Warrior General Games

Any must have SAs for run blocking o-linemen? Pancake Chef seems like the obvious choice, but outside of that? Get low, beat down, any of them particularly useful?

I would say Get low, and Pull Specialist for a run blocking O-lineman.

Resolute has become a must, since it will cancel out the worst of Spin Cycle's effects.

Beat Down is one that I wait on, to see if the player actually gets enough knockdowns to make it fire. I find I mostly use it on DT and DE as a result.

Originally posted by Lemoncow
Any must have SAs for run blocking o-linemen? Pancake Chef seems like the obvious choice, but outside of that? Get low, beat down, any of them particularly useful?

Assuming you're going with a Run-first but still Balanced Offense (as opposed to Run only), my OL SA suggestions are this:

1. Leverage (losing PBT)

2. Resolute (losing PBT due to DL winning PRT and SA Spin Cycle firing. You need Toughness to trigger so I recommend it after Leverage since you'll probably be investing in PBT to higher levels before you invest in Toughness)

3. Depends on final build and Offensive play calling mix at Vet. Can be
Pancake Chef (winning RBT roll),
Get Low (winning RBP roll) or
Immovable Object (losing a Run block roll - doesn't say Tech or Power so maybe it's both but could just be Power since it fires off RBP).

Why?

OL skill costs were changed due to the success of the Stunners so that OL wouldn't dominate DL in a Pure Offense (either all Run or all Pass). As such, your OL regularly lose blocking interactions until you get to the higher tiers. You can still build OL with Run Blocking Tech of 85-90 so they can beat the DL but that's going to take several seasons. In Rookie, the DL can build their Run Tech and Pass Tech faster than the OL. This is why Rookie is a Pass happy. It's difficult to build Run blockers and the HBs don't have the Balance and Conditioning and Sprinting and Quickness to run Outside effectively. LBs can be built with high Conditioning and Sprinting that stop the Outside HB running game at Rookie.

So,

Your OL need to Pass Protect at Rookie and be solid Run blockers at Vet. How does this effect SA choice? Focus on interactions where the OL is losing because they mostly will for a long time. Yes you can respec once during the Tier path and yes you can bank 6 (I think) SAs when leveling but no more. So you do need to spend some SA points at the lower tiers.

Leverage fires off PBT, when you are losing, which you'll need and is much more useful than PBP and it's SA Strong Arm.

Resolute is reasonably new but as mentioned above is a must to stop the Spin Cycle effects for the DL. Again it fires if you're losing the interaction, which you will be for several seasons.

You don't have to GOLD both of these, but SILVER is required in at least one, and a strong consideration for both.

In my view at least.

Originally posted by atlbruce
Beat Down is one that I wait on, to see if the player actually gets enough knockdowns to make it fire. I find I mostly use it on DT and DE as a result.

Beat Down is exclusively DL these days. OL doesn't get the Pancakes like they used to.

So resolute just allows the lineman to regain consciousness (per say) after the spin cycle d-lineman is already past them - or it stops the spin cycle from activating?

Every spin cycle I've seen the d lineman gets past them - although it would make sense a spin shouldn't work all the time and should result in the d lineman sometimes even going backwards and the lineman staying engaged

Resolute allows the OL to ignore the stun effect of Spin Cycle, which keeps them in the play and still able to block.

At that point the damage is already done tho

Thanks for the responses. Is silver resolute and silver leverage overkill? Is just golding leverage superior?