Hey guys, welcome to the latest New Unit Analysis! Today we'll be having a look at Narza, the newest damage mitigator on the block. We'll be comparing him to the other pure damage mitigators in the game, which means only 2 comparisons today! We'll then have a look at how he fares in the current metagame and his future prospects.

Let's get started!

Disclaimer: As always, I try to keep these as objective as possible, but they're ultimately my opinion and yours may differ. Please read them with an open mind and a view to make your own decisions. :>

Mad God Narza vs. Oulu, Darvanshel

Narza's stats:

Lord: HP 6105 ATK 1950 DEF 1950 REC 1950

Max imp bonuses: HP 1000 ATK 200 DEF 200 REC 200

LS: Increase in BB gauge fill rate, chance to reduce incoming damage (BB gauge fill rate 40%, damage mitigation chance 10%, damage mitigation 20%)

Hit count: 16 (drop check count 2/hit)

BB: Reduces damage taken by half for 1 turn and negates all status ailments for 3 turns (22BC to fill, damage mitigation 50%)

SBB: Reduces damage taken by half for 1 turn, negates status ailments and increases BB gauge when damage is taken for 3 turns (43BC to fill, damage mitigation 50%, BB gauge fill 5-6BC/attack)

• What unit doesn't have good stats these days? Narza has fantastic HP with really great DEF to back it up making him a very bulky unit indeed, particularly when you consider his HP imp cap which is definitely above average (his DEF cap suffers a little but that's not quite as important). His ATK isn't actually that bad either, but he's almost never going to make much use of it, which is a shame. His REC is very good too. Narza has a variation of the Ares' leader skill which is pretty nice if you don't have another BB-spam leader, but the defensive spin on it is actually quite weak in practice (I think I overvalued it in the batch overview - sorry) and losing 10% of the BB gauge fill rate boost compared to the normal Ares' skill hurts. His normal attack is pretty fantastic, 32 drop checks is ridiculously good, very nice for a damage mitigator to have. His BB and SBB halve incoming damage which as you should all know now, is basically one of the most important buffs in the game so basically Narza is top tier at worst. He also happens to negate status ailments which is nice but it is important to note that he cannot cure them. His SBB's BC generation on being attacked buff is also very powerful. Narza is definitely a strong unit for sure.

• First up for comparison today is Oulu. Compared to the weaponised fortress, Narza has better ATK ( 295) and REC ( 530) but less HP (-290) and DEF (-10). After imps, the HP difference becomes (-40) while the DEF difference becomes (-210), so Narza still loses in the defensive stats, but by a lesser margin. As a defensive unit, Oulu wins statistically but only by a sliver. Narza has better BC generation on his normal attack than Oulu (32 drop checks vs. Oulu's 16), which is important in generating enough BC to have damage mitigation available as often as possible. Comparing their BBs, Narza's wins hands down. They're basically identical, both costing 22BC to fill, and both halving damage while dealing no damage of their own, but Narza's also negates status ailments for 3 turns and has no penalty to compensate so his is just straight up better. Comparing their SBBs, again both have the same fill rate and damage mitigation value. Oulu gains a 100% DEF buff while Narza still has his status negation and also gains a powerful BC gen on hit buff. Oulu's DEF buff is of a pretty high value and against opponents that don't deal a lot of damage in a single blow, the damage reduction will be noticeable. However in most scenarios, I think you'll definitely get a lot more out of saving that status immunity team slot (though keep in mind Narza can't CURE statuses) and the BC gen buff is powerful enough that it will come in handy no matter what (it's more powerful than Lilly Matah's if we only consider this buff in isolation). Overall, Narza is definitely the better damage mitigator, but that shouldn't detract from Oulu's usefulness, he's still plenty viable.

• The only other proper damage mitigator currently available is Darvanshel. Compared to the shield-wielding civil servant, Narza has better ATK ( 45) and REC ( 260) but loses in HP (-195) and DEF (-5). Defensively these two units are already pretty close with Darvanshel being better in base form but Narza catching up and JUST slightly edging ahead with max imps (HP becomes 55 in Narza's favour and DEF remains the same). Darvanshel can actually make use of his ATK stat though (and surpasses Narza's ATK after imps) and the defensive difference between the two is basically negligible so I think Darvanshel probably wins statistically overall, probably best just to consider them on par though. Comparing their BBs, both units have the same fill rate and damage mitigation value. Narza can negate (but not cure) status ailments while Darvanshel does single target damage and therefore can generate BC. If you have another source of status immunity, I definitely think Darvanshel's BB is superior. The BC generation is pretty important, and the damage is actually also pretty important since it allows Darvanshel to push bosses past their HP thresholds by himself while mitigating at the same time (meaning you don't need to put another unit in danger to do so). The fact that Narza's BB can't cure status ailments is also pretty crippling given bosses are often able to dispel buffs. Relying on Narza for status protection is also slightly annoying since you need to prioritise mitigation since it's the most important buff which may mean that there are times where you have to sacrifice the ability to prevent status in order to have Narza's mitigation ready for an important turn. It may just be easier to use a proper status protection unit. Comparing their SBBs, Narza gains the BC gen on being attacked buff which is a very good buff on paper. In practice however, not only is using SBB on a damage mitigator not an event that happens consistently, but damage mitigators are often used with a Lilly Matah on the team for tough fights and she bestows the same buff which detracts from the value of it. Narza's version is stronger, so it's not a waste, but it does become less significant when you factor her in. If you're not running Lilly Matah, Narza looks a lot more attractive though. Darvanshel gains his DEF buff ( 50%, so it's fairly negligible) and a multiple target ATK which is nice for trash mobs and bosses with multiple parts but not that much better than his BB otherwise. Narza definitely improves more than Darvanshel with his SBB, but for damage mitigators, it's the BB that's the most important move in their arsenal and I think Darvanshel probably edges out Narza here. Both units are very good and perfectly viable however, and there are definitely niches and team setups in which Narza outperforms Darvanshel. I'd consider Darvanshel probably slightly more useful overall but Narza is definitely a fantastic side-grade at worst.

• Damage mitigation unit = instantly meta-relevant. Simple as that.

Narza: Indepth Look

• Excuse my massive wall of text in the Darvanshel comparison. It's a pretty interesting one and I wanted to expand on it in a little more detail than usual.

• Narza has pretty awesome stats. HP greater than 6.1k is always good and with 1950 DEF to back it up, he's very bulky which is fantastic for a defensive unit. His ATK is actually very good too, being the best of all the defensive units before imps (Darvanshel wins after imps) and his REC is solid as well.

• After imps, his HP becomes even more impressive, being almost on par with Oulu's and while his other caps are below average, HP is probably the most important stat for Narza so he's done well.

• His Leader skill is okay, it's basically a slightly worse version of the Ares' Leader Skill. The damage mitigation component to it is too weak and inconsistent (mainly the latter) to really matter since on average it'll only end up reducing your overall damage taken by around 2%. Probably not worth the 10% loss to BB gauge fill rate. I probably overhyped this a bit in my batch analysis, but I'm correcting myself here. Sorry!

• His normal attack is actually really excellent. 32 total drop checks is definitely top tier. This is important for Narza not because of arena like for other units (...don't use him in the Arena) but because he needs to maximise his up time for his damage mitigation buff and this certainly helps.

• However keep in mind, just having to use your normal attack for a damage mitigator means that you failed to upkeep your buff for that turn.

• Narza is a damage mitigation unit, as evidenced by his BB and SBB both of which halve incoming damage for 1 turn.

• As most of you should be aware, damage mitigation is one of the most important buffs in the game for end-game content but I should mention it again anyway for completeness.

• There are numerous fights that are very difficult if not outright impossible without some form of damage mitigation under your belt (whether it be from a friend or your own unit) because damage output outscales DEF buffs with late game fights significantly. Damage mitigation can be the only thing standing between surviving and being one-shot.

• Therefore, any unit with a 50% damage mitigation buff is automatically "meta". No exceptions. Yes that means Oulu is still relevant. Outclassed =/= bad or unviable

• Narza's spin on damage mitigation is that he also protects you from status ailments. Status protection is another important part of the metagame since being crippled by status can make or break some end game battles.

• Ostensibly, this means that Narza is a very strong damage mitigator since he also provides status protection, thus theoretically freeing up a precious slot on your team that a status prevention unit might otherwise have occupied.

• However Narza has one large weakness and that is that he ONLY prevents status. He can not remove status ailments that are already inflicted upon your units. This is pretty big, not only for the beginnings of battles (e.g. Juggernaut) where you have no BB gauge and are therefore unprotected, but also because there are an increasing amount of bosses that can remove your buffs and then nail you with a status. Being able to cure status is becoming more and more important.

• His second weakness is that damage mitigation is just more important than status protection in general. It might not occur frequently, but there will be times where you will have to forgoe using Narza for status protection in order to guarantee having his BB up on an important turn.

• If the boss nails you with a nasty status on the turn when your protection is down, that can ruin your run because Narza can not then remove that status from you. Probably not going to be a frequent occurance, but potentially devastating if it does occur.

• Basically, relying on Narza as your status protector can be a bit dangerous, and running a status protector concurrently is fine, but negates the team slot-saving bonus of having this added effect in the first place.

• Still, a very good secondary effect. I'm really just nitpicking at it.

• His SBB also gains a strong BC generation buff when being attacked.

• This is a very strong buff and means that in certain circumstances Narza can generate more BC than his competitor Darvanshel which makes Narza a very competitive choice in certain team set ups.

• If we stop considering the buff in a vacuum though, and consider likely teammates on tough fights where damage mitigation might be likely, you'll find that a recurring unit that's often used concurrently is Lilly Matah.

• Lilly Matah also bestows this buff (amongst others - which is why she's so good) and so Narza runs into a bit of redundancy with Lilly Matah teams which are a very popular way of taking down tough bosses. His buff is actually stronger than hers so he still benefits from having it on board no matter what, but it's no longer quite as big a gain as it seemed in isolation.

• In addition, damage mitigators will probably be using their BBs more than their SBBs most of the time because the fights they're necessary in are often a bit BC sparse so keeping Narza's buff up consistently is probably not going to happen in most cases.

• I don't want to belittle Narza's buffs because they ARE strong and there are team configurations that can bring out the best in Narza for sure. Narza's biggest strength is that he's a very good hybrid unit so he can save on team slots if you're clever about team building.

• Currently, he's a very good side-grade to Darvanshel. I personally think Darvanshel is slightly better in most optimal team set ups but Narza is a very good alternative and can be better in certain situations. Both are obviously extremely good units in the grand scheme of things.

• In terms of future prospects, a damage mitigator is always going to be relevant even if a better one comes along. That will not stop Narza from being a good unit. That said, Sierra is the next damage mitigator to be released in the future and she (he?) looks to be a very formidable unit indeed. Narza actually fares a little better compared to her (him?) than Darvanshel because he offers something a bit different though.

• TL;DR: Damage mitigator = good unit

Typing Discussion

• As always, the most important thing to note here is that if typing is the only thing holding you back from using a unit, you should definitely just go ahead and use them. Please don't discard units because their typing isn't 'optimal'.

• Anima first. Even though Narza won't really be utilising that preserved ATK stat, Anima gives you more effective bulk than Guardian so it's actually the better defensive typing.

• Guardian's great for Narza too though since the ATK drop couldn't matter less.

• Lord preserves his defences which are his most important stats.

• Breaker hits the less important defensive stat.

• Oracle hits HP which hurts, and Narza's base REC is plenty high. Of course, Oracle Narza is WAY better than no Narza. Having damage mitigation is definitely better than not having it.

That's it guys! Hope you enjoyed the read. <3

As always, I welcome your comments/criticims/encouragements. If you found this useful, please drop an upvote on your way out! I'd really appreciate the support. :>

Until next time!

Links to previous Analyses