Board Thread:Role Plays (AU)/@comment-24617443-20170516130842/@comment-26571677-20170518080555

@Taki Tan

While, yes, I agree with most of what yo've written, I have to make some points on a few things you've said.

First off, thanks for your note on my contradiction with ranged attacks, I've since fixed that in my description, as I've already shown her to have numerous abilities with ranged attacks in RPs that I can cite if need be. Now, onto my counter arguments.

Weapons

I would rather argue that Valka has quite the advantage when it comes to weapon type and capability. Her main weapon, the 'whip' as it's been called, has an unusually long reach, and is often used as either a soft-taunt/harassing tool, or to completely disarm/immoblise an opponent by wrapping the blade around an enemy's weapon, and therefore rendering it privy to her control.

Urumis, the weapon I based her main off of, are also notoriously known for being very powerful against swords, as not only can they wrap themselves around the blade as mentioned before, they can also 'snake' arouind the enemy's weapon to hit them regardless of how they block it.

Not only that, Rabenschwarz and Corvus Anima have little ranged capability at all after expending all their rounds. Bele, in an outright fight, would not get a chance to reload due to her style of fighting, which I will elaborate on later.

The revolver section of his cane would also especially be quite weak against her 'up close and personal' fighting style, as he cannot use both at the same time from what I've read (Feel free to correct me). To change dust cartridges in the weapon would also require at least a measurable amount of time, using both hands, and breathing time when fighting Valka is the one thing that is lacking the most. I can see him getting one or two shots of his charged blade off, but after that, she'll learn how to combat it, that's assuming if he even gets to lodge in a second cartridge at all.

While yes, the sawed off might be a small problem, you must also realise that her main weapon, the whip, is wielded single handedly. This leaves her free to a choice of both of her secondary weapons, which can create powerful dust constructs to mitigate the effects of his weapons. This also raises the problem of recoil, and the power of it, as while both of Valka's weapons are lightweight, and easy to maneuvre with, shotguns are large, and quite infamously known for being hard to use in a close up fight.

Not only that, her secondary weapons are also no laughing matter. And I'll tell you why in a moment.

In Conclusion/ tl;dr

IN my opinion, Valka has the advantage in terms of melee fighting when it comes to weapons, Bele might have access to easier forms of ranged firepower, but when they run out of ammo, or need to be reloaded, he will likely not have any time to do so due to Valka's onslaught of brutal melee attacks and combinations. Just because he can slash and shoot at the same time, doesn't necessarily mean that he will be able to, or even have the ability to use those skills when needing to reload. It's not like she's going to politely stand back and allow Bele to resupply when she sees that he's used up all of his ammo. (It is fairly easy to know how many pellets are in a double barrelled sawn off)

Semblance

Excellent points made here. I'll not comment on the drainage of semblance use, as that's already been addressed, so I will get straight into the meat.

Bele's semblance is extremely obvious, at least in my opinion, THe thing is here, that a forceful blowback/knockback by a swarm of auric constructs is quite easily predictable in regards to what they can achieve. Whether it be dodges or simple bursts of speed. Valka's, I will admit, is also quite obvious;a teleport, but it is the ability to use it, and how she combines it that is the most powerful to her. If he retreats, she simply teleports to him (Note, not necessarily straight ahead, it could be to his side, or even behind him).

This leads me on to my next point:

Synergy/Fighting Style

Valka was built by me to be exactly what she is, described perfectly by Mia:

An unrelenting hammer of aggressiveness, and brutal attacks

The thing about Valka is that she doesn't let up, no retreats are in order for her, and she is always on the offensive, only defending when need be (Again, I have rp evidence, just DM me if you want the links). Everything about her is built to be as aggressive as possible, this is from the ability to teleport and push her opponent into favourable positions, to even the design of her weapons themselves.

In example, her Dust infused Haladie blades. They can be used to create powerful dust attacks, but are also primarily used to pressure her opponent. Say that Bele retreats, Valka has many more options to her than to merely chase, For example, she could use dust constructs to block or redirect his auric crows, or teleport behind him, it focuses on countering other people's attacks, while at the same time, following up with her own. How will Bele defend himself when he's attacked while he controls his semblance?

I'd like to also target the idea that countering opponents is simply blocking attacks, and following up with another, instead, I'd like to compare it to chess, in a way. A game is not simply won through countering each move with one of your own, but rather through countering, while preparing your own attack. It dopesn't list anywhere on Bele's profile that he is able to defend, while attacking, while Valka is very clearly able to do so without fail.

She targets weak spots, and blind spots, which is where I see Bele failing. His semblance seems quite powerful, but it is a beam, meaning that it travels in a single direction. What would Bele do if Valka kept teleporting to his sides, or behind him to attack? His blind spots would be his downfall in this one case among thousands.

Another note is how powerful combos can be, which is an area that I see Bele failing in tremendously, his sermblance is admittedly stronk, but he's almost a case of a 'one trick pony'. He has no combo capability, which as we all know is what typically wins fights. Compare this to Valka, who has the choice between a highly flexible whip in one hand, and a weapon that can use the elements to her will in another, or with four elements combined, he loses out in simple firepower, Valka outranks him in cases where she just follows each attack by more and more, in 'streams', if you will. Layers upon layers of mixed Dust attacks that I just don't see Bele being able to deal with.

Training

As Dsfisher has stated, Valka not only has the upper hand in training, she's also got the very important factor of experience and '''knowledge of herself. '''She has spent years training with barely any (If at all) breaks inbetween, she has an in depth knowledge of her own capabilities, and knows what works best for her.

The weapons she use, the combos she intiates, and the positioning she takes are not based on simple guesswork or the ideas of leaving things to chance, everything is a measured calculation on her part, she has spent years training, and as we all know, this always shows. She's found the most powerful combos and attacks she can use, and has stuck with them, which shows her in depth knowledge of what her fighting style is.

Not only that, she is also a very high ranking ANGEL, a position that requires her to fight against other human opponents, often with no mercy. I have a literal RP battle between ANGELs that can prove this point should you want it. This shows her level of knowledge and general combat proficiency against humans, which Bele seems to lack.

Meanwhile, Bele does not seem to have the experience against opponents '''that are human. W'hile he may be adept at handling Grimm, a distinction must be made that a human person that outranks Bele is drastically, drastically ''different from a simple beast fueled by rage. Humans are smart, resourceful, and cunning, capable of surprising and devastating actions. While this also applies in the opposite sense of Bele to Valka, her deeper understanding of this should carry her out further.

Anyway, that's all I really have to say, feel free to contest me if you'd like, but for now, I'll post this, unless I have some more ideas to add, which I'll list in an italic format below this until another counterargument comes my way.