Character Review: Bishop

 

Lucas Bishop, leader of Xavier's Security Enforcers and mutant out of time, brings his futuristic arsenal of weapons to the Uncanny X-Men in MCP.

Starting with a pretty average stat line for his 4 threat, with 3 physical, 3 mystic, 4 energy and 6 health (5 on his injured side) Bishop, stands on a 50mm base, making him a little more mobile than average. 

XSE Blasters serves as Bishop builder and, like Cable's builder, has an interesting twist. With R4 and 5 dice, you can either leverage the range of the attack or, if you attack within R3, get to incinerate a model after the attack is resolved.

Return with Interest is Bishop's spender. With an Area 2, at 7 dice for 5 power, it's on the more expensive side of spenders. Being able to add up to 3 dice for up to 3 power can make it a pretty terrifying attack if it hits 2+ models. Choosing the attack type is a welcome addition to potentially deny defensive techs. The wild trigger that pushes and slows models hit by the attack also gives him some control options.

Absorbed Energy Conversion is Bishop's first superpower and is off to a good start. Throwing a terrain or character size 4 or less, medium, for 3 power is great on most characters, it helps control some models or provides an additional source of damage.

Mutant Energy Absorption is Bishop's most recognizable mutant power. For each wild in his defense dice, he gets to blank a success on the attacker's dice roll and gains a power, functionally making his wild worth 2 successes. This gives Bishop some additional survivability but does not make him super resilient as it's still dice dependent. 

Overload is Bishop's passive superpower and is a drawback you have to be mindful of, especially with Mutant Energy Absorption. Thanks to his throw and spender, he has solid outs, during his activation, to spend a lot of power to do what he wants but is subject to being dazed by the superpower if you're not careful about managing his power economy. Because he doesn't have any reactive superpowers, he can generate a lot of power outside of his activation with Mutant Energy Absorption, so if you're worried about taking damage, you can always bring tools like Escort to Safety to spend power out of your activation to prevent damage or an untimely daze.

Finally, Bishop is immune to Incinerate, Poison and Stun, which makes him a solid candidate for scenarios like Mayor Fisk and Demons Downtown where he can effectively leverage his kit and benefit from his immunities.

Overall, Bishop brings a pretty different toolkit than most 4 threat in affiliation, with 2 options for displacement and a solid suite of attacks. Overload looks like a pretty important drawback but, if you're mindful of it, it shouldn't come up too often.

Thanks for taking the time to read this piece and as always, don't forget to have fun!