Sanaki

Weapon: Rauðrblade+ 

Assist: Reposition / Flexible 

Special: Glimmer

Passive A: Close Foil / Close Counter

Passive B: Vantage 

Passive C: Pulse Smoke / Res Smoke 

Sacred Seal: Fierce Stance / Brazen Atk/Res 

• The combination of an impressive 37 Attack and Rauðrblade can make Sanaki a fearsome Enemy Phase sweeper. Rauðrblade increases Sanaki’s Attack by the sum of her visible buffs, allowing her to reach incredible Attack when fully buffed.
• The combination of Close Foil/Counter + Vantage is crucial for frail Enemy Phase sweepers. Vantage allows Sanaki to counterattack before the enemy attacks if her HP is ≤ 75%; in tandem with Close Foil/Counter, Sanaki can have the opportunity to OHKO both melee and ranged enemies before they can damage her, circumventing her awful physical bulk and allowing her to potentially sweep an entire team. While Close Foil prevents her from counterattacking against Dragons, Dragons are very rare in Aether Raids Defense.
• The rest of this set focuses on maximizing Sanaki’s damage (with the exception of Pulse Smoke). Glimmer’s bonus damage scales with Rauðrblade’s Atk bonus, making it a great Special. For her Sacred Seal, Fierce Stance grants +6 Attack when the enemy initiates combat while Brazen Atk/Res grants +7 Atk/Res when Sanaki’s HP is ≤ 80%, which synergizes well with Vantage’s HP requirement and works on both phases.
• Choosing between Pulse Smoke and Res Smoke is mainly player preference. Pulse Smoke shuts down Infantry Pulse teams and prevents Sanaki from being OHKO’d by enemy Specials, while Res Smoke inflicts -7 Resistance on enemies within 2 spaces of the target. The former helps with her initial survival, while the latter helps with her damage output.

Weapon: Rauðrblade+ / Cymbeline (+Eff) 

Assist: Reposition / Flexible 

Special: Glimmer

Passive A: Death Blow 4 / Mirror Impact / Sturdy Impact

Passive B: Lull Atk/Res / Special Spiral

Passive C: Joint Drive Atk / Res Smoke 

Sacred Seal: Death Blow 

• In contrast to her Enemy Phase set, the combination of an impressive 37 Attack and Rauðrblade can also make Sanaki a great Player Phase nuke. There are 2 routes for making Sanaki a Player Phase nuke.
• Regardless of which route a player chooses to take, her Special, A, and S slots remain the same. Given that Sanaki wants to OHKO as much as possible, Glimmer is a great Special; its low 2 cooldown and +50% damage on activation can take Sanaki’s damage to absurd heights and secure close KOs. Death Blow is an excellent skill for Player Phase OHKOing, granting extra Attack when Sanaki initiates combat. However, she can also use Sturdy or Mirror Impact to grant +6 Attack in addition to a massive +10 Defense or Resistance respectively and preventing the enemy from making a follow-up attack. 
• Joint Drive Atk and Res Smoke are great C slot options, with the former granting Sanaki and allies within 2 spaces +4 Attack during combat and the latter inflicting -7 Resistance on enemies within 2 spaces. Both bolster Sanaki’s damage output, increasing her chances of OHKOing.
• The first route is to use Rauðrblade, which increases Sanaki’s Attack by the sum of her visible buffs, allowing her to reach sky-high Attack when fully buffed. For a Rauðrblade set, Sanaki wants to use Lull Atk/Res to negate the enemy’s Atk/Res buffs and inflict -3 Atk/Res to the enemy during combat. This helps her OHKO consistency and her survivability if she fails to OHKO.
• The second route is to use Sanaki’s Cymbeline with its +Eff refine, which grants +5 Atk/Res during combat if she is within 2 spaces of a flying ally. Since Cymbeline doesn’t inflict +1 Special cooldown like Rauðrblade, Sanaki can use Special Spiral, which decreases her Special cooldown by 2 after combat if she activated it during combat. Given that Glimmer is a 2-cooldown Special, Sanaki will always have Glimmer charged after she activates it for the first time, making her a significantly more reliable OHKO nuke.

Weapon: Cymbeline (+Eff) / Cymbeline (+RES)

Assist: Reposition / Rally Atk/Spd+ / Flexible 

Special: Iceberg / Glacies / Ruptured Sky

Passive A: Mirror Stance (2 or 3) / Fury (3 or 4) / Atk/Res Bond (3 or 4) / R Duel Infantry  

Passive B: Sabotage Atk / Atk/Spd Ruse / Atk/Spd Link / Flexible

Passive C: Joint Drive Atk / Close Guard / Distant Guard / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Drive Atk / Distant Guard / Chill Atk

• Cymbeline’s Drive Atk effect allows Sanaki to play a supportive role while maintaining her high Attack and Resistance to be an anti-mage or magical nuke. +Eff is chosen because it grants Sanaki +5 Atk/Res during combat when a flying ally is within 2 spaces, but +Res can be chosen if the player chooses not to use Sanaki with a flying ally. 
• Sanaki can stack her Cymbeline’s Drive Atk with Joint Drive Atk and an additional Drive Atk in her C and S slots to grant a whopping +10 Attack to allies and +4 Attack to herself when she is within 2 spaces of an ally. Alternatively, she can use Drive skills for different stats or Close or Distant Guard to provide more balanced in-combat buffs.
• Given Sanaki’s great Resistance, she can use Sabotages very well. Sabotages inflict -7 to a stat to enemies that are adjacent to other enemies and have -3 Resistance compared to Sanaki.
• If Sanaki has Reposition, she can use a Link skill in her B slot to grant +6 to 2 stats whenever she uses Reposition or is the target of a movement Assist skill. If Sanaki has a Rally, she can use a Ruse skill to inflict Guard and -5 to 2 stats to enemies within cardinal directions of her and the person she rallies (or the person that rallied her). 
• Given her lopsided statline, Sanaki specializes in nuking and tanking magical attacks. Iceberg and Glacies are great Specials, capitalizing on Sanaki’s high Resistance by granting bonus damage equal to 50% and 80% of her Resistance respectively. Mirror Stance, Fury, and Atk/Res Bond all increase Sanaki’s Atk/Res, allowing her to nuke and tank more reliably.
• Alternatively, Sanaki can use a 500 SP Special such as Ruptured Sky and R Duel Infantry to become a high-scoring Arena support.