Kellumbo's Tourney Recap, Fall 2009

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 6:52 am

If there is one aspect of Duel2 that I really love, it’s reading other people’s experiences with the game. I love reading why people choose to do what they do, and I enjoy seeing what makes them excited about warriors. That said, I hope you enjoy reading this tourney recap as much as I look forward to reading some of yours.

For starters, let’s look at some raw numbers. 118 warriors sent, which for me is the first time cracking the 100 mark; for an overall record of 489-330 for a 59.7% win/loss. I ended up with 16 TVs (well, two of the guys died after hitting 8 wins, but I am going to count them anyways) and 2 TCs; for a 15.3% award mark. For win/loss, this was the second best tourney for me ever, only behind Fall 06’s 61.5%. For Award percent, this tourney was my second best ever, only behind last Summer’s FTF mark of 15.4%.

Heading into the tourney, I was pretty excited. I had spent a few years prepping some ADM warriors to bust out. I had a couple of prize warriors, one Twin, and one Stat Switch warrior, who I thought could do something exciting. But, I suppose it’s best to begin at the beginning. For me, this was my first ever Primus tourney that I was entering, and I was excited to see if either of my guys could manage a single win or not.

I started running Je Suis Bien and Giggy both back in high school, over twenty years ago. Both are close to being maxxed out, so I figured it was time to see what was what. Doc Steele always told me that you really learned the game playing at the Primus level, so I was ready! Well, it wasn’t great, but I did achieve my goal of a single win in the tourney, by Giggy, courtesy of one of Managerr’s TPs. I imagine JSB will be maxxed within the year, and Giggy will be maxxed within two, so we’ll really see if they are viable wingmen then or not. If nothing else, it will be nice to have maxxed out guys sitting in Primus that can beat down new Primus guys when their managers get on my nerves.

I knew going in not to expect much from Contenders or Eligibles, and pretty much got what I expected. The ADM tourney was another story though. I had prepped a couple of guys hard, and had started to bust them two turns before the tourney, and figured with the weak prize, this would be the time to make a go for a TC with a weaker style. On top of that, I was pleasantly surprised by my minis, to discover that a past RU in this class who was at 233 DI (skills plus stats times two) had dropped back down into the ADM tourney. What a bonus I thought! Now I’ll have not only two guys busting out, but a third who has some WT/WL left to bust as well. Well, long story short, the ADM tourney was easily the biggest disappointment of the tourney for me. Let me put my cards on the table, and maybe someone with more experience than me can fill me in on where I went wrong, if I did.

Going into the two turns before the tourney, my PR was sitting at 226 DI, and was at: 15(4) 12(5) 11 20(3) 20(3) 7(3) 20(3) with skills of 31 36 31 29 28 25. My plan was to bust WL and DF the two turns before the tourney, and hit WT the first turn or two of the tourney, then alternate through those three during the tourney. Well, I hit the WL and DF the two turns before the tourney, letting me head in with skills of 33 37 35 33 32 26. Things started well, and I was sitting at 3-0. I had missed my WT to 21 train, but had made my DF to 22 train, as well as my WL to 22 train. Sadly, in round four my PR loses to a ST. How does that happen? I’ll tell you. He opens with a crit to my arm that knocks me down, and with my 22 DF, I don’t get back up. My poor PR gets hammered. I take a close loss to Little Girl Crush, which I can live with, and get put out by Fibularis, an AB who simply had too much attack for me. I must admit to being greatly frustrated that even with setting up the PR to bust three 20s, that it wasn’t enough to beat the Aimed Blows. Who knows? Maybe if I had made my WT to 21 train, and picked up those few more skills in Att/Par/Def, it would have made a difference. What if, what if, what if?

For a few tournies now, I have had a nice Lunger sitting at 17(6) 19(7) 5 20(5) 21 5 17(2). He was pretty close to 220 DI, and my plan all along had been to try to bust the 20 WT the two turns before a tourney (6th train), and when he eventually made it, then I would bust the untouched WL from 21 and make a run for the tourney. Well, tournies came and tournies went, and my guy continued to miss his train on that key turn, so I kept sitting on him. When my PR made his bust the two turns before the tourney, I figured it was time to have this guy make a run of it anyways, and maybe try to bust the WT/WL during the tourney, hoping he could help as a wingman. Well, I take losses to an AB, a Scimitar modified LU, and Dicky V Goes Postal, another AB. Speaking of Dicky V, I loved reading the fights where his warrior proclaims “I’m super, scintillating, and sensational!”. Way too funny. Anyways, I hit two WL trains from 21 to 23 during the tourney, and end up 4-3. On the bright side, this warrior is now sitting at 229 DI, which might possibly keep him in the ADM tourney, and the WT is still sitting at 20, so he may still have a future TV in this class.

My best hope in this class however came from a warrior who Runner-Upped the class two years ago, and for some reason dropped back down. Well, I can tell you, as soon as I saw his mini, I activated him for the turn before the tourney, where he promptly hit a WL train in the arena. He still had WT and WL from 23 to 25 to go, so he was trying to bust those both out. Sad to say, but the biggest F You Kellumbo of the entire tourney came in round three, where I matched up with OABs Summer ftf Challenger’s TC, a really sweet offensive TP that got sucked off by the unannounced Challengers suck off, and was placed in the ADM tourney. Now, a bit of history: This past summer, I have this nice tank lunger fighting his TP in the title fight. I slow down just a bit (like 9-6-6 slowdown), put on a tad less armor than usual (ASM) and get jumped, knocked down, and lose the TC fight. So, I see my nice tank LU, who mind you is over 240 DI this time and is a past Runner-Up in this class, is matched up with this Challenger TP suckoff ADM tourney wannabe. Can you believe the TP jumps me, knocks me down, and hammers my TC hopeful? Talk about a kick to the gut. I literally sit there and curse OAB out loud in the empty house. Maybe if I had ran hotter, maybe if I had on more armor…..what if, what if, what if? Anyways, I eat that loss, win the next bunch, and am sitting at like 6-1 or so, but have not made a single WT or WL train. I finish the tourney at 8-3, and fail to make a single train in the tourney. Who knows? If I hit a few WT/WL trains, maybe a few fights that were losses go my way. Regardless, the ADM tourney started things off really badly for me, and as I sat there and read fights, I am wondering if this is simply going to be a terrible tourney overall.

Freshman was up next, and I was fairly excited for this tourney. I think I have one of the best Freshman TPs in the class in Snake Charmer, and I had spent some time prepping some wingmen to bust out, to try to ride the Snake to a TC. I had a couple of Strikers that started out as 21/17 guys, who were at 21/20(3) and were trying to bust out in hopes of jumping a few of the Aimed Blows, and maybe sticking some losses on them seeing as my TP would have a hard time with the good Aimed Blows. I also had a couple of other decent TPs as well as a decent LU who was still skill training through the Freshman tourney to help wing him. Sadly, my Striker fail to train that 20(3) WL to 21 *both* turns before the tourney, and even though he went five rounds, failed to train the untouched WT the entire tourney. Talk about a bust out that simply doesn’t happen! I guess at least he’ll be ready to try it again next tourney. Well, Snake Charmer is doing just fine, rolling along, with my other long time Freshman TP, Blind Girl rolling along with him. Both are sitting at 6-1, when out of the blue, Blind Girl gets killed by an exhausted Striker deep into the fight just before he looks like he is going to drop from exhaustion. This leaves me with only Snake Charmer, who more or less beats who he is supposed to beat, and loses to the good Aimed Blows. He finishes at 9-3, but I am hoping he is destined to luck into a TC in this class one day when I get the right wing men to help him out.

The Challengers tourney was aggravating before it even started, with two of my best warriors getting pulled up into the ADM tourney. I’m not so much complaining that they got sucked off, but some prior notice would have been nice. I certainly wouldn’t have fought them in the ADM tourney, and a few other decisions I made before the tourney would have been different. For example, I had a fairly low skill, low FE (thirtyish) AB who is size 17, and +5 attack, who I had been running in 82 simply trying to graduate him. Well, I hadn’t planned on running him in Challengers, as he would only get hammered, but I figure I am going to make a run of it with my RU from the summer, and maybe my Aimed Blow can luck into tacking a loss onto OABs TP. So, I send him in as a wingman, hoping he doesn’t get killed. You guessed it, round one, he gets killed. If I had known my LUs were fighting in ADM, my AB would not have been even fighting. I wonder if it is even worth it to ask Lee about it, but I doubt it.

Anyways, Challengers starts to roll along, and I am excited to see how my uber prize modified Striker, Lashonda is going to do in her first Challengers tourney. She is max damage modified, as well as weapon modified (not to mention maxxed in defense and is bonussed there). The first glimmer of a good tourney happened here, as she needed just a couple of attack, defense, and decise to stop skill training, and start stat training. Well, I am very happy to say she hit those, and didn’t learn too many silly skills like parry. She finished 6-3, and I really expect good things out of her as she passes the 50 FE mark and hits some ST trains to bump damage up to Great.

The other big moment of that tourney came when one of my uber bonussed (+4 defense, +4 decise) 21/17 Strikers *finally* trained out of Little damage. He has a few more tournies of skills to train, but 15 starting defense, and 17 starting decise on a Striker simply sounds exciting to me when he maxxes those out.

I did manage to TV the class with a LU who TVd at the Summer FTF, and he is ready to start stat training, so maybe down the road he’ll be a decent wingman. A few of my experiments are getting close to completion. I have a WS who started off his career with 14 attack and 18 parry finally getting close to learning all of those skills. Dang, but a nine WT makes learning slow! I also have a 11(3) 16(2) 8 20 20 4 10 LU who has finished learning skills, who I am trying to get close to 155 so that I can bust the WT/WL/DF, and SP in an attempt to win the class. I am hoping for a few more ST/CN trains over the next few tournies. He has enough PPs that he should be able to get a graduation notice the next time he fights in the regular arena, so my plan is to wait until the turn before a FTF, when I have trained some more ST/CN, run him in the arena, get my graduation notice (and faves), and start the bust where I can see if he makes his train or not each turn. This has been a work in process for many years now, so I am excited to be just a couple of years away from seeing if it pans out.

At this point, I had TVd a few times, and had a few guys make trains that were exciting, so I am starting to think maybe the tourney is about to turn around. I didn’t expect much heading into Champs, but one of my fast Strikers starts off 6-1, so I am starting to think….hmm, what if? Well, he promptly gets killed. I also had a harbinger in this class, as one of my 25 FE guys was simply trying to pick up FE, so he would be timed for the next tourney, out of the blue is sitting at 6-2. I think to myself: If he wins two more, he is at 31 FE, and is out of Champs for the next tourney. Nothing like rooting for your guy to Lose! Lose dang it, LOSE! Hehe, well, he does, so all is good with him. This comes up again though, so keep that in mind.

Adepts rolls around, and this is one of the tournies I thought I had an outside shot at. The Striker I TCd Apprentices with last mail in is timed and in this class, and he is fast with attack. I have five other timed guys in this class, four decent Strikers and an Aimed Blow. I also have 12 untimed guys here just for FE, but they don’t really matter, as they all lose within 4-5 rounds, or do they? Well, things continue to not go well for me, as my TC hopeful loses his first two fights, to drop from the tourney. I have a couple of my fast Strikers doing well, but the amazing thing is this 25 FE, normal/normal LU wins, and wins, and wins. Sometimes guys just win. You look at the overview, and can’t figure it out. This is one of those guys. He had never done anything special before (5-3 and 7-3 in tournies he was timed for), and didn’t have a 21 anywhere on the overview. I figure he is going to take a beating during the tourney, so I train physicals a bit the first six turns of the tourney, and he hits two WL trains, two CN trains, and a ST train. Suddenly, he can wear a bit of armor, can take a few hits, and doesn’t have crappy physicals anymore. So, things are going along, and my Strikers are doing well, and this 25 FE LU is sitting at 4-2, but had just hit 5 stat trains. Next thing I know, he is 7-2, and if he wins, he is out of Adepts next mail in. LOSE, I yell, LOSE! At this point I still have two Strikers at 8-1, and another at 7-2. Well, my 25 FE LU wins. I curse out loud (but not as loud as I did at OAB in the ADM tourney). Way to go Kellumbo, you just wasted this guys chance at the Champs tourney. Talk about going from bad to worse this tourney. All this time and money spent, and you still manage to suck at this game. Geesh! A few turns later, one of my Strikers is at 10-1, and is matched up with 11-0 Copser, a slasher. Sweet I think! Strikers eat up Slashers. I jump him, hammer him, get him desperate, and just before it looks like I am going to finish him off, the Slasher dodges, rips, and kills my guy. You have got to be kidding me. Also, the turn before, one of my other Strikers eats his third loss, so it’s just my fast, low attack Striker at 11-1, and my 25 FE LU who continues to win, amazingly, at 10-2. I get a shot at revenge, as my Striker gets matched up with the Slasher, and after some clashes, I tack a loss onto him. Next round, I see that my two remaining guys are fighting each other, and I realize I have got to be fairly close to the end of the tourney. My 25 FE LU beats my ST, putting them both at two losses. Next turn my LU gets put out by the SL. I’d like to tell you how the fight went, but the sheet wasn’t in my packet…Anyways, it all comes down to my Striker with two losses, against the Slasher with only one. Lady luck *finally* decides to look my way, as the Slasher breaks his weapon on my second attack. He has no backup. I hammer him. On we go to the title fight, and my heart is beating like crazy. We have four clashes, and I jump him. Two hits, and the Slasher is knocked down. Can you believe he parries my next two attacks? I hit him twice more, and see him parry once again. You have got to be kidding me I think. My guy is about to go into exhaustion, which means the Slasher is going to get up, and rip the TC from me! No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think. Well, you guessed it, that third parry breaks his weapon again, and I finish him off with one more hit. A TC! Even though the rest of my tourney had been crap, Managerr’s words echo in my head that any tourney with a TC is a good tourney, no matter what else happens.

On to Inits we go, and for me this is really the story of the tourney. I thought I had a pretty deep squad I was sending here, but no one that really stood out. I did have my Twin from the Summer ftf fighting, as well as the Rookies RU who as it turns out is a pretty highly bonussed LU fighting as well. All in all, I sent 19 timed guys, and one untimed guy for 20 warriors in this tourney. I had 12 Strikers, 3 Lungers, 2 Slashers, 1 Parry-Rip, 1 AB, and 1 PS. Now, the way I read my tournies, is I sit on the big king size bed, and for each tourney, I lay the guys out on the bed, and as they get eliminated, I take them off the bed and put them in my “done” pile. Well, things start off nicely, but in all honesty I am still a little brain foggy from the Adepts TC. I have one guy drop out at 1-3, and my untimed guy gets killed at 3-2, and it’s at this point I realize that after 5 rounds, I still have like 18 guys left. Wow I think. Lots of my guys are undefeated too. I sure have a lot of guys left doing well I think. So, things keep rolling along, and it’s like one good win after the next. Win, win, win. It’s going to be really hard for anyone to beat the gauntlet I have left I think. Round 9 comes around, and I see two of my guys are matched up with each other. I curse out loud. What terrible luck! I read the fight, and set it aside. A fight or two later, two of my guys are matched up with each other again. Oh curses the bad luck I think. Then, it happens again, and again. No way I think. I flip ahead just a bit in the stack of fights, and see all the remaining fights are against myself. Did I eliminate everyone else I think? Heck, I look at my piles of guys left, and at the end of round 9, I have 13 guys left. I never fight anyone but myself from there on out. I have to admit, it was pretty insightful to have so many fights, with so many diverse styles, where you can see every detail of both sides of the strategy, and see how things pan out. I kill off a couple of really good guys when it is only my guys left, but I guess that’s the way things go. In the end, my Twin LU beats my bonussed Rookie RU LU in a close fight. I won’t chalk the entire tourney up to luck, as I did run a bit of a gambit with some of my warriors strategies that paid off. Normally I expect a Striker to win this tourney, but it wasn’t too much of a surprise when two of my LUs made it to the final, as I had laid out a fairly good number of anti Striker strategies and warriors in the tourney.

At this point, my tourney had went from terrible to pretty darn good. I didn’t think I would do well in Apprentices, and I didn’t. Heck, it really didn’t bother me too much after how Adepts and Inits had went.

I was a little excited for Rookies, as I had a double 21 PS who rolled good physicals here, as well as my stat switch warrior, a 8 7 3 21 21 3 21 AB. I was experimenting with a few different things, and they mostly didn’t work out, so at least now I know. In the end, I had one TV out of 24 sent, which is really sad. To make things worse, my double 21 PS got killed. At least my AB didn’t die, and she is now immortal, so that is exciting.

I was hopeful that I could get a guy or two back from the dead tournies, but it wasn’t to be. I had a couple of guys finish 7-3. At least they are both sitting at 9 FE for next year.

All in all, it was a down, up, down tourney for me. Two TCs will always take the sting off of whatever else happens, so no complaining here. After rereading all the fights, I have a few observations. Normally, when my warriors learn an init skill, I quietly curse their luck. This tourney however it seemed like my high init skill guys did very well, when I didn’t expect them to. Maybe I shouldn’t dismiss those init favorite learn guys anymore. Also, it seemed like the weapons were breaking more than normal. Maybe it was just in big fights that it happened, so I noticed it more, but maybe not…I also really noticed how incredibly important endurance is to warriors. Read enough fights, and you realize that while low endurance guys may win some fights, they simply are not going to beat certain types of warriors, no matter what you do. It seems like years ago people used to shun CN, but more and more it seems like managers are seeing the importance of it. The last thing I noticed was that one of the best managers in the game has either figured something out, or was experimenting in mass to figure something out. Notice all the warriors going open hand, with an offhand weapon, specifically a Dagger? I did. What are you up to….what are you up to?

Before wrapping this up, I’d like to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who sent me a PM, or posted nice words in regards to the Initiates tourney. I really appreciate it when my peers notice the time and effort I put into Duel2. I try hard to play “The Bad Guy” in the arena, but really be a nice guy in real life. I think people realize much of the in game stuff is just for fun, and if anyone takes things the wrong way, it certainly is not my intent. I hope you all had an enjoyable tourney, and found something in it that makes you excited. Lastly, I am ready to call the Adepts tourney for the next mail in. With six months of prep time, you can count on about 20-30 of Kellumbo’s finest to be there. Be careful of what you send.

-Detective Kellumbo

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 7:55 am

Thanks for the write up. It was fun and interesting to read. One of the most fun things about DM is listening to others experiences. Manager's FTF journals, tourney descriptions... It's all good.

112 guys, though... God bless you.

I get stressed when I send more than 30.

the Dark One

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 8:07 am

Awesome recap Kellumbo!

Thanks for throwing those cards on the table and giving us micro, non-tourney managers a glimpse at what it takes to be competitive in so of those upper classes.

Grandmaster Poster Joined: Mar 07, 2004 Posts: 523

Thank you for the interesting write-up. I'd like to add more but need to finish crunchings and munchings of numbers. I certainly ran into a number of Kellumboites no doubt about it.

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:43 am

Wow! Do they give out TC's for best tournament post? I feel like I just went through the tournament with you. Thank for sharing.

It's also good to know that after 20+ years the game environment continues to grow and change enough to provide surprises at all levels.

Expert Poster Joined: Apr 21, 2007 Posts: 96

Well hats off to Miranda there in the adepts. You took down Copsar for all 3 losses. I was 14-0-1 against everyone else and 0-3 vs Miranda. All i needed to do was beat you once and i get my first TC. As you were saying about warriors who just win, Copsar is one of those. He dont have amazing stats or even skills at this point but somehow he parries or ripostes just at the right time. Its gonna be alot tougher in Champs however. Congrats again.

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 10:46 am

Wow! We look forward to being in more arenas with DK seeing that he writes spotlights like this! Wowser! Well done.

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2988

Good read and congrats on a great tourney.

That Initiates round 10 was truly an impressive achievement.

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 1:53 pm

I think you just may have grabbed the record for longest single post!

But I read it all, thanks for the "behind the curtain" look! I had to laugh when you described sitting alone in the house cursing OAB (or his warrior at least)! Good stuff! And congrats on the TC's and the inits run!

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:43 am

A little late, but here's my comments:

Quote:

Well, it wasn’t great, but I did achieve my goal of a single win in the tourney, by Giggy, courtesy of one of Managerr’s TPs. I imagine JSB will be maxxed within the year, and Giggy will be maxxed within two, so we’ll really see if they are viable wingmen then or not. If nothing else, it will be nice to have maxxed out guys sitting in Primus that can beat down new Primus guys when their managers get on my nerves.

I actually ranted to Hombre on the phone about the presence of Giggy in the tournament. (I think it started with "WTF is Kellumbo doing?!?!?") Not because you won, but because he's a meta-game killer. You have no AB to protect, Giggy has no chance to beat an AB, slim chance to beat an LU, and the only thing he does is beat warriors who might have a chance to beat some of the bare-handed AB's. (Which there are not enough of at this point)

Quote:

Let me put my cards on the table, and maybe someone with more experience than me can fill me in on where I went wrong, if I did.

Looks like bad trains and too many Aimed Blows...win some lose some.

Quote:

This leaves me with only Snake Charmer, who more or less beats who he is supposed to beat, and loses to the good Aimed Blows. He finishes at 9-3, but I am hoping he is destined to luck into a TC in this class one day when I get the right wing men to help him out.

I was actually impressed Snake Charmer beat Imnota God cleanly this tourney...he looks good! Need more scum though! I was kind of shocked at the outcome, I thought Mannequin had this class locked, I gave Achondroplasia his two losses early in the tourney and thought he was cannon fodder in the run-offs for sure! Very impressive run for him!

Quote:

Even though the rest of my tourney had been crap, Managerr’s words echo in my head that any tourney with a TC is a good tourney, no matter what else happens.

Actually I think I said something like "A TC is a non-awful tourney". I think it's totally possible to not be satisfied with your tourney even with a TC. (and vice versa) It all depends on what you sent. One of the reasons I think we get along is that you're not afraid to set high expectations for yourself. I like that in a player.

Quote:

On to Inits we go, and for me this is really the story of the tourney.

I've never seen anything like this done, down to having all of the 7-3's. That's kind of crazy and will make Adepts Predictions at the next FtF all the more easier!

Quote:

The last thing I noticed was that one of the best managers in the game has either figured something out, or was experimenting in mass to figure something out. Notice all the warriors going open hand, with an offhand weapon, specifically a Dagger? I did. What are you up to….what are you up to?

Thise were all of TMM's warriors. He still dominated the tourney and you'll have to ask him about it but based on the way that my warriors were actually able to hit his guys now, I'd say it probably didn't work.

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:35 am

Quote:

The last thing I noticed was that one of the best managers in the game has either figured something out, or was experimenting in mass to figure something out. Notice all the warriors going open hand, with an offhand weapon, specifically a Dagger? I did. What are you up to….what are you up to?

Thise were all of TMM's warriors. He still dominated the tourney and you'll have to ask him about it but based on the way that my warriors were actually able to hit his guys now, I'd say it probably didn't work.

This was a gamble on my part. For my aimed blows, I tried using an alternate strategy against only aimed blows, leaving them needing a weapon to avoid getting parried out by defensive styles. It worked in some cases(Littlest Tyrant was able to win Eligibles) and backfired in others.

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:53 am

Do you have to be "empty" handed to get the bare hand bonus or do you still get it running open hand with an off-hand (DA in Tyrant's case). If somebody is afraid to give away a big secret if you PM me and state so I give my WORD it'll stay with me and me alone. I'm no mega so a tidbit like this is helpful but not going to threaten anyone.

I think it's well known among people I've been a jerk at times but when I give my word I always keep it.

To avoid a threadjack Kellumbo we're waiting to see how that strange double-3 finished the tourney. It was the one you posted 3 9 15 16 11 13 3.

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:41 pm

Street_Legal wrote:

Do you have to be "empty" handed to get the bare hand bonus or do you still get it running open hand with an off-hand (DA in Tyrant's case). If somebody is afraid to give away a big secret if you PM me and state so I give my WORD it'll stay with me and me aone. I'm no mega so a tidbit like this is helpful but not going to threaten anyone.

I think it's well known among people I've been a jerk at times but when I give my word I always keep it.

To avoid a threadjack Kellumbo we're waiting to see how that strange double-3 finished the tourney. It was te one you posted 3 9 15 16 11 13 3.

To be honest, I'm not really sure. It's possible that at some point(above 21 ST/CN?), carrying a little weight doesn't affect your fighter one way or another. The tweaks made to the open-handed bonus also could be affected by this too.

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:45 pm

Managerr wrote:

I was kind of shocked at the outcome, I thought Mannequin had this class locked, I gave Achondroplasia his two losses early in the tourney and thought he was cannon fodder in the run-offs for sure! Very impressive run for him!

Shocked would be an understatement.

1st fight Achondroplasia jumped Wayward Son, hit him a few times and took him out. Wayward never had a chance to swing back.

2nd fight Wayward Son jumped Achondroplasia. Wayward missed him three times and Achondroplasia hit him and knocked him down. A second well placed hit for extra damage ended the fight.

In the title fight Achondroplasia got the jump, missed, Wayward Son missed, Achondroplasia missed, then he hit Wayward and scored another knockdown. Once again Wayward is unable to get up before Achondroplasia is victorious.

Wayward Son fought open-handed (he is a natural fist fave) and he had 12 more attack skills than Achondroplasia had defense skills. On the flip side, Achondroplasia only had 4 more attack skills than Wayward had defense skills.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. In fact, I probably would have considered skipping the Winter FTF if I hadn't already purchased my ticket.

Back to the drawing board.....

Mannequin

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 8:37 am

Street_Legal wrote:

Do you have to be "empty" handed to get the bare hand bonus or do you still get it running open hand with an off-hand (DA in Tyrant's case). If somebody is afraid to give away a big secret if you PM me and state so I give my WORD it'll stay with me and me alone. I'm no mega so a tidbit like this is helpful but not going to threaten anyone.

I think it's well known among people I've been a jerk at times but when I give my word I always keep it.

Jack attack.
I will now say something about game mechanics and no replies will be given like usual. LOL.

What ever you start with I.e. Fav weapon, well suited, marginal, or unorthodox carries through to your back up. Thus if your fav is FI you can have ba as a back up and it will be treated like your well suited when you pull it.

Your off hand weapon as far as I can tell does not relate to your primary in relation to the 4 categories and matters not. If your fav is ME and you use it off hand it is no more effective by nature than another weapon, If you use it in your primary then you get the fav bonuses.

sincerely Purple Sage