DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER
Date : 09/01/2017 Duedate: 09/14/2017
NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA
DM-93 TURN-486
This Weeks Top Honors
THE DUELMASTER IS
SYMGARA
LEGIONS OF FATE (1724)
(93-10056) [7-3-1,66]
Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader
SYMGARA MILFORD, MA
LEGIONS OF FATE (1724) HOME SWEET HOME (1728)
(93-10056) [7-3-1,66] (93-10090) [5-0-0,49]
Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite
LUTHIEN DUNCAN
LEGIONS OF FATE (1724) LEGIONS OF FATE (1724)
(93-10059) [7-3-1,40] (93-10058) [6-4-1,34]
THE CURRENT TOP TEAM
HOME SWEET HOME (1728)
TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team
1. HOME SWEET HOME (1728) 52
2. LEGIONS OF FATE (1724) 36 LEGIONS OF FATE (1724)
3. CHURCH OF UYPHY (1729) 36 Unchartered Team
4. HI NO UMI (1715) 21
5. 9 KOWLOON CLAN (1714) 1 HOME SWEET HOME (1728)
The Top Teams
Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K
1/ 1*HOME SWEET HOME (1728) 18 7 0 72.0 1/ 2*HOME SWEET HOME (1728) 10 5 0
2/ 3 LEGIONS OF FATE (1724) 29 21 3 58.0 2/ 3 LEGIONS OF FATE (1724) 7 3 0
3/ 2*ODD SQUAD (1712) 20 18 0 52.6 3/ 1*BASH BROS APPLES (1727) 6 9 0
4/ 4*BASH BROS APPLES (1727) 11 14 0 44.0 4/ 5*ODD SQUAD (1712) 4 5 0
5- 6*LEGION (1726) 2 3 0 40.0 5- 6*LEGION (1726) 2 3 0
6/ 0*CHURCH OF UYPHY (1729) 2 3 0 40.0 6/ 0*CHURCH OF UYPHY (1729) 2 3 0
7/ 0 HI NO UMI (1715) 3 15 1 16.7 7/ 0 HI NO UMI (1715) 2 5 1
8/ 0*9 KOWLOON CLAN (1714) 0 1 0 0.0 8/ 0*9 KOWLOON CLAN (1714) 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
WINNING DOES NOT REQUIRE GODLING ROLLUPS
A SYNOPSIS OF THREE SUCCESSFUL CURRENT (AUG 2017) ACTIVELY RUNNING D2 TEAMS
The Consortium runs many full arena teams. Perhaps the discussion of these three
random long-running teams will provide knowledge or clues for the New D2 manager. The
fifteen warriors have been intermingled so that the three arena teams remain unknown.
The warriors are divided by style.
BASHER
16-4-15-6-20-13-10 (4-3-0)
13-8-10-15-9-18-11 (4-2-0)
13-13-14-16-16-9-3 (19-14-2)
15-15-7-17-9-10-11 (10-1-0); 3-3 in tourney
Bashers are: 37-20, .649, two kills, also 3-3 in tourney
TOTAL PARRY
11-16-13-9-18-7-10 (28-11-0))
14-16-12-7-15-10-10 (14-3-1)
17-16-14-4-15-6-12 (2-4-0)
10-19-6-6-20-15-8 (8-1-0)
14-18-11-3-16-12-10 (30-9-0)
Total Parries are: 82-28, .745, one kill
SLASHER
14-4-13-15-15-9-14 (6-4-1)
11-10-6-15-17-14-11 (15-6-1) 4-3 tourney
Slashers are: 21-10, .677, two kills, also 4-3 in tourney
STRIKER
16-5-5-10-17-11-20 (2-2-0)
11-6-16-15-15-10-11 (2-1-1)
Strikers are: 4-3, .571, one kill
WALL OF STEEL
11-13-13-15-17-4-11 (2-1-0)
Wastes are: 2-1, .667, no kills
LUNGER
5-10-15-17-21-13-3 (12-7-1)
Lungers are 12-7, .632, one kill
The fifteen warriors are: 158-69-7, 0.696. Let's look at this scenario a little
closer to comment and question.
Q1- Are these such great rollups/warriors?
A1- No. They are pretty typical and average, with it looking like the more ugly
rollups were made into TPs. In long-standing arenas, The Consortium does not DA
in search of "better" rollups.
A1A- It looks like it does not, at all, take wonderfully quality designed warriors to
win well. (Well = 60%+ in Consortium terms.) Indeed, mediocre warriors often do
better than godlings in arenas -- especially early on.
Q2- Why only six styles? Where are the AB, PL, PR, PS?
A2- Remember from Newby 101 that The Consortium recommends running the easier designs,
such as offensives and total parries? The above summary points out that such
advice might even be good for running normal arenas. There are some AB, PL, PR,
PS in other Consortium arenas, and all ten designs are definitely on Consortium
tournament teams. However, to make those four missing designs run well and win
often, it often takes godling or near-godling designs. Godling rollups can be
very, very hard to find.
C1- TP's, if scums (as all five of these are) can take a long time to graduate to ADM.
(See TPs #1 and #5.) Why? They are typically "stupidish" and have a very low
skill learn rate. Also, time/fights are also used to train stats rather than
skills. The physicals are far more important than the skills for a scum. Typical
graduation qualifications require 14 wins and 20 fights, which is often very easy
for scum, but skill ratings are also required, and they are hard to achieve if one
is learning few skills.
C2- Taking off on C2 above, some warriors are designed to burn. (Train stats and
acquire skills through some of the stat trains.) All the TPs above were as such.
And, take a look at slasher #1, bashers #1 and 3, and striker #1 above. They, too
were designed to burn. In non-scum, how does one determine a warrior is designed
to burn? The Consortium definition -- many stats are set just below prime skill-
learning stats (like 10 DF to 11, and 14 WT to 15, and 16 WL to 17, or 14ST to 15)
AND the warrior has sufficient WL to allow probable stat raises. (E.g. 14+WL; 14
WL = 70% chance to earn the 1st stat of a type.)
C3- While only six styles were used on these three teams, the mix of offensives and
defensives is solid, allowing for better optimization of challenges and avoids.
This probably adds to the nice overall w/l record.
Hopefully this team synopsis has helped your understanding of many concepts of the
game. You can find more detail on the concepts inferred in this article by reading
the spotlights in the Noblish Island (DM93). Feel free to ask me questions about this
spotlight or the Consortium concepts. You will be answered.
-- Hobo, Consortium affiliated
(actually penned by Hobo's Admin Assistant)
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Basics of Strategy, part 2
Pure Defensive, parry based:
These are the next easiest warrior type to design, master, and create a strategy
for. There is a well known 'catch all' strategy for this type of warrior as well. It
is 1 OE, 1 AL, parry tactic. In the hands of the right warrior (typically TP's), it
is a very difficult strategy to beat.
You can play around with numbers and Assur has run parry-based defensives from
anywhere from 1-6 OE, and anywhere from 1-6 AL. I'd love to hear the Consortium's
thoughts and musings on how to best optimize these warriors, because he runs more
parry-based pure defensives than most. You also don't have to use the parry tactic.
These warriors typically don't need it.
Armor: Usually APA/F or APM/F. Assur rarely goes below ASM/H.
Weapon: Off-Hand shield! Many of these also use main hand shields, but you can
also use a weapon. Sometimes you might even attack with it.
Countering the parry based pure defensive.
Option 1: If you can't beat them, join them. It is always an option to try and
counter with the same strategy. Fights like this can end up going a long time
(typically in the 30 minute range in basic and can extend 100's of minutes in
Advanced). In basic, Assur has had success using a single big weapon and lighter
armor so that when both warriors are so tired they can barely hold their hands up, you
might win by attacking.
Option 2: Slow Down! The pure defensive isn't going to try and attack you, so
you can normally slow down to 1 AL. This conserves your endurance. Then, if you
think you know your favorite OE, use that. Also use the biggest damage weapon you are
well suited to.
Option 3: Aimed Blows... There is nothing an Aimed Blow typically likes more
than a defensive warrior to fight. Their ability to ignore armor makes them able to
beat plate clad warrior better than most. It depends a little on your Aimed Blow, but
this matchup heavily favors the aimed blow, all else equal.
Option 4: Avoid! These guys can be tough to beat, especially for Lungers.
There is no shame in avoiding parry based pure defensives with obscene records.
They've beaten lots of others before you.
SPY REPORT
Thankyouthankyou. It's great for me, The Unknown Spymaster to be back in
NOBLISH ISLAND. Hope you enjoy the show. Oh, who am I kidding? I already got paid!
Say good-bye to BASH BROS APPLES, as they are pushed from the coveted top team spot
by the HOME SWEET HOME stable. Going for the gusto and coming up with aught but
bloody knuckles was NOBLISH ISLAND's KHALHUMS DWARF, who was turned away from the
Duelmastership by SYMGARA. Can you believe they are paying me 10 gold to deliver
this stuff?
Here is other news that is of note. Here's a song for you: Who's afraid of the
big, bad HOME SWEET HOME? Big bad HOME SWEET HOME. Big bad HOME SWEET HOME.
NOBLISH ISLAND's afraid of the big bad HOME SWEET HOME. Tra la la la la! For those
of you who like math, try this one: HOME SWEET HOME + Weapons That go Boom = LEGIONS
OF FATE + Avoid City. Well just about everybody wants a piece of OLIVE, who was this
week's most challenged warrior. In a touching display by a 'touched' warrior,
MILFORD, MA went after OLIVE, who was higher by 22 points. Well, when the dust
settled, MILFORD, MA defeated OLIVE.
Death is kind of like a new puppy: he's always around wanting to play. (Ha
Zontani, how's that for a wise saying?). Well, just when you thought it was safe to
put a new warrior in the arena. No no! SOFT, a mere boy, was slain by KICHIGAI
JIMITA this turn. Ask not the elves for counsel, for they will say both yes and no.
Silly buggers, eh?
Well, that wasn't too bad; Alarond told me that the people in NOBLISH ISLAND
have no sense of humor. Or maybe that they were senseless. 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
SYMGARA 10056 7 3 1 66 LEGIONS OF FATE (1724)
ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
MILFORD, MA 10090 5 0 0 49 HOME SWEET HOME (1728)
KOKOMO, IN 10093 4 1 0 46 HOME SWEET HOME (1728)
LUTHIEN 10059 7 3 1 40 LEGIONS OF FATE (1724)
DUNCAN 10058 6 4 1 34 LEGIONS OF FATE (1724)
CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
OLIVE 10061 4 2 0 27 ODD SQUAD (1712)
PESTICIDES 10087 4 1 0 24 BASH BROS APPLES (1727)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
-ONNA NO KO 10009 1 2 0 23 HI NO UMI (1715)
MS. O 10073 3 2 0 22 ODD SQUAD (1712)
KICHIGAI JIMITA 10096 1 2 1 22 HI NO UMI (1715)
JINXEE 9988 6 3 0 21 ODD SQUAD (1712)
KORLAN 10077 5 2 0 21 LEGIONS OF FATE (1724)
EASLEY, SC 10091 4 1 0 21 HOME SWEET HOME (1728)
NIKODEMUS 10076 3 4 0 21 LEGIONS OF FATE (1724)
ODDO 10060 3 3 0 20 ODD SQUAD (1712)
RACINE, WI 10089 3 2 0 16 HOME SWEET HOME (1728)
LENEXA, KS 10092 2 3 0 16 HOME SWEET HOME (1728)
-OAK 10062 4 1 0 14 ODD SQUAD (1712)
SHOFTIEL 10100 1 0 0 13 CHURCH OF UYPHY (1729)
-AUTUMNBE 9643 3 2 0 12 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
SOUR 10088 2 3 0 12 BASH BROS APPLES (1727)
-AZZUMI 10081 1 0 0 9 LEGION (1726)
-CHARLIE 10080 1 0 0 8 LEGION (1726)
ROTTEN 10084 1 4 0 7 BASH BROS APPLES (1727)
UNRIPE 10086 1 4 0 7 BASH BROS APPLES (1727)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
-DRAXXUS 9644 1 4 0 7 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
PRIESTESS IRIN 10099 1 0 0 6 CHURCH OF UYPHY (1729)
-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)
-SANCHOO 10006 0 3 0 3 HI NO UMI (1715)
-KIMIKO 10005 0 3 0 3 HI NO UMI (1715)
-APRIL 10082 0 1 0 1 LEGION (1726)
BAKA 10102 0 1 0 1 HI NO UMI (1715)
-TUESDAY 10079 0 1 0 1 LEGION (1726)
AZAZEL 10097 0 1 0 1 CHURCH OF UYPHY (1729)
MONK SABAOTH 10101 0 1 0 1 CHURCH OF UYPHY (1729)
-RUU 10083 0 1 0 1 LEGION (1726)
VICTOR KOWLOON 10002 0 1 0 1 9 KOWLOON CLAN (1714)
'-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn.
THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge?
SOFT 10085 3 2 0 BASH BROS APPLE 1727 KICHIGAI JIMITA 10096 486
HAROTH 10098 0 1 0 CHURCH OF UYPHY 1729 MASTER SEN GANAM 486 NONE
PERSONAL ADS
A salute to Symgara, Duelmaster. -- All The Home Sweet Homers
What they say, yup. -- Hobo
Assur, yur apples done me in, yuh meanie! Bad taste in muh mouf. Yup. -- Hobo
Sour, you may taste funky, but I just plain suck! -- Racine
Pesticides, I think you should be disallowed. You know? -- Lenexa
Korlan, thanks for the challenge; I think I was just plain lucky! -- Easley
Queen Liz, I love your name and team correlation. I also wanted to lop off your head,
but had to settle for a mere win. (sigh) -- Milford
Total skill learn rate for the Home Sweet Homers is 19 tries, 20 skills. 1.05 really
sucks! Hobo truly hopes y'all are doing better. -- The Home Sweet Home Publicist and
Administrative Assistant
P.S. He also knew managing this team would be a challenge.
Well, my fellow yuushis, my time here is complete. I am moving on, but hopefully I
can get the chance to run into you again in the near future. Keep up the great
fights. -- Shihainin
LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS
HAROTH was butchered by MASTER SEN GANAMIR in a 1 minute Dark Arena fight.
MILFORD, MA devastated OLIVE in a 1 minute one-sided Challenge duel.
LENEXA, KS handily defeated UNRIPE in a 1 minute one-sided Challenge match.
SYMGARA viciously subdued KHALHUMS DWARF in a crowd pleasing 4 minute Title brawl.
KOKOMO, IN overpowered NIKODEMUS in a 1 minute mismatched match.
ODDO was viciously subdued by DUNCAN in a popular 4 minute bloody duel.
LUTHIEN overpowered JINXEE in a 1 minute mismatched brawl.
KORLAN defeated SOUR in a 3 minute melee.
MS. O vanquished ROTTEN in a 1 minute uneven duel.
SOFT was slaughtered by KICHIGAI JIMITA in a 1 minute uneven fight.
PESTICIDES vanquished VICTOR KOWLOON in a 1 minute brutal one-sided fight.
RACINE, WI handily defeated MONK SABAOTH in a 1 minute one-sided bout.
EASLEY, SC subdued AZAZEL in a 3 minute amateur's match.
PRIESTESS IRIN viciously subdued BAKA in a 2 minute brutal novice's contest.
SHOFTIEL devastated MORDANT DESERTER in a 1 minute mismatched bout.
BATTLE REPORT
MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS
|FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT|
|BASHING ATTACK 7 TOTAL PARRY 20 - 12 - 2 63 |
|SLASHING ATTACK 4 BASHING ATTACK 37 - 27 - 1 58 |
|STRIKING ATTACK 4 STRIKING ATTACK 26 - 20 - 1 57 |
|WALL OF STEEL 4 LUNGING ATTACK 16 - 14 - 1 53 |
|LUNGING ATTACK 3 WALL OF STEEL 13 - 12 - 0 52 |
|AIMED BLOW 2 PARRY-STRIKE 3 - 3 - 1 50 |
|TOTAL PARRY 2 SLASHING ATTACK 15 - 17 - 1 47 |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 AIMED BLOW 19 - 24 - 0 44 |
|PARRY-LUNGE 0 PARRY-RIPOSTE 5 - 15 - 0 25 |
|PARRY-STRIKE 0 PARRY-LUNGE 1 - 5 - 0 17 |
Turn 486 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:
SLASHING ATTACK 3 - 1 WALL OF STEEL 1 - 3 3 STRIKING ATTACK
STRIKING ATTACK 3 - 1 AIMED BLOW 0 - 2 3 BASHING ATTACK
BASHING ATTACK 5 - 2 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 0 2 LUNGING ATTACK
LUNGING ATTACK 2 - 1 PARRY-STRIKE 0 - 0 2 SLASHING ATTACK
PARRY-RIPOSTE 0 - 1 1 AIMED BLOW
TOTAL PARRY 0 - 2
TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE
FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME
LUNGING ATTACK SYMGARA 10056 7 3 1 66 LEGIONS OF FATE (1724)
STRIKING ATTACK MILFORD, MA 10090 5 0 0 49 HOME SWEET HOME (1728)
SLASHING ATTACK KOKOMO, IN 10093 4 1 0 46 HOME SWEET HOME (1728)
Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above.
The overall popularity leader is LUTHIEN 10059. The most popular warrior this turn
was DUNCAN 10058. The ten other most popular fighters were SYMGARA 10056, EASLEY, SC
10091, PRIESTESS IRIN 10099, MILFORD, MA 10090, KOKOMO, IN 10093, LENEXA, KS 10092,
LUTHIEN 10059, MS. O 10073, PESTICIDES 10087, and RACINE, WI 10089.
The least popular fighter this week was AZAZEL 10097. The other ten least popular
fighters were MONK SABAOTH 10101, VICTOR KOWLOON 10002, SOFT 10085, ROTTEN 10084,
SOUR 10088, KORLAN 10077, JINXEE 9988, NIKODEMUS 10076, UNRIPE 10086, and OLIVE
10061.
CHALLENGES AND AVOIDS
To clarify: You issue Challenges to warriors, but Avoid teams.
To Challenge, write that warrior's name and ID# in the space provided.
To Avoid, write the team's name and Team ID in that space.
Make sure you include the ID!
A SACRED LORD'S SLASHER
Well, this article/spotlight is for Seal at 7th Order, so here goes.
ST: If he's huge (15+), 3 is okay, and use HA. I prefer 7 for epee. 9 gets scimitar
and 11 gets broadsword. Anything above 11 is a WASTE!!!
CN: Whatever they send you.
SZ: Any.
WT: 15, 17, or 21. 13 is workable, but I hate slow learners! 21 will probably take
a lot from other areas, so 17 is best.
WL: 17, 17, 17!!!! You need endurance, lots of endurance. Some of my friends use
15, but I prefer not to.
SP: 9+ They use SP as well as most, but don't add here until after WT/WL/DF.
DF: 15+, 15+, 15+. Once again, I have high standards. The reason? Have you ever
had a slasher come out w/ "relying on his speed to stay out of trouble"? That's
'cause his parry is in the negative. With a 15 DF your slasher will have a much
better parry and will probably be about 1-3 trains from a Master parry in advanced.
Later on, you'll see!
Now, how to run them:
10 9 7 -------------------------> 10
10 4 2 -------------------------> 10
7 9 7 -------------------------> 1
CH/HE -------------------------------------------- >
HE ----------------------------------------------- >
Off: D at first, open later, min 2 +, open
Def: D/S (preferably Dodge)
Min two+ is in case of a TP or WoS coming after you. This setup works, so good
luck!
Mike Bookout
Bookie, Sacred Lord of the Black Regime
Memphis Mafia (36,100)
P.S. Anybody want to join the Regime?
The Dark Arena: A Fighter's Perspective
(sung to the hymn: Battle Hymn of the Republic)
Mine eyes have seen the glory
Of the coming of the dawn
I am walking down the tunnel
After everyone is gone
I step into the torchlight
And I see the blade he's drawn
My mind, it sings this song:
CHORUS
Worry, worry, I've come for ya
Worry, worry, I've come for ya
Worry, worry, I've come for ya
My mind continues on
The crowd is chanting praises
But all I hear are growls
Mine enemy's upon me
So I strike him and he howls
Parry, parry, slash, and parry
I smell his breath so foul
And death, he sings this song:
(CHORUS)
Now we both are tired
And my strength is fading fast
Oh, let me give that fatal blow
Oh, let me be the last
I swing my sword with all my might
The crowd it stands, aghast
As he dies, I sing my song:
(CHORUS x2)
Scotlan (28, 31, 39, 50, ?)
Kill Desire: "Patience."
Many times I have lost warriors, and the manager claimed the KD was only five.
As if KD had anything to do with the death of my fighter. It was really the battle
axe to the head that killed him.
I was quite disturbed at the widespread belief that kill desire has something to
do with killing an opponent. But they have good reason to believe this: the
Duelmasters Handbook definition of kill desire has a tendency to cast a "confusion
spell" on the reader to make them think that way. The wording is very misleading.
The name "kill desire" is also misleading. A more correct word would be "patience."
Yes, kill desire is actually how much patience your fighter had before taking a
shot. KD doesn't add damage or tell your fighter where to aim at.
Damage is calculated by weapon and strength. (Of course, favorite weapon also
affects damage.)
You let your warrior know where you want him to aim at by filling out the attack
location boxes on the fight sheets.
Hit location and damage are the main two things that will kill warriors. Hit
locations to vital areas such as head, chest, and the abdomen repeated times increases
your chance to kill. The amount of damage inflicted to these vital areas also
increases your chance to kill an opponent.
As you see, none of this has anything to do with kill desire.
Now, I will tell you what kill desire, or patience, as I call it, actually is.
If you run your warrior with an 8-10 KD, you're telling him to swing like a
drunken wildman. You'll see statements in his fights that say "swings wildly" or
other things to that effect. He is not waiting for a good opening. He is swinging at
everything! This is bad for several reasons.
With his KD that high, he is very easily dodged and parried. Also, he can be
feinted into bad dueling decisions as well.
I think that KD between 5-7 for offensive styles and 3-6 for defensive styles is
perfect.
You get a lot more hits with a 5-7 KD, and feint a lot less. But you also get
more kills in this range. Reason being, you're waiting for a good shot that is hard
to dodge or parry. The example I used earlier about the manager with the 5 KD and
battleaxe is the point I am trying to make. If his warrior's KD was 10, my warrior
could have dodged or parried the attack and still be alive today. But since it was a
5 KD, he waited for a good shot that my warrior had trouble defending against, and
cleaved his head off! (Well, not literally.)
Defensive styles run about 3-6 KD. Defensive styles swing wildly a lot in the
beginning, but that is natural. They will get better. 3-4 KD, they still have a
tendency to let attacks go by. Of course, if you're scumming, go with a 1 KD.
In short, having an 8-10 KD means your warrior is doing all that swinging and
hitting less. Not to mention all the endurance he is burning up to no avail.
Any comments, you can diplo me.
ta-ta,
Sir Jessie Jest
DM 11: Lords of the Abyss
DM 61: Pit Fiends
DM 67: Storm Wizards
DM 5: Bad Girls
SOME INFO ON THE RIPPER
Being that the parry-riposte is my favorite style, I thought I'd share a few
things I've learned.
General design:
ST: 7-11 Strength isn't all important to the P.R. An 11 will gives you all well
suited weapons. I'll even go as high as 17, but with no dramatic
effect.
CN: Any A higher con will give a better endurance and make survival easier.
SZ: Any Although a smaller size gives you a defensive bonus.
WT: 15-21 As with all other styles the higher the better. 15 will give the epee.
A P.R. needs to learn skills to survive.
WL: 13-21 Will is as important as wit. It helps endurance and life expectancy.
A higher will allows you to pick apart most scum.
SP: 5-13 13 is a major breakpoint but it's not necessary to go that high. A
combo of 15 wit, 15 deftness and 11 speed will give you an expert in
riposte with any luck.
DF: 13-21 The higher the coordination the easier it is to hit your attack
location. A 15 will give you the epee.
The perfect P.R. would look something like this: 9-4-5-17-21-11-17 with starting
skill bases like:
Ini: 60%
Rip: 90%
Att: 75%
Par: 70%
Def: 75%
Dec: 40%
One of my first PRs looked like this: 15-10-9-15-15-6-14, Thror the Dark. He was
extremely unlucky as far as starting skills. He now looks a little different: 17-11-
9-17-16-7-15 with 90% Init, 145% Rip, 130% Att, 130% Par, 115% Def and 80% Dec. I
destroyed him with early stat raises.
I had a similar design that was luckier, at least until he got X-ed by a slasher
in a tourney. He died with a 12-3-1 record. But enough of that. You're probably
wanting to get on with the strategies.
So getting on with it, I've tried both offensive and defensive strategies.
Generally defensive has worked better for me. Something like: 3-6-6 going offensive
in minute 3 or 4 with a 10-8-6 or a 9-7-6 and then backing off to a 6-4-6 or a 4-5-6.
As far as tactics go I don't use 'em very often. If you use any offensive tactic
use the lunge or nothing. Defensively use dodge and parry sparingly, if at all, and
don't use the riposte tactic after you've achieved a master.
Okay, now on to weapons and armor. A parry-riposte is somewhat limited when it
comes to weapons. The longsword is their best choice against heavier armors. I once
tried the halberd (I'll wait until you finish laughing.) Anyway, Thror the Dark
savagely slew Spymaster with it. I only give the PR an off hand weapon with epee,
shortsword or the longsword.
I've done varying things with armor, but I've found that lighter armor works
better, personal favorites being APL, ARM, and ASM. I read an article about the
parry-riposte of coom that made me laugh. It said something about wearing more armor
than expected of a PR, listing nothing higher than ACM+F. Imagine what he would have
thought fighting Thror the Dark in APA+F.
This is just an opinion brought to you by Necrom, manager of Knightmares (33),
Pentad Paladins (55), Northlanders (70) and a couple of others.
Crimson Strikers
Greetings, fellow managers, I, Crimson Strategist, shall share my thoughts with
you on the striking attack style.
This style developed in cultures where weapon quality surpassed that of the
armors, this made landing the first blow vital. This blow is usually delivered in a
downward fashion quickly, surely, and with power in a minimal of wasted motion.
Here's how I rate the stats:
ST 11-15: Never go below 11, strikers are well suited to ALL the weapons in the
game and 11 allows the use of the majority of them. They also need to hurt their foe
when they hit, thus making this an important consideration for damage rating.
CN 3-9: This whole style revolves around finishing your foe quickly, if your foe
has time to develop a complex formal attack on your striker, then you're not fighting
him properly. A properly run striker should never be hit more than four or five
times, any more than this and the whole concept behind this style gets thrown right
out the window, therefore I rate con as the least important attribute for this style.
SZ 9-16: A size of 9 allows use of all the weapons and it is important in
determining your damage rating, plus, it also adds to your init and this style thrives
on init.
WT 13+: As with any style, the higher the better. 13 is rock bottom, it allows
the use of all weapons except the epee and you'll still learn at a decent pace.
WL 7-13: This style conserves endurance which allows this attribute to go
considerably less than most styles and still fight effectively for a respectable
length of time. I've had strikers with a 13 ST, 3 CN, and 5 WL get poor endurance
ratings and ones with 11 ST, 6 CN, and 9 WL get normal. However, if you want some
long term potential, you'd want to be around 13 or so.
SP 10+: This is very important for decise and init skills which are the heart of
this style. Landing the first blow and finishing the fight quickly is hinged on your
striker's speed.
DF 15+: This is crucial attribute for this style, they NEED to be precise with
their blows, plus, it also adds to their init. Get to 17 or 21 if possible.
Now let's take a look at the style itself. The striking attack is one of the
easiest styles to run, yet they have adversity that many styles lack. As I've said
before, a striker can use ALL the weapons in the game. They can fight effectively
wearing plate armor and no armor, they can use EVERY tactic in the game be it
offensive or defensive, a striker can fight like a lunger or basher, ripper or
slasher, etc... provided that you match up their strategy with the appropriate tactic
and weapon. They can beat ALL the styles in DM and beyond if you choose their
strategy correctly for that particular style vs. style matchup.
Here are some examples of style vs. style matchups for strikers and various
tactic selections vs. the different styles.
High decise strikers over slashers and lungers, strikers over total parry and
wall of steel, rippers over strikers, etc...
Using the decise tactic vs. lungers, slashers, and aimed blows. Using the lunge
tactic vs. rippers and aimed blows, using no tactic and having a moderate offensive
effort and moderate activity level vs. total parries and wall of steel, etc...
The possible variations for this style are virtually endless.
Now let's take a brief look at your striker overview and glean some helpful hints
on how to fight them. If you see statements like "relying on speed to stay out of
danger" or "avoiding rather than trading blows," this is telling you that your AL
should be moderate to high. If he does great damage, then don't use weapons like the
epee or shortsword, this would be an underutilization of his strengths. If he learns
attack skills easily, then this is telling you that he likes to take his time and pick
his shots so don't send him out with a 10 OE! If you see statements like "has learned
how to be a decisive and quick fighter," then by all means USE the decise tactic with
a high OE. Don't send him out with offhand weapons unless he's ambidextrous, if you
do, it will take away from his attack. As you can see, the various statements on your
overview are very helpful in telling you how your striker likes to fight.
Here's a very general strategy that has worked well for my strikers.
OE 10 8 7 7 7 6 6 Armor: ARM to ACM
AL 4 3 2 1 1 1 8 Weapons: BS,LO,SC,GS,BA
KD 6 6 6 6 6 6 5
ATT LOC Head, body, arms
PRO LOC Head or body
OFF TCT Decise or bash
DEF TCT Response or dodge
Before I close there is one last point I wish to emphasize, USE the
challenge/avoid system, it will help control who you fight and when. In closing, I
would like to thank the following managers for their diplos and articles which helped
me learn the game: Sir Jessie Jest, Talon, Tex, the managers on the roundtable, and
numerous others who took their time to put quill and ink on parchment and pass their
knowledge on to others, thanks!
Many of you know the Crimson Death stables or soon will know them since I plan to
have quite a few of them up and running, however, some of them will be on and off due
to monetary fluctuations so if you wish to diplo me with any comments, criticisms,
whatever, send them to my home arena, which, from here on out, will always be active.
Later,
Crimson Strategist
Crimson Death DM 61