Aether Raids General Thread

[Javi Blizz]

Wow, this week is being a pain with the max 100 lift per battle. I’m not sure if I’ll make T18, even if I don’t lose units in attack. Pots and defenses feel like a stone when light blessings are not active (then I can score 161 pts per match)

[Maaka]

Gunter as one of the next set of bonus heroes... Interesting, to say the least. Also, Legendary Robin will be useless during light season since she can't be blessed, but it will be nice to use her on non light seasons. Going to be fun with Eir as a bonus, since I can run a +15 hp/res Myrrh. Although, I am tempted to use Ninian instead of the 3rd Eir, just so I can have a dancer.

[Johann]

53 minutes ago, mampfoid said:

Schools as bonus structures aren't optimal, everybody will run the same schools for weeks (since you can't run 2 schools at the same time). Thanks! 

 

At least they're cheap! Nice to save 100 stones a week while making sure you've got everything. It'll be interesting to see how people spend their stones once they've acquired all the base structures and extra slots. I've already seen a few structures upgraded to level 2. In particular, I think upgrading Tactics Room (O) to level 2 is pretty smart since it prevents people from simply tossing HP seals on their Veronica or whatever to bypass it.

[mampfoid]

6 minutes ago, Johann said:

At least they're cheap! Nice to save 100 stones a week while making sure you've got everything. It'll be interesting to see how people spend their stones once they've acquired all the base structures and extra slots. I've already seen a few structures upgraded to level 2. In particular, I think upgrading Tactics Room (O) to level 2 is pretty smart since it prevents people from simply tossing HP seals on their Veronica or whatever to bypass it.

I have upgraded Aether Amphorae (lv. 3), Cav School (D) (lv. 2), Escape Ladder (lv. 2), Fortress (O) (lv. 3) and Heavy Trap (lv. 2). 

I'm a little bummed because lv. 2 Fortress (D) is a requirement for Fortress (O) lv. 4. Level 2 will help me exactly zero. 

[Johann]

2 minutes ago, mampfoid said:

I'm a little bummed because lv. 2 Fortress (D) is a requirement for Fortress (O) lv. 4. Level 2 will help me exactly zero. 

Huh, I had no idea. I only knew that the Fortress (D) had Tier requirements. How would it not help you? You're investing in other Defensive structures, why not the Fortress? Giving your opponent a stat boost is one of the biggest setbacks to Defense

[mampfoid]

21 minutes ago, Johann said:

Huh, I had no idea. I only knew that the Fortress (D) had Tier requirements. How would it not help you? You're investing in other Defensive structures, why not the Fortress? Giving your opponent a stat boost is one of the biggest setbacks to Defense

Chances that opponents at tier 17 will not have a stat boost even with my fortress at level 2 are nearly zero. My plan was to max out Fortress (O) first or to arrive to tier 21 (long term goals, yeah). 

 

Edited December 18, 2018 by mampfoid

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Had a weird successful defense that turned into a bloodbath, then ended with the units on either side kind of just too exhausted to kill each other off. Opponent brought a Surtr that was borderline invincible to everyone other than Lilina, then prioritized picking Lilina. Veronica got a suicide pick on their Y!Azura, though, so then it turned into my horses suiciding into their team, possibly killing someone in the process. This did draw things out, though, which is sort of hilarious considering that this defense team is built with zero sustain in mind. Unkillable Surtr ended up timing out because Laevatein was so scared of Rein that she was hanging out at the very back of the map and Surtr had to go up beside a pillar to kill my Rein, which my Y!Azura then hid behind, drawing the match out that last crucial turn.

I'm getting kind of tired of horses being stacked up in the right corner of the Spring map and with no Loki to hard counter, I've set up my Bolt Tower and Tactics Room in combination to screw up the rightmost column. Thinking about taking this a step further and running a team with triple Skadi and a semi-tanky DC Vantager (with my bonus unit being as stat-buffed as possible to soak up the massive Chill spam I'm starting to see). Even if it doesn't end up working that well, it's stupid ridiculous enough to amuse me.

[MonkeyCheez3K]

8 hours ago, Johann said:

Here are a few tips:

Thank you for the advice, noted them down.

I could still need some more on specific units/builds to make this easier on offense. S summoner support for example is already way too tedious for me. If I could just swap S-ranks at will, I might actually do it, but I cannot put the effort into swapping every week and neglect my favorites because of this infuriating mode while having to redo mindless battles to get back to S on previous supports (I know its halved in requirements, still too tedious).

So back to the team comp, one or two Eirs in my team, who should be the core dancer, if any, who gets what positioning skill, any Galeforce user?, who gets what buff skills, etc

A team of Eir, Eir, Aversa, dancer, bonus for example seems weak against common threats, but maybe someone has a strategy going that works really well that I could replicate without being rich (I do have some good fodder, but I cannot waste it on mere assumptions and general ideas). I could also build commonly seen units from scratch if they are not too hard to obtain like Reinhardt/Cordelia/Cecilia/etc. , I could focus on my Winter Fae as a bait unit, but again, can't just spend scarce resources only to find out that my current approach of "just go" has the same success.

I appreciate the help, this mode marks the first time in FEH that I just feel like hating the game (sure, maintaining a tier is easy, but losing on 600~ lift because of an obnoxious system, leaving me permanently behind in resources is more than just frustrating when I'm also forced to play it every day), and if I can avoid that kind of negativity, I might still continue enjoying the game in the future, even with its many flaws.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

If you're running double Eir, Aversa and a refresher, the only thing missing is a Light-blessed tank. Pick something with good mixed defenses, though favour Def, since Eir's buffs are going to help shore up that Res. Surtr is who I've been using (and he's a junky +0 +Spd/-Atk one) with great success. I've also seen Myrrh recommended. Hardin also has the kind of stat line needed to survive.

As far as who to pick for refresher, just anyone who has good synergy with Aversa or your chosen tank. Failing that, Gronnraven Y!Azura can provide some coverage.

[Roflolxp54]

Is it me, or are whale players more likely to get tilted into starting rematches? I don't think they seem to be too happy that their defense teams got cheesed by a team comp that has ReinLyn and Anna of all bonus units.

One team ran a +10 Legend Tiki and 2 +10 seasonal units (Summer Young Tiki and Spring Sharena).

Another team ran a +10 Surtr.

[Stroud]

urgh, today I messed up an easy fight. Thanks to the ladder I got away with this. Now I have to be careful about my next steps though or I will not reach T18. Next week I will focus on offensive builds again I will have enough for ladder upgrade and offensive bonus building. But I will only do the ladder upgrade next week if I mess up 1 round then. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by Stroud

[Maaka]

22 minutes ago, MonkeyCheez3K said:

Thank you for the advice, noted them down.

I could still need some more on specific units/builds to make this easier on offense. S summoner support for example is already way too tedious for me. If I could just swap S-ranks at will, I might actually do it, but I cannot put the effort into swapping every week and neglect my favorites because of this infuriating mode while having to redo mindless battles to get back to S on previous supports (I know its halved in requirements, still too tedious).

So back to the team comp, one or two Eirs in my team, who should be the core dancer, if any, who gets what positioning skill, any Galeforce user?, who gets what buff skills, etc

A team of Eir, Eir, Aversa, dancer, bonus for example seems weak against common threats, but maybe someone has a strategy going that works really well that I could replicate without being rich (I do have some good fodder, but I cannot waste it on mere assumptions and general ideas). I could also build commonly seen units from scratch if they are not too hard to obtain like Reinhardt/Cordelia/Cecilia/etc. , I could focus on my Winter Fae as a bait unit, but again, can't just spend scarce resources only to find out that my current approach of "just go" has the same success.

I appreciate the help, this mode marks the first time in FEH that I just feel like hating the game (sure, maintaining a tier is easy, but losing on 600~ lift because of an obnoxious system, leaving me permanently behind in resources is more than just frustrating when I'm also forced to play it every day), and if I can avoid that kind of negativity, I might still continue enjoying the game in the future, even with its many flaws.

Three of my top offensive units are Nowi, Soleil, and Loki. Nowi is a standard steady breath, quick riposte build with a distant defense seal, but she is +res/-spd with a res refine on her lightning breath. At +10, this lets her get up to 38 def and res when attacked (44 with DD), and I normally use NInian with fortify dragons. She can tank so many of the main threats and destroy them on the counterattack. I also run her with an ally support on Corrin with his Yato refine when I need some insane bulk. Aside from the steady breath, she is pretty cheap to build and extremely effective.

Soleil is my armorsmasher unit, which is extremely useful against Surtr right now, and really any armored unit in general. I gave her galeforce with the flashing blade seal since she is so fast and since she is a 162 bst unit, her bulk isn't too bad either. However, any armorsmasher unit would work pretty well. I mainly tank everything with Nowi and then lure the enemy close enough to where Soleil can run through them, so any high attack/speed red unit works well and there are a ton to choose from.

Loki is rather specific, but the fact that she is a walking tactics room makes her useful against pretty much any team. Being able to lock down a firesweep brave Lyn to 1 movement while you bait the other units is extremely useful. Unfortunately, she is a rare unit and if you didn't pull for her, you're pretty much out of luck there.

Regular Myrrh is a good one to use with two Eirs, but only if you have distant counter on her really. One thing that saves me in many of my matches is stacking in combat buffs like ward fliers or drives on a really strong tank. I used a light blessed Myrrh last week with two Eirs with ward fliers and she literally tanks everything except falchion users, which you hardly see unless it's horse Chrom. 

As far as positioning skills go, I generally give my two main units reposition and the third unit smite, just in case I need to smite onto a trap and then run away to test if it is real or not.

I'm sure there are many other great units that people can suggest, but the ones I mentioned have carried me through all of my matches with nearly perfect runs. However, you do have to think pretty hard about the matches and how the enemies will move to really do well. I've seen plenty of whales completely misuse their units and lose just because they don't know how to play.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

1 hour ago, Roflolxp54 said:

Is it me, or are whale players more likely to get tilted into starting rematches? I don't think they seem to be too happy that their defense teams got cheesed by a team comp that has ReinLyn and Anna of all bonus units.

One team ran a +10 Legend Tiki and 2 +10 seasonal units (Summer Young Tiki and Spring Sharena).

Another team ran a +10 Surtr.

Maybe it's just that they're the only ones who care enough to do as much? Personally, I can't really tell the difference because the game has consistently decided that super whales with premium +10s should make up almost all the teams ramming into my defenses, rematch or no.

[MonkeyCheez3K]

1 hour ago, Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi said:

If you're running double Eir, Aversa and a refresher, the only thing missing is a Light-blessed tank. Pick something with good mixed defenses, though favour Def, since Eir's buffs are going to help shore up that Res. Surtr is who I've been using (and he's a junky +0 +Spd/-Atk one) with great success. I've also seen Myrrh recommended. Hardin also has the kind of stat line needed to survive.

As far as who to pick for refresher, just anyone who has good synergy with Aversa or your chosen tank. Failing that, Gronnraven Y!Azura can provide some coverage.

There wouldn't be any spot left for the bonus unit then (Eir, Eir, Avera, Tank, Refresher), so what do I do there? I have a built DC +4 Myrrh, already blessed for my Tactics team, would be great here but I can't justify losing her regular blessing. Would love a flying Olivia as a light blessed dancer, but my other dancers are already well-placed in blessed teams or without synergy, so I might go young Azura or change the blessing on my spare Axura. The only exception, a -Att Bridal Ninian, has been underwhelming so far, and I just don't know if she would help me that much (she is a flyer for them buffs and easier terrain, I guess).

Winter Fae kinda came along now; Lightning Breath, +Def refine, her bond skills and Drives from my other team members as a good substitute for your successful Surt? She has the benefit of not being blessed yet, so I wouldnt mind blessing her with Light, and maybe I could reason with myself to swap regular Ninian's blessing to buff Fae and become my go-to AR refresher then...

Also how does Surt help (let's imagine his time after the bonus stat seasons), you just put him in range of the overlapping units with his regular build and pick off the enemies once triggered?

1 hour ago, Maaka said:

Three of my top offensive units are Nowi, Soleil, and Loki. Nowi is a standard steady breath, quick riposte build with a distant defense seal, but she is +res/-spd with a res refine on her lightning breath. At +10, this lets her get up to 38 def and res when attacked (44 with DD), and I normally use NInian with fortify dragons. She can tank so many of the main threats and destroy them on the counterattack. I also run her with an ally support on Corrin with his Yato refine when I need some insane bulk. Aside from the steady breath, she is pretty cheap to build and extremely effective.

Soleil is my armorsmasher unit, which is extremely useful against Surtr right now, and really any armored unit in general. I gave her galeforce with the flashing blade seal since she is so fast and since she is a 162 bst unit, her bulk isn't too bad either. However, any armorsmasher unit would work pretty well. I mainly tank everything with Nowi and then lure the enemy close enough to where Soleil can run through them, so any high attack/speed red unit works well and there are a ton to choose from.

Loki is rather specific, but the fact that she is a walking tactics room makes her useful against pretty much any team. Being able to lock down a firesweep brave Lyn to 1 movement while you bait the other units is extremely useful. Unfortunately, she is a rare unit and if you didn't pull for her, you're pretty much out of luck there.

Regular Myrrh is a good one to use with two Eirs, but only if you have distant counter on her really. One thing that saves me in many of my matches is stacking in combat buffs like ward fliers or drives on a really strong tank. I used a light blessed Myrrh last week with two Eirs with ward fliers and she literally tanks everything except falchion users, which you hardly see unless it's horse Chrom. 

As far as positioning skills go, I generally give my two main units reposition and the third unit smite, just in case I need to smite onto a trap and then run away to test if it is real or not.

I'm sure there are many other great units that people can suggest, but the ones I mentioned have carried me through all of my matches with nearly perfect runs. However, you do have to think pretty hard about the matches and how the enemies will move to really do well. I've seen plenty of whales completely misuse their units and lose just because they don't know how to play.

I wish I could use my Nowi, but she has been a core unit of my main team since pretty much the beginning of the game. I cannot justify changing anything about her, even though she is a prime candidate for mixed bulk, light blessing will never happen on her and I actually have no Nowis to spare for a new one (need one for possible Lightning Breath). A Galeforce user should come in handy, not sure if an armorsmasher, but I'll keep Soleil in mind, I do like her and wanted to build her at some point anyways.

Loki.... I summoned when she arrived.... never got her.

Same as Nowi, Myrrh cannot swap blessings as a core part of my Tactics team, truly a shame, she would have been very helpful.

Thanks to both of you as well. I might save some nerves, yet.

[Maaka]

1 hour ago, Roflolxp54 said:

Is it me, or are whale players more likely to get tilted into starting rematches? I don't think they seem to be too happy that their defense teams got cheesed by a team comp that has ReinLyn and Anna of all bonus units.

One team ran a +10 Legend Tiki and 2 +10 seasonal units (Summer Young Tiki and Spring Sharena).

Another team ran a +10 Surtr.

It may just be that whales are more confident in rematching people. Don’t forget that rematching people is actually a good idea. Not only can you see their first unit before challenging them, you can also check out what level their fortress is and whether or not they might have 5 or 6 units on defense. Can also predict whether they have may have whale units or not. It also prevents people from rematching you, potentially reducing the amount of attackers you have every week, as you aren’t challenging a random person and giving them the chance to rematch you. It might not matter in the lower tiers, but it definitely matters in the higher tiers where there are less people. Of course, RNG can screw you over anyway and match everyone up against your defense.

[Hilda]

17 minutes ago, Maaka said:

It may just be that whales are more confident in rematching people. Don’t forget that rematching people is actually a good idea. Not only can you see their first unit before challenging them, you can also check out what level their fortress is and whether or not they might have 5 or 6 units on defense. Can also predict whether they have may have whale units or not. It also prevents people from rematching you, potentially reducing the amount of attackers you have every week, as you aren’t challenging a random person and giving them the chance to rematch you. It might not matter in the lower tiers, but it definitely matters in the higher tiers where there are less people. Of course, RNG can screw you over anyway and match everyone up against your defense.

this actually. I rematched a few people for different reason:

1. if their offense was running 5 units it meant (1-2 weeks ago) that their defense is only running 4  units, this makes it easier to handle
2. if their offense Fortress is lvl 3 it means their defense Fortress for now is lvl 2 which again makes it easier.
3. also judging by the number of merges on the bonus unit they used, i can guess if F2P or whale, lessening the chance of some cancer +10 builds

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

13 minutes ago, MonkeyCheez3K said:

There wouldn't be any spot left for the bonus unit then (Eir, Eir, Avera, Tank, Refresher), so what do I do there? I have a built DC +4 Myrrh, already blessed for my Tactics team, would be great here but I can't justify losing her regular blessing. Would love a flying Olivia as a light blessed dancer, but my other dancers are already well-placed in blessed teams or without synergy, so I might go young Azura or change the blessing on my spare Axura. The only exception, a -Att Bridal Ninian, has been underwhelming so far, and I just don't know if she would help me that much (she is a flyer for them buffs and easier terrain, I guess).

Winter Fae kinda came along now; Lightning Breath, +Def refine, her bond skills and Drives from my other team members as a good substitute for your successful Surt? She has the benefit of not being blessed yet, so I wouldnt mind blessing her with Light, and maybe I could reason with myself to swap regular Ninian's blessing to buff Fae and become my go-to AR refresher then...

Also how does Surt help (let's imagine his time after the bonus stat seasons), you just put him in range of the overlapping units with his regular build and pick off the enemies once triggered?

Oh, right, I miscounted there because since Surtr was both bonus and tank, I didn't have to worry about what to swap. You'll have to decide whether you want a refresher or Aversa more. Generally speaking, if your tank is durable enough, you're unlikely to need the refresher, whereas Aversa offers additional tankiness insurance.

As to Winter Fae, she seems a bit light on the Def side of things. Yes, you could probably make it work with LB+Def and a Drive Def or two, though (or Ward/Fortify Dragons, if you bring Ninian in).

More or less, yeah. After a couple turns, Surtr will generally have cooked the enemy team down to almost no HP while making it hard for them to damage him at all. Depending on enemy comp and the layout of the structures, this often also leaves them as prime pickings for the Eirs.

[Nanima]

Okay, it's official. I can't actually beat anythijg in Aether Raids amymore. Not because individual units are too powerful to be taken down, but because they all stall me too long to actually finish the map. The turn limit is poison and they should at least give you some lift if you managed to beat like 4/5 units from the enemy team before time out. 

[DehNutCase]

3 minutes ago, Nanima said:

Okay, it's official. I can't actually beat anythijg in Aether Raids amymore. Not because individual units are too powerful to be taken down, but because they all stall me too long to actually finish the map. The turn limit is poison and they should at least give you some lift if you managed to beat like 4/5 units from the enemy team before time out. 

Yeah... A lot of my teams are getting warped because of just how high you can stack defensive stats in this mode. You basically either have to stack a shitton of offensive stats---meaning 4 goads and stuff like that (I don't suggest this, it takes a long time to figure out how to play an offensive team at that level---I only play offensive teams, pretty much, and I'm still not at the level where I can stack a bunch of goads without thinking), run a double savage blow pain staffer, or---and this is the easiest option---just let Surtr solo everything.

If you don't have Surtr any bonus unit that you can stack like 3-4 Wards on should work out alright too.

[Nanima]

16 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

Yeah... A lot of my teams are getting warped because of just how high you can stack defensive stats in this mode. You basically either have to stack a shitton of offensive stats---meaning 4 goads and stuff like that (I don't suggest this, it takes a long time to figure out how to play an offensive team at that level---I only play offensive teams, pretty much, and I'm still not at the level where I can stack a bunch of goads without thinking), run a double savage blow pain staffer, or---and this is the easiest option---just let Surtr solo everything.

If you don't have Surtr any bonus unit that you can stack like 3-4 Wards on should work out alright too.

No, I don't have Sutr and my bonus unit is Laevatein, so no wards for her. I do have a half-built Hrid that I could pair up with a Pain!Maribelle to hopefully do a better job of things.

[Garlyle]

I totlly screwed up my offense today, which means most likely I won't get into AR 18 - unless some miracle happens with my defense.

[mcsilas]

Gah totally messed up after reading in this thread how rematching is a good idea, i did that and lost and activated the glitch so now i have completely wasted Aether despite upgrading the ladder :(

feels bad..

[Maaka]

51 minutes ago, mcsilas said:

Gah totally messed up after reading in this thread how rematching is a good idea, i did that and lost and activated the glitch so now i have completely wasted Aether despite upgrading the ladder :(

feels bad..

Ouch... sorry to hear that. That is one thing you have to worry about when rematching, unfortunately. Can't wait till they fix it...

[Diovani Bressan]

I am been having 60-80 lift battles, but the more important is to win the battle and don't lose lift.

I won two rematches this week, and got a successulf defensive battle. The enemy team took too much time to start the battle and surrendered when two of his/her units dies by attacking my Surtr in the last turn. There were no chance of a Flying Nino inflicted with Surtr's Menace, a NY Azura and a Legendary Ephraim to win against my Surtr with Distant Counter and Wary FIghter. The other two units were a Eir and a Reinhardt.

I am on Tier 17, and there is a chance of me reaching Tier 18 until the end of the season.

[Javi Blizz]

I’m kind of bored of getting defense victories, but getting -80 in the first defense of the day. They should take into consideration for everyone either the highest or the lowest lift loss of the day, but this randomness is killing me. I’m considering sending feedback about it. 

Edited December 19, 2018 by Javi Blizz