Amazon Blitzer Overview: #
Amazon Blitzers are one of only two players in the game that start with the great combo of Block and Dodge. This makes them very hard to knock over, having strength skill access as well gives you options to make them into even more useful players. It is essentially these two reasons combined that give the Amazon team a really effective bashing playstyle, at least until high team values, where lots of Tackle is more prevalent.
Their downsides are their statline being really average for the most part, with the exception of armour which is low. As they are so hard to knock over, especially for most players early in development, their low armour isn’t really a big issue.
Their development is rather straightforward and somewhat easy. While most players are concentrating on getting Block and Dodge, you can go straight into selecting skills that aid the rest of the team more directly. Their skill access also means you aren’t too concerned about getting doubles. For most players with Strength skills the key skill they would usually take would be Dodge, but you already have the luxury of starting with it. Baring any stat increases the first two or three choices don’t really need much thinking about. In short leagues their development is obvious and it is only in longer leagues where further development options come about.
General Supporting Amazon Blitzer: #
- Normal: Guard, Stand Firm, Mighty Blow, Tackle / Dauntless, Grab / PRO
- Doubles: Side Step
- Stat Increase: +ST +AG +MV
You probably wouldn’t go too far wrong developing every Amazon Blitzer along these lines and they really form the core of the team. The first skill choice is the most obvious and not taking Guard would be bewildering to me. Your team has no Big Guy player, or even players with ST4. With average agility moving the ball won’t always be easy so cage play suits them the best. For this to be effective and to handle the strength teams you need as much Guard as you can muster. After that I would take Stand Firm, Block, Dodge, Guard and Stand Firm is an horrific skill combo to try and play against. It is really hard to knock them over, you can’t move them and Guard is cancelling out your assists while giving the opponents one. It will also let you tie up opposing players forcing them to dodge if they want to get away most of the time. Also it will let you screen off parts of the pitch to give the rest of the team more space to manoeuvre.
After that I would look at taking Mighty Blow to keep their development of SPP ticking over. They will also be doing a fair amount of blocking and often be next to opposing players, so any help to remove them from the pitch is a great help. Tackle is probably a handy utility skill to take, though you may be tempted to take it earlier on one or two if you don’t have much and face a lot of Dodge players. Dauntless can be good to have on a couple, even more so if most of your opposing teams tend to be stronger, it loses value in ST3 (or less) heavy leagues. Late on options are a bit limited, Grab can keep opposing players tied up for longer, or Pro can come in handy for either when you are out of rerolls or to try and reroll double pushbacks etc.
For a double increase as you start with Dodge, Side Step is the other great option. If you already have Stand Firm then don’t bother with it. Likewise if you get Side Step, then don’t bother taking Stand Firm either. I can’t really see any other double choices that would be much use, perhaps Jump Up. I wouldn’t take it early on though but as a late choice I can see it being effective.
A strength increase would be fantastic and doesn’t even need thinking about. Agility again I would snatch your hand off, the team lacks any great ball handlers and it would also let you move the player to where they are most effective. If you roll a ten then I would go for the movement as the team isn’t that fast. There might be a case for taking armour if the team is already fairly well developed and you find that player most of the time is just in opposing tackle zones though.
Killer Amazon Blitzer:
- Normal: Guard, Mighty Blow, Piling On, Juggernaut / Frenzy / Tackle
- Doubles:
- Stat Increase: +ST +AG +MV
With access to strength skills building a specialist killer player is always an option. I would still take Guard first for an Amazonian one though as you may struggle without it as more opposing sides get it. After that the staple pain causing skills of Mighty Blow and Piling On pick themselves. Juggernaut next will cancel out Wrestle and Fend (Stand Firm as well but that is less of a consideration). Frenzy could also be useful and also get you some crowd pushes on occasion. You need to be careful with it though against stronger teams that you aren’t constantly getting uphill blocks on the second hit. Tackle will also help deal with Dodge players and may be higher priority depending on your normal opposition.
For doubles there aren’t really any skills that are going to aid this build and would only slow down obtaining those skills that do if you take one. If you wanted to capitalise more on crowd pushes though, Side Step would work well with Juggernaut and Frenzy for that. It can also help create more space for the team to manoeuvre in as well. This depends on how hell bent you are on specifically building a killer. Stat increases follow the same logic and reasoning as the previous build.
Amazon Blitzer Summary: #
The Blitzers on an Amazon team really make the team what they are. They are by far their best players and are simple to develop without having to rely on getting any double skills. If you shift away from building them with the caging side of the game in mind then your team probably won’t be as effective. The rest of the team can fulfil any of the other roles you may be tempted to deviate into developing. If the standard build doesn’t sound like much of a player, just try a practice game against a roster that has Guard and Stand Firm on all four Blitzers and I’m sure you will be convinced.
