Emperor's Missive
The Emperor's Missive is an Epic artifact in Symphony of War.
Stats
| Stats | |
|---|---|
MHP 
|
0 |
ARM 
|
0 |
STR  |
0 |
MAG 
|
0 |
SKL 
|
0 |
| CAP | +1 |
Effect: Tier 1 units take 50% damage.
Strategies
Synergizes quite well with Risen, given they are all Tier 1 units, and doubling their effective health (along with doubling the effective potency of any healing) makes them far more resilient than normal.
Given how stat bonuses for promoting to tier 2 and 3 are largely flat bonuses, Tier 1 
Fighters can be surprisingly unkillable tanks in the latter half of the game with this item as well; were 20 less HP than a 
Soldier or 50 less than a 
Sentinel gets kind of w/e when they have ~360, and 5 less Str than a Sentinel is kind of w/e when they have 45 with 91 weapon damage.
Granted: when it's 100 HP with 20 Str and 20 Def vs. a Soldier with 120 HP and 25 STR and 25 DEF, it's harder to justify using Tier 1 units when given the option to not.
50% DR is particularly in situations were tanking Firearms or Magic is needed (or the tanking a wide mix of damage types is needed), given 50% damage taken is universally applicable.
Can also be layered with other %DR weapons to add a lot of bulk.
%DR seems to stack in the way were 50% + 50% is 25%, or 50%, then 50% against the remaining damage.
Which is quite solid: this still doubles effective HP, then doubles it again.
This is better than HP stacking: were 100 + 100 + 100 will double effective HP, then only x 1.5 effective HP.
Also most solid artifact HP bonuses are a long ways off from doubling unit's effective HP, and by the time it's obtained even the 
Iblis Family Signet's +120 HP is only around a ~40% boost to most squads survivability, as opposed to the +100% this offers (albeit to just Tier 1 units).
This can also aid 
Bowman or 
Militia squads in survivability to some extent, while bulking up 
Medics, though broadly speaking 2 range or Ambush are more reliable means of circumventing damage-taken issues, and 
Paladins and especially 
Valkyries are better options for durable healers. Still: if you need to survive firing on an enemy archer squad while sieging a walled position, or aren't confident your Militia squad can 2-round another squad and survive with Guerilla's evasion bonuses, this can certainly still help.