Summary of changes
- New Year Dagr: New Year Jötnar <TIER 1 (Defense)>
- Pirate Hinoka: Fair Pirate Pair <TIER 1 (Defense)>
- Kronya: Gleaming Blade <TIER 3>
- Fallen Takumi: Empty Vessel <TIER 4>
- Brave Claude: Almyra’s King <TIER 3>
- Fallen Lyon: Demon King <TIER 3>
- Fallen Julia: Heart Usurped <TIER 3>
- Young Lyon: Grado’s Grace <TIER 3>
- Pent: Mage General <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Legendary Julia: Crusader of Light <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Adrift Mikoto: Caring Mother <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Kempf: Conniving General <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Petrine: Icy Flame-Lancer <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Nifl: God of Ice <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Halloween Hector: Dressed-Up Duo <TIER 3>
- Tethys: Beloved Dancer <TIER 3>
- Legendary Eliwood: Blazing Knight <TIER 3>
- Legendary Marth: Hero-King <TIER 2>
- Brave Roy: Brave Lion <TIER 2>
- Subaki: Perfect Expert <TIER 5>
- Resplendent Saber: Driven Mercenary <TIER 3>
- Duma: God of Strength <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Gharnef: Dark Pontifex <TIER 4>
- Idunn: Dark Priestess <TIER 2>
- Kaden: Kitsune Braggart <TIER 2>
- Picnic Felicia: Off the Menu <TIER 2>
- Thea: Stormy Flier <TIER 3>
- Tine: Rumbling Thunder <TIER 2>
- Ascendant Ishrar: Echoing Thunder <TIER 1 (Defense)>
- Hilda: Queen of Friege <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Medeus: Earth Dragon King <TIER 1 (Defense)>
- Fallen Muarim: Raw Instinct <TIER 3>
- Fallen Gustav: Sovereign Slain <TIER 2>
- Fallen Ninian: Frozen Heart <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Fallen Lilith: Silent Broodling <TIER 2>
- Fallen Rhea: Immaculate One <TIER 1>
- SPD Ranged Fliers <TIER 4>
Introduction
This update is another set of fine-tuning of the tier list, as we continue to address some of the feedback that the team received from the previous update. On behalf of the team, I would like to express my gratitude for all the constructive criticisms and opinions received, and I hope that discussion could continue to take place for this update as well.
This update contains things that I had been looking forward to for quite some time; a way to deal with Bolt Tower, a way to deal with Brave Hector and Ascended Idunn, and finally a way to deal with Canto cheating. We will also be making some systemic changes to the tier list next month regarding the defensive side of the game, and we will go through those changes that we are planning to make in this article.
Aether Raids Defense; Moving Forward
Over the course of the past few months, the defensive meta in both seasons had diverged significantly. This is due to the larger mythic diversity in both the offensive and defensive sides of the game. Furthermore, as mentioned in the past few Aether Raids article, it is increasingly difficult for a unit to perform well in the defensive landscape; it is challenging for a unit to be a dominant force in both Anima and Dark seasons.
As such, we decided that this update will be the last update where we will be using the AR Defense icon. For the next update in June in its place, we will have an icon that corresponds to either Dark, Anima, or both defensive season. It is also sufficient for a unit to reach Tier 1 so long as there exists at least 1 dominating set-up for the unit. We hope that this relaxation provides more opportunities for AR D units to be considered for a higher tier while increasing the visual clarity of the list.
Game Changes
Blue Feud
- New Year Dagr: New Year Jötnar <TIER 1 (Defense)>
- Pirate Hinoka: Fair Pirate Pair <TIER 1 (Defense)>
We mentioned in our analysis that New Year Dagr’s matchup against Brave Hector can be dodgy depending on the foe’s support of Hector. With Blue Feud being released, New Year Dagr finally has a good way of taking Brave Hector out by removing his potential support. As Dagr finally has an offensive role on top of her Pathfinder shenanigans, we felt that it is a good time for Dagr to be introduced into Tier 1. Alongside New Year Dagr is Pirate Hinoka, where her ability to attack twice on a blue unit on top of removing support meant that she is probably one of the most reliable units to take out blue units such as the aforementioned Brave Hector and Ascended Idunn.
En Garde
- Kronya: Gleaming Blade <TIER 3>
- Fallen Takumi: Empty Vessel <TIER 4>
En Garde is a status effect that grants immunity to out of combat damage outside of Area-of-Effect skills. This meant that in the Dark season, the Bolt Tower is no longer a reliable tool to inflict damage on the defensive foes. The ramification of this status effect is huge for any player who had been leveraging on the Bolt Tower since the mode’s inception, and while the list of units that are affected by this is probably pretty large, we decide to hit the two lowest hanging fruits first: Kronya and Fallen Takumi. We will be observing the use rate of Medeus closely, and we would make adjustments if either En Garde becomes a more common status buff, or Medeus becomes too common for the team to not ignore.
SPD Smoke 4 / ATK Smoke 4
- Brave Claude: Almyra’s King <TIER 3>
- Ranged Fliers SPD <TIER 4>
While the new Smokes are not movement locked in any way, the ones that can probably activate it in the most reliable manner are the ranged units, as melee units are probably too close for comfort for them to use the Smoke as well as their ranged counterparts. As ATK and SPD Smoke mainly provide utility in the Enemy Phase, we felt that both Infantry and Flying ranged units gained some ground with the help of these skills. We felt that it is finally time for us to take generic speed-based ranged Fliers out of the bottom-tier hell, as they finally have something to work with even if it is not what we are looking for (a competitive B slot). We also moved Brave Claude out of Tier 4 as he can somewhat leverage the new smoke skills pretty well on top of his modern stat distribution. We also hope to receive any feedback if there are any units that the readers believe to be deserving of a reassessment in light of the Smoke 4 skills.
Other Changes
- Pent: Mage General <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Legendary Julia: Crusader of Light <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Adrift Mikoto: Caring Mother <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Kempf: Conniving General <TIER 3 (Defense)>
We adjusted some of the units based on some feedback that we received. Pent’s special charging utility is now somewhat limited as it is not ideal for players to overload on magic damage as they currently lack easy ways to deal with damage reduction. Legendary Julia is probably an overdue demotion as her nuking prowess is not as impressive as she was since her launch. Mikoto’s niche of Canto Control is no longer as helpful due to the launch of Canto Control in the C slot. As for Kempf, we felt that it could be difficult to justify Kempf’s utility, as Kempf nowadays struggles to survive enemy engagements and the Flash effect is not as useful due to the prominence of Ascended Fjorm.
- Petrine: Icy Flame-Lancer <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Nifl: God of Ice <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Brave Roy: Brave Lion <TIER 2>
The above three units are reclassified either from offense to defense or vice versa. With the introduction of Medeus with his personal B slot, Nifl is prime as a valuable ally for Medeus as she meets the dragon criterion for additional damage reduction, making him even harder to take down on top of Nifl’s utility on Domain of Ice and her weapon’s Flash effect. As for Petrine, as most melee tanks tend to have lopsided bulk, it is prime for Petrine to somewhat exploit this trait to do a substantial amount of damage on those tanks. It is not class-leading by any means, but it is sufficient for a Tier 3 Defense consideration. Lastly, Brave Roy was a retroactive adjustment that we made for Eliwood a couple of updates ago.
- Fallen Lyon: Demon King <TIER 3>
- Fallen Julia: Heart Usurped <TIER 3>
- Young Lyon: Grado’s Grace <TIER 3>
Fallen Julia and Fallen Lyon are adjusted as they are overlooked from the Chrom-sideration (heh) in the previous update. As for Fallen Lyon, we anticipate that green units are likely to be slightly more popular among the higher echelons of defensive maps, making him a tough proposition as his matchup against the likes of especially New Year Dagr is troublesome.
- Halloween Hector: Dressed-Up Duo <TIER 3>
- Subaki: Perfect Expert <TIER 5>
- Tethys: Beloved Dancer <TIER 3>
- Legendary Marth: Hero-King <TIER 2>
- Legendary Eliwood: Blazing Knight <TIER 3>
- Resplendent Saber: Driven Mercenary <TIER 3>
Lastly, we have other miscellaneous changes. Halloween Hector and Subaki’s demotions were largely overdue as they were not performing within their assigned tier for the longest time. Legendary Eliwood and Tethys are adjusted due to the increased competition in the support role, and for the latter, relative similarities in stat spread compared to other Dagger dancers. Legendary Marth continues to be a giant stat stick, but competitively it is difficult to justify his usage over the likes of Savior Armors, which is similar to the issues faced by many Infantry Sword units. Saber is adjusted to Tier 3 as he can leverage on Vital Astra and his boosted Resplendent stats pretty well with his Golden Dagger.
Weapon Refinery
Duma: God of Strength <TIER 2 (Defense)>
Duma’s enhanced catapult effect can be potentially useful especially for sniping opposing Bolt Tower and Safety Fence. The boost in combat provided from his refined weapon could be useful either in just his normal combat or potentially checkmating his foes with a Vantage set. His biggest woe however is False Start, which is unfortunately prevalent due to the presence of Elimine in the Astra season.
Gharnef: Dark Pontifex <TIER 4>
Gharnef blocking counterattacks against non-magic foes is a good thing. The fundamental problem with Gharnef is that his color is probably one of the worst colors to be in for a tome that blocks counters due to Ascended Fjorm. Gharnef’s bulk is also way too low for him to leverage on his damage reduction effectively, making him ill-fit for many of the roles on both the offensive and defensive front. Of course, his turn-based gimmick continues to be relatively useless.
Idunn: Dark Priestess <TIER 2>
On paper, Idunn seems similar to Valentine’s Gustav with her refine. Unfortunately, the refine does not really fit Idunn’s stat distribution at all. With Idunn’s serviceable speed, she might actually suffer from success and not get doubled, and the weapon giving even more speed is rather perplexing for a refine that relies on the foe getting followed-up on. This meant that there is an opportunity cost present, as the stat points in speed could be used on bulk instead. Furthermore, her color isn’t particularly helpful against the most common melee nuke in the game (Brave Eirika), and the lack of cooldown reduction meant that she is relegated to using weaker specials compared to the likes of Valentine’s Gustav and Pirate Surtr who can use Bonfire instead for better scaling.
Kaden: Kitsune Braggart <TIER 2>
Kaden was never a bad unit before the refine with his rather significant stat boost based on the buffs he received, which meant that usually, he will grant at least +6 to all stats. While his refine does provide a significant bump to his combat which nobody gives a crap about, Kaden essentially added a Tannenbaton into his weapon; granting defense and resistance and Guard to allies within two spaces. While Kaden’s vulnerability to Panic remains a problem, he at least will not lose the “Drive Guard” effect when panicked. Hence, he is slated for Tier 2.
Picnic Felicia: Off the Menu <TIER 2>
Felicia’s weapon relies heavily on her resistance stat, which is reliable for the most part as most modern nukes do not invest in any resistance at all. The ability to nullify guaranteed follow-ups is also appreciated, however that meant that there is redundancy if she chooses to run Savvy or Hardy Fighter, which is unfortunate as these two are probably the most competitive Passive B skill in the modern era. That is not to say that she does not have alternatives, with the most competitive option probably being Wily or Slick Fighter depending on preference. In short, Picnic Felicia is a slightly worse version of Valentine’s Lucina as an SPD-based Armor, and the tiering also reflects that as she is slated for Tier 2.
Thea: Stormy Flier <TIER 3>
Thea’s refined weapon can simply be summarised as follows; +9 to all stats, Bonus Doubler, and Guard. The combination of all these three effects is greatly appreciated, with the last being especially helpful as fliers do not have easy ways to nullify follow-up attacks barring team support. The two small issues that the team has over Thea are her sub-par stat distribution alongside the lack of competitive Passive B for Thea to use. Thea would perform adequately as a melee specialist with her refine, however, due to the shortcomings we felt that Tier 3 would probably be the most appropriate.
New Units
Tine: Rumbling Thunder <TIER 2>
Tine’s strengths are very similar to Ophelia; the ability to charge her own specials with minimal support. This meant that Tine is mostly a plug-and-play mage that can be slotted as a special spammer on the team. The main thing to keep in mind, however, is that Tine would lose her weapon’s effect if she is still at maximum HP by Turn 4, which meant that her application on defense can be rather limited (since the attacker can just wait it out). Most of the team believe that she is not a significant step up from the likes of Ophelia, hence she is also slated for Tier 2 to reflect this view.
There also had been discussion on whether she could be used defensively similar to Young Innes. The main issue is that her damage reduction piercing only works on Turns 1 to 3 unless she is below 100% HP. This meant that attackers have control over the effects of Tine's weapon, which is something that you probably do not want to give to the attacker.
Ascendant Ishtar: Echoing Thunder <TIER 1 (Defense)>
Ascendant Ishtar also shares similarities with another mage; Winter Lysithea, with Ishtar trading Cavalry mobility for Guard Nullification. This is especially huge as Ishar is guaranteed to activate a 3-turn Special such as Luna or Draconic Aura so long as she gets to charge her special up with Time’s Pulse (as Time’s Pulse can also be disabled by Elimine). One also needs to consider the increased prevalence of the use of Deflect Magic on their Far Save tanks due to the aforementioned Winter Lysithea, however that does not detract from Ishtar’s effectiveness against anyone who dares to not use the seal.
Hilda: Queen of Friege <TIER 3 (Defense)>
Hilda’s weapon grants herself Dominance, but only when the foe is within four spaces of her. This naturally meant that Hilda’s main application would probably be on the defensive front as it can be rather difficult to control the range of requirements. On the defensive front, due to how formations usually work, most of the time Hilda would be at the back, which can also complicate things in terms of meeting the weapon condition. Lastly, her weapon is also nullified by any form of debuff negation such as the likes of Brave Hector and Ascended Idunn.
Medeus: Earth Dragon King <TIER 1 (Defense)>
The ramifications of Aether Raids Defense with the existence of Medeus are huge, as for once the defensive side had a competitive defensive unit that punishes the complacency of the offensive side. Medeus disabling the use of Bolt Tower on top of having Canto Control on his base kit can cause some anguish for the attacker, and his damage reduction can also cause some players issues if the foe does not bring enough firepower to the table. Medeus is a threat on defense that could not be ignored, as he will probably remain in the defensive meta for the times to come.
Fallen Gustav: Sovereign Slain <TIER 2>
Fallen Gustav is a little boring, but he works adequately as a Galeforce unit as his weapon does not need to meet any stat check. This is similar to the likes of Soleil and Brave Celica. It is ideal for Gustav to crash into a unit that can counterattack due to his weapon’s follow-up condition, this meant that he is probably more useful as a Galeforce initiator and be combined with HP manipulation such as Winter Bernadetta.
Fallen Ninian: Frozen Heart <TIER 2 (Defense)>
Fallen Ninian’s kit is a slightly more powerful Triandra without her murderous tendencies of flying in and committing sudoku. Fallen Ninian’s high HP meant that naturally, she is a good counter against the likes of Bridal Fjorm should she be used against the defender. Ninian’s dominant role is probably not on offense, as burning an action to receive acceleration might not be ideal for player phase strategies, and a refresher is not as appreciated in an enemy phase one. Defensively, she pairs well with the likes of Seiros on Anima season and Medeus on Dark (and no, Sothis does not exist), but she would probably need to watch out for Mila due to her subpar defenses. We felt that for now, she is Tier 2 on the defensive side, but we will be keeping a closer look on Ninian and adjustments might be made in the future.
Fallen Lilith: Silent Broodling <TIER 2>
Fallen Lilith does not contribute much to strategies that are proven to be effective; Save Balls, Galeforce, and on some occasions, Vantage. However, what Lilith does is raise the floor of units, as granting any unit she ally supports Null Follow-Up is something that cannot be ignored. Players who wish to use whatever they want can finally inhale some hopium, and her granting the Null Follow-Up as a status effect is extremely useful against foes that disable support such as Bramimond, Legendary Lyn, and the Feud skills. Lastly, should any of your player phase strategies appreciate the Null Follow-Up such as the likes of Ninja Corrin and Ninja Lyn, Lilith’s enhanced teleportation effect is something that can be used to great effect to take out the opponent, trap the opponent, or both.
Fallen Rhea: Immaculate One <TIER 1>
Fallen Rhea is a more aggressive Armor that aims to take out the opponent in a single hit. This can either be used in conjunction with her personal True Dragon Wall for damage reduction against melee foes or switching out the usual Hardy Fighter for more consistent damage reduction while continuing to take the foe out in a single strike. There is really not much to say for Fallen Rhea, as she follows the trend of almost any Armored unit that is released this year; to Tier 1 she goes.
Fallen Muarim: Raw Instinct <TIER 3>
Muarim’s transformation is rather different from the rest of the beasts, as he relies on the turn count rather than the position of him and his allies. This meant that Muarim can be slotted into any team, and could potentially be used to enable another beast to transform (especially relevant for Ash). He does come with a 5 damage recoil, which suggests that there might be ways to leverage on the additional chip damage to get into Wings of Mercy range. Technically, it is possible for Muarim to hit below the threshold by going for a flaw in HP with no flower investment, but that also meant that he is stuck as an unmerged unit that takes a hit to his offenses, which he probably cannot afford to do so unlike Ninja Lyn or Ninja Corrin with their double attacks. Hence, Muarim is slated for Tier 3; with enough support, Muarim could be useful as a Galeforce initiator.
