Hi folks!
I was really surprised by all the feedback I've got on the previous post. Thank you all for the input! However I don't want to put too much time and effort in criticizing a certain discipline. So I'll keep this one brief and less detailed. In the previous article I tried to reflect the combat effectiveness (or the lack of it) by comparing damage output to overall blood cost. In this article I will mention some other things to consider, but will leave the final conclusions to you.
1. Multi-discipline and cards, cards, cards...
One of my big problems with Quietus is that it is hardly playable on its own (Baal's Bloody Talons might be an exception, but you still might want to play Psyche!). Since it is hard to build an Assamite deck around weenie mono-Quietus in a similarly way than weenie Potence, weenie Animalism or even weenie Thaumaturgy you don't really have enough rush/turns to deal with s:ce by just letting the opposing running out of it. Therfore you need Psyche! Which requires superior Celerity. Which narrows down your crypt choice. This also leads to an example combat like this: play maneuver, play strike card, play Psyche, play maneuver again, play strike card again. Supposing you have to deal with 1 s:ce card played only you still need 5 cards to achieve the poor damage output described in the previous article...
2. Crypt choice
This is pretty damn obvious. You need a CEL/QUI combination which will make most of your vampires come from the mid caps. With poor access to intercept and bleed bounce in combination with the poor combat effectiveness...
3. Compare!
Just compare all the above with a Black Hand based Assamite rush deck using .44 Magnum and Celerity only. A zillion times more effective? YES!
Not only true for the Black Hand version. For Assamites .44 Magnum + Celerity is just the better way to go, imo. Since any weenie guy can pay for the .44 Magnum with a Haquim's Law.
4. Last Word
Can't emphasize this enough: I am not complaining about Quietus being unplayable. Sure you can make funny, or even working deck with Quietus combat. The "Fail" part is nothing else than this: I feel the that the gap between w.o.d. and v:tes is way too big in this case. Quietus (and Assamite) combat might work in certain cases, but it comes nothing close to what you would rightfully expect from a clan based on killing, killing and killing. Just check the the TWDA or even more generally the overall Assamite decks being played! Almost only different subtypes of stealth-bleed or vote decks...
by: Mephistopheles
Altough it is not really part of the post, but I must tell you something.
ReplyDeleteAssamites are NOT good in combat in the WoD. 2 things:
1. They are mysticized to the extreme as they are a very rare species of vampire. Mystical assassins, great warriors. But the quietus discipline is not very strong.
2. The vampires in the novels and short stories are low generation vampires with much larger powers than the victim. Think about what happens when a neonate tries to get in combat with good ol' Crusher.