=======OFFENSIVE TACKLES=========
++++Introduction++++
To start off, please understand that this isn’t a “build guide” in a traditional sense. I am not going to hold your hand through the process of how to apply trainings and SP’s. This also isn’t meant to give you a step-by-step guide to copy someone else’s dot. Actually this is intended to do the opposite, arm you with knowledge so you can make your own intelligent build decisions and build an OT who you think will be successful, by making smart logical decisions on how to allocate your player building resources.
If a general baseline of player building is needed, you can find some at the link in my signature to a player building private forum.
Attributes
Summary what attributes are important to OT’s and how they affect them…
The Holy Trinity: Strength-Blocking-Agility
While there is some different opinions on how important these are in relation to each other on OTs, general consensus is they are your 3 most important attributes
Strength: This is a large part of your hold block roll, and is also huge in helping you not get pushed back and also pushing other players back. Big factor in pancakes as well as helping to not get revcaked
Blocking: Big factor in your “hold block vs break block” battle roll against defenders.
Agility: Very important to your players balance (your player losing balance and/or being out of position will hurt your hold block score). Considered to be most important for pass blocking, and also if you have enough agility you can cancel out the +30% bb% many pass rushers will have from technique man (that VA only works on defenders if the defender has less than 90% of their agility).
The Rest
Speed: Along with agility this is your balance score and your biggest weapons to remain in position which will help you stop great pass rushers, as well as get to blitzers on pass plays + defenders on run plays.
Stamina: Energy loss causes your player to play worse, this will help him play better, longer.
Vision: Primarily this is to help you see and pick-up blitzers, as well as detecting players to block in the open field.
Confidence: Helps you curb the loss of moral which can degrade a players performance if he is performing poorly individually or his team is getting beat up.
++++SA’s++++
Pass Block: Solid SA that will help your block score when pass blocking. This is a passive SA that is in effect every play. Even if you don’t want to pump it hard, getting at least a few points cheap is likely cost effective (4 points is only 6 SP while the next 4 point are 14 SP, for example).
Shock Block: Used to freeze pass rushers and stop some of their movement when it fires. This is an active SA that has to “fire” and since additional levels of the SA effect both the chances of “firing” as well as the strength, this is a 0 or 10 scenario.
Foundation: This is a passive SA that is always working, so you don’t necessarily need to pump it to 10 for it to help you. In general, getting pushed around/pushed back will make your player lose balance which will degrade his block score, so being able to stay mobile will be an asset to holding blocks as well as staying in front of defenders.
Absorb Pain: Accepted as not being a very good SA, as most olinemen don’t have serious energy/moral issues.
Protect: If your player is going to play LT, getting this to 10-12 is likely a very wise investment, as it will help your speed, agility, and blocking, three very important (possibly most important) stats for pass blocking.
Run Block: Like the Pass Block SA it might be worth it to get at the very least a few cheap points here on any player.
Get Low. The opposite of foundation for running plays. Helps you impose your will on DE’s and angle them out to create holes and keep them away from rushers.
Hands: Very bad SA unless your oline has a “kill confidence/moral” theme to it, which most will not.
Cut Block: Very popular SA and one of the few sexy olinemen SA’s you can see fire on the field. Basically when you dot is about to get beat, he will attempt to take the defender out of the play (results in both dots shrinking at the same time in the replays). This is an active SA and additional levels increase both the chance of it working along with how bad the defender is taken out. 0 or 10.
Pancake: While there is a lot of different opinions on whether this SA is worth it, it does what it says. Will help increase your chances to pancake defenders, though this SA should only be considered on very high strength players that are likely in the “barely didn’t pancake” category somewhat often, allowing this SA to have an effect.
First Step: WORST SA IN THE GAME FOR YOUR OT, DO NOT GET IT AS IT WILL CAUSE GLITCH SACKS AND BAD PERFORMANCE
Balance: 0 or 10 SA, with it maxed you are looking at maybe 1-3 plays a game where it fires and keeps your player upright (shows up in the pbp).
Aura of Intimidation: Can be useful if and only if your oline as a whole has a “kill moral” theme. Individually this won’t do much to 2 rotating players.
Quick Cut: BAD SA AS YOU WILL RARELY BE TRAVELING AT FULL SPEED NEEDED FOR THIS TO HELP YOU CUT
++++VA’s++++
Overpower/MaxProtect: Slam dunk SA based on your archetype.
Pocket Defender: Slam dunk SA, +30% hb% is too good to pass up on an offensive tackle, so get this and play on pass block tactic (I promise it won’t ruin you run blockers)
Pass Blocker: A must if your player will be out there on any 3rd downs.
Great Blocker/Workout Warrior/Quick: this will likely take up your remaining VP’s, so flavor to your taste.
Stonewall: General consensus is it is bad, but it may be a solid SA given you won’t lose balance by being pushed back as much, and revcakes are never good for your offense.
Pulling lineman: Might be worth it if your team LOVES screens.
Downfield Blocker: It will be rare that your OT goes 4+ yards downfield so not a great choice imo.
GoalLine blocker: huge boosts inside the 5, but very situational.
Outside Blocker: Bad SA on OTs as they don’t really have run plays that pull them to the outside.
Power Blocker: Really don’t recommend this over pocket defender, as it will help you get murdered on pass plays. +30% hold block on pass plays is HUGE. +30% pancake on run plays seems much more meh, so unless you are the craziest hardcore “I wanna cake them” guy, not the SA for you.
Showboat Blocker: garbage.
+++++%’s++++
The only +% that matters to you is hold block%. I’d strongly suggest +25.5% hold block% on all olinemen. This requires two +5% (becomes +15%) AE pieces, and +12% from your CE. At the very least you should have two pieces stacked, but I would strongly recommend the 3rd piece as well which is supported by math.
Viable Archetypes and generally accepted attribute pumping orders
Both Archetypes are good on OT’s, and it is actually pretty logical, you pick the archetype of what you want your player’s greatest strength to be. Generally pass block arche’s are more often seen at LT while run block is more often seen at RT. Alternatively a case couple be made that both starting (forced on 3rd down) tackles should be pass arche, while both back-up (mostly on 1st/2nd down) tackles should be run arche. Or some could argue all should be pass block. Needless to say, either arche can be effective on either side, though having protect as a favored SA is VERY nice on LT's.
In general people pump in order...
Pass Block Arche: Agility then Blocking then Strength then Speed then stam/vis/conf
Run Block Arche: Strength then Blocking then Agility then Speed then stam/vis/conf
There are some different opinions on the value of blocking 2nd vs the value of your 2nd of strength/agility. My experiements with quipment into blocking (extra high blocking) proves pretty bad, though I’d say not having your first two attributes pumped being MAJORs rather than MINORs would be a mistake, so I’d suggest against leaving blocking until 3rd or 4th as it will rape your EL and in all honesty if you are a BLOCKER you can likely bet BLOCKING isn’t garbage.
++++Current WL Meta-Builds++++
*Note the below is by build goal, not by archetype, and is just some generalized observations on current WL builds*
Pass Blockers:
Str: 130-145
Agi: 105-120 agi
Blk: 90-100
Spd: 75-80
Vis: 60-70
Conf: 40-65
Stam: 55-63ish
Run Blockers
Str: 155-162
Agi: 85-90
Blk: 90-100
Spd: 70-80
Vis: 60-70
Conf: 40-65
++++Height/Weight++++
Lighter --------------------------------- Heavier
Faster *************************** Stronger
Shorter ------------------------------- Taller
Better turning ********************** Better vision
Slightly better balance***************** Slightly more strength
++++Outside ranges of attributes that could be successful imho++++
This is meant for a “don’t be scared to push the envelope” baseline. Make the build YOU think will work well. These are in my opinion the outside limits worth considering using.
Str: 120-160
Agi: 85-130
Blk: 85-100
Spd: 70-95
Vis: 50-80
Conf: 40-70
Stam: 50-70
CONCLUSION
That’s all I got folks. Questions welcome. Great OT’s are hard to find, so don’t feel like you are making a boring position, as if you actually watch replays they are imo one of the more exciting and dynamic positions in GLB both in terms of results and in terms of successful build possibilities. Keep those QBs and HBs upright so they can steal all your glory!
++++Introduction++++
To start off, please understand that this isn’t a “build guide” in a traditional sense. I am not going to hold your hand through the process of how to apply trainings and SP’s. This also isn’t meant to give you a step-by-step guide to copy someone else’s dot. Actually this is intended to do the opposite, arm you with knowledge so you can make your own intelligent build decisions and build an OT who you think will be successful, by making smart logical decisions on how to allocate your player building resources.
If a general baseline of player building is needed, you can find some at the link in my signature to a player building private forum.
Attributes
Summary what attributes are important to OT’s and how they affect them…
The Holy Trinity: Strength-Blocking-Agility
While there is some different opinions on how important these are in relation to each other on OTs, general consensus is they are your 3 most important attributes
Strength: This is a large part of your hold block roll, and is also huge in helping you not get pushed back and also pushing other players back. Big factor in pancakes as well as helping to not get revcaked
Blocking: Big factor in your “hold block vs break block” battle roll against defenders.
Agility: Very important to your players balance (your player losing balance and/or being out of position will hurt your hold block score). Considered to be most important for pass blocking, and also if you have enough agility you can cancel out the +30% bb% many pass rushers will have from technique man (that VA only works on defenders if the defender has less than 90% of their agility).
The Rest
Speed: Along with agility this is your balance score and your biggest weapons to remain in position which will help you stop great pass rushers, as well as get to blitzers on pass plays + defenders on run plays.
Stamina: Energy loss causes your player to play worse, this will help him play better, longer.
Vision: Primarily this is to help you see and pick-up blitzers, as well as detecting players to block in the open field.
Confidence: Helps you curb the loss of moral which can degrade a players performance if he is performing poorly individually or his team is getting beat up.
++++SA’s++++
Pass Block: Solid SA that will help your block score when pass blocking. This is a passive SA that is in effect every play. Even if you don’t want to pump it hard, getting at least a few points cheap is likely cost effective (4 points is only 6 SP while the next 4 point are 14 SP, for example).
Shock Block: Used to freeze pass rushers and stop some of their movement when it fires. This is an active SA that has to “fire” and since additional levels of the SA effect both the chances of “firing” as well as the strength, this is a 0 or 10 scenario.
Foundation: This is a passive SA that is always working, so you don’t necessarily need to pump it to 10 for it to help you. In general, getting pushed around/pushed back will make your player lose balance which will degrade his block score, so being able to stay mobile will be an asset to holding blocks as well as staying in front of defenders.
Absorb Pain: Accepted as not being a very good SA, as most olinemen don’t have serious energy/moral issues.
Protect: If your player is going to play LT, getting this to 10-12 is likely a very wise investment, as it will help your speed, agility, and blocking, three very important (possibly most important) stats for pass blocking.
Run Block: Like the Pass Block SA it might be worth it to get at the very least a few cheap points here on any player.
Get Low. The opposite of foundation for running plays. Helps you impose your will on DE’s and angle them out to create holes and keep them away from rushers.
Hands: Very bad SA unless your oline has a “kill confidence/moral” theme to it, which most will not.
Cut Block: Very popular SA and one of the few sexy olinemen SA’s you can see fire on the field. Basically when you dot is about to get beat, he will attempt to take the defender out of the play (results in both dots shrinking at the same time in the replays). This is an active SA and additional levels increase both the chance of it working along with how bad the defender is taken out. 0 or 10.
Pancake: While there is a lot of different opinions on whether this SA is worth it, it does what it says. Will help increase your chances to pancake defenders, though this SA should only be considered on very high strength players that are likely in the “barely didn’t pancake” category somewhat often, allowing this SA to have an effect.
First Step: WORST SA IN THE GAME FOR YOUR OT, DO NOT GET IT AS IT WILL CAUSE GLITCH SACKS AND BAD PERFORMANCE
Balance: 0 or 10 SA, with it maxed you are looking at maybe 1-3 plays a game where it fires and keeps your player upright (shows up in the pbp).
Aura of Intimidation: Can be useful if and only if your oline as a whole has a “kill moral” theme. Individually this won’t do much to 2 rotating players.
Quick Cut: BAD SA AS YOU WILL RARELY BE TRAVELING AT FULL SPEED NEEDED FOR THIS TO HELP YOU CUT
++++VA’s++++
Overpower/MaxProtect: Slam dunk SA based on your archetype.
Pocket Defender: Slam dunk SA, +30% hb% is too good to pass up on an offensive tackle, so get this and play on pass block tactic (I promise it won’t ruin you run blockers)
Pass Blocker: A must if your player will be out there on any 3rd downs.
Great Blocker/Workout Warrior/Quick: this will likely take up your remaining VP’s, so flavor to your taste.
Stonewall: General consensus is it is bad, but it may be a solid SA given you won’t lose balance by being pushed back as much, and revcakes are never good for your offense.
Pulling lineman: Might be worth it if your team LOVES screens.
Downfield Blocker: It will be rare that your OT goes 4+ yards downfield so not a great choice imo.
GoalLine blocker: huge boosts inside the 5, but very situational.
Outside Blocker: Bad SA on OTs as they don’t really have run plays that pull them to the outside.
Power Blocker: Really don’t recommend this over pocket defender, as it will help you get murdered on pass plays. +30% hold block on pass plays is HUGE. +30% pancake on run plays seems much more meh, so unless you are the craziest hardcore “I wanna cake them” guy, not the SA for you.
Showboat Blocker: garbage.
+++++%’s++++
The only +% that matters to you is hold block%. I’d strongly suggest +25.5% hold block% on all olinemen. This requires two +5% (becomes +15%) AE pieces, and +12% from your CE. At the very least you should have two pieces stacked, but I would strongly recommend the 3rd piece as well which is supported by math.
Viable Archetypes and generally accepted attribute pumping orders
Both Archetypes are good on OT’s, and it is actually pretty logical, you pick the archetype of what you want your player’s greatest strength to be. Generally pass block arche’s are more often seen at LT while run block is more often seen at RT. Alternatively a case couple be made that both starting (forced on 3rd down) tackles should be pass arche, while both back-up (mostly on 1st/2nd down) tackles should be run arche. Or some could argue all should be pass block. Needless to say, either arche can be effective on either side, though having protect as a favored SA is VERY nice on LT's.
In general people pump in order...
Pass Block Arche: Agility then Blocking then Strength then Speed then stam/vis/conf
Run Block Arche: Strength then Blocking then Agility then Speed then stam/vis/conf
There are some different opinions on the value of blocking 2nd vs the value of your 2nd of strength/agility. My experiements with quipment into blocking (extra high blocking) proves pretty bad, though I’d say not having your first two attributes pumped being MAJORs rather than MINORs would be a mistake, so I’d suggest against leaving blocking until 3rd or 4th as it will rape your EL and in all honesty if you are a BLOCKER you can likely bet BLOCKING isn’t garbage.
++++Current WL Meta-Builds++++
*Note the below is by build goal, not by archetype, and is just some generalized observations on current WL builds*
Pass Blockers:
Str: 130-145
Agi: 105-120 agi
Blk: 90-100
Spd: 75-80
Vis: 60-70
Conf: 40-65
Stam: 55-63ish
Run Blockers
Str: 155-162
Agi: 85-90
Blk: 90-100
Spd: 70-80
Vis: 60-70
Conf: 40-65
++++Height/Weight++++
Lighter --------------------------------- Heavier
Faster *************************** Stronger
Shorter ------------------------------- Taller
Better turning ********************** Better vision
Slightly better balance***************** Slightly more strength
++++Outside ranges of attributes that could be successful imho++++
This is meant for a “don’t be scared to push the envelope” baseline. Make the build YOU think will work well. These are in my opinion the outside limits worth considering using.
Str: 120-160
Agi: 85-130
Blk: 85-100
Spd: 70-95
Vis: 50-80
Conf: 40-70
Stam: 50-70
CONCLUSION
That’s all I got folks. Questions welcome. Great OT’s are hard to find, so don’t feel like you are making a boring position, as if you actually watch replays they are imo one of the more exciting and dynamic positions in GLB both in terms of results and in terms of successful build possibilities. Keep those QBs and HBs upright so they can steal all your glory!
Edited by WiSeIVIaN on Jul 27, 2013 09:02:09
Edited by WiSeIVIaN on Jul 25, 2013 22:43:14
Edited by WiSeIVIaN on Jul 25, 2013 22:41:23
