Using in game damage to correlate Warden to non-Warden use of relics:
First, let's compare the PWR of non, compare Godflesh and The Reaper (non-Wardens):
Despite a gap of 500 ATK, their damage is identical because their PWR is basically the same and, at this point, the PWR:ATK ratio is still very low (0.85).
Now lets look at two Wardens: Indale (PWR 1699) and Nigo (PWR 2543). The game rounds down, so they display on the "Practice Skirmish" screen as "1.6k" and "2.5k."
You can already see that the PWR to ATK ratio is exponential. Even going from 1699 to 2543 we've gone from ATK being 76% of PWR to 114%. You'll also note that the Wardens have lower ATK than non-Wardens. Despite -24 PWR, Godsflesh is dealing 133 more damage. But that is for later. Now, let's give Indale a relic, PWR 726. This brings his displayed power to (1699+726=2425) "2.4k."
So despite continuing to display a lower PWR, Indale is now doing about 600 more damage! That is because of the relic mechanic. Despite the display, the value used to generate his stats is actually 1699 + 1.5*726 = 2788, not 2425. Finally, we'll show that the mechanic isn't present in non-Wardens, so we'll add Godflesh back in, with the 726 Relic. We'll also show them both with 2688 in relics.
So with no relics, Indale is behind by -133 damage. With 726 in relics he has pulled ahead by +492. With the full 2688 in relics, despite still showing the same "4.3k," Indale is doing an enormous +5,458 damage, almost 50% more! That is, again, because of the hammers. Indale doesn't really have 2425 PWR or 4387 PWR, he has 2788 and 5731.
I wish it was simpler, but there it is. My understanding is when the "Warden" ability was introduced the entire +50% (base and relics) was behind the scenes. Eventually they altered it so it was included in the base card, but never changed how the display shows the bonus to relics. So we are left with a situation where, to know how strong a defender actually is, you need to look find their base power and relics instead of relying on the game's display.
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