Aether Strikers

The Aether Strikers are a blunt weapon type in Dauntless.

Summary[ | ]

Slayers will get access to the aether strikers fairly early in progression – right around the same time you get your first pair of repeaters. Once you’ve grabbed the Scarred Master’s quest, you’ll be able to talk to her for all of your striker crafting needs. And there will be quite a few! Just like with the sword and war pike, you’ll be able to craft a unique set of strikers for each Behemoth you slay.

Lore[ | ]

Aether Strikers was a weapon originally only used by the Adamant Fists, which was a group that lived in the Adamant Temple. The weapons were originally not used to kill behemoths but to defeat human foes that wanted to do harm to the Adamant Temple. It was not until Kat returned from the Temple to Ramsgate that she gave the Aethersmith the Gauntlets she was allowed to take with her, that the Aether Strikers became a weapon to hunt Behemoths.^[1]

Instead of acting as an extension of self, the strikers function as a catalyst, transforming the very Slayer who wields them into a weapon of flesh and deadly focus. But the aether strikers can only enhance what is already there. If you truly want to master the Way of the Fist – and prove your worth to the Scarred Master – you’ll need to do more than throw a quick punch. Combos. Chains. Mantras. Techniques. Each aspect of the aether strikers must be understood, practiced, and honed to perfection.

The strikers are pugilist’s weapons, but they also have a spiritual component. To truly master them, you’ll need to learn to charge up special energies called Mantras, and understand when to unleash their powers.^[2]

Weapons[ | ]

Name	Power	Element	Perk	Cell Slots	Unique Effect
Recruit's Strikers	10	Neutral	None	None	None
Raging Fists	20	Neutral	+1 Ragehunter	Finesse Insight	Periodically enter a rage, dealing +5% damage and gaining immunity to stagger. Taking damage causes you to enrage more quickly.
Quillshot's Shredders	20	Neutral	+1 Acidic	Finesse Fortitude	None
Ember Fists	20	Blaze	+1 Evasive Fury	Finesse Alacrity	The fourth hit in a row deals +50% stagger damage
Brawlers of Boreus	20	Frost	+1 Conditioning	Brutality Fortitude	After Surging, continually generate Frost Sprites for 6 seconds that grant your next attack +30 damage and minor frost damage (Max 4 Sprites)
Thundering Bolts	20	Shock	+1 Aetheric Attunement	Finesse Brutality	+20% damage vs Behemoth Heads
Skarn's Smashers	20	Terra	+1 Knockout King	Finesse Fortitude	After using your lantern ability, grant a stackable 175 shield that lasts for 25 seconds (max 600 shields).
Fists of the Shrike	40	Neutral	+1 Conditioning	Finesse Alacrity	After dodging, your next attack deals +50 bonus damage and part damage
Charred Hands	40	Blaze	+1 Aetherhunter	Finesse Fortitude	After spending 75 stamina, next attack emits a cone of flame that deals +100 blaze damage to each unique target within the cone
Pangar's Punishers	40	Frost	+1 Knockout King	Finesse Fortitude	Once charged, your next attack places a frost brand that deals 1,000 frost damage after 30 seconds. Slayers can destroy the brand, prematurely detonating it for 50% increased damage. Charges every 90 seconds
Nayzaga's Shockers	40	Shock	+1 Savagery	Finesse Insight	After a Behemoth is staggered, heal for 100
Kharabak's Pincers	40	Terra	+1 Bladestorm	Finesse Alacrity	Once charged, your next attack unleashes whirling blades that deal 25 terra damage. Additional attacks speed up the blades, which explode at the end of the duration and deal damage based on blade speed
Frostwülf's Tacklers	60	Frost	+2 Galvanized	Insight Fortitude	After using your Lantern ability, create a geyser that frequently deals 45 frost damage. Any Slayer moving through the geyser for the first time is granted a stackable 125 health shield that lasts for 25 seconds (max 600 shields).
Winter Wolves	60	Frost	+2 Nimble	Finesse Alacrity	After dodging, drop 2 Ice Mines around you on a 30 second cooldown that deal 300 damage.
Sahvyt's Grapplers	60	Shock	+2 Pulse	Finesse Finesse	Once charged, your next weapon swing/shot unleashes a boomerang projectile that frequently deals 250 shock damage to any target hit. Dodging through an attack reduces charge cooldown.
Fenroar's Thorns	60	Terra	+2 Parasitic	Finesse Brutality	On jumping create a platform of stone in the air ahead of you that lasts up to three seconds. Up to two jumps in a row can be performed before ability must be recharged. Activating Lantern refreshes the two jumps. Shortly after forming, the platform falls, dealing 250 terra damage, and interrupting behemoths.
Sovereign's Sceptres	60	Terra	+2 Sharpened	Brutality Insight	After not dealing damage for 4 seconds, your next 4 attacks deal +50% damage
Valomyr's Visions	60	Radiant	+2 Aetherhunter	Brutality Insight	Once charged, your next attack deals +550 radiant damage - charge rate increases with higher current health
Stalker's Scorn	60	Umbral	+2 Assassin's Frenzy	Finesse Insight	On chance after dealing damage, generate Shadow Orbs that grant +1.75% damage for 5 seconds - At 5+ Orbs, the bonus doubles
Inferno's Flames	80	Blaze	+2 Overpower	Brutality Brutality	The eighth hit in a row deals +150 damage and inflicts major blaze status buildup.
Fists of the Firebird	80	Blaze	+2 Aetheric Evasion	Insight Alacrity	Attack a Behemoth part to lock onto it and load a homing missile. Missile deals 100 damage and increases the damage of every other missile in the volley by 100. Deal damage to load up to a maximum of 3 additional missiles. Dodging fires all loaded missiles on the locked-on part. 45 second cooldown.
Storm Breakers	80	Shock	+2 Aetheric Attunement	Finesse Alacrity	After dodging through an attack, extend Mantra timeout by 2 seconds
Surge Protectors	80	Shock	+2 Aetheric Evasion	Brutality Finesse	+20% damage vs Behemoth Heads
Glyph Weaver Claws	80	Radiant	+2 Aetheric Attunement	Brutality Fortitude	On lantern use, spawn a glyph based on your active glyph type that charges after three seconds. Once charged, the glyph will activate when a Behemoth makes contact. Red Glyph: Deals 750 radiant damage in a radius. Blue Glyph: Grants 150 stacking shields that expire after 25s to slayers in a large radius(max 600 shields). Jump to change the active glyph type. Glyph expire after 10s.
Hands of Dawn	80	Radiant	+2 Cunning	Finesse Brutality	+12% chance for attacks to hit twice
Hands of Night	80	Umbral	+2 Cunning	Finesse Insight	When under 20% health, deal +50% damage
The Golden Claws(Legacy Content)		Radiant	+2 Bladestorm	Finesse Alacrity	+30% part damage After dodging through an attack, your next attack within 5 seconds deals +150% part damage After dodging through an attack, your next attack within 5 seconds deals +150 stagger damage While below 30% of your maximum health, gain +15% attack speed. -200 max health

Legendaries[ | ]

Facing the Keystone Behemoth in a hard Escalation will unlock blueprints for all of its legendary weapons. These high-powered weapons aren't easy to craft, but the perks are worth the extra effort.

Name	Power	Element	Perk	Cell Slots	Unique Effect
Tectonic Faults	100	Blaze	Bond	Prismatic Prismatic	Legendary Ability: [G] / [L+R] to enter a rage, gaining new attacks for 15 seconds. Deal +25% damage when the target is below 50% health. Resets on Behemoth kill or after 90 seconds.
Ice Breakers	100	Frost	Bond	Prismatic Prismatic	Legendary Ability: [G] / [L+R] to create a Frost Shield that blocks hostile projectiles for 6 seconds. Damages and chills Behemoths that contact it (can interrupt). Resets on Behemoth kill or after 3.5 minutes.
Mistral Currents	100	Shock	Bond	Prismatic Prismatic	Legendary Ability: [G] / [L+R] to teleport to a Behemoth, dealing shock damage. Resets on Behemoth kill or after 2 minutes.
Agents of Decay	100	Terra	Bond	Prismatic Prismatic	Legendary Ability: [G] / [L+R] to revive all Slayers in a large radius, granting them healing over time and immunity to stagger. Usable while downed. Resets on Behemoth kill or after 5 minutes.
Chaos & Entropy	100	Radiant	Bond	Prismatic Prismatic	Legendary Ability: [G] / [L+R] to rewind to your position 3 seconds prior to reactivation. Restores health and stamina lost in that time, and removes debuffs. Become invulnerable and gain increased move speed for 6 seconds. Usable while downed. Resets on Behemoth kill or after 90 seconds.
Fractured Realities	100	Umbral	Bond	Prismatic Prismatic	Legendary Ability: [G] / [L+R] to deal umbral damage to nearby enemies and teleport high into the sky. Then choose a spot to slam down on to, dealing additional umbral damage. Resets on Behemoth kill or after 2 minutes.

Specials[ | ]

Icon	Name	Description	Obtained From
	Adamant Bolt	Unleash energy in a focused blast, dealing 900 damage to the first enemy hit. Deals up to +100% damage when Tempest Form and Karma Breaker's effects are active.	Available from the quest Meet the Master (Quest).
	Titan's Crash	Unleash energy forward in a pressure wave, dealing 500 damage to the closest target and 166 damage to two nearby targets. Deals up to +100% damage when Tempest Form and Karma Breaker's effects are active.	Slayer's Path, Milestone V, Light the Way.

Mods[ | ]

Name	Description	Obtained From
Cyclonic Strikeplate	Tempest Form duration increased by 10 seconds. When Tempest Form has less than 10 seconds remaining, deal +15% damage.	Slayer's Path, Milestone V, Light the Way.
Echo Bracedriver	Critical strikes increase the damage dealt by Karma Breaker's damage over time by 10% until the debuff ends or is refreshed.	Slayer's Path, Milestone V, Light the Way.
Inertial Fistguard	Surge deals +25% damage. After surging, gain +5% movespeed for 8 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.	Slayer's Path, Milestone V, Light the Way.

Weapon Skins[ | ]

The following weapon skins can be used with the Aether Strikers:

Adamant Demons
Alchemancer's Repercussions
Archonic Tech-Disruptors
Archonite Strikers
Arcslayer Aethercasters
Benson's Ramslammers
Benson's Warslammers
Bloodshot Sockets
Broken Sockets
Catspaws
Champion's Aether Strikers
Cold Archonite Strikers
Dazzling Owls
Defender's Decrees
Deliberate Demons
Emerald Steel Strikers
EN-AC1 "Might Makes Rites"
Forgotten Moments
Frostfall Strikers
Frostform Smaukurrin
Frostwarden Klaw
Grand Romantics
Heartbreakers
Heartfire's Sins
Heartgem Strikers
Infiltrator's Umbras
Keeper's Applodo
Krolach Kill-Fists
Krolach Kill-Mitts
Null Forces
Pneumatic Fisticuffs
Ranger's Rites
Royal Steel Strikers
Skarn Knuckles
Skymetal Strikers
SM-AS "Ramming Speed" Auto Strikers
SM-IS7 "Fragtime" Impact Strikers
Smiley and Smacker
Stars Above
Steel Strikers
The Everdawns
Thorns of Dusk
Timeframes
Treasured Gauntlets
Twisted Serpents
Unbidden Rebuke
Victorious Aether Strikers
Warlord's Howls
Witch's Familiars

Techniques[ | ]

Perhaps the most important component of the Aether strikers system are techniques.

These are special moves that vary depending on how many Mantras you have charged up.

Tempest Form[ | ]

The Tempest Form is the simplest technique, requiring only one Mantra to use.

Activate it to focus your energy and increase your attack speed. This is a relatively long boost.

Karma Breaker[ | ]

The Karma Breaker requires two Mantras and unleashes a forward strike.

This strike damages the first target it hits and deals damage over time for an extended period.

Adamant Bolt[ | ]

The Adamant Bolt releases a focused, cannon-like blast of energy, dealing damage to the first enemy it hits.

It also deals bonus damage if either Tempest Form or Karma Breaker is active, and even more damage if they’re both active.

You’ll need to light up all three Mantras in order to use this one.

Adamant Bolt can be swapped for Titan’s Crash, a devastating close-range Attack that does more damage when both Tempest Form and Karma Breaker are active.

Mantra[ | ]

Once you’ve charged up a Mantra, you’ll see a timer and two special skills light up on your UI.

The first one is Surge: a skill you can use after gaining any Mantra or using any technique. Tap your special button to execute a dash attack that punches through enemies and – this part is important – refreshes your timer.

Timing is Everything

Before we go further into techniques and combo chains, let’s explain the Mantra timer. This glowing meter lets you see how much time you have left before your current Mantra(s) expire. You can refresh it by either (a) activating Surge or (b) landing another successful combo before it times out. If it expires, you’ll lose all of your current Mantra charges and have to start over with another combo.