High Elf Catchers

Sacking High Elf Catcher:

Rather than building them for out and out catching, I personally prefer to build them for help with blitzing and defence. With their high speed they can be a big threat to the ball carrier, especially if you can get at them in your first turn and they still have the ball deep in their own half. Wrestle is the skill to get for greater odds of knocking the ball carrier over and it offers some protection as well. Dodge would come next (or even first) to help them get to the target, saving on rerolls and offers some protection as well.

You have a few options next, either take skills to help knock the ball loose or player over, with Strip Ball and Tackle. The first less useful if there are a lot of Sure Hands players about and the latter loses value in Dodge light environments. The other way to go would be to make it harder for the ball carrier to get away if you fail to knock them over. Side Step will make blitzing you away much harder and may either stop them moving away or force them to off load the ball. I would probably lean towards Side Step as it can also be helpful on offence when using them to score as well. Diving Tackle is also great for tying up ball carriers though perhaps better on players with Block than Wrestle. Alternatively you could go for Shadowing which is probably the better choice.

For doubles you want to get Guard so that you can assist a team mate who is doing the blitzing easier (I like to develop these builds in tandem for that reason). Strength increases are great as it makes getting blocks in your favour easier. Agility increases will let you get at the opposing ball carrier easier, if you get this then take Leap at some point as well. Like before movement will be more useful than an armour increase.

Defensive High Elf Catcher:
  • Normal: Block / Dodge, Side Step, Diving Tackle, Shadowing, Pass Block
  • Doubles: Guard, Nerves of Steel
  • Stat Increase: +ST +AG +MV

The other build that I like to develop for the other couple of Catchers are defensive ones, though don’t let that fool you into thinking that they aren’t of use on offence as well. Like previously the first couple of skills should usually be Block and Dodge. Side Step again to help with marking players and blocking off running routes. Diving Tackle to really tie opponents up and Shadowing goes hand in hand with that. Pass Block is perhaps not just for trying to get interceptions (though with AG4 and Catch you succeed in the open 55.6% of the time) but it lets you move next to the the receiver to make their catch harder and you are then marking the opponent who has the ball.

Doubles I would get Guard most of the time as Elf teams tend to need it when they get doubles. If you already are lucky enough to have quite a few already though then consider Nerves of Steel. The stat increases all really follow the same logic as the other builds. Some extra movement would combine with Shadowing to make it more successful.

High Elf Catcher Summary:

High Elf Catchers despite the name are much more useful players if you look to build them to perform other roles. A couple of blitzer types and a couple of defensive ones really make your team very hard to play against. When they start getting to the point of having four and more skills you can specialise them slightly differently from each other. For the sackers you may consider one to specialise more in doing the hitting and the other to help with assisting and tying the carrier up. The defensive builds are also very handy to use for assisting, though you could perhaps build one more towards looking at shutting down the passing game by taking Pass Block earlier.

Dauntless could be a skill to consider and you may also think about Frenzy though I would prefer than on a Blitzer due to their higher armour. If you usually develop them into the standard Catchers I suggest giving these a try instead. With AG4 and Catch to start with they don’t really need much help for doing that job and you can open up more options with other skill combinations.

6 thoughts on “High Elf Catchers”

  1. Good that someone points out that these guys don’t need skills to make scoring easier!
    On doubles though i would give at least one MightyBlow.
    The reason is, that guards usually take a lot of blocks, because there skill shines most when they have contact to as much oppos as possible. This is nothing I want for my players with the lowest AV.
    And if he is the sacker type of player, he does a lot of blocking + ballcarriers usally have lower AV then the rest of team.

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  2. Coach, have read through both your articles on HE Catchers & HE Blitzers n found them v helpful. I did want to get your thoughts on the merits of jump up on both these players tho. It keeps your key players in the game for more of the time and means you dont need to send as many players up the pitch to receive a pass as a receiver with jump up is always a threat even if knocked down.

    Obviously you dont plan for your HE players to get knocked down but this seems to be somewhat inevitable against strength teams and so this would be a good way of countering it. Would appreciate your thoughts….

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    • While Jump Up is nice to have there is pretty much usually always an overall more useful skill to take.

      Your players are fast and agile, you will usually get them Dodge as a priority so getting out of position isn’t really a concern to need those extra three squares of movement.

      With regards to a receiving threat as well, you want to ideally throw the ball to someone who is already standing who can then take an action afterwards. If you want to do it to a prone player with Jump Up, they have to stand up and then move into the end zone. Then you have to try and pass to them, you would have moved them further away which makes the pass harder and may increase a chance at being intercepted. The greater issue though is that if the pass fails, you now have one of your more expensive players stood next to the edge of the pitch. If the opposing coach can possibly blitz them into the crowd you can be sure they are likely to attempt it.

      Being able to block from prone may also be helpful, though it isn’t something that you really get a lot of use from. I prefer to take skills that will come into play far more often in a match. By all means take it to try it out though, just the way I play I’ve found its uses very marginal.

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  3. I was building a sacking Catcher, planning on Wrestle, then Tackle, then Strip Ball. First level got Wretsle, second level got +AG. Now what?!?! He’d make a great scorer now but Wrestle means he’s one of the last people I want holding the ball. I’m thinking Dodge next to keep him alive but then what, keep him as a sacker and go for Tackle then maybe Leap to get into any ball carrier or try to turn him into a scorer with Block to negate my own Wrestle (sounds a bit of a waste of a skill!).
    Any advice would be gratefully received!

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    • I’d keep him in the same role you were building for originally. The extra agility means he can dodge through a tackle zone now as easily as an empty square. You can also now consider Leap as a more reliable option which opens up getting to the ball carrier to sack them much easier.

      It also helps out on offence as a scoring threat as you can catch in a single tackle zone on a +2 now as well and they start with Catch already. I would probably go Dodge next unless you are sure to face a lot of Tackle heavy teams. The extra protection is useful but combined with that extra agility will make him incredibly mobile. Add Tackle / Strip Ball / Leap in an order of preference based on the types of ball carriers you see the most.

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  4. In agile or otherwise not that bashy teams I tend to prefer builds which allow players to do perform a variety of roles. High Elves are a good team for this with their armour and agility.

    For catchers I am tempted to make them interceptors, as I don’t feel they need sprint or sure feet and I have linemen who can take wrestle. Something like: Block/Dodge/Nerves of Steel. May go for Tackle/Shadowing/Strip Ball after. That’s probably the best route. Moreso than, say, Diving Catch/Pass Block/Sidestep or Sure Feet. Although Pass Block could come in handy if the pass goes a different place than suspected.

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