Reverse 1999 — Aleph Pre-Release Review

Good morning! This is the one you guys have been waiting for, a they/them slaysula who steals your pronouns and has no sense of hygiene. Truly a character of all time, let’s review: Aleph.

The translations are from our very own @/Linnnon and taken from our earlier blog post here.

The usual disclaimers apply: we don’t have modifiers just yet, nor specific details regarding some parts of their kit, so we can’t say for sure if Aleph is good. ALWAYS take preliminary kit reviews with a grain of salt, no matter from what source it is (even ours).

Kit Details

Afflatus: Intelligence
Role: Support
Tags: Inspiration, Eureka, AP

Insights:

1. When allies consume Eureka, [Inspiration] increases. Max Eureka increases. At the start of the round, gain Eureka. When characters with the [Answer] status actively use an incantation to attack, Aleph consumes a certain amount of Eureka to grant “Impromptu Incantation” the ability to inflict [Interpretation] on enemies it attacks.
   • [Interpretation]: Mental DEF and DMG Taken Reduction decreases.
2. When entering battle, DMG Dealt increases.
3. After consuming Eureka, there’s a chance to recover Eureka.

Incantation 1: Discipline and Punish
1-target attack. Deals Mental DMG. Grants [Continuous Action I] to self. Consumes Eureka after attacking, increasing the number of attacks this round’s “Impromptu Incantation” performs.

Incantation 2: Manifesto
Mass buff. Grants all allies stacks of [Answer], and consumes Eureka to grant additional stacks of [Answer].

• [Answer]: Incantation Might increases.

Ultimate: Omniscient Mapping
Self channel. Aleph [Remembers] a number of basic incantations actively cast by all allies this turn and enters [Hyperthymesia].

• [Hyperthymesia]: When this channel ends, casts the [Remembered] basic incantations again. Increases the number of attacks this round’s “Impromptu Incantation” performs, and grants the “Impromptu Incantation” with the ability to inflict [Interpretation] on enemies it attacks. The final attack deals additional Mental DMG.

Kit Breakdown

Let’s see what Aleph is trying to do here:

1. Typical generation of [Inspiration] from Insights, gains Eureka passively at the start of the round. When allies buffed by “Manifesto”s [Answer] actively attack, Aleph consumes Eureka (again, passively) to let “Impromptu Incantation” inflict [Interpretation], which is a debuff that shreds Mental DEF and DMG Reduction. They can also recover some Eureka whenever they consume it, but unless the “Impromptu Incantation” buff costs a bunch of it I don’t entirely get the point of betting on this.
2. Incantations either apply a layered buff or a buff you want to upkeep at all times which makes it so that Aleph’s casting doesn’t interfere with wanting to stack [Inspiration]. In addition [Continuous Action I] allows the Inspiration Team to pump out more stacks of it and also trigger more of its effects like Barcarola for example.
3. Ultimate is… lowkey kind of crazy. Aleph essentially stores all basic Incantations cast during the round and then recasts them, which can likely trigger any additional Inspiration effects from characters like Barcarola and Matilda(E). Depending on how long the channel is you might get into trouble with timing.

In an Inspiration Team, everyone is technically a Support to “Impromptu Incantation”, but Aleph feels like a Support on top of that. They have easy access to [Continuous Action I], can buff Incantation Might with [Answer] stacks and can recast allied actions with [Hyperthymesia].

Due to the focus on Inspiration, I can’t really see Aleph working in teams besides Inspiration Team. However, unlike Barcarola, Aleph actually has buffs and debuffs that function outside of that specific archetype, making them a little more flexible.

The perceived pros are as follows:

• Easy access to [Continuous Action I], a very powerful and rare buff.
• Generates and consumes Eureka passively. Can support Inspiration Team even when their cards aren’t picked by Inspiration.
• Consistent application of [Interpretation] reducing Mental DEF and DMG Reduction.

On the flipside, we have the perceived cons:

• At least 50% of their kit is dedicated to “Impromptu Incantation”. Way better Support options available in non-Inspiration teams.

Kit Review

Kind of salty that they’re not an HP Loss character for Semmelweis teams or a [Neg Status] character for Noire teams but hey at least Inspiration Teams are getting attention again after being introduced AND dropped as an archetype in “Last Evening On Earth”. Unlike Poison Teams, they didn’t have to wait 8 patches to finally get some support.

And what a Support it is. The standard Inspiration shenanigans aside, Aleph is the first character after Flutterpage to have access to [Continuous Action I]. This is probably among the strongest buffs in the game, giving you extra AP to cast and merge with. In the right teams this is a lifesaver, and I’d count Inspiration Team as one as they’re focused on casting Incantations. The thing about this team is that everyone wants to be casting their Incantations to trigger certain Eureka or “Impromptu Incantation” related effects (plus both Barcarola and Voyager(E) are very Ultimate-oriented). This singular buff should help the team feel a lot more comfortable to play.

I’m not quite certain what the point is of [Answer] as an Incantation Might buff in Inspiration Team, but it can’t really be bad. Plus it being a stacking buff allows you to cast it without fear of overlapping buff timers if any Inspiration gets assigned to the card. This is one of the reasons that the team doesn’t really have any comfortable Sustain units, as their cards are usually either situational or can’t be overlapped, fucking over your casting to get more Inspiration.

The showstopper is definitely their Ultimate. In an Inspiration Team, where Incantations grant extra effects like extra hits or stacking damage buffs on “Impromptu Incantation”, getting them cast twice through [Hyperthymesia] is actually kind of insane. If timed under Voyager(E)’s [Orbital Direction], I can see “Impromptu Incantation” absolutely destroying any single target scenario. In addition, it specifies that ANY incantation will be both affected by [Remember] and [Hyperthymesia] so long as it’s a basic incantation. Since Windsong’s “Rehabilitation” is a basic incantation that gets spammed under “Long, Long Journey”, can Aleph effectively recreate Windsong’s Ultimate despite the classification? I’m very curious to see what kinds of shenanigans people get up to with [Hyperthymesia].

That’s pretty much it? Aleph is thrown into an archetype with VERY little character variety nor any strict restrictions on which characters need to be present for it to work (outside of maybe Voyager(E) in 1-target stages), so they’re not really impeding on any existing characters nor changing the game on a fundamental level. In other words, they slot perfectly into the current roster and archetypes.

Predicted Tiering: S / Support. I can’t see Aleph being bad, I think they have just enough standard support options to not be a total waste to pull if you don’t want to run an Inspiration team (though they are definitely much better in said team). On that same note, [Continuous Action I] will make sure that they’ll see some form of play, and the versatility of [Hyperthymesia] further supports that (if it works like I think it will.

Team Concepts

• Standard Inspiration: Barcarola / Voyager(E) / Aleph / Medicine Pocket(E)
• Inspiration Supports: Lucy / Barcarola / Aleph / Lopera
• Modified Follow-Up(+Addio): 37 / Flutterpage / Aleph / Fatutu