Sothis

Weapon: Sublime Surge (+Eff)

Assist: Assistless

Special: Sirius+

A Passive: Atk/Spd Ideal / Atk/Spd Unity / Sturdy Impact / Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot

B Passive: Lull Atk/Spd / Lull Spd/Res / Null Follow-Up / Windsweep / Watersweep

C Passive: Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Atk/Spd Menace / Time’s Pulse / Canto Control / Odd Tempest / Even Tempest

Sacred Seal: Null Follow-Up / Bonus Doubler / Hardy Bearing / Blade Session / Darting Breath

• For what it’s worth, Sublime Surge isn’t a bad weapon by any means. The issues that Sothis faces mainly stem from her role as an Aether Raids Defense Mythic as what she was provided isn’t enough to allow her to be competent in her role. She may be able to get kills on the occasion but chances are it’ll be from sheer luck or pure incompetence from the player as the mode is heavily skewed in the Offense’s favor, especially since in most cases, Sothis is locked out of additional bonus stats, meaning that the stat differences between her and the opposing force will be substantial. That being said, there are means of salvaging her but whether or not they’ll be effective is hard to say. Regardless, this set is here to attempt and make her as useful as possible in an Aether Raids setting.
   
• Despite Sublime Surge not giving Sothis enough to work with, Sirius+ is quite an upgrade as it now grants Null Guard. This can be quite essential, both for Player Phase and Enemy Phase usage, as she’ll always be able to get Sirius+ off quite easily. The former makes this a fantastic upgrade as more often than not, she’ll be baited out by the opposing team. This, combined with the appropriate skills, can make her quite formidable, especially when taking her PRFs Damage Reduction properties into account. Meanwhile, with the latter, she can simply heal back most, if not all, of the damage taken from the enemy on the first hit, assuming it’s at one cooldown or is running a Breath Sacred Seal, so her sustainability remains consistent. Simply put, it’s quite an upgrade and not worth replacing in most circumstances.
   
• Due to Sothis having Distant Counter built into Sublime Surge, she has a lot of flexibility when it comes to her A Passives. Realistically, any skill that boosts her overall Atk and Spd is going to be desirable as she wants to be able to meet Spd checks whenever possible. This is mainly so she can, at the very least, not be doubled and survive many encounters. Skills such as Atk/Spd Ideal, which can grant up to +9 Atk/Spd if both conditions are met, Atk/Spd Unity, which can reverse any Atk/Spd debuffs, or even Sturdy Impact, which can allow her to eat a physical hit more easily and shut down the foe’s ability to double, are all solid options. The former two focus more on her ability to work in both phases but comes with the risk of the foe being able to naturally double her regardless of phase. Meanwhile, the latter focuses more on her Player Phase potential, which can be beneficial as it may pressure the foe to initiate combat on her, thus granting her an instant Sirius+ for potentially even more damage. However, if none of these skills are available, there are plenty of alternatives that exist, especially on a budget.
   
• Arguably, one of Sothis’ best B Passive options will come from the Lull line of skills. More specifically, Lull Atk/Spd and Lull Spd/Res. Both achieve a similar goal of attempting to secure doubles as the foe will no longer be able to get visible buffs. They could always continue to stack Spurs and Drives, but the Spd gap will be considerably smaller as a result. The former focuses on her ability to eat a hit while the latter focuses on her damage output. Normally, you’d want to leave the B Passive slot open for the likes of Null Follow-Up, but now that it is a Sacred Seal, she has a lot more flexibility. Of course, she could continue to run Null Follow-Up as her B Passive and run a Sacred Seal that boosts her overall Atk and Spd, but that has opportunity costs of its own. That being said, you could also use this as a means of making her Player Phase prowess significantly safer as she can run Windsweep or Watersweep and safely initiate against a significant amount of melee threats, especially Near Saves. Regardless, there are plenty of options at her disposal and you can’t go wrong with many of them.
   
• There is also an assortment of C Passives for Sothis to take advantage of. For starters, she can take simple stat boosters such as Atk/Spd Oath 4 or Atk/Spd Menace. The former not only provides visible buffs but also provides in-combat Atk and Spd and the Orders effect which can be essential for securing natural doubles and getting the jump on your foes. Meanwhile, the latter can swing either way in terms of effectiveness as it’s possible that Sothis is panicked in the same turn, the foe has Atk/Spd Unity, or in some scenarios, both. Sothis can remedy the Panic status via Atk/Spd Unity but if the foe is able to negate the Atk and Spd debuffs, then it can potentially be an uphill battle. Outside of stat boosts, Sothis could always keep her innate Time’s Pulse for easily Sirius+ triggers. There’s also Canto Control and the line of Tempest skills. The former may seem rather unnecessary as Medeus, another Dark Mythic, comes with it and is arguably a much larger threat than Sothis. However, having a second Canto Control on the field adds another level of security as it can completely prevent Hit and Run strategies (e.g. if Medeus dies, Canto Control would still go off as there’s another one on the field). However, if you feel that it’s not necessary, a Tempest skill could provide some mileage, especially when paired with Null Follow-Up and Windsweep or Watersweep as she can safely initiate combat against most Near Save threats and get two attacks out, one of them potentially being a Special. And as with the B Passives, there’s plenty to choose from.
   
• Null Follow-Up is arguably going to be Sothis’ best Sacred Seal option as it frees up her B Passive for a lot of other options that can significantly bolster her offensive presence. The amount of B Passive options versus whichever Sacred Seals you could run instead is significantly skewed in the former’s favor. However, it’s not the only option afforded to her if you would rather run another Sacred Seal. Any general stat-boosting Sacred Seal does well enough as it generally helps for securing checks, Bonus Doubler and Blade Session being the two stand-out options for her. However, the former requires that she can not only get visible buffs but also isn’t panicked as it will completely negate the effects of Bonus Doubler. Meanwhile, the latter cannot be removed but only works in the Player Phase, so be sure to build her kit around it. Other Sacred Seal options include Hardy Bearing and Darting Breath, the former for taking out Vantage units, however common or rare they may be and the latter for getting instant Sirius+ triggers in the Enemy Phase. That being said, they each have their own drawbacks. Hardy Bearing means you’d give up more stats and running Darting Breath means Sothis is more prone to getting baited out and doubled. In any case, there are always drawbacks to any skill choice so it’s best to base it on what you want to achieve with her.

Weapon: Sublime Surge (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Sirius+

A Passive: Atk/Spd Finish / Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot

B Passive: Dragon’s Wrath 4 / Null C-Disrupt / Lull Atk/Spd / Atk/Def Bulwark / Null Follow-Up

C Passive: Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Time’s Pulse / Spd Smoke 4 / Canto Control

Sacred Seal: Darting Breath / Null Follow-Up / Bonus Doubler

• Sothis, while struggling in the setting she was meant for, can function quite well in a lot of other places. Sothis exhibits a lot of similarities between a lot of the olden day Godswords of having the ability to run Damage Reduction skills and Null Follow-Up as the former is built into her weapon. However, now that Null Follow-Up is a Sacred Seal, she has plenty more options afforded to her that can allow her to excel way more than she could have prior. As such, if you do plan to use Sothis anywhere else, there’s a fair amount more to consider.
   
• A recent addition to the summoning pool, albeit behind a limited-time banner, is Atk/Spd Finish which not only bolsters her overall Atk and Spd but also provides true damage and additional healing if her Special goes off. This will be quite easy to achieve as Sirius+ has innate Null Guard, making charging and getting Specials off easy. It’s arguably going to be her best go-to A Passive option due to its consistency and additional effects. However, she can always make do with plenty of other A Passives that bolster her overall Atk and Spd.
   
• In terms of B Passive options, Sothis can afford to run many more options as they will be more consistent in the player’s control. Dragon’s Wrath 4, another recent addition, can provide Sothis with even more Damage Reduction and allow her to output an even harder Sirius+, making her killing prowess and sustainability much more appealing. Meanwhile, there’s her innate Null C-Disrupt which, while niche, can be affordably run as Null Follow-Up is a Sacred Seal and can come in clutch when attempting to act as a general tank. That being said, she can still run Null Follow-Up as her B Passive instead if you would much rather take another Sacred Seal. Otherwise, there’s Lull Atk/Spd and Atk/Def Bulwark, the former allowing her to soak damage and secure doubles more frequently, and the latter allowing her to blockage foes and provide after-combat healing. It may be better to wait for Atk/Res Bulwark for debuff consistency but the general application still applies.
   
• Similarly, with the B Passives, Sothis can run other skills for her C Passive as it’s presumably under the player’s control. As such, skills such as Atk/Spd Oath 4 and Spd Smoke 4 can remain consistent in their usage. The former provides an Orders effect as well as visible and in-combat Atk and Spd while the latter provides Damage Reduction after the first combat she enters for the remainder of that turn. The latter is especially much more viable as now it can be dictated who she initiates on and when. Meanwhile, she can continue to either run her innate Time’s Pulse or run Canto Control. Time’s Pulse is for getting Sirius+ off on the first hit in the first Enemy Phase encounter. That being said, running a Breath skill or running Breath support from an external source will make it much more consistent. As for Canto Control, in most PvE scenarios, it won’t be that useful. However, if you plan to run Sothis in competitive modes such as Summoner Duels, it will be much more desirable, assuming she can be threatening enough to function there.
   
• The best Sacred Seal for Sothis will heavily depend on the rest of the kit. Naturally, she’ll want Null Follow-Up present somewhere, however, it’s not imperative that she has it equipped on herself as it can be granted to her as a visible bonus. As such, she can instead run other Sacred Seals such as Darting Breath or Bonus Doubler, the former allowing for consistent Sirius+ looping and the latter making her into a stronger bundle of stats.