DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER Date : 11/04/2016 Duedate: 12/01/2016 XOCHITHLAN ARENA DM-39 TURN-356 This Weeks Top Honors THE DUELMASTER IS SUPERSLICE ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) (39-4074) [12-6-1,98] Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader SUPERSLICE POSITION IS EMPTY ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) (39-4074) [12-6-1,98] Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite PARRY-SLICE PARRY-SLICE ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) (39-4078) [17-11-1,95] (39-4078) [17-11-1,95] THE CURRENT TOP TEAM ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team 1. ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) 15 2. BOOK OF THOMAS (479) 11 DUCKS UNLIMITED (143) 3. DUCKS UNLIMITED (143) 5 Unchartered Team 4. BIG LAKE LUMBER (483) 0 5. NEW ORIGINALS (478) 0 B-BODYS (92) The Top Teams Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K 1/ 1 DUCKS UNLIMITED (143) 249 164 14 60.3 1/ 1 ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) 8 5 0 2- 2*BIG LAKE LUMBER (483) 5 4 0 55.6 2/ 2 BOOK OF THOMAS (479) 8 7 0 3/ 4 ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) 107 97 7 52.5 3/ 3 BASH BROS BABY (461) 4 8 0 4/ 3 BASH BROS BABY (461) 55 51 5 51.9 4- 6 NEW ORIGINALS (478) 2 0 0 5- 5 NEW ORIGINALS (478) 16 15 0 51.6 5/ 5 DUCKS UNLIMITED (143) 2 2 0 6/ 6 BOOK OF THOMAS (479) 25 30 1 45.5 6- 4*BIG LAKE LUMBER (483) 2 2 0 7- 8*PYXIS (485) 0 2 0 0.0 7- 8*PYXIS (485) 0 1 0 '*' Unchartered team '-' Team did not fight this turn (###) Avoid teams by their Team Id ##/## This turn's/Last turn's rank SPY REPORT Well, what are you looking at, XOCHITHLAN? Ain't you never seen Snide Clemens before? Ah, shaddup and listen to my news. Of course, we're all terribly impressed to see SUPERSLICE win a fight and gain 9 points, terribly. Tsk, tsk, DAISY DUCK beat DOESN'T SLEEP and DOESN'T SLEEP lost 4 points. You're breakin' my heart. Due to absence, and inability to defend the throne, PEKING DUCK has lost the Title of Duelmaster. Start setting that alarm earlier! And it's out with the old, in with the new, as SUPERSLICE takes the Title and last week's bar tab from the old Duelmaster. Heh, heh. I'm not in a very good mood today, but why am I telling you this? You want to know what's new, don't you, XOCHITHLAN? My mother always told me, 'If you don't have anything nice to say, start talking.' I loved that woman. BOOK OF THOMAS, I suppose you'll be glad to know you were this turn's most avoided team. Care to know who is the most afraid of you? And who led the way in this mass act of cowardice? Let's see, well, whatcha know? It was ANYWAYUSLICEIT. Ha ha ha ha! Death and Taxes. The less death I see, the more it taxes my patience. Let's see if anyone's dead or dying. Now hey, I like to see a death as much as the next guy, but hey BOOK OF THOMAS, whyja send TAILWIND to the Dark Arena, look at his record, huh? Titanium shields and bamboo daggers, guess what brave team is developing these kinds of weapons? I was about to buy a new quill pen the other day, but some fighter took it for an epee. Forgive me for writing with a dagger. Phlllt! Just had to do that before I leave the fine city of XOCHITHLAN. I feel much better now. Paste this one in your scrapbooks, you'll need the kindling come this winter-- Snide Clemens DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME SUPERSLICE 4074 12 6 1 98 ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) CHALLENGER CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME -PEKING DUCK 3632 33 11 0 150 DUCKS UNLIMITED (143) PARRY-SLICE 4078 17 11 1 95 ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME EUNUCH 4097 9 3 0 74 ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) BOTTLE ROCKET 4157 7 1 1 70 BOOK OF THOMAS (479) CHALLENGER ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME -POOPS THROUGH DIAPER 3891 9 3 0 61 BASH BROS BABY (461) LOUD TOYS 4069 13 11 0 59 BASH BROS BABY (461) ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME -BIG BEN 4119 6 6 0 53 NEW ORIGINALS (478) COLLYWOBBLES 4170 7 1 0 51 BOOK OF THOMAS (479) DANGEROUS TOYS 4100 9 7 1 49 BASH BROS BABY (461) NOT THE MOM CRY 3888 10 16 1 47 BASH BROS BABY (461) DAISY DUCK 4150 6 5 0 34 DUCKS UNLIMITED (143) CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME -BRAYD HULT 4154 2 0 0 30 BIG LAKE LUMBER (483) -PLUTO 4121 5 7 0 29 NEW ORIGINALS (478) -JEHTRO DAVICK 4155 2 0 0 27 BIG LAKE LUMBER (483) INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME -DUCK DYNASTY 4168 3 1 0 20 DUCKS UNLIMITED (143) DOESN'T SLEEP 4182 2 1 0 20 BASH BROS BABY (461) -SUMP 4117 1 0 0 11 NEW ORIGINALS (478) -KGNT CHAMBARD 4151 1 1 0 8 BIG LAKE LUMBER (483) -MAWRIE RAWSH 4153 0 1 0 7 BIG LAKE LUMBER (483) -EPSILON PYXIDIS 4177 0 2 0 6 PYXIS (485) '-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn. THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge? HE DIES 4194 0 1 0 BOOK OF THOMAS 479 SHAGORNAN HERMIT 356 NONE SHE DIES 4193 0 1 0 BOOK OF THOMAS 479 SHAGORNAN HERMIT 356 NONE TAILWIND 4125 7 4 0 BOOK OF THOMAS 479 DARK ELF CHAMPIO 356 NONE PERSONAL ADS LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS TAILWIND was butchered by DARK ELF CHAMPION in a 1 minute Dark Arena fight. SHE DIES was butchered by SHAGORNAN HERMIT in a 1 minute Dark Arena duel. HE DIES was murdered by SHAGORNAN HERMIT in a 1 minute Dark Arena melee. PARRY-SLICE subdued ELITE ASSASSIN in a 2 minute fight. SUPERSLICE vanquished COLLABORATOR in a 1 minute mismatched Title brawl. EUNUCH defeated LOUD TOYS in a 1 minute fight. BOTTLE ROCKET demolished DANGEROUS TOYS in a 1 minute mismatched competition. NOT THE MOM CRY lost to COLLYWOBBLES in a 2 minute fight. DOESN'T SLEEP was bested by DAISY DUCK in a 2 minute amateur vs. master match. BATTLE REPORT MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS |FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT| |BASHING ATTACK 4 TOTAL PARRY 19 - 11 - 0 63 | |AIMED BLOW 2 AIMED BLOW 19 - 12 - 2 61 | |LUNGING ATTACK 2 LUNGING ATTACK 23 - 15 - 1 61 | |SLASHING ATTACK 2 PARRY-STRIKE 11 - 8 - 0 58 | |PARRY-STRIKE 1 BASHING ATTACK 19 - 18 - 1 51 | |PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 PARRY-RIPOSTE 9 - 11 - 0 45 | |STRIKING ATTACK 1 STRIKING ATTACK 21 - 26 - 2 45 | |PARRY-LUNGE 0 PARRY-LUNGE 3 - 6 - 0 33 | |TOTAL PARRY 0 WALL OF STEEL 2 - 5 - 0 29 | |WALL OF STEEL 0 SLASHING ATTACK 4 - 10 - 0 29 | Turn 356 was great if you Not so great if you used The fighting styles of the used the fighting styles: the fighting styles: top eleven warriors are: PARRY-STRIKE 1 - 0 BASHING ATTACK 1 - 3 3 LUNGING ATTACK PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 - 0 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 0 3 BASHING ATTACK STRIKING ATTACK 1 - 0 SLASHING ATTACK 0 - 2 2 AIMED BLOW AIMED BLOW 1 - 1 TOTAL PARRY 0 - 0 1 STRIKING ATTACK LUNGING ATTACK 1 - 1 WALL OF STEEL 0 - 0 1 TOTAL PARRY 1 PARRY-STRIKE TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME STRIKING ATTACK SUPERSLICE 4074 12 6 1 98 ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) PARRY-STRIKE PARRY-SLICE 4078 17 11 1 95 ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) LUNGING ATTACK EUNUCH 4097 9 3 0 74 ANYWAYUSLICEIT (475) BASHING ATTACK BOTTLE ROCKET 4157 7 1 1 70 BOOK OF THOMAS (479) AIMED BLOW COLLYWOBBLES 4170 7 1 0 51 BOOK OF THOMAS (479) PARRY-RIPOSTE DAISY DUCK 4150 6 5 0 34 DUCKS UNLIMITED (143) Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above. The overall popularity leader is PARRY-SLICE 4078. The most popular warrior this turn was PARRY-SLICE 4078. The ten other most popular fighters were COLLYWOBBLES 4170, SUPERSLICE 4074, EUNUCH 4097, BOTTLE ROCKET 4157, NOT THE MOM CRY 3888, DAISY DUCK 4150, DOESN'T SLEEP 4182, TAILWIND 4125, SHE DIES 4193, and HE DIES 4194. The least popular fighter this week was DANGEROUS TOYS 4100. The other ten least popular fighters were LOUD TOYS 4069, HE DIES 4194, SHE DIES 4193, TAILWIND 4125, DOESN'T SLEEP 4182, DAISY DUCK 4150, NOT THE MOM CRY 3888, BOTTLE ROCKET 4157, EUNUCH 4097, and SUPERSLICE 4074. An Informative Guide to the Parry-Riposte Style composed by Sir Jessie Jest Greetings to all. After many weeks of compiling a database with informationon the parry-riposte, I would like to thank the many managers that donated their time and effort to make this project work. We all hope that many managers benefit from these efforts to further the interest in this style. This article can also be found in the Duel Masters Web page on the internet at: http://www.netis.com/johnh/dm.htm Also, for those of you who have e-mail access, I invite you to join in on the DM discussions on the Roundtable. The roundtable is a forum that discusses anything that has to do with Duelmasters. It is made up of many other DM managers like yourself, and will answer any question you have about the game. To join the Round Table send e- mail to listserv@ambience.com.au with the message "Subscribe Duel-L Your Name". *** *** *** Parry-ripostes, or rippers, can be very deadly if trained and managed effectively. Rippers aren't as widely understood as the more common high skill base styles are. They do draw managers who like more of a challenge. It is not a style for quick fix, so to speak. They start with much less skill and development than many other styles. This means they require a much longer development time before reaching that successful stage. Rippers are not good short-term warriors. They lack what it takes to get many wins early in their career. When you make a ripper, you're in for the long haul. When making a ripper, it is good to think about making him survive through Basic. Rippers have the second highest death rate, with aimed blows being the first. The main reasons for this, I believe, are poor warrior design and/or poor strategy. Rippers, even if designed exactly the same, vary more from one to another than most styles in general. The aimed blow, I believe, is the only other style that varies more widely from one to another than the ripper. Finding your ripper's likes and dislikes may be quite a task, indeed. The first thing to get a good ripper is warrior design. His starting stats will greatly effect his starting skill bases as well. Since rippers starting skill base is lower than some of the other styles, getting as many bonus skills from initial stats is very important. These bonus skills are given most in the WIT and DEFTNESS stats. Odd numbered stats are where most of the bonus skills are at, such as 13, 15, 17 and 21. There are no bonus stats to be gained at 19 in any stat except speed. Good rippers will have a minimum of 32 points between wit and deftness. 34 or more points is preferred. 17 or 21 WT and 17 or 21 DT makes the best rippers. Ripper stats: Strength: 7-11 gives you the range you need for all ripper weapons. Con: 10-14 helps keep your ripper alive and helps with encumbrance. A wise manager would put any left over points here, rather than speed. We'll get to that in a minute. Size: 3-11, no bigger. It's a waste of points and kills your defense, which is one thing that will keep your ripper alive. Wit: 15, 17 or 21 -- No less. You need the bonus skills and the quick learning to make up for the lower skill base. Will: 15+ Not necessary, but to be successful quicker in ADM get at least a 15. Speed: 5-9 Speed is the most disputed thing among ripper managers. It is split 50/50 on its contribution to a rippers success. I believe any extra points left over after adding to odd number WT, WL, and DF should go to CON, not speed. It makes no difference whether you get those skills gained from speed now, or later on. They are still the same number of skills. Those few skills won't make as much difference now, as CON does in keeping the ripper ALIVE. A dead ripper's bases don't matter much, now, do they? ;) Deftness 15,17, or 21 no less. This is a MUST. Deftness gives the most bonus skills out of all the stats. Unlike other styles, which start out with higher bases, a ripper needs all the bonuses he can get. Don't skimp here. Also, many of the rippers weapons require high deftness. The average skill bonuses you get for the parry-riposte style are as follows: (Taken from the "Ween Chart" that includes decimals) Skill Bonus ====== ====== Attack -1.6 Parry -0.1 Defense -3 Initiative 3.1 Decise 1.8 Riposte 4.6 Naturally, rippers get more bonus skills in the riposte area. To help understand that chart, round the numbers up to the nearest whole number. Example, Decise 1.8 = 2 extra decise skills. There is no way to predict exactly what your ripper's starting skills will be. But you can get a good idea when your get your overview back by using the skill chart which is not listed here. There is the luck factor, which is a random number that RSI gives to make sure no two warriors are exactly alike. Some are blessed and get more than average skills, whereas others get considerably less. Rippers in general seem to get LESS more than MORE skill in the luck factor part of character generation. Listed below are some examples of actual rippers in ADM and Primus.Please take note of the + or extra skills these rippers received with thestats they have. Notice the amount of extra skills they received from high WIT and DEFTNESS. The luck factor had some play in these startingbases. These are also examples of when the luck factor gives you MOREstarting base skills. The one at the bottom, with the -2 skills, is an exampleof bad luck. The average skill base totals is +4.8 or 5 skills rounded up.That means that if you get a ripper with more than + 5 skills to his base,he is lucky. Less than + 5 he is unlucky, depending on his stats. If theripper has less than a 32 total points WIT and DEFTNESS, his chancesof getting less than +5 is MUCH higher. If you get more than +5 skills withless than 32 points in your WIT and DEFTNESS total, you a very lucky.One exception is when you have a 30 WIT/DEFTNESS total and a 21 WILL.Then you should get +5 or better to your skill base. If not, you are unlucky. ST-CN-SZ-WT-WL-SP-DF BASE: ATT INIT DEC DEF PAR RIP (Bonus +/-) 17-13-4-17-9-9-15 60(0) 60(+4) 30(+2) 40(-1) 45(+1) 65(+5); +11 9-13-8-17-15-5-17 55(-1) 55(+4) 15(0) 30(-4) 55(+3) 70(+6); +8 11-9-12-15-17-5-17 55(0) 35(+2) 20(+1) 30(-3) 45(-1) 75(+9); +8 9-12-5-17-15-9-17 45(-3) 50(+1) 40(+3) 45(-2) 40(0) 70(+5); +4 10-10-9-21-15-4-15 60(-1) 50(+2) 45(+5) 35(-4) 35(0) 65(+5); +7 8-9-7-17-17-9-17 50(-3) 50(-1) 50(+4) 50(-2) 40(+1) 85(+8); +5 8-10-12-17-17-3-17 60(-1) 45(0) 25(+2) 30(-5) 40(+1) 55(+4); +1 8-9-8-15-11-12-21 50(-2) 75(+5) 35(+2) 35(-4) 50(+1) 80(+5); +7 12-10-8-17-11-9-17 40(-3) 45(0) 40(+4) 30(-4) 15(-4) 70(+5); -2 The numbers in the parenthesis are the + or - the projected skill base for that set of numbers. Example: +5 means that he got 5 more than the average projection. Pluses are good and minuses are bad. A simple method to see whether or not your ripper was lucky is to add the WIT and DEFTNESS together. If it is above 32 then you should get + 5 as an average, and any more than +5 is lucky. The higher the WIT/DEFTNESS total the higher the average. This is a quick guesstimate to see if your ripper was unlucky at getting a good number starting skills. It is not an exact way to tell. You can tell more accurately by using the skill chart that lists the skill bonuses, and the style modifiers. Good WIT statements for a good ripper include high order ATTACK, DEFENSE, and PARRY. An initiative statement is nice, but harder to come by for a ripper, unless you give up one of those 3 up there. If you get ATTACK, DEFENSE, PARRY and INITIATIVE high order you have a GREAT ripper. Rippers almost always get some kind of Riposte statement. Riposte isn't really as important as those 4 up there are in the long run. Decise skill is meaningless to a ripper. ARMOR ----------- Rippers should wear heavy armor at the beginning of their career. It is better to run a ripper defensively or `scum' him for awhile until he gains more skill. When he starts getting his experts in defense and parry, then you can take off some armor. Rippers are more like to DIE in their first 10-15 fights than later on when they have more skill and experience. Some people don't like playing defensively, and run them offensively at the beginning. Rippers are long term projects and are not ready for this. They lack the skill and experience to do this in the beginning. For this reason, and the fact most people don't put much armor on them at the start of their career, is why so many rippers DIE. Putting heavy armor on them and playing them defensively, increases the ripper's chance to make it to ADM ALIVE. I've put rippers in ACM and APA in basic for their first 15 fights. It keeps them alive and gets them learns without affecting their performance. Weapons ------------- Your ripper's favorite weapon is VERY important. Rippers have a very limited number of weapons to choose from, but do have some good ones. This is a list of ripper weapons. They are listed in order of which is best to which is worst according to a poll of 58 ripper mgrs. 1. Scimitar -- The best ripper weapon, without question. 2. Longsword 3. Epee -- I wouldn't advise using this weapon in Basic. 4. Shortsword 5. Shortspear 6. Longspear 7. Hatchet Using that chart above, you can tell whether or not your ripper got stuck with a lousy favorite weapon. Down below is more info on ripper's favorite weapons. Out of 44 parry-ripostes, the following is a chart of the favorite weapons they got: EP (11), SC (8), LO (8), LS (4), SS (7), SH (6) Notice that most got the top 3 ripper weapons. Just hope your ripper doesn't get stuck with a lame weapon. Off-hand weapon ------------------------ Rippers do better with 2 weapons than one. In ADM, a ripper can use either one or 2 and still be effective. Shortswords and hatchets are the most effective. Daggers and shields are OK, but not really good in ADM. If you have a ripper with high enough deftness, twin longswords or scimitars can be devastating. Rippers have an unusually high chance of being ambidextrous. Strategy- Using tactics ------------------------------- Rippers in general don't react well to tactics. This is agreed on by most ripper managers. They can use lunge, dodge, response and parry to some effectiveness. Out of 44 rippers, 3 got Lunge, 6 got Riposte, and 3 got Parry as a favorite tactic. Riposte tactic is lame, and should never be used on a ripper. He ripostes well enough without that tactic. All it will do is penalize him in other important areas. Strategy- (favorite rhythms) ------------------------------------- Unlike other styles, the ripper favorite rhythm is used more closely. Most managers use different strategies in basic than they do in ADM for their rippers. They play it more by ear in Basic, and stick mostly to the ripper's favorite rhythms in ADM. Unless, of course, they have very bad rhythms for favorites. Then they may go back to playing it by ear. Below is a graph of 44 Parry - Riposte's favorite rhythms. A. L. -- O. E. VL LO MO HI VH TOTALS VL 3 1 2 0 0 6 LO 2 1 2 2 0 7 MO 2 19 0 1 0 22 HI 2 0 5 2 0 9 VH 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 9 21 9 5 0 As you can see, most of the favorites for a Parry Riposte fall in the LOW offensive and moderate activity range. To give someone an example of a basic strategy, I will give you an example below. MIN 1 2 3 4 5 6 Desp. OL 2 2 2 4 4 3 7 AL 2 2 2 4 4 2 7 KD 5 5 5 6 6 5 5 Att RA-----------------------------------------------> Pro HE-----------------------------------------------> You can experiment with other strategies, and might even check out how your ripper likes tactics. In ADM, I'd stick with the favorite rhythms, unless they aren't working for him. Best style match-ups for a ripper in basic are: PR, TP, BA, PS, WS. Worst in Basic are : SL, LU, AB, PL, ST. Best style Match-ups in ADM are: TP, PR, BA, ST, PS. Worst in ADM are : LU, SL, WS, PL, AB. Well, that should be enough information to get any manager started with a good ripper. If you need more information about rippers or anything else about DM, contact me. I can be reached via e-mail at 103260.3347@ compuserve.com or you can Diplo me at the Joker's Wild 2 in DM 75. I hope this helped someone. Cheers, Sir Jessie Jest Credits -- Major contributors: Mitch Nakagawa -AKA- Sensei Slowburn Glenn Uren -AKA- Heretic JRK Jeanette Jerles -AKA- Shark Jester Gary Triplett -AKA- Miles The Boss Man The Lunatic Voo-Doo Assurnasirbanipal Soultaker Lord Bosk Buri C.J Caviness -AKA- The Visionist Doctor Scot Manager(Dwayne) Revenant Eric Goche Seeker Rajesh Nanda Johan Behrenfeldt -AKA- Bartender and many others.