LRB 5 Guide to Starting Skills for All Teams

[mattgslater]

Nothing is worse than getting caught with the ball in your backfield, and Block is no salvation. Caging in your backfield is just guaranteeing the worst. Kick-off Return ensures you have a chance to get the ball up into the cage and still lets you cage up at or beyond the LOS.

One great thing about Orcs is that you can field 14 guys without giving up much TV. 4 each of the 80k guys, a Troll, 2 Throwers, 1-2 Linos and 1-2 Gobs means you can dedicate a Thrower to O, using the other one as a halfback/safety. That means your O Thrower (probably #2) gets KOR-Accurate-Block or KOR-Block-Accurate, with Dodge on doubles. #1 should start with Block, though, because it has application in all phases. Fend is a good second skill for #1 and lets him move to OLB, as does Dodge on doubles (you can't risk him at an unprotected spot without either Blodge or Bend ("Flock?" "Blend?" You gotta like "Fock"), even if it isn't strategically important; with two such skills, though, he's not particularly vulnerable). When he eventually gets to #3, I'd give him Accurate, but if he rolls doubles at that point give him Guard instead. Guard is an awesome OLB skill, and AV8 is tough enough if you have Block, Fend and aren't directly protecting a viable route. This is lots of fun against speed teams if you like to get a Kick lino and a DT/SS Goblin to split time alongside a hunter-type Blitzer.

[Westward]

Could we get this thread stickied to replace the new-defunct LRB4 "Standard Guidelines to Starting Skills choices for all teams" thread?

[Baduk]

Gutter Runners' skills seem a bit odd. No sidestep?

I'll have to bookmark this thread anyway, shame it doesn't have a sticky

[voyagers_uk]

shame it doesn't have a sticky

my pleasure!

[Baduk]

hurray! thanks!
Just in time before lrb6 shows up

[Ikterus]

Slann

I've seen successful builds with a more bashy approach but I feel that Slann should be played as a flair team.

Catchers: Dodge, Side Step, Block, Sure Hands (Guard)
+AG is golden, +S Nice, +MA/AV might work but skills are often better IMO

Blitzers: Guard, Block, Side Step (Dodge)
+AG and +S are golden, MA and AV as long as he has Guard allready (they skill slowly and Guard is why you bought him.)

Linefrogs:
Hitters: Wrestle, Strip Ball, Tackle (Guard)
LOSers: Wrestle, Fend (Guard)
one Kick:er is a must
Take all stat increases.

Kroxigor: Break Tackle, Guard, Stand Firm (Block)

[Ravenal]

imo Dwarf longbeards should get diving tackle on a double ... Dodge is semi useful in defense anyway and the abundance of guarding makes hitting them tough enough.

[gandresch]

about Slann:

I agree with Ikterus in all facts and wanted to make some adds to the strategy.

The team itself:
I started a Slann team with 3 RR and trashed it after 2 games. Then i restarted it with 5 RR. You can't reroll a leap but with team rerolls. So do yourself a favour and start with sufficient RR-power. Without Block, Wrestle, Dodge, Pass, Sure Feet, Sure Hands, Pro, Juggernaut and Catch, you will need to have it.
Especially against Block teams, you have big disadvantages in the beginning. AV8 isn't that much and you have to calculate with a lot of coming and going players. I just want to warn you...

Blitzers:
Guard is the most important skill. You can nearly break every cage with Guard, get the ball very fast and disturb all players around with the DT of the blitzers (that's why SS is great on them). Block is a must, because players with Guard have to stand and not to be prone. So even with JU, Wrestle is not a good choice.

Lineman:
You have to forget the strategy, where the blitzers get Tackle and MB and blitz their way. This doesn't work very well with Slann. The blitzers are the assists and the lineman are the dangerous players of the team. They can get everywhere with Leap and get Strip Ball - that's one of the most annoying skills you can get, when you play Slann. Wrestle+Strip Ball usually means 2+ to get the ball free and even in a 2d- situation, this allows you to get the ball free in more than 2/3 of the blocks.
Why do you give them Wrestle instead of Block. That is very easy. While the blitzers get Block an keep standing, the lineman have two main tasks:
1. Free the ball from the slavery and punishment of the other teams ball carrier
2. You have always a lack of Tackle. So you have to use other options to prone other players. Especially on Blodgers, Wrestle can break up a defense and steel (mostly elves) important movement to get in position. On offense Wrestle isn't that good, but on defense it steels important actions of the other team (you prone the opo-player, so he has to stand up the next turn and can block again in 2 turns. Try it against dwarves and keep smiling )

I have no real idea, what you can do with the catchers in the team. The TV rises very fast and in my experiment, there was not much left for catchers at all. But one interesting choice for a catcher could be:
Catcher #2, 1. Sneaky Git, 2. DP
Generally PassBlock is good on them, too. I wouldn't take it as first skill, because, they are too expensive for that, so:
Catcher #3, 1. Dodge, 2. Pass Block, 3. Catch

Have fun with them. 3/4 of the coaches i played weren't aware, what was coming over them and were totally overrun. At this point i would say, that beside Woodies, the Slann are the most aggressive team i have ever played ... and i like it

Greets,
gan

[Ikterus]

Thanks for the praise gandresch.

I have to disagree about the Catchers though... They are among the best rookie players around. That extra AG makes magic happen.

Feel free to check the Slann playbook I wrote for Plasmoids site. LINK

[Carnis]

I have no real idea, what you can do with the catchers in the team. The TV rises very fast and in my experiment, there was not much left for catchers at all. But one interesting choice for a catcher could be:
Catcher #2, 1. Sneaky Git, 2. DP
Generally PassBlock is good on them, too. I wouldn't take it as first skill, because, they are too expensive for that, so:
Catcher #3, 1. Dodge, 2. Pass Block, 3. Catch

Have fun with them. 3/4 of the coaches i played weren't aware, what was coming over them and were totally overrun. At this point i would say, that beside Woodies, the Slann are the most aggressive team i have ever played ... and i like it

Greets,
gan

All that you described works better with the catchers, than any other player due to their AG4. Get guard doubles & a bunch of Blodge/SS. Then when your blitzer/liner eventually gets AG give him wrestle & you can get a S4 block on an opponent with 2x 2+ rolls anywhere. The catchers are also the players who pickup the ball after the ball has been pushed loose!

[gandresch]

Hi,

i know the advantages of the AG4 (Leap on 2, intercept on 4+ with VLL...), but with no RR on skills, these "two times 2+" cost a lot of RRs. That's why i originally started with 3 catchers and reduced it to 1 in my second try. These guys are good and they are very dangerous, but having av7+st2+no skills is a pain in the beginning. So buying them afterwards is great, but buying a catcher for the cost of a RR on the starting roster can double the effect of the missing RR very fast.

Greets,
gan

[Necro10c]

Hi,
My two cents...:
First line is the first 2 skills and recommended double, and second line is further development.

Necromantic:
Zombies: Kick, Block or Block, Tackle or Fend, Wrestle or Dirty Player and Guard or Sidestep


Ghouls: Surehands, Block or Wrestle, Strip Ball and Guard
Fend/Sure Feet, Sprint.

Wights: Guard, Tackle or Guard, Mighty Blow and Dodge
Take the opposite of what you took for the first two, and Juggernaut/Grab/Stand Firm afterwards.

Flesh Golems: Block, Guard and Dodge
Grab/Mighty Blow, Break Tackle, Tackle.

Werewolves: Block, Dodge or Block, Tackle and Mighty Blow
Dodge/Sidestep, Shadowing, Diving Tackle

Necromantic teams should take all stat increases, except Zombies may find skills more valuable than +AG.

[DoubleSkulls]

Two year old thread....

[Jimmy Fantastic]

Two year old thread....

And full of awful advices but stickied for some reason...

[mattgslater]

Attempting to fix/update, accounting for a thousand games or so between then and now.

Humans
* Ogre: Guard, Stand Firm, retire unless has Block, Piling On, Grab. Doubles: Block, then Tackle. No stats (+ST after Block)
* Blitzers: 2 get Mighty Blow, Tackle, Piling On; the other two get MB, Guard, Tackle. Doubles: Dodge (goes with Guard) or Jump Up (goes with PO). Stats: AG or ST, or MA if a later skill. After MB/T/PO, I like Pro and Dauntless, or Grab and Juggernaut, or Frenzy and either Juggernaut or Pro.
* Throwers: Block, Accurate, then it doesn't matter. Fend? (Safe Throw after +AG) Doubles is Dodge or Guard. Take all stats.
* Catchers: Block, Dauntless, Side Step, Diving Tackle, Tackle. Dauntless is optional, but nice. Doubles is Guard. Take all stats.
* Linemen: Block, then go to the toolbox for choice of Tackle, Dauntless, or Kick. Pro makes a good follow to Dauntless. Guard (usually) or Mighty Blow on doubles; Dodge or MB after Guard, PO after MB, SS after Dodge. Take AG or ST only.

Orcs
1: Pick: Guard or Mighty Blow.
2: Load up on Block and whatever skill you picked above.
2a: If you picked Guard, take one Blitzer with Mighty Blow early and give him Tackle and Piling On.
3: When you're loaded on Guard or Mighty Blow, load up on the other one. Tackle after that.
4: Ignore all doubles except Linos (Guard/MB) and Throwers until you're loaded with Guard, MB, Block, and some Tackle.
5: Take stats on Blitzers and Thrower if any, AG/ST on Linos, and ST on BOBs.

All-Marauder Pact
1: Most Marauders go Block, Guard, Mighty Blow, Claw, Piling On.
2: 2 players go Block, MB, Tackle, PO, Two Heads. Two others go Block, MB, Claw, PO, Tackle.
3: No doubles, except Jump Up after Piling On.
4: +ST and +AG at any chance; the first one becomes the carrier with Block, SH, Extra Arms (+ST) or Big Hand (+AG), and Two Heads. This guy can have Dodge on doubles and takes +MA.