Plegian Dorothea

Weapon: Fell Candelabra 

Assist: Dance 

Special: Moonbow 

Passive A: Life and Death (3 or 4) / Fury (3 or 4) 

Passive B: Wings of Mercy 

Passive C: Guidance / Distant Guard

Sacred Seal: Aerobatics / Atk/Spd 2

• With Dance, Flier status, Fell Candelabra, and a Harmonic Skill, Dorothea and Lene make for an outstanding Aether Raids Offense refresher.
  • The Twilit Harmony’s Harmonic Skill grants allies Def/Res +4 and follow-up prevention on their first combat for 1 turn if they are from the same games as Dorothea and Lene. In addition, it also grants another action to the ally that fulfills all of the following conditions: is from the same games as Dorothea and Lene, is within 2 spaces, has already moved, and has the highest HP of allies within 2 spaces. This is immensely helpful for hit-and-run or Galeforce strategies that rely heavily on Player Phase performance.
  • Fell Candelabra has an “Omnichill” effect, inflicting -6 Attack to the enemy with the highest Attack, -6 Speed to the enemy with the highest Speed, -6 Defense to the enemy with the highest Defense, and -6 Resistance to the enemy with the highest Resistance. These debuffs increase teammates’ survivability, damage output, and follow-up consistency against the enemies that would most threaten them, making it a strong supportive weapon.
  • These supportive assets are furthered by the Twilit Harmony’s status as a Flier. This allows them to utilize strong mobility skills such as Guidance and Aerobatics, with the former allowing Infantry and Armored allies within 2 spaces to teleport to a space adjacent to them and the latter allowing Dorothea and Lene to teleport to a space adjacent to non-Flier allies within 2 spaces. These skills further augment the team’s flexibility and mobility.
• Dorothea and Lene can use their 38/35 offensive statline in a supportive way as well as offensive; by stacking their Attack and Speed as high as possible, they can help soak Chill Atk, Chill Spd, and the Bright Shrine structure in Aether Raids, allowing their more combat-oriented allies to fight debuff-free. Life and Death or Fury for their A slot and Atk/Spd 2 for their Sacred Seal are their strongest skills for soaking debuffs; with these skills increasing Attack and Speed, the Twilit Harmony can also fight adequately if necessary. Moonbow is chosen as their Special because of its low-cooldown; Dorothea and Lene will activate it on their follow-up attack if they can perform one and no Guard effect is active, making them a nice combat unit in a pinch.
• Wings of Mercy is a go-to choice for any refresher, allowing them to teleport adjacent to an ally with ≤ 50% HP. This can help said ally escape from a sticky situation or continue the offensive push towards a one-phase sweep.
• Given the ubiquity of 2-ranged units on Aether Raids Defense, Distant Guard is a great alternative to Guidance, granting Def/Res +4 to allies within 2 spaces if they are in combat against a ranged unit. The C slot swap sacrifices mobility for combat performance, which can be preferred.

Weapon: Fell Candelabra / Weaponless

Assist: Dance 

Special: Moonbow 

Passive A: Fury (3 or 4) / Life and Death (3 or 4)

Passive B: Wings of Mercy / Aerobatics / Flier Formation

Passive C: Ground Orders / Guidance / Air Orders / Distant Guard

Sacred Seal: Aerobatics / Distant Guard

• While it may seem like a waste to designate Dorothea and Lene to Aether Raids Defense duty because they cannot use their Harmonic Skill when controlled by the AI, they are currently the only refresher in the game that can both activate Duo’s Hindrance (preventing the enemy from using Duo/Harmonic Skills for a certain number of turns) and utilize the array of useful Flier skills.
  • This combination helps the defense team shut down common threats like New Year Alfonse while extending their range to great extents by taking advantage of skills such as:
    • Ground Orders (grants non-Fliers the ability to teleport to a space adjacent to an ally within 2 spaces)
    • Guidance (allows non-Fliers within 2 spaces to teleport to a space adjacent to Dorothea and Lene), and,
    • Air Orders (grants Fliers the ability to teleport to a space adjacent to an ally within 2 spaces). 
  • Skills that improve Dorothea and Lene’s mobility such as:
    • Wings of Mercy (teleportation to spaces adjacent to allies with ≤ 50% HP)
    • Aerobatics (teleportation to spaces adjacent to non-Flier allies within 2 spaces), and,
    • Flier Formation (teleportation to spaces adjacent to Flier allies within 2 spaces) further extend the team’s range and flexibility.
  • Deciding which B, C, and S slots to use will depend on the rest of the team’s composition. They all function similarly on paper, but selecting which ones work best with teammates’ movement types and skills will be crucial for creating a nasty defense team.
• Fell Candelabra vs. Weaponless:
  • Fell Candelabra has an “Omnichill” effect, inflicting -6 Attack to the enemy with the highest Attack, -6 Speed to the enemy with the highest Speed, -6 Defense to the enemy with the highest Defense, and -6 Resistance to the enemy with the highest Resistance. 
  • While these debuffs increase teammates’ survivability, damage output, and follow-up consistency against the enemies that would most threaten them, it can also cause the Twilit Harmony to attack when refreshing may have been better. This is because if a refresher can deal at least 5 damage, they will attack rather than Dance, which can be detrimental to maintaining momentum (especially considering Dorothea and Lene’s damage output may be lacking compared to their teammates’). As such, something to consider is whether or not it’s worth keeping Fell Candelabra, which is also dependent on team composition.
• Regardless of the choices made based on the above information, Fury and Life and Death work great for Dorothea and Lene’s A slot. The former grants greater damage output and survivability, while the latter increases damage and potentially allows them to soak Chill Atk, Chill Spd, and the Bright Shrine structure.

Weapon: Rauðrblade+ / Rauðrfox+ (+SPD)

Assist: Dance / Positional Assist 

Special: Glimmer

Passive A: Swift Sparrow (2 or 3) / Fury (3 or 4) 

Passive B: Desperation / Wings of Mercy

Passive C: Ground Orders / Joint Drive Spd 

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Heavy Blade 

• 38/35 offenses are more than serviceable for Dorothea and Lene to utilize a hybrid set between offense and support.
• Rauðrblade is the go-to choice for offensive Mages, granting an Attack bonus during combat equal to the sum of their visible buffs. This also makes Glimmer a great Special choice, since its 50% bonus damage scales based on Rauðrblade’s bonus Attack.
  • However, due to its +1 Special cooldown and the increasing prevalence of Panic and visible buff neutralization, Rauðrfox may be a more appealing choice, instead inflicting -4 Atk/Spd/Def/Res to the enemy during combat if Dorothea and Lene initiate combat. The weapon can also be refined and doesn’t have +1 Special cooldown.
• The Twilit Harmony’s A and S slots are dedicated to increasing damage output. Swift Sparrow and Fury’s additional Attack and Speed grant higher damage and follow-up consistency. The latter’s recoil damage also synergizes well with Desperation, which allows Dorothea and Lene to perform a follow-up attack before the enemy can counterattack if their HP is ≤ 75%. In combination with a 2-cooldown Special like Glimmer, a weapon that does not increase Special cooldown (Rauðrblade does while Rauðrfox does not), and Heavy Blade in their Sacred Seal, they can activate their Special on their follow-up attack before the enemy can counterattack, which can KO most enemies. To further secure follow-up attacks, Joint Drive Spd is a strong C slot choice, granting +4 Speed if an ally is within 2 spaces in addition to granting +4 Speed to those allies.
  • Since these skill choices would make Dorothea and Lene purely offensive, Dance can be taken off of them so that they can receive refreshes and increase Player Phase momentum and efficiency.
• More supportive B and C slots include Wings of Mercy and Ground Orders respectively. Wings of Mercy is the first choice for many players, allowing Dorothea and Lene to teleport adjacent to an ally with ≤ 50%. At the start of the turn, Ground Orders grants non-Flying allies a status that allows them to teleport adjacent to allies within 2 spaces, bolstering mobility and flexibility (especially in combination with the Twilit Harmony’s Dance and Harmonic Skill).