.
Reicher vs. Jenna Angel: Remote Blade should do it.
Reicher vs. Lady: Hits the right defense.
Reicher vs. Empyrea: Think he edges out ahead.
Reicher vs. False Althena: Just very smoking.
Reicher vs. Isolde: Hmm, no. He's just too much more durable I think.

[Talaysen]

Reicher vs. Kuja - Kneejerk.
Reicher vs. Sephiroth - Better damage/durability.
Reicher vs. Fou-Lu - Should be able to handle this.
Reicher vs. Ghaleon - Reicher's gotta chew through a lot of Chaos Shielding here.  Ghaleon's damage isn't that hot but I think it's enough?  Close.
Reicher vs. Orlandu - Too much durability to get through, I think.
Reicher vs. Ash Lambert - Don't think he can push through the HP fast enough.
Reicher vs. Albedo - Kneejerk.
Reicher vs. Melfice - Maybe?
Reicher vs. Myria - More damaging.
Reicher vs. Ryu3 - Yeah he should be able to handle this.
Reicher vs. Ryu4 - Closer, but still think so?
Reicher vs. Yuna - Not so close.
Reicher vs. Piastol - Kneejerk.
Reicher vs. Kefka - Hm
Reicher vs. Zophar - Storm'd.
Reicher vs. Luca Blight - Damage.
Reicher vs. Yuri Hyuga - He got revival and can resist light, IIRC.  Should be enough to pull through this.
Reicher vs. Profound Darkness - I thought this was kind of close until I remembered holy weakness.
Reicher vs. Jade - Hmm... I think Reicher manages to push out more damage once he gets going, and no scaling lets him get to that stage and stay there for awhile.  Close though.
Reicher vs. Emelious - Evasion.
Reicher vs. Jenna Angel - Cheats.
Reicher vs. Lady - Lady hates no scaling vs. other bosses so much.
Reicher vs. Empyrea - Just overall stronger.
Reicher vs. Cloud of Darkness - Huh, this is pretty close, but I think Reicher handles it?
Reicher vs. Heat - Hmm, basically same as Ghaleon.  Except more damage and less durability.  Not sure.
Reicher vs. False Althena - Yeah should be able to take this.
Reicher vs. Isolde - More durable and damaging overall, I think.

[Monkeyfinger]

Reicher vs. Orlandu: night Sword is worthless before Reicher's defense. Also don't think it drains health through the barrier. And Reicher just scores a stun and smites.

Is light flash not... light?

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Remote Mine exists, is available at full HP, is non-elemental and it's more than good enough to own Orlandu flat with its borderline 2HKO break damage a pop+solid 3HKO in and out of itself+three timed cards laid out. Unless you're hyping Orlandu as like 3HKOing Reicher , which I vaguely sneer at (heck, even a 4HKO isn't likely to me) even -before- the Chaos Shield clone rears its head.

[Monkeyfinger]

If that move breaks Orlandu, Reicher is forced to feed him high 2HKO holy damage. In other words, near full healing.

Am I wrong about this?

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Just checked the stat topic. The break damage auto-move isn't elemental either, which also sits well with my memory of it overkilling Puniyo. The confusion may stem from the move being called Light Flash.

[Monkeyfinger]

Changing mine to "beats Orlandu, loses to (ninja edit) empyrea". Still same record.

This closes on sunday afternoon.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Reicher vs. Kuja: Kuja has the right damage type, but the durability gap is still huge.
Reicher vs. Sephiroth: Seph needs four Shadow Flares, and has a 4-3, so Reicher can't get out the damage he needs. He's... actually pretty close though.
Reicher vs. Fou-Lu: Reicher's nightmare opponent. Physical wall with ITD!
Reicher vs. Ghaleon: Tank fight. Ghaleon needs 5 turns to win (dislikes his best being physical), but Reicher faces what probably amounts to nearly 9PCHP after the evade and def are factored in. (5 PC + 25% def reduction + 25% evade?) Still, Reicher just has -forever- to pile up ridiculous damage, though. As in, if he gets 8 turns (which seems reasonable), he does 10.5 PCHP or so. It's enough. Granted, if I'm underselling Ghaleon's evade, this could swing.
Reicher vs. Orlandu: Light Flash.
Reicher vs. Ash Lambert: Ash's evade is good, but Light Flash should end him eventually.
Reicher vs. Albedo: A lot like Reicher vs. Kuja, Albedo has the right damage type and a lot of speed and it doesn't matter.
Reicher vs. Melfice: Melfice doesn't evade things very near to his turns, so... hmm. Even giving that evade a lot of respect (80%?) his evade-modified pdur is still below Ghaleon's. And he needs what, 9 attacks to kill? Giving Reicher 6 turns to do 7-8ish PCHP damage.
Reicher vs. Myria: lolno. He does better against Myria 3 probably but it may still not be enough?
Reicher vs. Ryu3: Transformed Ryu3 is physically immune. Whoops! Doesn't matter if he can be broken, even.
Reicher vs. Ryu4: Ryu4 isn't quite physically immune, but he's probably close enough. And he has plenty of ITD, so yeah, Kaiserbreath then Aura Smash as his HP drops, if it even drops enough to matter.
Reicher vs. Yuna: Yojimbo makes this easy at worst. For all that Reicher dislikes the other aeons too.
Reicher vs. Piastol
Reicher vs. Kefka: Kefka is down to 3HKO, but it still comes fast. Can Reicher kill first? He does once he gets his second turn, so.. yeah, all about that 3-2. I think he just gets it, but could be argued I suppose, Marvel Shoes do exist.
Reicher vs. Zophar: No.
Reicher vs. Luca Blight: Yeah this isn't close either.
Reicher vs. Yuri Hyuga: Light Flash. Seriously, you'd better be physically immune (via either evade or def) or close to it to beat Reicher as a PC.
Reicher vs. Profound Darkness: PD is more durable than Ghaleon even after def/evade, and has more offence... but there's that holy weakness in there. Ick. On the other hand... not sure how much it matters? I guess it helps with the buff. Argh. This one is giving me a headache, done too much major numbercrunching already. Abstain for now.
Reicher vs. Jade: Hits the right defence while Reicher hits the wrong one.
Reicher vs. Emelious: Emelious is Melfice with a lot more HP and quite a bit more damage, which is probably enough to tilt things? Even wasting a turn on Shadow Wave to get the evade to the same place
Reicher vs. Jenna Angel: Jenna gets her usual two Bhairavas in, and also a Debilitate, which doesn't really slow Reicher down. Of course, they're physical, so yeah, not good enough I'm pretty sure.
Reicher vs. Lady: Gets two turns before Reicher can kill her, so that's a total of 7 attacks. (2 initial, 4 turn 2, finisher.) Is Lady's damage with those attacks high enough to kill Reicher? Mmm... thinking probably, it's mostly magic outside a couple Crimson Raids. Close though.
Reicher vs. Empyrea: Reicher hits the wrong defence, but so does Empyrea. His greater HP wins out.
Reicher vs. Cloud of Darkness: Cloud doesn't have the ITD to deal with Reicher, even with some p reduction.
Reicher vs. Heat: Timed card barrage makes mincemeat out of tentacles.
Reicher vs. False Althena: FA has a fast 3HKO and isn't as frail as Kefka, so this is pretty easy.
Reicher vs. Isolde: Better durability should tilt it. They're fairly similar otherwise.

13-12. A few scrubs here of course, but fundamentally he can hang with or just short of this crowd. A bit better than I expected actually.

[Monkeyfinger]

Closed.