The Consortium and I recently reviewed all the articles found at the bottom of the newsletter. We were both unhappy with them and so I've decided to start a new set of articles which I believe are more up to date with today's game.
Note that EVERY ARTICLE on how to make a certain style is loaded with biases and opinions. There is no absolute right and wrong. But I'll tell you how I've found success with various styles. My first undertaking is the Parry Riposte style.
My focus is how to make a hybrid Parry Riposte. (Scum Rippers are also very viable and I just TC'd the Freshman tourney with a classic scum ripper). Ever since I started playing I've liked the Parry Riposte style. But I wasn't very good with them until I learned what they 'really' need. I don't run an excess of them, but I believe I have a good understanding of them.
Interestingly, my minimums for a good parry riposte are fairly easy to describe. GOOD or better damage and enough Parry/Carry/Hit Points. Sure there are successful parry rips with less than good damage. But I don't run them (anymore). Parry Ripostes don't try to hold the initiative in general, so you need to make your attacks count. You also have a lower skill base than almost every other style. Even more reason to make your opportunities count with more damage. Sure I'd love to only run great damage and better, but that is too many points to invest in strength and size.
'Enough' Parry, Carry and Hit Points is harder to quantify. Note that strength gives parry and carry (and damage), so strength is a good place to invest points on your ripper. The breakpoints for strength that are relevant:
9: SS/SC 11: LO/LS 15: An additional parry skill 17: An additional parry skill 21: Two additional parry skillsIt is strongly believed that the wording of your encumbrance statement is only a marker. So more strength gives more encumbrance, irrespective of your statement. The encumbrance formula that many people use for how much weight you can carry is (STR + (LESSER OF STR/CON) - 6) Note that STR is VERY important in this formula.
Regardless, the idea of the parry/carry/HP theme is that you need to withstand your opponent's attack. I like to have at least two of the three on the higher side. Parry comes from STR/WIL/DFT and inverse of SIZ (3 size gives many parry skills, 21 takes away). Hit points come from CON, SIZ, and WIL (mostly CON).
There are many ways to make PR's, but this can get you started:
STR: 9+ CON: more is better, but hit points are a primary need SIZ: 14- (14 or less, you start losing parry at 15) WIT: any really, but more is better (see weapons, though) WIL: 7+ (lots of variation here. skill breakpoints: 7, 15, 17, 21) SPD: less is better (gives more points where you want them) DFT: 11+ (Some people say much higher, I am in the 11 deftness camp)As you see, I have very few stat requirements on my PR's. I'm all about the 4 things I mentioned above.
Weapons: SC & LO are the staple weapons. In case you don't remember or know, the stat requirements are: SC (9 str/11 wit/11 dft) and LO (11 str/13 wit/11 dft). SS & LS work for low wit Rippers. EP and SH are the only other weapons they are well suited too (and they have NO marginally suited weapons).
Armor: I've never had or tried to run a dodge based Ripper. They start with the lowest defense skill in the game, so parry is where it is generally at. So, armor is not a bad thing at all. Remember I mentioned you want carry ability?!? It is to wear armor! Most of my Rippers wear ASM or APM/APA. I will change it up and use ACM at times. And if my carry is low, I suffer with APL or ARM.
Strategy: Do NOT, usually, carry/wear too much armor and weapons. The penalties for over-encumbering your warrior are harsh, get worse and worse, and are not directly shown anywhere in the fight.
As far as rhythm, I highly, highly recommend running on your warrior's favorite rhythm. Unfortunately, you don't find those values until after your warrior graduates. So you have to guess. I usually start a warrior at 4-6 at the beginning of his career and then experiment until I find where he fights best. Rippers require more TLC that most styles. Send a striker out with 10-10 and he runs great. Some rippers do fantastic at 4-6 and some do not. You have to find what works for yours. If you aren't willing to tinker and optimize, they are not a great style to run and expect success with.
Examples: (these are the last 4 PR's I've graduated):
* She is a parry-riposte with ST=17 CN=15 SZ=10 WT=6 WL=21 SP=4 DF=11. (This is my Freshman TC. Really just a scum, but also meets my 'minimums') * He is a parry-riposte with ST=10 CN=11 SZ=7 WT=7 WL=21 SP=7 DF=21. (This is the warrior that made me say good damage is a requirement. With two strength trains, he still had normal damage. His basic career was mediocre because of it. He is training for a future bust in Freshmen and those 21's look very, very pretty now) * He is a parry-riposte with ST=21 CN=8 SZ=11 WT=21 WL=7 SP=3 DF=13. (I love this design and would use it again without hesitation) * He is a parry-riposte with ST=12 CN=12 SZ=4 WT=15 WL=21 SP=7 DF=13. (An earlier design. I wouldn't make this a ripper today. He did start with normal damage which made him great. But the chance (~40%) for little damage is too much for me to risk this setup on a PR in the future) * AND not my warrior, but... 17-14-4-17-7-8-17 PR (This is Daydream Believer, the best Parry Riposte ever to grace the sands. The numbers alone are not what made DDB great, but it is a fine example of how to make a PR. DDB TC'd Rookies, Adepts, Champions, and Challengers. Many people have copied DDB, even to some success, but it is unlikely we'll see a repeat, ever.)Advantages of the Parry Riposte Style: Very common to get LO & SC faves, rhythms are usually very runnable. Their natural learning is perfect. Good Rippers can be made from otherwise low value setups (think of low will setups)
Disadvantages of the Parry Riposte Style: Low skill base. You usually can't just give them a single strategy at the beginning and let them run forever on it. Often misunderstood.
Best Matchups: Rippers were intended to be the anti-striker style. That said, strikers are so good that while it is a good matchup, it isn't an auto-win by any means. Some Parry Ripostes are also good scum hunters.
Worst Matchups: Aimed Blows are the bane to almost every hybrid and defensive style in the game. Parry Ripostes are not exception to this. Slashers are also pretty tough, but nothing like Aimed Blows.