DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER

Date   : 01/26/2022    Duedate: 02/22/2022

STORMCROWE ARENA

DM-45    TURN-446

This Weeks Top Honors

THE DUELMASTER IS

RAINBOW BYTE
DARQUE FORCES (428)
(45-5391) [19-16-0,117]

Chartered Recognition Leader   Unchartered Recognition Leader

RAINBOW BYTE                   POSITION IS EMPTY
DARQUE FORCES (428)            
(45-5391) [19-16-0,117]        

Popularity Leader              This Weeks Favorite

RAINBOW BYTE                   RAINBOW BYTE
DARQUE FORCES (428)            DARQUE FORCES (428)
(45-5391) [19-16-0,117]        (45-5391) [19-16-0,117]

THE CURRENT TOP TEAM

DARQUE FORCES (428)

          TEAMS ON THE MOVE            TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name                  Point Gain  Chartered Team
1. DARQUE FORCES (428)         23
2. SERPENTS' HOLD (556)        17      DARQUE FORCES (428)
3. GOING BERSERK (527)         16      Unchartered Team
4. CANDY CRUSHERS (534)         5
5. RAT PAK (79)                 1      ODIN'S CHOSEN (455)

The Top Teams

Career Win-Loss Record           W   L  K    %  Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns    W  L K
 1- 1 INTERNATIONAL (554)      153  84 17 64.6   1/ 1 DARQUE FORCES (428)      10  5 0
 2/ 2 DARQUE FORCES (428)      662 429 36 60.7   2/ 3 GOING BERSERK (527)       5  3 0
 3/ 3 GOING BERSERK (527)      150 123 11 54.9   3/ 5 SERPENTS' HOLD (556)      5  7 0
 4/ 4 CANDY CRUSHERS (534)      78  65  8 54.5   4/ 2 RAT PAK (79)              4  2 0
 5- 5 SHEWISH BUFFET (520)     174 171 11 50.4   5/ 4 YUPPIE SHELTER (576)      4 11 0
 6/ 6 RAT PAK (79)              67  71  2 48.6   6/ 6 CANDY CRUSHERS (534)      3  0 0
 7/ 7 SERPENTS' HOLD (556)     107 114  8 48.4   7- 7 INTERNATIONAL (554)       1  1 0
 8/ 8 YUPPIE SHELTER (576)      55  70  1 44.0   8/ 8 ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)   1  2 0
 9/ 9 ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)   59  89  3 39.9   9- 9 SHEWISH BUFFET (520)      0  1 0

    '*'   Unchartered team                       '-'  Team did not fight this turn
   (###)  Avoid teams by their Team Id          ##/## This turn's/Last turn's rank

                                    TEAM SPOTLIGHT

BLUE DRAGON BLADE

Blue Dragon Blade of Abattoir 5 Blades is headed to DM 101 and a possible retirement, 
after his long journey through the Stormcrowe Arena!

The 9-6-13-17-15-13-11 Striker has achieved a Master rating in Initiative, an Advanced 
Expert rating in Riposte, an Advanced Expert rating in Attack and a Master rating in 
Decisiveness!

He is naturally adept with the Small Shield and has a fighting rhythm that favors a 
Moderate Offensive Effort and a Very Low Activity Level; plus, he shows an innate 
ability to use the Decisive Tactic to good effect and he is aggressive by nature and 
favors Initiative Routines!

Hammer has applied to the Gladiatorial Commission for Blue Dragon Blade to be admitted 
to The Home Guard Arena, but favoring the Small Shield is certainly a drawback for 
future considerations!

Hammer also plans to reactivate his Abattoir 5 Blades stable in full force later this 
year!

"May Your Blades Be Sharp and Your Wits Sharper!"

                                          -- Hammer, mgr of Abattoir 5 Blades in DM 45

                                      SPY REPORT

     Well, what are you looking at, STORMCROWE?  Ain't you never seen Snide Clemens 
before?  Ah, shaddup and listen to my news.  Of course, we're all terribly impressed 
to see RAINBOW BYTE win a fight and gain 10 points, terribly.  Tsk, tsk, RODMAN beat 
PANIC ROOM and PANIC ROOM lost 6 points.  You're breakin' my heart.  And if variety 
is the spice of life, STORMCROWE may be getting bland, as KIT KAT KATANA stays top 
dog in the city.  Kickbacks and bribes, kickbacks and bribes, how else do you think 
some of these guys win their fights?  Skill?  Ha!   
     My mother always told me, 'If you don't have anything nice to say, start 
talking.' I loved that woman.  STORMCROWE, I am losing what little hope I had in you. 
GOING BERSERK the most avoided team?  What insult will suffice, I cannot say.  And it 
looks like DARQUE FORCES avoided them the most this turn.  What a pack of would be 
losers, if you ask me.  Hmph.  Ooh, I'm frightfully impressed, AIR BNB was this 
turn's most challenged warrior.  Watch that ego swell, sports fans.   
     Some people like volunteer work in the hospitals.  I volunteer for STORMCROWE's 
morgue.  More variety.  We're all going to die in the end, so why worry if the fate 
catches up with you sooner that later?   
     What does the STORMCROWE arena have in common with the inns?  It's just as 
comfortable to sleep in either place.  Ha ha ha ha!  Phlllt!  Just had to do that 
before I leave the fine city of STORMCROWE.  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                  
 RAINBOW BYTE 5391            19  16  0   117       DARQUE FORCES (428)

CHALLENGER CHAMPIONS           W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
-BLIZZARD-RAT 516             29  10  0   116       RAT PAK (79)
-YAK 5296                     17   9  2   107       GOING BERSERK (527)
 AIR BNB 5564                 14  11  0    96       YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
 RODMAN 5471                  13   6  0    91       SERPENTS' HOLD (556)

CHAMPIONS                      W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
-SHRIMP SCAMP 4855            16  14  0    89       SHEWISH BUFFET (520)
 MAR-A-LAGO 5566              12  14  0    84       YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
-THE FEVER DREAMER 4906       12  16  1    80       ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)
-A FUNKY NIGHTMARE 4905       12  16  0    76       ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)

CHAMPIONS                      W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 BIG BEN 5720                  8   6  0    71       GOING BERSERK (527)
 PANIC ROOM 5561              12  14  1    67       YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
-CARAMEL CUDGEL 4900          11  12  1    67       CANDY CRUSHERS (534)

CHALLENGER ADEPTS              W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
-GUMMI BEAR GAVEL 5089        10  13  3    62       CANDY CRUSHERS (534)
-STICKY SITUATION 4904        10  18  0    60       ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)

ADEPTS                         W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
-NILE 5594                     6   4  0    55       INTERNATIONAL (554)
-USKIABUR 5634                 5   5  0    54       GOING BERSERK (527)
 WHITE HOUSE 5562             10  14  0    50       YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
-STICKY BLUE BLADE 5343        6  13  1    47       ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)
-MIA-RAT 5569                  8  13  0    37       RAT PAK (79)
 NIGHTSHADE 5705               3   4  0    36       SERPENTS' HOLD (556)
-JAWBREAKER JITTE 5600         5   1  0    35       CANDY CRUSHERS (534)
 PAYNE ERYE 5675               7   3  0    34       DARQUE FORCES (428)

CHALLENGER INITIATES           W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
-ZED-RAT 5671                  4   3  0    32       RAT PAK (79)
-TIA-RAT 5667                  4   4  0    24       RAT PAK (79)

INITIATES                      W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 BRAWLIPOP 5714                4   0  0    23       DARQUE FORCES (428)
-COSTA RICA 5692               2   2  0    23       INTERNATIONAL (554)
 BWUTY QWEEN 5690              4   5  0    22       DARQUE FORCES (428)
 ONTOR 5709                    3   4  1    20       GOING BERSERK (527)
 RAZOR-RAT 5670                3   5  0    16       RAT PAK (79)
-URALS 5663                    2   1  0    15       INTERNATIONAL (554)
 SANDALS 5693                  2   4  0    10       YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
-FIJI 5664                     2   1  0     7       INTERNATIONAL (554)

'-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn.

THE DEAD                W  L K TEAM NAME            SLAIN BY              TURN Revenge?
DEAD 5723               0  1 0 DARQUE FORCES 428    HIGH ELF              446  NONE
TRAGEDY ANN 5598        8  7 0 DARQUE FORCES 428    ACES HIGH 5462        442  NONE
BYE 5721                0  1 0 SERPENTS' HOLD 556   WURM KIN              446  NONE
SEE YA 5722             0  1 0 SERPENTS' HOLD 556   STONE GOLEM           446  NONE

                                     PERSONAL ADS

All -- Blue Dragon Blade surprisingly received his graduation notice! Details are in 
the short Spot that I wrote above! I plan to return to DM 45 with a fully-active 
stable later this year! -- Hammer, mgr of Abattoir 5 Blades

                                  LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS

BYE was butchered by WURM KIN in a 1 minute bloody Dark Arena fight.
SEE YA was slaughtered by STONE GOLEM in a 1 minute Dark Arena battle.
DEAD was viciously butchered by HIGH ELF in a 1 minute gory Dark Arena match.
RAINBOW BYTE viciously subdued AIR BNB in a 2 minute master's Challenge Title brawl.
BWUTY QWEEN was subdued by NIGHTSHADE in a 1 minute Challenge competition.
KIT KAT KATANA bested BLUE DRAGON BLADE in a 1 minute veteran's duel.
MAR-A-LAGO devastated NOBLE ASSASSIN in a crowd pleasing 1 minute mismatched match.
RODMAN overpowered PANIC ROOM in a 1 minute uneven melee.
BIG BEN vanquished WHITE HOUSE in a popular 1 minute uneven duel.
PAYNE ERYE slimly won victory over RAZOR-RAT in a popular 2 minute gory duel.
SANDALS was overpowered by ONTOR in a 1 minute one-sided melee.
BRAWLIPOP defeated MORDANT DESERTER in a 2 minute novice's match.

                                    BATTLE REPORT

             MOST POPULAR                        RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS     
|FIGHTING STYLE               FIGHTS        FIGHTING STYLE     W -   L -  K   PERCENT|
|LUNGING ATTACK                   7         PARRY-RIPOSTE      5 -   2 -  0      71  |
|STRIKING ATTACK                  5         PARRY-LUNGE       13 -   6 -  0      68  |
|AIMED BLOW                       3         WALL OF STEEL     10 -   8 -  0      56  |
|BASHING ATTACK                   2         TOTAL PARRY       18 -  16 -  1      53  |
|PARRY-LUNGE                      1         BASHING ATTACK    15 -  16 -  2      48  |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE                    1         LUNGING ATTACK    53 -  59 -  1      47  |
|PARRY-STRIKE                     0         STRIKING ATTACK   24 -  29 -  0      45  |
|SLASHING ATTACK                  0         SLASHING ATTACK   12 -  17 -  0      41  |
|TOTAL PARRY                      0         AIMED BLOW        17 -  27 -  0      39  |
|WALL OF STEEL                    0         PARRY-STRIKE       1 -   2 -  0      33  |

Turn 446 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-LUNGE        1 -  0     LUNGING ATTACK     3 -  4         3  LUNGING ATTACK 
PARRY-RIPOSTE      1 -  0     PARRY-STRIKE       0 -  0         3  TOTAL PARRY    
BASHING ATTACK     2 -  0     SLASHING ATTACK    0 -  0         2  BASHING ATTACK 
AIMED BLOW         2 -  1     STRIKING ATTACK    0 -  5         1  STRIKING ATTACK
                              TOTAL PARRY        0 -  0         1  AIMED BLOW     
                              WALL OF STEEL      0 -  0         1  PARRY-LUNGE    

                               TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE

FIGHTING STYLE   WARRIOR                     W   L  K PNTS TEAM NAME                  
LUNGING ATTACK   RAINBOW BYTE 5391          19  16  0  117 DARQUE FORCES (428)
AIMED BLOW       AIR BNB 5564               14  11  0   96 YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
PARRY-LUNGE      RODMAN 5471                13   6  0   91 SERPENTS' HOLD (556)
Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above.

The overall popularity leader is RAINBOW BYTE 5391.  The most popular warrior this 
turn was RAINBOW BYTE 5391.  The ten other most popular fighters were PAYNE ERYE 
5675, RAZOR-RAT 5670, NIGHTSHADE 5705, MAR-A-LAGO 5566, RODMAN 5471, BIG BEN 5720, 
BRAWLIPOP 5714, AIR BNB 5564, ONTOR 5709, and WHITE HOUSE 5562.

The least popular fighter this week was SANDALS 5693.  The other ten least popular 
fighters were PANIC ROOM 5561, BWUTY QWEEN 5690, DEAD 5723, SEE YA 5722, BYE 5721, 
WHITE HOUSE 5562, ONTOR 5709, AIR BNB 5564, BRAWLIPOP 5714, and BIG BEN 5720.

The following warriors have traveled to AD after fighting this turn:

KIT KAT KATANA (45-4901) CANDY CRUSHERS (534)
BLUE DRAGON BLADE (45-5310) ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)
TOBIR BATTER (45-5316) SHEWISH BUFFET (520)

                 FACE-TO-FACE TOURNEY LXVI

CONTENDERS TOURNEY                     W  L  K         TEAM NAME            
BUTTERCUP 3416 (67-81-2)               3  3  0         MAX'S MIRACLE        

FRESHMEN TOURNEY                       W  L  K         TEAM NAME            
CAR SEAT HEADREST 5210 (25-9-0)        1  3  0         CSU COLLEGE RADIO    
WISCONSIN 5079 (24-12-1)               1  3  0         BATTLE SHIPS         

CHAMPIONS TOURNEY                      W  L  K         TEAM NAME            
TOBIR BATTER 5316 (14-8-0)             1  3  0         SHEWISH BUFFET       

ADEPTS TOURNEY                         W  L  K         TEAM NAME            
BATTLE WAGON 5275 (7-9-1)              2  3  1         BATTLE SHIPS         

INITIATES TOURNEY                      W  L  K         TEAM NAME            
NIGHTSHADE 5705 (2-4-0)               10  3  0         SERPENTS' HOLD       

                              MY TAKE ON THE PARRY SLASH

I'm sure I'm not covering any new ground with my insights on the Wall of Steel. It is 
my best fighting style and a favorite. I have currently 3 in ADM, and about a half 
dozen active in the arenas with one currently undefeated and Duelmaster in DM 41. 

So a bit about my observations.  Like most defensive styles it seems to work best to 
run these guys offensively while they are young so I outfit them and run them like a 
slasher. They favor the initiative, parry and attack skills which sucks a bit in ADM 
because they lack in defense skill and since defense is king in the late game, Walls 
of Steel fall back into the pack quite a bit. It stinks but done right they can hold 
their own vs anyone except end game lungers and aimed blows who seem to be way OP at 
that level. 

Anyway, stats are important of course. Strength should at least be 9+ to get slashing 
weapons. Con can be lower; I have gotten away with a con of 7 because I run them fast 
and furious anyway so if they get out jumped or crit dodged and ripped then they go 
down easy. Most fights are over in minute 1 anyway. Size is a thing; smaller sizes 
would be nice but you have issues with damage if you go low size and strength less 
than 11. I have an upper limit of around 14 size and a lower one of 5 in my current 
crew. Wit is a no brainer: 15+ is almost mandatory but I am running one with a 13 that 
is doing ok but learning slows down to a crawl if you have less than 15. Will is super 
necessary so I try not to go below 15 here with a build. Speed isn't really a 
priority, so I often go as low as 3 here and they still do very well. More speed would 
be nice, but speed is a luxury and not a necessity. Deftness is nice, I won't run a 
WOS with less than a 13 here; my highest is 21 with a current ADM build.

Now how to run them. Well, minute one is offensive so I typically run 10-10-6 and then 
taper off to a high offensive effort and a low or moderate activity level. It seems 
that the majority of my ADM builds prefer a high-low pace. 

So a couple of current warrior builds to show off the style. 

     Midnight, currently in ADM -- 9-11(2)-10-17-15-3-21, about to start stat raises 
     but currently has ad masters in attack and initiative. 

     Ishmail currently in Home Guard -- 12-9-6-15-17-9-15, currently at 93 skills and 
     wont be stat raising for a minute.

     Average Joe in Mordant -- 11-11-14-13-13-9-13, painfully bad at learning and 
     definitely not recommended for the faint of heart.

     Beowulf in Seam -- 11-12-9-15-17-3-17, currently at 54 skills and near the top of 
     the arena. Has fallen on hard times of late because of diminishing returns on 
     skill learns. 

     Broken in Shadowspire -- 9-14-9-17-17-5-13, very new and probably going to be a 
     .500 warrior when it's all said and done because of the low speed and deftness 
     combo.

     Bender in DM 41 -- 9-7-14-17-17-3-17, currently undefeated and duelmaster, won't 
     last long but he started out as a tourney warrior and has gone at best 6-3 and 
     went 4-3 in this past mail-in as an adept.

So for anyone who doesn't know, a speed and deftness of 21 total is needed to get 
normal coordination and a combo of 28 is needed to get the "fights well with either 
hand" tag on your roll up. So not really relevant to the topic but just thought I'd 
throw that out there. I like to keep this total at the very least 18 to get slightly 
uncoordinated on all my builds because coordination is vital to defense and attack. 

Okay, that's my take on this fun style. If I have enlightened anyone then you are 
welcome, I hope I at least entertained everyone. Take it easy.  

                                          -- Eli