#feeling a burst of editing energy from that cutscene honestly

[atimefordragons]

not, not ship. take it as romantic if you want, I certainly have my thoughts on them all, but these memes are also just facts. ✌

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

Diluc v. Childe: Who Would Win in a fight, Husbando Edition?

I have THOUGHTS about what a fight between these two would look like, and because I have a Tumblr to scream into the void with, here! Have a fighting style analysis, because this is really and truly my favorite thing to do and I haven’t done it since last summer. 

To make things fair, I’m not going to consider Childe’s Foul Legacy transformation until the end. I am, however, considering lore, gameplay, and cutscenes. Please note that I have not read the manga and am excluding it from this analysis.

Weapon Type

Right, so if you weren’t aware, Diluc has a claymore. Generally, this weapon is slower than any of the other weapon types, but it also deals the most damage per hit. 

Childe is, first and foremost, a bow user--but his bow can turn into a polearm and daggers when he enters his melee stance. Childe himself states that he is fairly weak when using a bow, and I suspect his melee stance is his way of compensating. Do you know how bad this man is with a bow? He’s so bad with a bow that his last attack animation in his normal sequence is him throwing an arrow. Regardless, this means that Childe has two advantages on Diluc from weapon type alone.

Firstly--Diluc is a close range fighter. He cannot do any damage if Childe is out of his range, while Childe has the luxury of picking Diluc apart from a distance as long as he keeps backing up. 

Secondly--Childe also has melee capabilities. If he were only a bow user, there’s the chance that Diluc would manage to catch him in melee range and then Childe would get flattened. However, his polearm and dagger melee stance is uniquely suited against Diluc’s large, unwieldy broadsword, by sheer virtue of being faster. 

If you watch Childe’s attack animations in his melee stance, he’s incredibly fast and the dual-wielded daggers mean he essentially has a multiattack with each strike. Diluc would have an immensely difficult time fighting Childe, if only because Childe’s melee stance is quick enough that he can finesse his way under Diluc’s guard. 

His polearm stance, as well, gives him about as much reach as Diluc’s claymore does. So Diluc doesn’t even have the advantage of a large reach in order to prevent Childe from cutting in close with his daggers, mainly because Childe has that polearm capability. That leads us to my next point. 

Fighting Style

I watched their normal attack animations several times for this bit--at normal speed and slowed down to properly get a feel for the way they fight. 

Diluc is flashy. His style involves twists and flourishes and frequent one-handed attacks despite being a two-handed sword user. It looks fucking dope, but as a side effect, Diluc leaves his torso open more often than not. At once point in his auto attack sequence, he even turns his back to his opponent in order to deliver a devastating swing. 

But Diluc is almost always overextending--an issue seen in literally all of the claymore users with the notable exception of Chongyun. His sword is really heavy, so to compensate, he’s almost always reaching. Off balance, and it leaves him open. Now, his balance issue isn’t as egregious as Razor’s, but it’s still there. 

I will say this about Diluc. He hits hard, and his charged normal attack is fairly fast for a claymore and more versatile than many of the other charged claymore autos. But it doesn’t matter how hard he can hit or how much damage he can do if he can’t connect. 

Looking into Childe’s style, inherent ridiculousness of lobbing an arrow at a person aside, he’s much more balanced. His melee stance has him facing forward, typically balanced but with moments where his center of gravity is over his feed instead of centered. He and Diluc both have an overextension problem, but because Childe’s weapon means he’s already faster, it’s less of an issue for him. 

There are enough openings in Diluc’s fighting style, at least from what I could tell from his autos, that Childe could take advantage of it with his daggers. For Diluc to win, he’d need to end the fight quickly, and on his terms. He can’t beat Childe in his ranged stance--that’s not going to work, because, well, claymore. So, it’d have to be with Childe in his melee stance. And Diluc is still at a disadvantage, as I just discussed.

Element

Now, let’s talk elements, which is fairly straightforward. Diluc’s skill is essentially him setting fire to his sword. Useful, and dealing high damage. His burst is his only ranged attack, generating a massive flaming bird. 

Childe’s is his melee stance, where his weapons are made out of water. His burst is a hydro aoe. 

The in-game elemental reaction here is vaporize--a reaction that favors hydro. It deals more damage if a hydro attack caused the reaction. Childe, therefore, has a leg up here in counteracting Diluc’s elemental skills and bursts. 

Background

Background-wise, I think this category is up in the air. Diluc was trained with the Knights, and was a Cavalry Captain from a young age. This suggests a high degree of skill and work ethic. Diluc ended up traveling for a while, presumably still training, and he now moonlights as a vigilante. I would not accuse Diluc of being unskilled or out of practice.

However.

Childe is one of Snezhnaya’s foremost soldiers. His job is to fight people, and it’s been a long time since Diluc was a knight and in the same position. Childe needs to stay sharp in order to finish jobs and because he’s got almost the entirety of the Fatui’s eyes on him. Childe was also one of the youngest Harbingers, trained in the Abyss for three months by a master swordswoman who allegedly taught him “heretical” skills that made him a better fighter.

I can’t really weigh these two experiences against each other, but I think their different backgrounds do matter in a fighting comparison.

Emotional Temperament

Ah, the most difficult part of this analysis. Emotional stakes are near-impossible to weigh without context, and fights always occur with context. And emotional stakes are incredibly important. They determine the effort a fighter puts in, what they’re willing to sacrifice to win, and even their strategy during the fight. A desperate fighter will do more to win, for example. 

Going off of their personalities in general, Diluc keeps his cool during fights. He’s calculating. A strategist. Someone who gathers intel before jumping into the arena. This gives him an edge on Childe. 

Why? 

Because Childe’s a loose canon who jumps into fights without doing research beforehand or gauging his opponent. He just likes fighting, while Diluc’s motivation is protecting Mondstadt. Diluc typically would have more to fight for. 

However, Diluc also has emotional buttons. My personal thought is that if Childe knew how to piss Diluc off--possibly by mentioning his father and making this conflict personal by using a Delusion--he might even the playing field. Childe doesn’t get angry during fights, while Diluc is known to have gotten angry on at least one occasion (Diluc v. Kaeya when Kaeya got his Vision).  

And anger, as a general rule, makes fighters sloppy. Considering how Diluc’s style borders on careless with his movements and energy, this isn’t something he can afford.

Remember how I mentioned Diluc would need to end the fight quickly? Right, so I sincerely doubt that Childe would let him. He likes fighting almost as much as victory. A quick fight wouldn’t satisfy his bloodlust--he’d draw it out, probably goad Diluc (see his goading of Traveler in his boss fight). 

I was going to mention arrogance, but honestly? These two guys are both so confident in themselves and their abilities that they cancel each other out. 

Foul Legacy

Foul Legacy is...annoying. It’s a truly massive buff. 

It gives Childe another element, makes him inhumanly fast and strong, and probably increases his durability, judging off the armor. The only downside is the toll it takes on his body. I don’t think he’d use it unless Diluc truly injured him--and I doubt it would get to that point. But! If he did. 

I don’t want to say he’d flatten Diluc right off the bat. But that cutscene with the robots in his story quest? He blitzed them. Three robots in under ten seconds, which is absolutely nuts. And Diluc’s biggest weakness is that he’s slower. Making Childe that much faster? The odds don’t look good. 

So, tl;dr, Childe would probably win a fight between himself and Diluc. Feel free to disagree, this is just my opinion and I only wrote it because I adore fight scenes.

We’ll be back to our irregularly scheduled Bungou content tomorrow :D