A very special Proving Grounds, just for Snow.
Savage.
Kain Highwind (FF4) vs Draggy (CC) - At first, I thought Draggy had this. But then I realized Kain resists fire. And I wasn't sure if Kain had some dragon-weakness-hitting thing. So I had to check the stat topic for this. And he actually doesn't (Wyvern Lance's legality is kinda sketchy, I think, and Meeple didn't even LIST it), RYDIA of all people gets a dragon-weakness weapon out of the original five. THIS SAID, since Draggy damage is kinda junk even BEFORE the resistance problem, I SUPPOSE Kain wins this awful, awful slugfest. Dear lord.
Kain Highwind vs Rena Lanford (SO2) - Oh dear god. Rena turns Kain's damage into unsalvageable junk with Protection and Angel Feather and her resistance equips only add insult to injury (as in, he's likely MATCHING her for damage with JUMP off his best equips once she's fully set up). This said, he's obviously running Blood Spear, but DEAR GOD is Blood Spear bad when it's ramming into all those buffs and Rena's evade post-buffs start actually mattering and... good lord, Rena STILL struggles to break past the draining EVEN. THEN. This is a lot like Raja vs. Kain, only Rena trades a considerable amount of damage (...) and better healing for a lot of speed and durability, and I have NO IDEA if this is an effectively winning trade. tl;dr:
I'll just wait for Dhyer tech on this one.
Kain Highwind vs
Doll (SaGa) - I don't think I see Jump as able to avoid GlassShield counters, which puts him in kind of a dire situation? Basic Blood Spear physicals are just obscenely bad and likely beg for Doll to spam the status game, which actually WORKS when the slugfesting power is THIS bad.
Kain Highwind vs
Spar (BoF2) - Kain blocks Paralysis, fails to care about Silence... but Spar gets SAVED by his 5% ID whip. Dear lord almighty.
Kain Highwind vs Lucca Ashtear (CT) - While Blood Spear is awful and gets worse under Protect, Lucca's resources are so. Damn. Limited. Iunno, I think Kain can at least get to the point where Lucca can no longer use Flare and win from there... she really wishes she had a Stop proc that worked on humans like Marle's.
Kain Highwind vs Labyrinthia Wordsworth (XF) - EDIT: eeeeeeeeeew, Kain actually 3HKOs Labby, what the fuck how did I OVERSELL her durability.
Kain Highwind vs
Vincent Valentine (FF7) - Kain against FF7 limits, what the fuck.
Kain Highwind vs
Taya (SF2) - Kain doesn't 2HKO Taya and that's all you really need to know.
Kain Highwind vs
Bard (FFT) - This is -so- awful. Kain just loses the slugfest very slowly if he doesn't run Blood Spear and loses even more slowly if he does because Bard's songs become RELEVANT.
Kain vs
Bernadette Egan (S5) - ... oh god, ICY POIZN gives Bern the offensive push to handle Blood spear, doesn't it. Also, unlike Raja, she can CRIT and deal damage that actually registers on the damage curve every now and then.
3-6. This was very... intriguing, to say the least. What a goddamn weird set of fights and is Kain bizarre at times in spite of being fundamentally a pure slugger.
Chidori Yoshino (Pers3) vs Draggy (CC) - Draggy has -no- hope of avoiding Tetrakarn range when his techs get immuned, does he.
Chidori Yoshino vs
Rena Lanford (SO2) - Maybe if Chidori was in Persona 5, I'd see her as immune to Light -if- she had that immunity. This said, this isn't COMPLETELY open and shut because Rena struggles a little with Chidori's regen and the status ACTUALLY BECOMES RELEVANT when you're 4-5HKOing the girl with magic (Rena immunes Mudoon and, while healing/buffing may prove a problem, the buffing/healing under Charm ALSO has to run dices through Rena's GARGANTUAN skillset, so she's more likely to not screw herself over too seriously on average). Aiel, what the hell.
Chidori Yoshino vs
Doll (SaGa) - See Rena, more or less.
Chidori Yoshino vs
Spar (BoF2) - See above.
Chidori Yoshino vs Lucca Ashtear (CT) - You don't want to rely on shit physicals and fire magic against Chidori, it turns embarrassing. Just ask Nelis.
Chidori Yoshino vs
Labyrinthia Wordsworth (XF) - I started looking at boss damage notes for P3 to check if Chidori could even break through Labby's distortion before realizing uh Labby just OHKOs her. No lightning resistance at all (For the sake of completeness: Chidori only breaks the distortion - and BARELY SO - with Mind Charge, which she unlocks at 50% HP. Under OK's averages. Um yeah.
)!
Chidori Yoshino vs Vincent Valentine (FF7) - This fails so much. So, so much. Basically, neither wants to attack each other because Chidori can't avoid Death Gigas range and Vincent can't avoid Tetrakarn/Mudoon range either and he -has- to immune Confuse, since Marin Karin screws up his limit game. HOWEVER, Death Gigas -only- 2HKOs with Livewire and he can't very safely chip beforehand either because lol spring of life (WHY DOES 8 MHP% REGEN OFF CHIDORI DURABILITY KEEPS MATTERING?). THIS SAID, he may actually want to hit his limit range by slamming into Tetrakarn. And, under Tetrakarn range, a single Livewire should finish her off. But I'm not sure if this even triggers limit building. THIS ALSO SAID, Chidori uh also laps Vincent (average speed after turn one, Vincent's a bit below) and he -4HKOs- (...) her with his physical... effectively
6HKOs after Spring of Life. This is just PATHETIC, if he blocks Marin Karin (which actually punishes his speed a bit further), she has a non-negligible chance to just win through Mudoon and that's if ALL interps line up to his favor. Seriously, what. The. Fuck.
Chidori Yoshino vs
Taya (SF2) - *OVERKILL*
Chidori Yoshino vs Bard (FFT) - ... gimme five on this one, I just got back from seriously pondering her match against VINCENT. Bard obviously rams into Tetrakarn range, though, and Chidori damage is actually MORE dangerous than his when he has to block both Marin Karin and Mudoon. Sure.
Chidori Yoshino vs
Bernadette Egan (S5) - Bernadette just 3HKOs with Breath of Ice, thus avenging Nelis. This said, if you don't take defender's definition for magical status checks (Iunno, S5 Luck seems to have very little - if any - weight on status odds, so YMMV), you may swap opinions, since Bern's a lot more likely to fully heal Chidori than Rena is (far leaner skillset, after all).
4-6. I hate you, aiel.
Relm Arrowny (FF6) vs
Draggy (CC) - While Draggy gets his damage resisted... Relm can't hit weakness with Maneater. And Gaia Gear is obviously not a good option. Eep.
Relm Arrowny vs Rena Lanford (SO2) - Rena can't punish Relm's awful Gaia Gear durability. Meep.
Relm Arrowny vs Doll (SaGa) - Eep. Relm rams into GlassShield, but she's constantly 3-2ing and... 4HKOs. She should be able to take three GlassShield counters no problem and Doll has serious issues getting any openings ever. Draining gets outpaced by the turnsplit and possible misses.
Relm Arrowny vs
Spar (BoF2) - ONCE AGAIN, Relm can't hit weakness with Maneater and likely relies on her Gaia Gear setup here... but if she does, eeeeeew, she loses enough MDef to be affected by Idle, and she already has to sacrifice either damage or speed to block Spar's potential ID option. Iunno, this doesn't look terribly good.
Relm Arrowny vs Lucca Ashtear (CT) - Relm 3HKOs before Protect and gets 4HKOed at best due to fire resistance. Protect can't really slow her down enough. Lucca, why are you so -bad- against fire-resistant physicals.
Relm Arrowny vs Labyrinthia Wordsworth (XF) - If KAIN could do it, Relm should be able to as well. Heck, she has better damage (...).
Relm Arrowny vs
Vincent Valentine (FF7) - Relm... actually struggles to avoid Hellmasker range, doesn't she.
Relm Arrowny vs Taya (SF2) - More of that inability to punish Relm's Gaia Gear setup. What the fuck.
Relm Arrowny vs Bard (FFT) - Difference between Relm and Kain: she doesn't need wind-up turns to 3HKO Bard.
Relm Arrowny vs Bernadette Egan (S5) - ... this is a fight where deciding whether I let FF6 Poison blockers affect S5 Freeze MATTERS. What the hell.
6-3. I hate you aiel, part deux.
