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Aether Raids Tier List Article - November 2021

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Placements:

Malice: Deft Sellsword - Tier 2
Wolf: Coyote's Loyal - Tier 2 (Defense icon added)
Sedgar: Coyote's Dutiful - Tier 2
Vyland: Coyote's Justice - Tier 5
Roshea: Coyote's Faithful - Tier 4
Fjorm: Ice Ascendant - Tier 1

Legendary Fae: Childlike Dragon - Tier 2

Ninja Igrene: Ninja of Nabata - Tier 2
Ninja Shinon: Sharptongue Ninja - Tier 3
Ninja Corrin (M): Daylight Ninja Act - Tier 3
Ninja Corrin (F): Nightfall Ninja Act - Tier 1 (Defense icon added)
Ninja Shamir: Lone-Moon Ninja - Tier 3

Promotions:

Legendary Marth: Hero-King - Tier 1
Legendary Tiki: Legendary Dragon - Tier 2
Legendary Hector: Marquess of Ostia - Tier 2
Draug: Gentle Giant - Tier 3
Summer Tana: Noble and Nimble - Tier 3
Kliff: Curious Spirit - Tier 3
Helbindi: Savage Scourge - Tier 3
Kaze: Easygoing Ninja - Tier 3

Demotions:

Ayra: Astra's Wielder - Tier 2
Ike: Zeal Unleashed - Tier 2
Young Eirika: Twin Refulgence - Tier 2
Dimitri: Savior King - Tier 2
Fallen Lyon: Demon King - Tier 2
Shinon: Scathing Archer - Tier 2
Leila: Rose amid Fangs - Tier 2
Charlotte: Wily Warrior - Tier 3
New Year Laevatein: Kumade Warrior - Tier 3
Fir: Sword Student - Tier 4
Karel: Sword Demon - Tier 4
Ranulf: Friend of Nations - Tier 5

Other: 

Azura: Vallite Songstress (Defense icon added)

Introduction

As we are approaching the end of Book V at the end of this month and the game will introduce Book VI, the main focus would be to make some minor adjustments from the previous update. 

Other changes

In the previous month, we adjusted most of the fast infantry units as many were forced to pivot away from their tanking role and into either a melee specialist role or a Galeforce unit. The main controversial units that did not receive a demotion were Ayra, Ryoma, and Legendary Ryoma. Despite the release of Ryoma’s Resplendent form, we continue to believe that speed-based infantries are mostly a thing of the past, and you would need. In order to reflect this, we decided to adjust almost all the units of this archetype down. 

  • Tier 2: Ayra: Astra’s Wielder, Ryoma: Peerless Samurai, Legendary Dimitri: Savior King, Fallen Ike: Zeal Unleashed

As for the lower-tiered Sword units, both Karel and Fir had been largely overlooked, as their performance is simply inadequate to perform up to the modern standards. As for Draug, while his low ATK is still somewhat of a concern, he is still a sufficiently competent Near Save unit due to how powerful the skill is. 

  • Tier 3: Draug: Gentle Giant 
  • Tier 4: Karel - Sword Demon, Fir - Sword Student

Due to the advent of Savior skills, simply having Distant Counter on the weapon would no longer suffice to qualify for the higher tiers. The same could be said for Close Counter, as a ranged unit could simply be supported by a Near Save ally to ensure that the said unit is not vulnerable against melee units. This is further amplified by the fact that most melee armored units on average have more stats than their ranged counterparts. While Shinon is the only demotion right now, we will continue to keep this in mind as there might be more potential weapons with Close Counter in the near future.

  • Tier 2: Shinon: Scathing Archer

While Leila’s strengths had not really changed, she is no longer as indispensable as before when compared to more competitive options such as the likes of Ninja Lyn and most recently Yuri. Leila’s ability to switch with a support partner is slightly more clunky to use compared to the 2 units that were mentioned above, as such we felt that it might be the right time to readjust her placement. It is also worth mentioning that Leila’s switch is disabled by any form of Far Save unit, which is especially problematic in the current meta.

  • Tier 2: Leila: Rose amid Fangs

Simply put, Fallen Lyon simply lacks the stats to be a truly competitive option compared to Far Save units. Damage reduction by itself is no longer sufficient due to the increased competition. This is especially true as Fallen Lyon is mainly used defensively in the enemy phase rather than in the player phase, which is arguably the competitive advantage of infantry mages in the current meta.

  • Tier 2: Lyon: Demon King 

Lastly, we adjusted Ranulf and New Year Laevatein. Ranulf is largely an oversight as he probably should have been demoted with the likes of Love Candelabra being available as a support generic weapon. As for Laevatein, we felt that her stat distribution does not keep up with many of the staves in the Tier, and she lacks a personal weapon to have a unique competitive advantage.

  • Tier 3: New Year Laevatein: Kumade Warrior
  • Tier 5: Ranulf: Friend of Nations

Generics

Generics are defined as units that do not have access to a unique weapon. As such, they will be tiered based on similar units from the current tier list placements. An explanation will be provided if required.

  • Sedgar: Coyote's Dutiful <TIER 2> (Defense)
  • Vyland: Coyote's Justice <TIER 5>
  • Roshea: Coyote's Faithful <TIER 4>
  • Ninja Shinon: Sharptongue Ninja <TIER 3>
  • Ninja Corrin (M): Daylight Ninja Act <TIER 3>
  • Ninja Shamir: Lone-Moon Ninja <TIER 3>

Weapon Refinery

Legendary Marth: Hero-King <TIER 1>

Marth received a huge bump in this update due to the skills he obtained from the remix and the refinement of Exalted Falchion. Exalted Falchion now grants Marth with a bucket load of stats by giving him at least +8 to all stats by default, and the ability to get more through the Bonus Doubler Effect. The main difference is that Marth now also has the ability to reverse penalties similar to the likes of Fallen Ike and Dagr, which means that Marth will no longer be punished as harshly if he gets panicked. 

As for the remixed skills, Shining Emblem (which is the same special as Brave Alm) meant that he does not need to rely on his ally to get his buffs going for the Exalted Falchion effect, while Binding Shield has a follow-up, a negate follow-up and blocks counter on player phase based on an SPD check rather than just targeting dragons. Coupled with his high SPD and the giant stat stick in Exalted Falchion, the only way Marth could get followed up on is if the said unit is running Null Follow Up and has either a guaranteed follow-up or the attacker (which is extremely unlikely). 

We felt that Marth has enough things that are brought to the table for him to be considered for Tier 1. He could be used as a sole tank due to having an absurd amount of stats on Exalted Falchion or as a melee check when tagged with Far Save. One concern would be the role of infantry units in the meta as they are largely superseded by using both Far and Near Save. Right now we feel that he is sufficient, but we would adjust accordingly in the future should there be a need to do so. 

Legendary Tiki: Legendary Dragon <TIER 2>

Compared to the likes of Legendary Marth, Tiki’s upgrades were a little more modest. While With Everyone is now given a much-needed boost in the form of Far Save, it could be more or less argued that it is not significantly better than the normal Far Save skills. The buffs from With Everyone does come into play when we discuss her refined weapon, as she essentially inflicts a -9 ATK in-combat debuff if she keeps her visible buffs in combat on top of the usual 4 to all stats.

In a vacuum, these would be a nice upgrade. However, the main issue is her stat distribution, as it could be argued that it is a smidge short in terms of defensive bulk. Compared to more competitive Far Save options which could potentially drop the damage taken to near zero, the same could not be said for Tiki even after the debuffs inflicted from Divine Mist. Furthermore, the only way for Tiki to leverage on her SPD would be to use a skill that negates follow-ups, which is not exactly ideal as the only skill for armors that does that is Hardy Fighter, which would be a compromise to Tiki’s firepower.

Legendary Hector: Marquess of Ostia <TIER 2>

While it is discussed that Ostia’s Pulse is predominantly used in a Galeforce strategy, Thunder Armads does basically nothing in terms of that role; rather Legendary Hector falls closer to the mold as a Near Save unit with his refine by inflicting -10 ATK / DEF in combat, negate follow up and reduce the first attack by 40% similar to Fallen Edelgard’s Armored Wall.

There are however some legitimate concerns with Legendary Hector, as his SPD is way too little to prevent natural follow-ups. This is relevant should the foe have any form of guaranteed follow-up, which is increasingly common in the defensive landscape. The damage reduction is also less impressive when compared to the likes of Valentine Gustav’s Loyalist Axe or even Courtly Candle / Stout Lance. As such, we felt that Tier 2 is probably appropriate. 

Linus: Mad Dog <TIER 3> 

Linus’s weapon is useful in terms of providing offensive power to potential take foes down, however, that niche could be rather limited at times as most competitive melee nukes have the ability to retreat safely such as the likes of Valentian Palla and Brave Eirika. This meant that Linus is likely to be pigeon-holed into a Galeforce role with his weapon as his weapon grants no bulk for Linus to leverage in the enemy phase. However, even with that, Linus is just a giant beat stick that offers not much competitive advantage outside of his cooldown reduction.

We also observed that Charlotte shares many of the same issues as Linus, as such we also bumped her down to Tier 3 as well. 

Helbindi: Savage Scourge<TIER 3>

Outside of his buffing shenanigans which are admittedly underwhelming as it could be replicated by running other field buffs, Helbindi’s weapon is almost identical in terms of effects compared to Legendary Hector (Helbindi gets extra ATK, Hector reduce foe’s DEF, which results in a similar net effect). He also suffers the same exact problem as Hector; too slow to leverage on follow-up negation. While he is definitely serviceable as a melee specialist, it is nothing spectacular. 

Kaze: Easygoing Ninja <TIER 3>

Kaze’s Needle provides a much-needed offensive boost. Being a dagger unit also meant that he could use Disarm Trap, so arguments could be made to use him in a similar manner to Yuri; stack up enough charges for turn 1 AoE skill, take a Far Save out and take it from there. One could also opt for Special Spiral if the intention is to loop the AoE special over and over again. He also gets the added benefit of being able to bypass Guard due to the additional Flashing Blade effect on his weapon.

Should this weapon be on a better-distributed stat-wise dagger unit such as Sothe, it would be much more helpful. Kaze rather lacking ATK stat does mean that this weapon is more of a catch-up mechanic rather than an actual competitive option for such use. 

Kliff: Curious Spirit <TIER 3>

Similar to Kaze, Sagittae could also be seen as more of a catchup mechanic, as Kliff received 9 to all stats and Guard. However, as an infantry, it could be argued that the additional Guard effect is not necessarily useful as Kliff could opt for Null Follow-Up to prevent specials from going off by preventing the follow-up. 

The star of the show for Sagittae though is the extra damage based on 15% of foe’s ATK. If we assume the average ATK amount of 60, that is an extra 9 damage at the minimum. However, if we factored in Kliff’s rather paltry ATK, that extra boost in firepower is not exactly the most impressive. 

Summer Tana: Noble and Nimble <TIER 3>

Combat-wise, Tana will continue to struggle due to the lack of competitive options for ranged fliers. However, she does have a niche of allowing other units to bypass indestructible terrains such as walls, mountains, and lakes. That extra flexibility for mobility could be further combined with the likes of Canto-based units such as Reginn and Yuri. As such, we felt that Tier 3 is probably the most appropriate.

New Heroes & Ascended Fjorm

Malice: Deft Sellsword <TIER 2>

The ability to negate Guard along with cooldown reduction does mean that Malice could be used in a Galeforce context as she is able to charge it up rather reliably. Malice also performs decently as a melee specialist as the negating Guard means that she could retaliate with a Bonfire, which when combined with Spurn allows for potential knockouts in a single hit. However, she does shares many of the concerns as the ones brought up in the previous update. As she pivots into both the melee specialist role and the galeforce user role, she is slated for Tier 2. 

Wolf: Coyote's Loyal <TIER 2> (Defense)

Keen Coyote Bow shares many parallels with Bernadetta’s Persecution Bow, with the only big change being the fact that Wolf does not require HP set up to be granted the effect. This also meant that outside of the set-up, the weaknesses are also exactly the same; the inability to guarantee follow-up could potentially spell disaster for Wolf as the pseudo-Desperation effect will not be active.

With that said, Wolf does have some potential on defense, as he only needs to be concerned with the most common match-ups. Wolf’s best B skill is probably Lancebreaker to ensure that he does get to use his bow’s effects properly for the most part due to how common he is. This can also be combined with Bridal Catria to enable the ability to attack 4 times the enemy, which is a good number to hit as that could be a potential Deadeye.  His ability as a potential nuke propels Wolf to Tier 2. 

Fjorm: Ice Ascendant <TIER 1>

Before Ascended Fjorm, one of the main counters to Far Save would be to disrupt the opponent’s ability to counter. This meant that they will usually take chip damage from what is usually double Poison Strike, which could lead to a knockout should the damage become way too much to handle. With Fjorm’s Nifl Bite, that is no longer a concern as she is able to counter so long as the foe is a ranged unit. 

To patch her other match-ups, Fjorm has her usual Ice Mirror along with the new Hardy Fighter skill, which in essence provides Fjorm with 45% damage reduction along with the usual 5. As Ice Mirror reflects all reduced damage, the special’s damage could be further boosted through the likes of Flayn and Nifl.

The existence of Ascended Fjorm does mean that the defenders are forced to adapt; Firesweep and Flash are likely to no longer be a panacea to deal with Far Save offensive teams. In light of this, we simply could not give Fjorm anything lower than a Tier 1 placement. 

Ninja Training

Ninja Igrene - Ninja of Nabata <TIER 2>

Ninja Igrene shares many of the same strengths as Ninja Lyn in terms of firepower, however, that also meant that Igrene also has the same exact weaknesses as well. As Ninja Lyn is a relatively common unit used in the offense, that also meant that people are likely to be more well prepared against Igrene as well.  

The big concerns however are the lack of cooldown reduction, and more importantly, the lack of a Duo Skill. In fact, the Duo Skill is probably the main reason why Ninja Lyn is this popular. While the extra mobility granted from her weapon could be helpful, it is probably the most useful when combined with Canto effects, but even then it is a shaky proposition as Fliers could not use the Trace skill as efficiently due to them having 1 less movement compared to Cavalry. 

Ninja Corrin (F) - Nightfall Ninja Act <TIER 1> 

Ninja Corrin simply put, can be seen as a side-grade to Ninja Lyn; Corrin has cavalry movement, is green, and hits for magic while Lyn has flier movement, is colorless, and has a cooldown reduction to enable specials to activate from her first 2 hits more reliably. While Corrin is probably better at the usual hit and run strategy due to her superior movement, Lyn is probably still the queen in terms of all-in due to the ability to use Disarm Trap, which does improve Lyn’s options when it comes to initiating the opponent. 

Corrin is slated for Tier 1 as we believe that Corrin would be on parity with Lyn in terms of general performance on offense. It is also probably worth mentioning that Corrin is likely to be more competitive than Lyn in a defensive context simply due to the extra movement. 

Legendary Units

Legendary Fae: Childlike Dragon <TIER 2>

Fae follows most of her other forms in terms of playstyle, as she is predominantly an enemy phase unit. Life Unending auto charges on Turn 1 and provides Fae a one-time top-up to maximum HP, while her weapon negates follow-up and grants guard effects on top of the usual 5 to all stats. The issue with the weapon is probably two-fold; usually, a unit does not need guard-based effects when follow-ups are blocked, and one also needs the speed to even leverage on the negate in the first place. 

While Fae’s speed is not the slowest by any means, it is not the quickest either, which forces Fae to make the decision of either increasing bulk or increasing SPD with her builds. Furthermore, running Life Unending also meant the opportunity cost of a damaging special which could be problematic if Fae is unable to take out the opponent. While none of these are major dealbreakers, these small stuff does add up in terms of offensive performance when compared to the likes of Winter Altina and Brave Ike.