Scariest champion: Swordmaster?

[Kampfschwein Fjonda]

Champion Swordmaster is a REALly scary dude. Attacking with ranged weapons seems the only efficient way tu hurt him.
10 of my guys tried to hack at him for 3 or 4 rounds until he went down (nearly taking a strong tank down with him). Even my 110 mattack guy only had a 20-40% hitchance with hill advantage.

Barbarian Chosen or Orc Warlord champions seem a lessser threat than him. Is there any other dude as scary?

P.S.: A week ago I lost an arena match vs Champion Swordmaster and 2 Mercenaries. Today I visited Arena town again and - surprise! - Arena master offered me a rematch against the same named dude!

[suejak]

According to lore, swordmasters are already legends. In a world where everybody is a swordsman, these guys are renowned for their skill.

Champion swordmasters are the best of even that elite group. This is like being one of the best NBA players or the best footballer in the entire world. These guys are the Michael Jordans of melee combat -- once a generation.

Anyway, yeah, they're probably the strongest champ. Try fire pots, nets, poison.

[The Duck Knight]

They got rather low HP for a champion, so I'll give youa little hint how to beat them rather save and "fast": Firepots. Just set the area under him on fire and contain him there for a few turns. A good way is using an indom/taunt tank and a brother with 1-2 reinforced nets to keep him at that position. Use flashpots to keep him additional busy. If possible bring a thrower with you to fasten up the damage.

Ending his turn on a fire tile does 15-30 Damage, with 100% Armor Damage and 10% Direct Damage.
At best he will have 70 armor, in worst case 200. He will also have 94 hp. so if you are lucky he can go down in 6-7 turns only from the consumables. which is rather good when you got only 3 guys, ain't it?
Might take a while if he got the best possible armor he could have, but in the arena it's one of the best options.

[bulbatrs]

There is no point in using reinforced nets as champion swordmaster will have 95% to break either.

[DarrkPhoenix]

Swordmasters have some crazy mdef (80 for just regular ones, champions get an extra 25%), plus a Dodge bonus on top of that, so it's no surprise they're very difficult to hit in melee. Rdef on them is much lower, so as you've noted ranged attacks are much easier to hit with. Locking them down with several bros surrounding them (so they can't just use footwork to get away) then having ranged bros attack them at close range is probably the best way to land attacks. Netting them can also make it much, much easier to hit them, as it reduces their mdef by 45% (which with 80+ mdef is HUGE) and also reduces their initiative (and in turn their dodge bonus). They'll break out of nets easily, so you'll want to time the net for after they've acted, then have your own bros attack after that. For tanking them nimble bros are probably the best choice, as between Duelist, Crippling Strikes, and Executioner they can dish out a lot of damage that bypasses armor.

As for other scary champions, while swordmasters are probably overall the most troublesome, barbarian chosen and kings can also be rather scary if they spawn with a 2H mace. Between the high damage and high armor pen a headshot can often instantly kill a forged bro if they don't have enough investment in HP. So while they're much easier to take out than swordmasters there's still a butt-clench each time one of them takes a swing.

[The Duck Knight]

Originally posted by bulbatrs:

There is no point in using reinforced nets as champion swordmaster will have 95% to break either.

I just tend to don't have regular nets with me anymore at the point I accept fighting swordmaster champions in the arena. The upgrading costs are rather small. But you are right: a regular net will do the same.

[AlwaysRushingB]

Tanking Champion Swordmasters is suicide. Just use nets & throwers

[GreatPalm]

Originally posted by bulbatrs:

There is no point in using reinforced nets as champion swordmaster will have 95% to break either.

but he will waste 4 ap
nvm

[The Duck Knight]

Originally posted by GreatPalm:

Originally posted by bulbatrs:

There is no point in using reinforced nets as champion swordmaster will have 95% to break either.

but he will waste 4 ap
nvm

4 ap is an attack he won't throw at you and so keep your Brother alive a bit longer.

[GreatPalm]

Originally posted by The Duck Knight:

Originally posted by GreatPalm:

but he will waste 4 ap
nvm

4 ap is an attack he won't throw at you and so keep your Brother alive a bit longer.

i meant swordmaster will waste 4 ap)

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I have the best luck using javs

[NKlein1553]

Champion Blade Dancer has higher ranged defense. A little less damage maybe. I find them tougher to kill.

[wei270]

facing them on the battle field is alot less scary then faceing then in the arena, on the battle field you have lots options, on the arena you do not.

[Estieukua]

If a shield tank keeps taunting the bladedancer/swordmaster in the arena (also using Shieldwall or Indom while fatigue allows), the first net thrown over the bd/sm will never be broken and will keep defences down. Chucking a daze pot in addition to the net will reduce damage for a couple of rounds as well as further lowering initiative and Dodge. Then a throwing duelist with Overwhelm can hurl javelins (doing good damage and lowering melee skill) and a melee damage-dealer with Backstabber can stand next to the taunting tank and keep attacking in relative safety, and hopefully neither the thrower nor the damage-dealer will be engaged/attacked by many add-ons until the elite unit is down ...

[Saint Thomas d'Aquin]

The scariest champion i've ever met was a swordmaster with a FAMED SHAMSHIR, stacking wounds with every hit
Ranged weapons and a good tank seems the best way to deal with them