Aether Raids

Aether Raids is a game mode which debuted on. The goal is to create, invade, and defend keeps.

Basics
Every battle consists of an offense map, and a defense map, which combine together to make the battlefield. The attacker controls the offense map while the defender controls the defense map. If the defender is defeated within seven turns, the attacker wins. If the attacker surrenders, it will count as defeat. Players gain or lose Lift based on these results, climbing to higher tiers and provided with more rewards if the player acquires enough Lift.

Aether
Aether Raids requires Aether to participate in battles. At the start of the season, a player's Aether starts with the capacity based on the level of their 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿. It is replenished by a fixed amount once a day, based on the level of the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿.

The amount of Aether it costs to start a battle is calculated as follows, capping out at 50 Aether maximum:



The amount of Aether restored from destroying foe's resources during a battle is calculated as follows, capping out at 10 Aether maximum:



Lift
A player's Aether Raids tier is based on Lift. When a new season begins, every player between Tier 12 and Tier 21 will start the season with an amount of Lift based on their Tier. Lift is gained by performing a successful raid. A completely successful attack, where no units are lost on the attacking side, yields the Maximum Lift amount, which is displayed when forming a raiding party. During the season, other players can attack, and lift is lost if the defensive team fails. Lift can only be lost once per 20 hour period. The Defense Lift Loss is the largest amount of Lift that can be lost given the makeup of the defensive team. On the Edit Defensive Team menu, the Defense Lift Loss is shown.

Attacking
When entering a battle, the formula for potential Lift Gain for a raiding party is:

If a Mythic bonus unit is not deployed in the offense team, for every unit lost during a successful attack, the total Lift gained will be decreased by 20. If a Mythic bonus unit is used, the total Lift gained will not be decreased if one unit is lost, and will be decreased for every unit lost after the first one.

Below is an example calculation during the following Season with and  as a bonus unit:

The highest possible lift gained is 210 Lift requiring 3 Mythic units, all fully merged, with 2 other blessed units, and one of those 5 units being a bonus unit.

Auto-Dispatch
Auto-Dispatch is an alternative to Battle where the a player's raiding team attacks a randomised enemy defense team through auto-battle without player input. It can be used up to 3 times per season. When an auto-dispatched is called, both the Battle and Auto-Dispatch option will be unavailable for next 20 hours, unless the player chooses to cancel the current auto-dispatch. Cancelling will forfeit all Aether used to auto-dispatch and will not increase a players lift. After 20 hours, when the raiding party has returned, a replay of the player's raiding party auto-battling against the randomly generated defense will be shown. Other differences between the Battle and Auto-dispatch options include:


 * Players only receive 75% of the total possible Lift upon victory.
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 buildings are not placed on the defense team, meaning the player can not recover any lift from Auto-Dispatch.
 * The raiding party cannot use an 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 if the auto-dispatch was a failure.
 * The raiding party cannot use Movement Assists, but the defense team can.
 * The raiding party cannot receive and EXP, SP, or HM from battling.
 * Winning an auto-dispatch will not count as a completion of any mission, including "AR: Attack Successfully" missions. However, it will count towards the Aether Raids daily reward.

Defending
When defending, the most lift that can be lost in a 20 hour period is:

For every hero defeated during a defense, the player loses 20 less lift. If the defense successfully defends against an attack, no lift is lost.

Example calculation during the following Season with as a bonus unit and  is not a bonus unit:

The lowest possible Lift Lost for defeat is -20 Lift Loss requiring 2 defense Mythic units (at least 1 is a bonus unit), all fully merged, with 4 other blessed units.

After a players defense team has been fought, they are given "Lift Loss Immunity" for the next 20 hours. This means if another player fights the same defense team within 20 hours, even if the defense team has failed, no Lift will be loss. Also, if the Lift a player has is 4000 or lower no Lift will be loss.

Edit Aether Keep
Options found when when entering the Edit Aether Keep screen.

Terrain
The terrain of the Aether Keep can be changed. Some terrain requires Aether Stones to unlock.

Auto/Copy
This menu provides players with three options:


 * Auto Build/Improve: Automatically builds a setup that will provide the largest score reduction, followed by the highest Arena scoring units. Structures will also be upgraded using available divine dew.
 * Auto Setup Only: Automatically builds a setup that will provide the largest score reduction, followed by the highest Arena scoring units. Structures will not be upgraded.
 * Copy from Another Setup: Copies another setup's defense units as well as defensive and offensive structure placements to the current setup.

Choose Setup
Allows players to choose between two setups based on the current season.

Build/Improve
Spend Aether Stones or Heavenly Dew to improve offensive and defensive structures.

Place/Remove
Add or remove offensive and defensive structures to the current setup.

Defense Team
Add units to your defense team. By selecting "Lock Team", the defense team will be highlighted with a gold background, signifying that all units current levels, base stats, skills, Sacred Seals, and blessings will not be changed for Aether Raids defense battles. Even if the locked unit levels up, equips different skills, or is sent home, that unit will still exist unchanged in Aether Raids defense battles. However, the stats of the locked unit can change due to bonus allies or blessing effects. On the Edit Defensive Team menu, the Defense Lift Loss is shown.

Test Defense
This option can be accessed through the Help & Extras Menu. This option allows the player to battle their own defense map withe their own raiding party. Testing defense map's defenses will not consume Aether. No Aether will be consumed. Aetheric Lift will not be gained or lost. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and are treated as if they are the same level. After a season ends but before the next season begins, Test Defenses is treated as part of the next season. During a season, the Test Defenses Season can be changed.

Friend Mock Battle
This option can be accessed through the Help & Extras Menu. This option allows the player to battle friends defense map that have "Friend Mock Battle" set to On with their own raiding party. Testing defense map's defenses will not consume Aether. No Aether will be consumed. Aetheric Lift will not be gained or lost. Friend's Aetheric List will not be gained or lost, and no replay will be sent to them. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and are treated as if they are the same level. After a season ends but before the next season begins, Test Defenses is treated as part of the next season. During a season, the Test Defenses Season can be changed.

Fortress Level
For Fortress level above another player,

Bonus Allies
When bonus allies are used in Aether Raids, they'll be granted HP+10 and Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4, and the amount of EXP and SP they gain will be doubled.

Bonus structures increase the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 or 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 by one level.

Mythic/Legendary Hero Stat Bonus
During the appropriate season, both defense and offense allies get a stat boost from legendary heroes if they are blessed with the correct element. Note that Mythic Heroes are not affected by this blessing and will not receive stat boosts.

During the appropriate season, both defense and offense allies get a stat boost from mythics heroes if they are blessed with the correct element. Note that Legendary Heroes in their correct season are treated as being blessed correctly and will receive stat boosts.

Example calculation during Water,Fire,Light,Dark Season. Assume Alfonse has been Earth blessed:

Boost
Before a raid starts, players have the option to double the Aether consumed in a fight to double the amount of Lift and Aether gained from the following battle.

Low Tier Bonus
When a player in Tier 17 or below attacks, their Fortress (O) will enjoy a bonus in level of up to +4.

Defense Results
Explanation of elements on the Defense results screen.

Replays
Each season, players can watch how other players attacked their defense keep by tapping the Replay button for battle results listed on the Defense Results screen. This lets players watch the battle as it happened, as well as pause after every action. Each replay also notes how many foes was defeated, if the defense succeeded or failed, and how much lift was lost. All replays are erased once the season ends.

Lift Loss Control
After a players defense keep has been attacked by another player, whether the defense was a Success or a Failure, the defense keep becomes immune to lift loss for the next 20 hours. This is stated by the words "Lift Loss Control Active", followed by Lift being displayed as -0.

Rematches
Players can rematch those that have defeated their defenses one time. This acts as a regular battle and will consume the regular amount of Aether and has the same Lift gain. If the same opponent appears on the defenses list multiple times, they can only be challenged to a rematch once. For defense results that are a result of a rematch, the text "Your foe won the rematch!" will be displayed and the player listed cannot be rematched. The hero displayed to the left of the character is the hero on the first slot of the defense team when they are rematched, not that accounts first hero.

Structures
Structures can be placed on maps. Fortresses and resources are permanent structures, and cannot be removed. Event Items are available to build for only a limited time.

Offensive structures
Structures raiding parties use for support. A maximum of 6 offensive stuctures (including the Fort which is fixed) can be brought when raiding.

Defensive structures
These structures are useful when defending a keep. They support the team defending the keep. A maximum of 6 defensive stuctures (including the Fort which is fixed) can be placed at the same time.

Traps
Traps are triggered when foes end movement on one. However, when triggered, traps affect allies as well. A maximum of 4 traps can be placed at the same time.

Resources
Resources store Aether and replenish it. These structures may grant Aether to the raiding party when destroyed, but only if they win. Both structures must be placed on the map.

Ornaments
Decorative structures with no combat function. Can not be destroyed by a Catapult. A maximum of 4 Ornaments/R&R Structures can be placed at the same time.

R&R Structures
Resort structures. Can also be used as decor. Can not be destroyed by a Catapult. A maximum of 4 Ornaments/R&R Structures can be placed at the same time.

Dailies
Playing at least once a day during a season also provides rewards. Unlike Arena, multiple daily rewards can not be collected in a single day.

AR Tier
Reaching Tier 11 or higher will allow a 5th ally to be added to a raiding party and a defensive team.

Reaching Tier 19 or higher will allow a 6th ally to be added to a defensive team.

Both of these upgrades cost 300 Aether Stones.

Defense
Starting with the season that began on, defense rewards have been added. Defense rewards are granted based on sum of the three failed defenses with the highest Lift lost, stated as "Defense Lift". Note that "Defense Lift" is different from the total amount of Lift Loss per season, which can be up to -640.

Trivia

 * During the tutorial battle of the English version, the enemy is named "Otherworldly Order", which would be impossible for a regular player to have as a nickname because of the 12 character limit.


 * Prior to Version 3.2, the amount of Aether it costs to start a battle was ., the amount of Aether restored from destroying foe's resources during a battle is calculated by.