JayZ's NML strategy compendium

psychwolf

One thing I would like to add, most people tend to dismiss the wrestler trait. Of course it's useless for bruisers and assault, however I mainly use gold wrestler armor for scouts, shooters, hunters and warriors. It has saved me countless times when you have no choice but to get grabbed in order to finish a mission. It can soften up the walker to the point where your other survivors can kill it. It can straight up end a struggle if the walker had low health to begin with, plus you get a charge point for the kill. I see it as a useful last line of defense.
My perfect offensive armor is gold ruthless, gold wrestler and either silver hazard or dodge. Possibly silver sniper harness for shooters and hunters.

VirtualSwayy

Yep @JayZ you interpreted my post correctly. Sorry for the late reply I got busy IRL and didn't check the forums for a while. It's been a while so...

TO RECAP: If a noob (like me) starts their testing/locating crafts off-cycle 1DR or 6DR (in transition), then it can take a lot more crafts than the guide indicates are necessary to locate yourself because you have to craft yourself back on-cycle, then you also need the several more the guide recommends to actually see the pattern and locate.

More Recent Discoveries (since that post):
1) It is probably a lot more common than I indicated. I indicate it is rare in my previous post bc I thought (incorrectly) that the ONLY way to jump off cycle was to craft the special recipes at the four locations indicated in the guide. I now realize there are MANY more jump locations that exist, and also that ALL the recipes outside of a single recipe group have a chance to jump. This indicates to me that, for a noob who is rando-crafting before they find your guide, it is far more statistically likely than I previously thought to "accidentally" jump off cycle. Meaning: It's probably not as niche a problem as I thought, and it might account for a much larger chunk of the initial difficulties players have than my post indicated.

2) I May have found a discrepancy in your guide? The guide indicates reentry to 6DR at 6dr31 (a DR% badge), but It seems re-entry into 6DR occurs at your guides 6DR30(Health Badge). I think this is because of the two separate languages that sprang up as people pioneered this, and you, being an expert who is fluent in both, inadvertently switched language while writing the guide. The two systems (monopoly map ABH & 1/6DR) are consistent in most things EXCEPT the 6dr cycle (called map B in monopoly mapping). Map B & 6DR (the same cycle; named differently) are off from each other by one position number. They re-enter at the same point, but one calls it 30 and the other calls it 31. Your table is using the 6DR numbering (30 re-entry), but in the verbiage describing transition, you swap to monopoly mapping language and say re-entry at 31. FOr players who have no knowledge of the two systems or that they differ (on 6DR/B map only) by one position, this is difficult to interpret. THE FIX: Just change 31 to 30 in section two of the guide where the 6DRre-entry points are described, so your verbaige uses 6DR numbering and will match the table's 6DR numbering.

Apologies in advance if I am wrong on this, please check me to make sure I'm right. I did confirm this re-entry n one jump, but am still too noobish to have made it around twice to re-confirm again.

Hope my experience using your awesome guide can help you improve it,

- Virt

{edit: I just realized you said above that you were going to add a note to the guide about this. That's great man!
I tagged you in a comment where I link some resources that might make that easier for you here: https://forums.nextgames.com/walkingdead/discussion/comment/406482/#Comment_406482 }

VirtualSwayy

Johnny_B said:

Problem solved I see the clear winner of the Morgan Staff competition

@Johnny_B There are even more configurations than your post shows. I use one that I prefer the most which is the same as your "clear winner" but it subs out (your) silver tactical for (my) silver luck, so it is:

Luck, Stun%, Razor

I'm not sure if there are others, but even if there are, I don't think I could think of one that would be better than either your "clear winner", which is obviously very good, or the one I like, which also seems pretty good.

P.S. reason i like mine w luck is my guy already has a lot of DR, and double luck mods his double dodge, his %stunchance, and his hazard suit. Also, disclaimer: I'm not super OP endgamer, so take my recommendations with a grain of salt.

@{EDIT: strike hazard suit from the list above, luck does not boost body-shot reducers. Thanks @sicron for reminding me of that fact}

DiElEl

Hey @JayZ are you planning to make a thread for all ideal traits & badges for heroes one-by-one???
(this for Daryl, that for Tara etc etc)

Keep up the great work 👍


Thanks in advance,

ATLAS-Z

Do we have Walker health, special walkers too,. Posted somewhere?

I looked but couldn't find it.

Billbam

Never mind answered my own question haha

Grady

Billbam said:

What level does the craftsman/scavenger unlock so we can start making badges? Been so long I forget?

Scavenger Lv1 = Council Lv15
Craftsman Lv1 = Council Lv15
Scavenger Lv2 = Council Lv23
Craftsman Lv2 = Council Lv24

Billbam

@Grady thanks

ATLAS-Z

Sent to me from discord @JayZ

VirtualSwayy

Billbam said:

> @marroba2000 said:
> If you are in the cycle 1, when you finish it, you always jump to the second cycle or exists the chance that you restart the first cycle?



You will never leave your current cycle provided you do not use a special recipe at line 1 or 20

Hi @Billbam ,

You probably know this already since this is a older comment, but you might want to go back and edit it so it won't confuse people since so many people use this guide.

There are far more than two positions where the special recipe will jump you off-cycle. Actually most positions can jump. For example, in 6DR cycle (B map), 24 out of the 38 positions can trigger a jump.

- Virt

psychwolf

It would also be cool to see health levels of metal heads, spiked and goo.

Grady

VirtualSwayy said:

Billbam said:

> @marroba2000 said:
> If you are in the cycle 1, when you finish it, you always jump to the second cycle or exists the chance that you restart the first cycle?



You will never leave your current cycle provided you do not use a special recipe at line 1 or 20

Hi @Billbam ,

You probably know this already since this is a older comment, but you might want to go back and edit it so it won't confuse people since so many people use this guide.

There are far more than two positions where the special recipe will jump you off-cycle. Actually most positions can jump. For example, in 6DR cycle (B map), 24 out of the 38 positions can trigger a jump.

- Virt

That's not very accurate either. All positions has exactly one jump destination each. If you find a blank entry on the map, it only means that jump destination is uncharted. It exists but we just do not know where yet.

BiggsDarkLighter

JayZ said:

My favorite team combinations

Last updated: March 11, 2020.

This post will highlight some of the teams that I use most frequently. The first hero in each team represents the recommended leader of a team. I know that not everyone has the ability to reroll all of their heroes to have perfect traits, so unless there is a specific hero I have in mind, there are times where I may refer to a general survivor class (like "Scout" or "Bruiser"). These can be heroes or non-heroes, but in many situations, heroes are generally better because they have higher base damage/health and also useful leader traits.

Scout Daryl -- Scout Rick -- Bruiser
- Best situations to use this team: Almost every situation. Daryl's Prowl will allow you to get a lot of extra attacks in. Both Daryl and Rick are great at killing regular and special walkers. If you run into trouble, a Bruiser can help stun walkers and take some hits.
- Additional notes: Gear setup depends on the situation, but I recommend: Daryl's Hunting Knife for Daryl, Tactical Spear for Rick, and Morgan's Staff for your Bruiser (preferably Morgan/Eugene/Glenn).

Scout Daryl -- Scout Rick -- Scout
- Best situations to use this team: Similar to the above, but better in situations where there is more space to maneuver where you can run and avoid walkers.
- Additional notes: Gear setup depends on whether there are spawns or not, but I recommend a combination of Daryl's Hunting Knife, Tactical Spear, and Swift Strike Spear.

Thanks for your brilliant compedium it really is a game changer! Would it be possible to add more of the ideal weapons for other classes

Assault, Hunter, Shooter in particular please

So far from reading your guide...

Warrior - Dragons Blade
Scout - Daryl's Hunting Knife for Daryl, Tactical Spear for Rick
Bruisers - Morgan's Staff

Deadheads

Grady said:

That's not very accurate either. All positions has exactly one jump destination each. If you find a blank entry on the map, it only means that jump destination is uncharted. It exists but we just do not know where yet.

@Grady how close are you to documenting more transition paths?

Kasimir

Very nicely done, what a hell of work. Fantastic.
Maybe i would set Jesus a bit higher (same level as Michonne) but thats a matte4 of taste.👍👍👍

JayZ

Hey all! My semi-regular sweep of responses to comments.

@DiElEl Unfortunately, it would be too time-consuming to make hero-specific threads. Hopefully the general Badge/Trait guidance gives you a good starting point for working with your heroes. I'm in the process of providing a more detailed explanation of WHY each trait is important, so maybe reading that will help you prioritize. Of course, you are always free to ask if you have questions.

@ATLAS-Z Thanks for the chart! Adding that to my helpful pics/references.

@BiggsDarkLighter Good suggestion. That is part of my plan to boost the survivor-specific sections!

@Kasimir Thanks for the note. I put Michonne higher because she requires fewer rerolls than Jesus. They can both really shine with the Dragon's Tongue

----

Two projects/updates that are in progress:

1. @TJCart is helping update the badge crafting page to rely on @Grady's official chart. This will also include a discussion of transition patterns.

2. As I've alluded to, I'm trying to compile more comprehensive survivor guides. This includes: (1) how they should be used, (2) what traits they should have, (3) what traits are best for their weapons and armors. The goal is to provide not just the traits, but also a discussion of WHY those traits are important. You can see the first installment for Bruisers here (other classes are WIP): https://forums.nextgames.com/walkingdead/discussion/comment/395980/#Comment_395980

Grady

Deadheads said:

Grady said:

That's not very accurate either. All positions has exactly one jump destination each. If you find a blank entry on the map, it only means that jump destination is uncharted. It exists but we just do not know where yet.

@Grady how close are you to documenting more transition paths?

I'm at 86.2% (262 entries out of 304 map positions). We only know 68.75% of the jump positions though.
We have also recently found additional patterns and attributes to each map position that is helpful for reducing the randomness but also expand the scope of the work required.

However it is possible for you to wait FOREVER if you rely on me and my guild mates working on the charting by ourselves

We encourage everyone to contribute charting the uncharted areas, starting by joining Magic's discord channel here: https://discord.gg/PvWYqaQ

Johnny_B

Hi there @JayZ, @psychwolf and @Burmeliinis you guys were all so generous with your advice on weapons and everything and with the Dream Challenge mapset contest closing tomorrow I will soon find out if I have done enough to win one of those tactical Morgan's staffs. If you'd like to see the video I made for the challenge it is pretty much at the top of the video vault (I won't post the link here as that is not what this page is for). As top level players I'd love to know what you think of my concept for base camp missions.

marroba2000

> @marroba2000 said:
> Spanish version, taken from @magic and translated by me, yesterday, A new column (%/ flat value) was made.
Updated with some other stuffs I have collected from here.

VirtualSwayy

Hi @JayZ (or any other knowledgeable players that ca answer these) ,

A couple of questions if you have time.

[for TLDR: SKIM BOLD TYPE only]

1) BRUISER TRAITS: After watching your gameplay vids, I prioritized badging/rerolling bruisers since they really seem to enable other classes in higher level play. As such, my bruisers are my first toons to approach ideal status. With some luck (on matching set bonuses), a lot of careful planning (jumping maps/cycles for bruiser-useful bonuses), and a ton of patient teaching from some serious badge experts, I have been able to pretty much guarantee my 5 star mats all convert to desirable DR badges (thanks again @Grady, @magic, @ATLAS-Z, @sicron @Paste, and many others). As a result I have (over)max or near-max DR on my bruisers w only badges/tactical. Your guide lists IS as a must have and DS as a nice to have trait, so
- Question: Given my current high DR set-up, would the ideal 4 bruiser hero traits change (for me) to be: Retaliate, Punish, Dodge, Lucky? With armor being silver Health, Dodge, Hazard)

2) BADGE BONUS/SET BONUS INTERACTION: In calculating my DR I assumed that the set bonus magnifies the % given by active badge bonus, not just the base, which isn't huge but does add a full percent to the 5% bonuses. So am I correct?
- Question: Do set bonuses modify the Active Bonuses, Or just the base badge?
[Edit: Answered by Grady: Yes. Calculate by {(base+bonus)*1.2}.]

3) PvP TRAITS: Now that I am very well set pn PvE heroes/traits, I'm Looking at PVP. Wondering what the ideal PvP traits would be (mainly for ranged, since bruiser seems the same, but jsut use nono hero and take 5th trait bullet dodge?). So...
- Question: What are the ideal traits for a PvP toon (focusing on ranged)? I am thinking. Retaliate, Revenge, Iron Skin, Bullet Dodge (for non-hero add maybe Luck or Dodge)? With armor being Gold Iron Skin, Gold Bulletproof, and silver maybe health, dodge, hazard?)

3) CAN I HELP CONTRINUTE? I looked for some info while learning I couldn't find, so I'm compiling it for myself. For example, what all the reward levels are at any given RSL for scavenge mission rewards, and bronze, sliver, and gold crates. Also, what challenge/distance maps are good for 100 kill farming & how to set up in/nnear the end-zone for easiest, fastest completion. I plan to post my record of this as its own post and ask for additional input which I'll them compile into one master chart.
- Question: For @Jayz , Would charts or scavenge rewards per RSL and Maps for 100 kill farming be helpful if I submitted them to you to add to the compendium?

Thanks In Advance,

- Virt

Paste

I thought a little a bit about this too.

Retaliate, Punish, Dodge and Lucky is ideal for hero bruisers, and adding IS to that for non-hero bruisers will let you get to 80% DR on them without legendary DR badges. So IS on survivors let you use lower effect badges so you can use the best ones on heroes.

Strong will trigger on all type of attacks (retaliate, punish and the normal/charge attack). It can help you charge up the bruiser. Other offensive traits will only trigger conditionally on normal or charge attacks, and can risk killing walkers instead of stunning them on charge attacks (this also makes it harder to charge up again after).

However with silver tactical weapons and a survivor with IS you only need two perfect DR badges to get to 80%, so you can add a damage badge instead, which lets you boost damage by up to 22% (higher than the strong trait which maxes out at 20% for level 10 trait).

So even if you want the damage boost IS seems better in the end game.

I should add that this is just my thoughts, and likely over thinking it. I think even even top players haven't gotten to the point where they have perfect badges for all their survivors, and strong might be undesirable by the top players for some reason I have yet to learn.

VirtualSwayy

@paste thanks man good thoughts,

Paste said:

adding IS to that for non-hero bruisers will let you get to 80% DR on them without legendary... Strong will trigger on all type of attacks...with a silver tactical... IS you only need two perfect DR badges... so you can add a damage badge...IS seems better in the end game.

Well I was asking for heroes but since it seems like people agree I'm all set there I probably should have asked about non-hero Bruiser for PvP. A lot of your thoughts made me think about damage on a PvP bruiser, so I am interested in thoughts vis-a-vis PvP. Based on my PvP fights thus far...

---------------------------------------------------------MY IDEAL PvP TEAM = -------------------------------------------------
- BRUISER
*PvP rolled non-hero,
*probably not hero/leader
- SHOOTER (PvProlled non-hero),
* Could be non-leader hero
* (HtopMag is a fav & potential leader even though mine is PvE spec)
- PLUS ONE (assault, shooter, bruiser, hunter)
; * class depends on availability of charges from walker kills/class bonuses
* probably hero leader; depends on need for PvP-centric Leader traits

So always one, and possibly two, bruisers (neither a hero most likely). I'm thinking you make good points about damage which would seem desirable in PvP, but the more I think about it I'm starting to convince myelf the UberTankStunner build would be still be best, for the same reasons as PvE, but different traits because... Guns. With expense not considered, my dream set up I think would be...

---------------------------------------THE BRUISER(S)-----------------------------

WEAPON: basically, Morgan's luck staff...
* Luck, 2xstun, Razor
* DR ignore from Razor works vs. DR Badges right?
* so many luck-modded traits!

BADGING: Full defense as usual (3Health; 3 DR)

ARMOR:: silver Stun Resist, Gold Bullet Proof, Gold Hazard (or Silver Health or Dodge)
* silver stun with 2x luck would be 67.5% resist right? (or higher; that's for a one pink star survivor)
* not even sure stun resist required outside outpost D/human opponents;
- AI doesn't seem to use ranged stun like it should/could (usually right)?
- AI will walk right into over-watch (usually right)?
- if you don't walk into his, then you win the bruiserVbruiser stun trade; can prevent that stun without a trait (usually right)?

SURVIVOR TRAITS:
- LUCK!!!
* so many luck-modded traits!
- DODGE
- BULLET DODGE
- IRON SKIN
* To max DR and allow for easier badging, but mainly... Luck on weapon
- PLUS ONE (damage trait? probably punish for another stun chance?)
* strong always works but less damage than another attacks and doesn't give additional stuns opportunity
* punish seems most likely to trigger since range attacks not retaliated and AI doesn't seem to use tactical to avoid damage)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts?

Paste

• For hero bruisers: Punish, Retaliate, Dodge, Lucky
  
• For non-hero bruisers: Same as above + IS.
  
• For hero bruisers before you have badges and/or equipment enough to reach 80% DR: Keep IS until you get better badges (all hero bruisers come with IS)
  

I didn't mean in any way that you need extra damage on bruisers. My point was that these unicorn traits are solid and makes sense even if you want more damage. If you can add more offensive stats it's better not to use traits for it. Changing a badge is easier and way cheaper than a trait.

Your ideal PvP team is good. Hilltop Maggie + 2 bruisers is what I use. Then I use the same two bruisers with scout Rick in the main missions.

Bullet dodge and bullet Proof are useless even in raids and PvP. All you need is 80% DR and bullets will be no problem for you.

Stun Resistance and Hazard are definitely good in GW PVP, but you can see the opponents weapons before you fight them, so if you don't have any armor with both then you can pick whichever one is more the appropriate.

Lucky is sometimes important, but I don't know why you think it's especially important for GW. It doesn't matter for razor.

VirtualSwayy

@paste well I've never actually specced a guy for PvP, I've always jsut fought with my PvE set ups so its all speculative.

The idea behind double lucky is that it mods almost every one of the defensive traits, which there are a lot of in that build even without bullet dodge/proof, and the double stun chance which seems kind of huge.

My main thinking in including the bullet traits was actually more for freemen challenge maps, which so far I have found to be the hardest to avoid injury on. DO they cap out or something when the walkers keep going up? DO they not get up to auto-crit me levels like walkers do? I was thinking that a super high level shooter shot even to a bruiser would be tuff to keep 3 stars with, thus all the stacking of stuff that would give bullets a chance to become a bodyshot. Isn't bulletproof basically hazard for guns? and bulletdodge have the same chance to not crit effect against auto-critting as regular dodge, but for guns? Both modded by lucky? That's a lot of assumptions I am making, but that was the thinking in dreaming up that build.

Like I say its all theory, bc I am just getting to where I care about PvP/human opponents as something I can actually spec for.

JayZ

1. Bruiser traits: Correct. If you can get 80% DR through your gear and badges, the four traits you listed are ideal. I am VERY anti-damage on my Bruisers. In fact, I like my level 28 staffs more than my level 29 ones (and I don't have any level 30 ones). Maintaining a stun wall is the most important Bruiser characteristic, and I don't want to do anything that buffs their damage.

2. Bruiser badge bonuses: Yes.

3. PvP survivor traits: Retaliate, Revenge, Iron Skin are my three must-haves. I don't spend a lot of reroll tokens on PvP, so as long as I can get those three, I'm generally happy and will keep whatever default traits on my survivor work reasonably well. Bullet Dodge, Lucky, Dodge, Critical Aim, and Marksman are all fine fourth/fifth traits. (Would probably priorize Critical Aim if you forced me to choose one). TBH, I rarely think about PvP. I have a GW team and an Outpost team that are mostly just recycled survivors that aren't useful for much else (Sniper Morgan, Dwight, Carl, etc.).

4. Contributions are always welcome from you or anyone else!

DiElEl

@JayZ you wrote on March the 23rd of 2019:

" Good heroes with minimal investment (WIP)

...

- Hilltop Maggie (some rerolls): Any leader trait that gives extra action points is always helpful! She is great in maps with lots of special walkers/freemen or Outpost raids.

... "




Could you tell us please what should we reroll ???

Thanks in advance,

marroba2000

> @DiElEl said:
> @JayZ you wrote on March the 23rd of 2019:
>
> " Good heroes with minimal investment (WIP)
>
> ...
>
> - Hilltop Maggie (some rerolls): Any leader trait that gives extra action points is always helpful! She is great in maps with lots of special walkers/freemen or Outpost raids.
>
> ... "
>
>
>
>
> Could you tell us please what should we reroll ???

DiElEl

Thanks man...

JayZ

@DiElEl I have something similar, but Ruthless over Sure Shot.

marroba2000

> @JayZ said:
> @DiElEl I have something similar, but Ruthless over Sure Shot

She gets ruthless and Sure Shot @JayZ . Another change?