Wood Elf Starting roster

VoidSeer

Veteran
Messages
96
My WE starting roster for medium to long leagues:
  • 2x Wardancers: 240k

  • 9x Llineelves: 630k

  • 2x Rerolls: 100k

  • Bank: 30k

Incentive for this roster:
1/ I do not play with a Treeman. It is an arguable choice, albeit a popular one.

2/ A good wood elf team is build on strong lineelves. You need blodge lines to have some staying power. I include positionals later and let the lines have the SPPs for passing and scoring.

Advices with this roster:
1/ Replace dead/injured lineelves by positionals. My fav. order is: Apo - thrower - 3rd Reroll - 2x catchers - thrower. If you have a AG5 line, delay the thrower.

2/ Don't let the wardancers do all the work, use them as blitzers only, unless you're behind in the game. Dancers are already skilled players, let your rookie lineelves get the SPPs.
 

CoachBigBoss

Rookie
Messages
17
Without the dodge or the hitting power how do the linemen break through to score? Replacing the Linemen with positional players sounds good but the first couple of games you could lose several linemen to injuries or death and may only walk away from a game with a mediocre purse.

Are journeymen key to this build? Because I can see this team losing players faster than it can replace them. Also you went with rerolls before Apothecary, isn't this risky too? For elves I thought apothecaries were a must?
 

VoidSeer

Veteran
Messages
96
OFFENSE:
--
I think you underestimate what AG4 allows.

Rookie lineelves are almost on par with rookie AG3 throwers:
Quick pass:
  • AG3 + pass: 89%
  • AG4: 83%

Plus, their mobility is a great asset as throwers since they can make short passes most of the time.

Rookie lineelves are also on par with AG3 catchers (same stats as above 89% vs 83%). MV7 makes them as fast as most other teams positionals.

Finally, the 89% vs 83 stands again for dodging away to an unoccupied square.

So basically, on offense you have 9 players on par with other races rookie throwers/catchers. You also have two superb blodge ball carriers that can leap away if things get desperate


DEFENSE
--
9 players with MV7 and AG4. Roll a blitz, and you're set...
The mobility allows you to either rush for the ball, or stall the game forever by dodging away one square every turn.

2 blodge, leap MV8 blitzers can hit almost anything. Rookie ST4 players don't have block, and you have your 9 lines to support any blitz or block.


The APO
--
My bad, the Apo is the 1st thing I buy.


The wood elfe lineman cost 70k, that is more than some positional players on other team. This is for a reason, and yes HE IS THAT GOOD.
Your lines need definitely to skill up soon and fast! Before your opponents start having claw/mighty blow/piling on etc...

Try it, you will see how competitive your team is early on.
 

CoachBigBoss

Rookie
Messages
17
Fair enough response. AG4 is nothing to sneeze at, I just thought it would beneficial to have one receiver to start off with dodge to lower the risk of turnovers on a failed dodge roll. Then again you will most likely be playing against a starting team too. So scoring will still be reasonably easy, though your wardancers will be relied on more to open holes against a well placed defensive line.

As far as the Apo goes I would start with one before getting 2 rerolls. Apo's cost the same as a re-roll for Elves and it could save you from spending 120,000 on a new Wardancer. Elves are not cheap by any standard, linemen or positional. But that's just me. I would have to try this team so I am not nocking it at all, just curious how you will over come the drawbacks.
 

VoidSeer

Veteran
Messages
96
From my experience, 1 reroll is not enough with this roster. Since LRB5, winning the game seriously improves your bankroll, so I with two to earn more.
With 30k in the bank, I only have one game without one.

Catchers from the start have a lot of drawbacks:
  • They weaken your defense
  • You don't have a thrower, so you need to do short passes. This impairs the catcher mobility
  • They will most likely score instead of lineelves at a time in the league progression where you need to skill them up
 

Wanderer

Rookie
Messages
3
Making an Apo the first thing you buy is a pretty standard strategy, because rerolls double in cost after your initial roster, and positionals are more expensive so it would take a couple games to purchase one.

Also, it's cheaper to "upgrade" one of your starting 11 players from a lineman to a positional than to buy a whole player outright. It applies more to other teams than Wood Elves though - Wood Elves have high skilled linemen and a lot of injury turnover, but if you were say, Humans, you have no use for 7 linemen once you get a full roster.

Now, if you're playing in like, a 5 game tournament, that's a totally different ball game.
 

BoBliness

Veteran
Messages
36
Location
London / Perth Australia
In my experience, the linesmen are not enough to win against good opponents.

Since winning = more money, I've ended up more along the lines of:


Treeman = 120
Dancer =120
Thrower =90
Linesman * 8 = 560
2 Rerolls =100

10k spare

Every time you use the pass skill you save a reroll.
The treeman gives you a variety of benefits that I think are worth the price tag (I've discussed them in an article submitted to coach, but whether it sees light of day or not :p Otherwise I'll put em up on the forum later)

My first purchase is Apo, then catchers.

I've played with two catchers instead of one of the rerolls, and its not as bad as you'd think, every time you use dodge you save a reroll, and its a much more consistent winning team, early in leagues two catchers are enough to sack an opposing ball carrier whenever you get the chance and opponents are normally focussed on stopping the dancer not the catchers.

But overall I prefer two rerolls.

I cant deal without a thrower. I accept the arguement that you are better off with linesmen having skills, but I find that pass saves me a reroll a game, and early on I'd rather have wins and an over-skilled thrower than losses and a single skill on a linesman.

To be honest though, medium and long term leagues are pretty forgiving (or complete shut-outs if you have one very bad first game!) and you can get away with a lot of starting rosters.

I've seen 12 linesmen work, though I myself couldnt get it to work to save my life (or their lives as it turned out) and I've seen teams with 0 rerolls but lots of positionals do very well also.

And since winning gets you more cash (and more fan factor and hence more cash etc) the double cost of rerolls after startup is mitigated by the increased winnings.

For short leagues (ressurection) I've had most success with (perhaps a little surprisingly):

Dancer 120
Dancer 120
Thrower 90
Catcher 90
Catcher 90
Catcher 90
Linesman 350
Reroll 50

I'm still not sure if I was just lucky that time round or if its worth this style more often. Its certainly a team with a stack of options which makes it very hard for opponents to deal with.
 

VoidSeer

Veteran
Messages
96
I'd pick something very close to your roster if I'd like to play with the Treeman.

You certainly need a the thrower since you'll be one player short on offense, and you'll only have one dancer.

I disagree on your purchase order though. APO first is unquestionnable. However, I'd get the 2nd dancer just before that. Having only one will make him a lonely target for the opposing team.

Moreover with a thrower and 9 possible receivers, I think your rookie offense is covered. Your defense needs the boost of the other dancer. Unless you really know what you are doing and let your opponent score.
 

altf4

Rookie
Messages
18
Country Flag
According to me, whatever the rest of the roster, Wardancers are unquestionable. Not getting both of the two allowed (one of the) best players of the game (leaping blodgers with AG4, able to open a cage, blitz the carrier, pick up the ball, run and score without any help, when needed) is a mistake.

High or Pro Elves are maybe able to wait a little before getting their second Blitzer because they are less fragile (S3 Catchers and higher average AV), but not Wood Elves, according to me (knowing that I rarely play with a Treeman).

My favourite roster is :

2 Wardancers (240)
1 Thrower (90)
8 Linemen (560)
2 Re-rolls (100)
10k spare

Purchase order : Apo (hoping neither my Thrower nor my Dancers suffer from serious wounds or die during first match), Catcher, Re-roll, Catcher, Thrower (I won't plan further due to unexpected purchases to replace other players meanwhile).
 

BoBliness

Veteran
Messages
36
Location
London / Perth Australia
Without treeman you definately need double dancer.

With him, its less essential, though still highly desirable.

If you've only got one dancer the opponent will ALWAYS target him.

Though at first this seems like a bad thing, its not. This means you can control who they will blitz about 70-80% of the time, often even when the dancer has no direct impact on the current play.

You can lure people next to your treeman in order to hit your dancer, you can lure people close to the sideline.

And best of all, dancers skill up FAST, so if worst comes to worst and they do manage to kill or injure her (which will hopefully take a few games until the opponents have some tackle) her replacement will skill up very quickly and not be out of place in a mid-league game (unlike a fresh catcher which will often die/lose stats the very first game you play them if they are coming in mid-league)

They are however VERY expensive sacrificial goats and it takes a particularly callous coach to use them in that way :p

Luckily i've got no problems with watching a dancer die while my linesmen score repeatedly.
 

Magic Dave

Rookie
Messages
11
Heard a nice starting roster for WE on Threedieblock:

1x Wardancer
2x catchers
8x Lineman
2x Reroll
and 40k in the bank.

I think the reason behind it is, you get an apoth after the first game and build from there, also because your team is TR 96, for your first game you should get some inducements as well, as long as you don;t play a starter teams.
 
The way I see it, Wood Elves at 1M break down as follows
1 TRR
1 WD
1 Catcher or Thrower or 20k bank

Plus 2 of choice from following list:
1 TRR
1 WD
1 Tree
3 Catchers/Throwers

Plus Linemen to make it to 11.

Long season? Maybe a Treeman, a WD, a Catcher, 8 Linos and 2 RRs. Short season? 2 WDs, a Catcher, 8 Linos and 2 RRs. The latter is much more effective, but WDs will improve no matter what you do, so it may be best to score with the Linos and keep the Tree on the roster from the get-go if you want to develop that way.
 
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