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RE: =AQ= The Guardian Giftboxes Are Finally Opening!

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1/20/2026 19:26:32   
Aura Knight
Member

This armor is a welcome addition. Art and animation by itself is spectacular. Power good too. It reintroduces reason for using defense boosters by making that act as a damage buff too. So worth the wait making this easily the current best piece of the set. Definitely using armor, pet and spell. I hope misc wraps it up well too.
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 26
1/20/2026 19:38:12   
MetalKnight
Member

Wow! the new armor is very amazing!

And what about the giftboxen face?
AQ AQW  Post #: 27
1/20/2026 20:01:51   
wozzen
Member

My thoughts on the set as a whole: I like the look and mechanics of all the pieces (I like the goofy flexing on the battle-entrance animation for the armor) and it feels like a pretty decent and cohesive Defense set. My only real "issue" with it is that it's Light element, and not only was last year's Giftbox set Light, we also got the Legate set that is the same element. Other than that, I like it!
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 28
1/20/2026 22:10:30   
Singularity
Member
 

 Armor is super good. If the misc sticks the landing this set is 10/10. Very nice!
Post #: 29
1/20/2026 23:41:34   
JhyShy
Member
 

 I love the armor's goofy flexing. Honestly the Skill being spellbased confused me and I understand why you guys made the set light. I really wish there was an FO option, the skill being spellbased doesn't matter because the real star for me is the toggle, which was why I wished the armor had an FO version, that's something FO players will want to play with. With the extra hit and the extra damage from defloss. Dope armor though, sucks it's light.
Post #: 30
1/21/2026 0:55:20   
Singularity
Member
 

 I like how with the toggle, even if i drink a potion it deals damage. easy 400 damage with shadowfeeder pendant
Post #: 31
1/21/2026 1:33:02   
neswii
Member

I personally love the armor - love the animation and the mechanics are pretty much perfect for my mage.
AQ  Post #: 32
1/21/2026 2:51:43   
1stClassGenesis
Member

It's certainly unique in its own way. I'm glad that it's doing something different from almost all existing items. Speedy recovery to you, Kamui, and thanks for your hard work.

My only feedback is that Star Holly's Radiance is far too one-dimensional. It stands to work better by splitting the eater into half damage, half healing. After all, the set does have a couple of + DmgTkn elements which adds up.
Post #: 33
1/21/2026 3:04:45   
ming shuen
Member

. . . IDK whether you guys realize this, but this armour gives absolutely 0 SC Lean vibes. It just screams warrior to me. Fungibushi, Archfiend and Necrotech on the other hand, fits the aesthetic quite well. Maybe my artistic sensibilities is a bit distorted, but eh. It is what it is.

Still, I am a huge fan of SC - Lean and I am glad that this armour was made into one. We needed more SC Light coverage for sure. Maybe we can have some SC / Dire armours in the future? Spellcaster-lean still needs support, and well, might as well combine it with Dire since that’s a new lean that also demands some attention. Maybe something related to energy . . . or a 39/42/42 or 40/40 spread that fix coverage issues while having elemental resistances that both leans would find useful. Anywayz, thanks for this release. I liked this one. (•ᴗ•)

(Also, for some reason, I feel like all my posts have been about SC Lean )
AQ DF MQ  Post #: 34
1/21/2026 3:25:31   
Aura Knight
Member

But it of course has holiday magic. Do you not believe?

You do bring up a very true point in that spellcaster lean seems forced even on armors where it is a thematic anomaly. It's no big deal for INT builds but all else are forced to make a suboptimal choice usually due to associated effects on said armor are too good to skip. In that case a hit to your output doesn't matter. This armor fits that. It's FD or SC but the extra hit should have it comparable to some FO options. Status empowerment makes up for what its lean lacks for FO strats.
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 35
1/21/2026 3:36:48   
CH4OT1C!
Member

I am very confident that the staff received the set art, which strongly leaned FD/FO Light (for Warriors), and did their best to pivot it to a different niche while very loosely following the thematic style.

It's a good set mechanically, and pivoting was definitely the right decision given last year's set. I'll post some more thoughts on it once all the pieces are released, but in the meantime, I'll say the set clearly demonstrates the need to produce more spellcaster-oriented art. This is a fungibushi situation; similarly, that set was never intended to be spellcaster-oriented.

_____________________________
AQ  Post #: 36
1/21/2026 4:31:43   
  Kamui
 Hashire sori yo Kaze no you ni!


 The Frostval Overlord's Wish misc item and the faces are now available! I'm going to go conk out to sleep now, let me know on Discord if there's any borks I missed!

Also, the skill formerly known as Dashing Prince Blitz on the armour has now been properly renamed Dashing PRANCE Blitz, somehow that typo snuck past on me!

Edit: Also, yeah, my UI skills clearly could use some work. I had to throw together that little pair of buttons since I didn't think y'all would like a menu to be toggling back and forth between everything. I'll try to tweak the button locations/sizes and such. They were at top of the screen earlier but that got hidden under the text popups at the top of the screen, so I moved them under the misc itself. I'll try and figure something out in the morning.

< Message edited by Kamui -- 1/21/2026 4:43:15 >
AQ DF MQ  Post #: 37
1/21/2026 4:53:10   
Strange Doctor
Member
 

 Done playing with the armor and the rest of the set.

Geez, too many LIGHT and FD items these days.

Off to storage they go!

< Message edited by Strange Doctor -- 1/21/2026 8:25:26 >
Post #: 38
1/21/2026 5:28:08   
Aura Knight
Member

Maybe a way to do it is to move the element icon to lower right of status bar similar where some shields go when in certain armors then position the two buttons where that icon originally was possibly making them into 1 that swaps between the two on click.

Solid set overall.

edit: Though making use of defboost isn't a strategy I currently use, these items are certainly pushing me towards a return to that. The misc alone has a high boost. Gonna experiment with gear.


< Message edited by Aura Knight -- 1/21/2026 5:32:50 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 39
1/21/2026 5:54:22   
Zeldax
Member
 

 Now that the misc is out, I can share my overall thoughts on the Giftbox set based on info subs.
  • Weapons seem pretty good, though they do overlap with the Copperclad weapons a bit, particularly the Melee and Ranged weapons. That said, they might be better if you're able to always have Defloss inflicted (can be done with the set's Pet and Misc, or Warwolf Misc)
  • Shield is alright. The SP heal per hit attempted against you when the enemy has Defloss is pretty neat.
  • Pet seems really good, particularly the Defloss mode.
  • Spell is also alright but as @1stClassGenesis said, it's pretty much just a damage spell.
  • Misc seems really good for those who run Defboost builds and/or for those who run Defloss but missed out on Warwolf misc.
  • Armor also seems really good. A bit odd that the skill's Defboost trigger only takes into account the current term's Defboost instead of the entirety of the inflicted status, since that's not the norm AFAIK. The skill also being spell-based even in Melee mode is also weird, given that FD Warriors are a thing. The Defloss toggle seems nice.

    With all that said, my issues with the set are with it being the 4th Light set we've gotten in more or less a year (we got One Storm/Sleighguard, Festive Legionary, and Rubicon Legate last year). It's also another FD light armor like One Storm (last year's Giftbox armor), and just like One Storm, it's another FD armor where the set it's part of has a 0 proc Ranged weapon (FD Rangers would rather use 100 proc weapons). Further, it's a Defloss set which FO Rangers would have liked, but they literally got Festive Legionary last year (which as I said earlier is also a Light set) so they'd have to choose between the two sets. I have no issues with it being swappable to SC since SC Light options are kind of lacking right now (then again, neither this nor the two SC Light options in UR count as coverage), but the lean does feel like it was just slapped on.

    On a more personal note, I would have preferred this set to be FO and a different element, particularly because my FO Ranger would have enjoyed this set (since Defloss would help with DEX's Adaptive Lean) but it uses almost the entirety of the Festive Legionary set and thus has no room to use any of the items in this set.

    It was said on Discord that the Frostval Overlord Set was a case of the art being done first and being heavily elementally coded, but this also just means that it was another instance of communication issues between the staff. I assume it was Tyronius who made this set and finished it before showing it to AQ team, so I just hope that he and the team communicate with each other to avoid things like this in the future.


    @ming shuen
    I agree that Frostval Overlord does not look like an SC armor, but neither do the 3 other armors you mentioned. Fungibushi is a samurai (and is already an SC armor), Archfiend is some grotesque warrior, and Necrotech is a giant mech.
    • Post #: 40
    1/21/2026 11:42:34   
    Singularity
    Member
     

    		 the misc hits it out the park. I almost feel a little OP now. my training ground is tibbles and im beating him in like 3 turns. 10/10. Also like how the misc is light/dark. welcome addition. I think i'll replace light of iris with it.
    Post #: 41
    1/21/2026 13:09:38   
    Kaizoku
    Member

    		I think we could go all of 2026 without any Fire, Darkness or Light armors. Everything else needs way more help. That being said I appreciate the Defboost/Defloss theming, it's pretty fun.
    AQ DF MQ  Post #: 42
    1/22/2026 3:35:01   
    CH4OT1C!
    Member

    		I'll start by reiterating the art for this set very clearly fits a FO/FD Warrior far better than a Mage. Given recent Frostval sets, the staff had little option but to pivot while keeping as loosely to the theme as possible. I think this pivot does address some of the issues @Zeldax raises: it may be the 4th Light and 3rd FD Light set in 12 months, but it's also the only one to prioritise spellcasters. I don't mind having multiple sets with the same element/armour lean so long as they cater to different playstyles. Nonetheless, it's very difficult to argue that the SC lean wasn't slapped on (albeit due to difficult circumstances), and the art clearly fits better with FO than it does SC. The set's Defloss mechanics don't disproportionately help Rangers* , but could have still made for an interesting FO theme.

    To briefly summarise:
  • Weapon: The mechanics are fine. HP and SP regeneration are always nice to have. Obtaining Defloss isn't too difficult, so it's also fairly easy to take advantage of. My main problem is the Ranged weapon. This is now the second year in a row that a FD set doesn't have a Ranged 100-proc weapon. Rangers are already suffering from a lack of gear and really don't need this further loss (even on a permarare set). I understand that the art came in first, but I would really suggest making it clear to the artist that a bow/100-proc is necessary on future FD sets.
  • Shield: Similar to the above, HP and SP Regeneration are nice to have, especially with some of the other set pieces.
  • Pet: One of the best parts of the set. I think other pets do the individual components of custodian better, but custodian is the only one able to do both in one slot.
  • Spell: This spell feels like a bit of an afterthought. You can consume the Misc/Pet celerity on the following turn, which is good. However, I'm not really sure why the goal is increasing damage when the armour's spell is already plenty powerful enough. I broadly agree with @1stClassGenesis; it should have done something else.
  • Armour: This is the best piece of the set. I really like the spell (animation and mechanism), and the extra hit of damage is most welcome. It's relatively simple in focusing on reducing enemy defence and then ramping up the damage, but it's very good at it.
  • Misc: The effect of the misc itself makes a lot of sense. You need an alternative source of both defloss and defboost in this set, and the misc provides. My main concern stems from that final mode. +60 MRM? That's incredibly high. That could seriously worsen problems with Dodgelash unless toned down (or some other countermeasure is put in place).

    Cool set, especially given that Kam had to work on much of this alone! Edit: Haven't gotten into the potential balance/design issues, which I'll save for elsewhere.

    *At higher levels, then yes, the adaptive lean would come into play. However, unless you're using the defloss from all the pieces at the same time (and they all inflict), you're not any better off than a traditional damage boost.

    < Message edited by CH4OT1C! -- 1/23/2026 19:48:38 >
    • AQ  Post #: 43
    1/28/2026 21:14:14   
    GwenMay
    Member

    		I just wanted to say, I love the giftbox set this year. Artwork was topnotch and very memorable, and I found the effects interesting and useful. I especially love the dance animation when the armor is equipped :)
    AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 44
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