Aether Sage

Overview
Aether Sage (AeS) is a Magical DPS who is all about collecting Elements to increase her efficiency in battle. She is easy to pick up, but may want you to know some tricks to deal damage properly and fully benefit from her skills.

Pros

• Capable of dealing damage regardless of target size.
• Great skill hitbox structure for tall and wide enemies.
• Does not follow a fixed skill cycle.

Cons

• MP-hungry
• Without Elemental Enhancement/Aether, her damage drops by over a half.
• Needs maxed Cooldown Reduction (CDR) and MP Cost Reduction (MPR) to perform well.
• Some skills may require specific positioning to fully utilize their damage.

Main Passive Skills

#1 Double Casting

This passive allows you to immediately follow up with a Chain skill after casting specific skills. To execute a Chain skill, you need to double tap the first ability’s assigned key and have enough MP for both (ex. press Gust Storm twice to also fire Lightning Shower). The possible combinations are:

• Gust Storm > Lightning Shower (needs 370 MP)

• Meteor Call > Frost Barrage (needs 400 MP)

• Icicle Spear > Circle Flame (needs 400 MP)

• Lighting Bolt > Cyclone (needs 275 MP or 300 MP with [Mod] Cyclone)

([Mod] versions can also be used.)

When successfully executing Double Casting, grants the following effects:

• 50% MPR for Chain skills.
• Decrease Initial skills' Remaining Cooldown by 30%.

Tips

• You do not need to place Chain skills in your skill slots for this passive to affect them.

• Chain skills triggered by this passive are treated as separate from their original versions. If the original skill is in your skill slots, it will not go on cooldown when cast through this passive in its Chain form. You can also use Chain skills via this passive even if the original skill is banned in Berthe Raid - it will not trigger Howling.

• The Critical trait on Chain skills does not increase their MP Cost.

• Chain skills do not benefit from the Transcendence Slot buff.

#2 Sage’s Wisdom

• Collect Elements to significantly enhance Icicle Spear, Meteor Call and Lightning Bolt.

After unlocking this passive, a stack indicator for each Element will appear on your screen. Stacks are displayed in the following order: Ice, Fire and Lightning.

After gaining 5 stacks of a specific Element, the related skill automatically upgrades to a stronger version. Casting the upgraded skill consumes 5 stacks of that Element.

For example, if you have at least 5 Ice stacks shown on the indicator and cast Icicle Spear, 5 Ice stacks will be consumed.

When all Elements reach 30, this passive consumes all of them and converts them into a unique buff called Aether. While Aether is active, all skills affected by this passive are upgraded to their most powerful versions.

During Aether, the large orb in the center of the indicator glows pink and displays the remaining duration. Aether lasts for 30 seconds and expires when the timer reaches 0.

You can activate Aether again by collecting 30 stacks of each Element. If you gather 30 stacks of all Elements while Aether is already active, its duration will be refreshed.

PS: Skills affected by this passive will turn pink and look beautiful!

Her 2nd Hyper Active, Aether Immersion, will grant you 20 stacks of all Elements once the skill animation begins (1-2 seconds).

Be wary of using this skill before stage transitions. You will not gain any Elemental stacks if your party moves to the next stage before the animation properly progresses.

Tips

• Aether Enhanced Lightning Bolt travels more slowly upon hitting a target, increasing its overall damage.
• Aether Enhanced Icicle Spear and Meteor Call continuously deal damage until they explode at the current platform. You can utilize platform position to maximize their damage.
• Aether Enhanced Icicle Spear scales greatly with target width and positioning.

Summary

To achieve the best performance with AeS, proper Elemental stack management is essential. In some situations, spending 5 stacks to generate even more stacks can be the better choice.

With [Mod] Gust Storm: Hydra, you can accumulate Elemental stacks very easily.

‘Know yourself (your character) and know your opponents. You stepped in the halfway of Triumph’
The same as one famous warlord in history said (in present media):