Thief Leila

Weapon: Soothing Scent

Assist: Positional Assist 

Special: Moonbow / Ruptured Sky 

Passive A: Fury 4

Passive B: Poison Strike / S/R Far Trace

Passive C: Savage Blow

Sacred Seal: Fury 

• Although Leila lacks access to Disarm Trap, she is still an exceptionally unique Wings of Mercy beacon for Aether Raids Offense. With Fury 4 and Fury 3 in her A and S slots respectively, she can drop to ≤ 50% HP in two combats as long as her max HP is ≤ 56; this allows allies with Wings of Mercy to teleport to spaces adjacent to her to initiate a one-turn sweep with refreshes, Galeforce, Canto, and more. Soothing Scent’s Firesweep and chip damage are what makes this set particularly effective compared to other units that can use this set (for example, Dagger wielders), as Leila has unparalleled safety and guaranteed damage to help both herself and allies score KOs. Note, however, that her out-of-combat chip damage is neutralized by the【En Garde】effect from Medeus’ Shadow Breath, pigeonholing the effectiveness of this build into exclusively Astra season.
• Low-cooldown Specials such as Moonbow and Ruptured Sky ensure Special activations on second initiation against Hardy Fighter Far Save Armors with follow-up prevention, which is significant given the prevalence of Brave Hector and Ascendant Idunn.
• Poison Strike stacks with Soothing Scent to deal a total of 20 guaranteed, out-of-combat damage against Leila’s target after each combat, making it an intuitive and powerful B slot option. Alternatively, Leila can use S/R Far Trace; if no ally is within two spaces after her first initiation to activate the【Canto (Ally 2)】effect from Soothing Scent, she can instead activate the【Canto (Rem.)】effect from S/R Far Trace to retreat with her remaining movement.

Savage Blow follows the same logic as Poison Strike; it and Soothing Scent deal a total of 17 guaranteed, out-of-combat damage against enemies within two spaces of Leila’s target. Note that only the ally that is saved by the Far Save Armor is saved from any out-of-combat damage, making it a strong choice even with Far Save in the equation.

Weapon: Soothing Scent

Assist: Positional Assist / Assistless

Special: Moonbow / Ruptured Sky 

Passive A: Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot

Passive B: Poison Strike / S/R Far Trace

Passive C: Savage Blow / Fatal Smoke / Spd/Res Hold

Sacred Seal: Poison Strike / Savage Blow / Atk/Spd Solo

• Leila’s general offense and Aether Raids Defense sets are rather similar; both focus on simply maximizing both in-combat and out-of-combat damage thanks to Leila’s goodie bag of unique effects via Soothing Scent. With -1 Special cooldown,【Canto (Ally 2)】to teleport adjacent to an ally within two spaces after her first initiation, +6 Atk/Spd during combat, counterattack prevention if the enemy is slower than her, and 10 damage to the target and enemies within two spaces after combat, Leila can simultaneously be combative and supportive, though her lack of follow-up control makes the latter the primary reason to use her. Something to note specifically for Aether Raids Defense is that the AI typically uses Canto effects to retreat; as such,【Canto (Ally 2)】can allow Leila to hit-and-run, which opens up the space she initiated from for an ally to initiate after her.
• AI prioritizes Assistless Leila’s action over allies with Assists, making her initiation for chip damage more consistent.
• Low-cooldown Specials are useful in general for frequent damage augments, but they are especially preferred over high-cooldown Specials for Aether Raids Defense given the ubiquity of Special-slowing effects in opposing Raiding Parties.
• Atk/Spd Boosting A slots are naturally Leila’s strongest choices to maximize in-combat damage and the consistency of Leila’s Spd-based counterattack prevention. For Aether Raids Defense, AR-D Atk/Spd is undoubtedly her strongest choice due to its +10 or +11 Atk/Spd ceiling on a relatively easy condition (5+ undestroyed defensive structures), while for general use, any of Atk/Spd Catch 4, Atk/Spd Solo (3 or 4), Atk/Spd Push 4, and Swift Sparrow 3 works well. Note that Soothing Scent has some anti-synergy with Catch, as one of the latter’s conditions is the enemy’s HP being 100%.
• Double-dipping on Poison Strike allows Leila to deal a whopping 30 post-combat damage to the target per initiation, making Poison Strike a fantastic choice for both her B and S slot (especially for Aether Raids Defense, as she can cripple Far Save Armors). For more general use in which she goes for 2HKOs (or OHKOs on subsequent combats given Soothing Scent’s chip damage), S/R Far Trace for Leila’s B slot could be more useful, as its【Canto (Rem.)】can be used on her first initiation instead of Soothing Scent’s【Canto (Ally 2)】if no ally is within two spaces. Alternatives for her S slot include Savage Blow and Atk/Spd Solo; the former deals 7 damage to enemies within two spaces of the target after combat for a total of 17 with Soothing Scent, while the latter simply grants +6 Atk/Spd during combat if Leila is not adjacent to an ally.
• The aforementioned Savage Blow is a great C slot choice for the same purpose of stacking post-combat damage, though alternatives include Fatal Smoke and Spd/Res Hold. The former shuts down healing for opposing Raiding Parties in Aether Raids Defense, making it great at cutting off the only way to minimize post-combat damage, while the latter simply inflicts -4 Spd/Res to enemies within three spaces during combat, improving the damage output of both Leila and her Res-targeting allies.