Aether Raids General Thread

[Hilda]

3 hours ago, Johann said:

I don't think it'll be a major setback for you to have only done 2 fights yesterday, it's like at best going to cost you 1 Aether. But yeah, having those really brutal map layouts that require you to think and move very carefully is downright exhausting and the worst part about this mode. It feels like I have worse luck with match-ups in Light season weeks, too-- last week consisted of all easy maps even though it didn't matter.

I keep changing my Defense layout too much even though i have a 30% defense rate and last week only 2 of those fights were without a unit lost from the enemy. i guess there is no perfect defense setup. But my newest one i built up today again has quite the shenanigans in it with Lazura and if you trigger the wrong trap it is guaranteed to start the fight off with a Bride Lyn. Also Null Follow up 3 on Bride Lyn is by far better then running dazzling staff on a wings of mercy setup. Thinking about swaping out Bridy Lyn though with Micaiah, its the same opening with her personal  assist and she runs desperation brash assault + she stays then in Wings of Mercy range for the other units.

[HK Motendra]

2 hours ago, Azuni said:

Decent week so far for offense (3 160 matches, and 1 140), bad on defense though (2 -80s).

Defense would probably come out better if I wasn't too afraid to upgrade the Fort D to lv3, due to the Fountain upgrade possibly coming out before this season ends. The Fountain upgrade could allow 1 extra game, so if only 140/160 point games are played, -80 every day won't stop someone from reaching Tier 21.

That NY Fjorm bundle with the 400 Aether Stones is going to taunt me forever.

Run that by me again. It's possible to go past 100 points?!

(First timer in the thread)

[DarkAlf]

6 minutes ago, Motendra said:

Run that by me again. It's possible to go past 100 points?!

(First timer in the thread)

The total bonus is # of mythic heroes times the # of heroes blessed times 10.  For example, 2 Eirs with 3 light-blessed heroes gives 2 times 3 times 10 = 60 points more per battle.  So you can score 160 points here if you run a bonus unit with three light-blessed heroes since Eir is a bonus unit.  The bonus only applies if the applicable season is active, in this case light season is active.

You can even increase your score further based on the number of times a mythic hero is blessed.  For example, a +5 Eir gives 5 more points per battle after accounting for the other bonuses.  So a +5 Eir, unmerged Eir plus 3 light-blessed heroes gives 100 + 2*3*10 + 5 (merges) = 165 points.

For 1 Eir, you can score up to 140 before counting Eir's merges.  For 2-3 Eirs, you can score up to 160 before counting Eir's merges.

[Johann]

1 hour ago, Hilda said:

I keep changing my Defense layout too much even though i have a 30% defense rate and last week only 2 of those fights were without a unit lost from the enemy. i guess there is no perfect defense setup. But my newest one i built up today again has quite the shenanigans in it with Lazura and if you trigger the wrong trap it is guaranteed to start the fight off with a Bride Lyn. Also Null Follow up 3 on Bride Lyn is by far better then running dazzling staff on a wings of mercy setup. Thinking about swaping out Bridy Lyn though with Micaiah, its the same opening with her personal  assist and she runs desperation brash assault + she stays then in Wings of Mercy range for the other units.

I'm having pretty good results with mine, but my luck is shit so the first fights of the day have been total failures, with every fight after being the ones that I need to see.

Incidentally, when the update changes were announced, I had (for some reason) assumed that it'd take place on like Sunday night, giving us the whole 8 days of the extra blessings and Aether. This screwed up my calculations a bit and I didn't really think too hard about team building or giving out extra blessings. I'm still reasonably safe to get into T21 this week, but I've realized that, except for losing Robin as the bonus unit, I'll have even more wiggle room in the next Light season (which, by the way, is also going to be Fire/Water).

[DehNutCase]

12 hours ago, Azuris said:

My motivation for AR is really low this week, which is unfortunate, because I know I should try, but just can't help it.

If it's any consolation the free day is only barely better than Aether Fountain upgrades for a full week, assuming you don't manage to get a defense win on the extra day. If the update hits late enough in the week then every light season will be about as good as this one. (Although we probably won't have Eir as a freebie bonus unit.)

 

13 hours ago, Johann said:

At the very latest, it'll come Thursday night since the Laguz banner is Friday, so if you have the time for it, waiting til after the update to do those runs is a good idea.

No time, is the problem. (My main team needs a lot of time & focus to run properly, and I'm not familiar enough with armor emblem to just toss them at the problem, either---as evidenced by the fact that I lost 3 matches in a row with them.)

Even my 'Carry me, Reinhardt' runs don't have me doing all the calculations to make sure he actually survives everyone who could hit him once (him vantage killing everyone is more or less guaranteed, though), so I'm just sending him in and praying---which will occasionally get him killed vs. the stronger greens, +20 magical res or not.

 

The fact that I basically don't consider ease of use (because it literally doesn't matter in any other situation, since you can just retry almost for free) in rating units is basically biting me in the ass now.

[Garlyle]

260 Lift earned today with 2 raids. So far it's going according to plan. However my Escape Ladder is gone, so I'm considering to upgrade it before hitting the next week. But I also want to save up in case I get to Tier 19 so I can have 6 defender, and I want to upgrade the fountain when it comes out.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Garlyle

[mampfoid]

I won't make it to tier 20 this week. :-( 

I'm at 8,600 lift and 84 Aether. Loosing 400 lift from defense in 5 days, I'll need 1,200 lift to promote. Getting some pots I could make 9 raids, but I'd need perfect 140 in 7-8 of them. 

[Garlyle]

@mampfoid Did you improved the escape ladder? The last AR tiers are tight, if there's a week where you can improve your tier is this one rather than the next one. There's always a chance that one day you lose no points in defense.

[mampfoid]

2 minutes ago, Garlyle said:

@mampfoid Did you improved the escape ladder? The last AR tiers are tight, if there's a week where you can improve your tier is this one rather than the next one. There's always a chance that one day you lose no points in defense.

I've had no defense wins in weeks. Max 1-2 kills per week, but none that counts. 

I used 1 ladder out of 2 so far. But of all my matches, I had only one with full 140. I may have to bless a third unit ... 

[Stroud]

8,850. It goes well I guess?
But the last round I made an unnecessary misstep (Could have 110 lift instead of 90), but I still wanted to have my last ladder and got a way to secure all aether. Which is why I took 90 lift on this one.

Btw, the new build of my Athena is awesome. I just wish I would have pulled for kliff...

I often go for 130 Lift, because it is my better team overall.  

Technically I can have 8-9 more rounds. I guess 9. I pray that just 1 of these 5 days gives me a def win or ninja mode. At least soon should be the day most players only have 1 round. Which is good for Ninja mode.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Stroud

[DehNutCase]

I like how my easy teams (the 2 Eir ones that don't need me to think) are either perfect wins or straight up losses---lost again today because I was stupid and forgot units need a space in order to attack, meant to have Micaiah hit Reinhardt first but she was blocked off, so she hit her second with her Dawn Suzu rather than just getting Reinhardt into Vantage range---but my main team (the one that's hilariously difficult to use properly) is basically all perfect wins.

 

Also, I feel even more retarded now for worrying about firesweep. (My main team scores all of jack diddly, but a lot of that is just because the legend rule hasn't arrived yet & I don't have the blessings spare to bless anyone---this is still a 140 point team if I had perfect resources. Legendary Azura is there because of laziness, too---since I'm using Atk Tactic the team can actually handle a non-legendary dancer in her slot, it just costs me 3 more skill slots, which hurts, but doesn't break the team or anything.)

 

Just gonna chill and do AR only for quests this week, though. Neither my teams nor myself are good enough to break T21 under current conditions. (I'm too inconsistent, and my easier teams that can handle inconsistency aren't invested enough to cover the +10 stuff that can get thrown at me.)

Edited January 9, 2019 by DehNutCase

[Azuris]

22 hours ago, Johann said:

I don't think it'll be a major setback for you to have only done 2 fights yesterday, it's like at best going to cost you 1 Aether. But yeah, having those really brutal map layouts that require you to think and move very carefully is downright exhausting and the worst part about this mode.

Thanks, So it won't be the thing that will make or break it. Just depends on how many games I will fail on offense, as help from defense isn't expected.

 

11 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

If it's any consolation the free day is only barely better than Aether Fountain upgrades for a full week, assuming you don't manage to get a defense win on the extra day.

It actually is, thank you. I'm pretty much convinced now, that it isn't that bad if I fail this week, which will most likely make me fail by being to careless. But it looks like I can still beat a lot of teams without thinking too hard about every map and a lot of the ones that give me trouble will most likely be gone from tier 20 next time. So I either win the opponent lottery this time or try again with better odds next time and with a lvl 4 fortress or at the latest with defense blessings, I might just make it. But it is sure good, to not feel the pressure as much.

 

[Johann]

26 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

Also, I feel even more retarded now for worrying about firesweep. (My main team scores all of jack diddly, but a lot of that is just because the legend rule hasn't arrived yet & I don't have the blessings spare to bless anyone---this is still a 140 point team if I had perfect resources. Legendary Azura is there because of laziness, too---since I'm using Atk Tactic the team can actually handle a non-legendary dancer in her slot, it just costs me 3 more skill slots, which hurts, but doesn't break the team or anything.)

 

Betcha didn't even check to see who the player was for that map! Unfortunately for me, I had nobody face me today until you did, so I felt the loss. I was in the middle of giving my map an overhaul in anticipation for the anti-Firesweep skill, so there are some things not quite in the ideal locations. This layout was a holdover from last week's and hasn't done well enough for me this time around and I think I have may have no choice but to abuse Restore trickery.

Fortunately, if I'm doing well enough on the final day, I can give you a free Defense win

[DehNutCase]

4 hours ago, Johann said:

Fortunately, if I'm doing well enough on the final day, I can give you a free Defense win

I wouldn't bother---I'm going to be more than safe for T20, and I'm not going to try-hard for T21 this week anyway.

[Johann]

1 hour ago, DehNutCase said:

I wouldn't bother---I'm going to be more than safe for T20, and I'm not going to try-hard for T21 this week anyway.

Huh... you down with sharing your Def map? If it's not super frustrating, I'd be grateful for the stress-free run

[DehNutCase]

9 minutes ago, Johann said:

Huh... you down with sharing your Def map? If it's not super frustrating, I'd be grateful for the stress-free run

 

Reinhardt has CC Vantage, nobody has rallies. (Most people don't have problems with the map so you should be fine even going in blind.)

 

Edit: Yeah, just tested myself. This map is pretty easy if you have someone who can snipe the healer. (It's completely trivial for me if I just send Reinhardt in to kill Ethlyn, he then solos everyone except 1 Eir.)

Edited January 10, 2019 by DehNutCase

[Johann]

18 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

Reinhardt has CC Vantage, nobody has rallies. (Most people don't have problems with the map so you should be fine even going in blind.)

Edit: Yeah, just tested myself. This map is pretty easy if you have someone who can snipe the healer. (It's completely trivial for me if I just send Reinhardt in to kill Ethlyn, he then solos everyone except 1 Eir.)

Looks like it won't be a problem then, thanks chief. I'll probably just have Robin tank everything depending on what kinds of skills we're looking at here. I've been using Tactics Room in the second from the left so Ethlyn probably won't even come near me.

I really should just toss a Light's Blessing on someone who can help out with this since I'm effectively being given a free win here

[DehNutCase]

Huh, that was interesting.

Ran into a team with THREE turn 1 luna tomers, with two hardy bearings between them. (Ophelia with the seal, Micaiah with her Prf.)

 

I misplayed a bit but managed to get out with only 1 dead + both pots broken, and, since the legend rule was in effect, actually got 140 lift for the fight. At 9950 I should be safe even if I stopped playing AR this week, I think.

 

Edit: Another run that's interesting, I think if I had Light Blessing on Cordelia she would've had enough Res to survive. I also would've killed Lilina earlier so that Cordelia gets 5-6 more hp (Lilina had Spur Atk, and Azura had TA), but with 21 Res & 4 or so hp it was hopeless enough that I didn't bother optimizing the combat order), but I actually straight up didn't see a way to clear the map without losing a unit, at least not with a one turn strategy.

Points were pretty bad because Death + 1 Eir + only 1 Blessing on the team, but it's interesting that I'm facing teams I'm forced to sacrifice units against, now. (Like I kind of expected since my main team, good as it is, simply isn't designed to fight 6v5.) If anyone sees a deathless solution I'd love to hear about it, though. (I'd accept ones where you pretended Azura had WoM rather than Aerobatics as well.)

 

Edited January 10, 2019 by DehNutCase

[LordFrigid]

Thank goodness for the new Legendary/Mythic interaction, and the Aether Fountain upgrades. I’ve been waiting all week to use super-Robin, and she did not disappoint.

Screwed up one of today’s runs and lost a unit and an Aether structure...but I believe I can still make T21 pretty comfortably, even assuming -80 defense losses once/day.

Also Witchy Wand is fun for Infantry Pulse defense teams. I kind of wish I’d pulled a second Mia so I could give a copy to Elise, because the extra Mov would really come in handy for these battles.

[Garlyle]

Today my offense was mediocre. I lost 1 unit in the first run, missed breaking 2 pots, but overall gained 260 Lift, putting me at 8180 - although I didn't get attacked today yet.

Also I upgraded the Escape ladder to 2, because Lv1 was already used up, and I needed the Dew to upgrade the fountain to Lv3. Now that I have that, I can make 2 raids tomorrow again.

We got an update on the AR too, now Legendary units get bonuses from Mythic heroes too - but I guess it matters little if we don't get extra lift with them on the team.

[LordFrigid]

4 minutes ago, Garlyle said:

 but I guess it matters little if we don't get extra lift with them on the team.

You do, though, if the Seasons match.

Edit: that’s the only way they get the stat bonuses, too.

Edited January 10, 2019 by LordFrigid

[Stroud]

The update pushed me, Deirdre is on the next level and I can get 140 Lift with my better team. Still got only 120 lift today. Need to do something about deirdres speed. Also cannot wait for bane canceling. I never had luck with deirdre and she is +5. And she has Res-...I could also decide to try to pull a better one. But Nailah comes first.

[mcsilas]

I have been converted to worshipping F Grima's bonus stats.

I thought I was going to have a rough time in one map but I forgot I had Vantage on her, so as soon as she survived Cherche she ORKOed everything else except a weaponless Azura (which allowed me to get the pots).

This was before I even had the update.

[Hilda]

On 9.1.2019 at 1:18 AM, Johann said:

I'm having pretty good results with mine, but my luck is shit so the first fights of the day have been total failures, with every fight after being the ones that I need to see.

Incidentally, when the update changes were announced, I had (for some reason) assumed that it'd take place on like Sunday night, giving us the whole 8 days of the extra blessings and Aether. This screwed up my calculations a bit and I didn't really think too hard about team building or giving out extra blessings. I'm still reasonably safe to get into T21 this week, but I've realized that, except for losing Robin as the bonus unit, I'll have even more wiggle room in the next Light season (which, by the way, is also going to be Fire/Water).

Here is the layout of my current defense map, i changed things around abit again. The video has some explanations. I am not a nativ English speaker so misstyping and grammatical errors are there.

Besides: DONT EVAR DISTURB A BRIDES FIRST NIGHT WITH HER HUSBAND!!!

Additional notes:

If you want to be really mean you can change  Bride Lyn out for Desperation Brash Assault Micaiah.

Sacrifice will trigger if the Trap below Hector is triggered ----> she will get danced by Azura and will then proceed to kill anyone that was repositioned/danced to safety. The other 2 Healing assists dont trigger for whatever reason, but Micaiahs Sacrifice oddly does (even if Hector isnt debuffed).
This is also convenient if you want to have the other units use Wings of Mercy because Micaiah will be close to units and in wings of mercy range. She either finished them with Desperation Brash assault (because they can counter) or they live and then one of the 2 cavs can charge in with wings of mercy.

Otherwise you can also give a healer a Tier 1 healing skill that heals for 5 -10 HP. The healer will heal hectoer ----> get danced and then proceed to attack.

Ephraim can be replaced by Brave Roy

Hector is unreplaceable due to his Legendary weapon and because of Ostia pulse. Sigurd can be replaced if you want with a wings of mercy unit and be place at the upper left corner.

This map is barely affected by Aversa, the only unit affected are Bride Lyn and Legendary Azura, so in most cases people wont even bother fielding Aversa here.

[mampfoid]

Grima giving extra lift perhaps saved my plans to get into tier 20. Gave her Summoner support and with 2 Eirs she is a big help. Got me my first two 160 wins ever. 

Currently at 8,840 lift.