Aether Raids General Thread

[XRay]

1 hour ago, a bear said:

If I don't make it into T21 this week (I can only lose 80 more lift between now and Wednesday), I'm definitely stuck in T20 for the next two without question since I'm part of the One Eir Club. Seems strange to me that you'd still need 1600 for T21 but the tiers after it are just 400 each.

The amount of Aether required for battle will be capped at 50, so getting into Tier 21 should not be too hard during Light season, and it might even be possible during Astra season as well.

[DehNutCase]

15 minutes ago, XRay said:

The amount of Aether required for battle will be capped at 50, so getting into Tier 21 should not be too hard during Light season, and it might even be possible during Astra season as well.

You don't actually get all that many fights for it, because of the no free fight thing. For a 5 day season you actually have the exact same amount of fights as before, unless I did my math wrong.

Edit: The change is mostly for people who are already in T21.

Edited February 4, 2019 by DehNutCase

[a bear]

3 hours ago, XRay said:

The amount of Aether required for battle will be capped at 50, so getting into Tier 21 should not be too hard during Light season, and it might even be possible during Astra season as well.

You're capped at 15 fights from at least T20 onwards, so 1500 max lift on Astra (except this week where it was 1900). With one Eir in a 5 day week like next week, the max is 1540.

This week had a max of 1900, so a few lucky players might actually promote. 

[Garlyle]

I feel like my defense was better than my offense this week. There were 2 days when I basically messed up my attacks, and there was one day when I didn't even do the raid attacks.

I need to think about my defense. If I fix that and the changes are implemented now, I have a chance to reach T21, but I'm not calling it.

[Stroud]

This week is strange. I am to lazy to think much about which team to pick. Which is why I just use my best default team and I still win moost of the time perfectly. One reason is the start of emerging Dumas. Duma is very fragil against my Deirdre. I guess that could be an upside of mythic heroes which buff defense. Some players just rely on them to decrease their Lift loss and do not bother making a difficult team.  

Also hope for Tharja to be a good red nuke after update. I do not have a merged Lilina and I would prefer Tharja in my def team. 

Edited February 4, 2019 by Stroud

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Still haven't run into a joke team. The closest was a full Summer team built between the two years, but I think it was more of a jebait setup because a closer look shows the formation and skills were set up pretty seriously in an attempt to snipe kills on people who got cocky and just YOLOed in for their "easy win".

[DehNutCase]

1 hour ago, Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi said:

Still haven't run into a joke team. The closest was a full Summer team built between the two years, but I think it was more of a jebait setup because a closer look shows the formation and skills were set up pretty seriously in an attempt to snipe kills on people who got cocky and just YOLOed in for their "easy win".

To be fair, most people this high up can probably build a decent team just by slapping some units together, so it's not necessarily just trying to bait the other guy into being overconfident.

(If the skills were obviously optimized for being on a defense team then it's another issue, though.)

 

The closest to a 'joke' team this season I ran into was Bow Innes + 3/4 Surtrs. Innes only had his base kit, IRRC, but the Surtrs had near full kits, so I'm not sure if it's a joke or trying to bait people, to be completely honest.

[Azuni]

Joke teams are probably going to become much rarer from now on, since now there's incentive to climb from T21 to 22-26 every week, so we can't just relax as much anymore.

Plus with the Spring Breeze/Lava upcoming nerf, people might have to experiment with other maps (Abandoned Castle seems to be the next popular one I've seen discussed).

[DehNutCase]

1 minute ago, Azuni said:

Joke teams are probably going to become much rarer from now on, since now there's incentive to climb from T21 to 22-26 every week, so we can't just relax as much anymore.

Well, people who are burned out like crazy like me will probably sit T21/T22 for an entire season, so presumably the ones that straight up don't give a shit will find joke teams more often, since the the joke teams would be concentrated lower down.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

25 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

To be fair, most people this high up can probably build a decent team just by slapping some units together, so it's not necessarily just trying to bait the other guy into being overconfident.

(If the skills were obviously optimized for being on a defense team then it's another issue, though.)

 

The closest to a 'joke' team this season I ran into was Bow Innes + 3/4 Surtrs. Innes only had his base kit, IRRC, but the Surtrs had near full kits, so I'm not sure if it's a joke or trying to bait people, to be completely honest.

I don't think it was completely optimized, since I'm reasonably sure they didn't ditch their seasonal weaponry (at least for 5 of the units—I can't remember if Camilla had Blarblade+), but I believe Tiki and Cordelia were set up to body block around a choke. There was also a bit of flier movement ability shenanigans and Bride Tharja was set up with Axebreaker. Definitely not the toughest map around, but like I said, if someone were to get cocky, it'd be easy to have a unit get surprise nuked down.

[Johann]

4 hours ago, Azuni said:

Joke teams are probably going to become much rarer from now on, since now there's incentive to climb from T21 to 22-26 every week, so we can't just relax as much anymore.

Plus with the Spring Breeze/Lava upcoming nerf, people might have to experiment with other maps (Abandoned Castle seems to be the next popular one I've seen discussed).

I'm definitely dropping my joke team and going back to a real one. I used Snowdust before and I'll stick with either that or the Desert Castle one

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Oh, hey, I think I just ran into @DarkAlf's Black Fang theme team. 4* Lloyd, Linus and Legault, with 5* of both versions of Nino and 5* Ursula sound familiar?

EDIT: Well, it's a bit late in the season, but a promise is a promise. My def team is now Florina x Brave Lyn at the Tactics Room, presided over by Lucius and witnessed by V!Eliwood, V!Hector and H!Dorcas (was a little torn between him and Matthew... Dorcas makes more sense except for the costume, but I don't own a vanilla Dorcas >.>).

And now with a picture, since I decided to stop being lazy.

Spoiler

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[Rinco]

Now that the two most used maps will be changed, which other maps are ideal to setup defenses (not considering that those two maps could still be good after the changes)? 

[Johann]

12 minutes ago, Rinco said:

Now that the two most used maps will be changed, which other maps are ideal to setup defenses (not considering that those two maps could still be good after the changes)? 

I think the next top pick for many people will be Abandoned Castle due to it also having a limited, hard to bait approach with extra breakable walls that can be used in the Defender's favor. The big thing to remember is that most of the terrain features are rendered useless against fliers, which is partly why Spring Breeze is so popular, and only Abandoned Castle can perform a similar obstacle spam without giving fliers any special privilege. What will determine the ideal terrain for many people is where the obstacles (whether they're solid walls, mountains, water, etc) are located, and whether their team's main threats can manage those obstacles safely. Here's how I'd rate the others:

• Springwater: The fewest obstacles of all terrains makes this make ideal for a "rush the player" style approach. If you want to force the player to deal with powerful cavalry like Reinhardt, this can be used to either cramp the player, or force them to move in before they normally would be ready. Fortress does best on the side to restrict fliers/Smite from getting over the ponds.
• Wintry: Really more of an anti-cavalry map with some anti-infantry features, the trees on the right make placing your team on the right hand side ideal, for limited approach. It is rather vulnerable to fliers, or teams with flying dancers. Making an approach from the left difficult or time-consuming is important. Fortress tends to work best on the right, to enclose the defense team.
• Abandoned Castle: See above. Placing the fortress on the left by the wall works great since it completely protects any fragile units placed in the top left, even if they would otherwise be baited. Unlike Spring Breeze, it's open enough in the top area that you don't have defending units getting cluttered to the point where otherwise lethal attacks just can't happen. Unlike other terrains with obstacles near the player's starting area, the walls here are spaced a little further above, giving the player ample opportunity to use positioning skills and break the obstacles on their own terms.
• Snowdust: Generally considered a difficult map to work with, as defensive tiles will benefit the player in most situations more than the AI, but there's potential. Placing the fort near the wall chokes off the left-hand approach, which can be a great way to force the player to deal with specific units first.
• Desert: This is another flier friendly map, both for player and defender. Given how Eir is (currently) a mainstay in most teams, with Aversa and Azura being also common, it's hard to make this map work in a way that doesn't unravel after a couple turns. The mountains in the middle force the player to fly or be split up, but the AI will usually do the same thing. I'm not crazy about this map since it's not as open as Springwater, and not as restrictive as other maps. Most players put the fortress on either side of the southern mountains, though I feel like there's untapped potential here.
• Leafy Canopy: Anti-cavalry map. That's really all it can do. The placement of the trenches up top aren't really going to help defend against cavalry unless it maybe stalls them from getting the pots too soon. The value of this map may change if we get a cavalry mythic or Reinhardt becomes a bonus unit, but for now it's just a way to screw with cavalry teams. Fortress generally goes to along the sides, forcing a cavalry player through the winding middle.
• Lost Castle: For all intents and purposes, this has the same pros and cons as Snowdust, but flipped and with the special features consolidated to the left. It might be tempting to build it in a way that tries to capitalize on the Defense tiles, but such plans usually favor the player provided they can reach that space. Fortress works pretty well either by the wall, or the tree.
• Bright Grassland: Probably the worst map, the trees in the north only act as an obstacle for the defender really. The lone tree in the south doesn't really stop anyone either. Dunno what anyone would do with this map that would make it better than anything else.

[DarkAlf]

@Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi That's indeed my defense team!  My two main goals in AR were to make T21 before the changes and get at least 1 Golden Throne.  Now that I've accomplished both, I'm perfectly happy with all I've accomplished, so I switched to Legault, 2 Ninos and Linus/Lloyd/Ursula for the Black Fangs theme.  I don't have Jaffar, otherwise I'd put him and OG Nino side by side.

With the upcoming changes, I don't particularly feel like trying for the highest tiers, so I may as well switch to a fun defense team to make people's lives easier, even though it might possibly cost me a tier or two.

 

[colossus86]

Do we know if the next Mythic is Dark or Astra?

[Johann]

10 minutes ago, colossus86 said:

Do we know if the next Mythic is Dark or Astra?

We can't tell, the only thing close to a clue is that it's Astra/Anima that week-- but since those elements alternate weekly, it's not enough to go by, unlike the other elements which can usually give away the hero's blessing type.

[DehNutCase]

Derp. (Misread the implied hero as 'what's the next season.')

 

If I had to guess next hero's going to be Dark, though. (This is not a very good guess, mind, just based on the fact that Duma is Anima for whatever reason, rather than the clearly more useful whatever the other type is.)

 

Edit: Interesting that we got another level of pot upgrade. (It's 1.25 more runs a season, but I don't care since I already did my climb.)

It does make the people who play perfectly get 2 more matches in the 5 day season, though, meaning even people with only 1 Eir would be able to climb up if they do decent on defense.

 

Double Edit: Well that was a fun set of games.

Operation 'Just let Nailah solo everyone' ended up pretty easy since everyone is still spamming firesweeps for some reason. 11,560* means I can just potato through the rest of my matches this week.

*Didn't get full score since I'm still using Legendary Azura. No way am I dropping her and spending a bunch of feathers on a comparable replacement for just 20 lift/fight.

Edited February 7, 2019 by DehNutCase

[Garlyle]

Oh no, it says there's only 4 days left in the AR season. There's no way I'm going to make it into AR21 in this short amount of time. I have reached 9,940 Lift today, having a -60 defense loss, and at least 2 usage on the Escape ladder is already gone. So far I noticed the pots giving 5 Aether each, let me know if they changed these as well.

I saw changes on Spring Breeze and Lava Floes got modified. Spring Breeze have a breakable walls in the back, which is a good change considering how it was the most frequently used map. Lava Floes had a lava pool moved slightly, thus breaking some of the choke point strategies it offered. Abandoned Castle seems to be popular right now.

I was hoping we get a full week in the Light season, because from next season onward Eir is not a bonus unit. I need to rethink my offensive teams. T21 seems so close, yet so far.

[DehNutCase]

Pots are the same, still 10% of Aether cost per pot as before. It's just that costs are capped at 50 now so they're capped at 5.

 

If you upgraded your pot before the season started then perfect play gives you 13 fights, which gives you 80 lift to spare if you have double Eir and no wins on defense. If you didn't upgrade your pots then you're just fucked unless you get an obscene season, though. (You lose 2 fights from the 50 Aether lost.)

[Garlyle]

29 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

Pots are the same, still 10% of Aether cost per pot as before. It's just that costs are capped at 50 now so they're capped at 5.

 

If you upgraded your pot before the season started then perfect play gives you 13 fights, which gives you 80 lift to spare if you have double Eir and no wins on defense. If you didn't upgrade your pots then you're just fucked unless you get an obscene season, though. (You lose 2 fights from the 50 Aether lost.)

That actually makes the calculations much easier for me, so I can always expect 5 aether from the pots on this level.

Also, T20 seems to be huge. I barely stayed in the 10k, but after my morning run, my rank was around 300.

[Rinco]

I think I need to find a new map for my defense setup. 
Anyone has any interesting ideas?

[Stroud]

No fun being forced to use Axura on offensive. I think about pushing Ninian. Axura is too fragil, or I may come up with another set on her. 
But overall its not so bad, got my defensive win, but 140,120,120 on offensive now thanks to my bad placing of axura. Twice...

Next week will be worse, because technically I will only play with 4 units on offensive. I may give Fjorm smite. 

But Maps are easier overall, just about the right time.

10,180 Lift now. I will see how good my def will hold this week. I have a better chance reaching T21 now. And Deirdre is so strong thanks to the update. 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Stroud

[Rinco]

@Maaka, I got a def loss by you today, nice Myrrh!
It was my second def loss of the day, so you didn't take any lift

[Tree]

4 hours ago, Stroud said:

No fun being forced to use Axura on offensive. I think about pushing Ninian. Axura is too fragil, or I may come up with another set on her. 
But overall its not so bad, got my defensive win, but 140,120,120 on offensive now thanks to my bad placing of axura. Twice...

Next week will be worse, because technically I will only play with 4 units on offensive. I may give Fjorm smite. 

But Maps are easier overall, just about the right time.

10,180 Lift now. I will see how good my def will hold this week. I have a better chance reaching T21 now. And Deirdre is so strong thanks to the update. 

It's currently light season, so why would you only have four offensive units next week? Also, isn't this a shortened season? Might be hard to make Tier 21.