TL;DR: Doom Divers are now a viable pick for Goblins. They increase OTTD odds and offer a semi-reliable emergency scoring outlet when your drive stalls. 25K for options feels like a good deal.
Last week we focused on Treemen and their Rooted roll, and that sparked an outcry from Goblin coaches… what about the Greenskins? So, let’s have a look at the Goblins specialist flier – The Doom Diver.
In the 2020 rules, Doom Divers were a non-event. 20K extra over a standard Goblin bought you the option to scatter D3 squares using the throw-in template direction on a TTM. A little bit of control that guaranteed that you would be in range for a OTTD attempt but not too much else. Importantly, however, that 20K also cost you in all other forms of movement. The player didn’t come with Dodge and Stunty didn’t affect dodges, so even though you landed closer, you needed team RRs and harder dodges to get through the defence.
However, in 2025, things changed. The price went up to 65K, 25K more than a standard Goblin, but they now have Dodge as a starting skill, the Stunty trait works on dodges, and the Swoop has gone up to D6 squares. The final point has implications, mostly good but also a little bad. There’s longer range, but less control. They also quietly gained an additional bonus; if you Swoop you can reroll the landing. Altogether, that’s quite a buff.
So, does this mean that Doom Divers are now good value for money, are they an auto pick? Is the pogoer dead? Also, how should one defend against a swooping opponent?
One turning with Swoop…comparison with Goblin chucking
The diagram below shows the potential landing locations for a TTM thrown from the halfway line and aimed one square south of the sweet spot (black star). Every square has equal probability (1/18) of being the final location and every potential landing square is in range or the endzone. No rushes required.
In comparison, if you throw a standard Goblin from halfway, the scatter options means 15.8% of throws, just about 1 in 6, are out of range. Usually, you can (and should) take at least one step forward, reducing it to 5.3% to be out of range. However, even then only 61.3% of throws don’t need rushes.
Looking at the diagram, you can immediately tell that it is OK to move one square to the left of right, but if you move two squares laterally then there is a 1/18 chance of swooping of the pitch. Three squares, it becomes 1/9. As we’ll see shortly, you might decide it is worth this risk…
This means one of the negative things about swooping is that you are slightly restricted in where you should target. Defenders can therefore be set up to defend against it.
Defending vs Swoop
In the diagram below I’ve added defenders in my standard swoop defence, and show three different landing locations. What you should be able see swiftly (swooply?) is that for each of these “optimal” length throws every potential landing square has either one TZ, and 1/9 centre or 1/6 will splat into a defender. That sounds bad, and is bad, even with the RR’d landing.
That 1/18 risk of going off the field doesn’t seem so bad now!
For comparison defensive set ups against a standard Goblin toss have lower Splat chance (7-9%) and only a 51-57% chance to be in a TZ.
Adjusting in response to the Defence
As the swooping coach, you could take a step forward with the Troll and aim in line with the sweet spot, which would give you 1/6 chance of landing in no TZs.
However, you could also take the throw from one or two squares inside your half. You may need rushes on a short swoop, but the thrown piece remains guaranteed to be able to reach the endzone. It sounds counterintuitive to (potentially) add rushes when they aren’t required, but if you have team RRs available to cover the rushes, it’s an option. Aiming 2 squares closer to halfway you have 6 squares where you have no TZ on the landing and 1 or 2 rushes. 2 squares with no TZ and no rushes, only 1 square where you splat . This is now better odds of sticking the landing than a standard throw. Even before considering the skill RR.
Note that if you don’t have RRs, it is better to aim forward and land in range as your built in landing RR is useful.
Ball handling
When it comes to swoop OTTDs, the landing is only part of the benefit. The other part is how much easier it is to get the ball to the swooping piece. If you are happy to accept the shorter throw above, then the Diver can start 3 squares inside your half. This protects him and the Troll from a perfect D or Charge! Kickoff event (1 out of 6 kicks will be one or the other and can ruin your attempt, or make it much harder).
Importantly, being deeper also means that there is a much greater number of squares in which a Goblin can hand it off to the Diver rather than having to pass.
A set up something like below would only need a pass if the ball landed very deep (~12.5% of kicks). In contrast for a standard TTM, you really want to “lob the Gob” from one square in front of the LOS for max chance of landing in range; therefore the receiver will be standing on halfway, meaning a ~25% chance of the kick adding an additional 4+ to your scoring sequence.
Swoop OTTD headline odds vs standard Goblin toss
To recap, the Doom Diver will definitely be in range (vs 5/20% of being out of range), can be thrown to avoid landing in a TZ or splatting as frequently (44% avoidance with DD vs 36% Goblin), will have a 12.5% higher chance of not needing a pass to get the ball, and will have a baked-in free RR on the landing. The last one is hard to quantify, but Goblin teams usually have a max of 3 RRs and will use them in some madcap schemes during their defence, so I consider this to be a “real” boost.
Altogether, the Diver takes a OTTD from about ~5-6% before RRs to ~10%, and increases a 1RR OTTD from ~12-14% to ~20%.
As a OTTD often is the difference between a loss and draw, or between a draw and a win, I consider 25K a good investment for that scale of boost.
Doom Divers in Open Play
The Doom Diver has the same stat line and skills as a regular Goblin, so is absolutely fine in open play. He probably doesn’t add much value defensively; maybe just the chance to exploit a turnover score or failed pickup, and there will be some occasions where his added range lets you get dice on a ball carrier. However, I’d usually bench him on first half defensive drives to ensure he is available for the OTTD.
However, on offence he provides an outlet. Usually, against Goblins the defensive strategy is to pop the toys, press in hard, control the Trolls, and force lots of 1/9 dodges. 8-turning a Goblin drive is hard. In the face of increasing pressure, the Diver gives an opportunity to launch the ball carrier over the top for a combined pass/swoop/run of 13-19 squares of movement. This can really get you out of jam. Indeed, you could theoretically slow-play a drive staying out of pressure deep as you only need to get to the aforementioned 3 squares inside the half to be in scoring range.
I played against an AG2+ Goblin in Dundee Doubles recently and on two offensive drives this is exactly what happened. I applied pressure across the pitch, but eventually my opponent simply swooped away. Yes, he needed a 2/2/3+ for the Troll activation, hungry and pass, and those dice came after more dice to clear marking players. And then you had the landing, but those aren’t overall too bad dice.
Of course, you can lob a standard Goblin but the range is 9-15 only and no built in RR. That might not be enough to get clear of defenders.
Are they better than a Pogoer?
At 75K the Pogoer gets +1 MA and his pogostick. Even when a drive goes quite well, the Pogoer often ends up having to potato and uses that extra movement to get one square further away. Pogo did improve a little, you can now boing multiple times in a turn but it’s a pretty niche occurrence when that is better than Stunty dodges. The Pogoer is certainly useful if you want to try a conventional drive, but I’m not sold on it being 35K of value.
Win Conditions and Team Builds
Before we wrap up it’s worth a comment on constructing a team. Goblins have the lowest win rate of all the teams, and people aren’t usually choosing them as a power gaming strategy to dominate. Goblins are for fun-having.
A large part of the fun is the toys. You will (usually) want to take a saw, a ball and chain, and/or a bomma. The ‘ooligan is almost a must. To keep those toys, you will want bribes.
But winning can be fun too. For Goblins to win with toys alone they need to high roll. Get good removal dice early, maximise fouls to get ahead on numbers, and then roll enough 3s to score. The fact that they have a low win rate tells you that a strategy predicated on high rolling isn’t going to be consistent. So, in a tournament build, you will want a star. Ripper* or Varagh to be more competitive. Stars, again, are higher variance pieces; they can win you the game but can also be removed at the first punch.
*RIpper having “Bullseye” decreases the value-add of the Diver. It’s still good, but as you are paying 250K for Ripper, you might need to spend the 25K for the Diver elsewhere.
What the Doom Diver gives you is a way to score that doesn’t rely on unreliable pieces defeating the odds.
Well, that’s not quite true, it does rely on a Troll not doing Troll things. But these are Trained Trolls and that’s what RRs are for. A 3+ pick-up, 3+ catch, 223 Troll, (4) landing to put at least one touchdown feels like a win condition. It gives you greater agency to change the game.
So, do they fit in your budget? In my opinion, to maximise your chances of winning, yes. You should make them fit, compromise elsewhere. You’ll still have to play high variance in general, but now you have another toy that can sometimes work and win you games.
However…
I just looked at Yudlugar’s (a 200 game+ Goblin coach) roster at the Home Nations (Eurobowl Ruleset). His build had 16 mens, 3RRs a saw, a ball and chain, a ‘ooligan, 3 Bribes and no Doom Diver. Clearly he has a very definitive game plan that works for him (he’s 61% win rate with Goblins, and won best stunty at HNs). So, the world’s Goblin expert thinks you don’t need them and wouldn’t trade a bribe/Gobiln for a Diver+ mascot/coaches.
What do you think?
How do you rate the Goblin Doom Diver?
If 5 is “must have” and 1 is “never take”
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