Aristeia! - The Rivals - Major Lunah

"YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE."

As deliberate and lethal as the venomous snakes of her home planet, Major Lunah surrenders the spotlight only up until the moment she decides to make the kill. Her military rank is more than a marketing scheme; she has served her nation in some of the deadliest theatres of operation in the Human Sphere. Now, she´s come to bring some much-needed discipline to the world of show biz.

This decorated markswoman, she holds the rank of Rā'id in the Haqqislamite armed forces, entered the pro Aristeia! circuit only two years ago, and she’s already caused quite a splash.

The forty-three-year-old war hero boasts an impressive service record, including not one, not two, but three tours as an elite sharpshooter on Paradiso, where she helped keep the alien invaders of the Combined Army at bay, lest they gain a foothold in their encroachment of the Human Sphere.

For reasons she refuses to disclose, two years ago Major Lunah resigned her military commission and became an Aristeia! aspirant. She had the approval and support of her superiors at the Haqqislamite army and, as it turned out, of the Haqqislamite people at large. Audience ratings in Haqqislam have skyrocketed since her debut.

Major Lunah has introduced bona fide military discipline into the world of Aristeia! And, in a sport where warfare is so ostentatiously invoked, it seems the audience has gotten a taste for the real thing. Luckily for them, Major Lunah has a competitive streak, as evidenced by her celebration of every new notch on her gun. She has proven that a sniper can play as crucial a role in a team as any other combatant. Despite her stern rictus and martial demeanor, there’s cheers every time she comes out of nowhere and turns the tide of a game with a surgical max-range shot. And each time she pulls off one of her trademark ricochets, her merchandise flies off the shelf for weeks.

Accurate, serene, courteous in her dealings with journalists and fans, she’s a real pro. Major Lunah has promised us a finale twist that sports aficionados won’t soon forget.

Could the hour of revelation be nigh?

Major Lunah is, defensively, a relatively strong Aristo, but one who is otherwise not outstanding in terms of her raw attributes. Her Initiative and Movement are middling, as is her Agility. She's not going to be keeping anyone in place with only a single Yellow die for her Brawn, however.

With a native Switch allowing her to use a pair of Special results to negate a Block from her opponents roll, Lunah has the full setup to create extremely effective high damage ranged attacks. It matches well with her two Automatic Skills, Marksmanship and Veteran Sniper, which deny the advantage of Cover to her targets and turn her own Cover (or any other source of Black dice) into increased damage potential as an Orange dice instead. It also means that Lunah particularly benefits from any Yellow dice she can pull in for her attacks.

Called Shot is not the best three-energy attack, even for a ranged option. If Lunah is going to keep up with other strikers in a single action she needs to ensure that she gets her Cover first. Obviously the excellent maximum range is an advantage, but the minimum also needs careful management. Don't forget that you can simply ignore an Aristo next to you and pick another target 'though, as long as you still have line of sight.

Suppressive Fire is another useful tool, which allows Lunah to manage the moblity of the opposition. Its range allows it to be combined with Called Shot to follow up on a target foolish enough to allow Lunah to take a full Turn in line of sight. It particularly benefits from picking up Blue dice, as these are likely to help trigger the Switch and allow it to inflict additional damage. It's often worth trying this on an already weakened target first, so you can use Called Shot on a tougher target and avoid overkill, when the tactical situation in the Hexadome allows that choice.

In terms of her Tactics, Lunah is a relatively Generous Aristo, offering three options which can be used flexibly and only one locked into her own Activation.

Holographic Sight can be enormously useful to virtually any Aristo, offering the opportunity to extend the range of a single Action (Attack or Simple) by two hexes. This can be just as useful for melee oriented Aristos as it can allow them to reach out to strike at more distant targets than they would usually be restricted to ('though watch out that their Switches and Automatic Skills still apply). There are few if any Aristos who couldn't take advantage of just a little more "reach" from time to time.

Ricochet allows greater flexibility in targeting by allowing some issues with line of sight to be bypassed. Unfortunately it does not allow you to disregard Blocked Spaces, so may not be quite so effective as it appears at first glance. It can allow Lunah (or another Aristo) to reach out into a hotly contested Scoring Zone more easily however and offers better opportunities to score in Scenarios where there are Victory Points for taking Frags from within the Scoring Zone. The secondary benefit which prevents damage back onto Lunah can also be useful, especially if she is already wounded or otherwise threatened.

Snake Bite is the one Selfish Tactic in Lunah's array of options. Although this reduces its value somewhat, the fact that she is unlikely to be anything less than a premier striking option means that you usually won't be sad to play it on her in any case. There is strong synergy here with other Aristos who offer Dazzled and/or Immobilized, 'though Lunah can maximize it herself as long as she can get off a Suppressive Fire on the target before attacking. This is a Tactic which is quite likely to produce overkill if used on some targets, so give a little thought to who is in your sights before you pull the trigger on this one.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Spot an Opening. There aren't a lot of Tactics which force an opponent to re-roll (as opposed to those which allow you to do so). Be careful of the timing 'though, it must be a Combat Roll AND you must be the Attacker, which makes this less useful overall than it might appear at first glance. Despite this it offers the opportunity to undo an unfortunately lucky Defense roll in a clutch moment, always worth considering.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend checking out Shamless Mayhem on Youtube and/or Twitch. Their Aristeia 99 series is very good, 'though pitched for new players, and their video on Lunah is linked above.

Overall Lunah is a strong ranged striker, 'though she is missing some of the mechanics which push others into truly bonkers territory and relies on exploiting her range more than most. She can be slightly vulnerable to the use of "offensive defense", as her own attacks don't produce a lot of Block results ('though she shares this weakness with several other Strikers) and her low-average Health can be chipped away fairly quickly.

Key weaknesses are Smoke and the Dazzled state, her range being good enough to easily overcome returning from the Infirmary, or penalties to movement. This is no more or less true of any ranged Striker however. Her extreme range makes her far less vulnerable to energy penalties, as it's very unlikely that she will be unable to return from the Bench in a position to simply take a shot.

In terms of the scenarios she suits, there is probably a place for Major Lunah in most matches. Anything which emphasises Brawn and Agility won’t suit her well, however. She’s not the most mobile Aristo however, which can limit her usefulness in traditional Scoring Zone Scenarios. She also 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.

The real rival for Lunah from within the halls of the Hyperpower is pretty obvious, it's the Optimate Huntress, Dart. She has the same focus on ranged damage, with extreme range and limited alternative options, as Major Lunah brings.

Most obviously Dart has lower Health and weaker Defense. This is somewhat mitigated by her Camouflage Automatic Skill, which allows her to take advantage of the Hidden State and makes taking damage in her own attacks much less likely.

She has lower Success output, but generally maintains fairly similar Damage with comparable Range as long as she gets her setup. On the other hand her Tactics and Hidden State allow her to function far better as a Scorer (especially offering some good protection once she is in the Scoring Zone, even from many Displacement effects).

Although it has some limited Support application, Detro-Nanoids is primarily another tool for Dart to maintain damage output, but it and her Tactics offer another angle entirely, with some real strength emerging there in terms of Poison manipulation which can pull her into the lead overall in a direct comparison.

Major Lunah is the most range strike oriented Aristo in the Hexadome. Her focus is narrow, but she performs outstandingly well within her field of expertise.

Once she has a target in her sights, it's very unlikely to be standing for long.

So that's our third "Rivals" article.

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

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