Aristeia! - The Rivals - Wild Bill

Wild Bill, Core 8 Aristo, gambler and gunslinger. The Aristo who brings the stories of the Old West to life in the Hexadome.

What we know of his backstory tells us that he appeared in the Novyy Bangkok underground fighting scene, made his name and fought his way into the legitimate Aristeia! circuit. But a lot of questions remain around this man who claims to be simply from USAriadna, yet seems so much to be another ALEPH Recreation.

In terms of his base attributes he’s already a solid pick, despite average Brawn, Agility and Movement his high Initiative, Defense and Hit Points all contribute towards making him a great choice. Like Mushashi his Defense and Hit Points might actually make him TOO good, and he’s near the top of the list of Aristos who might see a nerf in this area.

His generic Switch is good, if expensive. Two Block results is a lot to give up and can result in him taking damage if you get too greedy for Tactics. Still it’s great to have the option as often opponents won’t throw that much in the way of Successes back at you when you go Face to Face.

Twin Pistols is a ranged Attack with solid minimum and maximum, ‘though, obviously, it can leave him vulnerable to being locked down. It’s got great damage output and the inbuilt Switch uses Special results, making every symbol you roll potentially useful without external help. Being able to throw out an additional attack for free, even if it IS against another Target, is also amazing (and you can always go back to shoot the original target again if you can Switch twice).

Like all strikers Wild Bill benefits a lot from picking up extra dice for his attacks, and thanks to his broad Switch use he can benefit from Blue, Yellow AND Orange dice. Anything which can reliably give him extra Yellow dice is going to be especially welcome, however, as his Attack Switch is one of his greatest strengths.

Further adding to Wild Bill both offensively and as a defensive threat, is his Gunslinger Automatic Ability. This allows him to swap out his Defense for an attack back, which will often leave him wounded (or in the Infirmary) but has a good chance of doing the same to his attacker.

Last, but CERTAINLY not least, is Dead Man’s Hand. This is amazing because it allows you to use ANY Tactic to enhance a Combat Roll (remember, that’s both Attack and Defence rolls).

Then there are his Tactics, which are a mix of generous and selfish options.

Ace of Spaces is very simple, it allows you to use Dead Man’s Hand any number of times rather than once per Roll. Obviously only Wild Bill is using this, and it’s not going to be often that you want to throw away several Tactics at a time. On the other hand it IS very likely to simply put that Aristo down if you really want them down.

Ace of Hearts is amazing, because it allows you to recycle a Tactic without removing it from the game. Just putting Wild Bill, with this, and Hannibal, with Code:<Timeout>, can allow you to use a single Tactic four times in one match. It’s hard to overstate the impact that getting multiple plays out of a single important Tactic can have, at a minimum imagine how sad your can make your opponent by playing “NO!” multiple times.

Ace of Clubs is another super simple Tactic, which only functions for Wild Bill. A Twin Pistols Attack with no Action Point cost is obviously useful for multiple attacks (either on top of, or in addition to, those proccing off Twin Pistols), but it’s also interesting for the potential to Attack at the end of a double Move Action (or before, or during, one).

Last, but certainly not least, Ace of Diamonds is undeniably effective when played during a Twin Pistols Attack, but certainly also highly useful for any Aristo who wants to pull both Successes and Special results on an Action.

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Overall Wild Bill is an effective Aristo, with great ranged damage output and resilience. He has an interesting support role thanks to his additional Tactics draw and related Tactics options. He mostly needs some support to ensure that he’s not outmaneuvered, and plays well with more mobile Aristos. He’s also unlikely to go down in a single Action, so benefits from healing support. Sources of Focus are going to be VERY good friends of his, because he wants to throw additional Yellow dice as often as possible.

 

Key weaknesses are Smoke and the Dazzled state, his range being good enough to overcome returning from the Infirmary, or penalties to movement. This is no more or less true of any ranged Striker however.

In terms of the scenarios he suits, there is probably a place for Wild Bill in most matches. Anything which emphasises Brawn and Agility won’t suit him well, however. He’s not the most mobile Aristo, and doesn’t come with any inbuilt defense against his own kind which can become a liability in those matches where you REALLY want to put Aristos down.

When considering rivals for Wild Bill we are looking for a PanOceanian Ranged Striker with solid damage output but a secondary support role. The Aristo who this describes best is Koorie Queen.

In comparing the two, we can see that Koorie Queen is coming in stronger on the support side at the cost of reduced damage output. She also picks up defensive and mobility options which are very useful, but has an entirely Selfish Tactics selection.

Wild Bill is tougher overall, but this is somewhat mitigated by Koorie Queen's ability to get into the Hidden State and Displace herself. Targeting her can be a challenging proposition unless an opponent is confident of the one-hit takedown.

Obviously Koorie Queen has higher utility overall, thanks largely to Bounce, but in terms of raw damage output Bill is the clear winner.

Overall, Wild Bill isn’t quite as focused on ranged Striking as Major Lunah (for example), but he more than makes up for that in terms of resilience and support.

This is one gambler you can rely on!

So that's our second "Rivals" article.

You might also want to check out our Aristo Analysis on Koorie Queen here.

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