This article is the result of a fellow Duelmasters manager asking me how to efficiently go about the business of killing. He stated that I was "the resident expert" on the Duelmasters Round Table (an e-mail chat group) and was therefore the person to come to for tips. Well, this got me thinking, and the reply that I sent to him is a subset of this full-fledged article.
As for being an "expert," all I can say is that I hold the record for most kills in Alastari with any one stable. As of the end of January, Merlin's Lot in Sibikhas took the title with a record of 598-506-67. The previous holder of the title was the infamous Death Squad of Zukal, but their overall record is 629-524-66, so my kill percentage is somewhat better, having the same number of kills in 49 less fights.
So, for all of you who want to strike constant fear in the hearts of your weak opponents, here's my tips:
2) You have to be offensive. There's no getting around it. You have to run with at least a 7 kill desire, and, while I can safely say that I got most of my kills running with a 9 or 10 KD, I also feel that I could have avoided more than a few losses by toning that down a little. There is a big trade-off here; raising KD means more kills, but it can also mean less wins. With a 10 KD, when your warrior is on the ropes, he'll be way too berserk to even care. I now normally run at 6 or 7 KD, and go no higher than 9, but the rate that I've been getting kills has noticeably decreased.
3) Point #2 does NOT mean that your warrior must be one of the offensive styles! Defensive warriors can be excellent killers as well, most notably, parry-lungers, parry-strikers and wastes. Total parries and parry-ripostes just don't seem to have the knack. Still, though, you can't just change the KD on your normal defensive strategy and hope to kill. It's just not that easy. You'll have to completely modify your warrior's strategy to get that killing edge. This means high offensive effort, but not necessarily high activity. I've had two parry-strikers that were great killers, but I ran them 7-7-7, which is out of the bounds of their potential favorite numbers. Parry-lungers are better suited to killing because they can be run (relatively successfully) just like lungers. There was a recent discussion on the Duelmasters Roundtable concerning parry-strikers that said that many managers run rookie PSs 10-10-6. Well, how much different is 10-10-9, apart from the SLIGHT potential for more losses, as stated in Point #2? Not that much, if you're looking to get that eagerly sought after "Belly-Up Silhouette" on the mantle of your stable's guildhouse....
4) Your killer will have to do some damage. This does not NECESSARILY mean that he will have to do at least good damage (although, for my killers, I prefer at least great damage). What it DOES mean is that, if your warrior does only normal damage, he's going to have to hit A LOT to get that kill intent statement! There's nothing more pleasing than having your tremendous damage basher send one shot to an opponent's head, get the death intent statement, and one more swing and the undertaker's already reserving a slab. This just cannot be accomplished with a normal damage warrior, and is particularly difficult for any warrior that doesn't do at least great damage.
5) Obviously, to maximize your killing potential, you have to aim at vitals. I prefer the head, although many of my lungers have gotten their kills aiming for the abdomen. Also, a high deftness will greatly help in this regard, because it does no good to aim at the head and hit your opponent five times in five different locations. Sure, you'll get the win, but you'll have a much more difficult time getting the kill, unless you get lucky and that last swing before the death intent connects with one of your opponent's vital body parts.
6) Killing means weeding out the worthless and weak. One of my favorite sayings is "If a warrior dies, he wasn't meant to live." Of course, I use this to justify going after warriors that I BELIEVE just don't deserve to live, like that 2-6 ripper, or that 6-7 aimed blow who has gotten some lucky challenges through to defensives, but is finally going to have his luck catch up with him. Or any warrior belonging to a member of the Ivory League... You have to be merciless to enjoy killing, and to go after the warriors that deserve to die. That's the Dark Circle way. Also, when you have a chance to REALLY get a slam dunk on an opponent (and there is no better example than having a champion bloodfeud an initiate), then, by all means, crank up that KD all the way to 10. You KNOW you're going to win, and your chance of killing is maximized. Go for it.
7) When in doubt, at least challenge warriors you know that you can HIT, not necessarily BEAT, just HIT HARD! This tip is really only good for warriors that do at least great damage. The more damage you do, the more likely that one hit will be all you'll need (especially if you hit where you're aiming, as I stated in Point #5, as hitting the head HARD could cause the stun that could win you the fight, or hitting the legs HARD could cause that all-important knockdown). If there's a great lunger out there, but he's slow and you've sent him desperate with one shot from your faster striker before the lunger's dodge strategy kicked in and he pounded you, challenge him again and you'll be more than likely to send him desperate again! Maybe you got a bad roll last time. Maybe you'll get a really good roll this time....
8) Being on the receiving end of a bloodfeud can be a good way to get those slam-dunks as well. If you kill a warrior who comes from a relatively new team, or from a team that has no warriors above yours (or, at least, no warriors that can beat yours), then you're home free. Crank up the KD and stack up the opposition like cordwood as they try to revenge their pathetic loser.
9) As we all know, the younger a warrior is, the more likely he is to kill when he wins or die when he loses. Therefore, the tips on challenging that I have just stated should practically be ignored for any warrior in the Challenger Adepts or higher. This does not mean that Champions don't die; far from it! Sibikhas recently lost its Duelmaster, and arenas like Sunset and Talcama (where bloodlust reigns supreme) have at least one 10+ fight warrior dying practically every turn. Even warriors with 20 or more fights can be fairly regularly found on any arena's dead list. But, it's in the rankings of the Initiates where you will find most of the dead, and adjusting your strategy on the hopes of killing a Champion is almost always futile. So, if you want to kill, you should "make hay while the sun shines", as it were, and try to get in those notches on your hilt within your warrior's first ten fights.
10) If you're just looking to pad your kill total, then you should challenge the DA with any of your warriors that graduates to ADM. I would estimate that at least half of the warriors that do this win the fight, and even if you lose it, all you lose are the skills that you may have gotten if you had fought a regular opponent. You also don't have to worry about a bloodfeud if you DO get the kill. I must admit, though, that I am pretty proud of the fact that my kill total in Sibikhas has NOT been inflated via this manner. Just think how many kills I would have had if I had sent all two dozen of my Lord Protectors to the DA on their last fight! Maybe over eighty!
11) As you may well know, there are many managers out there (many of whom call themselves Andorians) who believe that killing is bad and wrong and all sorts of other judgmental stuff that has nothing to do with combat. As for me, I couldn't care less whether you want to kill my warriors (or anybody else's) or not. Just don't tell me what to do. This is also the Dark Circle way. Unfortunately, many of these Andorians have banded together in certain arenas, where the idea of "killing without remorse" is heavily frowned upon. It is in these arenas where, if you kill and enjoy it (and even
12) Finally, and above all, when that manager of your victim DOES threaten to wipe out your entire stable, you have to be prepared to die yourself. Some studies have shown (to varying degrees) that raising your KD also increases your own likelihood of death. I'm not convinced of this, but I'm not denying it, either. And, of course, when you kill, you invite a bloodfeud upon your killer, and the opposing manager will have all of the bloodfeuding advantages that I have mentioned above. Accept that death is part of the game, and relish the fresh rookies you receive and the chances to be bloodfeuded, just as much as you relish the kill.
Well, that's about all I can think of. I hope to see all of the undertakers throughout Alastari very busy! Best of Luck in your headhunting!
-- Merlin, Warden of the Dark Circle