- The videos never seem to work for me, they always die after turn 3, but yeah, AI is just so bad. I'm really glad I don't have videos of all my arena defense losses. Aether is still just dumb and superflous IMO. I have one defense success, after watching the video I'm 90% certain that person just had auto battle on. I really don't like the idea of people being able to watch my dumbs when they beat me. I just had a particularly embarassing defeat cus I broke the building that was protecting all m units from the enemy horsies. PS, you don't get aether for destroying buildings if you don't win.

One good thing that wasn't immediately obvious 'til I read it is you can look at the map and switch between your (five) preset teams before going into battle. I have fliers (these are my faves - 60 HP Aversa as bonus is the bomb, plus standard Cordy, Elincia and PA!Azura), Lynhardt + dancer + bonus and arena dragons in my slots at the moment, and being able to switch between the three is actually pretty handy depending on the layout.

And I'd say it's definitely worth spending your Heavenly Dew upgrading your defensive fortress if you haven't had the chance already. The stat bonus is huge.

I am glad that the people that beat my team can't send me messages, haha. I do love the replays though, even if it's just so I can laugh at the AI's overextension.

Ooh that is good to know. For my first defence losses my trainee team was showing up and I couldn't figure out why. The replays are always fun to watch (when they work!) I'm using Alfonse, Anna, Azura and BCordelia at the moment - the defence is hit and miss but when I go to raid I can do quite decently. I seem to be a little short on Aether stones/dew once awards are given out I'll have to think carefully about what to do.

(Also happy birthday!)

I saw a note that the music on the final map of Tempest Trials was an error and will be fixed so I wonder what we'll get instead.

lol, apparently we are getting extra orbs for the videos being buggy. Can't complain about that.

- I stopped buying things cus indescision. I should probably get the stat upgrades over the Aether storage upgrade, cus really, the more aether I have, the more I'll feel like I have to play this mode, but really I don't care if I can't play more than once a day. There's no orb rewards for Aether keeps, so why do I care? To get some old GHB units? Meh. I can do without. (and happy belated birthday)

Kinda unrelated but I just caved in and splurged on this cutie on etsy! Even if shipments costs to Belgium were 20€... (': (I know. I am crazy. Don't judge me!) It just looks so adorable I had to have it haha

- Cute! It looks super fluffy.

That's super cute! The orb is a great touch, totally brings the concept together.

I had a pretty decent run through Aether Keeps last season - ended up around rank 4k and only lost three units across the week. I didn't manage to hit the pots every time but was happy with how it all played out. Had a tragic start to the new season though! Fought a +10 AF!Corrin who was horrendously bulky and could hit like a cannon, alongside a +10 Ophelia who hit 70 attack with her wave up ugh, and a fully charged special thanks to PA!Micaiah and Aversa. Ended up totally losing haha. I kinda hoped Fae could tank Ophelia but she swept through us.

Been kinda lazy with TT but we'll make it past 50k by a margin. I think my team just hasn't really come together and are terrible at autobattle haha. I have to launch my second squad basically every time.

- I ranked about 35k, didn't care that much, lost a number of times. Sounds like you did really well though, probably made it into whale tier! lol. I think as the weeks go by with the aether keeps, it'll balance out a bit. I encountered +10 AF!Corrin last week too, but this week, since I'm kind of middle ground, hopefully I won't run into those guys anymore. Until there are orb rewards though, I'm pretty meh about the aether keeps, the rewards only allow you to upgrade your castle to further your aether game, which... meh.

my TT team has been doing great, I ahven't been using much stamina on TT though, I hit 50k yesterday. I've been using Kinshinoka with Loki, H!Nowi and Camilla for hone/goad fliers and reposition. Loki's Thokk effect actually has saved Hinoka from enemy archers a few times. They hit the final stage usually, but sometimes I have to bring out the B team. B team I usually can't AB with, they are mostly just there to gain SP/HM.

tfw you burn most of your orbs looking for a single morgan bc there's no sign of hrid and then they release the most ridiculous banner ever which may or may not hint at hrid as a legendary or (please, god) a ghb unit

totally worth it, she's so cute ;o;

- Yeah, no Hrid :( But Ylgr! She is smol ninja! I love her, I need her! (not diggin her voice though, but I always play with sound off anyway) Surtur just looks like a pain to encounter in the arena, can't initiate cus +8 def and autp-bonfire, and can't bait because -20HP and -4 all stats, and I can see him running with DC as well to eliminate all the red mages that will come after him. REALLY need to up my anti-armour game. Seriously considering slaying hammer + on Anna. Noatun's special ability doesn't do her any favours, but the -2 attack giving her the slaying might be the difference between still getting 0 damage vs getting 1-2 damage on other foes.

ylgr was a pleasant surprise! wasn't expecting a blue dagger unit at all. i'm not too keen on her voice lines, but her death line made me laugh. "oh well." where was this ylgr during the story? lmao

surtr is going to be a menace. slaying hammer is definitely putting in the work; i'm thinking i need to work on a regular armorsmasher unit too... but i can't lie, the first thing i (and apparently everyone else on reddit) thought when i saw surtr was, that's good fodder for lukas ;>>

i'm not rolling until we know who both the ghb and the legendary are, though. the fact that only ylgr and surtr were shown in the trailer has me wary.

I’m a little disappointed by the new banner and I hope that there are only 2 heroes on it because book 3 is literally incoming. Would have preferred Hrid or Bruno over Surtr but at least we are getting a proper paralogue this time. Ylgr is cute though C:

That is a cute plushie!

The new units are what the fuck crazy. Surtr is going to be a plague, hope I don't see too many in high arena. Y!Tiki should be a decent counter but still gonna be tedious. And that A skill is absolutely nuts! Can't believe they rolled Guard into the equation wow. Oh well, at least he won't be running around with DC at base so should be fine for AA. Ylgr is cute and I'm almost certain we'll be seeing Hrid if they could only put two units on the banner. Yay for the Hrid fans! I actually have a stack of orbs saved (over 700) primed and ready for whatever powercreep Book III throws at us.

Oh, and I got my third crown! Pulling that accidental AF!Corrin made things a bit of a breeze to be honest. She really didn't need any tools to excel; I just tossed Renewal and Fortify Def 3 (vs Fortify Dragons) on her and she could sweep on a def tile with CD3 seal and team support. And Eirika made a good check for any Falchions on my dragon-heavy team.

My +10 Caeda fears no Surtr! haha (at least I hope so) Kinda disappointed it's only a 2 heroes banner, I wouldn't be surprised if Hrid was the next legendary hero though. At least this banner is an easy skip, I'm just going to do free pull + first circle and keep saving!

- I wouldn't trust Caeda with her low attack to OHKO him (He gets +8 def from his default A skill), and with the Wary fighter, she'll only be able to get one hit in. Caeda's low attack stat (and low def) is what has been preventing me from building her as an armour counter. Let me know if she works our for you. My only red armour counter right now is Tobin, but I am sitting on 300k feathers and I think I have 3 or 4 Caeda's in my catalogue.

- I kind of had the same thought for A!Tiki or Ephraim (or anyone else who is currently running stready breath and is ready for crack upgrade.)

- Right? I hate how these lvl 4 skills are not only getting a buff from the base level of the skill (honestly +8 def would have been enough) But then they add the guard effect in there, and it's like WHY? INB4 next lvl 4 Skill, Fury 4 Grants +6 to all stats and only does 5 damage after combat oh and it grants special cool down +1 per attack. (plz be on Scarlet. lol)

I'm sad no Hrid too. :( Also how do you have so many orbs again!?! I've been saving for two months and have 250. (Ok, I did roll a lot on the latest leg banner, but even with those 160 orbs back I still won't have close to 700!)

- Yeah, I don't know why they only put two on this banner, it's weird. They could have easily put Hrid on there :( pout

i've been waiting for the datamine to see the ghb unit and like... the artist is HACCAN (effie, hawkeye, nephenee, og hinoka) so i'm def not complaining, but i was very confused to see norman osborn?? instead of............ bruno (also he's another red tome. i am drowning in red tomes oh my god why)

yeah, a lot of units want in on that. he's going to be great fodder, and apparently this banner will be good for sniping... we'll see what this does to arena/raids, i guess!

- Yeah, Gharnef is a little out in left field, but I guess he is one of the orignal 'big bads' so he's kind of overdue.

ylgr's sorcery blade is limited to physical infantry units... that's cool, i'm glad they're giving infantry units more neat stuff that isn't just prfs. also excited for new xenologue + special maps!

somehow i missed that you've snagged your third crown already o: congrats!! 🎉 makes me want to go after my second crown, >:3

mhm. it's like, i'm glad it's someone from the older games, but this banner + ghb are all kind of weird choices when they're all lined up together. i hope he's a hint for a non-fates/awakening banner

[edit]”you have warm hands.” hrid has voice lines!!! i think i was expecting a deeper voice (like a greg chun ike kinda thing), but idk i think i like it

I have errr no idea what they're going to do with Forging Bonds? There's supposed to be one for this banner, right? I'm guessing Ylgr, Surtr, Hrid (it launches with the legendary banner) and then... Gharnef??? So weird haha.

Haha don't even ask, it's a mystery! I haven't really rolled hard since Nohrian Dusk? Spent a stack trying and failing for Flora (think I got Leif instead hm) and have just been non-committal pulling on a few others 'til my first 5*.

Thank you! It's definitely achievable if you have three kitted out +10s even with Askr bonus. I do feel lucky to avoid Anna season though phew. I just... don't see it for her haha.

So I got Ylgr on my free pull today! Whoo! Kinda needed because I woke up to a job rejection :') bless the hiring process. I then spent about 130 orbs chasing greens for Surtr and pulled a second Ylgr (they're +HP -Def and +Def -Res, who to keep?) and broken boi. He's +Def -HP which gives him both a superboon and superbane but it's definitely a good result and he'll be handy when he's in rotation. I still think he's dumb but I couldn't say no to the amazing chances on a 2 person banner (like really really good) and look forward to him being annoying in GQs.

Damn, I didn't see Surtr had Wary Fighter :X That might be a problem! Didn't do my arena yet today, and I guess it's a little too soon to see him a lot already, but I'll tell you when I get the chance to face a few of them!

It's so weird to get Gharnef as a GHB! I don't know what they are going to do with Forging Bonds too... the Brave Redux one was already a bit weird. Poor Ylgr between those 2 big villains! xD