El's Aspiration

El's Aspiration takes several moves from the playable cast and uses them against you. While not too troublesome in its home dungeon, the Aspiration can be substantially more powerful and dangerous in Henir's. This possibility is paired the bright colors in the fight and sometimes subtle tells on the Aspiration's moves. Let's look more closely at the Aspiration, and see what indicators we can utilize.

Basic Characteristics

The Aspiration fights while in permanent super armor. Hitstun and launches will be irrelevant here, so simply focus on attacking and evading.

The Aspiration doesn't jump - it will only wander the floor of the arena, moving horizontally if it needs to get close to you. It is capable of teleporting via certain attacks, however.

The Aspiration does not directly attack at any point during the fight. The Aspiration fights by summoning copies of the playable characters, with those copies performing the attacks. This is an important distinction, as while you cannot damage these summoned copies, skill delays will affect them and may disrupt their attacks depending on when they got delayed. This can put you in harm's way with several attacks, so pay attention to which summons were put on the field and consider what your special actives' delays would do to them.

Furthermore, note that these copies do not die if the Aspiration does. If a copy character is summoned, it's going to complete its attack no matter what happens to the Aspiration - ensure that you do not die to a summon's attack after the Aspiration is defeated.

Attacks

Suppression

If the Aspiration moves its right arm behind its head before slamming the arm forwards, it will summon an Ara copy behind it to launch Suppression, flattening an area in front of the Aspiration.

• Getting hit by Suppression will stun and slow you.
• The Ara summon always appears behind the Aspiration - simply running away will get you to safety.
• You can safely I-frame through this attack once the Suppression attack starts.
• Note that the area covered by Suppression extends slightly behind the Aspiration. If you're going to evade this attack with a pass-through move, you'll need to get some distance from the Aspiration by doing so to dodge successfully.

EMP Shock

If the Aspiration moves its right arm forward with an opened palm and pulls its arm back, it will summon an Add copy at your position. The Add will proceed to use EMP Shock, dealing damage in a moderate radius with high knockback.

• If you get hit by EMP Shock, you'll also take a substantial amount of MP burn.
• Running away from this attack is usually your best option, provided the Aspiration isn't blocking your escape route.
• Attempting special actives around an Add clone is quite dangerous, as the delays will rarely ever desync the clone from its EMP attack. It's very difficult to use skill delays to I-frame through EMP Shock without a special active whose skill delay is shorter than the actual attack.

Maximum Dive

If the Aspiration moves its left arm back before extending it forward with its hand facing down, a Raven clone will be summoned near the Aspiration. It will swiftly perform Maximum Dive, creating a chain of explosions forwards.

• Be careful not to confuse this with EMP Shock. The two moves use opposite arms, and in Maximum Dive, the hand's palm never faces up.
• As Raven always goes forwards, going behind the Aspiration will evade the move.
• As Raven always spawns on the ground, getting sufficiently high in the air will get you over the explosions.
• Depending on where Raven spawns, the explosions may not cover the spot directly next to the Aspiration.
• Try to avoid running away from this move, as it covers a notable horizontal distance verty swiftly. A slow attempt at running away will still result in some explosions hitting you.
• If you plan to use a special active to disrupt this, timing is key. Timed just as Raven starts the move, the explosions will get completely stuck in place and be harmless. Timed just before Raven starts the move, Raven will rush you with the explosions just as you exit I-frames, meaning you'll be mauled by the entire attack.

Dimension Link - Guardian

If the Aspiration moves both arms, crossing them in front of itself before spreading them wide, it will summon an Eve clone in the center of the arena. The Eve clone will summon a Guardian to fire a wave across the floor in both directions.

• If you can't see the Eve clone, use the Aspiration's arms as the tell instead.
• The waves always appear on the ground, and cannot reach the top platforms.
• The waves get stuck on walls, so the upper side areas won't be touched by the waves. Try not to get too close to a stuck wave while attacking the Aspiration, however.

Saber - Extinction

If the Aspiration swings its right arm to the left before forcefully swinging it back to the right, an Elesis clone will appear on the side platforms, on the side opposite of the Aspiration. It will prepare a Saber - Extinction shockwave that cuts across the arena.

• The Extinction projectile won't reach the opposite side of the arena, so run to the side platforms on the other side of the arena for safety. If you can't make it in time, you may need to try and I-frame through the projectile once it's fired.
• As the Elesis clone spawns on the side opposite the Aspiration (which you'll likely be attacking), you often won't see the Elesis clone. Rely on the Aspiration's arm movements and Saber - Extinction's sound effects to detect it.

Aceldama

If the Aspiration puts both arms above its head before putting its arms down and lifting its entire body into the air, a Chung clone will be summoned to the center platforms. It will fire Aceldama, causing bombs to fall across the arena. These bombs will explode on the first surface they contact.

• Get directly under Chung, as the barrage is centered on his position when the bombs fall (including one that falls directly on top of him). This may not always be the exact horizontal center of the arena.
• The explosions are large enough to hit under the platforms, so don't be too hasty - only the top platform gives you enough room to be safe.
• Be careful with skill delays here, as delaying the missiles may result in the Aspiration starting another attack before the missiles arrive. Waiting for the missiles to appear on-screen will assure your safety.

Triple Storm

This attack begins with the Aspiration gaining debuff immunity and teleporting into the background. An Aisha clone will be summoned in the center to perform Lightning Shower, dropping lightning bolts that stun over most of the arena center. Shortly after, a Rena clone will appear on the left side, and a Luciel clone will appear on the right side; they'll respectively perform Gungnir and Rain of Chaos to cover their side platforms. As Gungnir and Rain of Chaos start to rain down projectiles, the Aspiration will teleport back into the arena near one of the two side platforms.

• The Aspiration has a 60 second cooldown on this attack.
• The Aspiration has a scripted use of this attack when it reaches half health; this can interrupt any attacks the Aspiration was performing. This scripted usage of Triple Storm does not affect Triple Storm's cooldown, meaning you can potentially see the move cast twice in a row.
• Run to a side to avoid the lightning covering the center, then run back into the center afterwards to avoid the attacks covering the side platforms afterwards. Move quickly so the Aspiration's return to the arena doesn't block you in; use a pass-through move if necessary.
• If the Aspiration appears on the right side, be aware that the explosions from Rain of Chaos are large enough to hit past the Aspiration, making directly attacking the Aspiration hazardous.

General Strategies

Learning when to use special actives is crucial in this battle. Effective use of special actives and their skill delays will nullify multiple attacks the Aspiration can throw at you; poor use of special actives that delay the Aspiration's summons can get you stuck in scenarios where damage is almost inescapable. Tailor your reactions to what summon the Aspiration has out - if a special active isn't viable at time, use standard attacks, active skills, or just move away from danger.