Posted on January 19, 2011 2:16 PM
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
War of Ninja is a game of tactics and strategy. A win is not obtained by one who has better characters or better items. You can rarely use force alone to win matches, do missions, and just plain battle with each other. To be a ninja is to think analytically and strategically! In this guide, I will share with you the things I have learned and practiced(which is being a ninja! but no, seriously).
Step 1 : Analyze!
The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
Analyzation is the very first step in strategic fighting. When you analyze, you pick out the enemy's weak point. When you fight an enemy, you don't just randomly kick, punch, or whatever. You attack the weak point.
1.)Know the enemy's strategy :
Check the characters out. What do they have in common? What kind of synergy do they have? This is just part one of an important method.
2.)Core skills/items
What makes the enemy's team glue each other? What makes them a good team?
Note : You should start analyzing the moment you see the enemy's team. This is very important for a specific step.
Now, after all that analyzing, it's time to...
Step two : Pre-emptive Action
All war is deception.
Now that you have analyzed the enemy's tactics, it's time to hit their weak points with our strongest hits!
1.)Move with respect to possible circumstances
In other words, try to predict your enemy's movements! On some teams, it's pretty easy to do, but others, especially with invisible skills, become harder to predict. Predicting an enemy stun or an energy drain can be a decision point from a win and a lose. Act in accordance to what you predict.
2.)Stun Strategically
Unless you need that stun to finish off an enemy, there are probably better ways to spend that stun on another enemy. Analyze their tactics. Is the enemy setting up a counter with a major skill?(Possibly someone like Yuudai/Akira combo) Do you need to finish someone off faster but need to avoid help from other enemies? Enemies that can heal or use smoke bomb or give damage reduction or destructible defense are more good targets for stuns if you plan to kill them one by one. Stuns can make or break a game!
3.)Make use of the swapping function
Again, act pre-emptively! Battles can possibly be decided this early in the game! Once you see a team that focuses on a ranged character like Tadashi to deal massive damage, get Metsubishi on one of your characters! If you see an affliction team like Shoji, Yume, Hana, get PainKillers! If you see a Honoo enemy, if you have the space, it is often helpful to get Cleansing Water. You get the point. :D
4.)Going invulnerable at strategic times
Invulnerability is very flexible. It can save one of your characters for another turn. It can screw enemy tactics if used well. If your enemy is based on dealing AoE damage or AoE spells, it is wise to get one character at a time to go invulnerable so you won't take the full hit head on.
Step three : Do the counting!
Yes, ninjas do math! Anyway, I can't find a quote that fits this, oh well D:
1.)Damage Efficiency
In some teams, you barely even need to do math to compute for the damage. But in some teams, where Warbanner of Offense is there, or the enemy has a Warbanner of Defense, or you have damage increasers, or the enemy has damage reduction etc etc. doing the arithmetic can pay off. Being efficient in dealing damage is directing the possible damage wasted to a different enemy instead! Why spend a Kunai and Crossbow Shot when a single Crossbow Shot can do it? Sometimes we forget to count in the warbanner of offense increase, or the enemy's reduction, and some other stuff, leading to either wasted energy, or the enemy living another turn, which may sometimes turn disastrous.
2.)Cooldown Tracking
Keep track of the cooldowns of the important skills of the enemies. You don't really need to do this. I just do it if I have an enemy that has invisible counters and/or make-or-break skills(like Akira's AoE stun and drain).
3.)Energy counting
Now this is the more important part. This is very important if you plan to predict your enemy's movement. For example, an enemy has 3 energy, then you know he couldn't use 4 energy moves, or any number of moves that totals more than 3 energy. This becomes really important in predicting counters, like Yuudai's Demon Vision. For example, you counted that the enemy has 2 energy, and the enemy's team is Yuudai, Jun, and Takeko. If you find no reason for Jun not to use his Enrage skill, wouldn't it be suspicious enough? It doesn't guarantee 100% sureness though. But it definitely helps.
Step four : Do the research!
This is the most basic step. It isn't actually step four. You should just know the character's skills by heart. And items too. Read the Characters Section once in a while so you could know more.
Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.
Finally :
Step five : Focus!
Yes! Use Jun's Skill! No. That's not what I meant. Really. Focusing is like the cement that builds all that I've shared with you together.
Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge.
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Hi guys! Hopefully you learned a lot from "How to be a Ninja"! Hopefully, you read everything! I know that most of you skipped when it got somewhere in the middle. I know. Because I'm a ninja. Yes, a ninja. You heard me right.
Anywaaaaaaaaaaay, let's get started with part 2 of How to be a Ninja!
Energy Exchange -
Energy Exchange is a handy tool for ninjas like us, it turns unusable/unneeded energy to useful ones! However, the EE(Energy Exchange) function disables precise enemy energy reading!
You : Oh no! What is step 3 part 3 for now?!
Don't worry! It doesn't matter. Counting the enemy's energy inspite of the change in precision because of the EE function can still help by finding the maximum amount of energy an enemy can have by x turns, which implies the maximum possible moves.
In other words, you can prepare for the worst, even if the enemy has less than the needed energy for that specific "worst situation".
This is the most epic quote you will ever read. You will learn a lot from this quote.
The PigeonHole Principle states that if n items are put into m pigeonholes with n > m, then at least one pigeonhole must contain more than one item.
In our case, the item is a point of energy, and the pigeonholes are the energy baskets.
Imagine the energy baskets as the Agility, Strength, Intelligence, and Wisdom baskets. Each pigeon(character) brings one energy to be put in one of the four baskets.
With this in mind, you can assure any energy you want!(well, in most cases, where the enemy doesn't deplete your mana or any of the kind.)
Okay, brainstorm mode :
You have 1 energy per turn for every character you have that is alive.
That is equivalent to 3 "energy-bringing" pigeons with 4 pigeonholes.
Right now, n < m, which does not satisfy the pigeonhole principle requirements. However, our modified pigeonhole has already some pigeons in the energy basket(Excess energy per turn).
So in some cases, the PP can still apply!
So you have 4 energy baskets, let us say that the Strength basket and the Wisdom basket has 1 energy each.
Now, by the time the pigeons arrive to bring energy to the baskets, we have 5 energies in 4 baskets.
By the PP, that implies that at one of the baskets has more than 1 energy!
A basket having more energy implies that the Energy Exchange function can be used on them!
Conclusion :
Any time that you have 5 energy, it is always possible to get a specific energy you want by the EE function and the PP.
Addition :
Any time that you have 4 energy, it is always possible to get a specific energy you want. Although it is not supported by the Pigeonhole Principle, it is still true. Credits to Erucarno and Lone_Vizard. :)
Changelogs :
v2.2
Credits to Chas3_Th3_Dr3am for finding the typo 'Crossbot Shot' in Step 3, #1. :D
v2.1
Thanks to Erucarno and Lone_Vizard for a special addition!
Added the most awesome quote ever.
v2.0
I thought about it and concluded that the rightful version update is v2.0 since a pack of text was added. :D
v1.3
Changed the poll
Added a section about the Energy Exchange function and the Pigeonhole Principle
v1.2
Added a poll
Deleted my name in the title(for now, since adding a poll lengthens the title name)
v1.1
Made the changelog
Retyped some errors(credits to zacrathedemon5)
v1.0
Made the very first version of How to be a Ninja!
Credits :
Sun Tzu for all the quotes!(History Chinese dude. :D)
Erucarno and Lone_Vizard for the information addition.
Chas3_Th3_Dr3am for the typo.
You for reading this guide!
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