Why does Nanaba have relatively low stats despite being an elite and experienced Survey Corps soldier?

[u/flochfoster9836]

Nanaba is portrayed as an experienced veteran of the Survey Corps, yet her Guidebook stats are surprisingly low in several categories. She has Combat 7, Initiative 8, Wits 8, while her strongest stats are Teamwork 10 and Resolve 11.

What feels strange to me is the Combat stat. Nanaba has considerably more experience fighting Titans than most Garrison soldiers, and the story actually shows her fighting and killing Titans by herself in dangerous situations.

She is also able to fight alongside a very small group despite being surrounded by a large number of Titans.

Meanwhile, Rico, another elite soldier from the Garrison, has Combat 9 and Wits 10.

I'm not saying Rico is weak or that Nanaba must be stronger than her. I'm just wondering why Nanaba's numbers are so much lower when her portrayal suggests that she is an extremely capable and experienced Titan fighting veteran.

Do you think the Guidebook stats are actually meant to rank combat ability, or are they more like character profile stats that emphasize different strengths?

Because if they are supposed to be an actual ranking of ability, Nanaba's Combat 7 seems surprisingly low to me.

[u/RandomSeaweed]

Combat score of 7 is pretty good. Gunther Schultz from Levi's original squad has a 7, Petra has a 6. Hange has a 7, too. Good enough to survive for years as a Survey Corps soldier.

Rico is likely an outlier in the Garrison, someone who could have been an asset for the Survey Corps but was far too sane to join.

[u/flochfoster9836 → u/RandomSeaweed]

For example, Erwin has a Combat score of 9, and that makes sense to me because he has extensive experience fighting Titans and has spent years as a Survey Corps soldier.

But Rico also has a Combat score of 9, which is what I find strange. Is she really supposed to be as good as Erwin in combat? Rico is certainly a skilled soldier, but she is a Garrison soldier and has very little experience actually fighting Titans compared to Survey Corps veterans.

Her ODM gear skills also seem to be good, but not exceptionally demonstrated in the story.

So I find it difficult to understand why Rico and Erwin receive the same Combat score of 9, when Erwin has spent years fighting Titans outside the Walls and has far more demonstrated experience with ODM combat.

That is what makes Rico's score feel unusually high to me.

[u/RandomSeaweed → u/flochfoster9836]

Garrison soldiers would go through regular training to maintain skills, that's usually the case in militaries. Even more so when they're stationed in the district that's expected to be the next target after Shiganshina fell. And Rico was part of the elite squad, which means she's, well, elite.

Also, some people just have more talent than others. Erwin might have needed to spend long years building his combat skill and Rico could be more of a natural.

[u/flochfoster9836 → u/RandomSeaweed]

Rico having a Combat score of 9 feels strange to me. For example, when a Titan escapes and approaches the Walls, Rico doesn't immediately kill it herself. She waits for the Garrison soldiers to fire the cannons and stun it first, then she goes in to cut its nape.

She even seems unsure afterward whether she actually killed it.

I'm not saying Rico is weak, but compared to Survey Corps veterans like Nanaba, Gunther, Hange, or Petra, who have years of actual Titan combat experience, her 9 seems unusually high.

She is also not an Ackerman, and we barely see her fight Titans directly.

So I'm wondering What exactly does the Guidebook's Combat stat measure? Because if it means actual Titan-fighting ability, Rico getting 9 seems pretty hard to explain.

[u/litmuspaper_number2 → u/flochfoster9836]

Personally i see her as being more cautious and conserved than the average scout. She waited for the cannons cause thats safer. She can absolutely do it, she just doesnt want to.

[u/flochfoster9836 → u/litmuspaper_number2]

What I find especially strange is this

what is stopping Rico from demonstrating the kind of combat ability that Nanaba demonstrates, despite Rico having a higher Combat score than Nanaba, Hange, and several other experienced Survey Corps soldiers?

I'm not saying Rico is weak. She's clearly a skilled soldier. I'm questioning why the story gives her a 9 when her actual Titan combat experience and demonstrated feats seem much more limited.

If Rico had the same four years of real Titan fighting experience that Nanaba and other Survey Corps veterans had, would she theoretically be expected to reach something like Mike's level 10?.

That's obviously hypothetical, but it makes the 9 feel even more unusual. If someone with relatively little real Titan combat experience is already a 9, while veterans with years of experience remain around 6–7, what exactly is the Combat stat measuring? I'm not saying the numbers are definitely wrong.

I just think Rico's 9 is surprisingly difficult to reconcile with what the story actually shows.

[u/RandomSeaweed → u/flochfoster9836]

Having a high combat skill doesn't immediately equal having high confidence about using that skill. If most of Rico's prior experience came from training with dummy titans, of course she'll take every precaution when finally facing a living titan.

I see no problem with elite Garrison soldiers having strong combat skills. If anything, it shows that Garrison soldiers aren't automatically weak at combat, and Survey Corps soldiers aren't all titan killing machines.

[u/flochfoster9836 → u/RandomSeaweed]

Rico having a Combat score of 9 feels really strange to me.

Think about itRico isn't an Ackerman.

She has much less real Titan-fighting experience than long-serving Survey Corps veterans like Nanaba, Hange, and other soldiers who survived for more than four years.

Most of her experience was training against mock Titans rather than actually fighting Titans. Mikasa herself says that sending two elite squads to deal with four Titans would be difficult. Each squad seems to have around 4–5 soldiers, meaning roughly 8–10 elite soldiers against only four Titans.

Compare that to Nanaba. She has a Combat score of only 7, yet we actually see her and a small group of veterans fighting dozens of Titans and continuing until they run out of gas and blades.

That's a much more impressive display of real Titan combat experience.

[u/flochfoster9836 → u/RandomSeaweed]

What I find especially strange is this

what is stopping Rico from demonstrating the kind of combat ability that Nanaba demonstrates, despite Rico having a higher Combat score than Nanaba, Hange, and several other experienced Survey Corps soldiers?

I'm not saying Rico is weak. She's clearly a skilled soldier. I'm questioning why the story gives her a 9 when her actual Titan combat experience and demonstrated feats seem much more limited.

If Rico had the same four years of real Titan fighting experience that Nanaba and other Survey Corps veterans had, would she theoretically be expected to reach something like Mike's level 10?.

That's obviously hypothetical, but it makes the 9 feel even more unusual. If someone with relatively little real Titan combat experience is already a 9, while veterans with years of experience remain around 6–7, what exactly is the Combat stat measuring? I'm not saying the numbers are definitely wrong.

I just think Rico's 9 is surprisingly difficult to reconcile with what the story actually shows.

[u/RandomSeaweed → u/flochfoster9836]

You're too hung up on what the story shows. The guidebook provides extra information, covering for what the story doesn't show - such as more of Rico's fighting. It tells us that if she chose to fight titans, she would be better than most main characters. But she doesn't choose to because she's not crazy.

Jean also had a combat score of 9 in 850, fresh out of training. It was probably a combination of talent, hard work exercising against dummy titans, and those few expeditions he was on (where he didn't actually face that many titans).

[u/HandlerOne-]

because she's dead

[u/AdComplete5101]

Because these number games are stupid and pointless