Aneira & Ardea

Residing within the higher floors of the Tower are many mysterious beings of unknown origins. It has been theorised that these creatures were alive far before the Eternal Conflict and even the creation of life itself. Many have wondered what caused such powerful beings to retreat into hiding for so many years and to reappear so suddenly. Aneira and Ardea are said to be highly intelligent even among their own kind. They have a distaste towards combat but a great interest in the unknown. Creatures that they do not understand are first observed to recognise the level of intelligence found in them and afterwards they are killed for further study. They are the twin guardians of the Sanctum of the Great Mind, where all the secrets of the world are held. Of course non have passed into the sanctum before.

"Another mongrel's ashes managed to soil the entrance to the sanctum. Honestly... what are those fools below even doing if not crushing these foolish intruders?"

-*Ardea*

 "Worry not sister, we're long overdue for some cleaning. Perhaps once we've incinerated enough fools, they'll finally learn their place and maybe one day they will cease their pointless pursuit of glory."

-*Aneira*

## Location

To access the Sisters of Harmony you must first defeat the Cultist wave in the Hell Tower of Babel [Hotkey - Q]. For team composition recommendations head over to the Cultist guide.

## The Fight

   Upon clearing the second wave you will have 10 seconds to prepare yourselves for the upcoming onslaught. Aneira will come out of the right portal and Ardea from the left. Positioning is important in this fight due to the sister's heavy damage AoE spells. The primary attack that the sisters use is called "Die!". When they shout out "Die!" they will face a randomly selected target in the arena and fire multiple projectiles that deal heavy magic damage and will most likely one shot the target if it comes in contact with the projectiles. This attack alone makes magic immunity providing spells or mobility upgrades extremely valuable (thing like Dash or Ifrit's grimoire). Usually you should go for Aneira first, as her second phase is harder to deal with than Ardea's. At the start of the fight you can also use your heavy burst damage from characters like Slaughter combined with a stun from a tank/support to make sure they get their damage in without the sisters firing an attack to disrupt them.

### "**Die!"**

At the start of the attack it will be more condensed with it's projectiles but as it travels, the projectiles begin to separate and fly out in a cone shape. The projectiles are fast and rather hard to dodge unless you are standing right on top of both sisters and can change your position very quickly (which is also why you want to keep them both together, it removes the danger of being shot from 2 different angles). This is also a good time to mention the fact that the white sister's (Aneira's) auto attacks apply a slow effect, making dodging without using excess spells more difficult. A good way to avoid die is also to have your team always in good positions (1 person up top, 1 left, 1 right , 1 down) to reduce the amount of angles the "Die!" move covers.

### **"Let my cries chill the living!" and "Your soul shall burn!"**

   "Your soul shall burn, (player name)!" is the less threatening attack made by Ardea. When she calls out the target, she will fade out from existence and appear on top of the one that was called out. When she appears next on top of the target, they and all allies in a large AoE around them will suffer a very heavy slow, making dodging ineffective for about 4 seconds. The attack also deals a small amount of magic damage that can be neglected unless a player is at 1 HP. Although not threatening on it's own, when combined with a "Die!" or a jump from Aneira, this attack can immediately end a run.

        "Let my cries chill the living, (player name)!" is Aneira's jump attack. Unlike her sister's attack, once Aneira calls a player out, she will create a small circle at the player's current position. And after about a second she will jump to the circle, instead of the player. Once she jumps on top of the circle, she will shoot out the same projectiles from her "Die!" attack but this time in every direction. It goes without saying, but if you are right on top of the circle as she jumps and you have no spell block, you are most likely going to die. There are gaps in the pattern that only become apparent once you're further away from the attack's starting point. Your best bet for this move is to use whatever dodges/resurrections/spell blocks you have, especially if you are a squishy target. Make sure to always pay attention to this attack, as it is by far the most deadly.

### **"Game over"**

This is not a unique attack on it's own but it is a rare occurrence in which 1 of the sisters casts her jump attack (Chills/Your soul shall burn) and it is immediately followed up with a "Die!" attack. This will cause the sister that's jumping to start channeling her "Die!" before she has made the teleport. Finally once the teleport has happened, the "Die!" comes out, right on top of the target that's being jumped on. This is far more dangerous if Ardea casts "Your soul shall burn!", since she teleports right on top of you and slows you, which pretty much guarantees the target getting hit by the "Die!". What's worse is the fact that if the target for the jump and "Die!" are the same, even if you dodge the jumps damage (if Aneira jumps) and her "Die!" with a spell block, there will be another wave of projectiles coming right up from the second sister. Although it doesn't happen often, it's mere existence is a cause for concern. So be watchful and use your defensive spells sparingly.

### **"Burn in Hell!" and "Revenge is a dish best served cold!"**

        Once you kill either of the sisters, the other one will gain a significant stat boost. This stat boost varies depending on which sister you killed first. Ardea will get an increased attack range, about 4x her regular auto attack damage and a massively increased attack speed. Aneira gets an increase to both her physical and magical defense, making her a lot harder to kill. Although Ardea hits hard in theory, it's only a struggle for a Sephiroth with no E barrier up to tank, even then with a Blessing for heals it shouldn't be a struggle. Aneira on the other hand is far more deadly because her jump remains the same and can still murder a player with ease if you're not careful. Overall it's always for the best to go for Aneira first so that you don't have to engage her in an endurance fight in her second phase. In the second phase of either sister they still retain the same "Die!" attack and the same jump abilities. They *possibly* come out in more frequent rates (not confirmed). After you're done with the sisters, you're on your final stretch of beating tower and you only have 1 hurdle to face, Amaya.