Talk:Dawn of Crimson Bands/@comment-60.241.16.230-20130719110804/@comment-121.216.190.106-20130722003327

It's not just about the combined stats. It's where the stats are weighted. When you use a card for ATK, the DEF stat is useless. Vice versa when you use a card for DEF. I'd prefer a card with 14k/10k with an ATK orientated skill or 10k/14k with a DEF orientated skill over a card with 13k/13k. I prefer lopsided cards because I make separate decks for ATK and DEF.

Rakov is not bad given its age and the lack of strong DEF cards. He almost reaches 14k DEF at 8-15 and has Guard Order. Lord Knight has similar DEF stat, but Divine Aura is just not as good as Guard Order for DEF.

I can think of some comparable DEF SRs. They are Thaleia, Bronya the Wall, Aeacus and Gaia. Thaleia and Bronya have more DEF but Divine Protection isn't as good as Guard Order. Aeacus and Gaia barely edges out Rakov with about 70 more DEF. However they are Genesis which is bad because Hateful Genesis is abundant and very easy to level. Hateful Chaos however is not as common and more difficult to level. Divine Protection is extremely difficult to level of which the cheapest feeder card is an uncommon SR, Undine. Conversely, Guard Order is one of the easiest skill to max.

There are some chaos SRs that have similar to DEF as Rakov but they have Battle Rage which is a terrible skill.

I would say Rakov is arguably better than Bronya although Thaleia is significantly stronger with 15.2k DEF at 8-15. Thaleia might be a bit better but the drawbacks of being Genesis are serious. This makes Rakov either the best or second best DEF SR.