Hello Guild Ball fans, today I am taking a break from the guild primers to talk about my favourite category of players, the striker. Scoring goals is the key to winning games. Whether you like to score a goal to close out a game after 4 takeouts or winning with only goals, every guild needs to plan to score at least one goal to win. Here are my top 5 striker models in the game (excluding captains, sorry Shark).
FATHOM
Fathom is a new kid on the block who after much delay is finally here. She may be listed as a winger but that is a bold lie. Fathom is absolutely ridiculous at scoring, whether she needs to tackle and score in the same activation or if you have the ball and just need a player to go put in the goal Fathom is your girl. First off her stats look underwhelming being Tac 4 with a 2/8'' kick and a pretty bad playbook, but Navigators have rerolls so that kick is truely a 4 or 6 dice kick making Fathom the most reliable goal scorer. The amount of movement fathom can do in one turn is dumb, Sprint 8'' + Acrobatics 2" dodge + heroic 4'' dodge is 14 inches of movement then an 8 inch kick giving fathom a total goal threat range of 22'' before hitting any playbook dodge *cough* momentous tackle, double dodge *cough*. Being a striker with a 2'' melee, Fathom can charge to be 2 inches away and tackle double dodge out of being counter attacked then dodge with acrobatics and score with ease. In a fish team with Hag and Jac Fathom can be pushed 2'' further with battering ram and the fishers reeled another 2'' for a casual 26'' goal threat and if that is not enough Hag can legendary play to move Fathom 2'' more. I don't think Fathom needs all of her potential 30'' goal threat, but the option is there if you needs to score from the opposite end of the pitch with a 3 die rerollable goal. Now to get real silly on how far this goal can happen, fathom could've done this crazy amount of moving and kicking to pass to Angle, linked activate Angel who herself as an 18'' goal threat. When Fathom isn't going in for a goal run she supports the team with smelling salts to clear conditions. Simply, Fathom should be in every single Fish line up and Navs line up.
MIST
This may or may not be my biased of Mist just straight up winning big games, but Mist is the second best striker in the game. Mist brings my favourite rule on a striker model, 2'' melee. So when going in for a goal run which requires tackling, Mist can remain safe from one inch melee model's counter attacking him and 2 inch melees if you are okay losing a kick die in most circumstances. However Mist isn't as fast as he once was, a 20'' goal threat before playbook dodges is still respectable. Having the momentous tackle on one is a live safer if you need to use the acrobatics dodge after tackling the ball in a scrum giving Mist the one momentum he needs to take the goal kick.
oBRISKET
I bet you didn't expect to see a butcher making a best striker list, but oBrisket deserves this spot. She is a great place to kill the ball having charmed male and unpredictable movement to keep the ball safe. Or being a butcher with momentous 2 on two, sorry ox is standing within 6'' that's 3 damage on the second column, oBrisket contributes to what the Butchers game plan of doing momentous damage and brings 'dirty knives' to help facilitate the take out game. If you want to score early with your Butchers rather than to end the game, oBrisket has above and beyond giving an extra influence for the team. A 14/15 influence Butchers team is scary good after that turn one Brisket goal when receiving and opens up a 2/2 game which can catch some people off guard scoring twice with the Butchers. Her goal threat isn't as far as most strikers, being only 18'' before playbook dodges because oBrisket doesn't have a buyable dodge. So to do a turn one goal brisket needs to do a pass and move, but tap in passes make generating the momentum needed with the ball for the Brisket goal way more reliable.
vVELOCITY
Velocity changed a considerable amount going from a goalkeeper to one of the best strikers in the game. First off vVelocity is Tac 6 with a 5 long playbook randomly making wraps happen but has one of the best tackles in the game momentously on one with Tac 6. Her kick is a 4/8 so Velocity is a solid scoring option and can stand in snapshot range to be the new goal post for the team. However her threat range is swingy, velocity can sprint 8'' and kick 8'' for a 16'' goal threat with no buyable dodge (note I said dodge). For two influence, or hitting it on the playbook, vVelocity can attempt to do route one which jogs her towards target enemy model. So vVelocity can jog 6'', route one 6'' then push dodge 1'' or double dodge 2'' +8'' kick for 21-22'' goal threat, or sprint 8'' + route one 6'' + 8 inch kick for 22'' goal threat losing a dice for being engaged. However missing route one will leave vVelocity sitting in a bad position and have not scored. But hitting route one off the playbook is where the crazy combos emerge. For example vVelocity rolled all success on a charge for a double push double dodge plus a route one (or just a route one against a knocked down target is good enough) to dodge into route one range and jog towards a model that is closer to the goal then push dodge off that model to get into goal range for a potential 23-26'' goal threat depending on dice.
VITRIOL
Vitriol has all of the things you'd look for in a striker: a 4/8'' kick, 2'' melee, momentous tackle on the first column, a way to disengage on the second column with a momentous push dodge, and is really fast being 7''/9''. Alchemists make her more efficient by being able to give her a free character play (clone making her immune to a counter attack or a parting blow when going to score) and applying a condition somewhere to trigger her free charge ability. Vitriol truly deserves to be higher on this list for how good she is, however she should be played in every Midas line up and rarely in Smoke line up (Smoke being the more played captain captain). Playing the condition game with Smoke, where denying the opponent access to the ball is important, all of Vitriol's upsides are not taken advantage of to the fullest extent. But Vitriol is still a great striker and deserves a spot in the top 5.
Honourable mentions go out to Bonesaw, Flint and Friday, but Flint will forever rot in my case for scoring zero goals in the seven attempts I have taken with him. They didn't make the cut because they don't feel as great on the table as these other 5 models do, whether that be they aren't as reliability, flexible, or tricky. How would you rank the top 5 strikers in the game?
