Norse guide: On Rampage

[Ullis]

The norse team excels at low TR imo, so you don't need a "shopping list" per say. You can buy almost everything you need by game one. I would buy apo + a lino, then save for troll. But if you are a 2 runners-guy, then buy the 2nd runner now..

I was thinking that I'd skip the second runner. I'll try and see if I can live with just one and how useful the A-access on the first one proves. Keeping the TV on a norse team would seem to be easy. If I skip the second runner and throwers completely, I have all the positionals I need on the starting roster. Now, if I don't buy the troll at all, I could just buy 3-4 new linemen and the apo for a base TV of 1170-1220. Then add, say, 400 for skills and FF and I could have the "developed" team at around 1600! Adding the troll takes it to 1700 and the second runner and a thrower would add 60k.

[Setomidor]

I'd probably go for the much debated Thrower. Why? Because:

* I like options, and having a Thrower with Accurate (and maybe SH) gives you a passing game option.
* Diving Catch is a divine skill for Norse Runners, and having a Thrower with Accurate gives you a 2+ w/ reroll, 2+ quick passing game, which can be used to quickly skill the Thrower up.
* Rerolls are kind of expensive for Norse TV-wise, and Leader on a Thrower is a good TV investment.

[Carnis]

The norse team excels at low TR imo, so you don't need a "shopping list" per say. You can buy almost everything you need by game one. I would buy apo + a lino, then save for troll. But if you are a 2 runners-guy, then buy the 2nd runner now..

I was thinking that I'd skip the second runner. I'll try and see if I can live with just one and how useful the A-access on the first one proves. Keeping the TV on a norse team would seem to be easy. If I skip the second runner and throwers completely, I have all the positionals I need on the starting roster. Now, if I don't buy the troll at all, I could just buy 3-4 new linemen and the apo for a base TV of 1170-1220. Then add, say, 400 for skills and FF and I could have the "developed" team at around 1600! Adding the troll takes it to 1700 and the second runner and a thrower would add 60k.

Yep, you can do that. I seriously considered that build.

Then you should get maybe more than usual amount of dirty players.. (up to three?). This will be your only way of dealing with AV9. Against AV8, you are mostly fine with just the normal MB/PO spam coupled with Block/Frenzy/Tackle & Guard.

The big issue here is that you lose 2 str on the field, though. The troll is fairly easy to position next to two linemen and just, sit in there.

[rvlvr]

Well, it was not so much derailment as digression. But apologies, yes.

Yes, I apologize, too. Should've ranted in the thread meant for it, but didn't see it before I let fly.

Back to the Norse, it is!

[GuppyShark]

I recommend the second runner, though my starting build only had one. The agility access and extra move are worth the extra cost. Plus you have Dauntless in a pinch.

[Ullis]

Thanks for the replies on what to buy for Norse. I was of course hoping for an obvious answer which everyone else would agree with but that's not the case here.

Right now I'm leaning towards getting a second runner and the troll. The point about the troll helping with AV9 is excellent and I had forgotten about it. The A access for the runner does seem worthwhile, although paying 40k for Dauntless, +MA and A access is somewhat costly. I'm going to skip the thrower, mainly because skilling him up for passing skills does seem a bit hard given that nobody has Catch on the team.

[Carnis]

Hey, updating the guide before sending it to plasmoid. This is the main update that I did after the last version:

Team Philosophy
Before going into the specifics of the Norse team I would like to introduce the basic principles this step by step guide is based upon. First and foremost the point of this team build is to win games. This team build will not make you very popular, if you want to be popular and still win try wood elves instead. The strategy relies heavily on removing players and all the distinguished roles between players complement this simple goal. In addition to that, the team is based on some broad teambuilding guidelines introduced below.

The first principle is that of key player survival. Your team’s key players (Yhetee, Werewolves, Blitzers and all Linemen with Guard) should 1) not get hit 2) not fall down if getting hit 3) not get stuck in TZs. This means all Were/Blitzer/Yhetee doubles should be spent in blocking skills (dodge for weres & zerks, Block first, then dodge for Yhetee). You should also keep your apothecary at the ready for key players. Taking Blodge on your GS players will keep them out of harms way, by reducing the amount of damage they take on blocks and the amount of blitzes they will receive. Guard linemen should pick fend, if dodge is not available.

The second principle is role definition. Each and every player in the team with skills needs to have a skill set that allows the team as a unit to perform better. I will introduce what I believe to be the four most important roles now. The first role is the killer, a player with MB/Piling on and Frenzy. This can be an ulf, yhetee or a berserker depending on who skills first. The second and equally important role in a Norse team is the guard. Guard has been discussed all over, but suffice to say it does not matter who has it, although I would probably not make my Yhetee the first guard. The third role is the fouler, a lineman with +dirty player. You should not underestimate +5/+1 armour/injury checks. The fourth role is the sweeper, which means a player who has both block, frenzy – and a dodging skill. The most optimal player for this is a werewolf with Block/Break tackle, but a blitzer with dodge doubles also suffices. In a higher end team, a player can often have multiple roles, but early on you should aim at having at least one killer, one fouler and one or more guards. The last role is ball carrier. I recommend a runner with block, dodge, sure hands, sidestep. There’s no need to get one early though – better skill your GS players.

The third principle is constant improvement. The team should not improve players just to float TV. Each player needs to carry his weight in TV and more. This means, all linemen need to become guards if they double, even if their first skill was something else... like dirty player. Players who already have what they need (Block/Dirty Player lineman) should avoid generating SPPs. Players who need just one TD to get a skill up should generally be preferred when choosing who scores. MB should be preferred for SPP generating purposes if it fits the team build on GS players. If no one is near skilling up, the GS access players should universally be preferred, except if the runner still hasn’t got dodge. This also means stat increases must carry their TV cost. This also means sacking linemen who haven’t rolled anything interesting by skill #3 (Fend, Tackle – what then?)

Finally, the statistics regarding MB/Piling on to emphasize how important it is to get a killer – and to use his PO to reroll armour too, if needed. This should also convince you to get fend on your linemen – to avoid giving your opponent MB/Piling on blocks.

no skill
Effective AV Break Armour Stun KO Cas Off Pitch
9 0,16666667 0,097222 0,041667 0,027778 0,069444
8 0,27777778 0,162037 0,069444 0,046296 0,115741
7 0,41666667 0,243056 0,104167 0,069444 0,173611
Mighty blow
9 0,27777778 0,134259 0,078704 0,064815 0,143519
8 0,41666667 0,196759 0,119599 0,100309 0,219907
7 0,58333333 0,270833 0,168981 0,143519 0,3125
Piling + MB rerolling failed armour/stun
9 0,47839506 0,163709 0,172968 0,141718 0,314686
8 0,65972222 0,210262 0,244985 0,204475 0,44946
7 0,82638889 0,241898 0,316744 0,267747 0,584491

So basically your relative / absolute odds of causing a KO or a CAS increase compared to no skill:
AV9: +350% / +24,5%
AV8: +287% / +33,4%
AV7: +237% / +41,1%