Skill advice on doubles on a makeshift norse ball handler

Oxynot · Post by **Oxynot** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 4:57 pm

I'm a bit torn on what to take on my lineman as a second skill. First a bit of background.

On the team the said lineman has sure hands and is the only one with ball handling skills. Only a handful of other skills spread around, for example kick on another lineman and one guard on one berserker. One skilless thrower that I'm planning on to develop as the main ball carrier.

I was planning to take kick-off return on the lineman next, but I threw doubles. Now I'm thinking on getting guard on him to help with the blocking game. Other ideas were getting dodge to make the ball bearer hard to bring down or accurate.

Dodge I don't like too much since when he is carrying the ball it'd be too risky to dodge with.

Accurate could be nice, but I already have a thrower albeit skilless, but if this lineman goes for passing it would leave the thrower only leader to pick. And besides, who would he throw to, really

So guard is my favourite choice at the moment even though it does not have too much synergy with sure hands. After all most blitzes would be directed at him as he has the ball (and having guard is another incentive as well).

Any good ideas?

Carnis · Post by **Carnis** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 5:08 pm

Dodge, helps when you inevitably get blitzed.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 5:29 pm

I'd take Side Step. Side Step synergizes very well with Sure Hands. You can run him up to the back of the cage, hand off to your designated scorer, and protect the ball with authority. Likewise, if you fail a pick-up attempt, your opponent can't push you onto the ball and will have to knock you down to clear your TZ off. Also, it means you can force traffic away from him when you're on defense, encouraging asymmetric offenses (an oblique defense is a rare gimmick, but I see it on offense all the time), which frequently puts him on the side you'd naturally want to kick to.

purdindas · Post by **purdindas** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:41 pm

If he's your ball handler and your playing a running game (which you definetely should be) then dodge is the best skill. It will make him harder to sack and will also give you the ability to dodge away if things get a little hot for him.

Smeborg · Post by **Smeborg** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:28 pm

I would take Dodge. If you don't like that, then ignore the double, and take Kick-Off Return (which is a great skill).

Smeborg · Post by **Smeborg** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:32 pm

This post also raises the more general question of what doubles skills to take on Norse Linemen (putting to one side this poor fellow with Sure Hands). I guess the orthodox route is to take Agility skills (dodge, Sidestep), but it occurs to me that Grab might be an outstanding choice (the ST players are barred from taking it because of Frenzy). If you had a Grabber on each flank, I suspect you would hear the cry of "surf's up" even more often.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:52 pm

I have the same theory as Smeborg about Grab on Norse Linemen, but this guy just screams for either Dodge or Side Step.

The difference-maker to me is that it's a MA6/AG3 team, so you can improve anybody by handing off to them with a TRR. So this guy is only a ball-carrier in the face of Strip Ball. To me, that doesn't merit a skill. Side Step has defensive application above and beyond Dodge, and both have solid synergy with Block/Sure Hands.

Now, if your Kicker gets doubles....

Jural · Post by **Jural** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:28 am

Nerves of Steel is a legitimate choice as well, and I might go for it. Picking the ball up in a scrum with no modifiers is huge, as is the option to put the ball free of strip-ballers without worrying about tackle zones.

Dodge is a great skill, but won't he be targeted by the league's tackle players, as he will be constantly blitzed (either as the ball handler's protection after a hand-off or as the ball handler himself?

When I think about it, I would probably go Side Step, but Nerves of Steel if you already have 2 side steppers.

As for general doubles skills for Norse Linemen? Guard and Side Step are excellent, I find. Diving Tackle as well. I almost never go Dodge. I haven't played Norse in awhile, the grab thing is intriguing!

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:51 am

Nerves of Steel doesn't work on pick-up attempts: that's what Big Hand does, sadly. It works to catch, pass or intercept, none of which is worth developing for.

Jural · Post by **Jural** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:02 am

Hmm, I thought it was changed in LRB 5+, I'm not sure why... Oh wait, I was thinking of Extra Arms

Yeah, NoS is a bad choice then... but Extra arms would be nice. Too bad there are no mutations for Norse!

In that case, I guess it is a two horse race, and I'd go Side Step.

Carnis · Post by **Carnis** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:29 am

I find the grab thing really not worth it's while. At least my norse play very conservative (only tie with AV8 players, or when I absolutely must). This means I rarely if ever get to start my turn with linemen STANDING on TZ's of opposing players. This on the other hand means grab is nearly useless, since even if you blitzed the player on the Grabber's TZ he would still be unable to grab the player into the crowd, cause there would be free squares to go to..

I've also found the S players to have so many other priorities over guard, meaning guard linemen just plain rock. I'd still take a dodging ballcarry if given chance, even if the rest of the team was dodge-free, just to force my opponent to use his tacklers, over his other players.

Sidestep on the other hand, you can use to force a TZ after a pushback on a blitz, that will do the exact same as grab, as far as surfing is considered. Unless ofc if your opponent's blitzer has SS, then you would need both SS and grab, and no norse liner will ever have that..

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 1:34 pm

Side Step and Grab: great combo, but yeah, pretty unlikely on a Norseman.

"Care to dance? I'll lead, thanks."

Grogmir · Post by **Grogmir** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 2:11 pm

Grab - Frenzy seems good - but it just isn't as good as guard. Which is my standard double on Norse Line.

In this case though - He's already Block - Sure Hands - he's you main ball carrier right now - in what seems like a pretty early league (not that many skills) then I think you're just crazy if you don't take Dodge.

Oxynot · Post by **Oxynot** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:05 pm

You've given me something to consider. Although nearly every team in the league has a Tackle player.

Side step is something to think about too. At least I might finally start to think of efficient ways of using positioning skills

Guard would of been a certainty on a skilless lineman since half the teams have at least one Guard already and being second-class in the bashing game with norse is asking for trouble

Aliboon · Post by **Aliboon** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:27 pm

Dodge without doubt if you use him as a ball carrier. Ok, your opos may have tackle players, but you can tie them up and they'll have to be in the right place to be able to blitz you.

Its always nice to have dodge if you need to go through traffic-not something you want to do, but if you're on the last turn in a half, then you might need to.