Dummies Guide to Altina in Aether Raids

From 11th March to 11th April 2020, all players will be receiving a copy of Altina: Dawn's Trueblade. As Altina is an Astra Mythic, players are now capable of scoring higher in Astra / Anima season. This guide will focus solely on team compositions using Altina. For more information on the skill builds mentioned in this guide, you may refer to Altina's Unit Page.

Altina as a Mythic is a double-edged sword. Unlike Astra Blessed units, Altina could not receive any Mythic Stat Bonuses from the Mythic effects. At the basic level, Altina will have lower HP values (ranging from 5 to 15 depending on the amount of Mythics used), and lower stats. Essentially, Altina is much less durable relative to other units.

However, Altina as the main unit meant that a player could opt to use 2 supports instead of 1. This could be extremely useful, as the lack of stats do mean that it is easier for support units to possibly soak debuffs away from Altina. 

Ally Options

Due to Altina's base weapon, it is highly recommended for players to stack as much Attack as possible. Units that could provide combat buffs in Attack are highly sought after. This includes ally support buffers such as Mathilda, or standard attack buff providers such as F!Morgan and Brave Lucina.  Alternative utility support, such as Bridal Fjorm and Aversa could also be useful to provide potential counter picking opportunities against Rally-based Overlaps and visible buffs respectively. 

Pros:

• Excellent Counterpicking Opportunities.
• Great against follow-up prevention, such as Brave Roy and Eliwood.
• Great against damage reduction due to double hit and Twin Blades, such as Kagero and Brave Ike.
• Flexible team compositions.

Cons:

• Units that could take Altina out in a single hit.
• Units that could prevent counter-attacks.
• Units that could prevent Vantage.

As the only physical melee Mythic as of the time of writing, Altina is also the only Mythic that could potentially run Galeforce. This is not without hurdles; Ragnell Alondite only having 10 MT could spell problems in utilizing Heavy Blade, and being a Flier also does no favors in terms of cooldown reduction or acceleration. 

If a player accounts for the hurdles, a player could potentially have up to 4 Galeforce units excluding the bonus unit. Furthermore, Altina's Mythic Bonus in Attack could also be extremely useful in terms of securing kills in a Galeforce set-up. Lastly, in relative to other Galeforce units, Altina's lower HP due to a lack of Mythic Bonuses could be exploited, as it takes lesser for Altina to get into the Wings of Mercy Threshold.

Ally Options

As mentioned above, obtaining Galeforce on Altina is not easy. Ideally, the team composition needs units capable of obtaining Galeforce, which rules out the use of Magic and Staff units in general. Most solutions to this are potentially difficult to obtain (Legendary Hector's Ostia Pulse, Velouria's Wolfpup Fang), but they are solutions nevertheless.

The remaining members are to be filled with other Galeforce units. The choice of such a Galeforce unit is up to the player, however, it is ideal for it to be capable of obtaining Galeforce in a single round of combat similar to Altina. Green units, such as Raven and Linus are likely to provide the most coverage against Altina's poorer matchups. While dancers are also good options, it is difficult to suggest common dancers such as Olivia and Silvia, as they share the same weapon type as Altina.

Pros:

• Relatively easy to get into Wings of Mercy due to the lack of HP bonuses.
• Potential 4 unit Galeforce shenanigans; could catch the defense team off-guard.

Cons:

• Units with Guard effects, such as those from Guard Weapons and Stances.
• Durable Blue units, as Altina might struggle to take them out.
• Require units that are difficult to obtain to achieve maximum potential.

Altina's defensive bulk is pretty good at 30 Defense and 36 Resistance, which could be bumped by Dragonflowers and merges. With a commendable defensive presence, Altina could be utilized to soak chills off her allies. Further support could then be used, such as Links, Chills or Tactics.

However, focusing on such use on Altina does somewhat neuter her offensive output. Essentially, Altina becomes another Sword Flier that just happens to be a Mythic Hero. 

Ally Options

None, as Altina is not the focus of the team composition. The only requirement is that the main unit in the composition should have lesser visible stats that Altina. This potentially rules out Armors and newer Infantries, which have a much higher visible stat total.

Pros:

• Easy to fit into most team compositions.
• Performs the job as a chill soaker adequately.

Cons:

• Potentially unable to soak chills off higher stat total units, such as Infantries and Armors.
• Not using Altina's kit in the slightest, as technically any Mythic could do this job, such as Naga.