DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER Date : 11/09/2016 Duedate: 12/06/2016 STORMCROWE ARENA DM-45 TURN-378 This Weeks Top Honors THE DUELMASTER IS MADAME HYDRA DARQUE FORCES (428) (45-4752) [15-5-1,130] Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader MADAME HYDRA POSITION IS EMPTY DARQUE FORCES (428) (45-4752) [15-5-1,130] Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite SNAEGH SNAEGH GOING BERSERK (527) GOING BERSERK (527) (45-4792) [18-4-0,91] (45-4792) [18-4-0,91] THE CURRENT TOP TEAM DARQUE FORCES (428) TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team 1. MAIDEN JAPAN (504) 33 2. KNIGHT BREED (403) 28 GOING BERSERK (527) 3. DARQUE FORCES (428) 26 Unchartered Team 4. GOING BERSERK (527) 14 5. SHEWISH BUFFET (520) 10 HOUSE OF LORDS (169) The Top Teams Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K 1/ 1 GOING BERSERK (527) 48 27 5 64.0 1/ 2 DARQUE FORCES (428) 8 2 1 2/ 2 DARQUE FORCES (428) 526 309 34 63.0 2/ 1 GOING BERSERK (527) 7 5 2 3/ 0 AVID FANS (65) 185 165 19 52.9 3/ 3 KNIGHT BREED (403) 4 6 2 4/ 3 KNIGHT BREED (403) 56 55 2 50.5 4/ 0 MAIDEN JAPAN (504) 3 2 0 5/ 0 SHEWISH BUFFET (520) 94 101 8 48.2 5/ 0 SHEWISH BUFFET (520) 1 1 0 6/ 0 MAIDEN JAPAN (504) 28 33 2 45.9 6/ 0 AVID FANS (65) 1 3 0 '*' Unchartered team '-' Team did not fight this turn (###) Avoid teams by their Team Id ##/## This turn's/Last turn's rank SPY REPORT I can't believe the violence in STORMCROWE! I still haven't told Mom I'm writing Spyreports. She'd have a cow! Well, here we go... Too bad, GOING BERSERK, but DARQUE FORCES was just too good to be stopped. MVP award for WRATHCHILD? MAIDEN JAPAN's proud of him after beating AN ARENA DOCTOR and getting 20 points. Talk about yer big time losers! AN ARENA DOCTOR got smashed by WRATHCHILD, and lost 11 points! Don't you think the Duelmaster is being unfair? I think MADAME HYDRA should let PLAY-BY-PLAY MAN be Duelmaster for a while, without fighting about it. Who was the wiseguy that said STORMCROWE's Duelmaster was paying for drinks at The Shadow's Fountain? Don't look at me! So just why would someone becomes a warrior anyway? It can't be for these really neat Spyreports can it? The warriors of GOING BERSERK must be getting lonely. They were the most avoided team. Do you guys know something that I don't? Hhmph! What kind of warriors are AVID FANS? GOING BERSERK, an easy team to beat if I ever saw one, can't get them to accept an invitation! Can GOING BERSERK's UKKO be more popular than me? He was challenged the most, but is that really the same? For sure, I was holding my breath when I found out WAR MAIDEN challenged SNAEGH. After all, haven't DARQUE FORCES and GOING BERSERK had a long standing duel in STORMCROWE? It wasn't a spectacular fight, or anything, but SNAEGH wants me to write about it since he beat WAR MAIDEN. Satisfied? Challenges, revenges, Bloodfeuds. All STORMCROWE ever talks about is fighting! Me, I'm more laid back. D'ya think MADAME HYDRA is feeling guilty for killing AVID FANS' PLAY-BY-PLAY MAN, a mere boy? Naah, I doubt it. I see PLAY-BY-PLAY MAN got killed by MADAME HYDRA of DARQUE FORCES. Now I want to see some serious Bloodfeud action out there! Hey you guys, don't you think your families would like to hear from you? Write! (Or have someone write for you.) Remember, blood on a purple robe may stain. Soak it in cold water, and hand wash. I know how much you like reading this stuff, but I really should stop. I had a fun time, see you later-- Debby Tonte DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME MADAME HYDRA 4752 15 5 1 130 DARQUE FORCES (428) CHALLENGER CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME SCANDAL SAVAGE 4753 14 6 1 97 DARQUE FORCES (428) UKKO 4780 12 3 1 95 GOING BERSERK (527) SNAEGH 4792 18 4 0 91 GOING BERSERK (527) CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME MARSH FELLOW 4815 6 2 1 71 SHEWISH BUFFET (520) CHALLENGER ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME WAR MAIDEN 4743 13 11 1 66 DARQUE FORCES (428) WRATHCHILD 4407 7 6 0 62 MAIDEN JAPAN (504) RAYNOR 3549 12 10 1 60 KNIGHT BREED (403) ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME AN ARENA DOCTOR 4175 11 13 1 51 AVID FANS (65) THE TROOPER 4481 5 3 0 50 MAIDEN JAPAN (504) A REPORTER 4758 6 3 1 43 AVID FANS (65) SECURITY GUARD 4825 3 3 0 39 AVID FANS (65) CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME SLOPPY JOE 4797 5 11 0 32 SHEWISH BUFFET (520) STARWIND 4684 4 4 0 30 KNIGHT BREED (403) BEA LIGERENT 4812 4 2 0 28 DARQUE FORCES (428) LADY MACDEATH 4774 6 6 1 26 DARQUE FORCES (428) RIME-ANCIENT MARINER 4496 4 1 0 25 MAIDEN JAPAN (504) RUNNING FREE 4406 6 6 0 24 MAIDEN JAPAN (504) INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME BRAVE NEW WORLD 4453 3 7 2 18 MAIDEN JAPAN (504) HARLOCK 4876 1 0 0 13 KNIGHT BREED (403) SPACE DANDY 4875 1 0 1 11 KNIGHT BREED (403) '-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn. THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge? PERSISTENT BEGGA 0 0 0 SPACE DANDY 4875 378 NONE THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge? PLAY-BY-PLAY MAN 4754 5 3 1 AVID FANS 65 MADAME HYDRA 4752 378 DA2 4873 1 1 1 GOING BERSERK 527 SPYMASTER 378 NONE DA4 4877 0 1 0 GOING BERSERK 527 MOUNTAIN TROLL 378 NONE DEADER 4874 0 1 0 KNIGHT BREED 403 STONE GOLEM 378 NONE KERRIGAN 3545 13 8 0 KNIGHT BREED 403 UKKO 4780 377 PERSONAL ADS LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS DA2 was butchered by SPYMASTER in a 2 minute bloody Dark Arena fight. DEADER was slaughtered by STONE GOLEM in a 1 minute gruesome Dark Arena battle. DA4 was killed by MOUNTAIN TROLL in a 2 minute gruesome Dark Arena fight. RAYNOR was devastated by UKKO in a 1 minute one-sided Bloodfeud contest. WAR MAIDEN was defeated by SNAEGH in a 4 minute master's Challenge match. MADAME HYDRA assassinated PLAY-BY-PLAY MAN in a 1 minute one-sided Title struggle. SCANDAL SAVAGE devastated CONVICTED ASSASSIN in a 1 minute one-sided competition. MARSH FELLOW handily defeated A REPORTER in a 1 minute uneven melee. AN ARENA DOCTOR was vanquished by WRATHCHILD in a 1 minute one-sided duel. THE TROOPER vanquished LADY MACDEATH in a 1 minute one-sided duel. STARWIND defeated BRAVE NEW WORLD in a 2 minute gruesome match. SECURITY GUARD overpowered SLOPPY JOE in a 1 minute one-sided fight. RIME-ANCIENT MARINER subdued CULT MEMBER in a 6 minute competition. BEA LIGERENT overcame RUNNING FREE in a 5 minute brutal contest. HARLOCK demolished CONVICTED THIEF in a 1 minute one-sided brawl. SPACE DANDY put to death PERSISTENT BEGGAR in a 2 minute novice's conflict. BATTLE REPORT MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS |FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT| |LUNGING ATTACK 4 PARRY-STRIKE 9 - 2 - 0 82 | |STRIKING ATTACK 4 WALL OF STEEL 6 - 2 - 2 75 | |WALL OF STEEL 4 PARRY-RIPOSTE 2 - 1 - 0 67 | |AIMED BLOW 3 STRIKING ATTACK 10 - 7 - 2 59 | |TOTAL PARRY 3 TOTAL PARRY 4 - 3 - 1 57 | |BASHING ATTACK 3 LUNGING ATTACK 13 - 10 - 2 57 | |SLASHING ATTACK 2 PARRY-LUNGE 2 - 2 - 0 50 | |PARRY-STRIKE 1 BASHING ATTACK 11 - 18 - 0 38 | |PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 SLASHING ATTACK 5 - 10 - 1 33 | |PARRY-LUNGE 0 AIMED BLOW 6 - 13 - 1 32 | Turn 378 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 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 0 3 LUNGING ATTACK PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 - 0 BASHING ATTACK 0 - 3 2 AIMED BLOW AIMED BLOW 2 - 1 2 WALL OF STEEL TOTAL PARRY 2 - 1 2 STRIKING ATTACK LUNGING ATTACK 2 - 2 1 PARRY-STRIKE SLASHING ATTACK 1 - 1 1 BASHING ATTACK STRIKING ATTACK 2 - 2 WALL OF STEEL 2 - 2 TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME LUNGING ATTACK MADAME HYDRA 4752 15 5 1 130 DARQUE FORCES (428) AIMED BLOW SCANDAL SAVAGE 4753 14 6 1 97 DARQUE FORCES (428) WALL OF STEEL UKKO 4780 12 3 1 95 GOING BERSERK (527) FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME PARRY-STRIKE SNAEGH 4792 18 4 0 91 GOING BERSERK (527) STRIKING ATTACK MARSH FELLOW 4815 6 2 1 71 SHEWISH BUFFET (520) BASHING ATTACK A REPORTER 4758 6 3 1 43 AVID FANS (65) Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above. The overall popularity leader is SNAEGH 4792. The most popular warrior this turn was SNAEGH 4792. The ten other most popular fighters were BEA LIGERENT 4812, DA4 4877, WAR MAIDEN 4743, STARWIND 4684, BRAVE NEW WORLD 4453, RUNNING FREE 4406, UKKO 4780, MADAME HYDRA 4752, SCANDAL SAVAGE 4753, and MARSH FELLOW 4815. The least popular fighter this week was RIME-ANCIENT MARINER 4496. The other ten least popular fighters were SPACE DANDY 4875, SLOPPY JOE 4797, LADY MACDEATH 4774, AN ARENA DOCTOR 4175, A REPORTER 4758, PLAY-BY-PLAY MAN 4754, DEADER 4874, RAYNOR 3549, DA2 4873, and HARLOCK 4876. 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.