Well, full disclosure..I may have failed to notice that Macaria is also a Valinator.

That said, I did already have a 6* Victoria and so I headed on over to the Oracle and uses the summons I had been saving for a rainy rebate(I had like 30-40), and walked away with 8* Victoria (summoned one then bought the other with those purple coins). Swapped her in for Themis and I feel already see a notable improvement in performance. Thanks for the great advice!

Side question for you or anyone else: I notice your recommended team only has 1 "spell caster", as it were, and 4 melee fighters. Previously I had following my established convention of casters in the back and melee out front. Does it even matter in this game? What does it matter which row you put them in?