The Eldar are often considered to have the most sophisticated technology in the 41st Millennium. Naturally, this includes weapons of war like the Fire Prism. Converted from a transport Falcon chassis, this grav-tank boasts superior firepower with a Prism Cannon at the apex and Twin-linked Shuriken Catapults beneath the cockpit.
Like most Eldar tech, it is made of the psycho-plastic wraithbone. This allows the Eldar pilot to navigate the controls with their mind as well as their body, giving its movements a precision uncharacteristic of most other vehicles.
Attributes[]
- Skimmer unit
- Long range
- Effective against massed infantry
- Initial shot is effective against vehicles
- Secondary explosion is effective against normal armour
Abilities[]
Superheated
- Fleet of Foot (Passive)
Increased speed and Battle Focus regeneration within the psychic radius of a Webway Gate.
- Superheated (Passive)
The Fire Prism’s attack superheats the ground around its target which causes a delayed secondary explosion that knocks back and deals massive damage to lightly armoured targets in the area.
General Notes[]
This version of the Fire Prism is quite different than those controlled in DOW I and II. Instead of a tough, front-line tank built for slugfests the Fire Prism has been made a great deal more fragile, slower, the beam range has been lengthened and a full 3-second delay has been added between the firing of the beam and the actual AOE explosion, allowing for nearly all known infantry and skimmer vehicles to dodge the blast relatively unscathed if their commander is paying attention. This has effectively transformed it into a long range artillery platform meant to keep back away from the main fighting while providing supporting fire, and to provide anti-building damage. Note also that its firing range is longer than its sight range, so a Ranger squad will likely be needed to sight for it.
However, it is a bit more dangerous to heavier vehicles and buildings. The beam shot itself can do noteworthy damage per shot to such targets and has perfect accuracy.
BE WARNED, each shot will briefly reveal the Fire Prism on the map which can allow for immediate counterattacks from enemy long range units like artillery.
Tactics[]
- Strengths
Being a skimmer the Fire Prism has a great deal more mobility than other artillery units, and if you can catch infantry in a tight space/tie them up in melee they can get hit by the Fire Prism beam for profound damage. If you can provide cloaked scouting of enemy structures and ground vehicles to account for its low sight range the Fire Prism can do noteworthy damage from a position that the enemy has little chance of countering except with skimmers or artillery of their own.
- Weaknesses
The Fire Prism is NOT designed to handle heavy frontline combat. Although it is tougher than a Vyper, not only is it quite fragile for a unit of its rather expensive cost, the mounted Prism Cannon has a minimum range so if you get close enough to the grav-tank you can’t actually be hit by it, except by the ultra-light shuriken cannon on the front. Units that excel against vehicles - such as Lascannon Devastators - can rip through its defenses very quickly. When facing a Fire Prism, it’s important to make sure the right units focus their damage to take it down quickly. On top of this, the Prism Cannon has both a 3-second delay between firing and the explosion (allowing most known units of every race to dodge it with relative ease in open areas) and a very slow firing rate. Only very slow vehicles, immobile structures or VERY distracted armies are vulnerable to it.
Although the Fire Prism has a massive firing range, it can’t actually see too far into the distance. Because of this, it’s recommended to scout ahead with other units to give vision to the grav-tank.