Quote:
Originally Posted by Takamura Mamoru
Actually, she was praising Fate's strength all the time.
Post cartridge upgrade?
She doesn't look too troubled to me..
Do note that Nanoha had to go so high over the limit she lost 9% of her strength, permanently, to defeat Vivio.
I'd also like to quote Signum's and Fate's thoughts when fighting against each other. |
Was retconned so that the knights were going easy on them, probably with an eye towards StrikerS. In post-A's manga Nanoha says as much, and in the sound stages Signum flat-out says her relationship with Fate can't be considered a rivalry yet because Fate's no match for her.
Anyway I like to class things more in terms of combat styles than raw abilities; I think Signum's dominance in that kind of chart makes sense but because of her narrow combat style it's not the advantage it looks like.
Personally I class Fate as a skirmisher. With her speed and all-range capability she choose her tactics to suit her opponent and fight wherever they're weakest or just mix up ranged and melee. She's valuable in a formation for intercepting, spoiling, flanking, and such but I generally feel that her raw combat power is a bit below Nanoha and Signum.
Nanoha's definitely ranged; she may be able to defend herself adequately at close range but you never see her closing in for the kill like Signum or Fate would. She has a wide range of spells too, but unlike Fate they all support a single tactical doctrine... which is good old-fashioned pin 'em down and blow 'em up. She seems to use active defenses a lot more than other characters, but since she depends on her mobility somewhat less than the others that's not surprising.
Signum's combat style is totally singleminded. She has no fast ranged abilities to toss at enemies to 'keep them busy'; she's has to either close with the enemy or transform her weapon to attack, which requires her to commit heavily every step of the way when she's fighting. With hardly any variety in spells she's pretty much just depending on raw skill and strong armor to win fights, and I think this is why she shows an advantage in raw stats. I also think she has a big edge in a fight to the death because of how different her second fight with Zest went.
Vita's kind of in the middle; she's still focused on close combat but she hasn't had a chance to show skills on Signum's level. On the other hand she actually has a basic ranged attack, and her weapon forms may look pretty unwieldy but they do put her solidly above Signum in damage potential. Still, she feels a bit limited compared to the other three to me.