My opponents of style ___ keep beating me, but my representatives of that style lose! Manager ___ seems to dominate with style ___! What style is the best?!? What style should I make my warrior?
These burning questions come up over and over again. And while it is true that not all styles are equal, there are good reasons to use (and become proficient with) all 10 fighting styles. This article hopes to demystify some of questions above.
First, it is useful to understand that winning warriors win by being a pure offensive (and these are the easiest to master), a pure defensive, or a hybrid of the two. Below, I list the styles in approximate ease to learn and succeed with. The 'big four' weapons (BA, BS, LO, SC) are often considered the best four weapons in the game (weapons are also not equal)
I try to give an overview of all strengths and weaknesses, but realize that the higher your warriors advance in that game, the more the game favors attack and defense skills. But during your warrior's career in basic, all of the skills are fairly well balanced.
When I talk about tourney success, I am talking about winning it all! AB's, L's, and STK's win more tourneys than the rest of the styles. Also realize that these descriptions are intended to help you know how to design to a style's strengths and hide their weaknesses.
Strikers -- The premiere pure offensive style. They learn decise and attack. Their starting skills are relatively low (most notably their attack), but they conserve endurance well and can use virtually every weapon. They are one of the strongest tourney styles in basic. However because of their mostly one sided nature, they are not as strong past graduation. They cannot be bonused in attack.
Total Parries -- The ultimate pure defensive warrior, but by virtue of their defenses also make fine hybrid warriors. They learn defense and parry. Starting skills other than defense and parry are poor and have the worst attack of any style. Moderate endurance conservation and can use all of the 'big four' well suited. Usually considered a 2nd tier tourney style and the large numbers of AB's in tourneys these days makes life harder for TP's. However many managers have strategies and designs to use for TP's to minimize their vulnerabilities to the most popular style around. TP's have shown themselves competitive at virtually all levels of the game except the very top (Years away for a new warrior). They cannot be bonused in parry.
Bashers -- I call them the poor man's striker. They are solid pure offensives and the most popular pure offensive style to use for Tank Hybrids. They learn attack and decisiveness. They start with very high offensive skills and very low defensive skills. I put them in the middle for endurance conservation and have the worst weapon selection of any style, unable to use any of the 'big four' well suited. They are one of the weakest tourney styles at virtually all levels, but are better than average against AB's early on. Past graduation, their usefulness is limited. They cannot be bonused in decise or riposte.
Lungers -- The ultimate hybrid, but can be offensives or defensives. They learn init and defense. They have the highest attack and defense in the game and the highest overall starting skills. They burn endurance fast and have access to the LO. A top tier tourney style at all levels (though perhaps never the favorite). They were once the dominant style past graduation.
Wall of Steels -- Strong as hybrids or defensives. They learn init, parry and attack. They are tied with lungers for highest overall starting skills. They burn endurance fast, SC, BA and BS are well suited. They can be competitive at most tourney levels but are 2nd tier. They can only be bonused in attack or parry.
Slasher -- Another pure offensive style, harder to play because they don't learn decise as fast as other offensives. They learn init and attack. A high attack style. Somewhere between middle and high for endurance burn, they have access to all of the 'Big Four.' They have been successful at most tourney levels but at best can be considered a 2nd tier tourney style.
Parry-Strikers -- Can run as any of offensive, defensive, or hybrid. They learn parry and decise. They have very low starting skills, including attack. They conserve endurance perhaps better than any other style and can use all the 'Big Four.' They are shunned by tourney managers because of their poor learning in basic and their typical horrible favorites in ADM. I rank them higher than the bottom three because in basic, parry and decise are very, very useful and the other three are harder to make win early on.
Aimed-Blows -- Can run as any of offensive, defensive, or hybrid. They learn attack and riposte. With 21 deftness, they are second only to L's in best attack/defense. They conserve endurance perhaps equal or better than PS's and can use LO and SC. However they can use FI and gain a bonus to defense skills, making them the strongest style past graduation. They are one of the big three tourney styles, but as strikers dominate at the lower levels, aimed blows dominate at the upper levels (and rookies). They cannot be bonused in decisiveness. What makes them hard to run early on is their tendency to learn so much attack and riposte (which without other skills are not a pure winning formula).
Parry-Ripostes -- Great hybrids, ok defensives. They learn riposte, parry, and attack. Their skills are frustratingly low, especially in attack and defense. That said, they are in the moderate area of endurance conservation and can use LO and SC. Their best tourney success is in the lower tourneys, preying on strikers, but again, 2nd tier at best. One of the harder styles to master, especially because there aren't many good wind up strategies for them (every one seems to run optimally slightly differently).
Parry-Lungers -- Mostly run as hybrids, have succeeded as defensives or offensives. They learn initiative and parry. Overall, their skills are strong, one of the higher attack skill styles. They burn endurance like slashers and have access to LO and SC. Traditionally one of the better styles in upper tourneys, not nearly as many of them are being run in today's game because of their difficulties in basic and are often considered a poor man's version of the lunger.
--Assur