Xander

Weapon: Siegfried (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Moonbow / Ruptured Sky / Glimmer / Ignis

A Passive: Mirror Stance 3 / Bracing Stance 3 / Distant Def (3 or 4) / Steady Stance (3 or 4) 

B Passive: Lull Atk/Def / Quick Riposte

C Passive: Atk Smoke / Def Smoke / Def/Res Menace / Atk/Def Menace / Atk/Res Menace

Sacred Seal: Distant Def / Quick Riposte / Atk/Def Solo / Mirror Stance

• Siegfried’s ability to negate follow-ups, debuff the foe for Atk and Def, and counterattack regardless of the foe’s range means Xander can run a fairly decent Enemy Phase set, and even though two of the effects work in both phases, those being the follow-up negation and the debuffs, Xander won’t be able to make good use of his abilities in the Player Phase due to his stat allocation. As such, it’s recommended that he’d be run as an Enemy Phase unit.
   
• Depending on what other skills and support Xander chooses to run, he can either use a good chunk of 2 CD Specials, such as Moonbow or Ruptured Sky, or even run Ignis if he has an ally that can accelerate his cooldown. Siegfried’s ability to negate follow-ups, combined with Quick Riposte, means Xander can always trigger a 2 CD Special in the enemy Phase, regardless of the supports. Likewise, he can always trigger Ignis if running a support unit such as Brave Lucina or New Year Velouria. So, it’ll mostly come down to preference, but given Xander’s large Def stat, you may want to consider the latter.
   
• As Siegfried grants the ability to counterattack regardless of the foe’s range, Xander effectively has a free A Passive to work with. This can be filled with skills that increase his Def and/or Res stat as they’ll increase his overall longevity, and since his PRF also negates follow-up attacks from the foes and debuffs them for Atk and Def, he’ll be taking even less damage from foes. On another note, since Xander naturally has high Def, it might be in your best interest to increase his Res stat first and foremost seeing as the meta is filled with Res-hitting units. Thus, a skill such as Mirror Stance 3 would make a perfect fit for him.
   
• Xander’s archetype as an Enemy Phase cavalry unit means he has little to work with when it comes to his B Passives. The only notable options at his disposal include Lull Atk/Def and Quick Riposte. Quick Riposte is something he’ll want in his base kit regardless since he has no means of doubling naturally. So, this can be run either as his B Passive or his Sacred Seal and depending on the choice, you can then take Lull Atk/Def as his B Passive.
   
• With the recent introduction to Menace skills, Xander is able to use more types of C Passives. Def/Res Menace, as well as Atk/Def Menace, make perfect fits for his C Passive as he is not only able to increase his overall bulk, but also decrease the foe’s offensive and defensive prowess. If these skills are not available to you, you can always run Atk Smoke or Def Smoke instead to either increase his damage output or tanking abilities.
   
• Xander’s Sacred Seal is rather flexible if you’re already running Quick Riposte as his B Passive. Xander is able to run a plethora of skills that either increase his overall bulk or his overall damage output. This includes Distant Defense, Atk/Def Solo, and Mirror Stance: three skills that allow Xander to increase his longevity. However, if his B Passive is already occupied by Lull Atk/Def or any other skill not named Quick Riposte, his best Sacred Seal option would have to be Quick Riposte.

Weapon: Siegfried (+Eff) / Brave Sword+

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Escutcheon / Moonbow / Ignis

A Passive: Fort. Def/Res (2 or 3) / AR-D Def/Res 3 / Armored Blow / Bracing Blow

B Passive: Lunge

C Passive: Panic Smoke / Def Smoke

Sacred Seal: Deflect Melee

• The goal with this set is to have Xander set up against the opposing team with some sort of Smoke skill by surviving a Player Phase. This can be accomplished fairly easily thanks to Siegfried’s debuffing potency and follow-up negation. Moreover, most foes on Aether Raids Offense tend to fall into the melee category, so having extra Def alongside his rather high Def stat means he can survive more often from retaliation. Of course, if you want to further utilize this set, you can ditch his PRF and run a Brave Sword as he’ll be able to charge up Escutcheon and take on multiple melee hits thanks to his Special and Sacred Seal.
   
• For Xander’s Special, he’ll want to prioritize his ability to survive combat. As such, running a skill such as Escutcheon can allow Xander to take on more damage if necessary. However, because Siegfried has Dual-Phase Impact, he may not need it whatsoever. That being said, if the foe can bypass the Impact, then Escutcheon should play a role in his survivability. Likewise, if he’s running Brave Sword, he can charge up Ignis instead. This can be used as a “scare” tactic as the foe will have no choice but to prioritize Xander before the rest of his team.
   
• Xander will want skills that can increase his overall bulk as the goal is to set up against the foe. This means skills such as Fort. Def/Res and AR-D Def/Res are his most worthwhile skills. However, because Xander will be initiating in this set, you can also run Armored Blow as well as Bracing Blow to further increase his bulk if on a budget. 
   
• Lunge is meant to separate the foe from their allies after setting up a Smoke. As long as Xander survives, he can then force a foe to take on more hits from Xander’s allies. However, this can fail against Save teams as they can disable the movement from Lunge. So, on the possibility that Xander cannot Lunge, he can still set himself up as a Wings of Mercy bot and his allies can then deal with the opposing team that way.
   
• Xander’s C Passive is going to be the catalyst to this set as there is no other reason to set up otherwise. This can be flexible depending on what kind of budget is needed, but for most cases, Panic Smoke is going to be doing the most work. If that isn’t available, Xander can instead run Def Smoke or any other Smoke skill that can complement his allies.
   
• Deflect Melee is here for survivability purposes. Xander is able to negate follow-ups as is thanks to Siegfried’s refinement, but because Xander is naturally slow, any foe running Quick Riposte or Null Follow-Up means they can bypass the Impact effect. Moreover, if they do happen to be running those skills, Xander will be getting doubled. As such, Deflect Melee serves as a means of being a failsafe more than anything else as the goal is to survive and get his Smoke off on the foe.