The Hanzo Ninja Clan School Of Anything Goes Martial Arts

Player ID 10950

Orientation And Lesson 1: How To Take A Hit

Orientation
It has come to my attention that most players still don't know how the basic gist of the mechanics work. This isn't just the case in the lower levels, but even among many of the elite players as well. Our Mayor Justice comes to mind, for example. While there is no definitive knowledge outside of the devs for how the mechanics work exactly, we can make educated assumptions through careful observation of trial and error. In many cases, this is done through isolation of specific mechanics to see how tweaking the stats involved effect outcomes. 

These have long been held as trade secrets, carefully guarded by those that know them. So few know them in fact, that some players even at the highest echelons, like our Mayor Justice for example, haven't even bothered to learn them as there aren't enough people using these edges to matter in their minds. However, as many of you know, I have retired from competitive play and am now blowing the doors to these trade secrets wide open, so that this knowledge is available to all players. And if players like Mayor Justice wish to continue to thrive in this new environment, they'll have to learn them too or die a miserable death on the field of battle to the likes of Wizards and Zen Master Anomalies.

 
So welcome to our first class at The Hanzo Ninja Clan School Of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I will start with the absolute basics, so as not to make any assumptions on where anyone is at with their knowledge of the game. I've already made that mistake countless times with our notorious Mayor Justice.

LESSON ONE: How To Take A Hit

The basis of your hero or villain's build starts with their base stats. These stats are ATTACK, DEFEND, and MOVE. These stats are the basis for how fight outcomes happen. There are two other stats, LIFE and ENERGY, but they are less important and we will get into them later. These three stats in particular are the most important of all.

 
As stated during orientation, only the devs know the exact algorithm, and they have changed it often enough that anyone trying to pinpoint an exact bead on it has been thwarted. Still, a basic understanding that has held true throughout all the fight mechanics iterations up until now does exist. Each of these three stats does two things. Some in conjunction with each other and others in opposition of each other.

ATTACK:
1) Attack determines how much base damage your attacks do before modifiers, aka your Damage stat.
2) Attack combines with Move to create the Precision stat. Precision is your toon's ability to hit your opponent.

DEFEND:
1) Defend determines how much base damage reduction against an opponent's attack your toon does. This is your Damage Reduction stat. Consider this akin to your toon's toughness.
2) Defend combines with Move to create the Dodge stat. Dodge is your ability to avoid your opponent's attacks.
Note****
The Damage and Damage Reduction stats are in direct opposition to each other.

MOVE:
1) and 2) Move combines with Attack and Defend, as described above, to create the Precision and Dodge stats of your toon.
Note****
The Dodge and Precision stats are in direct opposition of each other.

How do we increase our stats?

 
There are two base methods, power cards, and to a lesser degree, gear. There are three types of cards of varying acquisition and power levels. Each type reflects each stat type, Attack, Defend, and Move, but carries stats for all three categories. Generally, whatever type of stat card it is will be reflected in higher numbers for that specific stat.

 
When deciding which stats to try and build up, consider what each does. While it is important to be able to both to do damage and take damage, if you can't hit your opponent, no amount of Damage matters, and if your opponent can't hit you, no amount of Damage Reduction matters. Furthermore, there are other variables that come into play which we'll discuss later like Plus Damage and X Damage. So, for far more than those two stats, your Precision and Dodge stats are the most important. When it comes to each, Attack and Defend only play in one each. But Move plays in both, thus making Move your most important stat of all. That said, when forced to choose between growing these three stats, in general, it is best to increase your Move stat. All other stats effectiveness, as well as the effects of gear are 1st and foremost dependent on this stat. That doesn't mean ignore the other stats. Attack still plays in the Precision stat and Defend still plays in the Dodge stat, as well as the outcome of successful attacks. But by concentrating on Move, you increase your ability to leap 2 of the first hurdles needed for anything else to matter.

Skill Points

 
As you level up, you acquire two Skill Points per level. These can be distributed between 5 stats, Attack, Defend, Move, Life, and Energy.

For the Attack, Defend, and Move stats, each Skill Point acts as a multiplier for their base stats given them by their power cards. This is a huge way to increase your base power exponentially, and is the primary place you need to be putting your Skill Points. Remember what was said earlier about Move being the most important stat. You will want to put the vast majority of your Skill Points into Move. In fact, early on, it is highly advisable to put as much as ALL of your Skill Points into Move. But this will change in time due to diminishing returns.

At first, each Skill Point in these three stats gives a 0.5% multiplier towards the base stat value. So, if I have 100 base Move, and add my first two Skill Points to it for 0.5% each, equaling an additional 1% Move, my Move is now 101. But, as you put more and more Skill Points into a stat, the amount of positive return decreases. The transition of diminishing returns is shown below.

Level 1 to 20: 1 Skill Point = 0.5% stat multiplier
Level 21 to 164: 1 Skill Point = 0.33% stat multiplier
Level 165 to 465: 1 Skill Point = 0.25% stat multiplier
Level 465 to ????: 1 Skill Point = 0.20% stat multiplier

As you can see, the more Skill Points you put into one stat, the fewer your gains per Skill Point. This is what we call diminishing returns. While it is important to add Skill Points to Move in the beginning, at some point it becomes more advantageous to start putting those points in your other two stats.

 
At what point might this be? Well, remember that a point of Move is equal to a point of Attack and a point of Defend, when overcoming the 1st hurdle of battle, hitting your opponent and avoiding your opponent's attacks. So, at the point where it costs over twice as many Skill Points to increase Move as it does Attack or Defend, is where you want to switch your Skill Point allotment up to your other two stats, Attack and Defend.

 
For example, if you have yet to put any Skill Points into Attack or Defend, then one Skill Point will give you a 0.5% multiplier for that stat. If a Skill Point put in Move equals less than half that number, so less than 0.25%, it is time to start adding your points to Attack and Defend until the ratio is again where two stat points in Move are equal to one in Attack or Defend.

The reasoning here is that by adding 1 Skill Point to each your Attack and Defend, you increase your Dodge and Precision stats by an equal amount as if you put both Skill Points into Move. What difference does this make? After all, the outcome is the same, right? Well yes, if you only consider one's ability to hit or dodge. But remember that Attack and Defend also each serve another function, damage tallying. By putting your Skill Points into Attack and Defend at this point, you maintain the same rate of Precision and Dodge, while increasing your Damage output and Damage Reduction.

The Other Two Stats

Before we move on to gear, let's take a second to look at the other two stats one can put Skill Points into, Life and Energy.

Life

Putting points into life is pretty much a waste of time. Those Skill Points are far more valuable elsewhere. A single gear can easily give out as much life as 25 levels worth of Skill Points. Furthermore, when considering gear bonuses, a gear bonus of 10% Life would require the toon's base Life stat to equal 1000 before it equaled what one gear with 100 Life offered. That's a level 200 toon with Skill Points resting solely in the Life Stat. Perhaps one day when toons are in the several thousands of levels might this stat be worth putting points into, but not at the current time..

Energy
There really are few reasons to add Skill Points to Energy. The absolute most performance minded toons will put as few Skill Points as possible into this stat. The only purposes increasing this stat serves is allowing you to put more fights into Fight Club, and to allow yourself more time to collect energy between gaming sessions without going over your max.

 
Frankly, you're going to gain more experience points through fights than through expending energy. It's far better spending your Skill Points to make yourself a better fighter than it is to be able to save up energy for longer periods of time. If more Skill Points in this area increased the rate at which you gained energy, that might be different, but that isn't the case here. So unless you really want to win Fight Clubs, I would forgo putting any Skill Points here at all. If you really want to win Fight Clubs though, wait to increase your Energy stat until you are winning for every energy spent in Fight Club. For example, if on average, you're winning all your fights in Fight Club but can only fight 8 opponents max, increase your Energy stat so you can fight 9. But if you can only beat 7 usually, now is not the time to increase your Energy stat.

Preview into Lesson 2: How To Fall

A + AC + D + B(A + AC + D)....................
That's right folks! Put your thinking caps on. We're about to do maphs!