Witch Elf, 2nd Doubles Roll

wesleytj · Post by **wesleytj** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:00 pm

I have a witch elf in my local league who has Block and Mighty Blow, and last night she got another skill and rolled doubles. I was planning on giving her Dauntless or Tackle, but the doubles opens up other possibilities, and I would like some input from you all on where she could go with it.

I don't really have any use for any Passing skills for her, I don't use my witches that way typically, so we're pretty much looking at Strength Skills here.

I keep thinking Juggernaut would be good, but at the same time, not too many of the guys in my league have been taking many of the "new" LRB 5 skills...so negating them isn't really a major issue yet. That's not to say that it won't be later, though.

Then there's Guard, I guess, but she's usually the one doing the blocking. Guard is more of a support skill, especially among elves where only a few guys will have it at most anyway. On the other hand, she's the ONLY player on my team with ANY doubles rolls at all so far, so perhaps I should be less picky and just take Guard because it's so useful, and I'm sure I could find ways to make it matter. On the other hand, with AV7, I don't exactly want to be putting her in the sorts of positions where Guard would be useful. Surrounded by big nasties.

Another option would be Stand Firm...she does occasionally find herself on the sidelines and some protection from her own dirty tricks would be nice. I played against wood elves last night, and due to some unfortunate dice rolls by my opponent which led to early turnovers, she was able to push both wardancers and a catcher out of bounds...

The final option I've considered is Thick Skull. It would be nice, but to be honest the main reason I don't like that is for roleplay and flavor reasons. Blitzer with Thick Skull? Sure. Line Elf? Sure. Witch? I just don't see it. Witch Elves just really don't seem to be thick-headed in any sense of the word. Maybe if there was a way I could justify it (like instead of "thick skulled" she's just extraordinarily tough via some other means), that would help. Additionally, I don't know that I'm convinced it would protect her any more than Stand Firm, which has other side benefits...not to mention that the Block/Dodge/Stand Firm combo is just annoying to play against, so naturally I'd love to give it to her!

Thoughts? I'm really stuck on this one.

fen · Post by **fen** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:17 pm

Juggernaut, less for the negating of Stand Firm and Fend and more for the ability to increase your crowdpushing chances and also make any Wrestle players look really foolish when you choose both down and decline to convert it to a push back.

I wouldn't bother taking Stand Firm as Side Step is honestly better protection against crowd pushing (and more irritating to boot.)

Snew · Post by **Snew** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:14 pm

Thick Skull = Endorphines? Drugs? Women's Vindictiveness? Tha'bitchiscrazy! Whatever. You can easily make it work.

Turin · Post by **Turin** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:14 pm

I'd also choose Juggernaugt (because of the above stated reasons), but if you don't like it, you could think about Thick Skull (great skill for somebody with AV7) oder maybe Leader.

Lemmy · Post by **Lemmy** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 2:29 am

What about piling on? MB/JU/PO is great. Use her as safety to get those nasty catchers. Take tackle as next skill, and use PO just to RR injury rolls. The catcher is still stunned at least, so he wont get away next turn and in your backfield she's quite safe from efective fouls. If you dont like it take juggernaut.

NightDragon 2 · Post by **NightDragon 2** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 10:34 am

I like the dauntless skill on Witches so would be tempted to ignore the double. You already have block and MB so this would go well. Ignoring duantless I would be tempted in to giving her PO to make her a real bitch or to give her dodge to make her hard to bring down. Other options I would think about are surehands and sprint. With MB already I would go for dauntless or PO.

TuernRedvenom · Post by **TuernRedvenom** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 11:35 am

Lemmy wrote:What about piling on? MB/JU/PO is great. Use her as safety to get those nasty catchers. Take tackle as next skill, and use PO just to RR injury rolls. The catcher is still stunned at least, so he wont get away next turn and in your backfield she's quite safe from efective fouls. If you dont like it take juggernaut.

I fully agree with this statement, but I guess it depends on your opponents. If there are a lot of squishy teams take pile on, for strength teams take juggernaut.

nerostinto · Post by **nerostinto** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 11:46 am

Turin wrote:oder maybe Leader.

Depending on how many RR you have, could be a good choice... Frees one of your runners from the duty of taking it sooner or later...

fen · Post by **fen** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 11:55 am

Right, I don't often comment negatively but I can't sit here and read that...

Leader on a Witch Elf is just terrible! You don't put Leader on high priority low AV targets, a Witch Elf with Mighty Blow already has 'Hit Me' painted onto her forehead. You don't go and throw away the chance to have a Witch Elf with 2 Strength Skills just to get Leader. Instead you improve her on pitch potency with a Strength skill and grab Leader with a Runner or a Lineman (I'd prefer still Guard there).

Piling On, Juggernaut, Thick Skull, Guard, heck, toss the doubles and grab an agility/general skill... Any of these would be a miles better choice than Leader.

Of course, I have complete confidence that wes wouldn't pick Leader, but I feel the need to quash this suggestion before it goes any further. It's a terrible suggestion. Awful. Stoppit. Shush!

No more on that suggestion, please...

nerostinto · Post by **nerostinto** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:50 pm

Yeah, kill the rookies!!!

Fen, your statements are no doubt true and I've changed my mind on that, now... Happy having posted my word on that, though, 'cos it lead to your reply and added precious infos to the topic... So, thanks! - no jerk intended -

wesleytj · Post by **wesleytj** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 1:42 pm

plenty of good answers, appreciate the input so far...

i agree with fen that i'd never give her leader.

i'd also never go with piling on for many of the same reasons. even with jump up, i'd never want to give my opponent such a juicy foul target. no way. she's clearly proving herself to be quite the unique witch elf, i don't want to shorten her life expectancy.

as for my opponent's, the teams i'm most concerned with are nurgle, norse, and chaos dwarf, because those 3 have the best coaches. the norse coach beat me pretty soundly last week; of course he's also 55tv higher than i am, and my inducements, by and large, didn't help worth crap, but that's another topic entirely. the other two i haven't played yet.

i really don't want to ignore the doubles, either. I get them so rarely, and i will just make my other witch elf the standard block/tackle/dauntless type, so we'll have that covered. this witch has a chance to really be a unique player, and that's worthwhile to me to explore.

at the moment i'm leaning towards juggernaut, but tbh i don't have to commit until we all play on wednesday, so i'll withhold final judgement till then. so if anyone has anything else has stuff to add, let's here it.

thanks for the assistance so far guys.

Snew · Post by **Snew** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 3:17 pm

So was Thick Skull, by keeping her on the pitch, also to be ruled out for the same reasons PO was?

wesleytj · Post by **wesleytj** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 3:52 pm

Snew wrote:So was Thick Skull, by keeping her on the pitch, also to be ruled out for the same reasons PO was?

Hasn't been ruled out at all...

Jeremiah Kool · Post by **Jeremiah Kool** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:59 pm

I like Juggernaught. The ability to convert a Block to a Push is nice.

Turin · Post by **Turin** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 6:22 pm

nerostinto wrote:Yeah, kill the rookies!!!

Well, actually after rethinking my statement, he is absolutely right. Nothing about killing the Rookie, as I've been playing Blood Bowl for 10 years (although I have never chosen leader, as there have always been better skills to choosen).
However, with the possibility of having one or two runners who can get leader on each skill-roll, it's senseless, to waste a double for leader in the witchelf.