Combat skills for Helion
So, finally getting around to do a detailed listing for Helion's fighting techniques. This will be a combination of summaries, actual in-game stats, and my interpretations based on them. Some things to keep in mind for the actual stats:
Key:
Damage: This one's simple enough, though it's worth noting that damage itself has a quick and simple formula to remember: (Damage * Relevant Character Stat) = Actual damage done. For the most part, I'll show the actual calculations in the damage section, so that makes things simple.
Hits: This is how many times a single attack hits. Once again, this fits into the damage calculation, since individual hits are counted (since while most characters can block one to three hits, they can't exactly block six). Once again, I'll show the actual calculations here to make life simpler on everyone.
Range: A video game abstraction at its finest. However, it's worth noting that basically all weapons in Helion's world have a range of 5, in a diamond shape. I'm going to avoid putting actual values to the abstractions for the time being, but basically, she can hit anyone vaguely close to her. The other range option is a cross shape, which tend to be a lot more limited in targeting, but tend to be able to hit from a greater distance. I'm going to assume the latter are significantly easier to dodge.
Time Units: "Time Units" are another abstraction brought in by the Spitan game. As a quick summary, there are 10 Time Units and one move phase per turn. So yes, the majority of people in Helion's world tend to be able to make five attacks per turn, while Helion is technically capable of making 10. And yes, this isn't counting individual hits.
Stat Effects: A lot of abilities in Helion's world affect a target's stats, whether they're buffs, debuffs, or otherwise. As such, I'm listing those down too. Something to keep in mind though, is that stats in Helion's world are expressed as a percentage. So these are actually going to seem pretty absurdly high, but they aren't as extreme as they seem.
For example, -50% Defense doesn't actually mean "Defense is halved", but that one loses 50%. This difference might not seem obvious, so I'll explain it like this: If a character has 102 Defense, and gets hit by a -50% Defense attack, they're now at 52 Defense. On the other hand, if that same hit is done to someone at 500 Defense (the max), they're now at 450 Defense.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the buffs and debuffs stack, and are relatively permanent: They do not wear off until the battle is over.
Finally, I'm actually going with the assumption that Helion has all the techniques she had in Eien no Aselia, even though most of them don't show up on here. Why? Because the way a lot of them work has been altered for Spitan, which means that if I put down a description, I might have to retcon how it works later. For the time being, I'm just going with her using the techniques that I actually know what they do. If I ever get far enough into Spitan to unlock them, I'll add them to the list.
Also, if you don't care about the stats stuff, just check out the "My Interpretation" section for the technique. It tries to give a quick summary of how it's used and what it does while limiting the math.
Physical Attack Techniques:
This makes up Helion's sword-fighting techniques. As mentioned before, Helion uses Iai-do for her sword, a style of swordsmanship that involves unsheathing the sword, making an attack, and re-sheathing the sword all in one quick stroke. We can go into an analysis from a real world perspective, but we'll go with the typical interpretation in Japanese media: It's very fast, and very effective at killing. It's typically thought of as an assassination technique in anime-land, since someone skilled enough in Iaido could potentially kill a person seemingly without even unsheathing out their sword. Naturally, Helion takes it to even further extremes.
Actual Skills:
Iai Sword:
Damage: 65 (65 * 99% = 64 Damage)
Hits: 3 (64 * 3 = 192 Damage)
Range: 5 Diamond Radius
Stat Effects: Enemy defense -50% during attack
Special Effects:
Pierce 50% (50% chance of ignoring defense altogether)
Time Units: 1
My Interpretation: This is Helion's basic attack. It's actually a little below average for her world: The attack itself is pretty weak, and while it has a good number of hits, it doesn't nearly have enough hits to make up for its lack of attack power. Still, it does have its own advantages: That -50% defense while she's attacking means that she'll probably still deal damage even against defending targets, and that 50% chance of ignoring defense altogether isn't bad at all. The main use of it however, stems from the time units: At 1 time unit, she can use this attack 10 times per turn, which is downright insane. This is basically the attack of a thousand cuts, and the point of this attack is pretty much entirely to deal as many minor wounds to an enemy as possible. This isn't an attack meant to kill an enemy, but wear them down so that more powerful people can finish them off.
Starburst Sword:
Damage: 100 (100 * 99% = 99 Damage)
Hits: 6 (99 * 6 = 594 Damage)
Range: 7 Cross Radius
Stat Effects:
Enemy attack -10%, Enemy magic attack -10%
Special Effects: None
Time Units: 2
My Interpretation: Starburst Sword is actually one of the more interesting attacks in Helion's arsenal, if only because of how Helion uses it differently. Starburst Sword is normally an ability where a black spirit imbues their sword with black mana, making it into an elemental attack. Since elemental attacks basically deal double the amount of damage listed on paper, that normally makes it extremely powerful. Helion is one of the rare black spirits that don't use it like that. Instead, she limits the amount of mana she imbues to allow black mana to seep into the individual cuts, essentially allowing black mana to get inside the enemy's body. Essentially, this attack is one that gets black mana inside the body, and likely does permanent damage as a result (barring healing magic, of course). This attack isn't one meant to kill either -- it's meant to cripple. It's also worth noting that she actually has quite a bit of range on here: As long as she's in position, she can use this attack from the same distance that's normally used to throw fireballs at people.
Defensive Techniques:
It's probably worth noting at this point that defending is considered to be an action that takes up time units just as well as everything else. If you don't specifically have someone going into a defensive stance, they're going to be taking full damage. Aside from that, Black spirits tend to be middle of the road when it comes to defense (much like everything they do): They're better than a lot of people at defense, but don't really stand out in that category either. Probably the most notable thing is that attacking black spirits in melee hurts: Basically all defensive techniques black spirits are taught involve turning their enemy's own strength against them, deflecting a portion of the damage dealt back to them. Note that the "damage dealt" does actually include damage that was blocked, and thus it's actually possible for the attack to be injured more than the black spirit is.
Actual Skills:
Resolution Block:
Damage: 200 (200 * 102% = 204 Damage)
Hits: 2 (204 damage blocked per hit up to 2 hits)
Range: Self (some spirits can actually block for other people. Helion can't.)
Stat Effects: None
Special Effects: Reflect 20% of enemy's attack.
Time Units: 2
My Interpretation: Really, what is there to say? She deflects 20% of the enemy damage. As a defensive technique, it kind of sucks. She basically takes the hit and lets the enemy get hurt by the black mana released when you hit her. At least, that's how I interpret it. Other possibilities include taking the hit, grabbing the enemy's weapon, and using the opportunity to stab them in the face. Either way, not much to really say here.
Magical Attack Techniques:
As with many things about black spirits, their magical effectiveness is extraordinary... average. Helion is no exception. The big advantages of black spirits in terms of magic stem from two main things: 1: They mess up the enemy's body/stats. 2: They can't be stopped by anti-magic abilities. They'll never do the ridiculous amounts of damage that red spirits can do, but they have their uses.
Impact:
Damage: 400 (400 * 99% = 396 Damage)
Hits: 1 (396 Damage)
Range: 7 Diamond Radius
Stat Effects:
Enemy attack -5, Enemy magical attack -5
Special Effects: Anti-blue (Cannot be stopped by anti-magic abilities)
Time Units: 2
My Interpretation: Helion's basic magical spell. It's functionally Starburst Sword, but magical and weaker in pretty much every way. On the bright side, it gets the diamond radius, which means she doesn't really need to be in position for it, and can still stay a relatively safe distance away. As for how to picture this one? It's a big blob of darkness. When it hits something, it seeps into their pores, tries to melt a person from the inside for a bit, then fades away. Still capable of dealing permanent damage, but not nearly as severe as Starburst Sword.
I've been having her use this for disinfecting and cleaning poisons: It's the same application, but being used in a much more controlled manner.
Magical Support Techniques:
Basically, what applies to magical attacks applies to magical support too, as far as black spirits like Helion are concerned: Loads and loads of debuffs, can't be stopped by anti-magic abilities. Nonetheless, the game's sorted them into separate areas, so I'm doing so as well.
Terror:
Damage: 100 (100 * 99% = 99 Damage)
Hits: 2 (99 * 2 = 198 Damage)
Range: All enemies within 4 Diamond Radius
Stat Effects:
Enemy attack -5, Enemy magical attack -5, -1 Move
Special Effects: Anti-blue (Cannot be stopped by anti-magic abilities)
Time Units: 2
My Interpretation: Nice name for a spell, right? This one's actually an AOE ability, so it affects basically all enemies crazy enough to try to come in closer than Helion's melee attack range. For the full effect, please imagine tendrils of darkness bursting out of the ground, wrapping themselves around all enemies near Helion. This ability's actually pretty interesting, since it's the only black spirit spell potentially capable of debuffing all enemy stats. The reduction in move speed makes me think of it more as having anesthetic qualities. This one doesn't deal permanent damage, it just slows a person down. Still, the anesthetic does make it harder for an enemy to put their full effectiveness at work, as their muscles don't quite work the way they want them to.
AOE Techniques:
Yes, I know Terror is an AOE effect too. This is basically a special category composed of techniques that are normally used during the move phase rather than the attack phase. They tend to have a wide variety of effects, and they change from person to person. They also all have an area of effect, hence why they're labeled as "AOE Techniques".
Initialize:
Damage: 0
Hits: 0
Range: Everything within 10 Diamond Radius
Stat Effects: None
Special Effects:
Nullifies all elemental effects, nullifies minor enemy buffs
Time Units: None (AOE Technique)
My Interpretation: This technique is... actually, really hard to explain. It nullifies elemental effects. Elemental effects includes things like "flooded", "on fire", "blindingly bright", and "rotting", or just generally having an environment with a lot of water. This is basically worthless in the game, since elemental effects don't come up often enough for it to be useful. However, that's still a downright ridiculous ability when you think about it: Even if it has no offensive capabilities, think about what it means to nullify all elemental effects in-world: Water in the area evaporates, fires are snuffed out, light seems to warp around the area... Even decomposition stops for a moment. It might not stop a person from shooting a magical fireball and making it hit, but the actual fire will wind up being put out as soon as the magic behind it runs out.
This technique was used to get Maka and Soul to safety during the Rapture flood!
Key:
Damage: This one's simple enough, though it's worth noting that damage itself has a quick and simple formula to remember: (Damage * Relevant Character Stat) = Actual damage done. For the most part, I'll show the actual calculations in the damage section, so that makes things simple.
Hits: This is how many times a single attack hits. Once again, this fits into the damage calculation, since individual hits are counted (since while most characters can block one to three hits, they can't exactly block six). Once again, I'll show the actual calculations here to make life simpler on everyone.
Range: A video game abstraction at its finest. However, it's worth noting that basically all weapons in Helion's world have a range of 5, in a diamond shape. I'm going to avoid putting actual values to the abstractions for the time being, but basically, she can hit anyone vaguely close to her. The other range option is a cross shape, which tend to be a lot more limited in targeting, but tend to be able to hit from a greater distance. I'm going to assume the latter are significantly easier to dodge.
Time Units: "Time Units" are another abstraction brought in by the Spitan game. As a quick summary, there are 10 Time Units and one move phase per turn. So yes, the majority of people in Helion's world tend to be able to make five attacks per turn, while Helion is technically capable of making 10. And yes, this isn't counting individual hits.
Stat Effects: A lot of abilities in Helion's world affect a target's stats, whether they're buffs, debuffs, or otherwise. As such, I'm listing those down too. Something to keep in mind though, is that stats in Helion's world are expressed as a percentage. So these are actually going to seem pretty absurdly high, but they aren't as extreme as they seem.
For example, -50% Defense doesn't actually mean "Defense is halved", but that one loses 50%. This difference might not seem obvious, so I'll explain it like this: If a character has 102 Defense, and gets hit by a -50% Defense attack, they're now at 52 Defense. On the other hand, if that same hit is done to someone at 500 Defense (the max), they're now at 450 Defense.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the buffs and debuffs stack, and are relatively permanent: They do not wear off until the battle is over.
Finally, I'm actually going with the assumption that Helion has all the techniques she had in Eien no Aselia, even though most of them don't show up on here. Why? Because the way a lot of them work has been altered for Spitan, which means that if I put down a description, I might have to retcon how it works later. For the time being, I'm just going with her using the techniques that I actually know what they do. If I ever get far enough into Spitan to unlock them, I'll add them to the list.
Also, if you don't care about the stats stuff, just check out the "My Interpretation" section for the technique. It tries to give a quick summary of how it's used and what it does while limiting the math.
Physical Attack Techniques:
This makes up Helion's sword-fighting techniques. As mentioned before, Helion uses Iai-do for her sword, a style of swordsmanship that involves unsheathing the sword, making an attack, and re-sheathing the sword all in one quick stroke. We can go into an analysis from a real world perspective, but we'll go with the typical interpretation in Japanese media: It's very fast, and very effective at killing. It's typically thought of as an assassination technique in anime-land, since someone skilled enough in Iaido could potentially kill a person seemingly without even unsheathing out their sword. Naturally, Helion takes it to even further extremes.
Actual Skills:
Iai Sword:
Damage: 65 (65 * 99% = 64 Damage)
Hits: 3 (64 * 3 = 192 Damage)
Range: 5 Diamond Radius
Stat Effects: Enemy defense -50% during attack
Special Effects:
Pierce 50% (50% chance of ignoring defense altogether)
Time Units: 1
My Interpretation: This is Helion's basic attack. It's actually a little below average for her world: The attack itself is pretty weak, and while it has a good number of hits, it doesn't nearly have enough hits to make up for its lack of attack power. Still, it does have its own advantages: That -50% defense while she's attacking means that she'll probably still deal damage even against defending targets, and that 50% chance of ignoring defense altogether isn't bad at all. The main use of it however, stems from the time units: At 1 time unit, she can use this attack 10 times per turn, which is downright insane. This is basically the attack of a thousand cuts, and the point of this attack is pretty much entirely to deal as many minor wounds to an enemy as possible. This isn't an attack meant to kill an enemy, but wear them down so that more powerful people can finish them off.
Starburst Sword:
Damage: 100 (100 * 99% = 99 Damage)
Hits: 6 (99 * 6 = 594 Damage)
Range: 7 Cross Radius
Stat Effects:
Enemy attack -10%, Enemy magic attack -10%
Special Effects: None
Time Units: 2
My Interpretation: Starburst Sword is actually one of the more interesting attacks in Helion's arsenal, if only because of how Helion uses it differently. Starburst Sword is normally an ability where a black spirit imbues their sword with black mana, making it into an elemental attack. Since elemental attacks basically deal double the amount of damage listed on paper, that normally makes it extremely powerful. Helion is one of the rare black spirits that don't use it like that. Instead, she limits the amount of mana she imbues to allow black mana to seep into the individual cuts, essentially allowing black mana to get inside the enemy's body. Essentially, this attack is one that gets black mana inside the body, and likely does permanent damage as a result (barring healing magic, of course). This attack isn't one meant to kill either -- it's meant to cripple. It's also worth noting that she actually has quite a bit of range on here: As long as she's in position, she can use this attack from the same distance that's normally used to throw fireballs at people.
Defensive Techniques:
It's probably worth noting at this point that defending is considered to be an action that takes up time units just as well as everything else. If you don't specifically have someone going into a defensive stance, they're going to be taking full damage. Aside from that, Black spirits tend to be middle of the road when it comes to defense (much like everything they do): They're better than a lot of people at defense, but don't really stand out in that category either. Probably the most notable thing is that attacking black spirits in melee hurts: Basically all defensive techniques black spirits are taught involve turning their enemy's own strength against them, deflecting a portion of the damage dealt back to them. Note that the "damage dealt" does actually include damage that was blocked, and thus it's actually possible for the attack to be injured more than the black spirit is.
Actual Skills:
Resolution Block:
Damage: 200 (200 * 102% = 204 Damage)
Hits: 2 (204 damage blocked per hit up to 2 hits)
Range: Self (some spirits can actually block for other people. Helion can't.)
Stat Effects: None
Special Effects: Reflect 20% of enemy's attack.
Time Units: 2
My Interpretation: Really, what is there to say? She deflects 20% of the enemy damage. As a defensive technique, it kind of sucks. She basically takes the hit and lets the enemy get hurt by the black mana released when you hit her. At least, that's how I interpret it. Other possibilities include taking the hit, grabbing the enemy's weapon, and using the opportunity to stab them in the face. Either way, not much to really say here.
Magical Attack Techniques:
As with many things about black spirits, their magical effectiveness is extraordinary... average. Helion is no exception. The big advantages of black spirits in terms of magic stem from two main things: 1: They mess up the enemy's body/stats. 2: They can't be stopped by anti-magic abilities. They'll never do the ridiculous amounts of damage that red spirits can do, but they have their uses.
Impact:
Damage: 400 (400 * 99% = 396 Damage)
Hits: 1 (396 Damage)
Range: 7 Diamond Radius
Stat Effects:
Enemy attack -5, Enemy magical attack -5
Special Effects: Anti-blue (Cannot be stopped by anti-magic abilities)
Time Units: 2
My Interpretation: Helion's basic magical spell. It's functionally Starburst Sword, but magical and weaker in pretty much every way. On the bright side, it gets the diamond radius, which means she doesn't really need to be in position for it, and can still stay a relatively safe distance away. As for how to picture this one? It's a big blob of darkness. When it hits something, it seeps into their pores, tries to melt a person from the inside for a bit, then fades away. Still capable of dealing permanent damage, but not nearly as severe as Starburst Sword.
I've been having her use this for disinfecting and cleaning poisons: It's the same application, but being used in a much more controlled manner.
Magical Support Techniques:
Basically, what applies to magical attacks applies to magical support too, as far as black spirits like Helion are concerned: Loads and loads of debuffs, can't be stopped by anti-magic abilities. Nonetheless, the game's sorted them into separate areas, so I'm doing so as well.
Terror:
Damage: 100 (100 * 99% = 99 Damage)
Hits: 2 (99 * 2 = 198 Damage)
Range: All enemies within 4 Diamond Radius
Stat Effects:
Enemy attack -5, Enemy magical attack -5, -1 Move
Special Effects: Anti-blue (Cannot be stopped by anti-magic abilities)
Time Units: 2
My Interpretation: Nice name for a spell, right? This one's actually an AOE ability, so it affects basically all enemies crazy enough to try to come in closer than Helion's melee attack range. For the full effect, please imagine tendrils of darkness bursting out of the ground, wrapping themselves around all enemies near Helion. This ability's actually pretty interesting, since it's the only black spirit spell potentially capable of debuffing all enemy stats. The reduction in move speed makes me think of it more as having anesthetic qualities. This one doesn't deal permanent damage, it just slows a person down. Still, the anesthetic does make it harder for an enemy to put their full effectiveness at work, as their muscles don't quite work the way they want them to.
AOE Techniques:
Yes, I know Terror is an AOE effect too. This is basically a special category composed of techniques that are normally used during the move phase rather than the attack phase. They tend to have a wide variety of effects, and they change from person to person. They also all have an area of effect, hence why they're labeled as "AOE Techniques".
Initialize:
Damage: 0
Hits: 0
Range: Everything within 10 Diamond Radius
Stat Effects: None
Special Effects:
Nullifies all elemental effects, nullifies minor enemy buffs
Time Units: None (AOE Technique)
My Interpretation: This technique is... actually, really hard to explain. It nullifies elemental effects. Elemental effects includes things like "flooded", "on fire", "blindingly bright", and "rotting", or just generally having an environment with a lot of water. This is basically worthless in the game, since elemental effects don't come up often enough for it to be useful. However, that's still a downright ridiculous ability when you think about it: Even if it has no offensive capabilities, think about what it means to nullify all elemental effects in-world: Water in the area evaporates, fires are snuffed out, light seems to warp around the area... Even decomposition stops for a moment. It might not stop a person from shooting a magical fireball and making it hit, but the actual fire will wind up being put out as soon as the magic behind it runs out.
This technique was used to get Maka and Soul to safety during the Rapture flood!