The Wall of Steel fighting style, or Waste as most of us in the Duel 2 Community like to refer to this Defensive Style, is not one of my favorite fighting styles in the game.
In fact, most of the Wastes that I have created and run have losing records, except for maybe 3 inactive Wastes, among a few inactive Wastes that also have losing records.
I can probably point out what does not work for me, rather than what does work for me, when endeavoring to manage winning Wastes.
My original Milchamah stable that fought here on the Noblish Island battle-arena sands over thirty-plus years ago had a Waste on the original roster, but unfortunately, she died before my Milchamah stable transferred to DM 33 after 10 turns of training.
Mool died with a 1-4-0, 7 record in DM 93, but it is no mystery as to why she died, since I had no clue what a Waste required at creation.
Wastes need Will, at the very least 15 and preferably 17 or 21, because of the endurance burn of this fighting style.
Alas, Mool was created with a 5 Will, but she did have a 17 Con, which is probably why I made her a Waste; in hopes of taking a licking, but she just failed to keep on ticking!
Mool was created as a 6-17-9-21-5-15-11 Waste and that 6 Strength just did not do her justice! If I were to create a warrior for DM 93 now, she would probably be made a Striker, but it would depend upon what type of mood that I was in when I decided to fill out the roll up sheet.
Mool was right-handed, a genius, was sensationally active, had little endurance, could take a lot of damage, could carry very little weight, was incredibly quick and elusive, did little damage and had an Expert in Initiative.
She just was not built right for the necessary armor and weapons that a competitive Waste needs for fighting and surviving on the battle-arena sands. She would have been better off as a Striker with those numbers, because a Striker fares better running without armor and she could have used a Dagger to complement her 15 Speed
I did have a Waste that died with a 7-4-0, 25 record that was created as a 13-12-13-17-15-3-11 Waste. He was right-handed, was very intelligent, was clumsy, was quick on his feet, did good damage and had an Expert in Initiative.
I would consider running this set of numbers again as a Waste in DM 93. But could also serve my purposes as a Striker, Basher, Lunger or even a Ripper; although I would prefer more Deftness for a Ripper, but I have run 11 Deftness Rippers in the past.
The same could be said for this 11-9-12-17-15-7-13 dead Waste who died with a 1-2-0, 5 record. He was right-handed, was very intelligent, was active, was slightly uncoordinated, could not take a lot of punishment, could not carry a lot of weight, was incredibly quick and elusive and did good damage.
This 9(1)-10-10-13-15-17-11 Waste died with a 4-9-0, 25 record. He was left-handed, was bright, was very quick and active, was highly coordinated, could not take a lot of punishment, could not carry a lot of weight, was very quick on his feet and had an Expert in Initiative.
This 15-5-14-15-11-13-11 Waste died with an 0-3-0, 5 record. He was right-handed, was intelligent, was very active, had poor endurance, was very frail, could not carry a lot of weight, was quick on his feet and did great damage.
Not sure how much better he would have fared as a Basher, but his career as a Waste was short lived
I also had two Wastes die in Blood Games and both never saw round six!
This 19(2)-20-3-9-21-3-11 Waste died in the Blood Games with a 2-3-0, 11 record. She was right-handed, was very slow and inactive, was clumsy, had awesome endurance, could take tremendous amounts of damage, could carry a tremendous weight, was quick on her feet and did good damage.
This 18-11-9-13-19-3-11 Waste died in the Blood Games with a 1-4-0, 7 record. He was ambidextrous, was bright, was clumsy, had great endurance, could carry a good amount of weight, was quick on his feet and did good damage.
I only had the good fortune of graduating one Waste who may have fought a few times in ADM, but she is currently inactive with an 18-11-0, 65 winning-record.
She is an 11(1)-9-6-13-21-9(1)-17 Waste. She is right-handed, is bright, is active, has a good endurance, can not take a lot of punishment, can not carry a lot of weight, is incredibly quick and elusive, has a Master in Initiative, has a Master in Attack, has a Master in Parry, has an Advanced Expert in Defense, favors the Quarterstaff, favors a Moderate Offensive Effort, favors a Low Activity Level, uses the Riposte tactic well and preferentially learns Initiative.
As I have mentioned before, most of my inactive Wastes in Basic Arenas have losing records, except for I think three of them. The following is my best inactive Waste with the best record.
She is an 11-16-7-15-17-5-13 Waste with a 6-0-1, 26 record. She is ambidextrous, is intelligent, is slightly uncoordinated, has great endurance, can take a lot of damage, is very quick on her feet and has an Expert in Parry
I might be inclined to make this one a Ripper or a Lunger in DM 93, but apparently, she did quite well during her early career in some long-forgotten Basic Arena, before the stable was transferred to a Transfer Arena, for some now unknown reason, a long, long time ago!
This has been a bit of a stroll down memory lane for me, gazing upon what I would refer to mostly an assortment of Wasted Wastes, but perhaps you may have gleaned some insights as to what to create, or not to create, regarding this particular fighting style.