It’s hard to think of a better receiver than the Elven Union Catcher. With a combination of Catch, AG2+ and Nerves of Steel, these fancy Elves will be catching an accurate pass on a 2+ in pretty much every instance outside of being affected by Disturbing Presence. This makes them, arguably, the best offensive threat available in the game, as with four of them available, a defending team is going to have a hard time stopping them both from receiving the ball, then dodging away to score.

Scoring isn’t their own role however, as with MV8 and retaining STR3 unlike their Woodie cousins, they make for incredibly fast recovery and harassing players. As mentioned before, you also get access to four of them, giving you some serious flexibility in how you build them and use them during the course of a season. More often than not, they become more like secondary Blitzers and actually perform that role very well thanks to their Agility & Speed.

Their biggest weaknesses, however, is their fragility and cost. For 10k more than a Wood Elf Catcher, you trade Dodge for NoS, which while enhances their receiving ability, does reduce their defences and manoeuvrability, while the typical AV8+ is going to break more often than not. They’re also guilty of being massive SPP hogs, as Elf teams typically rely on TD’s to gain SPP and with these guys being so good at it, they’re going to become very advanced, very quickly and thus, very costly in terms of TV. Elven Union teams tend to have their Catchers pretty far ahead in development compared to the rest of the team, so they take a little bit of management to make sure they don’t get too bloaty, which of course you can do a little easier now with the new SPP System

Randomised Skills:

No thanks.

Pure Scorer | Elven Union Catcher Build

Primaries: Dodge, Sure Feet, Sprint, Side Step, Jump Up
Characteristics: MV/AG

This Elf is all about getting those sweet, sweet touchdowns! They’re already pretty good at it anyway, but here we’re looking to maximise their potential. They are going to be a little single-minded when it comes to their role and won’t be able to provide any real defensive support after they’ve scored, so might be best used as a 2-turner when you need it most, rather than a permanent part of your starting 11.

Dodge is going to be pretty much the first thing you get on all of these builds and it’s no different here. While it protects you from Stumbles, more importantly, it allows you to best use Nerves of Steel and get away reliably from tackle zones. The idea is this player gets withing range immediately after your thrower picks up the ball, so they need Dodge to get away from being inevitably marked. You get maybe go for Block as well, but you’ll probably end up still being sacked by Wrestle anyway to not warrant it.

I’d say after Dodge you could go for your characteristics roll as well. If they survive (which is why you get Dodge first), they should be swimming in TD SPP, so getting 20 SPP for one as a second advancement shouldn’t be too big a challenge. Aim for AG, but MV puts them to 9 which will increase their threat range.

Form there, Sure Feet & Sprint increases your range, further with some decent Rush reliability. Side Step is always good as it means you angle your scoring route better after being hit. Jump Up is there very much just to regain your full movement, but you can use it to Blitz away any Tacklers who might be marking you.

Ball Hawk | Elven Union Catcher Build

Primaries: Dodge, Wrestle, Strip Ball, Tackle, Side Step, Diving Tackle/Dauntless.
Characteristics: MV/AG

This is my preferred build. Their skills and stats are more than enough to make them an amazing scoring threat that they don’t really need to be pushed further that way, as it pushed them into a very narrow role.

With Elves being so good on defence, it’s criminal not to utilise the Catchers speed and agility to enhance that. Dodge is again, the obvious first pick both to keep them up and to let them basically go wherever they want. Wrestle is a wonderful Block counter, as eventually, all ball carriers are going to get it, so you need a player who can bring them down.

As it’s all about sniping the ball, Strip Ball is a great choice, although does lose some of its potency as Sure Hands becomes more common on Ball Carriers. However, there are a lot of teams that may neglect it or just can’t get it very easily, so it’s still worth grabbing. Tackle is then used to counter any Dodge silliness, followed by Side Step to make sure you stay near the ball and cut off escape avenues when they try to hit you out of the way.

Last but not least, I’d look to get Dauntless or Diving Tackle, depending on what kind of opponents you’re facing. If you find yourself up against STR4 Carriers, Dauntless is the one to get, plus it’s great when you need to shift players like Black Orcs or Chaos Warriors who might be in your way. Diving Tackle pairs wonderfully with Side Step & Tackle, making Dodges away from you that much harder. I’d look to get 2 of these types of Catchers, one with Dauntless then one with Diving Tackle for flexibility.

If you can afford it, then MV/AG are always good shouts, giving you some extended sniping range and ability to dodge through more tackle zones and maybe even cage dive!

Secondary Blitzer | Elven Union Catcher Build

Primaries: Dodge, Block, Side Step, Tackle, 
Secondaries: Guard/Defensive, Mighty Blow
Characteristics: ST/AG/MV

With MV8 and Strength 3, it only takes the addition of Dodge & Block to have a potent Blitzer. The normal Blitzers are, very much about marking off key players and making surgical strikes when they can, so having a backup Blitzer in case they get bogged down or are out of range is very helpful. 

Having two of these basically means you have 4 Blitzers in total giving you massive pitch coverage and the ability to hit from almost everywhere. With AG2+ Blodgestep, they’ll be very hard to pin down too, meaning you can reposition and focus your attention where it’s most needed. 

I’m thinking of having one Guard Catcher and then one Defensive Catcher. The Guard version will be used to slot in and provide a support role to your other striking Blitzers/Catchers, giving you assists where needed. The Defensive Catcher can then be used to screen off counter Guard attacks and protect your fragile teammates from easy 2 dies. Mighty Blow is a fun consideration and with the new SPP system, you can quite reliably get it now, if for a high price.

With two of these roaming around along with your Sackers & Blitzers, you’ll have a seriously fast response team that can screen off and slow down cages, while being able to quickly react to any breakaway offensive threats like Gutter Runners or other Elf Catchers too.

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Although the Scorer is tempting and certainly a fun option, you’ll probably have more success with 2 of each of the other builds. This gives you 4, very fast, agile players who can work together to delay slower teams, while responding to the faster ones. They also are, just by their nature, amazing receivers and don’t really need much more to improve them.

Just don’t get too attached to them, while you can try to keep them from being hit, their low AV and average strength mean they’ll be prime targets for Mighty Blow/Tackler players as well as being fouled, so be prepared to have to replace some very high-cost pieces fairly regularly.

That’s it for the Elven Union Catcher Build, Head over to the Elven Union Thrower, Blitzer & Linemen builds for more BB2020 player advancement guides!