Board Thread:News and Events/@comment-933831-20160127201216/@comment-25389303-20160129075525

If there was anyone who could counter Orion's CQC fighting style, it would be Ulric. If Orion moves out of the way for Liath, Ulric's going to notice and simply pursue him - and most likely catch him if he's packpeddling. That tactic may work once, at best, but no more than that.

When I said the fight would be close, it was before I truely understood how Orion fights. Even now, though, that belief hasn't moved towards Orion any more. In fact, I think the opposite has actually occured. You see, being punched by your father a lot may build up one's endurance, but that will mean hardly anything in response to the point of a lance to the stomach or an arrow to the throat. Against a high damage-dealer like Ulric, he's a lot better off just avoiding his attacks altogether, which is far from an easy thing to do. And I'd like to stress that point that Ulric has, by far, the strongest defense in this fight. He may be able to take less hits, but the chances of those hits actually landing and causing damage is significantly lower.

And make no mistake - it's not like Ulric hasn't been training all his life also. While Orion was getting beat up by his dad, Ulric was training to respond to a fight, not just suffer through it. He's not some guy who's been training with a lance his entire life, and decided to pick up a shield moments before the fight. He knows his limits, and blocking an attack from one angle, then turning and doing the same to a different attack is far from impossible for him. Who's to say that Ulric will be pressing the attack in the first place? It's highly likely that he'll hang back and let his opponents tire themselves out dodging Viridis' arrows. After all, fatigue from exhaustion and fatigue from taking damage are one and the same.

And yes, Ulric's movement speeds are slow in comparison to most other students, but his attack speeds are the exact opposite, and that is what Ulric's fighting style is based around. And when it comes down to Orion's strength vs Ulric's Velocity in terms of attacks, the edge clearly goes to Ulric, and this is why:

Basically, if you hit a shield with an axe, most people will jolt their arm painfully from the returning force of it, unless they've practised with it a lot like Orion has. Times that by two, and he's going to be feeling it as well. Times it by six, and I'll be surprised if Orion hasn't broken his arm from his own attack. And since it's not a foreign force, Aura won't help. This is where the difference between Ulric and Orion is clear. Ulric can just brace and take the hit on his shield and shrug it off, since the force is dispersed over a larger area, meanwhile all the force returning from the hit travels through Orion's arm alone.

In addition to this, without a shield Orion won't be able to replicate this if Ulric hits him back. He'll either have to dodge (which is difficult) or parry (even more so, and painful). If you take into account Viridis hampering his fighting ability further by taking the occasional potshot. Any of Orion's high-powered attacks are a major gamble for him, while Ulric can attack, safe in the knowledge that if he hits, he'll be better off, and if he misses, he can just turn it back into a surprise attack.

And also, in response to Card's point, Viridis is unlikely to use arrows he believes will be dangerous to Ulric, similarly to Liath. The only difference is that he can fire them faster, and considering that Orion tends to break off from the fight every so often, will be more effective.