Topic on Talk:Rose Crystal Weapons

I read from the page that the 'Elemental Rose Barrier' weapon skill (of Rose Crystal Wand, Rose Crystal Sword, Rose Crystal Lance, Rose Crystal Knife) tops 10% of incoming damage reduction at weapon skill level 10. I was wondering about whether the weapons allow stacking of each other's effect?

Likewise, I see that the 'Elemental Rose Bud' weapon skill (of Rose Crystal Axe, Rose Crystal Bow, Rose Crystal Claw, Rose Crystal Harp) tops at 20% at weapon skill level 10. According to the elemental disadvantages section, damage taken is up to 50% so I would need about 3 Rose Crystal weapons to override the disadvantage. This can happen if stacking of effects are allowed.

The Huanglong Gauntlet and Qilin Sword from the Beast weapons series, have a higher percentage of 17.5% at weapon skill level of 20. Stacking question applies.

> I would need about 3 Rose Crystal weapons
No. Just no. There are just 2 per element, one for each skill. Let's keep weapon discussion, y'know, real.

And, like, they can't really "stack" because... they're all different skills. There are 8 rose weapons and all 8 have unique to them 2nd skill. Let's say, if you would put the staff and sabre together, you'd take less wind and fire damage (if they're actually working for off-ele allies [description doesn't say otherwise so it's possible]) but that's not something anyone should ever do. You're basically wasting a weapon slot for a weapon without 4* uncap (lower stats) with EX skill that can't affect you (multi-ele teams aren't a thing).
The only stacking you should care about are character x weapon interaction. I remember testing it back when I started and what I remember is that huan gauntlet stacks with grand Io's passive. Damage I received was lower. How are they stacking, aka if they're additive or multiplicative, is not something I really cared about but if I had to guess, I'd say it's the latter.

Alright, so the numerous copies of the same Rose Crystal weapon can't increase the percentage of damage reduction.

In your opinion, just how reliable is damage reduction "by itself" anyways? For 'Elemental Rose Barrier' (10%) and 'Elemental Rose Bud' (20%) weapon skill? Can I combine them when facing off against superior element?

> Can I combine them when facing off against superior element?
No.

The only people who do stuff off-ele are the ones who have primal grids strong enough to force thru anything, and I have yet to see any of them using rose weapons.
And one thing you don't seem to get is that they only lower dmg taken for one ele.
If you really want to play in disadvantageous fight, let's say as water vs earth, you'd take only the 20% weapons. The 10% would only work if you were the superior ele (water vs fire) or if your enemy could somehow use attacks of 2 elements (earth and fire in this case) but then it'd be 20% for ELE1 (earth) and 10% for ELE2 (fire). You'd be wasting an ATK skill slot for mere 10% that you don't need all the time (I assume most of foe's attacks would match its element). There aren't really that many fights where foe uses just 2 elements, the only ones that come to my mind are rotb Phoenix and his special & nataku normal raid.

To me rose weapons are something you use if your HP is really low (below ~10k) and/or you don't have better EX. If they could be ulb'ed like huan or kirin, or at least flb'ed, that could change things but they're not as necessary as of right now. They're just another 3* EX that have nice gimmick which can allow you to receive less dmg, but that doesn't matter for many people because of one reason - later on, many fights simply aren't long enough for the reduced dmg to affect you as you won't die either. And if they're already that short, why not make them even shorter by equipping stronger weapons (like 4* EX = higher boost from skills and raw stats, even better if they have additional atk skill like hollowsky's supplemental dmg or pg weapon's cap up), rather than caring about survivability you don't need.