Athena/Strategy

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This page is a Strategy stub. Please help us expand it by contributing relevant data. See Meta:Manual of Style/Character Pages/Strategy for more info.

Overview

Athena is a well rounded Defense character, able to both reduce foes' attacks effectiveness and mitigate damage taken by the party. She also brings a respectable amount of skill and charge attack damage, but doesn't perform particularly well with normal attack on her own.
Her high defensive ability makes her very useful in hard fights and Stamina-based weapon grid, but can make her a liability in more laid back fights when using an Enmity-based grid as she gets in the way of losing HP.

Strengths

•  Minerva ThrustMassive Fire damage to a foe.
  All allies gain 15% Fire ATK UpFire ATK is boosted
  Strength: 15%Duration: 3.5 turnsApplied during the attack phase.
  On the next turn, it'll have 3 turns remaining. and 70% / 30% ArmoredChance of lowering DMG taken
  Strength: 70% chance of taking 30% less damage.Duration: 3.5 turnsApplied during the attack phase.
  On the next turn, it'll have 3 turns remaining.. provides relatively long duration 15% Fire ATK UpFire ATK is boosted
  Strength: 15%Duration: 3.5 turnsApplied during the attack phase.
  On the next turn, it'll have 3 turns remaining. and 70% / 30% ArmoredChance of lowering DMG taken
  Strength: 70% chance of taking 30% less damage.Duration: 3.5 turnsApplied during the attack phase.
  On the next turn, it'll have 3 turns remaining. to all allies, which can be maintained permanently with frequent enough charge attack.
•  Shield of the Gods: AigisAll allies gain 40% Wind CutWind DMG is cut 40%
  Duration: 1 turn Wind Damage Cut., Wind SwitchElemental DMG from foes turns into wind DMG
  Duration: 3 turns, and RefreshHP is restored on every turn
  Strength: 10% of max HP (Healing cap: 400)Duration: 3 turns., and in particular the Wind SwitchElemental DMG from foes turns into wind DMG
  Duration: 3 turns buff, is a powerful tool to have in hard raid which use multiple/random elements, like Akasha (Raid). 40% Wind CutWind DMG is cut 40%
  Duration: 1 turn Wind Damage Cut. also allows to reach 100% Damage Cut when used with  PhalanxAll parties gain 50% DMG CutTaking 50% less DMG
  Duration: 1 turn Damage Cut reducing damage taken for all elements.
  Warning! Does not work for Plain Damage!. or various other sources of damage cut.
  • It also helps Athena's  Extended Mastery Support SkillLessen wind DMG for all allies stay relevant in those fights.
•  Tetradrachm5-hit, 100% Fire damage to random foes (Damage cap: ~120,000 per hit).
  Inflict 10% DEF Down (Stackable / Max: 40%)DEF is lowered (Stackable)
  Strength: 10% (Max: 40%)Base Accuracy: 90%Duration: 180 seconds and Burned (5000)HP is lowered on every turn
  Strength: 5000Base Accuracy: 90%Duration: 180 seconds on all foes.
  (Hit number increases based on Goddess's WrathTetradrachm's hit number increases based on Goddess's Wrath lvl (Max: 5 / Can't be removed)
  lvl / Max: 10.) can deal massive amount of damage due to  Goddess of the ShieldGoddess's WrathTetradrachm's hit number increases based on Goddess's Wrath lvl (Max: 5 / Can't be removed)
  lvl rises by 1 upon being targeted by a foe (Max: 5).
  Tetradrachm's hit number increases by 1.
  (Tetradrachm activates upon being targeted by a foe when Goddess's Wrath lvl is 5.).
  • Burned (5000)HP is lowered on every turn
    Strength: 5000Base Accuracy: 90%Duration: 180 seconds helps Athena activate  Searing Crimson30% boost to C.A. DMG and 10% boost to C.A. DMG cap against foes with BurnedHP is lowered on every turn
    effect. by herself.
  • While it needs some time to reach full effectiveness, DEF Down (Stackable)DEF is lowered (Stackable)
    Strength: 10% (Max: 40%)Base Accuracy: 90%Duration: 180 seconds means she can almost cap DEF Down by herself. It also allows her to ignore the resistance of some foes to regular DEF DownDEF is lowered
    , particularly in some hard raids.
  • Due to Goddess of the Shield, those debuffs can be maintained pseudo-permanently, and quickly reapplied if a foe clears its debuffs.
•  Glare of GlafkosInflict DA DownDouble attack rate is lowered
  Base Accuracy: 85%Duration: 180 seconds, BlindedAttacks have a slight chance to miss
  Base Accuracy: 90%Duration: 180 seconds, and DelayReduce a foe's charge diamonds by 1
  Base Accuracy: 100% on all foes. brings a bundle of accurate defensive debuffs on a relatively low cooldown.
• Being a Primal Character, she's affected by any Bahamut Weapons.
• She shares her Spear Specialty with some of the best Fire characters, and also has good synergy with them.
  • Because of that Ultima Spear and Hollowsky Spear centered teams are a good choice for Fire and she fits well in them.

Weaknesses

• Shield of the Gods: Aigis, and its 40% Wind CutWind DMG is cut 40%
  Duration: 1 turn Wind Damage Cut., is not enough to reach 100% Damage Cut with Peridot Carbuncle.
• Athena doesn't have any reliable way to ensure she's regularly targeted by foes to activate Goddess of the Shield, making it fairly inconsistent, particularly in short fights.
  • While she only needs to be targeted, a foe's ability to do so can be highly impaired by debuffs such as CharmedAttacks are slightly limited
    or ParalyzedCan't attack
    , or an ally with high Hostility or SubstituteReceives foe attack in place of an ally
    (Excludes all-foe all-ally attacks)
    .
• The strongest Spear Specialty Fire characters, with whom she synergize the best, are also Limited characters, making team centered around them difficult to access for newer players.

Extended Mastery Perks

Athena			Stars: 16	EMP: 136
ATK ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ +500 +800 +1000	DEF ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 5% 8% 10%	DEF ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 5% 8% 10%	HP ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 250 500 750	Wind Damage Down ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 2% 4% 5%
☆☆☆	☆☆☆	☆☆☆	☆☆☆	☆☆☆
ATK ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ +500 +800 +1000	DEF ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 5% 8% 10%	HP ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 250 500 750	Fire ATK Up ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 5% 8% 10%	Charge Attack Damage ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 10% 15% 20%
☆☆☆	☆☆☆	☆☆☆	★★★	★★★
Charge Attack Damage Cap ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 5% 8% 10%	Boost to Charge Bar ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 5% 8% 10%	Debuff Success Rate Up ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ 5% 8% 10%	Hostility Up ★☆☆ ★★☆ ★★★ +5 +8 +10	Lessen wind DMG for all allies
★★★	★☆☆	★★★	☆☆☆	★★★
Last update: 2019-11-25

Gamewith's recommended EMP build for Athena.

Priorities

Prioritise Debuff Success first, followed by Fire ATK and CA DMG. After that, take CA DMG Cap then Charge Bar Up and finally the support skill.

Hostility UP is a good option for increasing the probability of reaching Goddess's WrathTetradrachm's hit number increases based on Goddess's Wrath lvl (Max: 5 / Can't be removed)
as early as possible. This essentially allows early and frequent automatic activation of  Tetradrachm5-hit, 100% Fire damage to random foes (Damage cap: ~120,000 per hit).
Inflict 10% DEF Down (Stackable / Max: 40%)DEF is lowered (Stackable)
Strength: 10% (Max: 40%)Base Accuracy: 90%Duration: 180 seconds and Burned (5000)HP is lowered on every turn
Strength: 5000Base Accuracy: 90%Duration: 180 seconds on all foes.
(Hit number increases based on Goddess's WrathTetradrachm's hit number increases based on Goddess's Wrath lvl (Max: 5 / Can't be removed)
lvl / Max: 10.). However, one should also consider DEF and HP for durability reason.

Resources

• Reddit Character Discussion (2019-02-11)
• Reddit Character Discussion (2020-06-16)