Strikers are very effective in basic, but have little use in Advanced Duelmasters. This is due to the nature of their primary strength: decise. Young strikers win or lose in the opening few swings. In basic, few styles can match the strikers' lightning opening or avoid his initial attack. However, in higher levels of the game most fighters have sufficient defenses to avoid the striker's relatively low attack rating, and the striker has little to fall back on.
A striker should be designed to maximize his initial decise (speed) or alternately his ability to learn decise (wit). Strikers have little use for constitution or will. Here are a few comments on which stats are good for strikers:
ST: 9-17, the higher the better. ST 9 is required for SC, but unless you have a big fighter you shouldn't settle for less than 11. CN: unnecessary. SZ: up to 14 is great. A good striker will have at minimum 21 points between ST and SZ (this is the average combination for being able to do good damage with a blow.) WT: the higher the better. 17 and 21 are great cutoffs. You want to learn on average 2 to 3 skills per turn to maintain your decise advantage over other styles. WL: 9-13 is all that's required. Longer-term strikers (designed for relevance past invite to Advanced) might benefit from a higher WL, but in my opinion such a design would be better as a different style. SP: 9+. The higher your WT, the less initial SP you'll need. But for a striker, speed is life. Spend lavishly on your striker's speed. DF: 11+. This is also a good stat for a striker to have. DF 11 allows the use of most weapons without coordination penalty, and provides valuable attack skills. Here's my idea of some great strikers: 13-4- 9-21-11- 9-17 11-4-11-17-11-15-15As for strategy, use weapons that are fast and do decent damage (SC, LO, SS, BS, QS, WH are some of the better ones,) and wear little or even no armor. Run hard, with high offense and activity levels. The decise tactic is well suited to strikers, and use it whenever the opponent doesn't know you're coming. Beware that the Decise tactic can be countered by the use of a Responsive tactic. It's sort of a rock- paper-scissors thing. Decise tactic has advantage over no tactic or any tactic other than Response. Any tactic other than Decise has advantage over Response tactic. Response tactic has advantage over Decise tactic.
Below is a list of weapons "well-suited" to use by strikers, and the minimum stats required for effective use. My thanks to Pagan and other number-crunchers who have made this information available. -- Jorja
Note that the strikers can use every weapon plus the small shield effectively. This is the only style that has so broad a selection. Twenty-one weapons.
Battleaxe ST 15 SZ 9 WT 9 DF 9 Mace ST 13 SZ - WT 3 DF 5 Broadsword ST 11 SZ - WT 9 DF 7 Maul ST 15 SZ 9 WT 5 DF 7 Dagger ST - SZ - WT 7 DF 7 Morningstar ST 13 SZ - WT 7 DF 13 Epee ST 7 SZ - WT 15 DF 15 Quarterstaff ST 11 SZ 9 WT 11 DF 11 Fist - presumably any Scimitar ST 9 SZ - WT 11 DF 11 Greataxe ST 13 SZ WT 9 DF 11 Shortspear ST 9 SZ - WT 7 DF 7 Greatsword ST 15 SZ 9 WT 9 DF 11 Shortsword ST 5 SZ - WT 11 DF 3 Halberd ST 17 SZ 9 WT 9 DF 9 Small shield ST 5 SZ - WT 5 DF 5 Hatchet ST 5 SZ - WT 3 DF 7 Warflail ST 11 SZ - WT 7 DF 5 Longspear ST 11 SZ 9 WT 5 DF 9 Warhammer ST 13 SZ - WT 5 DF 7 Longsword ST 11 SZ - WT 13 DF 11
-- Sir Boyd, Elanti Hunters (102, 107)