EnigmaBuild and Guide

Gameplay

Enigma does three things: protect the team, buff the team and funnel [Dynamo].

His Insights play the most pivotal role in this, as his actual abilities are quite simple, so let’s start with the important things.

Almost every [Dynamo] character has a personal [Amplified Surge] buff that triggers under certain states of [Pulsing Field]. Enigma’s grants him additional Moxie, grants allies [Ciphertext] and applies teamwide +Incantation Might and occasional +Reality DMG buffing. All in all, it is a powerful [Amplified Surge].

His Precognition is fairly standard, with the added bonus of granting allies both [Ciphertext] and [Bastion] which happen to be two key parts of Enigma’s kit. The former is consumed upon funneling [Dynamo] to funnel additional stacks, while the latter is a defensive buff that works a bit like [Shield].

There is a very good infographic online about the differences between the forms of sustain that also covers [Bastion], but in simple terms: Each point of [Bastion] cancels out an amount of damage. When multiple allies are hit at the same time, the amount of damage absorbed by each point of [Bastion] increases. This makes [Bastion] really powerful in battles where enemies have multi-target attacks, but it also bypasses certain mechanics by virtue of [Bastion] preventing allies from taking certain amounts of damage altogether.

In the words of the infographic: Imagine damage as incoming rain. If [Shield] is like giving raincoats to your team, [Bastion] is like holding up an umbrella for your team.

His first Insight states that every time an ally is attacked or at the end of the round, Enigma gains a stack of [Loop Chain]. In addition, based on the amount of [Dynamo] characters on the team, he increases the maximum amount of [Ciphertext] stacks from 5 to 6/7/10. That first buff is mostly a stack counter; hit 5 stacks, consume them to cast “Closed-Loop Principle”.

“Closed-Loop Principle” is a Follow-Up that deals a bit of damage, grants all allies stacks of [Ciphertext] and [Bastion] and also grants Enigma +1 Moxie and stacks of [Dynamo]. You want to trigger this as often as possible, not for its damage, but because it hits all the fronts of Enigma’s gameplan with the amount of buffs you get from it.

But how to optimize [Loop Chain] income? There aren't many ways to get the buff beyond allies getting attacked or end of round triggers, but we’ll cover the rest in a bit. Let’s look at his last Insight before we go there because it’s a very simple one.

Enigma gains +3 Moxie upon entering combat. In addition, the max amount of [Dynamo] stacks on allies is increased and if [Bastion] is active at the start of the round allies gain +DMG Reduction. Not much to point out here other than: When a character gains a significant amount of Moxie from their battle entry trigger, it usually means their Ultimate is important to their kit.

This is verified by his Ultimate: “The Riddle and The Answer”. This self-buff grants Enigma [Cipher Machine], 5 stacks of [Loop Chain] and dispels all debuffs from allies. The first buff grants the team decent +Crit DMG and +DMG Dealt while the 5 stacks of [Loop Chain] allow Enigma to trigger “Closed-Loop Principle” immediately. It is also the only other source of [Loop Chain] in his kit, making his Ultimate quite an important cast.

His two basics, “Infinite Translation” and “Meshing Minds” are both really simple. The first one is a damage card that gives allies stacks of [Ciphertext] and Enigma [Dynamo]. The second one is a buff card that grants allies stacks of [Bastion] and Enigma [Dynamo].

Review

Enigma is one of those characters that feels like it does everything you need, but without hampering the delicate balance of the game. All in all, [Bastion] is an obscenely strong alternative Shield and Enigma’s individual buffing with +Crit DMG, +DMG Dealt, +Incantation Might and +Reality DMG is really strong on a sustain. Having +DMG Reduction on the side also helps him scale into the endgame, which has started hitting harder and harder since the beginning of the 3.X series.

Not having a +Crit Rate buff sounds problematic until you realize that he’s a sustain, and that Charon already gives a ridiculous amount of bonus Crit Rate. In Dynamo teams this will be a nonissue.

He cycles pretty neatly, having a semi-stable AP-less source of Moxie, and additionally increases the [Dynamo] intake of [Pulsing Field] which helps Dynamo break out of it’s locked roster a bit. This adherence to his archetype does deflate his viability in other teams, for example:

• If the team has an important Array (Plantpromptu, Bloodtithe, Poison), you cannot use Enigma as he overrides it with [Pulsing Field].

• If the team doesn’t funnel [Dynamo], his own funneling is nerfed. You will probably not use him solo with no other Dynamo characters.

• His +Incantation Might and +Reality DMG buffing is directly tied to the [Dynamo] stack count.

These flaws keep him in check. Where characters like Marsha and Joe(E) can splash themselves into every team with their massive Shields, [Bastion] is quite limited in viability due to the other factors of Enigma’s kit. This is a good thing, because on paper Enigma is the strongest sustain in the game bar none. Had he been more viable outside more specific circumstances it could break game balance quite significantly.