DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER Date : 08/05/2016 Duedate: 08/18/2016 NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA DM-93 TURN-458 This Weeks Top Honors THE DUELMASTER IS TOBINSPORT RIVER RATS (1699) (93-9914) [6-1-0,65] Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader POSITION IS EMPTY TOBINSPORT RIVER RATS (1699) (93-9914) [6-1-0,65] Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite COMMERCIALS REPETITIVE BB TALK RADIO (1700) BB TALK RADIO (1700) (93-9920) [2-5-0,14] (93-9916) [5-2-1,61] THE CURRENT TOP TEAM RIVER RATS (1699) TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team 1. NUMBER (1705) 52 2. RIVER RATS (1699) 36 IRON DRAGON (495) 3. COYOTES (1701) 35 Unchartered Team 4. THE MANTICORES (1704) 7 5. THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) 3 RIVER RATS (1699) The Top Teams Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K 1/ 1*RIVER RATS (1699) 26 9 0 74.3 1/ 1*RIVER RATS (1699) 13 2 0 2/ 2*BB TALK RADIO (1700) 21 14 1 60.0 2/ 2*BB TALK RADIO (1700) 8 7 0 3/ 0*NUMBER (1705) 3 2 1 60.0 3/ 3*COYOTES (1701) 6 8 0 4/ 3*ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) 8 6 1 57.1 4/ 0*NUMBER (1705) 3 2 1 5/ 4*COYOTES (1701) 14 15 1 48.3 5/ 4*THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) 3 6 0 6/ 5*THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) 3 6 0 33.3 6/ 5*THE MANTICORES (1704) 2 4 1 7/ 6*THE MANTICORES (1704) 2 4 1 33.3 7/ 7*ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) 1 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 NOBLISH ISLE GRADUATION FINAL EXAM 20 True/False Questions 90% = Passing Grade Special Assist = All answers Are FALSE 1. D2 is all work and no play. 2. You may bloodfeud only twice. 3. Scum warriors are not allowed. 4. Assur and The Consortium rep are allied. 5. One must challenge warriors by name only on the strategy sheet. 6. There is one best strategy for each style. 7. The WF (war flail aka whiffle) is probably the best weapon available. 8. A warrior must be deemed godling to enter into tournaments. 9. All warriors are born with the same amount of stats and skills. 10. One cannot use a weapon unsuited to the warrior's style. 11. A manager may have only one team in D2. 12. Endurance plays no factor in D2. 13. A warrior's hit points are only determined by CON. 14. There are seven skill and seven stat types. 15. When a warrior dies, your team is reduced by one. 16. All Face-To-Face Tournaments are held at the office in Tempe, AZ. 17. The arena Duelmaster may challenge any other warrior in the arena. 18. A warrior must wear armor. 19. There are no luck factors in the game. 20. The designer of this test has patent rights. NOTE: Certain of these questions are discussed thoroughly in Noblish Island Newsletters. So tune in! -- Brought to you by Commodore Perry of River Rats (A Consortium representative) ***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------*** The Importance of Damage One thing that some articles allude to, but few spell out, is how important your damage rating is on your warrior. When your warrior is created, he will randomly be assigned a damage rating based on his strength and size. This damage rating can make or break a warrior. Realize that this article focuses entirely on your warrior's basic career (before he graduates to the Advanced arenas). First, I will talk about the possible damage ratings your warrior can have. Little Damage -- For the most part, this is crippling to a warrior in basic. A few types of warriors can run successfully with little damage, but for the most part, this rating will kill a basic career. Doesn't mean it can't be fun, though. Normal Damage -- The very least that most managers should consider to be successful. Still, it is not as much as I'd like most of the time, but I can work with Normal. But you'll still see often that normal damage warriors have difficulty finishing off their opponents. Good Damage -- Here is where we start to see the sweet spot! Good damage is just fine for most warriors. More is better, but Good works! Great Damage -- Great Damage can be the difference between fantastic performance and average performance. Highly recommended. Tremendous Damage -- Tremendous Damage is nice, but once you have great damage, the increases in doing damage don't matter as much. More is better, but Tremendous is the last rating of damage that you'll see dramatic difference in performance with. Awesome Damage -- Awesome Damage is fun and is the last damage rating where you won't cripple the rest of your abilities in basic. It is possible to get Awesome Damage with 21 strength and 11 size, which still leaves a reasonable amount of points for other more important stats. Devastating Damage -- In basic, I do not recommend spending the points required to get Devastating or Super Human. It is a complete waste of points. Unless you're doing it to have the novelty and have fun with it. Super Human Damage -- This is the highest possible rating a new warrior can get. It requires 21 strength and 20 or 21 size (basically half your points). But what rating does my particular warrior need? Now I will try to give recommondations for how to identify the needs of your warrior in particular. First, Pure Defensive warriors don't care all that much about how much damage they do. If you aren't planning to win by damage, there is no need to do damage. So Little is fine in this situation. If you have access to high damage weapons (SC (most common), BS, BA, GS), damage also isn't as important. I still recommend normal or better, but these weapons do superior damage and can help overcome a smaller damage rating. Next, AB's, owing largely to their high attack and low endurance burn, are the most well suited offensive/hybrid warrior to be able to overcome the curse of little damage. Finally, if you have enough endurance, you can simply keep swinging and swinging until you finally take down a warrior. Most of the time, though, your opponent will try and swing back, which usually makes this strategy uneffective. On the opposite side of the spectrum, certain types of warriors are MUCH better with higher damage ratings. Parry Ripostes are the first style I will mention. Rippers have a notorious habit of letting their opponents swing. Because of this, they need to make their own swings count. I do not intend to ever run another Parry Riposte with less than Good damage. It is simply too hard to get them to finish fights otherwise. All offensive warriors, but especially Bashers, also would much prefer Good damage or better. I single out bashers because their weapons tend to not do as much damage as other types of warriors have available. Finally, Lungers need a good combination of endurance and damage. They want to run with very hot rhythms, so they aren't going to win a lot of longer fights. Normal damage lungers are fine if you have good or better endurance, but if you have normal endurance, you almost certainly want good or better damage. My main intention for writing this article is to help newer managers understand that damage rating (which is one of the most variable attributes on a new warrior) often goes hand in hand with success. I cannot stress enough how much little damage will hurt the vast majority of warriors out there (and how much good or better damage will tend to help a warrior). The only caveat is that with damage, more is not necessarily better if it means you're sacrificing in other areas! And I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that there are exceptions to nearly every rule. There will always be warriors that break the guidelines I've set out here. It doesn't mean my guidelines are wrong or bad. It simply means that some warriors outperform what you would expect (and others don't live up to your expectations). DUELMASTER'S COLUMN Notes from the arena champ. This week we must pause for a word from our advertisers! * Advertisement * Advertisement * Advertisement * ACME weapons makes the best darn weapons in Alastari! Have you ever seen a sharper scimitar. These scimitars rival even what the Lord Protectors use! Our longswords are longer! Even bashers can win with our blunt weapons. They may be blunt, but they pack a wallop! Buy ACME weapons now! Call the toll free number at the bottom of this ad right now and ask about our special deals! Before you send another warrior on to the sands, make sure he has an ACME weapon! Thank you for listening! Now back to our regular program. * Advertisement * Advertisement * Advertisement * ACME weapons are great. I can personally attest that their weapons are of superior quality. Just last week I was comparing their shortspear with a generic. ACME's shortspear is lighter and faster and equally effective, at least in practice. I don't know what they do, but I'll be using ACME weapons for my entire career! -- - Repetitive SPY REPORT It's me, The Unknown Spymaster, back to give you this week's Spy Report. Sit back in your seats and we'll have more fun than a barrel of Zontanis. Most new teams do poorly at first. NUMBER, however, has gotten off to a reasonable start at 3-2-1. Nice job! Hey everybody, watch out for FOUR, who flew up 21 points in the rankings after mashing EMBEZZLING SCRIBE like a melon. Keep your eye on this gal. And falling like a basher in the top ten was DUMB TOPICS, who dropped 7 points after a disappointing (to say the least) bout with TOBINSPORT. Our last turn's Duelmaster has lost, folks, lost to M. CHARDINEE, and REPETITIVE has made the way for a new Duelmaster! With REPETITIVE clearing the throne, RIVER RATS of TOBINSPORT takes a proud seat as NOBLISH ISLAND's new Duelmaster, by virtue of recognition points. Can you believe they are paying me 10 gold to deliver this stuff? But enough of that bunch, let's get on to the wimps who like to avoid battle! Did you hear that BB TALK RADIO was most avoided team this week? Well, knowing the personal hygiene of BB TALK RADIO's warriors, I'm not surprised! Okay, so I may not be funny, but catch RIVER RATS' act in the arena. Those acrobats seem to be fairly deft at running from BB TALK RADIO. Death is kind of like a new puppy: he's always around wanting to play. (Ha Zontani, how's that for a wise saying?). Ask not the elves for counsel, for they will say both yes and no. Silly buggers, eh? Well, there's the manager of the NOBLISH ISLAND giving me the 'cut' sign (or is that 'They're going to strangle you in the alley?). Well, there goes another Spy Report. Good luck in next week's fights. See ya next time I'm on this circuit!-- The Unknown Spymaster DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME TOBINSPORT 9914 6 1 0 65 RIVER RATS (1699) CHALLENGER ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME REPETITIVE 9916 5 2 1 61 BB TALK RADIO (1700) ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME TROY 9911 6 1 0 38 RIVER RATS (1699) DUMB TOPICS 9918 6 1 0 38 BB TALK RADIO (1700) TELL CITY 9915 5 2 0 35 RIVER RATS (1699) ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME ROME 9912 5 2 0 34 RIVER RATS (1699) CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME DOGMEAT 9924 4 2 0 27 COYOTES (1701) CANNELTON 9913 4 3 0 25 RIVER RATS (1699) COURSER 9937 2 3 0 25 COYOTES (1701) INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME IDIOTS 9917 4 3 0 23 BB TALK RADIO (1700) FOUR 9947 1 0 1 21 NUMBER (1705) IMMURE 9936 3 2 0 18 COYOTES (1701) CRESHENDO 9922 3 3 1 17 COYOTES (1701) -M. ALLEN 9855 3 1 0 17 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) BORING HOST 9919 4 3 0 16 BB TALK RADIO (1700) ONE 9944 1 0 0 16 NUMBER (1705) RAZURE 9923 2 3 0 15 COYOTES (1701) SOCK 9933 2 0 0 15 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) COMMERCIALS 9920 2 5 0 14 BB TALK RADIO (1700) -LONGSTER 9856 1 1 0 13 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) FIVE 9948 1 0 0 13 NUMBER (1705) -AUTUMNBE 9643 3 2 0 12 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) MONGOOSE 9940 1 0 0 12 THE MANTICORES (1704) LOTT R 9852 2 1 1 9 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) -STABLER 9854 2 1 0 8 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) -DRAXXUS 9644 1 4 0 7 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) GOBLIN BREATH 9939 1 1 1 6 THE MANTICORES (1704) VENDISS 9935 1 1 0 4 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) -SEARRUS 9645 0 4 0 4 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) -PERSEPHONE 9642 0 4 0 4 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) -AGRISEL 9646 0 4 0 4 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) -LIGHTNING 9941 0 2 0 2 THE MANTICORES (1704) -OX 9942 0 1 0 2 THE MANTICORES (1704) KRATH 9932 0 2 0 2 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) TAKKARI 9934 0 2 0 2 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) TWO 9945 0 1 0 1 NUMBER (1705) -ALZADER 9894 0 1 0 1 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) THREE 9946 0 1 0 1 NUMBER (1705) '-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn. THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge? EMBEZZLING SCRIB 0 0 0 FOUR 9947 458 NONE NALFFAR 9931 0 1 0 THE GALLOWGLASS 1703 GOBLIN BREATH 9939 457 PERSONAL ADS Hey, hey, hey. A lot of fine managers are here on Noblish Isle now. Welcome. We are glad you are here. Any questions? Anything you don't really understand? Ask either (or both) Assur or myself and we will try to answer. That is really why we are here. -- Commodore Perry Congrats to Assur for the Duelmaster -- although that next-in-line warrior looks best. -- Commodore Oliver Perry Health. Humility. Honor. (The Consortium Motto) -- The Commodore, Consortium affiliated Assur -- Ox truly appreciates the combat advice. He will contemplate it while his bones regrow in the infirmary. Thanks -- Ox LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS REPETITIVE was devastated by M. CHARDINEE in a 3 minute mismatched fight. TOBINSPORT demolished DUMB TOPICS in a 1 minute one-sided Title melee. ROME defeated IDIOTS in a crowd pleasing 1 minute duel. TELL CITY devastated RAZURE in a 1 minute one-sided fight. TROY savagely defeated BORING HOST in a crowd pleasing 2 minute gruesome competition. CRESHENDO was narrowly defeated by CANNELTON in a 2 minute brutal struggle. DOGMEAT devastated VENDISS in a 1 minute one-sided competition. IMMURE overcame GOBLIN BREATH in a 4 minute gruesome melee. COMMERCIALS viciously subdued TAKKARI in a popular 4 minute gruesome duel. COURSER vanquished CULT MEMBER in a 1 minute one-sided fight. LOTT R beat THREE in a 3 minute gory novice's melee. KRATH was demolished by MONGOOSE in a 3 minute bloody mismatched match. SOCK bested TWO in a 1 minute novice's battle. ONE slimly won victory over EMBEZZLING SCRIBE in a 2 minute amateur's bout. FOUR easily killed EMBEZZLING SCRIBE in a 1 minute uneven fight. FIVE overpowered CONVICTED THIEF in a 2 minute uneven struggle. BATTLE REPORT MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS |FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT| |BASHING ATTACK 6 TOTAL PARRY 6 - 2 - 0 75 | |STRIKING ATTACK 5 BASHING ATTACK 32 - 15 - 0 68 | |SLASHING ATTACK 4 WALL OF STEEL 11 - 6 - 1 65 | |AIMED BLOW 3 STRIKING ATTACK 16 - 9 - 3 64 | |WALL OF STEEL 3 SLASHING ATTACK 10 - 9 - 1 53 | |LUNGING ATTACK 2 LUNGING ATTACK 9 - 10 - 0 47 | |PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 AIMED BLOW 11 - 15 - 0 42 | |TOTAL PARRY 1 PARRY-RIPOSTE 5 - 10 - 0 33 | |PARRY-LUNGE 1 PARRY-STRIKE 1 - 8 - 0 11 | |PARRY-STRIKE 1 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 5 - 0 0 | Turn 458 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: AIMED BLOW 3 - 0 STRIKING ATTACK 2 - 3 5 BASHING ATTACK PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 - 0 WALL OF STEEL 1 - 2 3 STRIKING ATTACK TOTAL PARRY 1 - 0 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 1 1 SLASHING ATTACK BASHING ATTACK 4 - 2 PARRY-STRIKE 0 - 1 1 AIMED BLOW LUNGING ATTACK 1 - 1 1 LUNGING ATTACK SLASHING ATTACK 2 - 2 TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME BASHING ATTACK TOBINSPORT 9914 6 1 0 65 RIVER RATS (1699) STRIKING ATTACK REPETITIVE 9916 5 2 1 61 BB TALK RADIO (1700) SLASHING ATTACK TELL CITY 9915 5 2 0 35 RIVER RATS (1699) Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above. The overall popularity leader is COMMERCIALS 9920. The most popular warrior this turn was REPETITIVE 9916. The ten other most popular fighters were TROY 9911, COMMERCIALS 9920, ROME 9912, MONGOOSE 9940, CANNELTON 9913, ONE 9944, IDIOTS 9917, TELL CITY 9915, CRESHENDO 9922, and DOGMEAT 9924. The least popular fighter this week was TAKKARI 9934. The other ten least popular fighters were THREE 9946, FIVE 9948, KRATH 9932, IMMURE 9936, VENDISS 9935, RAZURE 9923, DUMB TOPICS 9918, TWO 9945, SOCK 9933, and LOTT R 9852. The Defensive Lunger Perfect Minimums Actual Characters ST 13 11 11 13 CN 7 3 3 11 SZ 4 4 10 6 WT 21 17 17 17 WL 17 13 17 19 SP 5 5 9 5 DF 17 13 17 13 The lunger, in my opinion, makes a much better defensive fighter than offensive fighter. Fighting defensively will compensate for the speed at which lungers burn endurance. They will still attack whenever possible but their defensive ability will allow them to dodge most attacks. The most important part is their initiative. When they do dodge, they'll usually steal the initiative and attack. I haven't been fighting lungers defensively for long but my record is 14-5-0. Don't fight defensively against other lungers as they will usually win. The strategy I use is: Min 1 2 3 4 5 6 Desp Off 4 -------------------------> 9 Weapon: Any lunging Act 6 4 --------------------> 9 No armor if low con KD 4 -------------------------> 9 APL/H if average con O.T. ---------------------------> L D.T. --------------------------------> You can attack any location you wish but I suggest protecting the body. The third character listed started with experts in attack, defense and initiative. The last character had an expert in attack. The Wild Boar, manager of Things (5) and many inactive teams. WARRIOR ENDURANCE Greetings, joy and happiness to everyone! I hope you have had pleasant dueling. This article is about endurance and some things to think about when you're designing your warriors. Below is a chart showing the different endurance levels a warrior may have. This chart may be a little off of due to the fact it isn't possible to have all the variables as a manager, but it does give you idea of the amount of endurance a warrior should have. The formula for endurance is: E = (ST+CN)WL With the result of that number use the chart below. 000-180 = Very Poor 181-240 = Poor 235-390 = Normal 391-509 = Good 510-639 = Great 640-699 = Tremendous 770+ = Awesome Here are some examples of warriors with their Endurance ratings: 1) Slasher ST 5 CN 7 WL 15 (5+7)15 = 180 Poor 2) Striker ST 7 CN 13 WL 9 (7+13)9 = 180 Poor 3) Parry-Rip ST 7 CN 10 WL 11 (7+10)11 = 187 Poor 4) Basher ST 13 CN 9 WL 9 (13+9)9 = 198 Very Poor 5) Striker ST 13 CN 9 WL 9 (13+9)9 = 198 Poor 6) Aimed-Blow ST 9 CN 15 WL 9 (9+15)9 = 216 Normal 7) Striker ST 10 CN 5 WL 15 (10+5)15 = 225 Normal 8) Slasher ST 13 CN 10 WL 10 (13+10)10 = 230 Normal 9) Wall/Steel ST 13 CN 12 WL 17 (13+12)17 = 425 Great There are several factors such as warrior style, RSI random factor, and there is some evidence that SIZE has some effect on a warrior's endurance. In any case the RSI LUCK factor can be around 7 to 8% in your favor or 2-3% worse than average. These are just estimates, but are still factors nevertheless. Some styles that are HIGH BURN endurance, like lungers, slashers and walls of steel, are more likely to be UNLUCKY with the endurance rating. Every action your warrior does consumes endurance. Attacking seems to use more endurance than any other action. Once a warrior's endurance is used up, he will make an endurance check against his WILL. If he fails the roll, he will either stop to rest or collapse to the sand, depending on how badly he failed the roll. When a warrior stops to rest, he gets back some endurance. When he gets enough endurance back, he will start attacking again. This is just a theory that I have developed from observations. It maybe completely off, but it gives one something to ponder. That's it for now lords and ladies, I must go entertain elsewhere. If you would like to chat about DM or other things, you can EMAIL me at 103260.3347@compuserve.com or visit my DM website at http://ourworld.compuserve.com./homepages/jessisjest/homepage.htm You can also diplo me at DM 11 "The Lords Of the Abyss (319)" or any of the Joker's Wilds scattered about. Cheerio, Sir Jessie Jest Member of the Ivory League Presenting, by Popular Demand (from 1989)... THE NUMEROLOGY OF DUELMASTERS by The Ghost of Eldrid Character Generation Hello, I am the Ghost of Eldrid, and I have an important message that directly effects how well your team may do in the future. Some managers will not take this important article seriously (some people don't believe in ghosts, either), and their records will suffer for it. I have played Duelmasters for four years and searched through all of my old turns and painstakingly researched every important fact in this article, and I have discussed my conclusions with about ten different managers (named managers such as Phido, Doctor LeGrand, Silk, Russ, and Biff Frothingslosh) who all agree on the validity of my arguments. The results of my research are both startling and magnificent. THERE IS NUMEROLOGY IN DUELMASTERS!!! Whether it was programmed in or it exists on a higher plane, it matters not. IT EXISTS!!! And I plan to share some of its amazing secrets with you, starting with character creation. Remember in the realm of character generation the powers favor odd number stats. NEVER, EVER have an even number on stats, except, of course, for size, which, obviously should be even since everyone can tell what size your character is by his description in the fight. Do you want people thinking your warrior is odd? I should hope not!! But in case you decide to keep your odd warrior, DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER STATS EVEN!! Write a letter to the commission stating that you forgo the rights to the last point and you want it to be sacrificed to the benefit of Alastari. Always start adding points to wit and will first. Either make them 13, 17, or 21. Why? Under 12 wit is worthless, as any good manager will tell you. A 13 understandably gives your opponent bad luck, a 17 has the ever-lucky "7" in it, and 21 is BLACKJACK, and you get twice the number of winnings you would normally get. Why not 15 or 19? Is it not obvious to everyone that 15 is unlucky? The only President of the United States not married was the 15th, James Buchanan (who?). Lincoln was shot on April 15th, and the clincher... my brother was born on the 15th of May. If these "coincidences" don't prove to you that 15 is unlucky, I don't know what will. 19 is an evil number. It tries to deceive you into thinking it is better than 17, but actually, it is an "11" with a small zero placed on the second pole, and we all know that a zero is nothing. So what do we get for our extra eight points? In effect, something smaller than nothing. Next, make every other stat odd. Add the other points to make the style you want. Deftness is the key to character generation. Deftness (min) 5 to make a basher (ST 13+) 7 for a lunger 9 for a striker 11 for a wall of steel (ST 11+, WL 17+) 13 for a parry lunge (ST 11+), slasher (SP 11+), parry-strike, and total parries (these styles depend on the opponent's bad luck. 17 for a parry-riposte (WT 17+) 21 for an aimed blow (this style needs the double winnings) The last thing to remember is that luck is a big factor in this game and I don't know if you noticed, but when warriors have even ID numbers they are luckier than odd ID characters. Look at the best warriors in Primus: Wallbanger, Donatello, Epitaph, Chaos Knight, Villiage Idiot, Silverflash, Khorga Khan, Jake the Snake, Sly, Max, Stormbringer, Teetotaler, Raphael, Selleque, Kiri, Constance, Hangover, Eve, and Sam Spade. All have even-numbered IDs. Now you say, "But Yoda and Necron-99 both have odd IDs, and they are the best aimed blows of the game!" Yes, but they are AIMED BLOWS and they are members of an odd style, so of course they do better with odd numbers. So remember if you want your warriors to be best in all Alastari someday, Dark Arena all your odd-numbered characters, unless of course they are aimed blows. Good luck, and may the numbers fall your way. -- The Ghost of Eldrid, retired PARRY-STRIKE, ANOTHER FUN STYLE There have been several articles about fighting styles, some say theirs is the best, or ultimate, one said theirs is the most fun style. Well, I feel that parry- strikers are just as much fun to play as any other style. First, let's start with the run down of what they say in the "RED BOOK". The book says that parry-strikers are defensive, using small quick movements in their actions (sounds like you could say that about some other styles as well.) The book says that some managers swear that a high wit is critical to the style (only those who have no brains would disagree with that.) Let's get to business. First and foremost this style is deceptively aggressive, making them a very good offensive type of fighter, or deadly type of defensive fighter. Offensively they tend to get the jump on their opponent. I had a parry- striker that was only jumped 3 out of 11 fights, before he died. To prepare and run a parry-striker can be quite confusing, so I will try to help make it as simple as possible. Here are my feelings on roll-ups for the parry-strike style: ST: 11-15, I'll explain later. CN: who cares. SZ: 10-14, don't go over 14. WT: 13-17, 17 is the best. WL: 13-17, to get good endurance. SP: not important. DF: 11-15, I'll explain later. Here are some good roll-ups for a parry-striker: 11,7,10,17,17,7,15; 15,7,11,17,16,7,11; 11,7,14,17,13,7,15; 15,7,14,17,13,7,11. Now, if you have a decent wit, the way you run this fighting style will depend on strength and deftness. For example: if your fighter has a high DF and a low ST it would be to his/her advantage to be defensive, since the speed would benefit the ability to move in reaction to their opponent. If the ST is high, and DF low, it would be better to fight offensively like a striker, trying to get the first, and only blow in. If they don't have a decent wit, you're on your own. I can't help you on that. Remember this style of fighting is the same as a striker except for added knowledge of parrying, as well as bein a little more aggressive. I would not suggest a low ST and DF, it will take away from your WT & WL, and you don't want to do that, but if you do, good luck. You don't need much CN if you have a good WL, which gives you your endurance. SZ; you don't want it to be above 14, it would hurt your fighting style more than your attributes. WT; it is the same as it is with strikers, the higher the WT the faster and deadlier they become. Raise WT to 17 if you don't have it at the start, then don't worry about it again until ADM. WL; this is where you get your endurance. 13 is fine to start out, but I would suggest 15, then bump it up to 17 in basic. SP; it is what you need to riposte, but PSers have this "one strike one kill" attitude. Meaning that there isn't much time to riposte with a killing attitude, so do whatever. DF; what is there to say, it helps, but is not crucial to be a great PSer. Now to running a PSer. If he is an offensive fighter 10-10-10 Dec. all the way through the fight, even in desperation. If Defensive, 1st 10-10-10 Resp., 2nd 10-7-10 Dec., 3rd 10-10-10, 4th 10-10-10 Dec., 5th 10-10-10 Dec., 6th 10-10-10, Desp. 10-10-10 Resp. Remember, first you want to assure your defense, and to do that, you should go defensive the first minute. By the second minute you will be secure enough to go on the offensive, but experiment. 6th minute on, leave blank, for by that time he/she will know what to do (if their WT is high that is.) The best thing you could do for your fighter is watch the fights, if you are getting more defensive skills than offensive, run the def., or change weapons. That is the best advice I can give you about PSers. About armor, I like to use ringmail or nothing, but experiment. I know that there is someone that will disagree with me, but I feel that I have given you some ideas about this fighting style that can be used, even though I am a new manager, playing for just over a year. No matter who writes a style article, it is just advice, not the bible. Just use the articles as a point of reference, not as sworn law. This is a very fun fighting style, try it out. I have written this in answer to Foreign Legion Arena 31, and The Spartans Arena 8. I challenge any Primus Manager to correct my writing of PSers. It is not my favorite style, but it is as fun as any other that I have used, including my favorite one (Which is a STRIKER!!) If there are any comments, please Diplo The Priest, the manager of The Heroes of XIAN DM-10, or The Crucifiers DM-46. THE ARMOR PIERCING PARRY-LUNGE When you think "attack" what style comes to mind? Bashing? Definitely lunging? Of course. Parry-Lunging? Excuse me? Yes, the parry-lunger! Few people realize the fact that parry-lungers are attack gods waiting to be born. All it takes is the right warrior and lots of guts. This warrior is not for the weak of heart. We'll begin with stats. Range Perfect ST 9-11 11 CN 5-9 5 SZ 6-11 8 WT 17or21 21 WL 17or21 17 SP 5-8 5 DF 15-17 17 Why? ST(11): This is your optimum PL strength. It puts your warrior in the normal to good damage range. Also, you have the best PL weapon at your disposal--the LO! CN(5): Yes, his life expectancy is low. What'd I tell you? Guts, right? He gets his endurance from WL. If you want to make trains, make them here. SZ(8): Our most flexible stat. A high SZ (i.e.11) allows you to skimp a bit on Str (9). WT(21): If it's not a 21 you're not going to get the attack this fellow counts on. His learns will be awesome and a 21 WT will make him a better warrior out of the chocks. WL(17): End/Att are dependent on this one being high. Keeps you on your feet when you should drop from exhaustion. SP(5): Not a big requirement. Init and Parry will come from elsewhere (WT/DF). This is not a lunger mimic. DF(17): Combine this DF with a 21 WT and you will have a massive attack. Pinpoint accuracy is the byword. Parry, init, def and riposte will all benefit immeasurably. At 15 you have access to the EP, a fine lunging weapon this style can put to devastating use. Strategy (General, but effective in most cases) 2 9 9 7 6 5 10 6 9 9 7 6 5 10 2 7 7 7 5 5 10 HE ----------------------------> HE BD -----------------------> - - - - - - - P - - - - - - Minute 1: This fellow won't get the jump on offensives, so we'll just go defensive and render their "mad minute" fruitless. This PL's counterattack will be amazing at even 2-6-2 P due to the high AL. Keep the parry tactic until Adv Expert parry is gained. Minutes 2 and 3: These two will end most of his fights. When he starts landing precision blows in his opponent's face it will usually be over quickly. Keep the kill desire relatively low as to avoid sloppy attacking. Minutes 4 through 6: If you haven't won by now you've got to depend on your WL to carry you until you finish the job. He'll probably top out at the five min. mark. But we want to keep the attacks coming so we do so at his endurance's expense. Desp: If your opponent is an offensive he's probably blasted through your min. 1 defense. Your best bet is to go spastic and hope to take him out in one shot or so. If he's some super-defensive (scum) this PL is probably exhausted and you're hoping the super-offense will put him over the edge. After all, it's better to burn out than fade away. Always aim for the head to maximize the impact of your blows. If it tickles your fancy, aim for your opponent's weapon arm and beat him senseless when he's unarmed. Protecting the head in min. 1 is strictly odds playing on my part. My offensives aim head so I assume everyone else's do too. After min. 1, we forget defense. Weapons and armor are simple. APL/H or ARM/H (if you're challenging a real heavy-hitter). I prefer swords for armament. My combos are usually LO/SM, LO/SH, SC/DA etc. Against heavy armor go with LO/SH. Always aim for the head. Philosophy: This guy clings to life by luck, early on, and will never be free of the spectre of death. In his first few fights stay away from lungers and bashers. Both have high attacks and usually do substantial damage. Prey on strikers, PS, PR and slashers. As he progresses, his attack, parry and defense will equip him with the tools to handle most everybody but always remain cautious of those bashers and lungers. A PL of this calibre should begin with around a 90 att, 70 par/init and 60-70 def. Decise and riposte will be slightly lower. Riposte 50 and decise anywhere from 35-50 depending on how lucky you get. Train skills exclusively from fight one and on. Use tourneys if you must raise anything at all (including con). Don't be discouraged if he's around .500 early on. By ten fights he'll be sporting three Adv Experts at least (att, par and init) and will begin to dismantle those scum/finesse styles that managed to beat him. Feel free to write or diplo me with comments/criticisms/or questions. Fight the Good Fight, or: Agath CPL Michael Dockus Lunatic Fringe (23) H Co BLT 2/8 Circle of Five (51) 24 MEU (Det F) Slaves of Power (52) FPO NY NY 09502-8531