Most folks have trouble with those bulbous roots. They would tell you to air layer above the roots. Your location is important, please add it to your profile. Also your best method of obtaining guidance and a mentor would be to join your local bonsai club. You can find your club at this LINK.
As long as it's healthy and you can provide good sun and temps above 50 that thing will bounce back no problem, I religiously prune and completely defoliate all my ficus year round when they need it and I've never had a die back problem of any sort.
As long as it's healthy and you can provide good sun and temps above 50 that thing will bounce back no problem, I religiously prune and completely defoliate all my ficus year round when they need it and I've never had a die back problem of any sort.
I also have something to add, from my personal experience, these trees are quite enjoyable to work with and are somewhat hardy. However, make sure that you don't move your plant too much as they are really picky with location changes. I've seen my ficus drop a lot of leaves because I moved it from a not so sunny spot to a really sunny spot and vice versa. But like @aml1014 said, keep good habits and make sure the tree is healthy and do research on ficus trees.