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Replace or replace "Flanking"

AuthorMessage
Lieutenant
Jan 28, 2014
104
So there's this one Epic that is called "Flanking". I have no idea what that means nor would I ever use that. I even don't know WHEN it's supposed to trigger. Why would I waste an epic on Flanking when I can use it on Blade Storm or even Repel Boarders? Flanking is useless in my opinion and I think it needs to be removed or replaced with something better.

What do you guys think? Do you have Flanking one one of your partners? Do you dislike it and never use it? Discuss.
Petty Alicia Cog, Level 61

Gunner's Mate
Jun 27, 2013
222
Flanking activates when the enemy is between two companions. I will show you a demonstration.

Flanking: (ally with flanking- , other ally- , enemy- )


... this will activate flanking.

Not flanking:


... so, if an enemy is between two companions, it will activate. I actually found out what this does when the banditoads did crossfire on me.

Golden Chris Silver - 57WITCHDOCTORS, UNITE!

Gunner's Mate
May 08, 2010
270
Flanking is when you go near a ememy ( Like the back)
It triggers I was in buck brocos cave one time and someone had thatand hit apowerd keg and hurt themselves with120 hit

Gunner's Mate
May 13, 2009
232
In my opinion Flanking is better than blade storm. Maybe not repel borders. Flanking works when you have two companions/enemies diagonal from you.The epic makes you want to place and move yourself and your companions around to get a bonus hit. It is them most strategic epic in the game in my opinion.

Petty Officer
Jul 25, 2013
88
flanking can be helpful or useless, but this is how it works, if you know the epic cross fire, then it is the same, if you arrive on one of your flanks( corners on all sides) to an enemy, that triggers the flanking, but it must be a corner by the enemy's point of view.... so lets say sarah steele has flanking, she goes up to a rat brigand in its corner, she would attack, but if it is not on the corner even though you think it is, it is probably because you are on the enemy's side

Lieutenant
Jan 19, 2014
177
I only put flanking on a few characters because it's confusing on how to active the epic. The card tells how to active it but eh, I have little success with it. Ratbeard said he's going to make it clearer on how to active it in a later update so I'm certain that will help.

Even if it wasn't confusing, I would rather get another first strike or relentless than flanking.

Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
itsamemario4 on Mar 5, 2014 wrote:
So there's this one Epic that is called "Flanking". I have no idea what that means nor would I ever use that. I even don't know WHEN it's supposed to trigger. Why would I waste an epic on Flanking when I can use it on Blade Storm or even Repel Boarders? Flanking is useless in my opinion and I think it needs to be removed or replaced with something better.

What do you guys think? Do you have Flanking one one of your partners? Do you dislike it and never use it? Discuss.
Petty Alicia Cog, Level 61
Flanking can come in handy if you are the type that really likes to think things ahead. If you get you and another companion or ally on two opposite sides of an enemy then they are flanked and you get an extra shot at them. You need to know what it means so you won't get excess damage when your enemy has it.

Bosun
Jan 02, 2012
302
Flanking requires practice and planning to use, and I would never have more than one flanking Epic on a companion, but you can often get a flanking attack in most every round once you get used to it in addition to your other attacks. Flanking only hits as hard as a First Strike or a Repel Boarders, but it can be used on any class of opponent. Flanking can also cause relentless attacks to trigger, so people often give Hawkules , or Catbeard a flanking Epic. The way you get a flank attack is to either end your unit's movement on a space directly opposite a unit on your team who can do melee attacks (Bonnie Anne doesn't count); or get lucky enough for an enemy unit to end his movement directly between your flanking unit and one of your melee units. Be careful when hidden, Flanking can activate on objects like boxes, barrels and bushes as well.
Repel Boarders and Blade Storm trigger much less often in typical combat than Flanking can. Of course, if your Musketeer only has the one melee unit show up for a fight, he will not be getting any flank attacks unless you have pets, summoned melee units, or allies in the fight.

Ensign
Aug 23, 2009
6
flanking is the act of getting behind a target
usually to get the jump on them in an engagement

in this game the flanking is having your companion get on his front and rear

the one without the "flanking" talent will be in front of him (the enemy is facing this companion)

the companion with flanking goes up behind him (facing the targets back)

doing so nets the companion with flanking an extra attack

Ensign
Nov 18, 2012
36
Pirate101 Mercenaries has a demo video of exactly how flanking and crossfire work, here :

http://pirate.mercenaries101.com/flanking-and-crossfire/

I usually don't train it on my companions if they can get something better, (like relentless or riposte) but it is a strategic epic and has it's uses. Your lack of understanding isn't a reason to have it removed from the game. Maybe once you watch the demo you can put it to good use.

Nikki

Developer
EMC99 on Mar 5, 2014 wrote:
In my opinion Flanking is better than blade storm. Maybe not repel borders. Flanking works when you have two companions/enemies diagonal from you.The epic makes you want to place and move yourself and your companions around to get a bonus hit. It is them most strategic epic in the game in my opinion.
Flanking is the talent you choose when you want to kick off a chain of attacks simply by the act of moving your own unit.

It's a unique type of trigger, compared to all the others: It doesn't require the enemy to move to you, it doesn't require the enemy to attack you, hit you, or miss you, it doesn't require you to attack the enemy (hit or miss), etc.

You will have to decide what kind of "trigger" works best for you and how to work that into your tactics.

Personally, I pick up Flanking on every companion that can get it, because I like triggers that are (a) under my control and (b) predictable.

Gunner's Mate
Sep 28, 2009
236
Flanking is honestly my ace in the hole. Just about every companion I have who can receive both relentless and flanking will have a relentless 2 and flanking. I have honestly been saved that bit of health on enemies due to flanking being activated followed by a relentless which can finish off those pesky enemies who are barely on the edge between life and death. It is also a great combination with bladestorm so you can flank an enemy and finish them off, then a bladestorm activates, creating a chain of epic hits with relentless :D

First Mate
May 01, 2012
402
Sir That Guy on Mar 5, 2014 wrote:
flanking can be helpful or useless, but this is how it works, if you know the epic cross fire, then it is the same, if you arrive on one of your flanks( corners on all sides) to an enemy, that triggers the flanking, but it must be a corner by the enemy's point of view.... so lets say sarah steele has flanking, she goes up to a rat brigand in its corner, she would attack, but if it is not on the corner even though you think it is, it is probably because you are on the enemy's side
I have put Flanking on every Companion that I can. Flanking can allow at least two attacks on an enemy (more with Relentless) or it can allow you to attack two different opponents with one move. What triggers Flanking is when two Melee characters sandwich an enemy between them at the end of their turn and the one with Flanking should arrive there last (sometimes Flanking will be triggered at other times but, in my experience, it happens rarely). Since Flanking can occur every turn that you have if you set it up correctly, it is an excellent offensive weapon and the way to do the most damage. The person with Flanking can still do special attacks and still get the Flanking bonus. The way you can attack two different opponents at the same time is to end your turn attacking one enemy and using the Flank attack on another.

Crossfire is the same as Flanking except the two characters must be Long Range fighters (ie guns, etc.) and they must sandwich the enemy between them. Since they are Long Range, I don't know if you need to be directly next to the enemy (like Flanking) and will try to check this out when I have a Companion with Crossfire.

Gunner's Mate
Nov 27, 2009
221
RyeKishatu2013 on Mar 5, 2014 wrote:
Flanking activates when the enemy is between two companions. I will show you a demonstration.

Flanking: (ally with flanking- , other ally- , enemy- )


... this will activate flanking.

Not flanking:


... so, if an enemy is between two companions, it will activate. I actually found out what this does when the banditoads did crossfire on me.

Golden Chris Silver - 57WITCHDOCTORS, UNITE!
you forgot to note something important bro,

flanking can ONLY WORK if your other ally is MELEE as well

M = melee ally
R = ranged ally
E = enemy

MEM works
MER NO WORK

same works for crossfire...must be 2 RANGE units

RER works
REM NO WORK
note: you can do this horizontally, vertically, and diagonally