Dark Elf Team rating bloat~ How to manage it?

[whitetiger]

I agree. don't lose the 5 AG guy. He makes a great catcher. He basically ignores the first tackle zone on an accurate pass. Your thrower can pitch him the ball, then he moves out of trouble and hands the ball to a faster player for the score. Makes for easy 2 turn TDs. Give him leap and he becomes a threat all by himself.

[Jural]

I don't generally have problems with Chainsaws. What I'm trying to say is that I don't want to carry a TV of 2,500,000 and give up a chainsaw to the TV 2,400,000k dwarf teams!

I understand that lower TV teams will pick the chainsaw because:

1) It's good value for the money

2) It deals with Blodge in ways that require a lot of team development to do otherwise.

The other advice seems sound. Replace the weaker linemen with runners, always keep 100k in the bank, lose the assassin because he is useless.

I'm debating whether I really want to have that much AV 7 out there, so Im not sure about the runners for linemen thing. My offense isn't having problems! But I do find myself down players late sometimes... and maybe the runners would help there.

So with all of that in mind, how many players is optimum for a Dark Elf side? 14 or 13? I always felt 14 was the correct number- anyone have experience with a longterm team fielding more or less?

[whitetiger]

I've played DE for years, and I think you'd be better served with 14 anyway. You're going to be giving away a lot of inducements to a lot of developed teams anyway, and if they're taking a chainsaw player instead of rerolls and babes, they're just out to hurt you. So, you'll need that player anyway, plus the fact that there's so many bash teams in your league. And I agree that you don't really need a runner. You have enough potential for a throwing game anyway. Keep the 8 AV players and just hammer on. Just lose the weaker linemen, especially the hurt ones. Keep your full roster of blitzers and witches.

[Cramy]

In your league, 14 would be what I would do. In a softer league, 13 can be fine.

You don't need the runners, and they are AV7. But they move 7 instead of 6. Depends on you style of play I guess.

[wesleytj]

I'm debating whether I really want to have that much AV 7 out there, so Im not sure about the runners for linemen thing.

If it makes you feel better, think of it as replacing the assassin with the runner. That's AV7 for AV7, after all...

The idea is not that you suddenly become a passing team because you have a runner. The idea is to give him sure hands and make him your primary ballcarrier. If he never ever uses Dump Off, it's a GOOD thing, but it's not a bad emergency skill to have if disaster (or a wardancer) strikes.

[Jural]

I'm debating whether I really want to have that much AV 7 out there, so Im not sure about the runners for linemen thing.

If it makes you feel better, think of it as replacing the assassin with the runner. That's AV7 for AV7, after all...

The idea is not that you suddenly become a passing team because you have a runner. The idea is to give him sure hands and make him your primary ballcarrier. If he never ever uses Dump Off, it's a GOOD thing, but it's not a bad emergency skill to have if disaster (or a wardancer) strikes.

That's probably what I would have done... but my assassin got a bounty put on him before his first match played, and I'm waiting for someone to kill him off naturally But he just keeps surviving. I may need to pull the plug, or have him go toe to toe with my next opponent's Ogre all game.

[whitetiger]

Well, there you go. He goes toe-to-toe with an Ogre, keeps the Ogre tied up the whole game, the Ogre gets nailed or your Assassin does. Sounds like a plan.

And when you get the runner, give him pass or sure hands first. Depends on how you want to take him and the team. I have found (because I've experimented a bit with it, giving him dodge and such first) that those are the first skills you want on him. Ball handling skills first.

[Jural]

Success! My assassin spent 3 turns trying to stab a human blitzer, then was knocked over and killed! It was brilliant. Luckily, I won as well.

I've bought a runner, and was thinking of Pass for the first skill, Nerves of Steel or Sure Hands as the second skill, and then seeing how I was using him.

[Andromidius]

I'd take Nerves of Steel first, personally. Dark Elf Runners are ball carriers and retrievers, and being able to pick up the ball in the middle of a brawl would be very handy.

~Andromidius

[MVening]

Problem is, NoS no longer (never?) applies to picking up the ball. Just passing, catching and intercepting.

Of course, you may have meant retrieving by scatterbounce, but I've seen the belief it applies to pick up used sometimes.

Morgan Vening

[Jural]

I'd take Nerves of Steel first, personally. Dark Elf Runners are ball carriers and retrievers, and being able to pick up the ball in the middle of a brawl would be very handy.

~Andromidius

Here's my thinking- with one Runner, my odds of getting off a quick pass are 2/3 (with a single player in my tackle zone, as always happens on a dump-off.) That's with no skills. 1/6 chance of fumbling

With NoS, the odds go to 5/6, but still a 1/6 chance of fumbling.

With Pass, the odds go to 8/9 if I want to have an accurate pass, or 35/36 if I just want to avoid the fumble!

Where NoS really shines is that the runner can be both the thrower or the target and avoid tackle zones... but I think at first I want to just concentrate on getting the ball away.

Plus, Pass helps on other plays too, not just when I'm dumping off. Hopefully I'll never need NoS on normal plays.

[FischerKing]

I would also say pass before NoS anytime, eaven though a good way to counter dump off is to put alot of tacklezones on the thrower or the intended recievers. Pass is in general a more usefull skill, as you then will have a player who can pass the ball in general.

To my knowledge NoS have never worked on pick ups. In LRB 4 it didnt.

[whitetiger]

Nerves of Steel is a handy skill to have, I use it on players I tend to throw to a lot. But Pass is a better first skill in a league for a runner. Among other things, it'll help get him to 16 SPP faster and then you can debate NOS or Sure Hands.

[Cramy]

On the runner, pass first, then accurate. How often will your ball carrier get blitzed by a mob of players? Usually you have a cage, and somebody leaps in to hit you, or there is a hole in your cage and one or two players make it through.

So if it is a lone blitzers hitting you, accurate is a useful as NoS. Same effect.

During normal game play, accurate is always useful. It takes effect anytime you pass the ball.

So you need to ask yourself how often you think you will need to throw the ball when standing in more than 1 TZ compared to throwing the ball in 1 or less TZs?

Hence, Pass then Accurate.

Once you have those two skills, then there are a few options depending on your play style. Dodge is always good on this guy. I've heard of people taking Safe Throw to avoid the interception attempt when using Dump-Off, but I don't think I'd go that route. Sure Hands could be good as well. I've heard of Catch on both Runners so that they can dump-off to each other. Sounds a bit odd, but never tried it. I'd take Dodge, then Sure Hands, especially if there are strip ballers in your league.

[whitetiger]

I tend to only get 1 runner. Then it's Pass, Sure Hands, dodge, in that order. He'll tend to throw 3 or 4 passes a game, and with the odd TD, MVP, whatever thrown in, within 6 or 7 games, he'll have all the SPPs he needs to be a good thrower. And, if you really want him to be good, exchange the dodge for accurate. And, of course, should he get a stat increase, take it. +MA or +AG is always a help.