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It's been a long time since I did one of these! I've been thinking about getting into 2-player battling, and since my set right now is geared more towards 1-player, I need some advice. Advice from 2p battlers, especially those around my league (11 in NCW), would be awesome.

Stats: Str and Def are both 250; HP is 300.

Current set:

Sword of Skardsen
Pirate Captains Cutlass
Ghostkerbomb
Freezing Potion
Ring of the Lost
Gelert Healing Remedy
Downsize!
And I had a MoC, but I never used it, so it's for sale. (Yes, I know I had way too much dark defence; it's a long story.)

Budget: Around 28 mil, but I make NP fairly quickly, so you can go over that.

I'd like to stay in this stat range, at least until I get comfortable with 2-player. I've been considering training defence up a boost, though, and getting Ghostkershield and Faerie Tabard. Pros and cons of that idea? I've also been eyeing Glittery Faerie Dust and Crisp Blue Tunic because they look like fun. Are any/all of those a good idea? Am I overlooking something?

Dang, Cran would so have me for supper with a set and budget like that.

In any case, it's a solid set, even if it is 1-P-geared. Certainly able to bump heads with your average L11, even without potential upgrades. Minimal changes in that respect though, and you'll soon be reaching the point where there's pretty much nothing to upgrade too without a sky-high budget.

Cranberry Wrote:I've been considering training defence up a boost, though, and getting Ghostkershield and Faerie Tabard. Pros and cons of that idea?

Maxing out your league (320/250/300) is always a good idea (just don't go to the extreme and end up terrified of stat-increasing REs like me). And if you do that then you'll want a primary shield to make use of it. Up to you on that though. I'm not too keen on the idea of RotL and G-Shield in the same set, yet at the same time, FTab kinda lacks coverage and PCCs in particular will exploit that. And given that people already stack light to beat G-Shield, Ftabs get absolutely slaughtered. I personally run FTab with dark and light defence and it hasn't fared all that well in tight L11 fights. The bulk of battlers don't even bother carrying SoS any more too. I feel the choice of primary shield is a personal one more than anything, especially since both fare equally against GFD.

Cranberry Wrote:I've also been eyeing Glittery Faerie Dust and Crisp Blue Tunic because they look like fun.

GFD is something I highly recommend, for its excellent tactical usage. Makes shield users worry, throws people off in general since it's pretty much an unknown that you can't completely factor in when planning your next move, and even gives you the opportunity to turn the battle into a slugfest if you're keen on that. CBT not quite as highly recommended, it can still be effectively used at this stat range, but not quite as destructively. It's solid when going for an offensive push to end the battle before your opponent can heal, and often forces your opponent to heal early as a result, but at the same time, the high hp values at this level means your opponent will probably juice out more from his/her healer than you, what with all the LEVs that I see being used here. And you've got quite a bit of intelligence to make up, too (the pet, that is ). GHR has served me well here, and I daresay it will do the same for you.

Constants-wise, SoS can still punish unprepared opponents, but a mis-prediction and your SoS running into a RotL/G-Shield can mean the loss of A LOT of momentum. I'd actually recommend Porcelain Hair Sticks in its place.

I'm not too fond of D!, and I think it's something best swapped in and out of your set. If you're going to compete effective in this range, a Pirate Captains Hat to swap in should the situation call for it (when you battle an opponent three times for a tournament, or know/suspect his/her set) would be a wise investment. High-end L11s have a horrible habit of carrying FSS...

My two cents, take it as you will.

Thanks!

If I got the Gshield, I'd remove RotL from my set -- should have mentioned that. I won't sell it, though; it keeps going up in value and I'm going to hang onto it for at least a while longer. I also want to hang onto the SoS, as I use it + PCC on several turns per 1p battle, and I'd definitely miss it during wars or tourneys! I was originally considering something like this:

PCC
SoS
GFD (or Porcelain Hair Sticks -- that was my plan before GFD came out)
Gshield
Gbomb
FTab
Fpot
GHR (possibly a CBT for some fights, once I buy everything else and have disposable income)

And training defence up a boost. Note that D! has been tossed altogether; I've never been a fan of it in 2p battles, either.

PCH is something I've never really considered -- I used to do a bit of 2-player, and they'd annoy me for a while, but if I could hold on long enough they'd eventually break and I could toss my Gbomb at my opponent. I'm not a fan of breakable items like that. You're definitely right, though, that 2p fights don't last long at this level, so it might work okay. Maybe it's worth a shot; they're probably fairly ETS anyway, right?

I personally cannot stand the GFD. I had one for a while and its unpredictability really got me. Too many times I've seen it do dark into gshields or earth into burrow. Sure your opponent can't predict it, but I'd rather like to know what icons I'm dealing. What I did do is get the hair sticks (good idea heh) and I think it was a good decision because it really tears through the popular ghosterkershield. While it dies on a tabard, that's the point of keeping it as a 3rd constant right.

I am also a big fan of PCH's. While they are annoying when they break, they often last quite long, and if you time it right, will devastate gbombs. Ever since I have gotten a PCH for my set in 2-P, I have never taken it out. The added fire defense I think is also nice. And yep, very easy to sell. I'm surprised I don't see them in sets more often really.

Thanks, Star Dust! I like the hair sticks for their price, too -- they're still overpriced, but they're cheaper than the GFD. What would you recommend as a final set?

I bought a Faerie Tabard tonight because I was in a tournament and wanted a few more wins against Chiazilla, heh (it helped me get four more wins, bringing me up to 11... not too bad for a 250-booster). I can resell it if there's no place for it in my set, although I sort of like it for 1p. I sold my MoC earlier today, so after selling and buying weapons I'm only down 4 mil, to a budget of 24 mil or so.

I actually love Amulet Of Thilg, but whether it is worth the NP is up to you. It kills both high-end shields very nicely, getting 8 through both.

What's the average of the hair sticks? Could anyone do some real tests?

Ultra Bubble Gun is also considerable, too.

Uhhh final set..? I'm really not great with set suggestions, I only leave my two cents because I saw some items I've used

If you wanna stick with 3 constants, I like the idea of PCC, SoS, Hair Sticks because then you have something that gets through both gshield + tabard, and then one for each shield. I've never tried the UBG, but I've considered it. The fact that it does so much air dissuaded me from pairing it with a PCC.

For the healer I would much prefer to see a full healer, but I've never used the tunics, and around your hp the 100 hp drain would be pretty useful.

So that's PCC, SoS, Hair Sticks, Fpot, Gshield, Gbomb, Ftab, healer.

Personally I still like the PCH better than the ftab but I've also never used an ftab before so there may be some bias there. x) It also depends on how often you run into slings and such I guess.

For the hair sticks, if someone wants to walk me through how to test or w/e I'm up for it

I have and hate GFD. I think it's smart that you're planning to go with the Hair Sticks over that. Sure, it's fun to scare shield users with it - but it scares the user as well. I can't count how many times I've lost a fight because it decided to do the worst possible icon it could do in a given scenario. It's a weapon that relies far too heavily on luck, I think.

cutejohn291 Wrote:I actually love Amulet Of Thilg, but whether it is worth the NP is up to you. It kills both high-end shields very nicely, getting 8 through both.

I find it hard to justify it's price tag over Staff of Righteous Fury, but i suppose when NP isn't that much of an object...

betenoire Wrote:I have and hate GFD. I think it's smart that you're planning to go with the Hair Sticks over that. Sure, it's fun to scare shield users with it - but it scares the user as well. I can't count how many times I've lost a fight because it decided to do the worst possible icon it could do in a given scenario. It's a weapon that relies far too heavily on luck, I think.

Well the odd's of sticking dark to G-Shield or water to F-Tab is only 1 in 7- I'd consider that a fair gamble, considering if you go with the sticks you can't deal with an F-tab but with GFD you can do both (to a decent extent). The GFD fills the slot as a 3rd constant because it is an all purpose go-to weapon- if your mains are having trouble, call on your GFD. Compare that to the sticks which have situational use against the G-shield and averages less icons than the GFD for all other circumstances.

I'd personally go GFD (even though its ugly as all.. )

I'd rather keep the PCC for dealing damage through both shields though rather than gambling on a GFD. PCC is much better as an all-purpose go-to weapon . I'm also more of a defensive battler so I'd rarely be using two constants anyway.

The secondary weapons aren't meant to cut through both constants imo, and are meant for situational tactics...

Yeah, I think I'd play more defensively as well. My 2p experience has been fairly limited, so I'm not even sure how long fights usually last, or what people tend to use on each turn. In 1p, my longer fights often go SoS+fpot+drain life, SoS+Gbomb+berserk, SoS+PCC+burrow, SoS+D!+species ability, SoS+healer+species ability, and then SoS+PCC+sink as my final hit (with some variations, of course, depending on opponent). That doesn't even use any icon-based defence, and it won't work in 2p... so I have a lot of strategy to learn!