This post is intended to be a fairly comprehensive overview of the main skills in blood bowl, and the way they synergize. Many experienced bloodbowl coaches will already be familiar with most of these; the post is primarily intended as advice for newer coaches. I originally wrote it on reddit, but was honored to be asked by Mike to make it into my first post on thenaf.net! =) In writing this, I assume you already know what each skill in the game does. If not, you can look them up in the rulebook.
There are a few standard synergetic skills that you’ll often want to pick together:
–Blodge(block + dodge). The main way to keep your non-AV9 players alive, and a pretty good way of keeping some of your AV9 players alive too. This skill combination (together with AG4) is why elves are so good. Just about any player with GA access will want to start with either this, or “wrodge” (wrestle + dodge), if you’d rather drag someone down with you than both stay upright. (generally, wrestle is better on the more agile and fast races, whereas block is better on the slower races. Also, block is better at lower TVs when you’re more likely to run into opponents who have neither block nor wrestle).
–Blodge sure hands is one that any team wants on their main ball carrier (ideally a +AG variety of one of your highest AG/MA positional, or your thrower/runner). On a thrower it synergizes with pass/accurate, on an AG5 it synergizes with leap.
–Blodge sidestep (“blodgestep”) diving tackle (+ tackle) is a staple defensive skillset for GA access guys (if your team has AV differences, give this to the higher AV).
–(Claw)mighty blow piling on (“(claw)pomb”) tackle (jumpup) is the main killer skillset; you want to give this to (some) GS guys, or an elf lucky enough to roll two doubles. At some point before tackle this guy will obviously also want block, but it could be at either 6, 16, 31, or 51(if claw) SPPs. I would recommend 6 or 16 SPPs for most players, but opinions vary widely. Don’t give claw before Mb to anyone (unless you need doubles for claw and can get Mb on normals), claw is only marginally better vs AV9, flat out worse for 8, and useless vs 7.
–Wrestle tackle (“wrackle”) strip ball leap is a specialist skillset (the “sacker”) that all teams with GA access want one of, but it’s not something to spam (except maybe on slann, kind of).
Each skill category has a couple of main skills:
Mighty blow (+piling on) and guard are the staple S skills. You’ll want a lot of them on teams that have S access, and this is what you spend your doubles on for teams that don’t. Guard synergizes well with higher strength, with blodge, and with sidestep/stand firm (all because they’re harder to get rid of). This is why you’ll often find it on ST4 players, and why they consider dodge on doubles. Contrarily, it also synergizes well with high mobility (so that you can get it where you need it most), which is why it’s a great doubles pick for a catcher type, even with ST2 (human/wood elf catcher, gutter runner), on whom you’ll want blodge sidestep (to survive and keep/put your guard where needed). Guard synergizes poorly with wrestle/piling on, because you need to be standing for it to work (which is why Brets are bad). It’s not nearly as bad with diving tackle, since its use often results in a turnover, meaning you will often only be prone between turns. Having a single (non-big guy) mighty blow to blitz with is crucial for any team. Mighty blow synergizes well with block, with tackle, and with frenzy, and of course with claw and piling on. Mighty blow, too, synergizes poorly with wrestle (did someone say Brets?), as it will not allow you to make an armor roll on a both down, which you do vs blockless guys if you have block. If you need doubles for S access, like elves, I like giving mighty blow for early doubles (as you mold them to the killer role by skilling tackle early, and you’ll have more chances remaining in which to roll piling on), while giving guard on later doubles (as you’ll probably already have blodge, maybe sidestep, which synergize well with it). However, if I have a blodge sidestep elf who rolls doubles and I don’t have any mighty blow yet, I will still give mighty blow, and focus on skilling him with tackle soon. Piling on should never be taken before mighty blow. It synergizes well with jumpup, especially on AG3+ players (as they only need a 2+ roll to block from a prone position). This is why Slann blitzers are great later on. Juggernaut is pretty sweet on a surfer, and OK on a blitzing big guy (whom you probably shouldn’t have hired in the first place).
Block/wrestle are the main G skills (you’ll want either, not both). Almost anyone without G access wants to spend their doubles here. Almost anyone with G access takes one of these as his first or second skill.Sure hands is also a core skill, but you really only need 1. Frenzy is more specialist but excellent in moderation (you’ll probably want either sidestep or stand firm on a frenzier, and it’s great with juggernaut). Tackle is one you’ll want on either markers or killers (as mentioned above), having one tackler is great from TV1000; having a few is a must from moderate to high TV. Lack of tackle is one of the main flaws of many new coaches’ chaos teams. Kick certainly deserves a mention here; it’s a good skill for any team, and a must-have for agile/fast teams (but only take one). Kick-off-return is good for slower running types like dwarven runners or orc throwers. If getting the ball to your cage and to the endzone fast enough is a regular problem for your team, then KOR is probably a decent pick on your ball handler. Dirty player is great if you have cheap linemen with G access (and on cheap stunties who roll doubles as first skill); make sure to increase the number of players on the team as your number of dirty players increases. You want it on players that have no other skill, and you generally want to fire players who have dirty player and skill again. Pro is a bit of an odd skill. It’s great on big guys (because they can’t use team RRs any better than a pro RR) but usually not before block. It’s quite good on players who make rolls that you don’t get skill rerolls for, especially the ones you wouldn’t team reroll if they failed (negatraits like bonehead but also bloodlust), hypnotic gaze, jump up, dauntless. Vampires do especially well by it. It’s pretty decent as a (very) late skill on a killer, to try and reroll pushes/both downs (and possibly jumpups), or on a surfer (to try and reroll pows into pushes). Be aware that this is still risky, as a pro reroll into a double skull can’t be rerolled with a team RR afterwards. Fend is a meh skill on most players. It goes pretty well with low AG (as it can save you having to dodge out), and is pretty decent at very high team value as it protects you from piling on (unless the piling on player has grab or juggernaut). It’s worth considering as a very late skill on amazing players (statfreak positionals) as it extends their lifespan. It’s also not bad on an annoying player like blodgestep diving tackle. It’s also decent on a ball carrier, but I wouldn’t give it to an AG4 (or AG3 two heads) one, since they can dodge out pretty well anyway.
Dodge is the prime agility skill, with sidestep and diving tackle as other great picks. Dodge is so good, that it is the only skill in the game for which there is a single counterskill. Think about it; the only thing tackle does is prevent the use of the dodge skill, and I just told you tackle was good, so dodge must great, right? The second agility skill that is usually worth taking is sidestep. For killers (who take piling on), jumpup is a good skill as well. It also synergizes with diving tackle, piling on, or wrestle, since these make you go prone, but only as a very late skill pick (which is part of why slann blitzers go from a terrible player at 0 SPP to an absolutely amazing player at 51 SPP). Leap is a core sacker skill, and very very good on pretty much anyone with AG5 (unless they have stunty). Diving tackle is a great defensive skill, especially when combined with blodgestep or high ST/AV. Sure feet is a skill that’s pretty decent on a lucky stunty (such as an AG4 or blodge sure hands skink), but not before sidestep. It’s not something I’d advise an a player with GA access, though. However, note that both sure feet and sprint go from mediocre skills to amazing skills on players with real one-turn-touchdown (OTTD) potential (usually a +MA variety of an MA8 positional, or a gutter runner, even worth considering on an MA 8 dark elf). Note that you don’t need MA10 + sprint to make a one-turn touchdown, a single (chain) push on your player means MA9 + sprint suffices, and that single push is almost always doable (more so if your OTTD guy has sidestep, or if his teammates have grab or juggernaut). In addition to +MA, sure feet, sprint, and sidestep, other good skills for a oneturner are catch, dodge, and leap. Note that if you want to use your oneturner during normal (offensive or even defensive drives) instead of putting him on the bench for 15 out of every 16 turns, you will probably want to give him blodgestep first, and only then focus on sure feet and sprint. That way he’s a real player first, and a oneturner second.
Passing skills are not something you want to focus your team on (which is why brets suck, pt 2). Leader is good on just about any team (it’s better if the player has P access, and better if your team RRs are more expensive (which is why Brets suck, pt 3)). Pass and accurate are decent on a (1!) dedicated thrower, but should only be taken after blodge sure hands. Safe throw is OK after this, but I would probably prefer kick-off-return over it on most throwers.
Claw is by far the most relevant mutation, unfortunately. A lot of mutations are potentially fun and interesting, and tentacles certainly deserve honorable mention for ST4+ players (it gets better with more ST; so it’s pretty good on ST4, great on ST5, and amazing on ST6). For gutter runners, two heads, horns (on a sacker), very long legs (on a leaper) are worth considering, but on most great coaches’ teams, you’ll find that claw is the main mutation chosen (especially for chaos & nurgle, but also on skaven/underworld stormvermin). Prehensile tail, it’s worth noting, is not very strong in isolation, but it stacks both with itself (if multiple tailed players have a TZ on the same guy), and with diving tackle. This means that with 2 tail and a dt you could turn an elf’s 2+ dodge into a 6+. (Certainly not the best way to build a chaos team, but fun )
Also worth mentioning are a few potentially temptingskills that you’ll pretty much always want to avoid: Nerves of steel, strong arm, sneaky git and pass block. You basically don’t want to take these skills on anyone. Many people willl give nerves of steel to a catcher on doubles, or pass block on normals. You shouldn’t need the one, and your opponent shouldn’t let you use the other. A catcher is your most mobile player, and with guard (+ blodge sidestep), he’ll be much more valuable than with NoS. Strong arm is a tempting doubles for a thrower, but it is more expensive and flat-out worse than accurate. It may be worth considering if your thrower already has a ton of skills (blodge sure hands, pass, and accurate), and there’s no really good picks left. Even then, I think you would be better off with leader, safe throw, leap, fend or kick-off return than with strong arm (if you get a kick out of throwing long bombs be my guest of course, but the issue is sensible team builds here). An exception is a TTM focused big guy on a stunty team; having one strong arm there isn’t bad. If you want to foul, you want dirty player. If your dirty player skills again, you’re better off replacing him than giving sneaky git. The only reason to take a git is if you needed doubles for dp (stunties), your dp unfortunately skilled again, and you don’t want to fire him yet.
Stats deserve a separate mention: +ST is worth it on most players. Exceptions may include scrub linemen (human, skaven, brets), or players who lack G access (especially big guys (but not the tentacle ones) or mummies/tomb guardians, but also stunties, especially snotlings). I’m still tempted to take it when even rolling it on them, though (I’ve taken it on a linerat and a goblin, but skipped it on a treeman). +AG is generally worth it on your highest AG & MA positional. Great on throwers, runners/catchers, really good on elf blitzers/witches, also worth it on human or dwarf blitzers. AG4 synergizes with dodge, AG5 synergizes with dodge and leap. AG is worth considering on line-elves if you have no AG5 yet, or if it falls late (after at least blodge/wrodge). On blockier teams, having one of them on your main ball carrier (beastman, orc blitzer or thrower, bull centaur, thro-ra, werewolf/ghoul etc.) is a huge asset. Be careful not to get too many of them, though, especially on teams that have good skill access, and thus have many excellent picks on normal skills. For example, a chaos team with 4x +AG can be fun, but it’s nowhere near as competitive as a chaos team with 1 +AG and 6 more well-picked normal skills (which would have the same team value). +MA is usually worth it on your fastest positional, (especially amazing if it brings your MA to 9 or 10, for oneturning) and it’s rarely worth it on linemen (wood elves who roll it late might be an exception). On elves with MA7, I’d usually pick doubles on a 5+5 over MA, though. +AV is rarely worth it on anyone. Exceptions might be the target AV8 big guys rat ogre & minotaur (but never on a 5+5 roll), or late in the development of a killer positional (especially against fouls after piling on).
Sources: For choosing skillups and starting rosters, I find this fumbbl wiki to be quite useful. It has skill picks per positional for every race (including which stats to take and which to skip). I don’t agree with nearly all of it, but it’s a good start for a new coach who’s swamped in the many skilling options (although this thread should help with that a lot already).
Other great resources for learning the game:
youtube: my racial guides and teaching games
pdf: Wreckage’s thousand losses playbook
site: bbtactics
pdf: the art of blocking
(disclaimer: some are certain to disagree with some of the above. It’s only my opinion, but I’d like to think I’m pretty good at the game, and most of this opinion I have developed from that distilled bloodbowl wisdom that is the fumbbl hive-mind).