Aether Raids General Thread

[Anacybele]

54 minutes ago, Tree said:

@Anacybele

Yeah, when I come across armor defenses, they are often free wins. In the cases where armors are actually hard to fight, it's usually full +10 teams with things like Fallen Tiki, etc. Caineghis is good, but without some investment, he generally won't survive after the rest of the defense is gone. My merged Brave Hector is awesome against the computer in most modes, but he doesn't survive long in AR.

Nuke teams usually give me the most trouble. I can still win most of the time, but I'll often sacrifice a unit (or two) to grant a nicer position to take them out. Never underestimate things like Wings of Mercy, etc. If you have Legendary Azura or Legendary Lucina on defense, you'll almost certainly take out some attackers here and there.

I don't like Aversa either. 😛 (For me, she was only good for dragon flowers and the orb from her GHB rerun quests). I was actually mentioning defending against her Panic skill in AR defense, although she would be useful for AR offense too.

I see. I'd like to invest a bit more in Caineghis if I can someday, he is really good. He's one of the pitybreakers I actually liked getting too. He showed up when I was hunting Summer Gunnthra.

I have a perfect IV legendary Azura that I put on my defense team, yeah. But I don't have legendary Lucina. Fallen Tiki is such a bitch to deal with. >_<

Glad I'm not the only one here that dislikes Aversa. xP

19 minutes ago, LordFrigid said:

@Anacybele

Regarding your defense map:

• As already mentioned and acknowledged, the Offense Fort is not providing value in its current location. When you pick its new location, try to think about the best way to attack your setup, and place the fort in such a way as to obstruct that path.
• Armors are fine if you commit to the stall setup (which usually involves a full team of well-merged Ward Armor units), but it's easy to pick them off one-by-one otherwise.
  • For your map specifically, Caineghis is an extra-weak spot because he doesn't transform, and thus won't be able to do anything about a 2-range unit attacking him from below the healing tower.
    • I'm intentionally disregarding the Bolt Trap, because even if it's real, it's very easy to run a test-and-retreat operation and just snipe Caineghis on the next turn. Your structure setup prevents your units from punishing the trap test.
• Similarly, confining your units to one space is fine if you commit to the stall setup, but otherwise, it greatly restricts how your units can respond when they become aggressive.
  • Particularly, if I had a good, bulky ranged unit stand below the Bolt Tower and break the block just above it, both Gunnthrá and Azura would immediately attack and get themselves KO'd, and the armors and Eliwood are not able to follow up. In fact, that's almost certainly how I would approach this map if I got matched up with it.
  • Honestly, the setups that I find the most difficult to deal with are the ones where the map is mostly open, and the defending units have Player Phase builds (or are refreshers). That might seem counterintuitive, but when a map is more open, there are fewer ways the attacking units can safely initiate, because there are more ways the defending units can punish them when they become aggressive.
    • Obviously you should still run a full 5 defensive buildings, but try to place them in such a way that obstructs your units less. There's no point in trying to prevent the opponent from approaching you entirely, that's just not going to happen.
• Your C Passive setup could use more synergy. Hone Armor on Hector and Hone Fliers on Azura can be replaced with something more effective. Of course, that's something you should determine after you've completed any building and unit placement changes, because the best options will change based on your unit formation.

I guess you've faced my map before since you appear to know it so well? I did just start changing up the objects/buildings a little while ago though. I'll switch the units I put in later. But I see, those sound like good tips.

[Landmaster]

5 hours ago, Anacybele said:

Other people can do it, sure. But I can't. I've never had the capability of learning more advanced strategies/tactics. I've tried to, but I couldn't wrap my head around it. The clears that, say, Phoenixmaster comes up with? I could never think of those myself, not in a million years. Not blaming anyone else for that, that's my own fault, really. But I can't change this, and I'm certain I'm not the only player with this hindrance, so that's why I suggest improvements to help out those players as well as myself. That way, everyone, even the tactically challenged, so to speak, can do it. Some players may find some content too easy. Heck, even I do at times. But I'd rather find something too easy than too hard.

I'm aware I've made complaints about various modes. I apologize if it seems like I do it too much. I probably should tone it down. I've made my point enough anyway, I think. And maybe I do make it hard for people to help me, but I can't help that when I've tried their ideas and they didn't work or they suggest units or skills I don't have. And those seem to happen a lot.

I said I'd post my map later. Though I'm pretty sure I know what you all are going to do with it. You're going to tell me the setup is terrible because of what you've already said about that legendary Eliwood strat and all. Pretty sure it's just going to get ripped apart. And I'm not sure I'm ready to just do a complete overhaul on anything.

You are the only one stopping yourself from improving, constantly asking for things to be made easier is not how you get better. You CAN change that but it's up to you to decide when you want to get better at these things. We can only help you so much, until you decide you want to help yourself.

Onto your Defense Map, as others have mentioned, your structure placement is doing nothing for you. The Fortress needs to be in a place that makes it inconvenient to the attacker. As it stands now, it is basically useless. I would move it and your other decorations to the bottom row with the breakable blocks so your enemy is going to waste time breaking buildings before they can get to you. You also have one ranged unit and she is easily snipped out, leaving the rest of the team to get picked apart by ranged units. As Diovani mentioned, Mufasa can't transform here, so he doesn't do anything for this team. Your buildings are keeping your units confined so they can't even reach the opponent unless the attacker lets them out, so move your buildings around so they can actually attack.

Your Skills also should synergize, as Dio mentioned. Darting Blow on Azura is useless because she is plenty fast and shouldn't be attacking anything anyway. RTomebreaker should be WOM or her native Aerobatics. Her C being Hone Fliers adds nothing, she is the only flier. Armor buffs are also not needed if Eliwood is right there. Once Gunnthra and Azura have been killed, it is easy for the rest of your team to get blown away by any mage or Pain+ Healer. Micaiah for instance makes easy work of this team and she is a very common unit. You're going to want to use more Ranged units, otherwise you just allow your team to be sniped from a distance with no threat to the attacker and plenty of time to collect the pots~

14 hours ago, Vicious Sal said:

 

@Landmaster Happy to hear that you are using my map as a benchmark! I will probably give Cam Flier Formation at some point and I have to fiddle with slot order to change the AI behaviour, I want to merge up a Reyson to replace Azura and I want to build a Yune with spectral Tome, mirror impact and FF so it is far from done. But I will see what I can do! =]

 

That's a lot of investment~ I have seen Sturdy Impact with Armored Blow Seal Yunes lately, Spectral Tome, as well~ Mirror Impact sounds just as good, seems like it's doing you well, good luck!

[XRay]

7 hours ago, Anacybele said:

I did just start changing up the objects/buildings a little while ago though. I'll switch the units I put in later. But I see, those sound like good tips.

I am not sure if you know this, but remember to lock your defense map setup! If you do not lock it and you change the skills on your units for tackling other modes, the units on your Aether Raids defense map will also change.

[Diovani Bressan]

I decided to share my Defensive Successes from this season. I got 5, which is not that bad.

Spoiler

@DarkAlf @Landmaster @daisy jane @mampfoid @Maaka @Alkaid @Azuris @Astellius

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by Diovani Bressan

[Vicious Sal]

23 hours ago, Anacybele said:

I don't let rude people help me, thanks.

Anyway, I still think the best solution is to just give us more ladders/a sixth offensive unit/both and all that rather than expect people to spend a ton of money and resources on SI and merges and shit. A built up team of 5 star units with few to no merges or expensive SI should be suffice enough for anyone to clear any content in this game, and yet it isn't. That's not to say only little effort should be put into building teams. No way, I've put a lot of effort into mine already. But they're still not enough, and that's the issue. There's a line to be drawn between putting in good effort and having to spend your life and money trying to build one really good team for one game mode.

I would consider dismissing advice given to you to help without actually even trying it quite rude as well. Yet here I am. I'm being as blunt as a hammer here because I am tired of seeing the same excuses every single time. I also said that we/I would be able to help you a lot more if you would just show your map. Since it got posted by Diovanni I'll go into more detail when I get to that. But as you were able to see, with the map being shown people were able to show you way more detailed advice and point out the shortcomings in much greater detail. You said you learn better when being shown, so why not show us the map so we can show you how to improve it. The only thing we had to go by before we saw the map was that you heavily rely on Visible buffs. With only that we can tell you why that won't work against a lot of teams, but now with the map, we can do more. I was only being so blunt because I was hammering (pun intended) on the fact that we needed your map to be able to help you more. 

And regarding Time and Money, I have seen your spending sprees in the official pull topic. I can safely say I have spent way less than you on this game. (I spent less than 100 euro's on this game, almost all of it on getting Loki, whom I use rarely in AR since it just shuts down very niche team comps. She is unmerged and base kit.) I spent my available resources tactfully because if I didn't, I would be losing out on many orbs and other resources, I took a long break and wanted to catch up ASAP. I am F2P since Loki's banner, and I don't spend every waking hour on this game. I also work on favourites, not just what gets me the most feathers and grails. So no, you don't need to be P2W and don't need to spend half a day on this game. Skill inheritance is, of course, important, as are merges. this does not have to mean however that every unit needs Sturdy impact and +10, fury Desperation and other 4 star skills and skill combos can help just as well. 

 

 

23 hours ago, daisy jane said:

I am just going to point out to you. 
that you can do 5 star units with few to no merges and expensive SI. it's just that it will be more difficult. 

You don't have to spend your life and money to build one really good team. I know a lot of people who have built up units that people say won't work, and have great defensive wins. but you have to be willing to think outside the box. sometimes you get lucky and you get some fodder fall into your lap. 

as much as i got hammered this week - and i'm probably gonna be demoted, never once did i think "Gosh i wish i had another ladder, or i had a sixth unit." to make it easier. i was trying to figure out why units were moving that i didn't expect and what not. basically since Bow Alm came out - I've known that I have to really start investing in more galeforce units and be more aggressive (and those units NOT my fliers) because Alm takes out my usual gameplan: Buff Myrrh to the teeth and have her do her thing.  I'm building up some cavs for a quick dazzle pain and what not. 

Sal was being quite blunt, because it really seems we go through this song and dance every month. it might not be with AR but it's with GHB, it's with BHB, it's with LHBs, it's with something and you want it to be easier because you want to do it with the units you like.  and invested in. which i get. and everyone keeps offering help and you tend to really make it hard for people to want to help you. I know people have said to post your map - and i didn't see it (maybe i missed it)., and what units you are using. 

you CAN win with conventional units, but you'll have to invest to make it work. itdoesn't have to be the high end stuff. 

So much this, well said.

 

 

23 hours ago, Anacybele said:

Other people can do it, sure. But I can't. I've never had the capability of learning more advanced strategies/tactics. I've tried to, but I couldn't wrap my head around it. The clears that, say, Phoenixmaster comes up with? I could never think of those myself, not in a million years. Not blaming anyone else for that, that's my own fault, really. But I can't change this, and I'm certain I'm not the only player with this hindrance, so that's why I suggest improvements to help out those players as well as myself. That way, everyone, even the tactically challenged, so to speak, can do it. Some players may find some content too easy. Heck, even I do at times. But I'd rather find something too easy than too hard.

I'm aware I've made complaints about various modes. I apologize if it seems like I do it too much. I probably should tone it down. I've made my point enough anyway, I think. And maybe I do make it hard for people to help me, but I can't help that when I've tried their ideas and they didn't work or they suggest units or skills I don't have. And those seem to happen a lot.

I said I'd post my map later. Though I'm pretty sure I know what you all are going to do with it. You're going to tell me the setup is terrible because of what you've already said about that legendary Eliwood strat and all. Pretty sure it's just going to get ripped apart. And I'm not sure I'm ready to just do a complete overhaul on anything.

1

Then why hinder yourself and keep pushing away any form of help? Show us so we can point out for you what works and what does not. Learn a thing or two along the way and at some point, you'll start recognizing the rally trap maps, the pulse teams and the rest. You'll know what to expect, prepare and maybe still lose from time to time, but you will improve. It's a community here, don't shut people out and blame the game, don't be stuck in your ways. Open up, learn from us and maybe we'll learn something as well. When we are dissecting a map, we are showing you how and why it works. Then maybe you have the tools in your barracks to recreate something similar and maybe improvise here and there. There is no shame in this, It's a game with rankings, not everyone can be at the top. The people at the top here, however, are not trying to push others down, we want more people to reach the summit.

 

 

 

 

22 hours ago, LordFrigid said:

 

@Vicious Sal

I had a chance to try out your defense map. I like it, it definitely gave me more trouble than most other Lava/Flier Balls (and I’ve seen my fair share of them). The Rally element, and all that Flier Formation, are especially effective for setting up the Whitewing weapons. I can’t think of anything that I’d change, off the top of my head.

Definitely not a map I’d want to run into when I’m on auto-pilot.

2

 

Thanks! I appreciate it! 

 

 

17 hours ago, Landmaster said:

 

That's a lot of investment~ I have seen Sturdy Impact with Armored Blow Seal Yunes lately, Spectral Tome, as well~ Mirror Impact sounds just as good, seems like it's doing you well, good luck!

 

Current progress: Yune + 0, Res Bane, and benched until further notice. I'll try for her when she shares with L!Hector. Need more DC. Mirror impact get though, so that's a start. Lucky free summon.

 

22 hours ago, Diovani Bressan said:

This is Ana's Map:

 The Defensive Fort is Lv 3.

Caineghis, Brave Hector and Legendary Hector have the same Atk stat, so Eliwood can grant Bonus Doubler to everyone. However, any Aversa can inflict Panic on them. Also, Azura doesn't have any buffing skill that can be helpful here. She has Darting Blow, Red Tome Breaker and, for some random reason, she has Hone Fliers, which is useless in thi map. No Sacred Seal on Azura.

Bolt Tower at Lv 3, Bright Shrine at Lv 1, and both in a place that is easy to break. And the Fortress, which everyone uses as a barrier, it's located all back in the map, in a useless spot.

Legendary Hector has Hone Armor, which is kinda useless because he is granting Atk/Spd+6 to Caineghis. The Lion King is already receiving Atk+6 from Eliwood, and he doesn't need Spd. Brave Hector has Res Tactic Seal, so he can grant Res+6 to Eliwood and Azura, which is... ok, I guess... Gunnthrá can be easy baited from the left side.

Caineghis even cannot transform in this map, which make him a easy unit to defeat.

 

5

 

Ok, so you've had some feedback already. I am going to do something different. I'll explain some common teams first and why they do or do not work and under what kind of conditions they do or do not work. Then I'm going to show you a template of a map with your units, I will try to keep some of your current teammates in there.

You currently have a mix of armours and cavs. Armours first:

- Armourballs are stall teams that want you spending to much time whacking at meatshields and force a 7 turn loss. These are based on outstatting your units and retaliating with big specials for damage. Some also have miracle on them to waste more turns. Since they rely heavily on their stats they need to be highly invested, so a +0 armourball will most likely fail where a +10 armourball will not. These stats matter a lot. Since they rely on stats they also do not want visible buffs, an armourball stacks 6 ward armour buffs for a guaranteed +16/+20 def/res on their units, depending on where they stand. The middle ones get +20. Armourballs want to maximize their ward stacking so they always huddle in a ball, hence the name. Duma is often used simply to give the HP+5 per which can mean the difference between avoiding Aversa debuff or not. This is the difference between -3 to all stats or not. 

Armourballs also often have harsh command+ and restore+ on a winter Eirika to nullify debuffs. Wary fighter is the most common fighter skill since you want to negate as many follow up attacks as you can. Not every armourball has 6 wary fighter though, Brave Bow Bold Fighter H!jacob is often the primary damage dealer. Having one damage dealer who can act on the armourballs player phase (so your enemy phase) can often take out a key offensive unit that might force an instant surrender. 

Lastly, Armours want you to take the fight to them, so most will have draw back as their skill, keeping all units in the same formation(ranged back melee front). This means that they will keep pulling themselves back into their corner. Armourballs also do not need a dancer. 

As for builds, most Armours want to have Distant counter, in their weapon would be best. And almost all of them want to have Svallin Shield. This negates their effective damage. You might think they want more stats so distant guard on Caineghis would be better, but a Micaiah for example will do more extra effective damage than the distant guard will mitigate. Svalin shield is the optimal choice since it removes a triple damage multiplier. You also want to avoid Armoured dragons, especially in Astra season, they cannot hide from Naga or units that have divine fang active. this is an example of a good armourball: (units are in japanese, can't find the units so builds listed below.)

A8: +10 W!Eirika: Dazzling staff/Restore+/Heavenly Light or Miracle/Svalinn Shield/Wary Fighter/Ward Armour

B8: +10 H!Jacob: Brave Bow+/Drag Back/Moonbow or Bonfire Or Galeforce/Death Blow 4/Bold Fighter/Ward Armour

C8: V!Lyn +10: Candelabra+/Drag Back/Miracle/Svalinn Shield/Wary Fighter/Ward Armour

A7: Duma +10: Lightning Breath+ /No Assist Skil/Glimmer/Svalinn Shield/Wary Fighter/Ward Armour

B7 and C7: Surtr, both +10: Sinmara/No Assists/Bonfire/Svalinn for one, DC for the other/Wary Fighter/Ward Armour

 

The trick with this map is that you place your two surtrs above the defense tiles on the map. This means that if you want to engage on any of the surtrs, they will probably survive and might step on the defense tiles next turn, making them pretty much invincible. If you want to tank by standing on the defense tiles yourself, good luck, you just took 40 damage and both surtrs are +4 on every stat. You will not survive that. try to hit and run by attacking and retreting out of range? They will move forward and the units in the back will just drag them back into the corner. 

This is how you make an Armourball work, this is a hard to beat map with armours, because the map suits what you want to achieve with the team and the incredibly heavy investment gives the armours what they need most: Stats.

This is something whales can do, and I do not recommend doing this yourself since it requires the heavy investment and tons of cash. Any attempt to copy something like this without all the investments makes the map fall short, attackers can break through the walls, pick them off one by one, they can make use of effective damage etc etc. if you have only one surtr you lose only 20 Hp, which means a supertank will be able to survive on the defense tile. if the armours are not merged they will have lower Hp and can more easily be panicked. This means that the sinmara +4 to all stat becomes a -4 to all stats. That if the difference between a OHKO or not.

 

I have to do my arena runs an AA now since I forgot about the shortened season, but I will continue this post tomorrow and try and adapt your team a bit and shed some light on how and why I make the changes that i do. For now, i hope that people found this insight into the armourball helpful. I'll be back tomorrow!

 

 

[BoaFerox]

I didn't put in too much effort this week, had a few losses and didn't use score optimized teams, but I'm still somehow firmly within the top 3000. I wonder if there are many who have forgotten that this season ends early and have unspent Aether that they were planning to use tomorrow.

Does anyone have some tips for how to deal with maps like this?

Spoiler

Here are the details on the units if someone wants it:

The Fortress (D) is lv. 5, Panic Manor lv. 4 and Light and Dark shrines lv. 3.

I don't think any of the teams I brought this week could have managed it without losing a unit. I guess it's punishing me for not leaving open spaces in my backline, but I feel like the buildings really help me out on other maps. They made sure to stack HP on their units to prevent Gravity effects, and my Galeforce units can't reach them before they get to attack me either.

Edited July 7, 2019 by BoaFerox

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

A strong TA Raven user like Cecilia or F!Robin on the right would take little damage from most of that. You could also do a TA raven red on the left. On the off-chance you have a team with both, you could split pull both sides and basically neuter that defense entirely.

Super tanks should also be able to do okay as long as they avoid getting attacked by both Gunnthra and Veronica at the same time (or use no visible buffs). If you're very confident in your super tank, you can do something really aggressive like have a flyer Reposition it over the central hills and have it bum rush Lyn.

[Anacybele]

12 minutes ago, BoaFerox said:

I didn't put in too much effort this week, had a few losses and didn't use score optimized teams, but I'm still somehow firmly within the top 3000. I wonder if there are many who have forgotten that this season ends early and have unspent Aether that they were planning to use tomorrow.

Does anyone have some tips for how to deal with maps like this?

I don't think any of the teams I brought this week could have managed it without losing a unit. I guess it's punishing me for not leaving open spaces in my backline, but I feel like the buildings really help me out on other maps. They made sure to stack HP on their units to prevent Gravity effects, and my Galeforce units can't reach them before they get to attack me either.

Two words: Female Robin. She wrecks nearly that whole team with the right build and support. The only unit there that might give her problems is Gunnthra. Besides her, female Robin has triangle advantage against everyone. I've really wanted to use her more in AR myself, but the bonus units and such lately haven't let her fit into any of my teams. But I do still put her in as often as I can, because she takes care of big threats like Reinhardt, Brave Lyn, healers, etc.

@Diovani Bressan @Vicious Sal That's my map before I moved some buildings around, but my units are still the same. I'll be changing them tomorrow. Anyway, since between the two of you I was given a lot of text to read through, I don't feel like quoting ALL of that, so I'll just respond this way as best I can. Thanks for the pointers, I do notice the issues you both are bringing up regardless, though I could've sworn I gave Azura a seal. Maybe I took it off her for some reason.

I definitely can't do that armorballs thing, it does indeed require too much investment for me to afford, and I don't even have three of the mentioned armors in that example team.

If I can think of anything else to say here, or there's something else you guys want a response on, just ask.

[Maaka]

5 minutes ago, BoaFerox said:

I didn't put in too much effort this week, had a few losses and didn't use score optimized teams, but I'm still somehow firmly within the top 3000. I wonder if there are many who have forgotten that this season ends early and have unspent Aether that they were planning to use tomorrow.

Does anyone have some tips for how to deal with maps like this?

I don't think any of the teams I brought this week could have managed it without losing a unit. I guess it's punishing me for not leaving open spaces in my backline, but I feel like the buildings really help me out on other maps. They made sure to stack HP on their units to prevent Gravity effects, and my Galeforce units can't reach them before they get to attack me either.

I ran into almost the exactly same map today.

Spoiler

The way I dealt with it was by using smite. I find offensive structures completely useless and they just waste space that can otherwise be used for positioning. I ended up smiting my Peri up to the lightning trap under the panic manor and attacking Lyn, then using a wings of mercy Yarne to kill Duma and Gunnthra, then used Peri to kill Reinhardt and my wings of mercy Naga to kill Nanna. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to double Lyn because I forgot about odd speed wave and wasn't able to get a speed buff on Peri, otherwise I would have been able to trap Reinhardt. Instead I had to go with my plan and lost Naga to Veronica. 

I suppose another way would be to use a null c-disrupt unit if you have one. There is no dancer on the team, so you will only bait a single unit if you have enough room to hide your other units. That being said, turn 2 will be rather difficult if they're all +10 or highly merged like the ones in mine were. Also, had I not hit the real lightning trap, that Duma would have gotten Peri into wings of mercy range for my other units.

I believe I've mentioned this here before, but one of my favorite team compositions is the two mythics, one with reposition and wings of mercy, and one with smite, a dancer, a main galeforce unit with desperation and heavy blade/flashing blade, and the last unit a wings of mercy galeforce unit. My absolute favorite combination is Peri and Velouria, as it makes galeforcing on a single hit possible. I often use Brave Celica for light season as she doesn't need the heavy or flashing blade seal for special cooldown, since my armor killing galeforcers (Soleil for astra and Hana for light) have flashing blade on a different team, just to give more options. Just smite the main galeforcer onto a lightning trap, or make sure you will be damaged enough by a counterattack and you can wipe out 5 units and trap the last one rather easily

[BoaFerox]

31 minutes ago, Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi said:

A strong TA Raven user like Cecilia or F!Robin on the right would take little damage from most of that. You could also do a TA raven red on the left. On the off-chance you have a team with both, you could split pull both sides and basically neuter that defense entirely.

Super tanks should also be able to do okay as long as they avoid getting attacked by both Gunnthra and Veronica at the same time (or use no visible buffs). If you're very confident in your super tank, you can do something really aggressive like have a flyer Reposition it over the central hills and have it bum rush Lyn.

What I tried to do was have my own Gunnthrá take on Reinhardt on the right, but he actually just crushed her (it was the QP Moonbow variant with Death Blow 4). The main problem for me was that there is nowhere safe to stand for the units that can't bait. Normally I deal with this using Loki and Tactics Room to buy turns, but because they pushed their HP so high that didn't work. I guess I should have more units with TA with me in the future.

 

24 minutes ago, Maaka said:

I ran into almost the exactly same map today.

  Hide contents

The way I dealt with it was by using smite. I find offensive structures completely useless and they just waste space that can otherwise be used for positioning. I ended up smiting my Peri up to the lightning trap under the panic manor and attacking Lyn, then using a wings of mercy Yarne to kill Duma and Gunnthra, then used Peri to kill Reinhardt and my wings of mercy Naga to kill Nanna. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to double Lyn because I forgot about odd speed wave and wasn't able to get a speed buff on Peri, otherwise I would have been able to trap Reinhardt. Instead I had to go with my plan and lost Naga to Veronica. 

I suppose another way would be to use a null c-disrupt unit if you have one. There is no dancer on the team, so you will only bait a single unit if you have enough room to hide your other units. That being said, turn 2 will be rather difficult if they're all +10 or highly merged like the ones in mine were. Also, had I not hit the real lightning trap, that Duma would have gotten Peri into wings of mercy range for my other units.

I believe I've mentioned this here before, but one of my favorite team compositions is the two mythics, one with reposition and wings of mercy, and one with smite, a dancer, a main galeforce unit with desperation and heavy blade/flashing blade, and the last unit a wings of mercy galeforce unit. My absolute favorite combination is Peri and Velouria, as it makes galeforcing on a single hit possible. I often use Brave Celica for light season as she doesn't need the heavy or flashing blade seal for special cooldown, since my armor killing galeforcers (Soleil for astra and Hana for light) have flashing blade on a different team, just to give more options. Just smite the main galeforcer onto a lightning trap, or make sure you will be damaged enough by a counterattack and you can wipe out 5 units and trap the last one rather easily

I can see that the offense buildings were my real problem on this map. On most other maps I find them super helpful, but this setup in particular really punished me for them. I suppose I could remove at least one of them to have more room in the future.

I really don't have enough Galeforce teams for Astra season. I think I tend to care a bit too much about optimizing all my teams for score, when I sometimes would get more score by using the "correct" units even if they aren't blessed for the season. I should definitely look into making more varied units with Galeforce. I don't have Velouria, but I can see how that would make for a very easy Galeforce setup. Makes me kind of tempted to pull for her next time she appears.

[Hilda]

58 minutes ago, BoaFerox said:

I didn't put in too much effort this week, had a few losses and didn't use score optimized teams, but I'm still somehow firmly within the top 3000. I wonder if there are many who have forgotten that this season ends early and have unspent Aether that they were planning to use tomorrow.

Does anyone have some tips for how to deal with maps like this?

I don't think any of the teams I brought this week could have managed it without losing a unit. I guess it's punishing me for not leaving open spaces in my backline, but I feel like the buildings really help me out on other maps. They made sure to stack HP on their units to prevent Gravity effects, and my Galeforce units can't reach them before they get to attack me either.

The only thing i see working here is Null C-Disrupt like on multiple levels. Veronica and Maribelle seem to run Panic staves and i guess that Panic manor is fully upgraded. So if your Team is running visible buffs you are kinda fucked. Debuffed from your own buffs and the buildings on the back means Gunnthra will prolly one shot anything she touches.

Best guess is to i think bait Reinhard with your super tank and if you have a Null C-Disrupt Dancer like Dagger Olivia bait Maribelle so you can take 2 out on turn one, also destroying the building below Gunnthra with a ranged unit to open space up for Turn 2 and of course the one below Reinhardt.

I guess this map might get nerfed if too many people run this set and IS will just decide to add some trenches onto it. Its really a mean setup. Your own buildings are basicly hindering you to cover which is kinda stupid.

 

Also yaie so far i havent lost any lift this week! All my Defenses were a success ecxept for 2.

[Maaka]

11 minutes ago, BoaFerox said:

I really don't have enough Galeforce teams for Astra season. I think I tend to care a bit too much about optimizing all my teams for score, when I sometimes would get more score by using the "correct" units even if they aren't blessed for the season. I should definitely look into making more varied units with Galeforce. I don't have Velouria, but I can see how that would make for a very easy Galeforce setup. Makes me kind of tempted to pull for her next time she appears.

Optimizing your teams for score is pretty harsh with two mythics. I have gotten lucky that the bonus units are useful as galeforce units (Yarne this week, Eliwood/Summer Ylgr/Linus for next week) so I managed to keep four 160 teams and a 140 team with two dancers and my galeforcers with one mythic. However, low merge galeforce units will work just as well if you really plan them out well. Most teams on astra/anima seasons have high attack due to Duma, so try for a more speed based galeforcer with flashing blade. Light/Dark seasons have high speed teams due to Yune, so use a high attack galeforcer, but still with enough speed, with heavy blade. It is higher investment, but speed smoke is nice to have on your main galeforce unit and a movement type hone like hone cavalry on one of your other units is nice to buff them up a bit more. 

Of course, you can just +10 a few galeforce units if you don't mind investing in AR. Even 4*+10 works really well.

[Landmaster]

2 hours ago, BoaFerox said:

I didn't put in too much effort this week, had a few losses and didn't use score optimized teams, but I'm still somehow firmly within the top 3000. I wonder if there are many who have forgotten that this season ends early and have unspent Aether that they were planning to use tomorrow.

Does anyone have some tips for how to deal with maps like this?

  Hide contents

Here are the details on the units if someone wants it:

The Fortress (D) is lv. 5, Panic Manor lv. 4 and Light and Dark shrines lv. 3.

I don't think any of the teams I brought this week could have managed it without losing a unit. I guess it's punishing me for not leaving open spaces in my backline, but I feel like the buildings really help me out on other maps. They made sure to stack HP on their units to prevent Gravity effects, and my Galeforce units can't reach them before they get to attack me either.

This is the Cav Line setup Akariss just made a video on so expect to be seeing a lot of it. The Panic makes it so that you can't do any kind of supertanking easily, you're almost guarenteed to lose a unit unless you can get the Panic Cavs to attack another unit~

[Ice Dragon]

2 hours ago, Anacybele said:

Two words: Female Robin.

That won't work. You've completely missed why this map is so threatening.

The problem isn't finding a single unit that takes care of everything. The problem is that your entire team is vulnerable to attack on turn 1, meaning several of your units need to be able to handle a round of combat, not just one. If your Tactics Room is a high enough level and is coincidentally in a row where it will take effect, then you have 3 safe squares to work with. If not, you only have 2.

The staves are Panic+ staves, which means letting either of them attack you results in a large portion of your line being inflicted with Panic.

 

3 hours ago, BoaFerox said:

Does anyone have some tips for how to deal with maps like this?

First off, level up your Tactics Room to the maximum level and always have it deployed. If this map template becomes popular, you'll want to avoid putting the Tactics Room in the third column from the left.

Second, if you've run out of ladders, remove it from your map and don't replace it with another building. I've found the extra space to be helpful rather often and not just for this type of map. And if you haven't run out of ladders, just use a ladder and don't deal with this map if you can't.

 

My personal response to a map like this is to use a double tank team (but that's mostly because that's already my default team). The right side is easily baited, and Maribelle can be baited without Panic hitting your tanks. If you have Null C-Disrupt, you can even take out Maribelle at the same time. Then just hope you have the tools to clean up the rest.

If you have a third tank (that isn't an armor), you can have them bait Gunnthra and completely gut the defense team's damage output.

 

Alternatively, if your Tactics Room is effective and in that position, a Triangle Adept Gronnraven cavalry unit can walk up and whack Reinhardt after someone else destroys the building in front of him and then just sit there.

[Anacybele]

25 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

That won't work. You've completely missed why this map is so threatening.

The problem isn't finding a single unit that takes care of everything. The problem is that your entire team is vulnerable to attack on turn 1, meaning several of your units need to be able to handle a round of combat, not just one. If your Tactics Room is a high enough level and is coincidentally in a row where it will take effect, then you have 3 safe squares to work with. If not, you only have 2.

The staves are Panic+ staves, which means letting either of them attack you results in a large portion of your line being inflicted with Panic.

Okay, firstly, someone else suggested female Robin too, why are you only quoting me and not both of us, if I'm wrong?

Second, I know from experience that female Robin takes care of a lot of the units on this map. She has never failed to kill Reinhardts, Brave Lyns, and pretty much any other colorless and blue units for me. I've got her built with T-Adept and stuff just for that purpose. She's also +10. And I DID say "with the right build and support." I never said to just throw any 5 star female Robin in there and call it a day.

Edited July 8, 2019 by Anacybele

[Ice Dragon]

3 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Okay, firstly, someone else suggested female Robin too, why are you only quoting me and not both of us, if I'm wrong?

Because Robin can't occupy three team slots simultaneously. You need three units to tank the first turn, not one.

The other person who mentioned Robin also mentioned other units that could take those remaining needed tank slots as well as consideration for dealing with Panic instead of just gushing about how a single unit shuts the map down.

[Anacybele]

1 minute ago, Ice Dragon said:

Because Robin can't occupy three team slots simultaneously. You need three units to tank the first turn, not one.

The other person who mentioned Robin also mentioned other units that could take those remaining needed tank slots as well as consideration for dealing with Panic instead of just gushing about how a single unit shuts the map down.

Uh, I'm pretty sure that map image only shows one square that's vulnerable to an enemy attack, and that's the square directly all the way down from Brave Lyn.

[Johann]

26 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

That won't work. You've completely missed why this map is so threatening.

I don't see how she did, it's pretty obvious she knows that placing Robin in the right place is the whole point of it. Whether that's with Smite, Dance, Guidance, etc is a given. Whether or not you have to have another unit take a hit from Maribelle or whoever doesn't undo the whole plan. It's a dangerous map, sure, but if any unit can handle it, it's Robin. People should genuinely consider using a TA Raventome if they aren't already.

I think it bears mentioning that Gunnthra is especially dangerous in this map because she's a bonus unit, and is thus safer from Aversa's Night and Tactics Room.

[Ice Dragon]

15 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Uh, I'm pretty sure that map image only shows one square that's vulnerable to an enemy attack, and that's the square directly all the way down from Brave Lyn.

You can't see the other ones because they're covered by the green placement indicators. The danger indicator doesn't highlight squares that are blocked by impassible terrain (even destructible impassible terrain), so the danger indicator curves around the buildings instead of highlighting through them.

This is what it looks like under the green indicators:

 

15 minutes ago, Johann said:

I don't see how she did, it's pretty obvious she knows that placing Robin in the right place is the whole point of it. Whether that's with Smite, Dance, Guidance, etc is a given. Whether or not you have to have another unit take a hit from Maribelle or whoever doesn't undo the whole plan. It's a dangerous map, sure, but if any unit can handle it, it's Robin. People should genuinely consider using a TA Raventome if they aren't already.

Having Robin as one of your team members doesn't matter if you can't tank at least 2 other units. You can't just ignore that part of the map when suggesting strategies because that's the map's entire gimmick and the entire reason the map is difficult. Most players' tank teams only carry a single tank, not two or three.

Edited July 8, 2019 by Ice Dragon

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Further consideration: the red TA Raven is probably the better pick, though. A ranged unit who can take a hit from Maribelle can break the Weapon Shop, then Sophia/Lyon can move up from just below the Weapon Shop to trash the Panic Manor. This provides another safe tile for the rest of the party while simultaneously gibbing Gunnthra and Lyn. It's very beneficial to also bait and kill Rein at this point, but if the rest of the team has the offense to kill both Veronica and Rein on a counter-push next PP, things should still be relatively workable with just the red Raven.

The best part about baiting Maribelle on the left is, whoever was hiding because Sophia/Lyon, and Sophia/Lyon proper, can scoot up against her and trap her against the Concert Hall. This can be helpful if, for whatever reason, you need to gank Duma instead of kiting him to get the Aether.

2 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Having Robin as one of your team members doesn't matter if you can't tank at least 2 other units. You can't just ignore that part of the map when suggesting strategies because that's the map's entire gimmick and the entire reason the map is difficult. Most players' tank teams only carry a single tank, not two or three.

Many common non-tanks tend to be skewed toward Res or Def, though. Aversa, an extremely common offensive pick, for example, should be able to safely tank Maribelle (or Veronica, I guess, but Maribelle is the better target).

Edited July 8, 2019 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[Johann]

1 minute ago, Ice Dragon said:

Having Robin as one of your team members doesn't matter if you can't tank at least 2 other units. You can't just ignore that part of the map when suggesting strategies because that's the map's entire gimmick and the entire reason the map is difficult. Most players' tank teams only carry a single tank, not two or three.

It's definitely possible to get it down to only having one unit hit the rest of the team, and most of those units aren't even that dangerous alone. I'll grant that it's harder in Anima season when you don't have Eir and they're all getting an Atk boost, but it's kind of a player's own fault if 4/5 units on all 5 of their teams can't take a hit.

[Ice Dragon]

2 minutes ago, Johann said:

but it's kind of a player's own fault if 4/5 units on all 5 of their teams can't take a hit.

Maribelle is the only unit you can safely bait with "any old unit". Brave Lyn, Reinhardt, and Gunnthra are not trivial to "take a hit" from. Veronica is not safe to tank unless your other tanks don't mind being hit with Panic and 14 damage. Not baiting Lyn and Reinhardt on the first turn means you have a Lyn and/or Reinhardt still running around capable of sniping your other units since the map is a literal shooting gallery.

There are a lot of things at play on this map and they aren't so trivial to deal with that a single unit is a sufficient solution.

[Johann]

14 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Maribelle is the only unit you can safely bait with "any old unit". Brave Lyn, Reinhardt, and Gunnthra are not trivial to "take a hit" from. Veronica is not safe to tank unless your other tanks don't mind being hit with Panic and 14 damage. Not baiting Lyn and Reinhardt on the first turn means you have a Lyn and/or Reinhardt still running around capable of sniping your other units since the map is a literal shooting gallery.

There are a lot of things at play on this map and they aren't so trivial to deal with that a single unit is a sufficient solution.

Gosh, ya know, it's almost like I never said anything about trivializing the map with a single unit

[Kaden]

I think after seeing you could reduce lift loss with an Anima/Dark mythic and an appropriately blessed team, I gave up on making a defense team capable of winning. Reducing loss seemed fine enough for me. Anyway, I was able to get a Yune from legendary Eliwood's banner and then I remembered that some of the Tellius units have dark affinities which lead to this.

Spoiler

You can guess why the Black Knight is where he is.

From left to right and skills not mentioned indicate they're running their default skills, the Black Knight with Swap, Ward Armor, and an Obstruct 3 seal because reasons, Zelgius (+Atk, -Spd) with Swap, Ward Armor, and a Drive Def 2 seal, +1 Soren (+Atk) with Poison Strike 3 and a Spur Spd 3 seal, Yune (+HP, -Res) with an Atk/Res Bond 3 seal, Micaiah (+Def, -Res) with Glacies and a Deflect Missile 3 seal, and finally grumpy +10 Soren (+Spd) with a unique refined Wind's Brand, Rally Def/Res, Fury 3, Desperation 3, Drive Spd 2, and a Def Ploy 3 seal left over from the previous general defense map.

Except for Sothe, all the others are dark blessed. Sothe is wind because of his wind affinity and he's there because of Micaiah. If I were to replace him and with a non-duplicate Tellius unit, Naesala is my only option since I don't have a festival Micaiah or Greil's Devoted Soren. None of the other dark affinity Tellius units are in the game. The other dark affinity units currently in the game are Karla, Rutger, and Sophia. It's a theme defense map, so I don't really expect them to win. That said, I did intend for the Black Knight and Zelgius to be able to do some warp shenanigans with their default Wings of Mercy and Warp Powder, respectively.

Anima is messy. Gaiden/SoV doesn't have affinities and I doubt everyone would be considered and I don't want to make everyone from there anima.

Spoiler

From left to right, Duma (+Atk, -Res) with Swap and a Close Def 3 seal, Selkie (+Atk, -HP), with Reposition, Spur Atk 3 that I think was a leftover from Rokkr Sieges, and an Atk/Def Bond 3 seal, +1 legendary Lucina (+Spd) with Luna and a Drive Spd 2 seal, +3 Gunnthra (+Spd) with Draw Back and a Drive Atk 2 seal, +10 Eliwood (+Spd) with Blazing Durandal, Reposition, Galeforce, Darting Blow 3, Lunge, and a Quickened Pulse seal, and Saizo (+Spd, -Res) with a unique refined Star, Bonfire, Darting Blow 3, Savage Blow 3, and a Chill Atk 3 seal.

Eliwood I'm deciding on if I want to refine Durandal and have his seal be Heavy Blade 3 since his offenses would be much higher with unique refined Durandal's Death Blow 3 and Swift Sparrow 2 than Blazing Durandal's Atk+3 and Heavy Blade 3. It's mainly the speed I'm worried about which is why he's running Darting Blow 3 here.

So, of the units in the game, Canas, regular and winter Cecilia, LA Eliwood, Lloyd, Lute, and Seth have an anima affinity. If you include Blazing Blade's birth month and affinity thing and going with the international versions that don't take into account of blood type, then those with June and October birth months: Cherche, Donnel, Gunter, Kaze, Keaton, Leo, Lon'qu, Noire, Shigure, Stahl, Velouria, and Xander. Also Anna, but the Awakening and Fates Annas. Of those units, I don't have Keaton, regular Leo, summer Noire, and Velouria. Now that I looked at it, I think I could make a Duma and his annoying beast friends team if I ever manage to summon Keaton and Velouria. That still leaves out two other units to bother him and to help lower the lift loss.

Anyway, any of those would replace Gunnthra or Lucina just so they can be bodies to reduce lift loss, but Gunnthra's debuffing is helpful and Lucina's Future Vision and default Wings of Mercy are useful and nasty. That said, regular Cecilia with a T-Adept build seems like a good idea, Cherche's B passive is basically free, I could slap Wings of Mercy or whatever to make her annoying and it would give me an excuse to +10 merge her because why not, and Lute could ploy stuff, but -Spd is going to hurt a bit on her.

Edited July 8, 2019 by Kaden

[Hilda]

3 hours ago, Johann said:

It's definitely possible to get it down to only having one unit hit the rest of the team, and most of those units aren't even that dangerous alone. I'll grant that it's harder in Anima season when you don't have Eir and they're all getting an Atk boost, but it's kind of a player's own fault if 4/5 units on all 5 of their teams can't take a hit.

The problem isnt surviving only the 1. Round on this map. Its also killing the units on the following turns. If 4/5 of your units are paniced even if they survived Turn 1. They Probably cant kill shit with -5 & -6 to Attack and SPD (-11 combined). not to mention Def and Res. Most Teams run some form of Tactic buffs. and 2 of your units are most likely gonne be hit with -11 to atk/spd and -11 to def/res. Thats kinda huge. not to mention a 3. unit will be hit by Gunnthras debuff too. This will only get worse during dark/light season when Duma is replaced by Yune.