Warrior General Games

I think Bruiser is quite possible the best Veteran Ability PERIOD.

When maxed out at Level 15 that is 45% or almost a 50/50 shot of breaking any given tackle, on top of your normal tackle breaking ability from Strength/Carrying + Lower Shoulder/Power Thru.

I have a Level 41 Combo back (leaned slightly to Power before, leaning a LOT more to power now) with 9 Lower Shoulder, 6 Power Thru, and now 15 Bruiser - I can't Fing WAIT to see my Broken Tackles numbers this season.

I agree with tautology in regards to Mr. First Down. While it is a VERY situational ability you that particilar situation could be absolutely vital in a hard fought, close game. If it's 4th & 2 with under 2 minutes to go and we're on the 23 trailing by 4 and we need that first to keep the season alive I'd LOVE to have a back with that VA on my roster. It's a situation that may not arrise that often but you have to recognize the potential scope of the situation when it DOES come up. With situational skills it's not all about how often the situation will come up you have to take into account how important that situation could be if and when it does come up.

Originally posted by SabreNation
I think Bruiser is quite possible the best Veteran Ability PERIOD.

When maxed out at Level 15 that is 45% or almost a 50/50 shot of breaking any given tackle, on top of your normal tackle breaking ability from Strength/Carrying + Lower Shoulder/Power Thru.

The way I interpreted it, it's 45% increase to the chance to break a tackle, not a 45% chance to break a tackle. For example, if there is a 20% chance to break a tackle against a particular defender based on natural attributes, you'll now have a 29% chance to break that tackle.

All things being equal, you should have 45% more broken tackles - actually more since a broken tackle gives you a chance to brake another tackle. Still pretty darn good.

Originally posted by DeaseNuts
Originally posted by Riggs_Inator

Originally posted by Cutler2Marshall


if your a power back, strictly power, go workhorse, bruiser, and goal line back.

I'd say Bruiser and Tenacious. Tenacious would be useful for 95% more of the field than Goal Line Back since it doesn't require being inside the 5 yard line.
Short Yardage back is better than Goal Line Back imo as well.

I plan on using Bruiser and Tenacious for my HB.

Yeah - I don't think Goal Line back is useful at all - way to specific. I really like Red Zone Freak though - if I can get 5% bonus on strength, speed AND agility, then I'm a happy camper. But the base has got to be Bruiser/Slippery

Bruiser, Slippery means you can never use both.

I'm not sure about slippery yet. How often do most elusive backs BREAK tackles? Generally elusive backs just make people miss altogether using fakes and quick cut, which would make quick feet a more logical skill.

Originally posted by ZeroTolerance
I'm not sure about slippery yet. How often do most elusive backs BREAK tackles? Generally elusive backs just make people miss altogether using fakes and quick cut, which would make quick feet a more logical skill.

Yep I agree, Quick and Track Star look good to me, along with the one that boosts Head Fake/Juke if you are already using those SAs.

Originally posted by ZeroTolerance
I'm not sure about slippery yet. How often do most elusive backs BREAK tackles? Generally elusive backs just make people miss altogether using fakes and quick cut, which would make quick feet a more logical skill.

I was a bit skeptical about the wording myself, doesnt make sense, if it said avoid tackle percentage that would make more sense to me.

How much Quick Feet you think a HB should get with 7 HF and 8 Juke?

Originally posted by jordan274
How much Quick Feet you think a HB should get with 7 HF and 8 Juke?

Take any VAs you decide to get up to 15 so you can get the maximum effect out of them, especially since the cost doesn't scale the way SAs do.

Also, how do people feel about Clutch? I mean, if you have 15 in Bruiser and Clutch, then you get the +45% chance to break tackles, and then if it's late in the game or 3rd/4th down, then you get access to more bonuses (possibly more break tackle% or bonuses to Strength/Speed/Agility/Carrying). I think that Bruiser (and maybe Tenacious now that I've read up on it some) should be the base, but Clutch could be useful.

If I have a high strength power back (100+ strength) with 2-3-3-4-1 (including CE) in the power tree, and I dumped all 8 of my vet pts into Bruiser, how should I spend my boost SP? I will have 16 points. i originally wanted to take Power Through to 7 because that's pretty potent, but would it be better now to take Lower Shoulder high instead since that sounds like the bonus it gives is "constant" and would complement Bruiser better?

I mean, it's not a bad dilemma to be in but i'd like to know what people think.

Originally posted by Jack Del Rio
If I have a high strength power back (100+ strength) with 2-3-3-4-1 (including CE) in the power tree, and I dumped all 8 of my vet pts into Bruiser, how should I spend my boost SP? I will have 16 points. i originally wanted to take Power Through to 7 because that's pretty potent, but would it be better now to take Lower Shoulder high instead since that sounds like the bonus it gives is "constant" and would complement Bruiser better?

I mean, it's not a bad dilemma to be in but i'd like to know what people think.

whatever you would do to make the most of your broken tackles will give the best bonus to more break tackle % in bruiser. in other words: power through, lower shoulder to a lesser extent, and high strength.

the way i see it: in a play, your power rb is running into a defender. there is a check with your skills vs his skills, and the RB is given a percentage of how many times out of 100 he would break that defender's tackle. now, with bruiser, that number is multiplied by 45% (at Bruiser 15) and it is then calculated if he tackled you or you broke through him.

after reading all what you wrote, I think i'm going to take my elusive back and try Quick Feet (maxed out) + Quick. My HB has speed over 80 + 8 Juke 6 Head Fake + 5 First Step. Agility is almost 60. I think using track star won't help that much if your agility isn't up to par.

Originally posted by Jack Del Rio
If I have a high strength power back (100+ strength) with 2-3-3-4-1 (including CE) in the power tree, and I dumped all 8 of my vet pts into Bruiser, how should I spend my boost SP? I will have 16 points. i originally wanted to take Power Through to 7 because that's pretty potent, but would it be better now to take Lower Shoulder high instead since that sounds like the bonus it gives is "constant" and would complement Bruiser better?

I mean, it's not a bad dilemma to be in but i'd like to know what people think.

I see what you mean, I've been meaning to take Lower Shoulder up more, but then again, my SAs are currently at 5-8-6-11-4 (obviously including CE). I think you're on the right track with Lower Shoulder giving you a contstant increase in chance to break tackles, but when Power Through does trigger, you know it (if there are multiple defenders nearby, Power Through seems to last and you just run them all over, I've had a ton of plays where I broke 4-5 tackles in the span of a second).

What are your Spd/Agi at? If they are decently high, then I would focus on getting Lower Shoulder up to about 5-6, then focus on Power Through.

Are people really sold on "50% elusive" as a tactic for speed/agility backs. It would suck to put in 15 for slippery, only to find that your guys dances around in the backfield for 3 seconds every time you use over 50% elusive.

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I can't see how "goal line back" is better than "mr first down". Chances are if you are running a goal line play inside the 5, you only need 2-3 yards max (at which point getting the extra half yard may help). Plus, you have every short yardage on the other 95 yards of the field where you could get a first down with the extra 1/2 yard.

Originally posted by Dianwei32
Originally posted by Jack Del Rio

If I have a high strength power back (100+ strength) with 2-3-3-4-1 (including CE) in the power tree, and I dumped all 8 of my vet pts into Bruiser, how should I spend my boost SP? I will have 16 points. i originally wanted to take Power Through to 7 because that's pretty potent, but would it be better now to take Lower Shoulder high instead since that sounds like the bonus it gives is "constant" and would complement Bruiser better?

I mean, it's not a bad dilemma to be in but i'd like to know what people think.

I see what you mean, I've been meaning to take Lower Shoulder up more, but then again, my SAs are currently at 5-8-6-11-4 (obviously including CE). I think you're on the right track with Lower Shoulder giving you a contstant increase in chance to break tackles, but when Power Through does trigger, you know it (if there are multiple defenders nearby, Power Through seems to last and you just run them all over, I've had a ton of plays where I broke 4-5 tackles in the span of a second).

What are your Spd/Agi at? If they are decently high, then I would focus on getting Lower Shoulder up to about 5-6, then focus on Power Through.

Thanks, yea just as I suspected I might want to go for 1 broken tackle "every play" with Lower Shoulder rather than chancing it by depending on Power Thru. I mean both will be very high eventually but we're talking about how I should be starting off the season. My Carrying is also pretty low so a constant bonus like Lower Shoulder seems like the right fit.

Originally posted by Arles
Are people really sold on "50% elusive" as a tactic for speed/agility backs. It would suck to put in 15 for slippery, only to find that your guys dances around in the backfield for 3 seconds every time you use over 50% elusive.

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I can't see how "goal line back" is better than "mr first down". Chances are if you are running a goal line play inside the 5, you only need 2-3 yards max (at which point getting the extra half yard may help). Plus, you have every short yardage on the other 95 yards of the field where you could get a first down with the extra 1/2 yard.

I think those are both pretty horrible skills in general, and I mean even if you're a specialist they should be secondary to the +1% attribute modifiers after you've maxed those out at 15.