aespa Pack
[Asia/Lyro]

*THERE IS SOME ERROR WITH THE ENGLISH GOOGLE TRANSLATE IN THIS PAGE, USE THE KOREAN SETTING INSTEAD*

The word "her" pops up at random places when using the English translation

Introduction

Hello fellow heirs. I'm Lyro, a casual E7 player. I consider myself a mid-end game player so this post will be targeted for newbies to mid-game players. If there is anything you disagree with in this post, feel free to point it out in the comment section. Without further ado, lets jump into the tips for building and using ae-WINTER .

In the post, I will be diving into the Collab limited, 5 star fire thief, ae-WINTER. Namely:

1. Gears (role + equipment + artifact + skillups)

2. Team composition (synergy)

3. PVE use (Hunts + Labyrinth)

4. PVP use (Guild war/RTA/Arena + Counter)

Gears
At 6 star, max level, max awaken, ae-WINTER's base stats are as followed:
Attack: 1057
Health: 5542
Defense: 532
Speed: 118
Crit Chance: 15 %
Effectiveness: 30 %

Max level imprint release: Attack 10.8% teamwide
Max level imprint concentration: Crit Chance 16.8% self

>   Role
ae-WINTER has low base attack  and relatively high base HP, DEF and Effectiveness as compared to other 5 star thieves. She is used as a  single target control/stunner  and  single target bruiser who gains higher damage the longer the fight lasts. Her S3 base damage, without the additional fixed damage is quite low. Therefore, it is NOT recommended to build her with high Critical damage and attack.

Single target control : ae-WINTER's Skill 1 and 3 stuns the enemy
Single target bruiser: ae-WINTER's Skill 3 fixed damage increases by 5000 each time the skill is used up to 15000.
Her Skill 2 is a passive which grants stealth at the start of battle and end of turn. It also cleanses, gives immunity and resets Skill 3 when enemy uses a non-attack skill.

-Skill information below (Source: https://epic7x.com/character/ae-winter/ ) < Do give this link a read, they have more in-depth information)

>Equipment
Quick disclaimer: For equipment, I will be focusing on her being a bruiser + single target CC . This is what most heirs (myself included) use her for. However, there are bound to be many other feasible builds which maybe more or less effective than the one stated here.
The most important stat for ae-WINTER is  speed, critical chance and effectiveness . Any extra stats should be focused on HP and DEF to maximize her role as a bruiser.

As a single target control, ae-WINTER requires high effectiveness to land her stuns, as well as high speed to allow her to cut in between enemy units to disrupt the enemy team's synergy or turn order. (Do take note for effectiveness, there is a cap depending on the enemy resistance. Anything over this cap is not worth. Formula: Chance of applying a debuff = 100% + Attacker's Effectiveness - Target's Effect Resistance. Value cannot exceed 85%.)

As a bruiser, ae-WINTER requires high crit chance as her Skill 3's additional fixed damage can only be activated upon a successful critical hit. Therefore, to make her a reliable single target bruiser, a  100% critical hit chance  is recommended. In order to ensure she survives long enough to stack her S3's fixed damage, it is recommended to give her some HP and DEF stats. You can use imprint concentration (up to 16.8% crit) and certain artifacts to lower to threshold required to get the 100% crit chance. Speed is crucial to allow ae-WINTER to cycle her S3 faster to attain max stacks faster.

For her core stats try to get: 100% crit chance, around ~100% effectiveness and at least 200+ speed.(Try to get more speed depending on what level of the game you are on)

Set: Speed + Crit/Effectiveness/Health/Defense

Neck: HP% or crit chance%

Ring: HP% or effectiveness%

Boots: Speed

It is recommended to use a speed set to further boost her speed allowing her to better function as a control and bruiser.

The ae-WINTER stats that I am using is as follows:

(Yes she is graced of growth up. I don't have enough resources to build her)

>Artifact
Your choice of artifact depends on 1,  what you are using her for and 2, if you lack certain stats.

1. SECRET ART – STORM SWORD

Staple for most ae-WINTER. Useful for all content for when enemy utilizes non-attack skills. It gives her a combat readiness push which allows her to move faster and cut in between enemies' team order. The attack buff isn't that important though.

2. RHIANNA & LUCIELLA

Oh wow, you REALLY like RNG.Stuns for days if you manage to proc this artifact. Useful for all PVP content for both offense and defense.However, ae-WINTER does not have any extra turn gaining skill so the chance of this activating isn't as high as other thieves like ran, peira, karin or baiken.

3. SILVER RAIN

Want an attack buff at the start of your DPS' turn? With silver rain, when an enemy uses a non-attack skill, ae-WINTER will activate part of her passive S2 "Level up", which is considered a non-attack skill. This will activate silver rain and grant the ally with the highest attack 2 turn attack buff. Great for all those Conqueror Lilias and Lua defense. Useful for when you have another hero which requires an attack buff at the start of the fight such as a cleaver or another bruiser.

4. THE ARMAMENT

ae-WINTER's artifact.Gives her extra 15% crit chance for when you can't hit 100% crit or when you want to invest your resources into other stats. Gives her a barrier for extra survivability when she activates her S2 "Level Up" and makes it harder to dispel her stealth (you need to dispel or damage the barrier off first).Barrier gets stronger the higher the Level.

5. ALABA MA STRON

SWEET HOME ALABA....STRON.If you lack effectiveness, this artifact can give you 35% effectiveness. It has an added effect of inflicting a random debuff with a single attack which ae-WINTER specializes in. It's a decent artifact for all content but you might not see a noticeable difference in effectiveness since effectiveness is capped at 85%;"if it's not 100%, it's 0%" -a wise heir (who got 15%ed)

6. GUIDE TO A DECISION

Who even remembered this artifact existed?Well, barrier and stealth goes hand in hand so this underdog of an artifact is useful for PVP purposes when you want your ae-WINTER to get CR push upon the first round of attacks. Good to pair with another hero which grants barrier/invincible/skill nullifier on ae-WINTER like Fallen Cecilia.Not the best artifact to use on ae-WINTER without proper team synergy though.

7.MANICA OF CONTROL

Gives 15% crit chance and some hit chance for more reliable stun chance for evasion/water heroes.A good artifact when you can't hit 100% crit. Decent artifact to improve control and bruising capabilities for ae-WINTER.

8. PROOF OF VALOR

A better question for this artifact is who NOT to use this artifact on. Almost all heroes benefit from higher survivability. This is especially so for a bruiser like ae-WINTER.

>Skill ups

If you have limited molagora, skill up her S2 passive first to max(+1), followed by S1 stun chance(+5).That is usually all the skill ups you need since S3 cooldown can be reduced by S2 and majority of S3 damage is fixed damage. You can skill up S3 to -1 cooldown(+3) if you have extra molagora

Team Composition

A team is as strong as it's weakest link.Putting ae-WINTER with 3 other thieves may not be that effective unless you're running a fast damage dealing team. Especially for mid rank players, a bruiser with inbuilt stealth like ae-WINTER will probably outlive all your other squishy thieves.It is better to pair her with a soul weaver, other bruiser or other heroes which can utilize her stun like Specimen Sez.

> Synergy

When forming a team, the best bet you have would be to play to a heroes' strength.For ae-WINTER, this would be her speed, control, stealth and bruising capabilities. This list is non-exhaustive and only gives a brief idea on who should be considered when building a team around ae-WINTER

Team should comprise 1 or more of the following:

1. Soul weavers who can sustain(keep alive) ae-WINTER (Destina, Lots, Roana, Diene, Tamarinne, etc.). This allows her to slowly stack up the fixed damage from S3 as the game progresses.

2. CR pushers so ae-WINTER can quickly cycle her turn to land her stuns and reset the cooldown of her S2 after if activates.

3. Specimen Sez. He is a damage dealer who can penetrate defense by 100% when an enemy is stunned. Good to pair with ae-WINTER due to her stunning capabilities.

4. In PVP, if the enemy has solely single target damage dealers, you can use tanks and healers to soak up the damage while ae-WINTER has her semi-permanent stealth on.The stealth prevents the enemy from single-targeting ae-WINTER unless there is some counter-attack mechanic.

5. Other control or fast damage dealers to constantly incapacitate or clear enemy heroes

Since the enemy in this guild war is lacking in AOE attacks (other than Senya S3), my ae-WINTER can survive well with passive stealth, whilst the enemy Zio and Top Model Luluca aims my Doris (Tank/Healer)

(Sorry I didn't build specimen sez)

PVE

ae-WINTER isn't the best in PVE since she lacks high damage especially for hunts.For most players, shooting for a fast clear time in order to efficiently farm equipment is optimal. For this reason, ae-WINTER's S3 fixed damage of up to 15,000 is not suitable for the role of damage dealer in this content since it takes awhile to stack her S3. Also, her role in stunning the enemy is limited since the boss is immune to stun. However, since she has a self-cleanse and immunity, she can be great if you're starting out and require a decent, bruiser type damage dealer.

>Hunts

Tested ae-WINTER in golem 13 with Sol, Tamarinne and Adventurer Ras.ae-WINTER's S3 damage pales in comparison to Sol's S3 but her S2 passive activates often (by the add's skills) allowing her to cleanse and grant immunity on herself from the defense break and stun which the golem inflicts, while also allowing her to re- use her S3. Her S3 also takes awhile to stack adding to the run time.

Here is a snippet of the run (note, Sol is on Day Dream Joker, without DDJ, his damage is around 30000):

ae-WINTER's S3 did 17501 damage (~23000 with Sol's gear+ddj) at max stacks as compared to Sol's S3 dealing 34914, both with attack buff and no debuff on the boss.With decreased defense, the damage for Sol is likely to be greater than ae-WINTER's fixed damage on the golem 13 boss.

TLDR: ae-WINTER is feasible on G13 but sub-optimal for fast clear time.

> Labyrinth

Tested ae-WINTER on Azimanus hell raid on Secretary Vera for the fun of it. Since Vera's eggs have non-attack skills, ae-winter is able to activate her S2  often. However, similar to G13, she is also sub-optimal for damage this content due to her relatively low damage here.

She can be used to stun Vera's minions when she transforms into her egg form if you find yourself having trouble with the minions in this phase.

PVP

PVP content is where most heirs use ae-WINTER. Here, she is able to utilize her stun well and lockdown enemy teams. In addition, since most defense runs an opener with a non-attack skill (Peira, Conqueror Lilias, Lua), ae-WINTER is able to immediately cleanse herself and apply immunity buff after the opener uses said skill.

>GuildWar/Arena/RTA

ae-WINTER does well in most situation in PVP.Due to her self-stealth, she is able to avoid damage from most single target damage dealers like Apocalypse Ravi and Zio, unless they have counter attack or other counter mechanic. This lets her survive and constantly apply stun while other enemies like Conqueror Lilias refresh ae-WINTER's S3 upon using non attack skills.

As there are a huge variety of enemy defenses, it is important to counter play based on the enemy's lineup. ae-WINTER should be used carefully, if at all, if the enemy has: 

1. Crit-reduction buff (eg Diene, Senya, Choux). This disables ae-WINTER's S3 damage and role as a bruiser. Bring someone who can remove this buff

2. Immunity/Cleanse (eg Mediator Kawerik). This disables ae-WINTER's control capabilities. Bring someone who can remove this buff

3. Party wide/AOE damage (eg Belian). Removes ae-WINTER's stealth. Use barriers to avoid getting stealth removed

4. No non-attack skills. Makes ae-WINTER's S2 "Level up" useless

Guild war with ae-WINTER:

I used ae-WINTER here for a few reasons:

1. Top Model Luluca's S2 is a non attack skill with relatively low cooldown. This will activate ae-Winter's S2 passive, resetting her S3. Therefore, quickly cycling the max stacks on her S3's fixed damage

2. Zio's buff, "Deity" reduces incoming damage by 30%. ae-WINTER's S3 fixed damage bypasses this damage reduction, dealing a flat 15k damage at max stacks on Zio. In short, Zio can be dealt with quickly with ae-WINTER's S3.

3. There are 2 single target damage dealers on the enemy team; Top Model Luluca and Zio. Both of which do not have the means to target my ae-WINTER which is constantly putting stealth on herself with her S2 passive.

4. The enemy is not running any hero which has teamwide cleanse (debuff removal) or immunity buff. This lets ae-WINTER's stuns land and stick on the enemy.

In order to counter Senya's provoke and counter buff, I used Mediator Kawerik, who has a teamwide cleanse and immunity buff on his S3, as well as a buff removal on his S2 to remove Senya's counter attack buff.

Below are my Mediator Kawerik stats:

He is built with decent effectiveness to remove enemy buff with his S2 and land the attack decrease. High Speed and War Horn artifact will ensure he can cut the enemy heroes to apply his cleanse and immunity while having HP and DEF will ensure sufficient vitality to take a few hits from the enemy.

In order to soak up damage from the 2 dark damage dealers (Zio and Top Model Luluca), I used Magic Scholar Doris since her rune bonuses grants her increased survivability from dark DPS while being a priority target for dark enemy heroes' AI

Below are her stats:

High HP and DEF are essential to allow her to tank through high damage, while high speed will let her get her heals in more often. The resistance stats are to reduce her chances to get disrupted (Stun, provoke etc.), thereby increasing her chances to use heals.

RTA with ae-WINTER:

In RTA, instantly pick ae-WINTER as first choice (as I did in this video) is unsafe as you run the risk of enemy bringing in  counter, debuff removals, AOE or heroes which do not use any non attack skills. It is better to pick her mid to end selection after gauging the enemy's lineup. Luckily, the enemy only used single target DPS, Dark Corvus* and Penelope which were unable to target ae-WINTER.

*This is a pre-buffed Dark Corvus and can get stunned from ae-WINTER, but now that he is immune to stuns, it is risky to bring her against him.

>Countering ae-WINTER

If you are facing ae-WINTER in PVP, try to minimize using heroes with non attack skills. This will prevent her from using her S2's "Level Up" and ensure that her bruising abilities is kept to a minimum. Heroes with immunity and/or cleanse such as Mediator Kawerik and Dessert Jewel Basar can prevent and remove stuns inflicted by enemy ae-WINTER. Belian and Dizzy excels in removing ae-WINTER's stealth and exposing her to damage.

Thanks for reading this far into the post. Hope whoever reads this gets a Moonlight 5 in their near-future summons

-Lyro

#EpicSeven #aespatip