Talk:Hijikata Toshizou/@comment-28048698-20170507204708

Okay, I wanted to do this since a long time after looking the talk about Merlin/Hijikata combo, since I have both of them. During this CCC event I've been using a simple team: Merlin, Mashu, Hijikata. Sometimes all of them with First Premonition if I wanted to clear a more-or-less easy quest, and sometimes with two Prisma Cosmos (one for Merlin and one for Mashu) and Joint Recital (for Hijikata).

This analysis was done using my Merlin and my Hijikata. Merlin is 90/90 and 10/10/10, while Hijikata is 90/90 and 4/4/4, both of them with HP and ATK maxed. Also, I'll remember that this is only my humble opinion (it can be biased, who knows) and my experience.

Now, the big question is: are Merlin and Hijikata good partners or Merlin doesn't fit perfectly with him? The short answer is: yes, they make a very good team. The long answer is this:

The biggest concern about the two of them is how Merlin heal HP with his Garden of Avalon, and how he give more HP with his Hero Creation. Both things seems to go against Hijikata's Law of the Shinsengumi and Undying Integrity.

First of all I'll talk about the Hero Creation problem. I'm not an expert of how works the damage calculation in the game, but I think I know the basic things. The NP is a Buster type so have a 150% damage multiplier, while the NP base damage is 600%. That give us a total of 900%. Then we sum the bonus damage with the already known formula. Right?

For the following calculations I'll suppose Hijikata have 50% HP and will take only two decimals. His HP at level 90 and max with Fou cards is 13.027 (12.028 + 999). The 50% is 6.513,5 so let's say 6.513. A normal Undying Integrity from Hijikata, without any buff, will be like this:

Damage = [(Buster modifier) x (Noble Phantasm modifier)] + {(Base bonus multiplier) x [1 - (Current HP / Max HP)]} = [1,5 x 6] + {6 x [1 - (6.513 / 13.027]} = [1,5 x 6] + {6 x [1 - 0,49]} = [1,5 x 6] + {6 x 0,51} = 9 + 3,06 = 12,06

So the base base damage from Noble Phantasm is 900% and the bonus damage is 306% for a total damage of 1.206%.

Now I'll calculate Hijikata's Undying Integrity with 50% HP and with Merlin's Hero Creation at level 10. That means Hijikata's HP will be 50% + 3.000, for a total of 9.513 and his max HP will transform into 100% + 3.000 for a total of 16.027. Let's remember Hero's Creation boost Buster's performance, so it will affect the base damage.

Damage = [(Buster modifier) x (Hero Creation Boost) x (Noble Phantasm modifier)] + {(Base bonus multiplier) x [1 - (Current HP / Max HP)]} = [1,5 x 1,5 x 6] + {6 x [1 - (9.513 / 16.027)]} = [1,5 x 1,5 x 6] + {6 x [1 - 0,59]} = [1,5 x 1,5 x 6] + {6 x 0,41} = 13,5 + 2,46 = 15,96

We can conclude that the base damage from the Noble Phantasm is 1.350% and the bonus damage is 246% for a total of 1.596%. The HP boost reduce our bonus damage from 306% to 246%, losing 60%. But the Buster boost increase the base damage from 900% to 1.350%, giving 450% more. The raw benefit is 390%. So Hero Creation greatly increase our Undying Integrity damage.

Now let's talk about the second problem: the HP regen from Garden of Avalon. It's true we want our Hijikata with as much HP as we can to increase his Undying Integrity and Law of the Shinsengumi. However, that only works on the theory, on the paper. During a real fight we can see how keep alive a Berserker with low HP is risky, yes, but sometimes it's also almost impossible, at least if you want to keep him alive as much as possible to spam the Noble Phantasm. Once I've used my Undying Integrity with 50% HP or less, I need to keep Hijikata alive until the next one, and he isn't going to stay alive by himself. He doesn't have dodge or invulnerability, doesn't have guts neither, and the only heal he have give him 1.500 HP, that's all.

That's when Merlin give him a hand and protect him. Healing 1.000 HP each turn, or even 2.000 HP if you stack two Garden of Avalon, compensate the damage he will be receiving until the next Noble Phantasm. At the same time, it isn't a bad deal to sacrifice some damage from the overcharge effect if thanks to that we can keep alive Hijikata and charge his NP fast enough to use it a couple of times more.

Not only Merlin helped me to have Hijikata alive with Garden of Avalon having a decent amount of HP (50% usually), but also succeeded letting him have very low HP (2.000 or less) and stay alive thanks to Illusion.

I want to add something else. Hijikata by himself can produce a decent amount of stars, specially with those two Quick cards. With Garden of Avalon Merlin can give more stars each turn. Hijikata's Demon of the Battlefield increase the party's star generation, and Merlin's Illusion increase the star generation too. Combining both skills and a Quick chain with one or two Hijikata's Quick cards, or using a BQQ or AQQ from him can give a lot of stars.

And I think that's all. This analysis it's already long enough. If someone want to add or correct something, go ahead. I hope this become helpful for someone. :)