Aether Raids General Thread

[TEKWRX]

Last night I pulled B!Lucina on a lucky single pull, so now I'm leaning towards building B!Ike as my tank. Do you think now is a good time to give him DC & Null-C from Nailah (or do you guys still suggest holding onto the fodder and waiting)? If I do use them in AR, what kind of team comp should I build around them? Right now I have a team with Eir, L!Azura, Aversa, B!Ike, & B!Lucina. Does that sound OK? I was also thinking about swapping Aversa out for Altina. 

Also, I only have enough dew for one refine right now. Should I do Ike or Lucina first? The other I should be able to do next week most likely. 

In other news, last night I won my first match in a long time without any deaths. That felt good. I don't think the enemy team was too scary, but I was at a -2 fort disadvantage. I basically had to move Altina over the traps safely to take out Veronica first, then almost every one else was killed on enemy phase (except Surtr. Altina need help from axebreaker Aversa to take him out  1 turn).

[XRay]

55 minutes ago, TEKWRX said:

Last night I pulled B!Lucina on a lucky single pull, so now I'm leaning towards building B!Ike as my tank. Do you think now is a good time to give him DC & Null-C from Nailah (or do you guys still suggest holding onto the fodder and waiting)?

I would give that to him now.

57 minutes ago, TEKWRX said:

If I do use them in AR, what kind of team comp should I build around them? Right now I have a team with Eir, L!Azura, Aversa, B!Ike, & B!Lucina. Does that sound OK? I was also thinking about swapping Aversa out for Altina. 

Sounds good. If Brave Heroes Ike gets Panicked too often, I would replace Azura: Vallite Songstress with M!Corrin. Ideally, you want to eventually replace that spot with a second Eir though.

1 hour ago, TEKWRX said:

Also, I only have enough dew for one refine right now. Should I do Ike or Lucina first? The other I should be able to do next week most likely. 

I lean towards BH!Ike. I think his Refine gives him more bulk than BH!Lucina's Refine.

[Usana]

@TEKWRX B!Ike and B!Lucina are the golden combo alright. He works bets on Light since that gives him the best chance to deal with the more insane mages out there. Plus Eir has her nifty healing skill which can further patch him up between turns. As for team comp You really only need those two, your mythic(s) and the bonus unit. Part of the goodness of this combo is that you don't really need much support outside of B!Lucina. That said Aversa is always a good one to slot in to decrease enemy stats and prevent the enemy from utilizing a bunch of buffs. Plus it gives you a red(though B!Ike doesn't usually struggle against his fellow greens it is always nice bonus to have a color balance).

I agree with XRay on B!Ike first. B!Ike can function on his own without Lucina, she is just a huge plus in his column. But without his refine his use is really limited particularly with the DC/Null set.

 

So yeah give Nailah away. B!Ike is probably one of, if not THE, strongest contenders for that combo.

[TEKWRX]

OK, thanks guys. I gave him his refine and sacrificed Nailah to him, so he's ready to put in work. Just need to give him Repostion, unless you think he also needs a different C skill or Special? And what kinds of enemy team comps should I be looking for or avoiding with the Ike & Lucina combo? I know to watch out for Ophelia. Who else?  And I assume the best use strategy will be to Smite him in as close as possible and let him tank on enemy phase? 

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

If you give him Atk/Pulse Smoke, try to Smite him in and let him initiate. The big Atk drop/special denial will push his bulk to even higher levels. Only do this if Lucina has a safe spot to sneak in behind him, though. Otherwise, you might need to consider baiting at a distance.

[TEKWRX]

I do have a spare Kaze so I could do Atk Smoke now, do you think it's that much better than his stock Threaten Def? I also have Pulse Smoke, but it's only on the single Igrene I pulled the other day, and I'm not willing to sac her yet, she's actually pretty fun with her constant charged AOE. 

EDIT: What about Lucina's B slot? Is WoM good for her? 

Edited December 2, 2019 by TEKWRX
Lucina ?

[XRay]

55 minutes ago, TEKWRX said:

OK, thanks guys. I gave him his refine and sacrificed Nailah to him, so he's ready to put in work. Just need to give him Repostion, unless you think he also needs a different C skill or Special? And what kinds of enemy team comps should I be looking for or avoiding with the Ike & Lucina combo? I know to watch out for Ophelia. Who else?  And I assume the best use strategy will be to Smite him in as close as possible and let him tank on enemy phase? 

You want to avoid Infantry Pulse teams in general, since they often have a combination of mages running Blazing and Glacies. Ophelia is the most famous amongst Blazing mages, while Sonya and Lilina can one shot a lot of things with Glacies and potentially survive the counter attack from anyone they do not kill via Mirror Impact. Even with his ability to cut damage down by 40% and 80%, he is not surviving multiple Blazing Specials and Glacies. A fully pimped out Sonya can reach 114 Atk right, 115 if she opts for Atk Refinement, and a Lull that debuffs Res in the future can increase it by another 3.

You also want to avoid units with Hardy Bearing, as that can disable BH!Ike's damage reduction.

40 minutes ago, TEKWRX said:

I do have a spare Kaze so I could do Atk Smoke now, do you think it's that much better than his stock Threaten Def? I also have Pulse Smoke, but it's only on the single Igrene I pulled the other day, and I'm not willing to sac her yet, she's actually pretty fun with her constant charged AOE. 

I would not bother with Threatens. They do not work well against ranged units because when they step within 2 spaces of you, they can immediately attack you, so Threaten is not going to do anything until Player Phase comes around assuming your unit survives.

Edited December 2, 2019 by XRay

[Landmaster]

53 minutes ago, TEKWRX said:

I do have a spare Kaze so I could do Atk Smoke now, do you think it's that much better than his stock Threaten Def? I also have Pulse Smoke, but it's only on the single Igrene I pulled the other day, and I'm not willing to sac her yet, she's actually pretty fun with her constant charged AOE. 

EDIT: What about Lucina's B slot? Is WoM good for her? 

A Link Skill is good for Lucina if there's certain buffs you can't give to Ike via Tactics. There are several F2P units at 4* with Link Skills.

Threaten Skills are horrible, never use them over Smokes.

[TEKWRX]

Well, my first attempt with the new & improved B!Ike was pretty much a total failure 🙁 I brought him up the right hand side, and was able to initiate on Gunthra after being danced by Azura and Lucina was 2 spaces away. I know without her refine he's not getting cooldown reduction, but he still gets buffs, right? He didn't kill her that turn, but next turn she attacked him and he was able to defeat her but was left with ~22HP. That allowed Erika to come and destroy him. It's my fault for kind of forgetting the WTA at the time. Duh. Lucina was able to kill Fjorm with help from Azura, but was then killed by Lyn. Sothis then killed Azura easily, which left Eir & Aversa. There wasn't much they could do except gang up and kill maybe one enemy unit together. So yeah, I guess I played that map really poorly.

Of course there was the usual 5 vs 3 Fortress level to deal with. It looks like I will have JUST enough dew to raise my fort another level if I build/upgrade 400 stones worth of structures, which is the exact amount I'll have if I buy one more item in the resort. What would give me the best usage? Offensive healing tower Lv1 (don't have enough for defensive tower upgrade), Offensive Bolt Tower to Lv2, or just buy whatever structures I don't have yet so I can use when they come up in the bonus rotation? Or are there any must have defensive structures that I should have or upgrade before others? I haven't been putting much effort into defense, and I think the most kills I've gotten has been 2-3

[XRay]

1 hour ago, TEKWRX said:

What would give me the best usage? Offensive healing tower Lv1 (don't have enough for defensive tower upgrade), Offensive Bolt Tower to Lv2, or just buy whatever structures I don't have yet so I can use when they come up in the bonus rotation? Or are there any must have defensive structures that I should have or upgrade before others? I haven't been putting much effort into defense, and I think the most kills I've gotten has been 2-3

Buy next week's bonus Structures, but if you already have it, then spend it somewhere else. I do not think it is a good idea to spend Aether Stones to buy Structures you are not going to use immediately or in the near future.

I do not recommend leveling any Structures (D) to level 2 until you have enough units to build a decent defense team and have upgraded your Fort (D) to level 5. You cannot afford to spare resources for defense if you are still building up your offense.

This is how I would prioritize spending Stones:

1. Escape Ladder; Team Slots for Offense; This week's and next week's Bonus Structures if you do not already have it.

2. Bright Shrine (O), Dark Shrine (O), Panic Manor (O), Tactics Room (O) — These Structures are universally useful no matter what offensive team composition.

3. Healing Tower (O), Bolt Tower (O) — These Structures are more niche. Healing Tower (O) is useful for super tank teams, but it is detrimental to teams utilizing Desperation nukes and Counter-Vantage units. Bolt Tower (O) is useful for teams utilizing Counter-Vantage and for super tank teams to kill enemies easier, but the downside is it allows enemies to get into Wings of Mercy range if the Structure's level is high enough.

I am splitting this section into two parts to make it more manageable, but I would prioritize them all about the same.
4a. Catapult (O), Schools (O), Duo's Indulgence (O) — These Structures are too niche and depend too much on the defense team. Catapult (O) does nothing if it is in a column with no Structures (D) or it destroys a Structure (D) with little to no impact, and Schools (O) do nothing if the team does not utilize that movement type. Duo's Indulgence is only worth it if you are using certain Duo Heroes. Desert Mercenaries Ephraim has a good Duo skill to use multiple times in a row, but A Monstrous Hector's Duo skill is not worth using more than once.
4b. Bright Shrine (D), Dark Shrine (D), Panic Manor (D), Tactics Room (D), Healing Tower (D), Heavy Trap, Team Slots for Defense — These Structures are universally useful no matter what defensive team composition.

5. Catapult (D), Bolt Tower (D) — Catapult (D) does not do anything important; it may knock over a useful Structure (O) or not, but even if it does knock of a useful Structure (O), it is rarely bad enough to hamper an offensive team. Bolt Tower (D) is useful against super tank teams, but they can move out the way or be healed back up, so you need to place and protect them properly; Bolt Tower (D) is kind of useless against Player Phase teams and teams utilizing Counter-Vantage.

6. Schools (D), Duo's Indulgence (D) — Super niche. Should be upgraded last.

And as a final note, NEVER upgrade your Bolt Trap to level 2 or higher unless you really know what you are doing, and even then, I still do not recommend upgrading your Bolt Trap past level 1 since it could still potentially weaken your defense strategy. The most dangerous Bolt Trap is a Bolt Trap that does 10 damage because it lowers a unit's bulk without usually triggering their Desperation or Vantage, as most units usually have more than 40 HP.

Edited December 2, 2019 by XRay

[TEKWRX]

Great information, really helpful. Especially about the bolt trap, I was almost gonna upgrade it. Thanks.

I do have next weeks bonus structures, so that's good. Is there a way to see past next week what the rotation is? A calendar of some sort?

I think I will have to just buy some Shrines (O) now, because the only other worthwhile thing would be to upgrade the ladder to LV.4, but I don't have enough stones (700). I only have 400 stones and 1,100 dew. The next Fort (O) upgrade is 1,500 dew, so if I spend the 400 stones that will give me the dew I need, right? If I wait until this season ends, it looks like I'll get 170 stones for finishing in Tier 17, so I'll still come up short to be able to afford the ladder at the beginning of next season. So I'm probably just better off buying some shines to get the dew to upgrade the Fort (O) right away, and leave the ladder until later.

I can't add another offense slot until Tier 19. Moving up tiers is slow because I only have 1 Eir and I haven't setup proper blessings on anybody yet because I don't quite have my teams set where they're consistently winning. So even when I win, I'm only getting 60-100 aether. I didn't even have an Astra Mythic until I got Altina the other day, so that might help a bit.

[Vicious Sal]

A perfect week this week =]

Last battle was a whale team with +10 Ephraim, H!Hector, Yune, Sothis, Alm and B!Ike. So easy to bait and pick off.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Vicious Sal

[Landmaster]

1 hour ago, TEKWRX said:

Great information, really helpful. Especially about the bolt trap, I was almost gonna upgrade it. Thanks.

I do have next weeks bonus structures, so that's good. Is there a way to see past next week what the rotation is? A calendar of some sort?

I think I will have to just buy some Shrines (O) now, because the only other worthwhile thing would be to upgrade the ladder to LV.4, but I don't have enough stones (700). I only have 400 stones and 1,100 dew. The next Fort (O) upgrade is 1,500 dew, so if I spend the 400 stones that will give me the dew I need, right? If I wait until this season ends, it looks like I'll get 170 stones for finishing in Tier 17, so I'll still come up short to be able to afford the ladder at the beginning of next season. So I'm probably just better off buying some shines to get the dew to upgrade the Fort (O) right away, and leave the ladder until later.

I can't add another offense slot until Tier 19. Moving up tiers is slow because I only have 1 Eir and I haven't setup proper blessings on anybody yet because I don't quite have my teams set where they're consistently winning. So even when I win, I'm only getting 60-100 aether. I didn't even have an Astra Mythic until I got Altina the other day, so that might help a bit.

After every major update, we learn the next two Seasons of bonus structures. It's usually posted on Reddit. Otherwise, you can see one Season ahead in the AR menu.

Spoiler

The Images (not the words) are correct: next Season we will have Armor School, followed by Cavalry School.

Since you have Altina now, you can start thinking about how your team comps can be split up between Seasons. You don't have to start giving out Blessings just yet, but now you are going to be able to start improving your score in both Seasons and consider which ones you want to be your weeks to push into the next tier. Most people recommend to make the push in Light (because everyone has Eir) but I was able to make T21 in Astra Season, so it's not impossible. It will just depend on which you play better in.

If you have enough Stones that you can get enough Dew to upgrade your Offensive Fortress, I would do it. Otherwise, I would wait and upgrade your Ladder because that's the most important thing besides your Fortress to have at the max level.

@Vicious Sal, Congrats!

Edited December 2, 2019 by Landmaster

[Rinco]

Safely in tier 27 and only lost 19 lift on defense. This week was insanely good.

[LoneStar]

If the order of my last two matches were swapped I'd be in tier 27 for the first time.

Oh well, it was nice to use my +10 Titania this week.

This player Lunessa is a meanie. I thought it would be ez seize, but no it was bait. When I first saw the loss they had some 5 star unit there so I guess they wanted to spite.

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by LoneStar

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Last few matches had more than a few rough ones where their formation was just right to not allow any of my teams a clean win. Used all my ladders and had to take two deaths over all matches played in order to just not lose the match. Oh, well.

Had a hilarious revelation about my defense team: despite dragons going out of style as super tanks, a sufficiently buffed super tank dragon is what tends to derail my defense. Whenever a highly-merged F!F!Corrin comes around, she can usually get a one-shot on either of my front-line tanks. Someone even managed to do this with a Nowi.

2 hours ago, LoneStar said:

If the order of my last two matches were swapped I'd be in tier 27 for the first time.

Oh well, it was nice to use my +10 Titania this week.

This player Lunessa is a meanie. I thought it would be ez seize, but no it was bait. When I first saw the loss they had some 5 star unit there so I guess they wanted to spite.

That's kinda strange. While I guess they could be specifically spiting rematchers, most of the time when people change their teams mid-season, it's because they're fishing for losses so that they can potentially have easy rematches at the end of the season. This person was apparently spiteful enough to not only put effort into setting up a rematch bait team, but also forego the chance of finding easy rematches.

[Anacybele]

I came to only 138 lift away from tier 21. Which means I actually would've made it if I hadn't had a bunch of deaths last week. Geez... Sucks that even one death cuts your score by a lot. This is a reason I don't like arena scoring either. One death, ONE little mistake just costs you too much.

I had FOUR defense successes too. I must've done something right here as well? Somehow.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Anacybele

[Landmaster]

Only 70 Lift Loss~ I guess the new team is working out for now~ Had at least one kill in every match even after adding Sothis to the team so I'm happy about that~

In other news, I finally got T20 on my F2P account (which I've never mentioned before but I was proud of myself so yaaayy)~ I could have made it several weeks ago if I didn't forget to play on the last day~ 

[daisy jane]

2 hours ago, Landmaster said:

Only 70 Lift Loss~ I guess the new team is working out for now~ Had at least one kill in every match even after adding Sothis to the team so I'm happy about that~

In other news, I finally got T20 on my F2P account (which I've never mentioned before but I was proud of myself so yaaayy)~ I could have made it several weeks ago if I didn't forget to play on the last day~ 

 

you have two accounts now?

also, yay! that's amazing. (also. lol how did you forget?)

Edited December 2, 2019 by daisy jane

[Landmaster]

18 minutes ago, daisy jane said:

 

you have two accounts now?

also, yay! that's amazing. (also. lol how did you forget?)

Yus, I made it like right before the Awakening kids Banner

It's on my IPad and I usually never played the last day because I'd be in class by the time the Season ended, so I brought the IPad with me and STILL forgot to actually do the matches before class started LOL~

[daisy jane]

2 hours ago, Landmaster said:

Yus, I made it like right before the Awakening kids Banner

It's on my IPad and I usually never played the last day because I'd be in class by the time the Season ended, so I brought the IPad with me and STILL forgot to actually do the matches before class started LOL~

well i am still very proud. 
Honestly. i would do a second account but the fact it took me soo long to get Skylivia, and Airzura/Azura, and Myrrhs etc, i'd like be whatever. 

 

No one posted-  soo..

is is normal

 

this is new

and this willprobably never happen again

 

i had a lot of help this week, and i can cross off "get gold throne" in AR. honestly, i was so appreciative of the help i got and i learned a lot, but equally what i learned is that just trying to get a bronze throne is good enough for me LOL. AR is stress. 

Edited December 2, 2019 by daisy jane

[mampfoid]

My "best" friends:

Congrats Daisy! :- ))

 

[XRay]

2 hours ago, daisy jane said:

i had a lot of help this week, and i can cross off "get gold throne" in AR. honestly, i was so appreciative of the help i got and i learned a lot, but equally what i learned is that just trying to get a bronze throne is good enough for me LOL. AR is stress. 

Nice! That motivates me to try aiming for that Gold Throne again. I am going to try my Kronya team again next week and hope I get lucky with the defense teams I get matched with.

[Vicious Sal]

6 minutes ago, mampfoid said:

My "best" friends:

Congrats Daisy! :- ))

 

I do not see myself in that list, would you like to become friends in Feh? =]

 

I ended up rank 400ish, the front page was fun for an hour. =]

[mampfoid]

Had a good week, could play relaxed (thanks to Leif and BH!Roy), had more defense successes than defeats (6:4, -140 lift, thanks @Maaka ) and reached tier 26. Missed top 3k by mere 57 ranks, but that's no big deal. 

7 hours ago, Vicious Sal said:

7 hours ago, mampfoid said:

 

I do not see myself in that list, would you like to become friends in Feh? =]

Haha, sure! Sent you a request.