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Aether Raids Tier List Article - July 2022

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Summary of changes

  • Speed Flier Bow <TIER 3>
  • Speed Infantry Bow <TIER 3>
  • Defensive Flier Colored Bow <TIER 4> 
  • Defensive Infantry Colorless Bow <TIER 4>
  • Defensive Flier Colorless Bow <TIER 4>
  • Faye: Devoted Heart <TIER 4>
  • Gordin: Altean Archer <TIER 4>
  • Defensive Armor Swords <TIER 2>
  • Defensive Infantry Swords <TIER 3>
  • Defensive Cavalry Swords <TIER 4>
  • Speedy Cavalry Swords <TIER 4>
  • Helbindi: Savage Scourge <TIER 3>
  • Nemesis: King of Liberation <TIER 3>
  • Itsuki: Finding a Path <TIER 3>
  • Sigurd: Holy Knight <TIER 4>
  • Defensive Armor Axes <TIER 2>
  • Defensive Infantry Axes <TIER 3>
  • Defensive Cavalry Axes <TIER 4>
  • Speedy Cavalry Axes <TIER 4>
  • Frederick: Polite Knight <TIER 4>
  • Bartre: Fearless Warrior <TIER 4>
  • Barst: The Hatchet <TIER 4>
  • Winter Marth: Royal Altean Duo <TIER 3>
  • Sothis: Silver Specter <TIER 2>
  • Black Knight: Sinister General <TIER 2>
  • Zelgius: Jet-Black General <TIER 2>
  • Speedy Armor Bow <TIER 3>
  • Speedy Armor Dagger <TIER 3>
  • Spring Sharena: Spring Princess <TIER 4>
  • Nino: Pious Mage <TIER 4>
  • Orochi: Merry Diviner <TIER 4>
  • Ced: Hero on the Wind <TIER 4>
  • Tharja: Dark Shadow <TIER 4>
  • Sophia: Nabata Prophet <TIER 4>
  • Lyon: Shadow Prince <TIER 4>
  • Altina: Dawn's Trueblade <TIER 2>
  • Keaton: Lupine Collector <TIER 2>
  • Finn: Lance of Legend <TIER 2>
  • Reinhardt (WT): Thunder's Sword <TIER 2>
  • Lex: Young Blade <TIER 2>
  • Stahl: Viridian Knight <TIER 4>
  • New Year Keaton: Resolved Wolfskin <TIER 4>
  • Legendary Edelgard: Flame Emperor <TIER 2>
  • Legendary Byleth (F): The Fódlan Light <TIER 1> (D)
  • Panne: Proud Taguel <TIER 3>
  • Legendary Roy: Blazing Lion <TIER 2>
  • Kjelle: Fair Fighter <TIER 1>
  • Bridal Fjorm: Bride of Rime <TIER 1>
  • Mordecai: Kindhearted Tiger <TIER 3>
  • Fallen Mareeta: The Blade's Pawn <TIER 2>
  • Summer Edelgard: Sun Empresses <TIER 1>
  • Summer Dimitri: Sky-Blue Lion <TIER 1>
  • Summer Claude: Tropical Trouble <TIER 2>
  • Summer Micaiah: Wavecrest Maiden <TIER 1> (A)
  • Legendary Xander: Gallant King <TIER 1>
  • Summer Eirika: Beach Restorer <TIER 1> (D)
  • Summer Nifl: Tropical Ice God <TIER 2> (AD)
  • Harmonic Thorr: Sun-Kissed Gods <TIER 1>

Introduction

In the previous update, we adopted a season-based approach for all defensive considerations. The focus of this update is not only to make several adjustments based on the feedback we received based on the previous update but also to address some of the new options that some weapon types had received over the course of the month.

Weapon Considerations

Whitecap Bow

  • Speed Flier Bow <TIER 3>
  • Speed Infantry Bow <TIER 3>
  • Defensive Flier Bow <TIER 4> 
  • Defensive Infantry Bow <TIER 4>
  • Faye: Devoted Heart <TIER 4>
  • Gordin: Altean Archer <TIER 4>

Whitecap Bow shares a lot of similarities with Winter Lysithea’s weapon; hitting twice if the unit meets a speed check. Compared to Ninja Yumi, Whitecap Bow has a 10 ATK advantage excluding Ninja Yumi’s 4 true damage based on SPD. For the most part, Whitecap Bow supersedes any bows that were using Ninja Yumi before. While all speedy bows benefit from this weapon, we felt that it is still not adequate for generic bow units to be considered for Tier 2. For now, we pushed the remaining speedy bow units (flier and infantry) to Tier 3 in parity with Cavalry (we will discuss armored units in the later section). We also adjusted Gordin to Tier 4 due to oversaturation of bow units who hit twice with Whitecap Bow, and it is not worth the opportunity cost to run Gordin with his relatively unoptimized stat spread in the modern era. 

It is also a good time for us to also re-assess the state of bow units in general, and for the most part, defensive bows outside of armored units are an increasingly difficult proposition due to the lack of skills to leverage on their stat distribution, with Lulls and Quick Riposte being the only 2 options for Infantry to be used in the enemy phase. This consideration is also the reason we bumped Faye to Tier 4. While Fliers are still the absolute worst in a strictly enemy-phase role, they still have the ability to support allies leveraging on Reins and Rein Bow to provide some level of stat support. Such a role is relatively stat-spread agnostic, which is why we also adjusted the flier bows to Tier 4 as well. 

Coral Saber

  • Defensive Armor Swords <TIER 2>
  • Defensive Infantry Swords <TIER 3>
  • Defensive Cavalry Swords <TIER 4>
  • Speedy Cavalry Swords <TIER 4>
  • Helbindi: Savage Scourge <TIER 3>
  • Nemesis: King of Liberation <TIER 3>
  • Itsuki: Finding a Path <TIER 3>
  • Sigurd: Holy Knight <TIER 4>

The main point of comparison with Coral Saber is Divine Tyrfing, which is a personal weapon that Sigurd and Seliph share with the guaranteed follow-up attack and +10 ATK and DEF, with the magic damage reduction something that is rather inconsequential at the end of the day as they are not supposed to engage on mages in the enemy phase. When compared with a DEF-refined Coral Saber, the difference is 7 ATK and 1 DEF, which is actually not as large of a gap as it seemed due to the opportunity cost of using a unit that is much older, which has a much less optimized stat spread overall.

Naturally, the winners are any form of melee specialists. Even the cavalries who are usually not as useful in the defensive role could leverage on this weapon somewhat well using Lull ATK DEF as they are no longer coupled with the Quick Riposte Seal. Units with less competitive weapons, such as Nemesis and Itsuki, can also leverage these weapons fairly well as well. In contrast, the role of Sigurd became significantly more saturated, as a generic cavalry with this weapon can somewhat perform the same role as Sigurd. We felt that Sigurd should also be adjusted down to be of parity with the other sword cavaliers due to this reason. 

Seahorse Axe

  • Defensive Armor Axes <TIER 2>
  • Defensive Infantry Axes <TIER 3>
  • Defensive Cavalry Axes <TIER 4>
  • Speedy Cavalry Axes <TIER 4>
  • Frederick: Polite Knight <TIER 4>
  • Bartre: Fearless Warrior <TIER 4>
  • Barst: The Hatchet <TIER 4>

Similar to Coral Saber, Seahorse Axe is the exact same weapon except it is an Axe weapon. The same reasoning applies as well, with Frederick, Bartre, and Barst having a possible new lease of life with the help of these weapons. Melee nukes now come in more color diversity instead of being Legendary Sigurd all the time, making these units nowadays a relatively decent proposition. While one could argue that Pirate Veronica is also adversely affected by this change, the additional cooldown reduction is just enough for Veronica to be in contention for a Galeforce role at the very least

Other Changes

Savvy Fighter

  • Winter Marth: Royal Altean Duo <TIER 3>
  • Sothis: Silver Specter <TIER 2>
  • Black Knight: Sinister General <TIER 2>
  • Zelgius: Jet-Black General <TIER 2>
  • Speedy Armor Bow <TIER 3>
  • Speedy Armor Dagger <TIER 3>

It has been about 6 months since the release of Savvy Fighter, and it is a good time for the team to re-evaluate the state of the skill. It is relatively apparent that stacking bulk is largely preferred over stacking speed, with the main niche of Savvy Fighter being largely against melee threats due to less prominence of damage reduction piercing effects (Legendary Nanna being the rare exception that is rarely used on a defense team). It is also worth noting that there is also a significant speed creep over the years, and some of the older units are not capable of keeping up and require close attention by providing more support. We moved Winter Sothis, Black Knight, and Zelgius down due to this reason. 

Conversely, we decided that in general, ranged armors are probably better off stacking the usual DEF and RES due to the increased prominence of damage reduction mentioned in the previous paragraph and adjusted the tiering of such units accordingly. 

Attacking Twice

  • Altina: Dawn's Trueblade <TIER 2>
  • Keaton: Lupine Collector <TIER 2>
  • Finn: Lance of Legend <TIER 2>
  • Reinhardt (WT): Thunder's Sword <TIER 2>
  • Lex: Young Blade <TIER 2>
  • Stahl: Viridian Knight <TIER 4>

The introduction of Summer Thorr essentially enables units that hit twice to hit even harder than before. This can be further paired with New Year Peony with Cross Spur ATK for an even larger damage boost for these units. As more and more units have clauses that reduce damage from the first hit, hitting twice is becoming an increasingly more useful niche moving forward. Furthermore, the increasing lack of Hardy Bearing in some of the teams meant that running Vantage teams is more viable than ever before. 

Miscellaneous Changes

  • Spring Sharena: Spring Princess <TIER 4>
  • Nino: Pious Mage <TIER 4>
  • Orochi: Merry Diviner <TIER 4>
  • Ced: Hero on the Wind <TIER 4>
  • Tharja: Dark Shadow <TIER 4>
  • Sophia: Nabata Prophet <TIER 4>
  • Lyon: Shadow Prince <TIER 4>

Similar to the previous updates where we adjusted some of the melee units, we adjusted these infantry mages down due to opportunity cost with subpar stat distribution, and the increased relative strength of weapons (both inheritable and personal). 

  • New Year Keaton: Resolved Wolfskin <TIER 4>

New Year Keaton was evaluated back when Legendary Sigurd was still a thing. As mentioned in the previous sections, being green is no longer as much of a death sentence as before, which meant that Keaton’s stat spread alongside the slight damage boost something that is worth considering at the very least for his avid fans. 

  • Legendary Edelgard: Flame Emperor <TIER 2>

The introduction of Assault Troop meant that activating Raging Storm is much easier with the Legendary version of Edelgard, which is the whole point with Legendary Edelgard, to begin with. However, people who wish to use Edelgard in this manner are probably better off keeping their Summer Edelgard for this use instead, which we will discuss in the later sections.

  • Legendary Byleth (F): The Fódlan Light  <TIER 1> (D)

With the help of the season-based evaluation on defense, Legendary Byleth (F) slots herself nicely to be used in composition with Bridal Catria at least in the Dark season. The Guard nullification is also something that can be used to great effect by her allies, guaranteeing their specials and potentially damage reduction piercing effects

Weapon Refinery

Panne: Proud Taguel <TIER 3>

Similar to Selkie and Ranulf before in the previous months, Panne’s role is also difficult to define. Guaranteed follow-ups, a significant boost to all stats, guard effect, and true damage alongside her default cavalry effectiveness does make her a significantly better unit. However, the effects listed above are largely more useful for an enemy-phase unit, in which Panne being a cavalier means that not only is her choice of Passive B limited, but she would also have to struggle against Brave Eirika, which is a particularly problematic melee nuke due to her cavalry effectiveness. 

Mordecai: Kindhearted Tiger <TIER 3>

Outside of the +10 ATK and DEF boost which is not going to be used a whole lot, Mordecai essentially inflicts a pseudo-Pulse Smoke effect. The issue however is the range of the debuffs, as it is only within 2 spaces of him and the ally he used his assist skill on, which is rather short and can be quite a bother to use. The main use is likely to be disabling Hardy Fighter on Armored foes as it does not eat an action compared to Pulse Smoke, however, its utility is largely depending on the placement on the armored unit, which can be problematic if the Armored unit is not at the frontline. 

Legendary Roy: Blazing Lion <TIER 2>

When coupled with the new remixed effect of Human Virtue, Legendary Roy’s game plan is relatively simple; leverage on the damage reduction effect of Human Virtue II, double the foe back, and hit hard with the help of acceleration and Guard Nullification. Roy’s damage reduction is dependent on the number of visible buffs on his allies within 2 spaces, which can be awkward for any composition that is not a Save Ball due to his allies being vulnerable to attacks from the foes, with the only safe spot likely to be the space that is 2 spaces behind Roy. This implies that Roy’s realistic damage reduction range should be about 24% (assuming +6 to all stats), which is significantly weaker than other damage reduction skills. Coupled with Null Follow-Up not being part of the weapon effect, and the usual woes of damage reduction piercing on ranged foes, it can be difficult to justify Roy to be a higher tier than Tier 2.

Kjelle: Fair Fighter <TIER 1>

Usually, we do not believe in winning through sheer stats. However, Kjelle is likely to be an exception to the rule due to the sheer amount of ATK debuffs the weapon could potentially inflict on her foe. Realistically, Kjelle should be able to meet all but the SPD check for the refining effect, which equates to reducing 30% of the foe’s ATK on top of the flat -10 ATK on the weapon. The flat reduction is especially effective as it is done additively to the percentage reduction. For example, assuming the foe has 70 ATK and Kjelle meets all but the SPD check, Kjelle will in total inflict a -31 ATK penalty (-21 percentage, -10 flat), which is for lack of better words, f*cking ridiculous. 

Bridal Fjorm: Bride of Rime <TIER 1>

With the refine on the weapon, she not only got a slightly more lenient check for isolation, but she also gain the ability to negate debuffs for all allies within 2 spaces. This is useful for predominantly enemy-phase strategy due to the 2 space requirements, but it is simply the cherry on top of the sundae as isolation is still a map-breaking infliction deserving of Tier 1. 

Fallen Mareeta: The Blade's Pawn <TIER 2>

Shadow Sword now makes Mareeta even better as a Galeforce unit with Guard Nullification and even more ATK and SPD that is sorely needed for her to catch up with modern units. She can either be used as a Wings of Mercy follow-up unit or paired up with Winter Bernadetta as a Galeforce initiator using HP manipulation. As such, she follows the path of many of the Infantry Galeforce units in Tier 2.

New Units

Summer Edelgard: Sun Empresses <TIER 1>

Summer Edelgard with her weapon, Raging Storm, and the new skill Assault Troop makes her one of the best Galeforce initiators in the game. Assault Troop effectively grants Summer Edelgard cavalry-like movement, her weapon is essentially a Galeforce unit’s wet dreams (cooldown -1, attacks twice, easy Heavy Blade checks), and Raging Storm is another action on top of Galeforce. Edelgard can either be used as a hit-and-run unit, using Fury and recoil to reliably get into Wings of Mercy or just using HP manipulation with Winter Bernadetta. Summer Edelgard is likely to be a menace for most defenses, and will likely cause ripples in the meta not just for her effectiveness, but her popularity as well.

Summer Dimitri: Sky-Blue Lion <TIER 1>

Summer Dimitri follows Legendary Dimitri’s footsteps with Atrocity as his Passive B, and when coupled with his weapon’s conditional effect of hitting twice, it makes Summer Dimitri similar to Brave Alm in many aspects, with the main difference being the movement. Following Brave Alm’s placement in Tier 1, the question is whether he should be considered for defense or offense. We felt that for now, Summer Dimitri is considered more for his offensive output, but we will re-visit this should it be necessary. 

Summer Claude: Tropical Trouble <TIER 2>

While Summer Claude gains Fallen Star from his Legendary counterpart, what he does not have is the Null Follow-Up effect from Failnaught. This is especially worrying as Legendary Claude leverages on that quite a bit when used as a hit-and-run unit to prevent guaranteed follow-ups. Fortunately, all hope is not lost as there is now Null Follow-Up support in the form of Legendary Byleth (M) and Fallen Lilith, so support options are more readily available compared to before. There is also a slight benefit of Canto Rem on his weapon, but it is likely only useful when smiting Claude right into the enemy team, which at the end of the day is not very helpful either. 

Summer Micaiah: Wavecrest Maiden <TIER 1> (A)

There are 2 big elephants in the room for Summer Micaiah; the difficult RES check and the comparison with Winter Lysithea. Due to being a cavalry, it is difficult for Summer Micaiah to outpace a tank in terms of stats, especially on the defensive front, and it is also not helping that Prescience is arguably less effective than simply running a Lull in terms of meeting the RES check. While the same could be argued with Winter Lysithea, it is usually not an armor’s priority to stack SPD as opposed to stack RES, which meant that Winter Lysithea is much more likely than Summer Micaiah to get her Brave attacks off. 

While the team has the general consensus that Summer Micaiah is probably worse than Winter Lysithea in terms of pure offensive output, perhaps it is the wrong angle to look at things; Summer Micaiah essentially forces the defending player to stack enough RES to deal with her, which means that there is the potential opportunity cost to exploit, with the most notable being the use of Whitecap Bow on another unit to potentially the lack of SPD and DEF stacking on the foe. Summer Micaiah might not be as versatile as Winter Lysithea on defense, but under the right circumstances and team composition she can be used to great effect. For now, we are willing to slot Micaiah in Tier 1 on Anima season due to having a competitive RES Mythic to improve her stat check potential, but similar to Summer Dimitri we would review her placement should it be necessary. 

Legendary Xander: Gallant King <TIER 1>

Legendary Xander is yet another Axe Cavalry, except rather than focusing on the offensive side of the game (Summer Dimitri and Groom Roy), Xander opt for being more defensively minded with full Null Follow-Up (compared to only neutralizing follow-up negation) and damage reduction instead of damage boosts. Xander also has the coveted cooldown reduction on top of cooldown acceleration on his weapon, making Xander incredibly self-sufficient as a Galeforce unit. Lastly, the embedded Canto on his personal Passive B makes retreating reasonably trivial as well. While not an offensive powerhouse compared to the likes of Dimitri and Roy, Xander provides just enough for a Tier 1 consideration as a Galeforce unit. 

Summer Eirika: Beach Restorer <TIER 1> (D)

Summer Eirika follows in the same footsteps as her Brave counterpart with the ranged variant of Moonlight Bangle, with the key difference being that she is locked to Canto 1 instead of Canto 2. This meant that Eirika’s damage output can be difficult to deal with unless the foe runs Deflect Magic, and even then it can be punished by running physical units alongside Summer Eirika. The Guard Smoke that Eirika inflicts also works if Eirika gets taken out, which might provide additional value on the defensive front as well. On Dark defense where the focus is less on threat range and more on firepower, Eirika easily makes the cut for Tier 1 alongside her Guard Smoke disruption. 

Summer Nifl: Tropical Ice God <TIER 2> (AD)

Summer Nifl is a radically different unit compared to her original counterpart, with the only big similarities being the weapon type and Domain of Ice. Summer Nifl is more selfish as she gets both Null Follow-Up and a pseudo-Firesweep based on a speed check. This meant that Nifl is likely to remain on the field, and Domain of Ice with its damage reduction can then be used to ensure that her allies can at least take a hit. However, compared to the other units at a higher tier, Nifl’s damage reduction pales in comparison, and it can be argued that her original form with Flash Smoke is much more disruptive. 

Harmonic Thorr: Sun-Kissed Gods <TIER 1>

As mentioned in the previous section on attacking twice, Exposure is game-changing for any unit that can attack twice. This means that we now have a Muspell equivalent for any Vantage unit for attacking twice. Worldbreaker is also a phenomenal ability that enables either more powerful special, or straight up using Miracle to further guarantee their survival. Thorr with the extra changes on each turn can also be used for clean-up purposes, making her both useful combat-wise and support-wise.

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About the Author(s)

Maskilraid is a writer specialising in Fire Emblem Heroes. He situates in the tiny island of Singapore, and is a fanatic in crafting Aether Raids Defence teams. He also has academic background in Statistics, providing statistical analysis of the pull rates in Fire Emblem Heroes.

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