Close Def 4

These skills can be considered the polar opposite of Blow skills, as they grant stat boosts only when the user is being attacked. A +6 boost is quite significant, enough to completely nullify the effects of Death Blow. Distant and Close Defense are therefore very useful, especially so for characters who rely on scoring KO’s when on defense. Both skills function identically, but only work against types of weapons who can attack at their respective ranges.

Distant Defense relies on your opponent attacking you, and therefore synergizes well with skills with similar activation requirements. It forms a potent combination with Quick Riposte, which in turn goes well with Distant Counter, an incompatible skill. However, units who possess the Distant Counter skill within their weapon, can use all three skills simultaneously. The best users of Distant Defense are therefore, those with Distant Counter built into their weapons. Close Defense has more general use, but is best used by bulky melee units who can trade large amounts of damage back to their attackers.

The primary weakness of these skills is that they only activate when being attacked. This makes them unsuitable for units who rely on initiating many attacks. Aside from that, there is little drawback to using these skills. They can be very potent in the arena, where many units can be defeated easily by luring and KO’ing them. When facing a unit with these skills, the best strategy is simply to have them attack into your own team in order to circumvent the large defensive boost.