Air bless: useless?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

As an attempt to understand (one of) the other perspectives, I'm trying an E9 only Cyclops. The attached game demonstrates the problem that causes- Javelins + Crossbows = hurt.

I'll next be trying the Monolith- the only Astral Chassis I have available. Taking the same scales I have with my AirEarth titan above, what do you suggest I change? I have 202 spare points. 85 is tied directly to chassis costs. I cannot take an Earth 9 bless with this build, unfortunately. Though nature, or lesser water is available. Or drop some of my negative scales. At the moment, I'll experiment with W4, S9, and N6, magic docked.. I'll try what else you might suggest, Jazeppi.

EDIT:
I hate to say this, but Twist Fate is surprisingly effective... even on Atlantis. It's late spring of year 2, and my first two task forces are still intact.
One of them is down to six, but its still intact. And I took on cavalry, as well.

In my defense- the idea behind e9a6 was effective 0 encumberance, long lasting fighters, where they would be taking some cold damage from Grip of Winter.
Grip of Winter would cancel Twist Fate, right? Cold damage?

Anyways. You're right about how effective the S9 bless is. Air was useful- don't get me wrong- I refuse to say it is useless- but its nothing beside this Monolith. Still- I don't have any interest or use for Astral magic.

As well, E9 was essential for one reason not related to bless at all. I can't get a dual 9e9s with a monolith - at least without sacrificing order and productivity completely -about 200 points. I can manage E6 which is _functional_ but unsatisfactory due to dispel risks - and lack of feet for Earth Boots. If I have just enough earth gems on hand, I'd like to have the dispel protection from exceeding the path limits.

For a bless strategy, astral nine is clearly superior.
Relative to it- air stinks- but Air is far from useless (though not dependable...), and had caused a significant reduction in fatalities in my tests. If your game strategy is bless- air is a waste- but If your strategy isn't bless- and does not lie on the astral path- air is worth taking in some situations. If the chassis has one pick of astral, twist fate costs 288 points. The air six bless 200 (with base cost of 50). If, for whatever reason, you have a mobile chassis w/o astral such as the crone- you'll pay at least 362 points, probably more for the S9 bless, whereas an A6 bless cost 170 points.

If you first consideration is bless, then Jazeppi wins- air is useless. If it's only your second or third consideration - than its a good deal cheaper and effective enough.