The Dark Elf Blitzer is your workhorse and you get four of them! For 100k, you’re getting Block, AG2+, MA7 and AV9+ giving you a bunch of fast, versatile players who can do most jobs and do them well. You can spread them out across the pitch as well, something that Elf teams with only two Blitzers can’t do and they work wonders for supporting your Runners & Witch Elves. It could be argued they’re the best of the regular Elf Blitzers just because you can get so many and diversify your team to cover most roles, whilst having plenty of overlap in case one should fall afoul of a boot to the head.
That is their only downside really, at 100k they are expensive and all 4 will cost you a big chunk of your starting money. If they start dying or getting injured, it’s a pretty loss and replacing more than 1 at a time will see you very poor, very quickly. These guys do tend to get into the thick of things and until they acquire skills like Side Step, your opponents will have no issues gang-fouling them with their cheaper players. They also tend to level up fairly quickly as starting with Block makes them good candidates for early scorers and they might even get a CAS or two along the way. This is usually why Dark Elf teams (and Elf teams in general) tend to struggle with higher TV compared to others, but you’ll have 4 incredibly effective players on your team so, it’s usually worth it.
As Dark Elves are a running team first (doubly so now that the Runner is the best thrower at PA3+), having four means you can create that loose cage Dark Elves are so well known for. The Dark Elf Blitzer will usually be at the front of your screens as well thanks to their decent armour and Block.
Build List:
Randomised Skills:
You could probably make the most of the skills available, but I’d stick to picking them!
Versatile Blitzer | Dark Elf Blitzer Build
Primaries: Dodge, Side-Step, Tackle, Strip Ball, Diving Tackle, Jump Up/Dauntless
Secondaries: Guard, Mighty Blow
Characteristics: ST/AG/MA
This Elf is designed to tackle most threats and be a defensive and offensive master. Dodge is 100% your first pick, followed by Side-Step because that combination is just too good to pass up. It’ll make you hard to knock down, you can safely dodge away in most scenarios and you can either stick to the ball carrier like glue or run down the sidelines without fearing the crowd. This is a pretty solid base for all four blitzers and you can specialise a bit more from there.
Tackle, Strip Ball and Diving Tackle plays into that offensive and defensive versatility. Tackle means you can target pretty much anyone with a good chance to knock them down, whilst also making your defensive screen even better against fast teams. Strip Ball means only Sure Hands carriers are safe from your hits, then Diving Tackle (pairing nicely with Side Step to make sure you’re still marking them), forces them to either try and knock you down or make a pretty hard dodge roll.
For Secondaries, Guard and Mighty Blow are easy picks. Dark Elves get no Strength Primaries, so you’re going to be reliant on hoarding some SPP to get these skills. For this particular build, I’d get Guard as they play more of an all-around support player. If you can then afford it, grab Mightly Blow afterwards. Depending on how your SPP works out, I’d probably look to these as early as possible, but after Dodge and Side-Step.
I’ve thrown on Jump Up & Dauntless as well, the latter would be good if you find yourself against lots of ST4 teams
All of the stat buffs are good, Strength in particular however will make them a menace.
You can’t go wrong making all 4 of these this way, but you’ll want to limit the amount of Strip Ball as you go. Sure Hands will start to appear more frequently the longer your league goes on, so at most I’d give that skill to two Blitzers, to cover as much ground as possible but without too much skill overlap.
Murder Elf | Dark Elf Assassin Build
Primaries: Dodge, Tackle, Side-Step, Frenzy, Jump Up, Dauntless
Secondaries: Mighty Blow, Guard
Characteristics: ST/AG/MA
Elves very rarely play the bash game but Dark Elves of the four are the most suited to it thanks to their higher AV and four lots of starting Block. It’s SPP intensive but if you want to get a few removals here and there, you can try and grab Mighty Blow earlier to try and even the odds. I’d still grab Dodge first, but then followed by MB itself, then Tackle to get those other pesky Dodge types!
Side-Step still works nicely for this, but you could grab Jump Up as well to whack foes from the ground or get into a better position even after being put to the floor. You could look at Dauntless as well, it’s a nice touch to try and take down some ST4 players and have a better chance of keeping them down too. Frenzy is nice here too, but I’d grab Side Step first to get you out of trouble.
Defensive Elf | Dark Elf Assassin Build
Primaries: Dodge, Side-Step, Defensive, Tackle, Diving Tackle, Jump Up
Secondaries: Guard, Mighty Blow
Characteristics: ST/AG/MA
An alternative to the Versatile blitzer, here we trade out Strip Ball for Defensive. Guard can be an issue for Elf teams, both when playing against it due to only ever being Strength 3 at best and the fact not a single Elf has Strength skills as a primary. So to counter that, GW gave us Defensive.
A lot of people sleep on this skill I think. I get that it’s not the best and only has use on your opponent’s turn but on a Blodgestepper, it can be really good I think, especially with AV9+. If you can then pair it later with Guard itself if you’re flush with SPP, it’s even better as you’re turning off your opponent’s skills whilst providing that +1 yourself no matter how many Guard wielders you’re marking.
I do think getting one or two of these could be worth it, but to get the most out of it you’ll need to look at your opponents. Its best use is against Strength 3 Guard teams like Dwarves, as opposed to higher strength teams like Chaos who won’t care if you turn their Guard off.
Catching Blitzer | Dark Elf Assassin Build
Primaries: Dodge, Catch, Side-Step, Jump Up, Tackle,
Secondaries: Guard, Mighty Blow, Nerves of Steel
Characteristics: ST/AG/MA
If you want someone to support your Runner, then giving one of your Blitzers Catch is a good way to do so. If you have a Nerves of Steel/Accurate Runner, it makes your Dump Offs 2+/2+ with built-in ReRolls…. very nice indeed!
I wouldn’t necessarily go full into the “Catcher” role, so skills like Side-Step and Tackle will be good to have. Jump Up could also put you in a nice scoring position if your opponent hasn’t broken your armour, so run them past the defensive line as a threat they have to remove to stop you from scoring. You could also go for Nerves of Steel (although I think the Strength skills will serve you better in the long run) if you want to make Dump Off plays even more effective when crowded.
Leap
Something some coaches may have spotted is missing from these builds, having been seen on previous ones, is Leap. Sadly, it’s been done dirty this edition and cage diving isn’t as potent as it once was. If you’re Leaping into a traditional 5-man corner cage, you’re getting -3 from the minimum of 3 tackle zones you’re Leaping into then reducing this by 1 thanks to the Leap skill. This makes your roll a 4+ with only a Team ReRoll to save you, which can get worse if there are more players around. This is compared to the 3+ it used to be in BB2, although you’re more likely to have a ReRoll to use this edition.
It does have its uses and can be a good skill to slot into the Murder of Versatile build. I think it’s better on the Witch Elves personally, where you can use your Blitzers in support to mark off the cage assists.
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The Dark Elf Blitzer is the ultimate versatility player, they can take on most of the roles you need and thanks to their high MA and AG, they can do it pretty well. Starting with Block and AV9+ makes them pretty hard to remove early on too and even harder when you get Dodge on top. These are the core of your team and you’ll be wanting all four of them at all times!
That’s it for the Dark Elf Blitzer build! Check out our guides for the Runner, Witch Elf, Lineman and Assassin.
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