Common Openings

Unlike chess and some other games of complete information, opening book study is largely ineffective in Prismata due to the random unit set present in each game. However, it can still be helpful to be aware of some common openings. Many aggressive builds are difficult or impossible to overcome if the opponent does not anticipate them and adjust accordingly. Familiarizing oneself with these builds is helpful in finding opportunities to use these tactics and, more importantly, learning to counter them.

The following notation is used for all build orders in this article. These apply to base set units. Random set units will be fully spelled out, unless otherwise noted.


 * A: Animus
 * B: Blastforge
 * C: Conduit
 * D: Drone
 * E: Engineer
 * F: Forcefield
 * G: Gauss Cannon
 * R: Rhino
 * S: Steelsplitter
 * T: Tarsier
 * W: Wall

The majority of these openings are only available to Player 2, due to starting with an extra drone. In most cases, Player 1 will be one or two gold short when attempting a P2 opening. However, many of the openings do become available to Player 1 if Doomed Drone or, in some cases Wild Drone, is in the set. Examples of this include Delayed Tia Thurnax, Tatsu Nullifier Rush, and Double Scorchilla.

General Tech Progressions
These openings do not focus on units from the random set, but are examples of common lines to efficiently build drones and tech structures.

Natural Conduit
Player 2 has the first opportunity to build a Conduit without cutting Drones. This is particularly advantageous in sets with strong green units, and integral in many common openings.


 * 1) ...DD
 * 2) ...DDC

Turn 3 Blastforge/Animus
Player 1 has the first opportunity to build Blastforge or Animus without cutting Drones.


 * DD
 * DD
 * 1) DDB

or


 * DD
 * DD
 * 1) DDA

Big Blue
Player 1 can opt for a large economy while wasting very few resources. This is ideal for defensive sets or ones containing strong blue units such as Drake.


 * DD
 * 1) DDE
 * 2) DDD
 * 3) DDDB