And now before I take my leave for good, a (not so) brief lesson from the Paradox Academy: An Idiot's Guide to Aimed Blow Fighters.
Aimed Blow fighters are absolutely fascinating. When I first started studying the arts, these fighters were the ones that were known to just stand around aimlessly for no reason and get killed.
Well, sometimes they still are. But they're also arguably also the most dominant fighting style amongst both Rookies and the highest echelons of elite competition.
Kumiko is the first truly successful arena Aimed Blow (AB) fighter I've managed. But since I've seen what she can do, I've begun to manage several other fairly successful ABs. She's not anywhere near the ideal AB. Nor did she perform as well in Korvan Saleh as she has since coming to Noblish Island.
So, what is it about ABs that can make them such formidable fighters?
Like I've said before, I'm no authority when it comes to success at this game. But I have learned some things and I'll do my best to try to make sense of it.
First a few general rules of thumb.
Design your ABs with high deftness. ABs tend to learn a lot of Attack skills, so focus on how to keep them alive when they're defending themselves. And ABs gain defensive bonuses when fighting unarmed!
Regarding Deftness (DF). ABs start with double the attack skills from deftness compared to other styles. So if you see a Roll UP (RU) with a possible 17 or 21 DF, you might want to look at building an AB. Aside from that, ABs are so versatile that there are no hard and fast rules for which other stats to focus on.
Their strength (STR) can be anything. They tend to be so accurate with their strikes that they almost seem to ignore armor, making little damage less of an issue for them than for most other styles. STR is also a component of endurance, which is also something ABs tend not to need as much of. STR also gives you attack skills, which ABs learn at a pretty high rate. So aside from potentially greater damage and endurance and a few extra attack skills, the main reason to raise an AB's STR is to be able to carry heavier armor. And seeing as ABs can stand around and take unnecessary hits sometimes, heavy armor can be very helpful in keeping them alive.
Constitution (CON) is probably one of the most important stats for an AB. Combined with STR, it helps decide a warriors endurance and carrying capacity. But more importantly, it's the greatest factor in determining hit points. Frail ABs don't have long lives.
Size (SZ) doesn't matter... that much. Shorter ABs get bonuses to defensive skills, so that's definitely desirable. But larger ABs can do a lot more damage, which is more desirable in the higher levels of the game.
Wit (WT) and Will (WL) are both important, but can vary widely in range. ABs don't expend a lot of energy, so you can successfully design them with high WT and low WL. But they are also incredibly flexible fighters that can win with a couple of quick counter strikes, so low WT high WL designs are also very effective. It's better to have at least one of these stats be at least 15, but generally, the higher the better. 15, 17, or 21 in either of these stats will go a long way toward insuring success, even more so if both are higher.
Speed (SP) doesn't really matter. A slow AB needs more CON. A fast AB will hopefully either strike first, or manage to dodge and riposte.
And we've already gone over DF, the most important stat for ABs. You want 21 DF if you can manage it, but 17 isn't bad either.
Some AB designs that I've been successful with:
17-16-3-3-21-3-21 (this is the legendary "Jalon" design) 17-12-3-21-7-3-21 6-9-7-17-15-9-21 6-13-11-17-15-5-17So now, how do you run them?
Well, that's the million dollar question. But here are a few tips to get you started till you find what works best for you.
ABs are an offensive style, so let's start there. Arguably, they are more of a hybrid offensive, but let's break it down a bit.
Weapons and armor.
I tend to like to put them in as much armor as they can carry without over encumbering them. Those 17 STR designs are putting on APA F, whereas the 6 STR weaklings are either wearing ALE H or APL L.
There's room to experiment with weapons, specially against slower, more heavily armored opponents. But FI (bare hands) or FI with an offhand parrying weapon tends to be effective against lighter armored opponents.
It's believed that ABs fighting with no weapons at all get a Defensive (DEF) skill bonus. This can make defense learner ABs incredibly difficult to hit (and eventually almost impossible to hit at the highest levels of the game). So, if my AB has a decent DEF rating, I will run them with no weapons to maximize that bonus.
If my AB doesn't have a very high DEF rating, or if they are really good Parry (PAR) learners, I'll send them into battle with main-hand FI (open handed), and an off-hand Dagger (DA), Short Sword (SH), or Scimitar (SC) depending on their strength and their opponent's armor. Using weapons in your off-hand seem to provide a PAR bonus (some weapons better than others), but you also tend to swing them, doing more damage than your bare hands. The other added benefit of using an off-hand weapon is that you don't need to meet the WT requirement to use the weapon effectively. Against slower, heavily armored opponents, I'll usually carry a single main-hand weapon. SH, SC, or LO most commonly.
I prefer to use the off-hand method early on for my ABs, till I know how well they can defend themselves.
As far as strategies go, early on in their careers, I start by treating them as pure offensives. I like running 10-10-x in the first minute with no tactics to see if they can jump their opponents. If they never get the first strike, I might drop them down to 8-10-x in the first minute in hopes of conserving a little energy, giving them a little better chance of dodging or parrying their opponent's blow, then with enough offensive effort to swinging back and keep swinging. Once their skill sets start to develop, I'll experiment a lot more with rhythms. Decisiveness learners will still run hot, whereas the ones who always get jumped will run as counterpunchers instead.
Avoid Bashers, Lungers, Slashers, and some Strikers early on. The ones with higher Attack ratings and more speed than you will send you to an early grave. Eventually you'll leave them all in your dust. Till then, challenge TPs and other slower defensive types. I've taken down 21 CON beasts in full armor with just a couple swings with my 6 STR ABs before.
ABs don't naturally favor the Dodge tactic, but I often use it in desperation regardless. It may give them other undesirable side effects, but it tends to keep them alive a little longer, so it's worth it.
Kumiko had a completely unremarkable 9-7-0 showing at Korvan Saleh. But that was before I learned some of these tips I've shared with you today. Hopefully what I've learned since then can help you on your journey to find glory on the sands.
I thank you for your time, and hope you've found my ramblings informative. You are always welcome at the Paradox Academy. You need only ask, and I will respond as promptly as possible... as will our billing department.
Humbly yours,
Master Paradox