Hi everyone
I have a question about the path we can take in talent grids.
I am working on Wu as he is my main monk.
The question is should I choose health or defence?
Which one keeps him alive longer against titans?
I think that depends on you team and the titan.
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if the titan deals “true danage” like a Damage Over Time (DOT) than HP, else armor.
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if you have Over Time Healers and have armor buffs (is based on your armor) than choose armor. Only procentage healing and minions (are less common specials) are based on max. HP.
Extra: Most of the time you buff the two highest stats of your summons. because in the end of the emblemtree there are % buffs.
I hope this helps you a lot 
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Take the path that have a sword in it 
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I agree on picking the seords for many summons but not all.
For example Kunchen and Justice with the swords? … nah!
On wukong definitly!
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Thank you guys @CrowdEater @Elpis
The main issue with titans is their direct damage. DOT can be cure by potions. But two direct hit from an 8* titan can kill Wu. And I believe increasing Wu’s damage is not helpful that much since he is used against other titans as well (Although it never hurts to deal more damage!)
And in his second grid talent nod, you can choose either damage+defence or damage+health. So his damage will increase eventually. Now the question is which one is better for him against titan’s direct damage? Health or damage?
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Great question - I came here to ask the exact same thing. I don’t have an answer. My hunch is that it probably doesn’t make much difference but I hate to suboptimize anything so here we are. The heuristic I’ve been using is to take defense and multiply by 2 and then compare that to health. Whichever is lower is the one I fund. Not sure that’s right, mind you. Just how I’ve been thinking about it. So for Wu that tells me to put it in HP vs Defense…
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Hmm, i’m toughening up my Wu as much as possible. I bring him not for the damage his tiles do, but to live long enoigh to cast his special, often.
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Agree - his value is in living long enough to let his teammates do their thing!
Do you have a POV on defense vs health?
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Im taking Wu on the defence and health path best as possible.
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FOR THE FIRST BRANCH, the Attack value will be the same whichever side you take, so we really just need a way to compare the same character with different values of HP and DEF.
FOR LATER BRANCHES… HP & DEF on the same side really gives you a nice bonus as HP+DEF combine to make you more survivable than just one or the other.
Elsewhere on the forum, there is a damage calculation that involves (ATK/DEF)^1.35, but we can really simplify that down if we’re talking same character except for just a couple numbers. How do we factor in HP? What I tend to do is just something like this:
DMG = (variables)*(ATT/DEF)^1.35
Those variables though, while important to randomize each individual strike, can be treated as constants for the purpose of comparing other specific stats for analysis.
So to factor in HP, I just do something like this: (HP/DMG) is a factor that can represent how much punishment can be taken by a given hero. It isn’t a real number that means anything, other than being able to see which one is higher.
So assuming Monk follows +15 ATK, +18 DEF, +36 HP like the FTR & WIZ (only ones I have to compare)…
Attack+Def option: ATK 722, DEF 638, HP 992
992 / [(722/638)^1.35] = 839.4
Attack+HP option: ATK 722, DEF 620, HP 1028
1028 / [(722/620)^1.35] = 836.9
So the Defense option is marginally better mathematically, but small… only about 0.3% total, so… go with whichever option makes you happier. 
NOTE: the above may be total BS, someone may point at me and laugh and call me a fool because I’ve made some mistake, but… that’s how it goes sometimes.
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I use Wu almst exclusively on titans, so antidotes are available to deal with DoT. So I favor the high-defense paths.
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@Kerridoc Agreed.
20 emblems
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@Fizban - makes sense to me. And LOVE your name!
“What was that spell again? Fireball, fireball…how did that go?”
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That’s a valid point against high level titans.
I still prefer boosting his attack at max and hope what’s in that road helping survive him a bit more.
Stacking yellows is great even on the event, and we know that’s only one stat worth to have there.
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Nodes- Defense versus HP
Simple answer
Both
Click for Complex answer
The Devs have balanced the Defense and HP nodes to be rough equal to each other in 75% of situations.
HP is more useful against DOT and reflect damage.
Defense is more useful against physical damage, tile matching and direct damage
Talent grid branches
Right now talent grids tend to allow HP+Defense or Attack+Defense/ Attack+HP. While it is possible to pick only HP+Defense and Attack+Defense OR HP+Defense and Attack+HP, I tend towards all HP+Defense or all Attack+X because color stacking in the hidden buff of Empires.
Rainbow team yellow heroes
For rainbow team heroes like Wu Kong I prefer HP+Defense. The longer they live the more they can use their special.
Color stacking team yellow heroes
For color stacking heroes like Guardian Jackal, they suck on defense because AI attacks are colorless, do not get combo bonus, and do not get color stacking buff.
But when attacking, even a dead color stacking 3* hero increases your damage a lot, so I prefer to increase their attack stat whenever possible ( talent grid, troops ) since color stacking is non-linear.
Second Wu Kong
When I only had two Wu Kong, I used him for yellow color stacking - he has a great attack stat for a Classic 4* yellow hero. If my second Wu Kong was still my best yellow color stacking hero, I would take my first Wu Kong all HP+Defense and my second Wu Kong all Attack+X.
Notes
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I have started my wu, on defense and healing path as well l… keep him allive let the others do damage.
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This is great! And it’s still a hard decision. The problem with Kong is he doesn’t have much health to start with (even fully maxed). I’m not bothered about Titans but my attack team. Hmmm maybe go for defence…
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I solved the conundrum by giving my Monk emblems all to Li Xiu instead. 
EDIT: don’t you hate it when you notice too late that you’re replying to a post that is more than a month old? /sigh/
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Or even, perhaps, years old. Lol. Have a sweet day