Killer / Crowd Push Orc Blitzer:
- Normal: Mighty Blow, Piling On, Tackle / Frenzy / Juggernaut / Pro / Stand Firm
- Doubles: Jump Up
- Stat Increase: +ST +AG +MV
This Orc Blitzer is designed to hurt the opposing players and get your a numerical player advantage. Mighty Blow to start with and then Piling On to give you the best chances to cause an armour break and injury. After that Tackle is helpful in Dodge heavy leagues, Frenzy can compensate against not having Tackle and increases knock downs generally. Juggernaut is great for Wrestle heavy leagues and also combos well with Frenzy to double his role up for crowd pushing too. Pro again helps with knocking players over. Stand Firm will help you get more blocks as it will be hard to get pushed off players you mark with him, doubles up with avoiding getting pushed into the crowd yourself too.
For doubles I would take Jump Up, gives him greater range from being prone and can also let him block from prone as the opposing side will look to injure this guy and be hitting him a lot. It combines well with Stand Firm which will keep you in the tackle zone of anyone who blocks him. Stats for all the same reasons as before.
Support Orc Blitzer:
- Normal: Guard, Stand Firm / Mighty Blow, Tackle / Pro / Pass Block
- Doubles: Diving Tackle / Dodge
- Stat Increase: +ST +AG +MV
This build is always useful and developing all four Blitzers with this build can be just as hard to deal with as mixing the development of your Blitzers up. With the other builds not having Guard you should be taking it first on these ones, losing the Guard race can make like difficult for you and weakens your blocking ability of the team overall. Seeing how Orcs somewhat rely on that side of the game it shouldn’t be ignored. After that both Mighty Blow and Stand Firm are useful. Mighty Blow can help remove opposing players and speed development to the next skill. Stand Firm keeps your Guard where it is useful, helps keep cages intact, denies space from the other team and is very helpful with positioning for set up when kicking. Tackle and Pro are useful after that for reasons already mentioned. Pass Block can be another option as well, especially in a league where plenty of passing happens. It will let you position your Diving Tackle to great effect as well as perhaps making the pass or catch harder.
Doubles I would go to Diving Tackle to tie up players, useful in a brawl and for also marking receivers and Break Tackle Big Guys. Dodge is the other option unless you are looking to avoid it to render opposition Tackle useless. Stat increases follow the same logic as the other builds.
Ball Carrying Orc Blitzer:
- Normal: Sure Hands, Fend
- Doubles: Dodge, Catch, Nerves of Steel
- Stat Increase: +ST +AG+ MV
Personally I would use the Throwers for the main ball carrying duties, but some coaches prefer the speed of the Blitzer to do the job. So Sure Hands first off, to help with both picking it up and negating Strip Ball. Fend will help against Frenzy and avoid some potential dodges. Not really many other good ball carrying skills they can take after that, really you are going to want double skills. Another reason I would prefer to use the Thrower and keep the Blitzer for doing other jobs. For doubles Dodge (unless you are avoiding it), Catch can let you use them somewhat as an outlet for either a hand off or pass. Nerves of Steel can also let them act as a receiver while in traffic (though I’d look to have a dodge into the open as well if doing that). Stat increases follow the continued logic of the other builds.
Summary:
As you can see Orc Blitzers have lots of options to develop and are happy enough to progress without any double skills at all. You can’t go far wrong just loading up on the basics though, Guard, Tackle, Mighty Blow, Stand Firm, so if in doubt stick to them. Over specialise and you can actually make your team less effective, especially if the opponents position really well, which can keep your specialists away from where they are of most use. They are the most useful players on the Orc team so learn to get the most out of them and you will find your team can be really competitive.
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March 3rd, 2011 at 8:07 am
I’d like to offer an opinion on the ball-carrying Orc Blitzer build.
I used to play Blood Bowl, and am currently playing the Xbox version. My Blood Bowl expertise is very limited, but I’ve always preferred to use my Orc Blitzers to score, either extracting the ball from the opponent, or having an Orc Thrower pass or hand off the ball to them. Granted, the passing game with Orcs is always a nail-biting experience, but with their tough line, they can more often afford to make a ball handling mistake than many other teams (assuming they have knocked down enough opposing players).
I figure that Blitzers have a movement of 6 for a reason, just as Throwers have the “Pass” skill for a reason, and the two players can be used in conjunction in order to make quick touchdowns (Or, what I like to call the Orculate Reception). In any case, I would suggest that the “Pro” skill would be invaluable to any ball-carrying Blitzer. Granted, it only works 50% of the time, but if the player is one that is used often, its value will shine through. Furthermore, it can kick in at critical times, such as picking up the ball, catching the ball, dodging, or going for it. In addition, it can be stacked with the regular team re-roll, potentially allowing two re-roll opportunities. I would even suggest that “Pro” should be the first skill taken for Orc Blitzers destined to be ball carryers, as it will have a bigger impact when the team has fewer re-rolls.
March 3rd, 2011 at 10:39 am
Thanks for your input, though I personally see Pro as a poor mans reroll. Given that Orc teams have a low rate of player turnover, cheap players and average priced rerolls, I prefer to get other skills. As you said Pro fails half the time and using a reroll on the Pro roll again fails half the time. I’d rather just use the reroll on the original roll and keep Pro as a backup (unless perhaps you want to save the reroll for rolls from other team mates later in the turn who don’t have Pro). Generally though if you are using a Blitzer as a ball carrier then they are the ones likely doing all the rolls (dodges, go for its, etc.).
It is easy to start an Orc team with three rerolls and you can save up for more fairly easily. Their general game plan doesn’t involve much in the way of risky stuff on offence, especially when you get some more Block on the team. Any roll you make with the player holding the ball is a double risk if a turnover occurs. Not only does your turn end, but you are likely to lose possession of the ball, making things much easier for the other team. That 50% failure rate of Pro then starts to look a lot worse…
March 3rd, 2011 at 6:22 pm
It’s been awhile since I’ve played tabletop Blood Bowl, and I haven’t played since 3rd Edition, so perhaps “Pro” is implemented differently in the Xbox version. Unless I’m mistaken, if I fail a roll on a player with the “Pro” skill, I can choose to use “Pro” first. If the 4+ roll to use the skill fails, or if the re-roll itself fails, I can then use the regular team re-roll (assuming I have one) as a backup. This is how it’s implemented in the Xbox version at least.
It’s also the only way a player can have a chance to re-roll a failed roll twice, which can make a big difference at critical moments, especially for an average Agility player. Also, if the player has to make two or more rolls in order to score a touchdown, the “Pro” skill provides for more insurance (For example, if the player needs to Dodge and Go For It in order to score).
Obviously the “Pro” skill’s value will be determined by how much it comes into play, so it probably is only worth using for a player that will be used often and will have to make critical rolls, which is why I think it is worthwhile on a Blitzer that serves as a Running Back.
March 3rd, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Pro is implemented incorrectly on the Xbox version then. You can’t reroll any roll twice in the game, that has been the case since 1994 and hasn’t changed since. You can however use a reroll to try and reroll a failed Pro roll.
If Pro did work like that though I’d take it a lot more often!
March 3rd, 2011 at 9:16 pm
You’re correct. Only one re-roll can be used per action, even with “Pro.” I have managed to re-roll a re-roll with “Pro” in Xbox though (Sadly, Xbox is my only outlet for Blood Bowl…and the reason I bought an Xbox). So yes, that makes a big, big difference for critical rolls, and the value of the skill.
August 16th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Thx for the direction man, I got 3 skillups after game 2 in cyanide and I decide to go one of each type and it paid of immidietly.
Keep up the good work