Devloping orc blitzer (first-time player)

[Kypt]

I just started playing Blood Bowl a couple of weeks ago with a total of around 6 games under my belt. I've been doing well in my local league and have had my first player lvl up. However I'm a little at a crossroads as I'm not sure how to lvl him. I rolled doubles so the choices just got a lot wider for first skill. Below is my current team:

4x Blitzers
4x Black Orcs
1x Thrower
2x Lineman

3x Fanfactor
1x Apothecary
3x Re-Rolls

Any ideas?

[garion]

depends which player you are talking about and the length of your league.

Im going to take aguess and assume your league is only 10 games long and my answers are based on that -

For a black orc I like Diving Tackle on a double.

For the blitzers or throwers Dodge is the best choice and for the linemen guard is the best choice.

hope that helps.

edit: sorry just realised the title of the thread tells me which player :s in which case dodge is the way to go. Or just ingore the double and take Guard.

[Kypt]

Thanks and the player would be a Blitzer doing the skills. So it's a good idea to just get dodge now and lvl the rest of skills later due to rarity of double rolls?

[swilhelm73]

Generally, your blitzers need to fill a few rolls:

1) Running back (or your throwers): For this build take dodge
2) Safety: You need to knock down or mark opposing catchers/runner in your backfield. You need tackle, but for doubles, Dodge, Side Step, or Diving Tackle are all useful
3) Killer: You want this player to be designed to take out opposing players, eventually something like Mighty Blow, Tackle, Piling On, Jump Up. Since Jump Up is the only doubles, you'd take that skill now, but it isn't highly useful until you get piling on.

So that being said, I'd go with Dodge for now. It is a safe choice and at least somewhat useful against all non-dwarf teams.

[Chris]

A wise Orc player (doubleskulls) once said - if you get dodge, get it on everyone. That is you pick dodge for each player on a double (well, not the troll). Just one or two can be isolated and tackled.

The jump up option to make a killer is interesting. As is side step to build a frenzy player. Another option is diving tackle and develope him to be a man marker.

[mattgslater]

As a newbie in a new format, I'd take Dodge. It's powerful and straightforward, and is good right away. On the minus-side, eventually your opponents will get Tackle guys and if you don't have a lot of Dodge, this guy might not get great mileage from his skill ... eventually. For now, it's great. There are other good doubles skills for Orc Blitzers, like Jump Up and Side Step, but those are either longer-term (Jump Up is great before Piling On and Mighty Blow, and maybe Stand Firm or Fend, but inferior without those) or harder to use (Side Step is only as good as your sense of positioning, but a good coach will sometimes drive you crazy with it).

[Kypt]

Thank you all for the help. I decided to take dodge and we'll see how it turns out

[Ullis]

Be sure to mark that player so you don't forget about the skill.

[the.tok]

Very good choice

Block + dodge is a very powerful and straightforward combination for a new team. You'll see how many times your opponent will get frustrated trying to bring him to the ground



And if you can have other players with dodge, all you will have to do is make sure opponent's tacklers don't get to use it by removing them from the pitch (well... except against dwarves, but they sure are a strong team anyway)

[Smurf]

I like:

Mighty Blow
Tackle
Grab
Thickskull

I know it's unconventional.

[the.tok]

I like:

Mighty Blow
Tackle
Grab
Thickskull

I know it's unconventional.

You really DO take Thickskull over guard? O_O
I mean, TS is not that bad, but come on, there are so many better strenght and general skills...

I am curious if you can develop why

[spubbbba]

Guard is easily the best skill an Orc Blitzer can get, as it is something you will use all the time, often multiples times in yours and your opponent’s turn.

It is the 1st skill I’d take on most players that already have block. MB is pretty useful, but tackle is very situational as it’s vital vs some teams and worthless against others.

Grab is very mediocre and thick skull is a waste of TV, Piling on and stand firm are both better if you don’t roll stats or doubles, frenzy is nice to have and even a single player with strip ball can be handy.

For doubles then there are no amazing choices, especially on the 1st player to skill. However if the other teams in your league are at the same sort of level then dodge is very good as most team’s won’t start getting tackle till later and even then will only have a couple that you can often tie up with black orcs or linos.

[Smurf]

I think guard is over used. Hello a wall of guard, sure if works because your opponent has a wall of guard too. Who has the biggest wall of guard.

IMO... Troll with PO/Guard and maybe frenzy (I'm experiementing with the last one0
4 Black Orcs: Mighty Blow, Frenzy, Block, Guard

Now the blitzer supposed to dart here and there.

Making them hard to remove from the pitch is good IMO.

The team has 5 ST4+ players which I find giving smaller players guard redundant.

I think like that and would love to play all the teams all the time but can only do so on a PSP. I'm aware of the TT differences and I am currently playing others and have some other teams to consider for next year (I will be retiring my Amazons and Humans for Chaos Dwarves and Khemri).

[mattgslater]

There are three skills that are better than all the others: Block, Dodge, and Guard.

There are several skills that are not as good as Block, Dodge, and Guard, but are still very worthwhile options, and may even be worth selecting ahead of or instead of those skills under some conditions. Side Step, Tackle, Wrestle, Mighty Blow, and depending on who you ask, maybe Sure Hands, Stand Firm, Fend, Claw, and Frenzy fall into this category. Then there are a bunch of skills that are worth having, like Jump Up or Extra Arms, and maybe even awesome in conjunction with other skills (Jump Up + Piling On, or Tentacles + ST5) or stats, or as one-offs. Some good one-off skills are Kick, Dirty Player, Pass, Horns, Dauntless, Grab, Diving Tackle, Strip Ball, and Juggernaut. Then there are the stack skills, like the passing tree (Accurate, Safe Throw, Strong Arm, etc) and Piling On. Anything that doesn't fit neatly into one of these categories should be setting off alarm bells in your head. That doesn't mean you should never do it, but you should think twice.

Orc Blitzers are workhorse players. Always invest in only the best skills for them. Dodge, Side Step, or Jump Up on doubles; Guard, Tackle, or Mighty Blow on a normal roll, maybe Stand Firm, Fend, or Frenzy in later picks. But nothing else until 51 SPP at the earliest (except stats, always take AG or ST, and always at least consider MA or AV; any stat on an Orc Blitzer is a big deal).