Yay! I made it to tier 21 in the new Aether Raids mode that was added not too long ago. This AR mode is really challenging and can be frustrating to those who are not well prepared. My heart was pounding during the last few days of the match. Making it to tier 21 felt like an accomplishment. Yeah, I know. It’s only a game. But that’s how I feel. Let’s recap on how I did it.
I didn’t try really hard on my first week of tier 20. At the time, I thought that tier 20 provides enough rewards and doesn’t differ too much from tier 21. In addition, it was a very short week – only 5 days. So, I didn’t go for it. On the second week of tier 20, I didn’t try again as it’s not light season.
At the time of this writing, it’s almost impossible for anyone to promote from tier 20 to 21 if it’s not light season. Let’s see the calculation:
- To advance, we need to get a total score of 1,600 (offense score – defense lost)
- Max offense score per game in a non-light season is 100
- Max games we can play in a 7 day period is 16 times (assuming we have max out resources: 250 starting aether + 70 addition aether per day)
- Max defense lost per day is 80. Min lost per day is 0. We can lose score every 20 hours. So, in theory, we can lose up to 8 times in a 7 day period. But, I think the likelihood of that happening is really low. With the way people play, 7 losts seems to be the case.
- So, in a non-light season, you’ll have to play perfect on every single games and have a defense that can withstand every single attack.
This is my third week of tier 20. It’s light season on a normal 7 day period. I thought I may have a chance to advance. It’s time for me to give it a try. Before the new season started, I had a hard time to decide whether to upgrade my starting aether to 250 and 70 addition aether per day or not. I have 1,200 dew for the upgrade. On the other hand, if I don’t upgrade the aether resources and wait until the 4th day of the season, I can upgrade my fortress to level 4. If my fortress is level 4, then on most game it’ll be easier to beat or so I thought. All of my heroes will have +4 bonus stats. It’s really a hard decision to make. Finally, I decided to wait it out with the aether upgrade.
So, I started the season with a score of 9,400 and 200 starting aether and 60 addition aether per day. First AR game, I got whoop completely. Losing all of my heroes. Good thing I have my escape ladder. So the lost didn’t count. I can do a redo. Second game, I lucked out and faced a defense I can beat. I got a score of 160. I played and won again and got another 160. I didn’t play again on the first day even though I still have enough aether to play. I thought that it’s better to save the aether to play after I upgraded my fortress. On the first day, I also got a defense success. I thought it’s perfect. I thought that I’ll definitely be able to get to tier 21. Then, day one has not even ended, then all of a sudden I noticed that I got a defense lost with -60 score. It appeared that my first defense was near the beginning hour of the season and my lost was near 9pm PST. So, 20 hours have past.
Day 2, I just played once to make sure that I use my aether efficiently. The team I faced was pretty difficult. I opted the safer route by using a team with a lower 140 score. I won. Same with day 3. I opted to use a team with 140 score and I won. I have a -40 defense lost.
Okay, the time finally comes, the day where I can upgrade my fortress. I played once so I can get the reward. I got super lucky that I faced a team with only 1 defender. But, I made such a huge mistake by simply selecting the current team without even checking the score. I used a 140 score team. I could’ve use a 160 team. I thought it’s ok, trying to console myself. I collected the reward and upgraded my fortress. Then I started playing all the AR games, using up all of my aether. I won all of my games with 160 score and collected all of the aether potions except 2. Though I won, it’s not as easy that I thought it would be. I thought that if my fortress is higher, it should be easier. But, that’s not the case. I checked my defense and I have another -80 defense score.
Day 5, I lost a game. First offense game lost with a higher fortress than the defense. My team simply cannot handle the defense. I could’ve won with 2 heroes lost. However, by this time, I had found a AR calculator website to count the maximum possible score I can get. Based on the calculator, if I were to lose all of my remaining defenses, I need to play the remaining of my offense games perfectly. There’s no breathing room, no room for error. It has to be perfect 160 scores each. It dawned on me that my initial strategy to upgrade my fortress rather than aether resources may be a mistake. Such a huge pressure.
Let’s calculate:
- 200 starting aether + 60 additional aether per day => a maximum of 13 games
Max possible offense score with 160 score per game => 2080 - 250 starting aether + 70 additional aether per day => a maximum of 16 games
Max possible offense score with 160 score per game => 2560
Max possible offense score with 140 score per game => 2240 - 7 defense lost will result -560 maximum
- So, with lower aether resource, if I were to play offense perfectly and lost 7 defense, my score will be 2080 – 560 which is less than 1,600 needed to get to tier 21. With higher aether resource, I don’t have to play perfectly and lose 1 heroes each game, I can still get more score.
So, my strategy to opt for higher fortress offense is such a huge blunder. I need to start playing carefully. I decided to tinker with my defense, trying to reduce the defense lost. Unfortunately, as it comes near to the end of the season, everybody that attack me is really good. No matter what I did on my defense, they seem to always have a team to counter my defense, they were able to crush my defense easily. I lost all of the remaining defenses. My defense result for 7 days: -0, -60, -40, -80, -80, -80, -80 for -420 total.
As you can see, I had no choice but to play my offense perfectly. I had to calculate every single move and attack, predict how the AI defenders were going to move. It’s so nerve wrecking to have to play perfectly on the last 2 days (5 games). I’ve already lost twice this season, and I only have 1 escape ladder left. No breathing room whatsoever. It took me about 20-30 minutes per game to analyze and strategize which predefined team I need to use and how I should move them and beat the enemy defense without losing any heroes plus getting enough aether potions to get the extra 5 games.
Phew, it’s over now. The pressure is no longer there. I feel relieve and happy. I managed to get to tier 21. There are about 4K+ users that are in tier 21. Now, all I need is to get enough win to stay in this tier. 🙂
Recent changes to AR to remove 1st free daily AR to use 50 aether per game were actually disadvantages for me. Before the change, with the same aether resource, I could’ve played 15 games total. After the change, I can only play 13 games total with the same amount of resources. If you upgrade aether resources to the max, then you can play 16 times (1 more than before). Is the AR change better? It depends on who you asks.
A word of advice for those who are still trying to get to tier 21, make sure you have the aether resources. Don’t be like me. Give yourself some breathing room to allow you to advance with a few imperfect games. With the additional resources, you’ll have 480 extra scores (more breathing room).