I think the high risk, high reward doesn’t apply to her. It’s high risk, little bit more reward.
In a way, her problem is a bit like Seth when it comes to balancing. With the added complexity that she becomes weaker over time. You have to work hard for setups and be precise on defense.
Give her too much damage output and the character will be overpowered. But her health management is the biggest challenge, imo.
You guys do realize we have a new thread called “Forum Battles” right? Dec. 19th has past us already - let it go! 
Oh goodness no. High level Aria is terrifying - she has what amounts to consistent, safe, un-shadow counterable pressure after any knockdown, and she has some of the dirtiest shenanigans in the game in instinct with her ability to cancel a normal into drone assist into more normals.
I think she is pretty rare just because of how complex her gameplan is at first blush, and the fact that she has quite a bit less margin for error than most other characters. Aria is a LOT of fun, but she can be frustrating, since if you aren’t winning with her at any given moment there is a distinct possibility that you are getting absolutely and utterly wrecked. A single reset from almost anyone in the cast has a goodly chance of completely wiping out a body.
I personally think the next stage for people to hit with her is to more effectively manage her drone bodies. I think it’s way too common to see her simply sacrifice a body rather than try to save it and use her instinct to grant her the extra life that comes from having a near-dead drone body sucking up 33% of the damage done to her. It’s certainly not a be-all end-all solution to her health woes, but it is a tool that we don’t really see used to anywhere near its potential.
Aria is crazy tough if you play the AI on very hard and above. She was my #2 main for a few months…I really enjoy using her… but she can be hard to use and at a bit of a disadvantage at time.
Its all about the set ups, drone protection and making moves safe. def a thinking mans character
I did not know that! You singlehandedly just improved my ARIA by miles!
During the lobby, @SightlessKombat mentioned that everything is easier for players who can see, and that we have an advantage over him.
I pointed out that he has a similar advantage over double amputees. (They don’t have hands.)
This is my fan art of that matchup, though the irony of the fact that he’ll never get to fully appreciate my crappy drawing is not lost on me.
Oh come on… You really had to run that joke back? 
Also, I’m uploading footage of a Galactic Geek Aria defeat that he suffered yesterday at my hand in a 3 player lobby with @jukesy1992
Is there no way I can close this topic myself - I’ll post my video on a new thread, but it’d be good to have functionality to close the topic myself.
Never mind. I went to practice this, and like an idiot, I forgot that when in instinct, she doesn’t actually have her regular assists because they’re all equipped simultaneously - all she has is her mini-drone(s). 
For some reason, I was thining she could use the 3 assists during instinct to great effect… SIGH 
You have an Aria? Me too. I am working on her but I need to get my Aganos and Shago to level 50 first.
While she certainly doesn’t have her standard assists, fanfare drones are actually really, really, good. They give her access to tracking bass assists that you don’t have to take care of, and that normal cancel into fanfare is nothing to sleep on.
They’re practically un-shadow counterable, serve as an opener to any hit you land, and let Aria do ridiculous instinct combos that are nigh impossible to break. If you’ve got fanfare drones and the blade body, you get a guaranteed lockdown into high/low mix-up of your choice…I really wouldn’t be too sad about losing her standard assists in instinct.
Bass assist is the good one (for mixups) anyway. Giving her 3 bass assists AND letting them track AND letting her cancel normals into them, well… yeah it’s the good stuff.
GalacticGeek, just go into training with Aria, use the dummy to kill the booster and bass body, then activate (infinite) instinct with blade body. Just press cr.MP into assist call over and over again and you’ll understand why this is so good.
I haven’t even come close to training with her in instinct. I am still working on attack and defensive options with each body/scenario against TJ, Wulf, Jago and Thunder that’s not even half of the cast.
I love Aria because it’s fun to learn the cast this way.
Next step, maybe not intended for me, but I will try out combo assists and see if I can focus on other aspects of her game by making inputs easier.
I am having tons of fun fighting with her and I haven’t even started using the things you mentioned consistently. So looking forward to that part of my training 
I hope her season 3 changes are not too drastic…
Only reason I play her. Was intrigued by Aganos, Hisako and Aria. Since I love arrogant bad guys, I have to go with Aria. The at a disadvantage part keeps the number of people using her low, which I also like (selfish me)…
SHe is still my #3… was #2 until SHago came out. SHw will always be in my top 5
when need to mirror match soon!
