Need help with AR-D Dark season layout

[Biggiesized]

My Dark season layout is a mess so I’m trying to come up with a better hypothetical team:

I have some meta units as one-off or low merge copies like:

Hatari Azura
Duo Dagr

My only Dark Mythics are:

Sothis (+10)
Nott (+0)
Hel (+0)

1. Should I swap Hel in for Sothis?
2. I envisioned using Nanna as a Flash+ sweeper to set up the rest of my attacking units. Otherwise she could just go Pain+ with Dazzling. Should Nanna be replaced by another dancer like H!Azura?
3. Should I use a different map or layout?

Any advice would be helpful since my current setup (a little different) doesn’t get me any wins.

[Dragginz]

Handful of things to point out:

Alm is dangerous with his native 3 move. If you’re relying on DuoCatria’s brave effect he’s going to outrun all his support so he won’t get that benefit.

No save unit means anyone who can strictly overpower your units will have 0 issues. Saves are a bitch since they force the attacker to target someone they don’t want to. Ideal placement would be a far save on the corner where Sothis currently is.

Dark mythics are there for two reasons. Reason one: LLC. Reason two… LLC. Use whoever is the focus for the week (priority 1), and then whoever you have highest Merged (priority 2.)

Slide the fort down one space. Where it’s at right now offers the attacker space to set up for a one turn sweep. Moving it down more denies the attacker another space, because the now empty space directly above it is suicidal to place a unit in.

Nanna isn’t serving much of a purpose, regardless of her weapon or kit. Swap her with a 2 range nuke, but of a different color than Volke. Your most obnoxious offenses to counter will have both a near and far save, and trying to kill both is a fool’s errand. Focus on killing either the near or far save.

Eldigan is fine, but since you’ll likely replace Nott, give him aerobatics so he can move closer to the Catria ball to offer a nuke an extra action.

And place the duo’s hindrance directly to the left of Volke. A vast majority of catapults will be in lane 6, so it’s not going to serve you very well. Put an aether pot in that top right corner instead since all VoH players are most concerned with getting all the lift they can.

So all told… Far save on the bottom left corner, focus mythic front and center, Volke fine, Catria fine, Eldigan give aerobatics, Nanna blue or green 2 range nuke (suggest flashing blade Luna OG ishtar or flashing blade deadeye Shamir), and replace Alm with… Hell… Make it a 3rd 2 range nuke.

Hopefully that’ll give you some better results.

[Biggiesized]

Thank you for the tremendous information in your response!

I have several follow up questions:

1. What is an appropriate number of Dark Mythics to include on my team when I only have Sothis, Nott, and Hel?

2. Although B!Alm might be in no man’s land if he attacks, isn’t it good to have melee coverage overlapping with ranged in each column?

3. Isn’t the Far Save unit exposed in the bottom left spot where Sothis is? What unit do you recommend? I have Henriette which I was planning to fodder. I also have a spare A!Form.

4. Does Eldigan need Aerobatics if he can reach a unit with Nott’s Pathfinder?

5. Why wouldn’t you include Nott as a Pathfinder unit on AR-D regardless if she’s not the bonus Mythic? Isn’t that helpful for the AI?

Thank you!

[AniCre001]

Making a comment so i can come back at a later date;

If you’re using Alm and Cat ya need better positioning and honestly shouldn’t be using any other offensive units. Go all or nothing with true damage.

[Dragginz]

I’ll just go point by point so it’s easier to parse.

1. Max LLC potential is with 2 dark mythics, so you’ll need to use two if you want to get the least amount of lift lost. BUT… Sometimes a team composition doesn’t necessarily allow for two, so you have to weigh the risks of losing more lift vs. having a higher chance of winning a defense.

2. Alm is a great choice of melee unit, and you’re thinking about it right. But from my experience, save balls almost always have both a near and far save, and you have a better chance of breaking the formation by focusing entirely on killing one or the other. Basically would you rather have 2 melees plonk off a near save, or 4 overwhelm it to kill?

3. The far save will be exposed in that corner, but depending on which one you choose the unit can take both 1 and 2 range attacks well. Example: B!Hector. He’s popular for a good reason: he’s a busted piece of shit. Obviously using a near save as well gives you a higher chance of winning, but I didn’t want to assume you had the resources to use both.

4. If you still use Nott, then no he doesn’t need aerobatics. He’d be more useful with WoM in his B slot or just a chill in his seal.

5. I kinda forgot you need to use her to unlock the 7th slot so… Don’t mind me lol

[AniCre001]

Anyways, now that I’m off work I can give a bit better advice.

1. Again, all or nothing with Alm & Cat. Either use them together alone(Meaning remove Volke) or don’t bother.

2. Due to Mythic 2s being a thing for 7th slot units Nott(Or any other M2) should always be on the team, obviously. That said, Sothis should always be on the squad unless you have a bonus mythic available in which case the bonus outweighs any merges you have on a singular mythic. If ya don’t have the bonus run Sothis.

3. If you’re running Alm/Cat then you’ve got quite the offensive presence but little defensive unless you remove offense pressure and that’s just with these two units alone. Removing offensive pressure removes the whole point of running Alm/Cat so throw on some Save units to cover your bases. One good enough Far Save and one good enough Near Save just to deter units that’ll want to hit and run.

Side Note: As someone who’s ran Alm/Cat for a while it’s incredibly difficult pulling it off 100% of the time without something going wrong. My big recommendation would be to run Sara for anti-Mila and then run a Rally trap. This ensures a unit is in front and allows constant Triangle Attack for Alm to use and abuse.

[Maskilraid]

Would also recommend you to at the very least run a Far Save unit. Otherwise, you will simply get bonked on by hit-and-run units such as Yuri and Ninja Corrin.

[Biggiesized]

1. My Dark AR-D team always loses so there is all upside from here.

2. So if I keep Volke and make a team comp with 2 range threats, who would replace Alm with? I primarily singled him out as a Firesweep Near Save tank counter.

3. I do have B!Hector but he’s my Light AR-O tank since I alternate between regular (Light) and VoH (Astra) seasons. Can A!Fjorm work just as well? Or what about L!Tiki for all of the bonus stats she receives and adaptive damage?

4. My Forma Eldigan will have A/D Near Trace (and will inherit WoM). Any reason to favor a Trace skill over WoM in AR-D?

5. Ok sounds like it’s necessary to keep her to unlock my 7th slot.

[Biggiesized]

1. I’m not sure I understand your comment here. If using a Catria Ball set up, it needs to be only B!Alm? Why can’t Volke fit in? With a brave attack he gets off his Lethality special guaranteed. If I don’t use Volke, who pairs up better with those two?

2. Do you agree that Sothis should be in the bottom left corner of my set up? Or would you put her somewhere else? (e.g. Volke’s spot)

3. It sounds like I should either be extremely agressive with my set up or just stay back with a Save Armor cube. Would you dump Nanna for another unit like Hatari Azura?

Side Note comment: I just pulled my first copy of Sara the other day. IVs weren’t great and I don’t have anything like Odd/Even Recovery to fodder to her. Would kit would you recommend and where would you place her?

How do you set up a Rally trap with these or any other combination of units to guarantee the Triangle Attack set up?

[Dragginz]

Ok so I think pictures can aid a lot here.

I don’t have the same units that you’d be using, but here’s the legend:

Flora-Volke
Thorr-Catria
Felicia-A!Fjorm
Silvia-Eldigan

This layout provides your full coverage and full LLC, but as you can see Volke is your only nuke. All other slots are taken up by utility and protective units. Not very powerful.

This next layout grants you a 2nd nuke, but you lose a bit of coverage from the saves and you lose more LLC on a loss.

And this final one grants your best offensive capabilities, but foregoes full save protection AND LLC.

As you can see, it’s very tough to cover all your bases. So it’s a game of lesser of two (or three) evils:

Offense
Defense
LLC (what I call contingency)

What are you willing to forego to make the other two possible? Because it’s VERY tough to have all three unless you’re a megawhale or have the exact right comp and exact right skills in the exact right team.

And to be clear, Ani and I are suggesting two different styles of Catria-ball, so try not to get the wires crossed. Not saying one is better/easier than the other, just wanted to clarify that

[LadyLuna]

@Biggiesized

just pulled my first copy of Sara the other day. IVs weren’t great and I don’t have anything like Odd/Even Recovery to fodder to her

Just cutting in to comment; Sara doesn’t need Odd or Even Recovery; her Kia Staff removes debuffs. It is HP dependant though so you gotta play around with HP seals and blessings to ensure everyone you want debuffs healed from has the same HP stat

[AniCre001]

1. Because it’s unneeded. If Alm cannot get the job done then odds are Volke won’t either. You’re also using both a ranged unit and melee so all it takes is a unit to tank Volke and a unit to tank Alm. You’re not attacking with both on the same unit. You’d be better off using Volke’s slot as a near or far save unit instead and solely relying on Alm’s true damage to tear through tanks.

This is what I use for Dark season. One near save unit, one far save unit, and Sara to prevent Isolation majority of the time. The mythic in the top left corner is whatever bonus mythic is available.

Nott is the rally unit with NY!Laeg’s weapon that has Chill Def built into it. This helps with the HP requirement that Sara has whether it’s Nott’s bonus season or not. With the formation shown Catria gives TA to herself, Alm, Grima, and Nott(Hector too but doesn’t matter). This means that when Nott goes to rally due to being directly in front of Alm there isn’t a single position that Alm attacks from that won’t activate the TA effect.

I’m sure there are many ways to allow Alm and Catria to work wonders but this here is what works best for me and allows consistent KOs on some of the more bulky meta units. You may make another map that works out with the two but this is the only setup I can recommend using both Alm and Catria. If ya can’t make it work I wouldn’t bother trying to squeeze Alm in the team and it generally doesn’t work out.

[Warlock]

Just a quick link that might help with the Catria ball structuring these guys are talking about:

How to build a Catria ball?

Catria balls are AR defenses which consist of: Bridal Catria (she grants the “brave effect” of two attacks instead of one and warping to your units) A Near and Far Save armor (to protect the units—you can get away with Far only, but I like both) Two Mythics (one must grant the 7th slot, and one is ideally the bonus) Two offensive units (these vary widely, but should fill gaps that your other units leave) Chuck them all into one of the two corners, making sure their ranges overlap for all thei…