Aether Raids General Thread

[Landmaster]

8 hours ago, TEKWRX said:

Cool. I've seen a bunch of his unit analysis videos, they're pretty good. Don't remember if I saw his staff cav one, so I'll check it out tomorrow. I'm not super concerned with stat spreads, unless one unit is so obviously better than another. If they're close enough to be similar, I'll go with the character I like better. Priscilla has decent design/art and her voice actor doesn't annoy me like some units do (Peri, I'm looking at you) 😝

Also, for the first time since I started playing, I pulled a 5* with my free summon ticket tonight! I got Dorcas and it's cool because I don't have him yet. Although the absolute worst IV he could have. -Atk +Spd. Yuck.

It looks like Infantry Pulse is a cool skill and has use in AR? Should I integrate him into some of my raiding parties? I don't like to fodder off my only copy of a unit (I did it once with Takumi though), but if I did end up foddering him down the line what kinds of units would it be good for? 

IP has it's niches in Offense but it's primarily used in AR Defense. I wouldn't really add him into any teams yet until you know what you'd be doing with him.

I'm currently running a semi-IP Dark Defense with B!Ike and F!Delthea pulsing for Ophelia and L!Alm (I'll probably replace Ophelia if I can get Sothis). Silvia and Ninian are great IP users because they have both high HP and Dancer Support so they can run things like Sudden Panic or Panic Ploy and be all around support bots.

[XRay]

8 hours ago, TEKWRX said:

It looks like Infantry Pulse is a cool skill and has use in AR? Should I integrate him into some of my raiding parties? I don't like to fodder off my only copy of a unit (I did it once with Takumi though), but if I did end up foddering him down the line what kinds of units would it be good for? 

Infantry Pulse is often used in defense for Infantry Pulse teams for charging Blazing and other high cooldown Specials. The first Infantry Pulse user you should give to is a Dancer/Singer with high HP that preferably has +HP too. Here is are two lists of all Dancers and Singers.

Ninian has the highest HP, closely followed by A Special Soiree Berkut, and then Phina and Silvia tied for third.

Alternatively, you may want to use +HP Festival in Hoshido Micaiah since she has armor effectiveness and Hardy Bearing built into her Weapon, and make sure to give her more skills that boost HP too since her HP is kind of low. Outside of FIH!Micaiah, Larum would be the best ranged Infantry Pulse Dancer/Singer in my opinion because she is colorless and have a relatively high HP and Atk.

An Infantry Pulse team would look something like the following. (And give Ophelia 1 Dragonflower.)

Spoiler

CHALLENGER LIST  
Larum (5*+10 +spd)  
Weapon: Dragonslasher+  
Special: Ruptured Sky  
A: Sturdy Impact  
B: Wings of Mercy 3  
C: Infantry Pulse 3  
S: HP Spd 2  
Upgrade Path: 1  
  
Micaiah (FH) (5*+10 +hp)  
Weapon: Dawn Suzu  
Special: Ruptured Sky  
A: Sturdy Impact  
B: Wings of Mercy 3  
C: Infantry Pulse 3  
S: HP Atk 2  
  
Alm (SK) (5*+10 +spd)  
Weapon: Luna Arc  
Special: Lunar Flash  
A: Atk Spd Push 4  
B: Null Follow Up 3  
C: Infantry Pulse 3  
S: Darting Blow 3  
  
Ophelia (5*+10 +atk)  
Weapon: Missiletainn  
Special: Blazing Light  
A: Life and Death 4  
B: Special Spiral 3  
C: Infantry Pulse 3  
S: Hardy Bearing 3  
  
Sonya (5*+10 +atk)  
Weapon: Dark Excalibur  
Special: Blazing Light  
A: Life and Death 4  
B: Special Spiral 3  
C: Hone Atk 4  
S: Heavy Blade 3  
Upgrade Path: 1  
  
Lilina (5*+10 +atk)  
Weapon: Forblaze  
Special: Glacies  
A: Mirror Impact  
B: Special Spiral 3  
C: Hone Atk 4  
S: Heavy Blade 3  
Upgrade Path: 5  

On offense, the application more limited. I think it is just limited to infantry Galeforce teams and setting up Ophelia.

[TEKWRX]

Thanks for the info. I won't do anything just yet. The only units I have with high HP you guys mentioned are Ninian and Silvia. And Silvia is only 4*+5 because when I first started the game I kept reading how it makes sense for dancers to stay at 4* merges because they won't see much combat. I've decided to stop doing that going forward, but now my Silva and Olivia are stuck at 4*+ and I don't really want to promote them and lose all the merges at this point. But I have started to invest in Ninian a bit, so if I do decide to start using IP, I'll keep her in mind.

[daisy jane]

26 minutes ago, TEKWRX said:

Thanks for the info. I won't do anything just yet. The only units I have with high HP you guys mentioned are Ninian and Silvia. And Silvia is only 4*+5 because when I first started the game I kept reading how it makes sense for dancers to stay at 4* merges because they won't see much combat. I've decided to stop doing that going forward, but now my Silva and Olivia are stuck at 4*+ and I don't really want to promote them and lose all the merges at this point. But I have started to invest in Ninian a bit, so if I do decide to start using IP, I'll keep her in mind.

 

4* +10 is still really good. so you'll be fine there. 
also. if you shop in red enough you'll eventually get more of them. (it's actual fodder  that will tend to be rarer) 😉 

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

4* +10 isn't that much farther behind in stats, though they'll have lesser abilities without expensive inheritance (which they'd typically want as a 5* anyway, so, eh?). It can be worth doing if you're not swimming in feathers and need something capable over the short-med term. And if it's any consolation, you don't exactly waste the merges when you promote a merged unit: the game takes merges into account as a discount on the promotion cost. Perhaps it's not the best payout, but it's still something. Also, if you promote that 4* +5 right now, she'll be roughly on par for stats as a 5* +0, but also have access to her complete kit.

[Ice Dragon]

2 hours ago, TEKWRX said:

Thanks for the info. I won't do anything just yet. The only units I have with high HP you guys mentioned are Ninian and Silvia. And Silvia is only 4*+5 because when I first started the game I kept reading how it makes sense for dancers to stay at 4* merges because they won't see much combat. I've decided to stop doing that going forward, but now my Silva and Olivia are stuck at 4*+ and I don't really want to promote them and lose all the merges at this point. But I have started to invest in Ninian a bit, so if I do decide to start using IP, I'll keep her in mind.

Don't worry too much about the loss of merges if you're still only at +5 merges. You'll get more copies eventually, and a +5 4-star unit is already comparable to a +0 5-star unit anyways, so there won't be any loss in performance, either.

[Anacybele]

I gave Brave Ike the Light blessing and QR seal here and also added Celica to this team with a Light blessing. Naga is my bonus unit (because she's the only option I got there, really). The rest of the team is Eir and legendary Azura.

Brave Ike suddenly is tanking anything and everything, Jesus Christ. lol I won all my battles, only had one single death this time, and he even tanked and killed dancer Micaiah! I did park him on a defense tile in that case, but still. And I'm already above 10,000 lift again!

I did something right here for a change! YES! Now I just wish I could have more useful AR peeps besides him. Ike's great, but I can't use him all the time. On non-Light weeks I still need help at some point.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Anacybele

[Rinco]

3 hours ago, Anacybele said:

I gave Brave Ike the Light blessing and QR seal here and also added Celica to this team with a Light blessing. Naga is my bonus unit (because she's the only option I got there, really). The rest of the team is Eir and legendary Azura.

Brave Ike suddenly is tanking anything and everything, Jesus Christ. lol I won all my battles, only had one single death this time, and he even tanked and killed dancer Micaiah! I did park him on a defense tile in that case, but still. And I'm already above 10,000 lift again!

I did something right here for a change! YES! Now I just wish I could have more useful AR peeps besides him. Ike's great, but I can't use him all the time. On non-Light weeks I still need help at some point.

For Astra weeks you should look at someone with a little more Res than Def, at the same levels as Ike has (but him being the opposite, with more Def than Res), kinda. Then with Naga's mythic bonus you'll have someone with high defenses in both stats. I think Hawkeye could work really well with his new refine, but he would need the same kind of fodder as Ike (DC and the like). I use W!Cecilia myself, but you said you don't like her very much. You just need to find a unit that falls in this category. A good bulky unit with high res and medium/ok def.

[Anacybele]

6 minutes ago, Rinco said:

For Astra weeks you should look at someone with a little more Res than Def, at the same levels as Ike has (but him being the opposite, with more Def than Res), kinda. Then with Naga's mythic bonus you'll have someone with high defenses in both stats. I think Hawkeye could work really well with his new refine, but he would need the same kind of fodder as Ike (DC and the like). I use W!Cecilia myself, but you said you don't like her very much. You just need to find a unit that falls in this category. A good bulky unit with high res and medium/ok def.

I've got a 5 star Hawkeye that I can try working with a little more at some point. But it'd require me to get more DC fodder if he has to at some point.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Finally pulled the trigger on sacking my Igrene. Got impatient and decided not to finish off her HM. Fjorm is now +10 with 10 flowers, running Bonus Doubler, Null Follow-Up, Pulse Smoke and the Atk Smoke Seal. She can basically just ram into formations with very little fear of death now (though she does have to fall back for rebuffs if it takes multiple turns). At this point I think she's actually rivaling Florina for the amount of premium fodder I've put into a unit.

One thing I am a little annoyed by is her HP reaching 60 after Summoner S. She could otherwise ignore the max-level Panic Manor (I guess there's always seals, but I'd rather have the Atk Smoke most of the time).

[XRay]

12 minutes ago, Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi said:

Finally pulled the trigger on sacking my Igrene. Got impatient and decided not to finish off her HM. Fjorm is now +10 with 10 flowers, running Bonus Doubler, Null Follow-Up, Pulse Smoke and the Atk Smoke Seal. She can basically just ram into formations with very little fear of death now (though she does have to fall back for rebuffs if it takes multiple turns). At this point I think she's actually rivaling Florina for the amount of premium fodder I've put into a unit.

One thing I am a little annoyed by is her HP reaching 60 after Summoner S. She could otherwise ignore the max-level Panic Manor (I guess there's always seals, but I'd rather have the Atk Smoke most of the time).

If you ever get a neutral copy, you can switch to neutral and that should take her to 61 HP.

[TEKWRX]

I'm so sick of the match making in AR. I lost both my matches today and used up my ladder. Tell me why, when the only merged unit I have in any of my raiding parties is Tharja+3, my last opponent had every unit merged up at least that high and three of them were +10. Oh, and his fortress was 2 levels higher than mine. And he was one tier higher than me. There must be thousands of players in my tier, why can't it pair me up with one of them? On top of that, his map layout was completely open and he was running all cavs and flyers, so there wasn't much I could do as far as positioning.  I was able to get one kill because Tharja buffed by Azura is a monster, but then he wiped all my units off the map next round. I enjoy a challenge, but it's just not fun when it's a totally unfair fight from the beginning.

[XRay]

1 hour ago, TEKWRX said:

I'm so sick of the match making in AR. I lost both my matches today and used up my ladder. Tell me why, when the only merged unit I have in any of my raiding parties is Tharja+3, my last opponent had every unit merged up at least that high and three of them were +10. Oh, and his fortress was 2 levels higher than mine. And he was one tier higher than me. There must be thousands of players in my tier, why can't it pair me up with one of them? On top of that, his map layout was completely open and he was running all cavs and flyers, so there wasn't much I could do as far as positioning.  I was able to get one kill because Tharja buffed by Azura is a monster, but then he wiped all my units off the map next round. I enjoy a challenge, but it's just not fun when it's a totally unfair fight from the beginning.

It happens. I would not worry too much about it. It is fine as long as you can maintain your tier and slowly level up your Fortress (O).

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

2 hours ago, XRay said:

If you ever get a neutral copy, you can switch to neutral and that should take her to 61 HP.

Heh, I'll think about it. Not sure I want to lose my +Atk, though, even if it does mean having to play around the Panic Manor. Would be quite hilarious if I came full circle to neutral in the end, though.

1 hour ago, TEKWRX said:

I'm so sick of the match making in AR. I lost both my matches today and used up my ladder. Tell me why, when the only merged unit I have in any of my raiding parties is Tharja+3, my last opponent had every unit merged up at least that high and three of them were +10. Oh, and his fortress was 2 levels higher than mine. And he was one tier higher than me. There must be thousands of players in my tier, why can't it pair me up with one of them? On top of that, his map layout was completely open and he was running all cavs and flyers, so there wasn't much I could do as far as positioning.  I was able to get one kill because Tharja buffed by Azura is a monster, but then he wiped all my units off the map next round. I enjoy a challenge, but it's just not fun when it's a totally unfair fight from the beginning.

Unfortunately, it's probably a whale/dolphin who's been playing AR for a while, but is not that great at offense. Lift's kinda iffy as a match-making score that way. Granted, I bet your Tharja fully buffed could have taken them all down if you weren't that that Fort level advantage. My condolences that you had to get stuck at an 8-point disadvantage. Keep working on those stones and eventually you won't have to deal with it, though.

[XRay]

5 minutes ago, Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi said:

Heh, I'll think about it. Not sure I want to lose my +Atk, though, even if it does mean having to play around the Panic Manor. Would be quite hilarious if I came full circle to neutral in the end, though.

I believe neutral gives HP/Atk/Def+1, so you are trading 2 Atk for 1 Point in HP and Def. Assuming Fjorm doubles, that is a loss of 4 damage in exchange for Panic Manor (D) immunity, which I think should be an okay trade.

Edited November 27, 2019 by XRay

[Nym]

Not a good week for me, I'll try to get and stay at rank 22 at best. I'm gonna try in the next light season to get 24 like always.

It's my worst light season so far.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Nym

[Vicious Sal]

Perfect offense, perfect defense, just how we like it.

[Hilda]

19 hours ago, TEKWRX said:

I'm so sick of the match making in AR. I lost both my matches today and used up my ladder. Tell me why, when the only merged unit I have in any of my raiding parties is Tharja+3, my last opponent had every unit merged up at least that high and three of them were +10. Oh, and his fortress was 2 levels higher than mine. And he was one tier higher than me. There must be thousands of players in my tier, why can't it pair me up with one of them? On top of that, his map layout was completely open and he was running all cavs and flyers, so there wasn't much I could do as far as positioning.  I was able to get one kill because Tharja buffed by Azura is a monster, but then he wiped all my units off the map next round. I enjoy a challenge, but it's just not fun when it's a totally unfair fight from the beginning.

AR match up isnt based on unit merges or skill points, its based on your rank.

[Landmaster]

20 hours ago, TEKWRX said:

I'm so sick of the match making in AR. I lost both my matches today and used up my ladder. Tell me why, when the only merged unit I have in any of my raiding parties is Tharja+3, my last opponent had every unit merged up at least that high and three of them were +10. Oh, and his fortress was 2 levels higher than mine. And he was one tier higher than me. There must be thousands of players in my tier, why can't it pair me up with one of them? On top of that, his map layout was completely open and he was running all cavs and flyers, so there wasn't much I could do as far as positioning.  I was able to get one kill because Tharja buffed by Azura is a monster, but then he wiped all my units off the map next round. I enjoy a challenge, but it's just not fun when it's a totally unfair fight from the beginning.

Yeah merges and Fort Levels mean nothing for match making in AR. I believe you get matched with people within 100 Lift from you, so you can sadly be matched with pretty much anyone with any Fort Level at any level of merged units~

Something to note, make sure you do your Rematches, especially near the end of the Season. Doing rematches gives you a small advantage in that you can know at least one unit you will be going up against and can plan accordingly. They could also be easier matches, potentially.

As for me, no Successes, but Lift Loss yet. My IP team has been lucky enough to kill enough units so that I haven't lost Lift as of now~ I'll take it~

Offense is decent. Nowi went down in both matches yesterday because I thought Duma was a bigger threat than M!MarMar but we went deathless today~

[TEKWRX]

1 hour ago, Hilda said:

AR match up isnt based on unit merges or skill points, its based on your rank.

Based on rank? Tier you're currently in? If so, it kept putting me against units one tier higher just about every match. Granted, I was on the bubble between 16 & 17, but still. I think the system should take into account the units you have setup in your raiding parties menu kinda like it does in Arena. 

 

21 minutes ago, Landmaster said:

Yeah merges and Fort Levels mean nothing for match making in AR. I believe you get matched with people within 100 Lift from you, so you can sadly be matched with pretty much anyone with any Fort Level at any level of merged units~

Something to note, make sure you do your Rematches, especially near the end of the Season. Doing rematches gives you a small advantage in that you can know at least one unit you will be going up against and can plan accordingly. They could also be easier matches, potentially.

I guess the 100 lift thing makes sense, because after my last match it bumped me up into Tier 17 and most if not all of my recent opponents have been Tier 17 while I was still 16. I still think the unit strength should be considered on some level. Oh well. Anyway, after a horrid few days of loss after loss, it was nice to run into one of those players that just doesn't care about defense and runs a theme team. I guess he has a thing for female swordmasters? It was nice because I could run my team with the bonus unit and get max lift. Tharja didn't even break a sweat 😜

 

I've got 175 grails saved up. I was thinking about getting a unit that might be useful in AR, either offense or defense. I've read that W!Cecilia can be decent. Would she be useful with minimal investment to start? Or does she really require CC and other rare skills to be effective at all? Are there any other grail units to look at, or should I not bother and just get another merge for Aversa?

[Usana]

18 minutes ago, TEKWRX said:

Based on rank? Tier you're currently in? If so, it kept putting me against units one tier higher just about every match. Granted, I was on the bubble between 16 & 17, but still. I think the system should take into account the units you have setup in your raiding parties menu kinda like it does in Arena. 

 

I guess the 100 lift thing makes sense, because after my last match it bumped me up into Tier 17 and most if not all of my recent opponents have been Tier 17 while I was still 16. I still think the unit strength should be considered on some level. 😜

 

I have always thought it should have an additional modifier of Fort Level. If possible match with someone within 1 fort level within the standard matching range. If no one is available then it is done as it currently is and you are kinda SoL. I wouldn't make it a hard requirement for a few reasons and this would just tell you that this is all the higher you can climb until your fort is upgraded. Not a big deal. The problem you are running into is that there are a lot of people who just quit climbing but still collected stones. So you are very likely to see Fort level differences and be facing buildings that are far better upgraded than yours. Actually maybe instead of Fort level it should keep track of 'stones acquired' in order to make a preferred match. Fort level is just an easy and quick rule of thumb for your current progress in AR, so that is where my first thought lands.

As for W!Cecilia. A lot of AR threats are ranged so it is less important for her to get CC than it is for a melee to get DC in my opinion. In addition it is easier to stop melees from running around your super tank than ranged units. However, I probably wouldn't bother myself until I had some CC ready to go. But I am a terrible person to listen to on advice on grail spending. I mean I only have 4551 grails sitting around at the moment. It isn't like I am indecisive on their use or anything.

[TEKWRX]

11 minutes ago, Usana said:

As for W!Cecilia. A lot of AR threats are ranged so it is less important for her to get CC than it is for a melee to get DC in my opinion. In addition it is easier to stop melees from running around your super tank than ranged units. However, I probably wouldn't bother myself until I had some CC ready to go. But I am a terrible person to listen to on advice on grail spending. I mean I only have 4551 grails sitting around at the moment. It isn't like I am indecisive on their use or anything.

I don't know if you saw that one of the Black Friday orb packs includes a free W!Tharja. So I could have instant CC for Cecilia if I wanted to. Problem is, it's a Tharja that I don't have yet, and I'd really like to keep her. Ugg, why does this game have to be so difficult sometimes? 😆

But if I did get W!Cecilia, what kinds of builds are recommended? 

[XRay]

1 hour ago, TEKWRX said:

I don't know if you saw that one of the Black Friday orb packs includes a free W!Tharja. So I could have instant CC for Cecilia if I wanted to. Problem is, it's a Tharja that I don't have yet, and I'd really like to keep her. Ugg, why does this game have to be so difficult sometimes? 😆

She comes around again during Christmas, so you can save the neutral one for following guides and summon another one around Christmas for Close Counter.

As for her build, you can stick with Goodie Boot for more stats, or use Bottled Juice for Guard, or Smoke Dagger for debuffing enemies' Atk/Spd.

Her A slot can be Steady Stance 3 until you can get Close Counter.

You also want to make sure run Quick Riposte/Vengeful Fighter on either the B slot or Sacred Seal slot. If you are running Quick Riposte on the Sacred Seal slot, I would go with Special Fighter on the B slot. If you are using Vengeful Fighter, then I would go with Distant Def, Close Def, or Atk Smoke on the Sacred Seal slot.

Her C would be Atk Smoke or Pulse Smoke if you can afford it.

Edited November 28, 2019 by XRay

[Usana]

Well this week's AR is just about as shitty as my summoning luck on the mythic banner was. Apparently everyone and their great grandma can cleave through the Brave Ike Brave Lucina combo this week. A lot of very open maps all with multiple Legendary Azuras and ways to keep B!ike from counter killing in one round through one means or another.

[XRay]

4 minutes ago, Usana said:

Well this week's AR is just about as shitty as my summoning luck on the mythic banner was. Apparently everyone and their great grandma can cleave through the Brave Ike Brave Lucina combo this week. A lot of very open maps all with multiple Legendary Azuras and ways to keep B!ike from counter killing in one round through one means or another.

What is BH!Ike dying to? BH!Ike [+Res,-HP] +0 can tank a fully buffed Laevatein +10, so I cannot imagine a lot of nukes outside of Blazing mages and Infantry Pulsed mages with Glacies or something.