Aristeia! - Aristo Analysis - Prysm

"I just have to attract them like moths into my light."

Prysm is a wonderful athlete who arrives in Aristeia! defending the colors of Ypsilon. Nothing and nobody seems to be able to tear down her iron will on her way to excellence.

PRYSM: The excellence light

Priscilla was born twenty-six years ago in the planet of Svalarheima, PanOceania; and it could be said that with barely a year of life, she didn’t learn how to walk: she just ran. Competition is an intrinsic component of her DNA and the need to improve has been the rudder that has guided her with firm direction until the present. Now she has joined the exclusive group of elite athletes who fight in
Aristeia!

Since her adolescence, she was a champion of athletics at a local, state and interplanetary level. Unfortunately, she couldn’t compete in the senior category outside Svalarheima, due to lack of sponsorship. This stopped her aspirations as a sports professional. However, that wasn’t a problem to continue chasing the dream for the tenacious Priscilla, but an obstacle to climb.

After two years of hard training in the mountains of Arkhangel SK, where she took her physicality to new limits, she began to successfully compete all extreme endurance events, such as the Iron Man Odin Hills or the Trollhätan X-Trials, mandatory stages of the well-known Endurance circuit that crowns the most complete athletes of Svalarheima. Some of these tests rewarded physical contact between their participants, so Priscilla was adding various disciplines of martial arts to her daily work routine.

She was the best. She had no rival on the planet, but she still felt empty, needing of a new challenge to test her limits. Then, the mega corporation Ypsilon made public on Maya that they would be conducting selection tests for their new champion in Aristeia!

From that moment, to reach the glory in the greatest sporting spectacle of the Human Sphere became her new obsession.

She went to the delegation for Svalarheima, along with hundreds of thousands more prospective competitors. As a professional athlete with proven experience in the Endurance circuit, she passed the first two filters automatically as a seed. From there, the hard work began: The first tests consisted of physical and psychiatric competitions, where only candidates with minimal marks or a certain profile were admitted.

After the first four screens, all the candidates were transferred to the famous Omadon Arena, which was rented to develop to the unequivocal standards of an Aristeia! stadium. She faced the survivors in teams with physical contact games that heated up as the playoffs progressed. Each step in the rise to glory was harder than the previous one, and the great teams were full of aspiring novices that became professionals like her. This test even involved aristos coming from the bloody Aristeia! Underground.

Priscilla triumphed by demonstrating a high capacity for physical and mental endurance, just as her hosts had planned. She adopted the nickname of Prysm and entered the pantheon of Aristeia! with the firm intention of snatching the title of Bahadur from Wild Bill. If she succeeds, she had a clause in the contract signed with Ypsilon that would allow her to obtain a high performance Lhost (LiveHost): an enhanced biosynthetic body to implant her memories and personality, stored in her Cube. Just one more step to immortality.

As a member of the "Human Fate" expansion, Prysm benefits from the early development work which added to the detail on the plastic sculpts in the Aristeia line.

This particular example, however, is not universally praised. As is also the case on the plastic Dart, some elements of the sculpt have overly large smooth areas and are thus missing the texture which other more recent plastic sculpts have offered.

At the same time the design is interesting and engaging, and the detail on the key focus areas of the face, hair, and sculpted crystal structures in the armour are all very well executed.

Although some parts of the base attributes are fairly standard, the Speed of 4 and Energy of 5, virtually everything else is exceptional in some way. Initiative 6 is very high for a Tank, which helps a lot in Prysm performing in her role well. Her Hit Points, at only 4, are a concern, and while her Switch makes good use of the Yellow dice in her Defense it's still not quite enough to feel confident in her survival alone.

Her other Switch, applying the Taunted State to an Enemy within Range 1-3 without requiring Line of Sight, helps to make sense of her Agility. The intention is for her to largely Taunt opponents rather than actually move away from them.

The effect of that first Switch, Nullifying a Success from your opponents Roll as long as they are within Range 1-5 and regardless of Line of Sight, means that her Brawn is slightly better than it initially appears to be (and is more easily enhanced in a wider range of ways) as well.

"Gamma Radiation", the Attack which represents Prysm's only Action, is not particularly damaging, for the 3 Action Points which it costs, nor particularly good from a range perspective on an only moderately fast Aristo. However, as it throws both a Blue and a Yellow die alongside the Orange, the one thing it does have going for it is a high likelihood of firing one, or both, of Prysm's Switches, which is usually what you want her doing.

The key function of the Aristo as a Tank becomes more clear when we consider her Automatic Skills. Firstoff we have "Pulsing Light" which forces opposing Aristos to Attack whenever they can if they are within range 5. The FAQ makes it clear that this fires immediately at the beginning of their Action Phase and therefore forces them to Attack even before they have a chance to play Tactics or to move. This will force many Aristos, including all those without another Ranged attack who are outside of melee, to use their Contender.

The second part of this effect becomes clear when you realise that the second Automatic Skill on the Aristo, "Guiding Light", leaves her with a Marked State Token at the end of every one of her Activations. This means that your opponents Team will be able to attack her even if they do not have Line of Sight. Meaning a lot of Contender shots are going to happen.

This can be effective for limiting Aristos who even start their turn outside of Range 5 of Prysm, because if they move within that range the rest of their Activation is going to be consumed by a forced Contender Attack (with the exception of dedicated Ranged Strikers). This is one of the rare situations where an Aristo with less than 5 Energy might have an advantage!

Unlike most of the other primary Tanks in the Hexadome Prysm has a Tactics set which is largely "Selfish". Only one of her Tactics options is "Generous", but that one is particularly effective and works well with other Team mates who can drop Marks.

That "Generous" Tactic is our first for consideration. "Blinding Light" can fire at a key moment in a Roll, after the Roll has been made but before the Critical Block Step. This eliminates the possibility of an opposing Aristo, such as Padre Inquisitor Mendoza, Switching all of their Successes to avoid their prevention. In fact, it prevents the opposing Aristo from using their Successes at all.

The tricky element here is the need for the target to be Taunted, meaning that this will most often be useful to Prysm herself, but it doesn't stipulate, so if an opponent is out of range of Prysm or has a Taunted Status Token from another Aristo then you can use this for any of your Aristos.

Next up is "Reflection" which, along with all the others we have to consider for Prysm, a "Selfish" Tactic. This Tactic triggers at any point in the Actions Step of Prysm's Activation and simply hits all Enemies within Range 1-2 for 1 Hit Point.

As it requires Line of Sight this Tactic can have its impact limited by an opponents positioning. It has relatively high maximum damage output for a Tactic (4 Hit Points total is certainly solid) but this is undermined by the requirement for the entire opposing Team to be both in Range and within Line of Sight, which will not be a regular situation given Prysm's lack of ability to shift Aristos.

Overall this choice is fairly limited in value, likely overshadowed even in those missions which are entirely focused around achieving Frags and certainly not a strong pick outside of that context.

The third potential choice is "Refraction". This triggers when Prysm receives Hit Point damage, even if it's about to send her to the Infirmary.

It has a two step effect. Firstly it hits all opposing Aristos who currently have a Taunted with Dazzled, which is an ability which synergises well with other Aristos who can put out the Taunted State. Remember that this will actually work to the advantage of some opponents with Prysm however, as being Dazzled can allow them to bypass Pulsing Light, so be careful with your timing in deploying this Tactic.

As a second effect "Refraction" also Inflicts 1 Damage directly to all Dazzled Enemies anywhere in the Hexadome.  It will hit those who were only Taunted as well as those who have picked up their Dazzled State Token from another member of your Team (or, in some cases, themselves).

Given how likely Prysm is to take damage at some point, how easily many teams can put out Dazzled and how quickly the right team can stack up Taunted this can be less situational and more effective that the first glance might suggest.

Last, but certainly not least, we have "Solar Flare". This fires after a Defense Roll for Prysm has been resolved and hits the Attacker with 2 Damage.

Quick, simple and effective.

This can often stack with hits in the Defense roll, especially against Aristos who like to use their Block results offensively, to put down a wounded opponent. Note also that it doesn't have any regard for Line of Sight, nor any concern for the status of Prysm after the Roll. So it can, all on its own, take down some Strikers and even take vengeance from the Infirmary for the fallen Tank.

Prysm is highly effective in any Scenario which forces Aristos to play largely at close ranges, meaning most of the main scoring setups work well. She is weaker in those which directly reward killing, being slightly less resilient overall than some other Tanks and being a little too easily focus fired down. Her strengths are also diluted in very mobile Scenarios which require substantial movement within a single turn as they will often pull her out of position to fire most of her abilities.

In terms of Team mates Prysm can help to protect anyone, but obviously more vulnerable Aristos are going to benefit most from her ability to draw fire so effectively. She certainly wants some healing, 'though likely doesn't fully benefit from the massive output of a Mendoza. With both of her Switches firing off Special results she loves the Focused State, and it's hard to find an Aristo who doesn't suffer under the wrong Status effects. But most critically Prysm doesn't have any significant damage output herself, she needs someone else to actually put other Aristos down.

So, that's the pinnacle of endurance, the brightest light in the Hexadome, the blinding Prysm!

 If you are looking for more on Prysm check out the official writeup here:

https://aristeiathegame.com/blog/item/536-analysis-of-prysm

And, as always, we'd appreciate your thoughts. Not just on this article but on the series as a whole as well. Are these articles suiting what you want from Aristeia! content?  Is there something more you'd like to see from them?

But, also, do you use Prysm?
What kind of team do you like to run her in?
Has she been effective for you?
What limitations have you run into?

Your thoughts and feedback are always appreciated.