Steady Footing (“Argue the fall”) was introduced into BB Season 3 and immediately the community began talking about the effect on 6+ cage dives… 51% of the time on a (6)(6) dive if you have dodge/team RRs for both rolls. Pretty impressive.
It seems that everywhere I’ve been lately SF has had an impact. My last three weekends worth of tournaments I’ve come up against Brets x2 in Dundee and Blackburn, Nurgle x2 in Blackburn and Liverpool, and online have faced HE in the FUMMBL NAF tournament and in Eurobowl practice. Those 6+ cage dives have been attempted, and have worked.
SF has also saved opposition players from going down in important situations. Which has been… annoying.
But the purpose of this post isn’t to bemoan the skill. I’m not even going to mention Dave rescuing a draw courtesy of turning my 3D pow into a push last week. Instead. I wanted to explore how having this skill changes odds and whether the effect is big enough to affect decision making around common actions. I wanted this info as Inevitably, I will say if “I can’t beat ‘em” and play HE, Nurgle* and maybe even Brets sometime soon.
Input from top coaches – after drafting this post I asked some top players with lots of experience using SF teams to comment about how it’s changed their play, I’ve inserted select quotes in context and full comments at the end.
Diving in the Steady Footing Era
Let’s start with the easy stuff – what effect does steady footing have on success states for different dodges.
| Dodge | Base | Dodge or RR | SF | Dodge and SF | Dodge+ SF + RR |
| 2+ | 83% | 97% | 86% | 98% | 98% |
| 3+ | 67% | 89% | 72% | 91% | 92% |
| 4+ | 50% | 75% | 58% | 79% | 83% |
| 5+ | 33% | 56% | 44% | 63% | 69% |
| 6+ | 17% | 31% | 31% | 42% | 51% |
One fundamental point is immediately apparent; the SF save roll is more impactful the more difficult the base roll. SF adds 3% to a 2+ dodge but 14% to a 6+ dodge.
Remember that 2+ can also be rushes or 1D blocks with blocks, and 3+ can be snow-for-its or 1D block-less blocks.
The value of tables like this is, firstly, to have a appreciation of how risky a play is and therefore whether or not to take it on; should you try the cage dive?
The second, use is to allow side-by-side comparison of similar actions to enable you to pick which is best for the situation.
Some important similarities:
- 5+ without dodge (33%) is very similar* to 6+ with SF (31%)
- 5+ with dodge/RR (56%) is very similar* to 4+ with SF (58%)
- 4+ with dodge/RR (75%) is quite similar* to 3+ with SF (72%)
*similar… but a 2% difference is something. Usually we try to make micro-improvements to extract every last point of value from our actions. If all other things were equal, you’d go for the 2% better play. But all other things are never equal and having a feel for when two actions are not very different on a single dice roll scale allows you to focus on the other aspects of the play.
Example: Dive angle.
Playing as HE, in the position below, the nurgle have caged up south that dives from the side entry are on 6+ whereas from the rear are a 5+. Not an uncommon position.
If we assume no RRs are available/willing to be committed, then we know that base odds for the 5+ are 1 in 3. Whereas, the 6+ dive with SF is only marginally worse. The difference is small enough that all the other aspects, such as scatter location, recovery options, potential to turn the sack into a counter score, pre-dive safe move repositioning, and, sacking relevant skills can all form a large part of the decision process.
Talking in Game Theory terms, the expected value of the sack via the 6+ route could end up higher than the 5+ route after you account for these secondary aspects of the decision tree.
As an aside, against any elf/rat type team you will often end up in a positions where you have to leave on a 5+ dive available, in those situations you should be considering angles and recovery options.
Multi rolls
The second advantage of SF is that it, unlike dodge, it can be used multiple times per activation, so it could be useful to compare and/or know the odds of multiple rolls together.
Two dodges
| Dodge | Base | Dodge (or 1RR) | SF | Dodge + SF | Dodge + SF wRR |
| 2+2+ | 69% | 93% | 74% | 95% | 96% |
| 3+3+ | 44% | 74% | 52% | 81% | 86% |
| 4+4+ | 25% | 50% | 34% | 62% | 72% |
| 5+5+ | 11% | 26% | 20% | 29% | 56% |
| 6+6+ | 3% | 7% | 9% | 22% | 38% |
I could keep going with dodge + RR for the two dodges and 2x RRs for the SF, but for illustration, this will do.
Again, these multi rolls can be looked at as -2D (uphill) 2/2 with block 3/3 without.
Again, the usefulness comes from decision making. So, let’s do that:
Useful comparisons
Here are the comparisons I think are worth remembering where SF changes which is the best option.
One 3+ with SF (72%) is better than 2x 2+ without SF (69%)
In the pic above the rotters on the left can cancel the orange blitzer assist and then the other two can each rush once to first assist and then to blitz the ball carrier for 2D. Or the pestigor next to the white dice can gate dodge through for a 2D with horns.
The advantage of the pesti route here is pretty clear – one activation only required, and defensive position is maintained if you fail, plus free pieces to surround or recover.
Knowing that the SF option is better is useful in these sort of situations, as usually the double rush is slightly better than the dodge in terms of straight odds.
One 5+ with SF is the same as 2x 3+ without SF (44%)
One 6+ with SF (31%) is better than 2x 4+ without SF (25%)
For example you can pass to a Grail Knight or a Peasant with different routes to the line. If the pass and catch are the same, the fail location and potential armour break difference/player value and where you want SPP can be used to make the decision.
Two 3+ with SF (52%) is better than 1x 4+ without (50%)
The example above a 4+ Bloater dodge (big guy on the right) to blitz the ball with 2D is 50% but sending the pesti (with staff, top left) on a double 3+ dodge route is marginally better (52%) with no RRs available. The improvement goes up further if you are willing to put in 1RR for the play (75% bloater, vs 81% for 3/3 pesti)
Two 2+ with SF is the same as 2x 3+ with Dodge (74%)
Two 2+ with SF (74%) is similar to 1x 4+ with Dodge (75%)
Double rushing your Grail Knight could be the same as handing the ball in a TZ with a Catcher (NOS, catch) and then dodging him to the line (assuming he has dodge). Again, whereas without SF the (3)(3) is better than the naked 22.
One 4+ with SF (58%) is slightly better than a 2+ and 3+ (56%)
A dodge + rush from a regular piece could compare surprisingly a little worse than a 4+ dodge with SF
How hard is it to knockdown a SF player?
Arguing the fall works defensively too ofc, so how does it change the standard block stats? Let’s have a quick look at a 2D block without block, hitting a SF player with either no block (starting pesti), block (Dragon Prince/Grail Knight) and blodge
| 2D block | Standard / RR | With SF |
| No defender skills | 75 / 94 % | 63 / 78 % |
| Block | 56 / 80 % | 47 / 67 % |
| Blodge | 31 / 52 % | 26 / 43 % |
Pretty simply, we are multiplying the standard odds by 5/6 (0.83).
We can’t change these odds as the blocking/blitzing player, but knowing them is valuable when deciding whether to RR a hit, or deciding how likely a sack attempt is to work and so whether to RR the dice to allow you to get the dice on the ball. They are also relevant when deciding who to target for an attrition blitz when making the target-value to knockdown and removal likelihood decision. It is also useful to have this info when deciding which route to chose to blitz through to create a space for forward movement.
(This “who to blitz to find a route through” was relevant in one of our recent puzzles).
Following blocks
Arguing the fall has an interesting side effect; do you follow up after a knockdown result? This can be an important decision; if the SF roll succeeds, you could be leaving a punch back or, worse, a based cage? Yes, it’s only 1/6 but the tail risk of the unlikely play might mean it’s not worth that low risk. If you don’t follow, is the cost to your forward momentum meaningful?
This is a similar thought process to following up a player with jump up or who will be within Pick-me-up range, although for SF at least you immediately know what the status of the piece is. A pesti being punched back into pick-me-up range is particularly scary to follow up into for the double up chances!
In the example above, the OWA are driving toward the duck-elf team in a standard elf screen. Usually the optimal blitz target would be one of the pieces occupied by the two blue-based dragon princes. However, here the lower odds of knockdown and potential for steady footing kicking-in means that the OWA player has to decide between taking that SF risk and following, or not taking as much space, or choosing to hit a target in a less desirable location.
^^sometimes a skill doesn’t have to be used to be relevant!
Note; I’m not saying the argue the fall is as good as wrestle, stand firm, side step or even foul appearance as a way of reducing the appeal of a blitz target, but it could be consideration that will be relevant sometimes.
View from Top Player – Torquemada
Torquemada is a Team England and Tactics and Theatrics coach with a wealth of experience. Although particularly well known for Vampires, he’s also #2 in the world with High Elves. His full comments are at the end of the piece.
“I find it has very limited impact on my decisions. About the only thing I’ll do differently against it is I will sometimes not follow up on a Pow vs SF if ending up based could be a problem, and even then you often have to follow anyway. And I guess when going in for a sack vs Steady Footing I’ll take a wrestle Both Down over a pow.”
Is it a good skill pick?
We’ve spoken about the uses for SF and it’s certainly a nice-to-have skill, but is it worth picking?
With any skill the expected value (whether it contributes to win likelihood after accounting for TV cost) can be considered as an equation:
How often you get to make use of the skill X how impactful it is when you use it.
(Usage can include how it influences your opponents options)
For the first part of the equation; you only directly benefit from SF when the piece would hit the deck. It has a bigger impact on lower odds plays. So the players who would benefit most often are pieces that are likely to try multiple harder dodges (3+ to 5+) per game, especially those which don’t have primary access to Dodge (even more so if there is a elite skill tax).
Players who will get knocked down frequently are also high use candidates; e.g. those about to be put on the LOS might also get multiple attempts to argue the fall. Again, pieces without Dodge = more knockdowns = more value from the skill.
From an impact perspective, clearly a ball carrier staying upright can be game winning, whether it was an otherwise failed dodge, rush or tanking a block. Similarly, achieving a sack that you’d otherwise fail is a clearly high visibility, high impact play where SF can make a difference.
Then we have the intangibles. How the skill affects how you and/or your opponent play the game. Having SF allows you to take on a more risky play that you would otherwise turn down. Having SF, in turn, means your opponent now has to consider the increased risk of a successful dive. This might mean they feel that extra pieces are needed for ball protection, or that hits are given up to control the putative dive piece, or that pieces are used conservatively in a screen that otherwise would be jammed in for hitting.
The impact of all of these are hard to quantify, they depend on your opponent’s skill level and race. When trying to value this skill, it has some parallels with the effect of leap/pogo, and break tackle in terms of changing how your opponent plays.
Its also hard to quantify the effects of pieces not following up blocks. This has parallels with fend and jump up, but some races and coaches can/will ignore that risk respectively.
Most of those intangibles have greater impact when the SF piece already has something else that contributes to those functions (e.g. horns and block are relevant for the starting players).
SF is in the General skill tree, so lots of players have access to it… BUT those players can also take Block, Tackle, Wrestle…
My opinion, despite all the positives. SF is quite a late development skill, not something I would take in a tournament build but something that could be viable in longer league play.
So, the question now becomes where in a player’s development does SF become a value pick and is it worth keeping the player if you random it?
View from top player – BB Jock
BBJock – Scotland Captain and current #1 ranked High Elf coach with an eyewatering 245 NAF rating.
“Good to see the maths in one place, which definitely changes the dynamic of the cage dive. Although I don’t think I’ve really pushed the maths of SF yet. I agree it’s definitely a good skill to have on your player, but like you I wouldn’t take it in a tournament setting.”
League Play
Sacker – I’d build wrestle, dodge, strip ball and tackle for the first four skills, then consider SF as a primary possibly 5th. It could come ahead of break tackle if BT was a secondary, owing to SF wider utility. Saving for Ag+ might be better still though, so it would depend on league length.
Ball carrier – I’d build with blodge first, then surehands if required relative to other teams in the league. Side step might be next or a stat up for more utility. As a general concept, you don’t want to plan for your carrier to get hit very often, so SF feels a bit like “I don’t think I can protect him” skill… nice to have, but you hope not to need.
Random Lino – A lino (with just access to general skills) might be tempted to keep a random SF for 20K. If the team was playing around 1400+TV, where that amount of extra TV is pretty small as overall percentage, then I’d be even more likely to keep. That specific Lino might be given the LOS duty until he died though. The advantage being that he might tank the LOS hit and also might survive a subsequent dodge that you wouldn’t otherwise choose to RR.
As wrestle, block, strip, and tackle and SF are all General skills; building a sacker or carrier after random-ing SF first then randomly getting one of the others might be viable for teams like chaos chosen where getting any skills as early as possible is relevant.
What do you think?
You got this far, so you get to join in the debate?
Comments from Top Coaches
I asked “Does having SF influence your decision making at all”
Scouseboy
Craig is >200 rated with HE, with 72% win rate pre-and post- SF. Within those games he went 4-1-1 at NAFC and recently won the Hawaiian Bowl 2-dayer .
“Not particularly. I think that, in tournament builds at least, what the Dragon Princes haven’t got (generally) is a decent ball hawk skill other than SF. Dodge is a given as likely the only skill, and if you stack you can do exciting things outside of doubling up wrestle (or strip or whatever). So while the SF is considerable, the wrestle-claw combo with other options still feels better there. And as a blodge SF carrier, that’s great… but My Ball is an absolute neon sign for your strategic intentions. So they feel a little damned if they do, damned if they don’t on both of their marquee applications.
One thing I DO like is that while there are downsides in both those uses or plans, the SF is a definite upside in both plans which makes either utility worth considering in the actual moment.
I like the threat of them in the mind of the opponent if they aren’t carrying the ball, and I like them for the final break (or, heaven help me, the potato). And I LOVE the absolute slump an important 6 can bring to my opponent’s morale when the dice dictate.
And in a league, where multi-skilling is likely? Absolute bangers, will build as Swiss Army knives all day long.”
Blity
Bruce (although he answers to Grant) is a Team Scotland coach with 35 Nurgle games including winning Pumpkin bowl with a 6-0-0 record, and playing 17 Nurgle games before losing.
“Steady footing is definitely a consideration when you’re attempting a last ditch play.
It can prove very useful at keeping your 2 Pestigors mobile as well potentially giving you a game changing blitz that you wouldn’t otherwise have from the floor.”
BB Jock:
Easy, no, cause I never roll a 6 lol. TBF it would impact my decision on the cage dive that’s about it…
Steady footing, I hate it – it would be the one skill I’d choose to get rid of, if I had the choice, even although my Princes have used it every now and then!”
Torquemada
When I’m the one that has it, again it doesn’t change much. MA, AG and defensive skills are what decides my carrier, but SF is a nice to have. It’s somewhat useful for 1 -turning as you can potentially use it for every roll but you’ll take a dodge player over SF.
Main thing for me though is that you probably never take it for tournament play, and the teams that come with it have it on players that are natural carriers/blitzers so not much to think about. I think the only real decisions it affects are: “Do I dive with my Lion for the wrestle, or the Dragon for the additional 6+ to not fall over if I fail?” and “Do I carry on the Catcher or the Grail Knight?”, and most of the time you go for the non-SF option on both of those in my opinion.
In league it’s maybe a consideration? Not sure it’s worth the TV but a blodgestepfooting piece sounds like an absolute nightmare to face.
LewishM
Self identifies as the “once upon a time and soon to be again best bret player in the world” Has taken Brets to 3x 2dayers including the Scottish National and Team Champs. He’s current 10-8-3, impressively not losing many with this new team.
I don’t think I’d ever take SF as a skill up on a player in a league, unless it went really deep into the season and all the base skills were covered, things like block, dodge, guard, tackle, mighty blow all have a more direct and immediate effect on the game.
However its a massive boost as a starting skill to grail knights, I wouldn’t ever plan around it. I don’t make plays “expecting” steady footing to come off and be part of the play, but when it does come off and save you from a turnover its an amazing asset. It just adds that bit of luck to some Bretonnian games where you get away with a play that was otherwise going to fail and it can change the turn completely. It goes from “oh i failed the 3+ dodge with team reroll first action and now the whole turn is gone and everyone’s out of position” to “ok cool we got that dodge off and now the turn is going to happen”
It really can have a massive effect depending on the timing of it. you just have this one extra chance the other coach doesnt.
It makes cage diving late in the game a no brainer, you are going to make it over half the time, i’ve seen grail knights with break tackle, which makes it into the cage far more often that not with your 5++ 6++, 4 dice to get a 6 is a game I’d play happily in a casino! Its better than the usual safe tactic of just trying to mark up the cage and ending turn, in which case one or two pushes and you lose the score.
I like taking guard + Stand firm on grail knights, that’s influenced by SF because it means even on a pow sometimes you stay exactly in place still providing guard, which can prove an absolute gamechanger, most people don/t have a backup plan when powing the guard piece clogging up the line just straight up doesn’t work.
Camelchops
Including my own experience for completeness.
I played 2025 Nurgle at Mulligan’s Open, going 4-2-0. Steady Footing had an impact quite a few times, especially as I had a 2 heads / block stacked pesti, so cage-diving was already a decent option. However, I don’t remember ever thinking about it before making the decision to dive, i.e. it didn’t influence my choice, I was just happy of the bonus when it worked. However, BBJock will tell you that I won our game because of steady footing. He’s not wrong.
Have I missed something? Leave a comment below.
Leave a Reply