High Elf Strategy

[Blair]

High Elves and to a lesser extent Wood Elves are the only teams I can really enjoy, but I'm pretty rubbish at Bloodbowl, so if anyone has any advice that isn't "Stay away from people" or "watch The Sage's videos", it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Valcurdra]

High elf is a good team if you are bad, so that's a good choice.

Just try to avoid getting hit as much as possible. On defence don't mark players, you can setup your guys in front of the enemy in 2 rows so they cant move forward.

High elves can score quickly so if you can't stop your opponent scoring at least try to force them to score before turn 8.

[Kejiruze]

Originally posted by Valcurdra:

High elf is a good team if you are bad, so that's a good choice.

Excuse me good sir?!

High Elves develop to utterly amazing, but take a long road to get there, they're probably the most difficult Elf team to develop, not that Elves are difficult to develop if you're able to keep them alive!

@Blair I would suggest checking out the Help section on fumbbl.com and also coming over to reddit.com/r/rebbrl, it's a good resource for newer coaches, you can jump in the spin league with other rookie/ or more experienced coaches happy to give you some pointers!

[Arlen Tektolnes]

As high elves, you have pretty much the best passing game of any team. Passing should still never be plan A though, as it's always an inherently risky play. Do keep the option open whenever possible though, it'll win you matches you'd have otherwise lost.

Learn how to perform a one turn touchdown[fumbbl.com] and build a catcher solely for this. Sprint, sure feet, +mv, sidestep, leap etc. Keep him out of harm's way (benched or simply caged/screened) whenever possible.

Read The Art of Blocking and The 1000 Losses Playbook, they should be easy for you to find and provide a good overview of the basics.

Don't stress out about linemen getting hurt, that's like 90% of their job.

Stay away from people and watch some videos by good coaches.

[DarthPhysicist]

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+ and thats not a penis...

[zippy75aml]

Honestly, I'd play Dark Elves to begin with if you want Elves: they're more forgiving to begin with. Start your turns with 2D blocks/ Blitzes (with the Blitzers because double skull is unlikely!), then work out whether the 2D blocks with unskilled linemen, or the 2+ dodge is more important as your turn progresses. The aim: simply to limit your opponent's blocks while moving up the pitch to score!
Just in case: start with 2 Re-rolls, 4 Blitzers, a *Runner* (or maybe a 7th Lineman) and 6 Linemen. DO NOT USE ASSASSINS (ever); buy the apothecary as soon as you can - then a Witch...

[Dreamifi]

I think elves are pretty overpowered against not so great coaches, and slowly drop of to merely balanced as your opponents get better.

While playing against weaker coaches, the main power elves, I think, is their ability to exploit openings in your opponents play. So when starting out with elves, I advice opportunism. Don't be afraid of risks, but make sure all your risks have purpose. Steal balls as often as you can. Scoring fast is ok, stalling is an advanced play as elves, and not neccessary if the opponent leaves enough openings for you to steal anyway.

Dream big and go for big plays, but keep your head in it and make sure you execute the big plays as perfectly as you can.

To win against truly good coaches you need to learn to temper your balls and go for conservative plays where possible, learn how to elf screen, stall etc, and when not to. But that comes later, start out opportunistic, greedy and focused on the puzzle of excecution!

[licker34]

Originally posted by zippy75aml:

Honestly, I'd play Dark Elves to begin with if you want Elves: they're more forgiving to begin with. Start your turns with 2D blocks/ Blitzes (with the Blitzers because double skull is unlikely!), then work out whether the 2D blocks with unskilled linemen, or the 2+ dodge is more important as your turn progresses. The aim: simply to limit your opponent's blocks while moving up the pitch to score!
Just in case: start with 2 Re-rolls, 4 Blitzers, a *Runner* (or maybe a 7th Lineman) and 6 Linemen. DO NOT USE ASSASSINS (ever); buy the apothecary as soon as you can - then a Witch...

You can start with 4 blitzers and 3 rerolls. I wouldn't start with a runner to learn elfs, unlikely you'd use them correctly and the AV7 will cost you. (of course I also advocate never taking a runner ever, but you know, the runner is that much worse for someone who doesn't understand how to use them if you do want one)

You can start with 3 blitzers and a witch and 3 rerolls too. That's a strong start too, but you have to understand how to use frenzy properly, else, the witch will just get you trouble.

[Dreamifi]

That would be 4 blitzers and 2 rerolls I think, pretty sure you can't afford 3 if you take all blitzers.

[Valcurdra]

I would avoid DE because all the positionals are difficult to use well for a beginner. HE are much more simplistic, but just as strong on the field.

[Dreamifi]

Dark elves are a better team if you want to go for the conservative advanced elf strats right away, but both high elves and wood elves are better for opportunism.

[licker34]

Originally posted by Dreamifi:

That would be 4 blitzers and 2 rerolls I think, pretty sure you can't afford 3 if you take all blitzers.

Yes, that's right, I was thinking of a 3 blitzer start :p

Which still may not be bad to learn on, since the extra reroll at the start should help newer players more than an additional blitzer.

[DMAN222]

As a newbie myself I can say that I haven't had too much of a problem starting with Dark Elves. My starting is actually a Witch, 3 Blitzers and 2 RRs. Having 3 Block peices is great for starting and you can even get a fourth. I'm not winning every game, but I am somewhere around 4-2-2 as different Dark Elf teams. I haven't played as High Elves, but they seem fairly safe. They have good armor, everyone is AG4, the players are MA7+ and they can reliably pass (as much as anyone can say that) to start. Really though, if you are willing to lose and take notes, you can start with pretty much any team. Just put a little bit of research into whatever team you make, and use one of the standard team builds. If you like High Elves, just go and play em, you might lose, but more importantly you will learn. The only advice I can accurately give for High Elves and Wood Elves is dodge as though your life depends on it, as it typically does. Also, trees are cool. Best of luck to you!

[Kayeka]

Now, while avoiding a fight seems common sense when playing as Elves, the truth is a bit more complicated. It's not that you need to avoid fights, it's that you need to pick your fights carefully. An enemy that's on the floor is an enemy that won't be doing much of anything next turn, so if you see the opportunity for a 2D block anywhere without giving up your positioning game, you take it.

Avoid fights on one side of the field, apply pressure on the other, and wait for that opportunity to make a ballsy game-winning play. Remember that, using the Dodge skill, dodging into two tackle zones will succeed 75% of the time. That's some pretty good odds for a blitz on the ball carrier.

[Dreamifi]

People often dodge too much as elves, too. I don't particularly lie the "dodge as your life depends on it" advice. You need to understand that a 2+ without a reroll is still a risky move, and you don't want to spend your rerolls willy nilly.

It's just that, with elves, you need to embrace the risk sometimes (or always, if you follow my starting out advice, but it will be sometimes as you get better). But embrace the RIGHT risk. A 4+ with a good risk-reward ratio is better to take than an unneccessary 2+.

[avaririot]

Originally posted by licker34:

Originally posted by zippy75aml:

Honestly, I'd play Dark Elves to begin with if you want Elves: they're more forgiving to begin with. Start your turns with 2D blocks/ Blitzes (with the Blitzers because double skull is unlikely!), then work out whether the 2D blocks with unskilled linemen, or the 2+ dodge is more important as your turn progresses. The aim: simply to limit your opponent's blocks while moving up the pitch to score!
Just in case: start with 2 Re-rolls, 4 Blitzers, a *Runner* (or maybe a 7th Lineman) and 6 Linemen. DO NOT USE ASSASSINS (ever); buy the apothecary as soon as you can - then a Witch...

You can start with 4 blitzers and 3 rerolls. I wouldn't start with a runner to learn elfs, unlikely you'd use them correctly and the AV7 will cost you. (of course I also advocate never taking a runner ever, but you know, the runner is that much worse for someone who doesn't understand how to use them if you do want one)

You can start with 3 blitzers and a witch and 3 rerolls too. That's a strong start too, but you have to understand how to use frenzy properly, else, the witch will just get you trouble.

????. No you can't. 3 blitzers and 1 witch is with 2 RR's.