Hey all!
No, I am not issuing a new challenge 
Although 
… anyway
I have, by nature as a F2P, a majority vanilla roster. On most of these others quests I go for mana control as a tactic for completion with the likes of predominantly Gretel (yes, I did manage a few “fancy” heroes), costume Chao (do costumes count as special? We’ll say no for this), and Little John. Obviously with the bosses ability to be immune to all the mana impacts of their specials, they won’t work as their damage alone by itself renders them much less than a lot of other available heroes.
In general I noticed a really big jump from the second to last level and last level. In some colors the last level has been brutal in comparison to most events. To be clear, that isn’t a complaint. I enjoy the challenge. I learned the hard way by not reading before about the stealing buff thing on the final boss the first time 
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Avoiding buff heavy teams and ailment generators, due to stealing or immunity, really limits options. Especially for newer players and F2Pers. What I have found so far is going back to trusty old regular Chao and Leonidas with mana pots as needed has been a big boost to those final level teams. I would go so far to say that regardless of color, those two are staples until I figure something else out.
Now, my Leonidas is +19. Those boosted 5* stats compared with the self heal of his special means he is typically not a survival liability.
Brief tangent: Is it me or does it seem like in these aether quests in later levels the bosses are stacking special to a single hero. It almost seems unheard of in the last level to not have them gang up on someone. Maybe I am nuts though?
Chao, on the other hand, is a survival risk. This is especially true later with stacking specials per my note above (unless I am, indeed, nuts). He is only +1 and with the costume bonus. It is also a very tough class for emblems as he is competing with the likes of Athena, Seshat, and Lianna on my roster. I probably put him ahead of Tiburtus.
The question becomes is it worth it to emblem him, or any hero, more just for the aether event? I know people emblem or LB heroes for certain quests or events. Are aether quests at that level it warrants special consideration? This is likely different for everyone depending on resources put into the game. What made me wonder is:
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Given the frequency of events, you don’t want to burn a lot of battle items on an aether quest.
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Aether are also super rare though and difficult to obtain outside of the quest. This makes them “more than” to a lot of players who n terms of importance.
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I imagine though, similar to emblems, SG’s grip on these will loosen. It already has by them selling some in deals.
I am curious for other’s views on how they approach these events. Particularly people who use a lot of vanillas. While I ask about Chao in my case I would Iove to hear other tactics.
Also, a secondary question: how intentionally are you approaching these aether quests?:
Battle items be damned, I need those aethers?
Would you ever cater heroes for those quests?
Good luck to those summoning for BF!
).