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View Full Version : Breaking Down the Fight (long alert)



Smallz
08-11-2021, 01:25 AM
Greetings Fellow Managers,

It is I, The Small One, diving into another guide.

This one will be Long and in dept, it will look into some complicated ideology, and some intricate theories, and findings. Please, take time to read over it. Reply, respond and critique, opinions are warranted and wanted.

So, lets get into this.

First things first.

I am going to assume you understand the headers and intro match-up stuff and jump right into the fight.


A fine mist lays on the arena floor as the battle begins.
R O U N D 1
>> THRILLERBILLER SWITCHES TO STRATEGY 1
>> MAXTRA SWITCHES TO STRATEGY 1


Ok so you have both started in your on start strategy, which will be called 1 by the fight breakdown.

At this point a large calculation is made. Its an initiate calculation, but there is more to it. I am going to call it the "jump" calculation.

First Styles are checked. What do i mean by styles. I mean when you goto fight strategy and your pick your fighting styles, Slash, lunge, and so forth and so on.

Defensive styles have a huge detriment against getting the jump, and typically only do so against slower defensive styles.

Super aggressive styles have a bonus to getting the jump, especially against defensive styles. Berserk, Strike, etc.

Next, Encumbrance is checked. A heavy fighter will be slower to jump then a light one, plate is hard to jump in, until much later in your career.

We can break Encumbrance into 3 sub sets.

green = not encumbered
yellow = Marginally encumbered
red/orange = Overburdened.

Heavier is slower remember that. if you a parry style, or tank style, this doesn't matter to much to you here.

Next Agility is checked against your opponents agility. Modified by your opponents pressence.

Next your weapon speed/size is checked, versus their weapon speed/size.

This gives your your Jump rating versus theirs. Some styles this is a good thing, some it doesn't really matter. But, now we know how that is done.

First attack is calculated and made.

THRILLERBILLER slowly paces around MAXTRA. # 1
THRILLERBILLER strikes out with his FIST and overextends himself. #2
THRILLERBILLER aims for MAXTRA's torso # 3
Tap to the arm pricks some interest but not a lot else. (+17 Damage) #4


lets look at a coupple things that are important here.
line 1. Give us the "speed" of your strategy.

Rememeber our AL/BL levels from another post.

1-2 very low
3-4 low
5-6 moderate
7-8 high
9-10 very high

Line one shows us that this strategy is slow and malicious.

1-2 Slowly plans, plots his next
3-4 Carefully Maneuvers, slowly paces
5-6 Dances around the area, leaps to and for Etc
7-8 Jumps around, leaps around, races frantically
9-10 Wild fire, Furiously, flies

so we can see by looking at line one, that this strategy is most likely 3-4 activity level, possibly 1-2 but not as likely.

line 2 shows us our " attack" line.
in this example, a poor attack was used for the type of weapon ( fist are axes) We also can see that the attack did not work very well. The wording Overextends himself shows a very poor attack. This line can tell us alot about a fight. It can hint the weapon styles, it can show you if your close on your run speeds and blood lust. How you ask? well. lets look deeper.

Fumbled attacks tend to happen if a weapon is unsuited, you bash with a epee for instance, or if our Blood lust is way to high. This can result in dropping weapons, falling down, an so forth.

Poor attacks will say things like. Stumbled, overextends, poorly attacks. things that lead you into thinking it was not done very well.

A normal attack might look something like this

DIDMONT tries to puncture his enemy.

in this example we see an attack that works, it is proper for the style, but its is pretty plain, weapons that are not well suited for a style will attack like this alot. As will warriors with not suited run speeds.

Critical attacks are much more in dept and the descriptives are much better and might look like this

DIDMONT whirls his cruel HEROIC KRIS in a deadly arc toward SADWYRM

notice how much more descriptive the attack is. When you start seeing large amounts of these kinda of attacks, it a good sign your in the right ballpark with Bloodlust and weapons choice.

line 3 may not always occur, it only happens when your aiming check is successful. But in this case you can see, we are aiming for the torso.

line 4 is your damage line.

Damage Types

White - normal light damages
orange - solid hits
red- critical hits

The color of the attack is influenced by your opponents Defense, and armor

The more successful the attack the brighter the color. Landing more critical or red attacks is a sign of again, getting closer on your weapons and run speed.

critical attacks might look something like this

DIDMONT connects with his TRIDENT OF UAR-TO creating cyclopean wounds! (+208 Damage)


Now there are two other lines in here that we do not see in this example, one is a bright blue line which indicates an ability was used.

DIDMONT tries to fake SADWYRM out with a few twirls of his weapon! (-Feint-)

the other is a grey line which indicates either a dodge or parry.

But a quick parry by GEMALYNN stops any and all damage.
GRAY EAGLE yells in frustration as ALJAHAR evades the strike.

this is also some other things that might show up line a green line for armor penetration and so forth


Now, why in the world would i go into all this basic information, that you probably already knew? Well here is why. there is A LOT of information we can gain from these "hints"


So lets take Aljahar as an example, Aljahar is a Shadow Dancer Shadow Gladiator. So, what I want to do is find a run rhythm, that suits her style. How do I know I am am running the right rhythms? well lets look closer at some of her rounds.

ELARYA hurtles like wild fire around her opponent.
ELARYA looks to cripple ALJAHAR with her MASTERWORK TRIDENT.
ALJAHAR spins out of the way.

So here we see a dodge, which is what we want in this style. So far, so good.

ALJAHAR moves with unbridled energy.
ALJAHAR sneaks in an off handed strike.
ALJAHAR glides under an attack and strikes.
A ample wound is opened on GAERNOK's head! (+27 Damage)

Ah, so here we see a Riposte, which means a dodge, or parry then a counter strike. This is exactly what we are looking for in this style, which I call a "parry-reposite" shadow. So we know we are on the right track with run speeds.

in the next example the gladiator is a "kill shot" Rampage.

JOPHIEL carefully designs her strategy.
JOPHIEL holding off until the perfect opening lashes out with her PRIMEVAL EPEE OF THE BLOOD GODS.
JOPHIEL smiles after the titanic hit to NOOBITERRIFIC's forearm! (+88 Damage)

The second line tells us, that "kill shot" is being actively used, so we are on the right path with that run speed.


ok that is it for now, this is a basic run down of how reading a fight can help you determine how your strategies are being in acted. Due to the fact this is already long, I am going to stop here. But, please, not this is just the tip of the iceberg on the subject. However, maybe it is enough to get you an ideal as to what to start looking for in your fights.

Evildog
08-11-2021, 06:45 PM
I quite like the breakdown you have done, it is very detailed and helpful to anyone who hasn't extensively studied the game. However you did forget one thing: Purple text on an attack, being Armor Deflections. Armor Deflections from what I can tell are determined by armor values and defense values, which can be modified by styles. Block chance will also trigger armor deflects.

This is a great intro on fight studying and analysis. Thank you for your post, and I hope to see more.

Smallz
08-11-2021, 10:57 PM
Oh nice catch I did forget Armor deflection! Thanks for the encouragement!

Aphexii
08-13-2021, 11:56 AM
That's a very useful guide for new guys and a helpful reminder for everyone else. Reading your opponents strategy is most of the time the smarter move. Especially in the late game, most top glads change their strategies frequently based on the opponents close to them in rankings. Well can't complain about your guide, as you mentioned it is a condensed version. Hope you find time to write an extended guide with all those juicy details.

Smallz
08-13-2021, 02:31 PM
I will write a more indepth guide soon, and try to get it proofed and posted. But, it could turn out very long.

Evildog
08-13-2021, 04:58 PM
I look forward to seeing your guide Smallz. I am very curious as to what you have discovered, there is an immense amount of depth to this game that has hardly been touched on publicly.