Assists
Another important ability is the removing and granting of assists for blocking. If your opponent has a Guard player next to one of his team mates and two of yours, he is getting an assist while cancelling out yours. Use Hypnotic Gaze to remove his tackle zone and he not only can no longer assist his team mate, but it frees up your player to now assist. This can turn a two dice against situation into a two dice block.
Disrupting the Opponent
While using Hypnotic Gaze to help you during your own turn, it also has a knock on effect into the opponents following turn(s). Any of their players that are hypnotised have to do an action in order to recover (like Bonehead players would as well). This can cause them problems as it may dictate the order in which they do things. Like the above example where you hypnotised his Guard player. If he wants to get back in the situation where the block is in his favour he will have to do a move action with the Guard player and then just not actually move. He can now block you with two dice, but as the Guard player had to take an action to regain his tackle zone (and didn’t want to dodge away) he can’t do anything else that turn. If he hadn’t have been hypnotised, he could have got two dice blocks on both of your players instead of just one. (He could of course risk a one die block and then get a two dice block, though that is still better for you.)
As players have to do an action in order to get their tackle zone back, it may mean the opposing coach uses someone earlier in their turn than they wanted to. If they don’t then they run the risk of turnover before they activate the hypnotised player. Should that happen then their player is still hypnotised for your turn which you can really capitalise on. The player is then still hypnotised during the opponents next turn and they have the same dilemma on using them or suffering the same fate again. If they do decide to use them, quite often if they are in a tackle zone and can’t get a favourable block, they will just do a move action and stand there. This is quite common just so they get their tackle zone back, much like standing players up at the start of the turn.
Using Hypnotic Gaze:
Now you know the most common situations and uses for Hypnotic Gaze it is time to explain how best to use it and when. Mostly this will apply to Vampire teams who will usually have multiple Hypnotic Gaze, but also Elf teams have access to hire Eldril Sidewinder who has the skill. You can now only use Hypnotic Gaze at the end of a move action (it used to be even more powerful to the point of being broken, where you could use it at any point during any action). So as always at the start of your turn you should have a plan in mind of what you want to attempt and where using Hypnotic Gaze fits into that plan. You want always want to use it, sometimes just a good old fashioned blitz would work well if not better (especially for Vampires who have ST4).
To use Hypnotic Gaze now you have to make an agility roll, so that is a 3+ for AG4 players. Always have a back up plan in case it fails which it will a third of the time unless you reroll it or have Pro. The benefit it has though it that there is no chance of a turnover if you do fail. That means attempting it early in a turn isn’t a big risk and also by doing it earlier in a turn, you can adjust your plan for those times you fail.
You also need to pay attention to opposing tackle zones as if there are opposing players nearby it becomes harder to hypnotise. As a general rule I only tend to use Hypnotic Gaze if I can get into a square next to the target player where there are no negative modifiers due to their team mates. There will be times where your best play is to try and hypnotise a player even when there are tackle zones affecting the attempt. As I said you can’t cause a turnover by failing and if it can create a very favourable situation for you, then there is little harm in attempting it.
Another factor to consider is that you can’t carry on moving after you have used Hypnotic Gaze. If your plan against a cage is to hypnotise a corner and then blitz with a team mate, you need to make sure that your Hypnotic Gaze player isn’t doing it from a square that you are going to need to run through in order to get to the ball carrier. That isn’t the only time something like that will crop up, so be on the lookout for it and adjust accordingly.
One last thing that I like to do is when I’m moving a Hypnotic Gaze player up to assist a team mate in a block, I like to try and attempt to hypnotise them. You lose nothing by trying but if it works then you may chance you plans, possibly moving your team mate instead, or using him to block a different target. Even if it does work, you can still go ahead and block them as it doesn’t wake them up and it will still be in effect if you fail to knock them over.
Hypnotic Gaze Summary:
Hopefully after reading this you can see the potential that Hypnotic Gaze has in all sorts of situations. It isn’t just a case of it being used to get rid of a tackle zone, there are far more uses than that, some of them subtle and the knock on repercussions for your opponent can be very beneficial. It is a major weapon for those teams that field it, learn to use it well and your performances should improve greatly.
Hypno Gaze is also good for making live difficult for receivers, especially Pro Elf and Slann Catchers who can catch in Tackle Zones with little or no penalty. If there are two catchers within scoring range you can blitz one and gaze the other. That way he has to move into the endzone to make the TD thus making the pass harder.
It would be good to mention the down side to Hypnotic Gaze, in that, whether successful or not, you’re nearly always going to catch a block in the face on you opponent’s turn. Whereas with a blitz, if you’re successful the other player usually will need to blitz in order to hit back at you.
With Vampires you could also fail your blood lust roll when attempting to gaze, so once again plan ahead for that.
Can you lock down a dump-off ball carrier with this before blitzing him?
It does say that they can’t pass the ball so yes it would appear that you can do that. Something I hadn’t considered before, thanks for asking it could come in very helpful, especially against Dark Elf teams.
In the case where i successfully hypnotise an opponent, and he doesn’t had the time to make any action at his tour, does he stay hypnotise, even if I decide to move away elsewhere? (and, maybe, hypnotise another one ) Or do I have to stay at his side?
Using Hypnotic Gaze ends your movement and therefore your move action as well. If the player you Hypnotised doesn’t perform an action during their turn though, they will still be Hypnotised during your following turn. So yes you can just move away and use Hypnotic Gaze (or blitz etc) in your next turn. You don’t have to stay next to them for them to stay hypnotised, the only way they can recover is by performing an action.
Ok, I just got LE, and I’m having a hard time seeing Hypnotic Gaze actually doing anything. I click the eyeball icon at the end of my vampire’s move, click on an adjacent target and see the pitch change color. After that, nothing. No dice rolls, and tackle zones always appear intact. Am I doing anything wrong?
I’ve no idea as I don’t have LE yet, though this about is about the tactical use of Hypnotic Gaze, please use the forum for questions related to the Cyanide game. You are more likely to get a response on there from someone who knows the answer as well!
I thought Hypnotic gaze was an agility roll with -1 per tackle zone. And since you need to actually be standing next to your victim it would always have atleast a -1 modifier. Making it a 4+ roll at best (assuming you dont have + agility). Or have I missed something?
Adam
The Tackle Zone of the target player doesn’t count as -1, it is only the Tackle Zones of opposing player who aren’t the target player that impose the negative modifier.
Hypnotic Gaze should work to negate an opponents Side Step ability as well for easier crowd surfing or pushback control? (One of my friends has started a vampire team in our tabletop league, and keeps asking me questions I’m not sure about.)
Adam
That is a more tricky one, it doesn’t say that Hypnotic Gaze removes the use of that players skills so I would think that they can still use Side Step. However it says they may not move voluntarily, which would mean they can’t use Pass Block. By that logic using Side Step is also moving voluntarily, though on the flip side they are only moving because you hit them…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone hit a player that they just hypnotised to be honest. Tactically it doesn’t seem to make much sense out of extraordinary circumstances. After reading it a few times I think I would side on the fence that suggests they can’t use Side Step as it is moving voluntarily. I can certainly see an argument the other way though too, so don’t class this as a definitive ruling.
I think you underestimate how often blocking of gazed opponents occur when gazers are involved. I were fortunate enough to be blessed with a HP woodelf lineman after winning a chaop cup, and he instantly became a key player on the team, requiring me to make his safety a priority. The nature of HG means you risk leaving a valueable player in an opponent’s tackle zone, and in case of a fragile player like mine or Eldril Sidewinder you want to avoid that. This could mean only leaving him on his own when you really had to, but in most cases use him as an assist on a high priority target that would get blitzed in any case. The HG is then just an added benifit to the assist, possibly setting up a better blitz and lessening the disadvantage of a failed blitz. In the case of vampires, they don’t really need the protection, but it still happens often enough that there is a single target important enough to warrant dedicating both the gaze and the blitz.
After that lengthy intro, here is my two cents on the rules regarding gaze and sidestep. Reading the sidestep rules I notice that sidestep is neither a move action nor a special move action. If it was, I would expect it to be mentioned explicitly as it is in other cases. As I read it, the sidestep is a specific effect taking place when the player is victim of a push or knock down. As it is a specific effect, exceptions should be clearly noted as such, like in the case of the grap skill.
Just as Coach I am in no position to make a definitive ruling, but I feel pretty convinced that sidestep is in effect even when the player in question is gazed.
I don’t have the rules at hand, but where do you get that the target Tackle Zone does not count on the agility test? Following that up, is that true for Jump Up as well? I’ve always taken the -1 from the target’s zone as well… would be neat to have Jump Up even better for my Norse Blitzers 🙂
The rules for each skill is posted at the start of every article on here, just scroll back up to the top. It says “with a -1 modifier for each opposing tackle zone on the player with hypnotic gaze other than the victim’s” which is pretty clear cut.
On an unrelated note but since you mentioned it, Jump Up doesn’t have any negative modifiers to the roll. It is a straight agility roll with +2 and doesn’t matter how many opposing tackle zones your player is in.
Vlad, for LE, if your hypnotic gaze is succesful, you will see a spinning spiral over the head of the affected player, its quite big so you wont miss it.
If you dont see this, then the roll simply failed.
you might check the skill check dialog box which shows the die rolls/modifiers/result for confirmation
Great thread. I had no idea that opponents could be gazed into their next turn, as a vampire coach that’s something that is a great help as my friends and I had just assumed it wore off as soon as the opponents turn began.
However, my friend and I need some closure on another question concerning hypnotic gaze and hoped the forum could help. If it’s answered elsewhere, forgive me, but I can’t find a definitive answer.
I was playing Vamps, my friend Chaos. I began my turn with a vampire adjacent to one of his chaos warriors. I elected to use hypnotic gaze on the warrior to try to weaken his cage. I passed my bloodlust check and proceeded to roll for HG.
My friend interrupted me and said that I couldn’t do that because the rule states that I have to take a move action and I hadn’t actually moved – just stood still. Naturally I argued, I felt rightly, that as long as I take a bloodlust check it counts as a move action – I don’t physically need to move the model any squares in order to use hypnotic gaze.
Anyway I couldn’t produce any definitive ruling that stated my interpretation was the correct one and my friend felt that his interpretation was valid as a way to stop HG being overpowered, forcing vampires who began their turn inside an opponents tackle zone to dodge.
So we were at loggerheads both certain our own interpretation was the correct one. In the end I agreed to play the game under his interpretation but would like to know for certain one way or the other in the future – so what do you think?
You don’t need to move in a move action, just like you don’t have to hit anyone during a blitz action or make a pass during a pass action etc. You’re friend is wrong, moving zero squares is perfectly acceptable. Just like you can recover the tackle zone of a Bonehead player by rolling for Bonehead and then not moving.
Also Hypnotic Gaze can last for the rest of the entire drive if they never take an action with that player. So in the same vein if they wanted to get the tackle zone of a hypnotized player back, they can also just take a move action and not move. Most players don’t have Bloodlust to roll for either so they literally do “nothing” but take a move action in order to get their tackle zone back. If they didn’t do this and another player on their team causes a turnover, then they would still be hypnotised going into the Vampire team’s turn.
The rules state you just have to take a move action, there is nothing in the rules stating you have to move, which is what he would need to produce in order to have been right. Hypnotic Gaze was already toned down to this, you used to be able to do it at any point in the middle of any action. Now it has to be at the end of a move action, so no more blitz action, move, hit a player, move, hypnotise another and then move some more all with the same player. Something the star player Count Luthor used to be amazing at and why he was widely regarded as one of the best in the game.
Thanks Coach – appreciate you clearing that up for us!
When an hipnotized player is stunned, and he turns himself face-up, does he lose the hipnotized condition? Is that an action?
Prone players don’t have a tackle zone anyway so it doesn’t make any difference.
Great article, coach! I ran into a problem with the rules though. If my vamp makes a block (action), can he then hypnotize afterwards? We couldn’t clarify this from the rules as it seems a ”move action” is required…
Thanks in advance!
You can only use Hypnotic Gaze if making a move action. Note that doesn’t mean you can use it after moving in a Blitz or Pass action or any other type of movement.
Hey Coach, I’m fairly new to Blood Bowl and I have a question about obtaining extraordinary skills like Hypnotic Gaze for my players. I understand that you have to choose from GASP lists, but I would like to have this skill for my Elf Union team. Ideally on some linemen to make it easier for my Catchers etc to run past. Am I able to obtain extraordinary skills for my players or not?
Cheers.
Hi Matt, extraordinary skills aren’t ones that you can give to players. They are only for those players who come with them when you hire them, representing things like weapons or racial traits. The only way to get Hypnotic Gaze on an Elf team currently is to hire the Star Player Eldril Sidewinder.
Awesome reply. Thank you ?
So how does hypnotic gaze interact with the block skill? ive only been playing for a month or so, and my second game in the league at my LGS was against vampires. The opposing coach said my dwarf lineman cant use the block skill while gazed, and at the time i just assumed they were right, but after looking at stuff, some clarification would be great.
This article is for the old version of the rules. Under the new 2020 version it does cancel our skills like Block, Dodge & Side Step. You can’t use skills of you don’t have a tackle zone, page 74 of the rule book and also clarified in the FAQ. I’ll be writing a new article in due course.
Thanks coach, this page has basically been my home page for the last month, and I’ve been trying to compare info between here and the current rules, guess I didn’t read enough on this one 😀