Caeldori

Weapon: Prodigy Polearm

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Galeforce

Passive A: Atk/Spd Catch / Heavy Blade 

Passive B: Wings of Mercy / S/D Near Trace / Dive-Bomb

Passive C: Tempest Skills / Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Atk/Spd Hold / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Heavy Blade / Quickened Pulse / Swift Sparrow / Atk/Spd Solo / Atk/Spd Form

• A natural application of Caeldori’s combat capacity lies in a Galeforce build, given her natural mobility, strong offensive baseline, and Prodigy Polearm’s Slaying Lance + Null Follow-Up effects helps her achieve the Special charges necessary to trigger the Special more reliably; additionally, her in-combat debuffs may prove crucial in breaking through stronger frontliners. Either a +SPD or +ATK IV works well here.
• The crux of this build lies, naturally, in the selection of Galeforce as Caeldori’s Special of choice. When combined with a complementary team (who either use Galeforce also or act as a low HP beacon), this remains a powerful tool in the context of Aether Raids Offense through its self-refreshing quality to quickly sweep through the enemy team. However, its lengthy five-turn cooldown at base makes some thought necessary to maximize its effect, especially in AR-O due to turn limits.
  • At minimum, the Heavy Blade Sacred Seal should be equipped to minimize the number of hits necessary to activate Galeforce down to two; assuming she passes the Heavy Blade check and no Guard effect is in play, Caeldori can trigger it in one round of combat.
  • However, those seeking to optimize Caeldori’s consistency may want to consider making it so the Special can trigger in one strike instead. This can be achieved by moving Heavy Blade to her A slot, equipping the Quickened Pulse Sacred Seal, and receiving one final charge from an external ally; due to her flier status, this is limited to specific allies like Askr and Groom Rafiel.
  • In either case, though, Heavy Blade can be removed from the picture if accelerated cooldown support is available to Caeldori through outside support. The most seamless means of accessing this is Thorr with her Worldbreaker skill, but can include other sources like Fallen Ninian, Nah with her refined weapon, and New Year Velouria.
• Caeldori’s optimal B skill will usually be Wings of Mercy, a fantastic AR-O choice for the quick access it grants the enemy team without sacrificing momentum — all that’s required is someone to act as a low HP beacon like Ascended Celica or another Galeforcer with multiple chip damage skills, which are already standard for such set-ups. However, those who feel comfortable on not using Wings of Mercy can consider S/D Near Trace for the added mobility of  【Canto (Rem. +1)】 to ease positioning woes, or Dive-Bomb to immediately strike twice without fear of enemy counterattacks.
• Tempest skills are fantastic C skill options; additional movement is not to be underestimated, as it offers better options while both initiating and potentially retreating during these strategies. Another similar option is Atk/Spd Oath 4 to maximize the benefits of Caeldori’s flying movement through its Aerobatic effects and still grant her a sizable offensive enhancement. Otherwise, standard choices like Atk/Spd Hold works to sharpen her statline’s potency.

Weapon: Prodigy Polearm

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Moonbow / Noontime / Glimmer / Luna 

Passive A: Atk/Spd Catch / Atk/Spd Unity / Distant Stance / Distant Dart / Distant Counter

Passive B: Seal Def 4 / Mystic Boost / Guard Bearing / Quick Riposte 4

Passive C: Atk/Spd Hold / Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Spd Smoke 4 / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Form / Iote’s Shield / Mystic Boost / Spd/Res Solo / Atk/Res Form 

• By nature of having Null Follow-Up and significant stat enhancements built into her weapon, Caeldori can make interesting use of a more defensively-inclined build despite the limitations she faces in her flying status. Again, though, boosting either of her offensive stats is once again recommended.
  • Generally, it is ideal to use Caeldori as a melee specialist and have a Far Save ally cover her ranged matchups; this not only allows her to equip a more powerful A skill, but moreover frees up her Sacred Seal slot since making her an all-purpose tank requires the Iote’s Shield to mitigate her staggering archer weakness. 
  • Still, using her as a melee specialist isn’t quite seamless anymore with the existence of Embla during Light / Dark Season, so as always — remain cautious.
• For her Special, those with two-turn cooldowns are preferred for their extremely fast trigger rate when considering Prodigy Polearm’s Slaying Lance effect. However, something longer like Luna can be considered if greater burst is desired, and these options become especially potent if Breath support is available.
• Caeldori typically prefers an A skill that enhances both Atk and Spd. Atk/Spd Unity presents an attractive option if you run into debuffs often. Otherwise, her default Atk/Spd Catch works well. 
  • However, those seeking to use her as an all-purpose unit without Far Save assistance requires an A skill that enables counterattacks regardless of distance; Distant Stance and Distant Dart are best among the fourth-tier options, but regular Distant Counter works fine if those are unavailable.
• While somewhat scarce, Seal Def 4 proves a surprisingly potent B skill candidate for Caeldori; it augments her damage even further through a constant -11 cut to her foe’s Defense on top of Prodigy Polearm, and even offers perpetual Guard under the proper circumstances to help against Brave attackers and quicker foes. A more specialized survivability option is Mystic Boost 4, whose healing, supplemental Atk debuff, and negation of adapative damage, Wrathful Staff, and Dazzling Staff comes as a particular benefit to ranged tanking. Those who really want Caeldori to have some form of damage reduction can consider Guard Bearing or Quick Riposte 4, with the latter aiding her matchups against faster opponents who she’d otherwise Spd-tie with.
• Her C skill is generally flexible; anything that helps build on Caeldori’s stat strengths are welcome, including Atk/Spd Oath, Spd Smoke 4 for damage reduction, and her default Atk/Spd Hold. Caeldori’s Sacred Seal is equally flexible between standard stat-boosters or Mystic Boost. However, for all-purpose tanking, Iote’s Shield is usually unavoidable as mentioned previously — though those particularly bold can opt out in favor of patching her Res.

Weapon: Prodigy Polearm

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Moonbow / Glimmer / Luna 

Passive A: Atk/Spd Catch / Surge Sparrow 

Passive B: S/D Near Trace / Seal Def 4 / Dive-Bomb / Aerobatics

Passive C: Atk/Spd Hold / Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Tempest Skills / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse / Heavy Blade / Swift Sparrow / Atk/Spd Solo

• This set departs from the previous focus on Caeldori’s performance within specific settings and aims to highlight her exceptional Player Phase strength in a generalized context. Unsurprisingly, a +ATK or +SPD IV is welcome to sharpen his overall damage potential. 
• Moonbow and Glimmer’s two-turn cooldown makes them a wonderful source of frequent bonus damage, triggering every round of combat without delay; they can be paired with the Quickened Pulse Sacred Seal also to ensure two Special activations in her first engagement. Luna is also another candidate that sacrifices frequency for more raw power in a single strike. 
• There’s usually little reason to look elsewhere for Caeldori’s A skill for these purposes when she comes with Atk/Spd Catch out of the gate, offering substantial boosts with minimal effort. That said, dedicated fans can consider Surge Sparrow to supplement her damage output with relatively high healing. 
• Perhaps the greatest consideration to make here lies in the selection of Caeldori’s B skill. Seal Def 4 is undoubtedly ideal from a pure damage perspective, ensuring she can inflict a perpetual -11 Def on her foe by simply existing. Dive-Bomb is another skill befitting an all-out approach as its immediately enabled Desperation effect lets Caeldori potentially take down foes before they can even react. For more mobility-based strategy, S/D Near Trace (and, to a lesser extent, Aerobatics) are excellent skills.