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Ahem, sorry about that. In week one I talked about passing skills in some detail, but not all of them. There are still a few that are most certainly worth mentioning. They’re all a little different, but you know the format by now. Stick with me, I’m good, I promise, please don’t leave.
Each instalment we take a little lookie at those skills that are often overlooked in favour of optimisation. While it’s undeniable that the traditional top-tier skills are very powerful, there’s a whole aspect to the game that you might be missing by ruling these lower tiered skills out. Shall we have a butchers?
Hail Mary Pass
Who the heck is Mary Pass, and why is she worth Hailing?
Hail Mary Pass is basically your player going “Eh, bugger it” and huffing the ball as far as they can huff it. You chose a square anyone on the pitch, regardless of distance, and scatter the ball three times. Done! The pass is aways considered inaccurate, so no SPPs for you. However, it always succeeds on a 2+, regardless of TZs, Weather, Disturbing Presence, anything. So an agility 1 snotling in 8 Disturbing Presences with Very Sunny will still succeed on a 2+. Noice. I’ve heard of people taking it on a player that they keep near their ball-hunter. As soon as it pops loose, charge in there and huff it miles away. Because you ignore tackle zones all you need to do is pick it up and roll a 2+.
It’s great for getting yourself out of a tricky situation, as a desperation play. Teams like Khemri benefit from it, as they often don’t have the skills to deal with elves all up in their grill. There’s the argument for taking it on almost every team, as they can all benefit from it in different ways. Elves can keep their thrower waaay back in defense, only to lob the ball downfield into a sea of elves at the last minute. Dwarves and other slow teams can use it to negate the high-pressure elf cage that can threaten to overwhelm the ball carrier. Even stunties can use it, even if it’s just to annoy your opponent.
Of course, it’s still highly risky. Those three scatters have just as much chance of buggering up your plans as helping you. A way to help this is by having a few Diving Catchers spread about. Interesting, if you have Pass Block and a Hail Mary Pass is aimed to within three squares of you, you’re allowed to move to where the pass is aimed.
Another great strategy is using it when cage breaking. Knock the ball use, throw an elf in there, snatch the ball up and lob it! Works a treat versus slower teams that need that slow eight turn grind. Just imagine their frustration at seeing their beautiful cage split, only for the ball to be thrown twenty four squares downfield. Brings a tear to your eye.
Consider coupling it with Sure Hands and Pass to save on rerolls.
Amazingly, a player with Diving Catch has a 46.85% chance of the ball landing in a square s/he can attempt a catch in. More on that later…
If only the ball was made of metal, and your player had huge magnet hands. Speaking of which, I have a great idea for a new Magnet secret weapon. But more on that some other time.
The closest we can get at the moment is Diving Catch. DC lets you catch the ball if it lands in any of your tackle zones, provided it’s empty. It only applies to passes, kicks and Crowd throw-ins, so no bouncing balls. Few things worth making a note though:
- Firstly, as the +1 bonus to Catch rolls only applies to accurate passes to the square you are in, so catching a ball in an adjacent square is a straight agility test, so a human will catch it on a 4+. Interestingly though, if the pass is targetting to a square next to the DCer, and is accurate, then you get the +1 for it being an accurate pass, but no SPPs are earned.
- What is nice as well though is that Diving Catch gives you an extra +1 to catch accurate passes to the square you’re in, so a pass to a Human catcher with DC will be caught on a 2+, if the pass was accurate. Nice! This doesn’t apply to Hand-offs though.
- If two people try to use Diving Catch at the same time on the ball, they cancel each other out. Obviously it’s an optional skill, so if you have two players on the same team you can elect to not use it on one of them.
It couples very nicely with a number of skills.
- Obviously Catch gives you a reroll, which is tasty.
- Kick-off Return. Give a guy KoR and Diving Catch and the ball is almost guaranteed to be yours after the kick off. Again, couple it with Catch for more goodies.
- Hail Mary Pass. If you’re going to go down the difficult route of making the Hail Mary pass a viable option, Diving Catch is your best friend. It makes the chances of catching a HMP so much more likely, especially if you give it to two or three catchers. That way you can cover every potential landing square.
- Dump Off. If someone is dumping-off near you, you can use DC to extend their DO range by one square, but targetting a square next to a DCer. It’s also nice to get the option to catch it should the pass go askew.
Slann Catchers get this by default, as do a number of Stars, these being Quetzal Leap, J Earlice, Dolfar Longstride and Jordell Freshbreeze. Cool thing about Jordell – Agi 5 means he’s (normally) catching his Diving Catch balls on a 2+. Nice!
Consider giving it to dedicated catchers, if you find yourself throwing the ball often. The tricky balance is that teams that throw the ball already usually catch on a 2+. As with everything in this game, it comes down to how the rest of the team are set up.
Obviously couples nicely with Catch! Also with Kick Off Return and HMP/Dump-Off (on another piece).
Those who know me will know there are a few skills I’m a big fan of. While there may be some bias towards some of these skills, know that some are objectively amazing without any kind of downside. Dump off is one of these.
Ok, perhaps there’s a little smidge of bias…
Anyway I frigging love Dump Off. It’s a skill that can dramatically alter the way a drive plays out. First thing to remember is that all players are expendable. I play a lot of AV7 teams, so I’m used to getting pummelled. When you play squishy teams, you’re pretty much definitely going to feel the pain heavily, so in my opinion the skills that mean you can take those hits but still perform well are among the best. Block and dodge are all well and good, but a pow is a pow is a pow, and you’ll still go down sometimes. Skills like Side Step, Stand Firm and Dump-Off mean even if you go down you still get the final say.
So, on to the nitty-gritty. Dump-off means that if you’ve got the ball and you get hit, before the hit actually happens, you have the opportunity if you want to to make a quick pass. I say if you want to. I had a situation not too long ago where an Pro Elf catcher with Dump Off was being blitz-stabbed by Skitter. That was a hard decision! In case you were wondering, made the Dump Off, receiver fluffed the catch, it bounced onto an Underworld Blitzer who caught it and promptly buggered off (which I deserved!). You don’t have to pass to a player, you can pass to the floor, so long as it’s in Quick Pass distance. Let’s look at the downsides to this skill.
- Fumble. Even an Agi6 High Elf thrower is going to flop the pass on a 1 (well, a 1>1. He can use the Pass skill). A fumble is a fumble, and while you’re obviously not going to suffer a turnover (as it’s not your turn), the potential for suddenly not having the ball is nasty. And chances are there’s going to be at least one unhappy opponent standing right next to where it fell. To be honest though, if you’re in the position that your ball carrier is about to get swatted anyway, it might be too late to worry about that.
- Interceptions. While an interception is always unlikely (well not always, but you know), the threat is still real. It’s normally not as bad as suffering an interception in your own turn, but any situation that leaves the opponent with the ball instead of you is bad.
- The catch. There’s again always the chance that you’re going to fluff the catch, again leaving the ball on the floor (normally). Having a Catch or Pro skill lets you reroll this, but the chance is always there…
- If you’re not high Agi or are not rocking Nerves of Steel, it can become a little unreliable. A human thrower, for example, will succeed on a 4+ (3+ pass and one TZ). It’s worth considering this before you give someone the skill.
It’s worth bearing in mind that this is the best case scenario: Get hit, succeed on Pass roll, no interception, succeed on Catch roll. If the pass or catch goes awry, you’re in trouble. Well, not necessarily, but normally not in a good enough position that you were in. I think people are scared of this skill because it involved dice rolling, but the payoffs are incredible if you do it right. Enough of the bad stuff, here’s how to use it:
Give it to an elf and charge him up the pitch. Give him some support, but leave an obvious avenue of attack for your opponent. Your opponent will have to blitz him, else he’s asking you to score. Make the Dump Off throw to a nearby team mate, and run it in next turn. Verrrry hard to stop. No plan is foolproof however, bear that in mind!
Couples AMAZINGLY with Nerves of Steel, Pass and Safe Throw. There’s the argument between NoS and Accurate- Accurate is more useful in general in passing, and will provide the same bonus to Dump Off provided you’re only in one tackle zone. NoS works better for catching and shenanigans, and if you’re likely to get attacked by more than one opponent. I argue that NoS is the right choice, but mileage may vary!
I mean just look at the below. I love elf BS, but even I feel dirty when NoS/DO come into play.
Dark Elf throwers start with this. Having two throwers near each other can create an infuriating Dump Off conga line, too. If you’ve every thought Blood Bowl should be more like Rugby, then give everyone Dump Off and stand them in a line. (like these guys! A lot of fun to play!)
Incidentally, I very recently got my bottom handed to me 3-1 by a Khemri Team (I know). No small part because of the combo of Humerus Carpal and Ithaca Benoin. Nasty pair, but damn effective.
Sneaky Git
Sneaky Git is a fouling skill in the Agility category (for some reason). It means you won’t get ejected by a referee if you fail to break armour, even if the armour roll is a double. Now, I’m not an expert on fouling. If you want that, ask Poe, but I’ll give you what I consider the upsides and downsides.
Upsides are that you can performs fouls with less people. A random halfling can perform a foul with no support, just for the hell of it. If he fails the roll, no biggie, and if he breaks it, then great!
Downsides are that generally, as I understand it, most of the time you perform a foul you want to guarantee you’re going to break armour by giving support. It’s too risky to rely on unsupported fouls, so you want to avoid them if possible. This of course makes Sneaky Git useless.
It combines nicely with Dirty Player. It means you can chuck your fouling machine about, fouling every turn, with good odds that he’ll at least do something. I’ve know players to give their fouling pieces the Kick skill as well, to give them something to do on defense.
It’s good on stunties, especially if you don’t really know what to do with them! But to be honest, the benefits of the skill aren’t that great. It’s no Dirty Player, put it that way. 🙁
Also, in between me writing this and now, the Grotty Little Newspaper has released a study saying it’s essentially pointless. Read it here: https://fumbbl.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=30&page=11
