Five active and passive skills

[kingts]

This is not necessarily the five most powerful or 5 greatest, combinations that are obvious, but what are your 5 favorite Actives skills, Passive skills, melee to range.
I did this to teach. There are plenty of common builds if you just look up the player, but those uncommon fun ones. For example, what do you do if you want to make a double dagger build?
• I want to go Pistol, what creative ways I have had the most fun creating. That obscure combination no one discusses. Yeah, we know Power blow, Vital Strike and Might Charge, but what are some of your favs, no one talks about. For example, a Feint build, or armor break build, why pinning shot is overlooked. The point is because you don’t have endless slots, which skills you feel are sometimes sacrificed un-necessarily.
Peace.

[Paranoia]

Mine, assuming no Default Skills listed, are these:

Passives:
1: Embedded Wyrdstones. Mastering this makes Necromancer into a reliable machine gun when it comes to Buffing or Spell Damage, and, even on others, it is pretty neat if playing on a format that encourages Wyrdstone collecting.

2: In&Out (Smuggler). Not just the extra Movement, but the Initiative manipulation allowed by it. For example, if one has a Sister Superior just ahead of the Smuggler on the Initiative Ladder, one can For Sigmar! her, pick up a Wyrdstone, and then enjoy Movement 13 for two turns, since the For Sigmar! does not expire before Superior gets the turn, and she is now just behind the Smuggler on the ladder.

3: Expert Casting on a damage Caster. Especially because, yes, Warp Lighting range increases too for bigger area of effect.

4: Dagger Specialist. Not strong, but makes Daggers into actually decent Poison Delivery tools.

5: Serenity. Deamon hunting, and suddenly enemy's attempts at making use of Fear, Terror or All Alone works for one's own benefit. A well designed counter Skill.


Actives:
1: Staggering Blow/Knee Shot/Stimulus. Initiative manipulation makes things interesting, especially for Buffers, Debuffers and Stunners. Too bad there is no Skill for reducing one's own Initiative, as that'd be good for Buffers and Debuffers.

2: Intimidate/Alluring Lure. Mess with enemy's positioning while causing damage? Yes, please.

3: Headshot. Because screw Melee Resist tanks.

4: Fanatical Zeal (Witch Hunters). Pretty good on Henchmen, and stacks with Insult.

5: Meditation. Admittedly, mostly only for Casters for vacuuming up Wyrdstone and performing drive-by firing of spells. A Purifier can use this for immense mobility yet still throw three rocks a turn. 12 (Exhaustion Mastery plus Meditation Mastery) x 8 (K:Mordheim Mastery) = 96 meter range of Movement each turn is nothing to scoff at.

[Kittenpaw]

“Too bad there is no Skill for reducing one's own Initiative, as that'd be good for Buffers and Debuffers.”

I find utilizing a weapon swap can have the desired effect. There is a potential 30 initiative swing in there. If you REALLY want to emphasize that I believe there is a Quick Hands passive.

[Paranoia]

Originally posted by Kittenpaw:

“Too bad there is no Skill for reducing one's own Initiative, as that'd be good for Buffers and Debuffers.”

I find utilizing a weapon swap can have the desired effect. There is a potential 30 initiative swing in there. If you REALLY want to emphasize that I believe there is a Quick Hands passive.

...The original version of my comment included the phrase "And no, swapping weaponry is not a Skill". I really should have left that in. :b
Seriously though, am well aware, considering my BBL3 Warband depends on the 25ish Initiative swing of my Wolf Priest upon swapping to Wulfrikan Great Axe. Makes the Buffs and Debuffs notably more... durable.

[Boris Hauer]

There's only a couple skills I use almost always, so I'll just list one per both active and passive.

Resilient.
Critical resistance is the first thing I raise in any unit. Not just because I tend to grow attached to them (sigh!), but because I need to make them durable. There's no sense in developing a perfect archer if, just before he hits rank 10, he gets critted and loses an arm. Open wounds are your enemy, avoid at all costs.

Defensive stance.
My melee units usually get this, unless I want to focus them on Frenzy. Dodge and Sidestep may be reliable, but only work 1 to 3 times. Parry is nice but doesn't work against all weapons or enemies. On the other hand, reducing a bit the chances to be hit from all melee attacks for a whole turn is never a bad thing. Even when not building a focused MR unit, I usually train them in this.



If it's sinergy you wanna talk about, then that's a whole different world. I like my henchmen to work together based on initiative. A look at my warpguards, for example. All of them have the following equipment and skills:

Skills:
=======
Warp Immunity Basic, Armour Proficient Basic, Knowledge: Mordheim Basic, Shield Specialist Basic, Resilient Basic, Defensive Stance Basic

Equipment:
==========
Helmet (masterwork), Heavy Armour (masterwork), Shield (masterwork)


They all carry different weapons, and subsequently have different roles. In order of initiative:
- Spear: Precise Strike Basic, Insult Basic
- Dagger: Kidney Strike Basic, Feint Basic
These two don't usually deal much damage. Their job is to break the enemy's dodge and parry stances, and lowering their defences. The daggerist has Feint to use when approaching those enemies who still have OP to use for counterattacks.
- Mace: Armour Break Basic, Jaw Strike Basic
- Sword: Strong Blow Basic, Intimidate Basic
Here are the important blows, those that just have to hit. Intimidate is fun to use on enemies that are already almost surrounded, giving a chance for up to three free hits when the turn is almost over.
- Halberd: Frenzy, Black Hunger, Hardy / Swarm / Unstoppable
This one is the real damage dealer. He obviously has no shield nor shield related skills, and only relies on his armor as a defense. He enters battle to finish off those enemies that the others have already begun taking care of. Yet, he's quite frail, so he can't stand alone in a long battle. Of the last three skills listed, I have yet to decide which one to train him in.

So, if you want five active skills that work well together, it's:
- Precise Strike
- Kidney Strike
- Armour Break
- Strong Blow
- Intimidate
Just, give 'em to different units in order of initiative, and you'll be proud of your henchmen.

[Kindler]

Piety. My Warrior-Priest can heal someone who's stuck in the middle of a huge melee thanks to an extra +5 meter range (Healing Hand's range is 3 meters, Piety adds 5). Makes getting that heal to the guy who really needs it much simpler.

Anticipation. I give this one to many builds that you wouldn't normally expect it from. My Wolf Priest currently has it, since dodging is out of the question. I wouldn't necessarily master it, but every bit you can add helps.

Trick Shooter. Every ranged character needs this, as far as I'm concerned. Could substitute for Break Defenses, but I prefer a permanent flat +10% hit chance (pretty much every AI character has at least 10% ranged resistance, and it makes shooting into melee fights significantly easier, especially when you want to use Trial of Pain or something and can't use Aim).

Sharpshooter. Also necessary. Being able to steamroll ranged crits is very important. I like to fire 3 standard shots and follow with a Vital shot, so having the extra +12% crit chance (and another +12% if you're using a Misfortune rune for a total of +24%) is pretty awesome. For instance, a Witch Hunter Captain with 12 Acc and Crossbow Pistols of Misfortune can get to 61% crit chance, from range. Pretty awesome. Best part is that it's a bonus to you, not a negative to the target, so if you luck out and get a crit on one guy, you still have the crit chance bonus for a different target.

Underdog. I know it can feel situational, but getting a bonus to crit chance when you're engaged with more than one enemy certainly feels pretty broken. I like to throw this onto an Executioner or Templar--someone who doesn't get All Alone checks. That extra +8% (+15 mastered) is when you really NEED the crit bonus. On Templars, it tends to make them hit an awful lot harder, and spices up an otherwise boring(ish) sword/board tank.

Active:

Guard Stance. I use this on my Wolf Priest. Makes an enormous difference; even though it's only an extra 10% when mastered, I find that my Wolf Priests survive MUCH better when you pump their Armor (not like they have many other options).

Kidney Strike. I love this on Overpower builds. Insult+Kidney Strike= -35% MR. Overpower has a -40% hit chance penalty; this removes THAT problem nicely. Most OverPower characters have high enough weapon skill that the net -5% chance won't matter.

Intimidate. I stick this on characters that can't disengage. It's pretty good, considering it's SP rather than OP, but the chances of getting it to work aren't all that great (it's like 50/50). But it's saved a character more often than I'd like to admit. Plus free attacks using SP instead of OP.

Jaw Strike. Hitting a Sister with a Jaw Strike, then watching them get hit with a Divine Wrath on the next turn is immensely satisfying.

Combat Savvy. I dump this onto ranged characters who can use it to help out when someone gets stuck where they shouldn't be.

Honestly, for a game with this many skills, there are an awful lot of very useful ones. Don't even get me started on the DLC characters' sets; I don't think any of them have any that suck.