Aggressive fighting - In aggressive mode you will parry less, Damage dealt seems close to Normal but maybe slightly higher, Aggressive fighting is generally a very poor choice to use. Defensive fighting - In defensive mode damage you deal is lower, and your attack speed suffers. Miss rate seems increased also. Normal Fighting - The best fighting mode. It has an identical parry rate to that of Defensive fighting, You will do more damage than defensive, And it is also the same hit-speed as Aggressive fighting, Most people deem Normal fighting as the holy grail for fighting styles. If normal has the same parry rate as def and the same atk speed as agg... why use anything else?