Duelmasters: AB article (Blohm) From: leeme@cnsvax.uwec.edu Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1993 17:41:57 +0000 The following is an AB article by John Blohm. Mr. Blohm ran a lot of teams and is best known for his character Village Idiot (who says Idiot's can't spell?). Mr. Blohm is currently in California and running a PBM game. -- Mike Lee From 5/22/87 --- Retyped 3/22/90 M.Lee AIMED BLOW WARRIOR This is certainly the most misunderstood and least successful style in Duelmasters, but once mastered, an Aimed Blow warrior has no weaknesses and can beat any style. My first two attempts at this style became Duelmasters. I have done a lot of experimenting with variations in stats and tactics in a half dozen arenas. My overall win/loss percentage is about .650%, but rising rapidly. My best is currently 6-1 at the Isle. The secret to winning with an AB artist is patience. Don't expect to start out with offense to match a lunger or defense like a TP; at best you'll be average at start. Challenges will determine your early win/loss record until your warrior has learned enough skills to win irregardless of opponents. I believe this style offers one of the widest arrays of effective tactics, which also makes them more challenging to manage. STRENGTH: 9 to 11. Don't need great damage, normal or good is enough, won't need heavy armor. Adequate for chosen weapons. CONSTITUTION: 11 to 13. Take average damage, provide adequate endurance. SIZE: 9 to 14. Sorry, no midgets! I don't plan on scumming, so I'll take ability to inflict (and absorb) damage over getting a part in "Snow White" movies. WIT: 15 to 21. This is the most important stat. AB's depend on skills. I may never raise an attribute. WILL: 7 to 13. Even with only 9 ST, 11 CN, and 7 WL, my warrior will be able to go 9 to 15 minutes with a rollup that says "poor endurance." The style and wit conserve endurance beyond belief. Let's see you TP scum "Stand motionless on the arena sands." A higher will provides a means for some cheap victories (scumming), especially early on vs TP scum while the warrior is still a novice. After 20 fights, these points would have been better spent in WT and DF. SPEED: 11 to 13. This is important to defense and riposte. DEFTNESS: 13 to 21. Second most important stat for an AB. "Precision in attacking" sound familiar? I have to hit the same target (arms, head, etc) with the majority of my attacks. High DF will also enhance riposte which is a key to a warrior without decisiveness and initiative. Overall, let's take a look at an average size 11 using the minimums: ST: 9 CN: 11 SZ: 11 WT: 15 WL: 7 SP: 11 DF: 13 Total of only 77! The last 7 points are to customize and account for uncooperative rollups. To this example, I would add 2 points into DF and SP; this greatly enhances defense/riposte, and I would add either 2 points to WT or WL. I prefer WT. The initial overview will look better to higher learns, but the will change from 7 to 9 ups scumming power (endurance) and provides some easier wins. The last point to CN since it's least affected by even vs. odd, and I don't plan on raising any stats. Spreading the last 7 points around balances out the warrior. The other option is to use the minimums shown, and then crank WT, DF or WL by 6. A high WT (19 to 21) will weaken the early warrior by limiting "fighting stats," but eventually you'll have som many skills your early opponents will regret those challenges against you. Raising DF to 17 to 21 will offer fantastic riposte and maybe "parrys intelligently" on the initial overview, but you may learn far too many "riposte techniques," and be less effective overall. The higher WT option usually learns much higher percentage of "attack skills." The last choice is a 13 or so WL. I would only do this if my warriors intended arena was packed with TP scum. ARMOR: ALE/H. You need to be quick, but not suicidal. Any less head armor, and you may never live to see those skills. Believe me, I know (I hate you Afterglow!) WEAPONS: EP, SC, SS, and an off-hand ME. Maybe QS later. The EP will get you the most attacks. Without decisiveness and initiative, you need riposte. The SC is good up to armor weight 9, then go to a SS for the heavier stuff. The off-hand ME is essential to early survival. Once you have a lot of parry skills, go to a small shield to reduce encumberance and be quicker. TACTICS: Offenseve effort of 3 to 5 for the first 5 minutes. Don't go any higher forcing attacks when the opportunity isn't there, it costs too much defense. Activity of 3 to 5 for the first 5 minutes. See what works for your warrior. ATTACK LOCATION: Be consistent; don't change targets! I don't recommend a high kill desire until your darn good, otherwise 3 to 5. Even if your overview doesn't mention "parry," use this tactic for the first couple of minutes. If poor defense, then all the time until parry skills arrive. For expert parriers, it's only needed for minute one to handle the 10-10-10 types. For minute 6 and on, 1-1-1 (A victory is a victory, and long fights raise learns). For challenges, avoid good offensive warriors until you've learned the needed skills. Go for parry-anybodys, long fights raise learns! Those first 10 fights may look bad, but things will come around as the skills pile in and you will not see long fights when you are advanced expert attack. Good Luck, John Blohm (Genetic Mishaps, Ironhand Orcs, etc) Up