Dark Elves

[orcdom]

are there any dark elf threads or links for strategy and so on?

ps what is good starting lineup?

Steve

[wesleytj]

are there any dark elf threads or links for strategy and so on?

ps what is good starting lineup?

Steve

There aren't any currently active DE strategy websites that I am aware of. There used to be one by a guy named Andy that was ok but it's been gone a while I think.

Anyway, I play them a lot, and in long-term league play I start them thusly:

1bl, 10li, 2rr, 9ff, 10k treas

i know it sounds weak but the line elves are good at everything. they can pass as well as a rookie human thrower. the key is you really need the ff and rr for later on, and i DON'T recommend starting with a witch elf. having frenzy and no block, not to mention av7, on your only position player is NOT a recipe for success on a starting team. Witch elves are GREAT later on, but build up some support for them first.

[orcdom]

ok i was going to use a thrower

but after reading some other stuff i think blitzer is a better choice

Steve

[sven]

hello,

another starting lineup that would proberly be easier to start with is;

x 2 blitzers
x 8 lineman
x 1 thrower
x 2 re-roll
x 5 fan factor

i find that the blitzers are the most important part of this team (others amy disagree) mine do most of the blocking and scoring, and once you manage to get the full four the team is excellent. and i recomend that you take your thrower as at least you get two chances to throw the ball, meaning you will not have to use a precious re-roll, and then you will soon be able to get him developed and throwing longbombs on a two. the witch elves i find are more of a pain to start with as they have frenzy, no block and low armour, so buy these in after a couple of games but definatley after an apothacary.

oh and for tactics i would recomend that if you oppenant sets up a cage get a few players behind it and blitz and block cleaverly ie making sure you push players into where they can be blocked again, and the ball carrier will soon become available. and if you roll doubles for a few players give them daunltess, this will help against teams with strength four or above. but there is no real tactic that can be placed on the darkies as they can play the passing, running and hitting game if required. oh yeah and foul alot when you have the players to loose, as this is definatle in the darkies nature. hope this helps a little;

sven

[Nick-O]

From the fumbbl.com website:

Dark Elf Strategy
Summary
Dark Elves are the nearest thing you will find to a bashy elf team. However, they lack dedicated catchers, and their Throwers are more expensive than their High Elf rivals. Dark Elves are quick, but not too quick, and can either play for the two-turn TD, or run the ball in over three or more turns, using a very mobile and adaptable cage until making the break for the endzone, with runners waiting in scoring positions.

Strengths
No less than six players on the roster can achieve Block and Dodge on their first skill roll, a powerful combination, especially in a sub-TR200 team. Having four Blitzers allows specialisation of different skill combinations, especially with double skill choices, and the Witch Elves can become fearsome ball-winners - they can be devastating players with a double skill roll, or better yet, a stat increase. All this makes the Dark Elves a strong defensive team.

Like all elves, the Dark Elves can spread the SPPs out over all their linemen, so most of them will have Block a lot earlier than, say, a Human team. The period of development around TR 150 is where Dark Elves can actually beat up some teams. Later on, the Dark Elves will probably not manage this unless they are very lucky with stat bonuses and double skill rolls, but their Av 8 on everyone except the Witch Elves will keep them going against all but the nastiest teams.

Weaknesses
Dark Elves, especially the positional players, are rather expensive; it would be unusual for a team to start out with more than 2 positional players at most - many start with only linemen. This can make those first few games a rocky experience, especially if they suffer player losses early on.

They lack catchers, so their offensive game is not quite as strong as the other elven teams.

Development
Linemen: Block is a useful skill on every lineman. Kick is valuable on at least one, too, and after that, it is very much up to personal preference. Some go for the Dodge/Side Step/ Tackle route, others will select whatever skills are most required by the team at the time, like Strip Ball, Tackle/Diving Tackle or whatever. Any double on a regular lineman should be used for Guard or Dauntless, to help out against stronger teams.

Blitzers: Dodge/Side Step/Tackle/Shadowing/Pass Block is an irritating combination, and Leap/Strip ball for cage-busting; these are just two of the many ways to take a Dark Elf Blitzer.

Witch Elves: Block is nearly always the first skill choice, barring a stat bonus or double. After that, Side Step, Tackle, Shadowing, Strip Ball, Pass Block, Catch are all useful and Mighty Blow, Dauntless (not my preference on Frenzy players, as it is a liability), NoS are probably the most popular choices on doubles.

Throwers: The usual combination of Accurate and Safe Throw applies; also Sure Hands or Catch, depending on where he is positioned at the start of a drive. Alternatively, you can run with the Throwers, using Block/Dodge along with Accurate/Dump Off/Safe Throw/Nerves of Steel(dbl). Strong Arm is an alternative to NoS. Some coaches develop an offensive thrower (lines up only when receiving the kick-off) and a defensive one (used either when kicking only, or both receiving and kicking), with different skill combinations. An agility bonus is nice, and usually negates the need for Accurate too.

General: Players with Strength bonuses are prized - Block/Dodge/Tackle are good choices on normal rolls, Mighty Blow or Guard on a double. Players with Agility bonuses are also good - Block/Dodge and Block/Strip Ball/Leap are good, Sure Hands has potential for gathering the ball in multiple tackle zones, probably best if you already have Strip Ball players in the team, Pass Block/Catch/Nerves of Steel(dbl) make frightening interception machines, and Leap/Guard(dbl) gives you a an assist anywhere you need it.

Link Here: http://fumbbl.com/modules.php?op=modloa ... lfStrategy

[Nick-O]

Also, this website has a ton of different strategy articles, including seven just on Dark Elves. Some of them are a little out of date, but 90% of the info still applies...

http://www.midgardbb.com/Tactics/BBTactics.html

As for starting lineup, it greatly depends on where you are playing them and how many games the team will play. If it is a long term league(online) then I would follow Wesleytj's advice or even go 11 Linemen/3 RR/8 FF. If it is for a short term league (most tabletop leagues) or tourney, then I would forget about a high FF and get as many skill positions as possible with 1 or 2 rerolls.

[Fierro]

In a short league, like in my case with only 8 matchs (at the moment four games won in four games played), I choose this roster (thanks to someone here ):

4 blitzers, 7 linemen, 1 RR and 6FF

In a resurection tournament I put all the dark elf potential on the field:

3 blitzers, 2 witch elves, 6 linemen, 1 RR, 1 FF

[kithor2002]

For a starting team even its an elf team I would go at least with 2 RR.

So I would go like this.

2 Blitzer
9 Lineman
2 RR
7 FF

You will need a high FF because your players are expensive.And DE don't need a thrower because passing game its not their style.
I would buy an apo first then two another blitzer.After that I would buy two Witchelves and at last the thrower.

[Aksho]

Starting up with more then 2 positional players in a starting Team in a leage is moste of the time not really a good idea. Think about the other teams in the Leage and your kind of game-style.
I would never go without my witchelf because the other team is afraid of her Frenzy, and I would never take a Thrower because my lineman are already good enough at throwing the ball. Without a blitzer the game is to hard. So take at least 1 Bitzer and if no Witchelf then 2.
I´ve seen 2 many lineman teams in the last months and all of them have been smashed so badly that I think thats never a good idea, the are not able to win enough games.
With Dark Elves you will make enough TD´s and Casulties, so your FF will normally rise so a FF of 4-6 is also enough at the beginning.

mfg Bernd

[Nick-O]

Although Aksho's opinion is just as valid as mine, I would go the opposite way in picking two positional players. I think Witchelves are too fragile to have early on without support. AV7 and Frenzy without Block is a bad combo, as someone else mentioned.

As for a thrower, generally it is very good advice to not use catchers or throwers at first with 4 AG teams because the linemen are good at throwing the ball, but I think Dark Elves are the exception. I like taking a thrower first for Dark Elves - getting them developed early really helps your passing game and of all the agility teams, Dark Elves have the worst offense. A good thrower early on can make a big difference and not just in scoring - they will also help your linemen get SPPs faster.

[kithor2002]

I never will start a team including a Witchelf without an apo.
Av7 is low and she's the main target.So you can't protect her all the time.
As I said before I would start with blitzers and then buy an apo asap.

[Emberbreeze]

I threw the book out the window when I started my darkelf team and got 4 blitzers and very low fan factor. I've been winning most of my games and the FF has gone up quickly.

[Fierro]

I agree with Emberbreeze. I started my actual league with 4 blitzers, 7 lineman, 1 RR and 6 FF.

Four games after (four victories, scored 10 TD and 0 against) I have: 4 Blitzers (one of them with Dodge and Dauntless, and another with Dodge and AG +1); 7 linemen (one of them with Dirty Player), 1 witch elf with block; 1 apothecary; 1 RR and 8 FF.

Yo don't need the pass game that gives the thrower (90.000 its too expensive for me), If you know how to do this routine:

Run + hand off + run + pass + run = TD (the order of the hand off and the pass are indiferent)

One question: why a dark elf thrower cost 10.000 more than a high elf thrower? Both players have the same characteristics...

[Sharky2k]

starting with only 5 ff and a thrower is no good idea. as an elf player u every time need money. and starting with 1 reroll also is not enough.

go for 1 blitzer 10 lineman or 11 lineman

[JJB]

The basic starting roster for dark elves is 2 blitzers, 9 linemen, 7 ff and 2 rerolls. This is a compromise between a high enough ff (to gain money to buy/replace players), enough rerolls to handle the ball, and positional players to play reasonably fast enough in addition to the fact that block prevents some turnovers.
If you have never played DEs before, I strongly recommend you follow that roster.

Now, once you gain more experience, you can then adapt your strategy.

If you want to think long-term, and don't care much about losing your first three-four matches, then you can go as low as having no positional players, but 11 linemen, 8 ff and 3 rerolls, or 9 ff, 2 rerolls and 10k gold.
I'd rather recommend having 3 rerolls than 9 ff as ff can down, while rerolls cannot.

If you are a very careful player, you can indeed start with a WE in your team. I say careful, because she break easily, even more so when half of your opponent's team focuses on taking her out of the pitch.
Others get four blitzers - allows for a very physical game. I do like that option personally, but one must have some luck as to casualties suffered - with only 1ff, it gets very very very difficult to earn enough money to buy replacements in the first few games.
I never recommend starting with a thrower in any elven team (unless for a tournament of course) as this player will attract all SPPs from completions, while it is much better to spread those among your linemen so that they can all get skilled quickly. A thrower can be purchased later, as he can anyway progress very quickly.

While I regard myself as a reasonably experienced DE coach, my favourite league starting roster will remain the first one.