As we all know, tactical battles are by nature a tad bit more difficult and complex than regular one on one turn based battles. Especially since there are multiple units involved at a time.

Even if most of you fellow pirates know this, I am putting this out there for our younger ones, or those that are new to tactic fights.

1. The absolute most important thing you can do is to wait until you can approach the enemy with multiple units. Do not let the enemy get the first hit, or surround you. Knock out enemies one at a time, to ensure that it is knocked out as fast as possible.

Unless you are 100% sure that a single unit can finish off a mob, always hit a mob with more than enough units so it will be knocked out. A single mob can contribute a lot of damage which can be avoided.

2. Place your units around obstacles or bridges (ship to ship battles) to where enemies "funnel" in towards you. It can become very devastating if your enemy is able to surround your characters. In tactical fights, positioning units is so important, it can make an easy difference between victory and defeat.

Of course, this plays an even less role with ranged units, in which case the surround and destroy still applies.

If an enemy unit has the "Border control" talent, don't move around your enemies. Instead keep it simple, surround the nearest unit, and simply knock it out. Keep in mind though, wait until the enemy gets close enough, do not leave yourself open to damage unless you can seriously damage or knock out enemy units.

Witchdoctors and Musketeers, especially them Witchdoctors, have an edge when it comes to positioning... Witchdoctors can use a LOT of powers from accross the field without any worry about getting close to enemies. Musketeers can stay behind their line of companions, safe from any immediate threat.

3. Companions. Leading to how you spend your training points, it is perhaps wise to keep them all at an equal level. This strategy (credit for that goes to Darthjt) ensures that you never get a underleveled companion in a fight. Wait until each training point levels up your companion at least 1 or 2 levels. And if you are able to farm for lots of gold, make use of the training point vendor in Skull Island if one of your companions has fallen behind.

The rest does not play such a huge role in a fight. Equipment plays only a marginal role for Musketeers and Witchdoctors (when compared to strategy in battles), while good equipment can give you a good edge with the other classes. Now, I am NOT saying Witchdoctors and Musketeers should not worry about equipment!

Thanks Eposburn. :)

This thread is not exclusive to just my tips, ANYONE with any tips and helpful hints can post their thoughts here. It will be a "Tactics! Tips and Tricks, and good strategy" thread! :P

Tactics! Tips and Tricks, and good Strategy. Continued.

A quick recap for rule of thumb tactic strategy. Position position position. Even in a very tough fight, positioning can save the day, and even weaker units can truly shine if they are protected.

Alright, about stats.

As of now, a pirate has three stats, Strength, Agility, and Will. Each attribute increases damage in their own respective weapon categories. 5 stat points is equal to +1 damage.

Alright, here is the thing, and it has already been brought up. You need so many stat points to increase damage just by 1, is it worth it? Here is my answer to how this is all currently set up. No.

The most important thing you can do at the moment with the game's current mechanic is to stack up on dodge, armor, and resistance. For pirates, accuracy sort of comes last, I tell why in a bit. For each point of Armor and Resistance, you take 1 point less damage from their respective attack counterparts.

You have, lets say, 20 armor. A normal attack would hit you for about 100 damage. Because of your armor, you would only take around 80 damage. 100-20=80. The same applies to resistance.

You have, lets say, 60 armor. A normal attack would hit you for about 100 damage. Because of your armor, you would only take around 40 damage. 100-60=40. The same applies to resistance. The less damage you take from attacks, the longer you survive.

Now, you do have health as an option. But here is the thing. As of right now, I am only level 33. So far, the health bonuses I could probably stack up on myself is around +100 or so. That may be enough to protect me from 1 or 2 normal attacks. But if I had 20 armor, I would protect myself against 20 damage from each and every incoming attack. Over 10 different attacks, those 20 points I saved with each swing would have been a total of 200 health lost. So far, I say building up on armor or resistance is your best bet.

Since armor does not protect against magical attacks, you'd have to choose.

Continued.

So for pirates:

Dodge
Armor/Resistance
Health
Accuracy
Str/Agi/Will.

So, for companions:

Dodge (survive the longest possible)
Accuracy (companions can't really help a lot if they can't deliver the damage)
Armor/Resistance (helps them survive even longer, helps if you level BOTH)
Health (the health bonuses you get will be HUGE. Definitely a very good stat to train in)
Str/Agi/Will

In terms of epics, I found that the more damage a companion can do, the least amount of time monsters will be allowed to roam the battleboard. Resulting in the least amount of damage taken.

Hence, in terms of epics:

Relentless/Burst Fire/Mojo Echo (deal out an amazing amount of damage if triggered)
First Strike/Quick Shot (chances of downing enemy before suffering any potential damage)
Repel Boarders/Overwatch (chances of downing enemey before suffering any potential damage)
Vengeance Strike/True Grit (counter attack)
Second Chance/Quick Adjust (provides accuracy in case of a miss)
Riposte

Now, while Relentless/Burst Fire/Mojo Echo do not have huge chances of triggering, when they do trigger, they can can be devastatingly effective. Even more so if you have more than one rank of the same epic. Reason First Strike/Quick Shot is second is because they usually deal only half the damage of a normal attack. Or, they seem to anyway.

Last thing to worry about is damage. You can't do damage if you are dead or dying. Survive first, and damage is automatic.

Final Words:

You may read this and go:

Oh pff, here goes a smart alec trying to dictate what I should be doing. NO. Do NOT misunderstand. This is just a guideline, some advice, and nothing more.

YOU will know exactly what to do and how once you rack up gameplay experience with your pirate and companions. This here is merely something that one can look at if they don't know what they would want to do. This is what I think is best suited for going in a direction that provides maximum survivability. An opinion only.

Have FUN!

Spend some time practicing with each Companion as your first mate, to learn what each of them can and can't do. Know their powers and talents. Since we can't "bench" crew members, any of them can come up at any time and you won't have time figuring out a strange unit when it really counts.

Take a moment to mouse over enemy units to see what they are and what they can do, so you'll know how to counter them. If you wind up right next to an enemy with Cheap Shot, for instance, keep in mind that moving away from them will give them a free attack; if your health's low then moving away could get you killed before you can act.

Target opposite type units as much as possible - ranged vs melee and melee vs ranged. A lot of talents will only trigger against opponents of the same type. A gunslinger with Quick Draw will shoot first if a ranged attacker shoots at him, but a melee sword in his face won't trigger it.

One final tip - pay attention to the battle goals. If you have a specific "Defeat Boss" or "Use Items" goal, do that and only that. Ignore everything else and focus on the one task that will finish the fight.

Tactics! Tips and Tricks, and good Strategy. Levels, quests, and grinding.

The beauty of this game is the fact that you can grind. Well, lets say that you have a reason to grind. Back in Wizard101, you have absolutely no reason to grind, whatsoever. Well, you know, other than just getting some equipment or maybe some pets.

Here in Pirate101, the reason to grind is an important one. So much so, that it can make the difference between easy, or just downright frustrating gaming experience.

Companions. We all know how companions are set up to work. Even if we had like 50+ companions, the companions we like the least on the last spot on our list tend to show up more than our top 5. A very good rule of thumb is to level your companions as equally as possible.

Credit for this goes to Darthjt, for sharing this strategy back in Alpha. Thank you.

Wait until each point levels your companions at least 1 level. Or, that is how I do it. Probably an even better thing to do is to wait until each point levels your companions at least TWO levels. That way, you can save a lot more companion points, and level a lot more companions at the same time.

Now, the really beautiful thing about companions and their companion points is that you can BUY the points. Therefore, the grind towards leveled and powerful companions. And the higher level your companions, the easier the game play.

Ships. The better our ships, the stronger we are in nautical combat, and the easier of a time we all have in broadside combat. Making collection quests in the skyways a breeze to do, and hopefully much easier to endure. Another reason for grinding. Ships will not come cheap, and having a good ship can really make the difference between enjoyable sailing or a pain in the rear journey throughout the skyways.

Now, we all probably now this already, one way or the other. The big issue seems to be, the endless and boring GRIND.

Tactics! Tips and Tricks, and good Strategy. Levels, Quests, and Grinding continued.

Another good thing you can take advantage of when you first start your pirate. This really only applies to newer pirates, but, for our newer pirates, grants a huge head start towards the game.

When you first start out, you don't need enormous amounts of experience per level. Take advantage of that. By the time you fight Fin Dorsal in the Gullet, you can level up 3+ levels right there for not really a huge amount of time. And rack up lots of gold and good equipment on top of that. Not to mention leveling all your companions while saving your companion points at the same time.

When you first start your pirate. GRIND. Even if you hate grinding, make yourself grind at least 1 or 2 levels on mobs alone. When you fight Fin Dorsal for the very first time, have a good solid session of grinding. Your level will come a lot quicker than you think, and you will have a 2-3 level head start when you continue on with the story. Making the game a good deal easier.

Again, since you can't really just sit and grind like that after you reached level 15+, this thing can really only be taken advantage of when you first start the game (unless you just really like to spend hours grinding). This little head start can mean the difference between an easy and comfortable beginning and a frustrating experience with a lot of potential deaths. Not to mention an easier beginning for those that are not even familiar with Pirate101 and it's tactics fights.

You know, funny thing, rebeldad. I don't even know how to purchase areas with crowns. That actually never even occured to me until last month or so.

Tips, Tricks, and Strategy - Companions Revision.

As I have progressed through the game, and learned more about the talents companions can learn, I'd make a revision.

For all companions except swashbuckler and witchdoctor (who won't be able to learn those talents) Tough talent is probably the best thing you can get after accuracy and dodge. Privateers (like the crane) won't learn accuracy or dodge, but then in that case after Tough, it is good to learn Rough or the main stat.

I have noticed that at later levels, the little armor and resistance boosts are absolutely minimal compared to the damage numbers you see in the end of the game. So my revision is as follows.

Dodge
Accuracy
Tough (a total of +310 points extra health!)
Damage
Armor/Resistance

I am thinking perhaps to list Tough as the number 1 stat, but, if a companion can't dodge or hit a target, that Tough bonus may not really work too much in your favor.

I have a level 50 musketeer as well as a level 50 swashbuckler. I had no trouble at all soloing everything and in group play I tend to decimate. Most everything written in this guide I do the opposite of, I don't like to move. I buff up and let everything come to me, they often are torn apart just by approaching without my needing to target them. My companions learn repel boarders, reposte, quick strike, relentless and I'll even double up on repost despite this guide listing it last on its list. I go for accuracy, dodge, and damage in that order. I don't follow this guide, and think it would be nice if PvP came out.

Tactics! Tips and Tricks, and good Strategy. Further reading and listening.

I had gotten a chance to meet Talkin' the Plank, a community leader of these forums, and learned about his Podcast, Talkin' the Plank. I also learned that he keeps a blog, exclusively about Pirate101.

An official fansite, information listed there may help even more. His podcast is also very entertaining to listen to, so, listen to his show while you have yourself a good gaming session in pirate101! He also offers very useful tips and tricks, and tips and tricks from others that were mailed to him or posted on this very forum.

I thought it would help the purpose of this post even more if I gave this a quick mention.

Shiningfantasia on Dec 1, 2012 wrote:

What kind of poster am I?

Forgetting most important of all, you can find Talkin' the Plank's podcast under Fan sites under the Community Tab right here in Pirate101.com.

Thanks for listening! It was nice to see you in game!

Dr Zeppers on Dec 3, 2012 wrote:

Nice tips and stuff, big help for the starting pirate.

It is my opinion, that for your pirate to be successful you must take advantage of the skills that pirate class is granted. In many cases those skills are that classes unique way to 'shine', and if stats are setup in a way that work against those skills, it may technically limit a pirates ongoing success.

I noticed a recommendation in regards to Dodge. Perhaps this point has been made.
Dodge can be real useful, however, it is not always a stat we want.

If your pirate has Vengeance Strike (and/or Vengeance Strike 2), its actually detrimental to bump/raise dodge, as you basically limit one of the advantages a buccaneer gets, by doing so.

I wish I could reset my class specific selections as well as practice point selections, as I might skip the additional "dodge" stats that my buccaneer gets through his trainer had I seen this at first.

Thanks for the thread/information.

OFxSaint
Silent Sam Stern - Level 50 - Witchdoctor
Perilous Patrick Pace - Level 44 - Buccaneer

Avoiding damage, especially later in the game, can be more advantageous than one extra hit. However, it would be nice if Buck's got Relentless to make up for the +dodge taking vengeance strike away, essentially. I like the high survivability that dodge gives, but need a little extar oompf from my Pirate.