Aether Raids General Thread

[Anacybele]

23 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

1. Incentives to spend money.
2. To stratify players. This is a competitive game mode. Not everyone will be able to reach the top in Aether Raids just like how not everyone can reach the top in Arena or Arena Assault.

You can't spend money on something that doesn't exist though?

24 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

They change when the current season ends, and the season doesn't end for another 5 minutes.

And I was talking about next season, not this season, obviously, for that reason. It won't be Astra season anymore, will it?

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, Anacybele said:

You can't spend money on something that doesn't exist though?

I'm obviously talking about the Eir half, not the Astra Hero not yet existing half.

[Anacybele]

1 minute ago, Ice Dragon said:

I'm obviously talking about the Eir half, not the Astra Hero not yet existing half.

Oh. Still seems silly two use two Eirs, but I'll assume anyone only does that right now because she's the only Light mythic so far. Once we get another one, people can run Eir with that hero and still get the same extra lift. Right?

[Johann]

17 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Oh. Still seems silly two use two Eirs, but I'll assume anyone only does that right now because she's the only Light mythic so far. Once we get another one, people can run Eir with that hero and still get the same extra lift. Right?

Depends on what that other hero brings to the table. Eir's not perfect, but running two of her means you get +10 HP/Res (which is amazing considering how many people use mage-heavy defense maps) and +20 HP recovery every round to whoever has taken the most damage (unless the Eirs are the most hurt, of course). Being a flier who can also debuff and safely fight dragons and Wrathful Staff users is also pretty handy.

I post this gif a lot, mostly because I love watching it, but to give you an idea how important that kind of Res boost can be:

Edited April 30, 2019 by Johann

[Anacybele]

35 minutes ago, Johann said:

Depends on what that other hero brings to the table. Eir's not perfect, but running two of her means you get +10 HP/Res (which is amazing considering how many people use mage-heavy defense maps) and +20 HP recovery every round to whoever has taken the most damage (unless the Eirs are the most hurt, of course). Being a flier who can also debuff and safely fight dragons and Wrathful Staff users is also pretty handy.

I post this gif a lot, mostly because I love watching it, but to give you an idea how important that kind of Res boost can be:

Damn, Hrid tanking Ophelia and her doing zero to him? That IS a handy Res boost. I have Hrid too, so I could pull this off with him if I had a second Eir. But I see now.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Anacybele

[Johann]

22 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Damn, Hrid tanking Ophelia and her doing zero to him? That IS a handy Res boost. I have Hrid too, so I could pull this off with him if I had a second Eir. But I see now.

Keep in mind, however, that little scene is basically a best case scenario; not only was it Wind + Light Season, so Hrid got +10 Res, but he also had +6 from Azura, +2 from Summoner Support, Warding Stance seal, +1 from dragonflowers, +3 from being +Res, and most importantly of all, Aversa was there to Panic Ophelia. That said, this sort of strategy works amazingly if you have the means to safely approach the enemy and can survive everything they dish out.

Legendary Ike is another good choice for this since he can spam Aether to keep his HP up, and unlike Hrid isn't weak to Dawn Suzu (which is a common threat), but he generally has lower Res than Hrid (though that can be advantageous in some situations, such as if the enemy has Chill Res). It'll be Earth season all month long too so Ike will get the HP/Res boost from Eir for a few Light seasons. Lemme know if you want a few build suggestions to try.

[Anacybele]

57 minutes ago, Johann said:

Keep in mind, however, that little scene is basically a best case scenario; not only was it Wind + Light Season, so Hrid got +10 Res, but he also had +6 from Azura, +2 from Summoner Support, Warding Stance seal, +1 from dragonflowers, +3 from being +Res, and most importantly of all, Aversa was there to Panic Ophelia. That said, this sort of strategy works amazingly if you have the means to safely approach the enemy and can survive everything they dish out.

Legendary Ike is another good choice for this since he can spam Aether to keep his HP up, and unlike Hrid isn't weak to Dawn Suzu (which is a common threat), but he generally has lower Res than Hrid (though that can be advantageous in some situations, such as if the enemy has Chill Res). It'll be Earth season all month long too so Ike will get the HP/Res boost from Eir for a few Light seasons. Lemme know if you want a few build suggestions to try.

Oh, my Hrid isn't +Res, nor does he have summoner support.

My RD Ike isn't my summoner support either. xP (It's Frederick). But I see. what's Dawn Suzu? Micaiah?

[Johann]

7 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Oh, my Hrid isn't +Res, nor does he have summoner support.

My RD Ike isn't my summoner support either. xP (It's Frederick). But I see. what's Dawn Suzu? Micaiah?

Do you use Fred in AR much? I rationalized giving Summoner Support to other units (right now, Legendary Robin) because AR is so frustrating that I want every bit of help I can get. Ike would benefit greatly from it as well, since he wants all the stat boosts he can get. I'd probably be using him this week if I didn't have Robin (I just like her more).

And yeah, it's Dancing Micaiah's weapon. I don't see many regular Micaiahs but a lot of Dancing Micaiahs, probably because people were tired of losing to Surtr.

[Anacybele]

1 minute ago, Johann said:

Do you use Fred in AR much? I rationalized giving Summoner Support to other units (right now, Legendary Robin) because AR is so frustrating that I want every bit of help I can get. Ike would benefit greatly from it as well, since he wants all the stat boosts he can get. I'd probably be using him this week if I didn't have Robin (I just like her more).

And yeah, it's Dancing Micaiah's weapon. I don't see many regular Micaiahs but a lot of Dancing Micaiahs, probably because people were tired of losing to Surtr.

I used to, but I seem to run into a lot of units he can't handle, namely some mages and dragons. I probably still should put him on a team though, he could help against a team that's primarily physical.

[Johann]

2 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

I used to, but I seem to run into a lot of units he can't handle, namely some mages and dragons. I probably still should put him on a team though, he could help against a team that's primarily physical.

Yeah, I use him in Anima season since his ability to crush armors is frequently needed (you know those maps, where people put 2 Dumas and a bunch of other armors in a corner). Mages are probably the most common threats though, which is why I've been so big on sturdy mixed-phase units like Hrid and Robin.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Also keep in mind that, during Light season with Eirs, you don't need to take 0 damage. If you can keep it down to 10 or less from every enemy, chances are they won't be able to overwhelm you and double Eir will regen 20 of that. If you find your Res still lacking, or want to shore it up so you can just make do with your single Eir, I recommend building a support M!Corrin. If he supports Ike and then carries Drive Res with the Drive Res Seal, he can give Ike +11 non-Panickable Res at 2 range.

[Tree]

Was 3,669 this time, so fairly close to top 3,000. I made some significant mistakes that I think I can improve on. Also, the flier balls got me a couple of times. I think Ares might have been able to handle them though. I might build him up and see if he can. Blue fliers with a lot of defense is one major worry. The other concern is the Hardy Bearing seal. It is common on Ophelia, but I don't really see it on fliers so perhaps it won't be an issue.

[Anacybele]

1 hour ago, Johann said:

Yeah, I use him in Anima season since his ability to crush armors is frequently needed (you know those maps, where people put 2 Dumas and a bunch of other armors in a corner). Mages are probably the most common threats though, which is why I've been so big on sturdy mixed-phase units like Hrid and Robin.

I've been using Bunny Palla to take care of a lot of armors due to her effective weapon and also because of her B skill being able to kill traps for me. I really recommend people who happen to pull her whenever she's available that they invest in her, even if her IVs aren't good, because she's valuable in AR. She's really helped me a lot.

So Freddy would mainly be doing other things. xP

[Diovani Bressan]

I already used all my ladders today

[Chrom-ulent]

This may be the week I make T21, thanks to the AR bonus rotation being behind. I switched Caineghis to the Light blessing. First offense is a full +141 victory (especially nerve-wracking as I forgot to put my escape ladder back), first defense loss is a -35 reduced by full blessings and an enemy casualty.

I'm training Reyson. I may not have a second Eir, so he's the next best thing.

Will I make it, or will I fall short because of cancerous enemy defenses and the vile Pot Protectors? Tune in next week to find out!

[Rezzy]

It would be nice if they at least tried to make the Legendary Heroes season match up to when they were a bonus unit in Aether Raids.

 

I gave Alfonse a Light Blessing and went to town.  It won't last, but I shot up to rank 103, at least for now.  I lost a couple units, but have used zero escape ladders, so I should be in a pretty decent position this week.

Edited May 1, 2019 by Rezzy

[colossus86]

imo its always worth giving your Ophelia Hardy Bearing. I see so many people try to greed a different seal on her for more damage, only to get Vantage swept away by my Eir. Considering she can kill pretty much anything already if you set her up right, I just don't see how its worth.

[Chrom-ulent]

1 hour ago, colossus86 said:

imo its always worth giving your Ophelia Hardy Bearing. I see so many people try to greed a different seal on her for more damage, only to get Vantage swept away by my Eir. Considering she can kill pretty much anything already if you set her up right, I just don't see how its worth.

Funny you mention those two, my Ophelia had Hardy Bearing and blew away an Eir (wasn't yours, she didn't have Vantage) for my defense loss reduction.

Today's offense was another Park Caineghis And Win perfect. The enemy used double Eir.

[XRay]

6 hours ago, colossus86 said:

imo its always worth giving your Ophelia Hardy Bearing. I see so many people try to greed a different seal on her for more damage, only to get Vantage swept away by my Eir. Considering she can kill pretty much anything already if you set her up right, I just don't see how its worth.

And do not forget to make sure to protect her and have 1 or 2 other defense units with Firesweep or Hardy Bearing weapons too.

I have seen a lot of defense teams with Ophelia at the front without backup Firesweep or Festival in Hoshido Weapons, so I just kill Ophelia and Vantage the rest of the team.

[Chrom-ulent]

The first win was down to my final player phase against an armorball team - Reyson's refresh saved the day. The second had me nearly lose my Caineghis. Both times I smashed all pots.

EDIT: I can't handle the suspense, I'll use my Aether now. Two casualties, two ladder uses, two pot protecting scumbags, but I perfectly used up my Aether in the end. Playing the matches now means being able to see that glorious T21 (or the Lift being short) sooner, rather than doing all of the battles Monday morning with hopes inflated (and crushed if I can't win offenses).

As of right now, T21 is still within reach. I'm switching Lene to Dark blessing in the hopes that I can get more foes defeated if not defense wins, to remove some of the stress from my offense. In fact, I tested it myself and took two casualties to beat it - an improvement over the "1 foe defeated" results I have been getting, but we'll have to see how other players deal with it.

Edit to add: Is it possible to have a level 5 offense fort and a level 4 defense fort? In my defense results, there are two guys who used a level 5 offense fort against me. If it's guaranteed they have a level 3 defense fort, I'll rematch them knowing I have the advantage.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Chrom-ulent

[Azuni]

5 hours ago, Chrom-ulent said:

Edit to add: Is it possible to have a level 5 offense fort and a level 4 defense fort? In my defense results, there are two guys who used a level 5 offense fort against me. If it's guaranteed they have a level 3 defense fort, I'll rematch them knowing I have the advantage.

People who bought the New Years Aether Stone pack can already have 5O/4D yes, as can anyone who didn't buy it or the lv4 Amphorae who has ranked highly in AR all this time (for example I have 5O/3D right now, but I have 500+ stones and 1k dew so I could buy the 4D).
However, I think the majority of the population doesn't have enough, so I always rematch 5O fort people anyways unless their defense lead looks too dangerous.

[kirauza343]

Is there anything more satisfying than seeing a 5 enemies defeated defense win just to see that those enemies were a +10 Reinhardt, a Veronica, Firesweep Brave Lyn, Legendary Azura, and Caineghis (and with no fort advantage on your side)? Because that felt really nice. 

[Ice Dragon]

6 hours ago, Chrom-ulent said:

Edit to add: Is it possible to have a level 5 offense fort and a level 4 defense fort? In my defense results, there are two guys who used a level 5 offense fort against me. If it's guaranteed they have a level 3 defense fort, I'll rematch them knowing I have the advantage.

It might be possible, but they'd have to at the very, very top of the pack or have forgone upgrading an Aether structure.

I've been top 3,000 every week so far and am still 230 rocks away from getting my level 4 defense fort (170 after I grab the remaining rocks from monthly quests).

Edited May 2, 2019 by Ice Dragon

[Chrom-ulent]

17 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

It might be possible, but they'd have to at the very, very top of the pack or have forgone upgrading an Aether structure.

I've been top 3,000 every week so far and am still 230 rocks away from getting my level 4 defense fort.

Thanks. Seeing as those guys matched with me (not yet T21) and seeing as even a higher-level player like you isn't 5O/4D, I think I'll challenge them tomorrow.

Still working on my defense team. I tested it and Caineghis successfully tanked everyone, so I'm handing a dark blessing and Armored Boots to Picnic Felicia to put the pressure on him as an opponent. Had to use Bridal Ninian as the dancer because she was the only mage dancer I had without a blessing and I needed one to ensure Ophelia starts charged after removing Aversa from the team for Winter Eirika.

Edit: I challenged one of the level 5 offense guys and blew him out. His team was an armorball, I brought double Micaiah, and watched as the enemies marched to their death. Another level 5 attacker appeared in my defenses - thankfully masked by the one-foe-defeated match before it. Friday: +141 -35, for 10630. I will enter tomorrow with two matches - and I have two level 5 offenses left before I'm at the mercy of the offense matchmaking.

Edited May 3, 2019 by Chrom-ulent

[Diovani Bressan]

Today was a good AR day. I did two battles. One of them I lost 2 units but I manage to win, and the other battle I won without losing any unit. Reached Tier 23.