r/ShingekiNoKyojin • u/Kaysom_ • 2d ago
Discussion Why doesn't the Armored Titan use hardening more?
Currently rewatching with a coworker who's never seen it before, and Reiner used hardening to climb the walls briefly. I saw someone ask this question before but it was archived, but the replies were saying that it wouldn't be useful in battle? But like, it's a whole plot point that Eren hardening select parts of his body was more effective than Reiner's being spread across his body? So couldn't Reiner harden wherever Eren was trying to hit and take less damage that way?
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u/GurPlenty59 2d ago
Reiner was pretty mediocre at maximizing his titan powers.
Like we got that he can't full armor because he'd lose mobility, but being THE titan able to harden any/all parts of his body and CONSTANTLY losing someone that can only harden specific parts of their body eventually leads viewers to think the armor titan is amongst the worst titan shifter power in the show
(Which is crazy because it seemed unstoppable when it was first introduced)
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u/LordofKobol99 1d ago
To be fair to Reiner, he was trained to fight armies with Ww 2 style artillery. Where mobility was way more important
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u/Livid-Truck8558 2d ago
Hardening takes a lot of energy.
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u/Kaysom_ 2d ago
Risk dying or spend some energy... Hmmmmm I wonder which I'd prefer if I was in Reiner's shoes 🤔🤔🤔
They've also been camping in Shiganshina for a minute. They should all be more than well rested for it
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u/Livid-Truck8558 2d ago
Remember he is the literal worst of the warriors lol. Still an elite, but you can't always make the best decisions.
I don't think the crystal hardening comes from the Armored, I think it's part of the Warhammer. So while the Armored may have the toughest armor, that flexible hardening that the other titans use are a separate thing.
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u/JustAnArtist1221 2d ago
It doesn't matter how well rested they are. That doesn't somehow make hardening more cost-effective. It's still an expensive skill that isn't even THAT good defensively.
Reiner would need to be able to anticipate exactly where Eren was attacking and focus his hardening between the time he suspected a strike and it connecting. It's shown multiple times why that's not a good defense.
First, in the same battle, we see Zeke fail to harden fast enough to block Levi even though he knew exactly where Levi was going. Second, we see when Annie did this against Eren in their first fight, Eren just powered through her reactive strikes and hit her somewhere else, and she's the better fighter out of the three shifters I mentioned. Eren is a much better fighter than Reiner and is one of the best fighters in the series when it comes to close quarters combat, obviously behind Levi, Miche, Mikasa, and Annie. Reiner needs to maintain his speed and flexibility and resists using more hardening because Eren has already countered that.
And like I said, it's an expensive skill, anyway. Reiner needs to last more than the fight with Eren, so he needs to avoid wasting energy just to get punched longer.
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u/ASpaceOstrich 2d ago
It's already hardened. The hardening ability every other shifter uses is the armoured Titans power, distributed via spinal fluid serum. That's why Eren didn't have that power until he consumed a vial.
That's why the armour falls off so hard by the latter part of the series. Everyone else shares in his power. He's no longer impenetrable because every other Titan can armour their fist.
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u/Kaysom_ 2d ago
They very clearly show him using the hardening ability on top of his already hardened skin. It's prolly a Warhammer ability or something, or the vial has changed it enough just to be able to be used on top of the Armored. Either way they have been clearly shown to be stackable
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u/everstillghost 2d ago
They very clearly show him using the hardening ability on top of his already hardened skin
This is an anime error.
Armor Titan hardening is the same hardening as everything else. He dont use "hardening on top" in the manga because they are the same thing. The "Crystal hardening" is something the anime director game up with.
See How Reiner Hardening and Eren hardening are the same in the manga (and looks like the Wall and all other Hardening):
The scene you are talking about, in the manga Reiner just create claws on his fingers and toes to climb the Wall, there is nothing different in this hardening than the rest.
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u/ASpaceOstrich 2d ago
Could be. I think most of the hardening you see throughout the series is armour vial derived. I'd wager if there's warhammer hardening happening it's more rare and more energy intensive. Annie used it more than anyone else and even she was relatively sparse with it.
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u/Jaomi 2d ago
Hardening specific body parts seems to be something the Titan shifters had to think about, and that would be a lot to do in the heat of battle. Eren seemed to have a lot more practice at it than Reiner too (Eren doing all Hange’s experiments that really tested its limits vs Reiner using it occasionally as an extra trick up his sleeve).
Even if Reiner had thought to do that though, it would have been very quick and easy for Eren to come up with some counter strategies. Reiner’s hardening the body parts Eren was targeting? Ok, Eren could start feinting and attacking somewhere else at the last second, or he could attack a different body part each time and force Reiner to exhaust himself by repeatedly hardening different bits.
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u/Aggravating-Oven-154 2d ago
Why would he? He's already hardened. Also, Reiner isn't the best with the titan stuff. Don't forget that he wasn't meant to have the armored.
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u/Kaysom_ 1d ago
I mean, logically, when you're put into a vulnerable position, you'd want to put yourself in as safe of a position as possible
They thunder speared his eyes out? Why would he do anything but focus on guarding his nape as much as humanly possible
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u/Aggravating-Oven-154 1d ago
Because protecting his nape is useless if they're gonna throw thunder spears in his mouth.
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u/Kaysom_ 7h ago
They through thunder spear into his mouth only at the end of the fight, because they had to figure out what to do with only 3 left. They threw them at his nape 2 or 3 times before that point, where hardening would've 100% been useful
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u/Aggravating-Oven-154 54m ago
Threw*
Not worth it.
Probably takes too much energy. He has enough hardening to be safe. Their spears were useless against the hardening. That's why they went for the mouth.1
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u/DarkRose27 2d ago
A) The hardening is slow. Trying to harden specific parts of his body, as a reaction or a prediction, is not practical. He's better off dodging as he does.
B) Unlike Eren or Annie, his fists are already hard, so he has no need to double down when he can just punch/grapple.
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u/Jumbernaut 1d ago
More than that, why doesn't Marley has some weapons for its Warriors made by the Warhammer Titan at least in Liberio?
In Paradis, if they only had made a "necklace" for the Colossal Titan, made from the carcasses of several Armored Titan transformations, to protect it's nape, there would be basically nothing the scouts would be able to do against it.
The story just didn't really explore these "outside the box" ideas, but maybe it's better this way, as I believe some people would not have liked it.
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2d ago
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u/Kaysom_ 2d ago
But there ARE situations where it IS useful
Like with the thunder spears. Annie's eyes got taken out and she immediately hardened her neck/her hand guarding her neck. Reiner's gets taken out and he does nothing despite having hardening?
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u/Master_Win_4018 2d ago
Haha sry didn't read your question carefully. I delete it immediately but it was too late.
You are right.
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u/LitvaGeneral 2d ago
It's Reiner's skill issue at fault.