[FONT="Impact"]Welcome[/FONT] to the Tactical Operations Center, or Tac Ops, as it's been called. I wanted to start this guide because, after gaining some experience using a Warlord, I realized that not only can you use some of the more basic combat tactics quite effectively in 4E, there are layers upon layers of other effective strategies that work off of Characters, Feats, Powers, or even Items! I hope to explore as many of these strategies as I can, and record them for the Community's use here. If you need any examples or definitions of any of the more basic Strategies of War, then this is the place to find them. I'll also be asking people for the massive amount of experience the Board members here have when it comes to Combat in 4E, so new ideas are always welcome. Please try to keep the content here Civil, and if a debate on any particular subject grows too heated, just remember: "Take it outside."
With that, let's get started.
Table of Contents:
I. The Art of War, Murphy's Law, and Why Planning Ahead is Actually Important
II. Definitions of the Most Commonly Used Tactical Terms
III. Commonly Used Builds and Maneuvers
IV. Uncommonly Used Builds or Maneuvers
Caution: Thread is under constant construction.
Special Thanks Go Out To: Everyone with new ideas or different views on Tactics. Thanks, Peoples!
Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War over 2000 years ago, and it is still applicable in today's Strategies and Warfare. The Art of War talks about many things, inside and outside of Battle, but some of them are more prevalent to Turn-Based Combat than others. Here are some of the ideas we can use best in 4E:
Laying Plans 18: All Warfare is Based on DeceptionShow
This is a very potent idea in 4E. Sneak is one of the best skills to have, and should be used as often as is possible. Whether Scouting, setting up an Ambush, or simply gaining Combat Advantage, Sneak can be used to gain great advantages against one's enemies. Of course, Deception can be used in other ways as well; Bluffing can certainly be used to fight other Intelligent enemies. Using Diversions, pulling a Bait and Switch, Feigning Death; all of these things are based on Deception, and all of them can be devastating in Battle.
Laying Plans 26: A Battle is Won or Lost before it has Even BegunShow
This saying can be very, very true. Preparing for a Battle you know is coming can make a World of difference. Don't be afraid to use Readied Actions if you think Trouble is just around the corner or through the next door. Alternatively, if you know that the enemy is aware of you, be prepared for the exact same response. Walking nonchalantly around a corner in a Goblin Fort when the alarms are going off is an incredibly stupid thing to do, and can get you killed very quickly. However, the right application of Readied Actions, Diversions, or full-on Ambushes can decimate any number of enemies if you have the drop on them. One of Sun Tzu's other sayings is, Take Advantage of Favorable Circumstances.
Waging War 6: There is No Instance of Anyone having Benefited from Prolonged WarfareShow
This can be simplified for 4E use easily: the longer a Battle takes, the more Damage you take. Sometimes it's best to hold back your best weapons for the right circumstances, but sometimes those circumstances never show up. For this reason, if you have the chance to end the Battle more quickly, it is almost always better to do so than to Delay. You should be doing something useful every turn, even if that means just Shifting 5 Feet. Use every advantage that comes to hand, and take advantage of every weakness your enemies show.
Attack By Stratagem 2: Fighting is for SuckersShow
Though I have simplified his actual saying, the Spirit is the same. If you don't have to fight, if you can use Diplomacy, or Intimidate, or Stealth to circumvent your enemies, then do so. Combat is a risky thing, where a lucky Axe swing can split you from Crotch to Crown. The drain on a Party's resources in each Battle is incredibly high (usually. See Above), and it can sometimes cost your Party more to Fight and Pillage then it would to avoid the Fight in the first place. Choose your Battles Wisely.
Attack By Stratagem 17: The Five Essentials for VictoryShow
Four of these are all perfectly applicable, and should you have little to no experience in 4E Combat, these should help. 1) He will Win who Knows When to Fight and When Not to Fight. 2) He will Win who Knows How to Handle both Superior and Inferior Forces. 3) He will Win whose Army is Animated by the Same Spirit Throughout All its Ranks. 4) He will Win who, Prepared Himself, Waits to Take the Enemy Unprepared.
Everything that Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong. There are many versions of Murphy's Law, but they all boil down to one thing: Expect the Unexpected. One of the main Laws of the Military is that No Plan Survives Initial Contact. So when your well thought out plans utterly fail? That is Murphy's Law coming into effect. There aren't many defenses for this, except to make your Plans as foolproof (and nothing ever is) as possible, and to reduce the number of things that could go wrong as far as you can. It's even better if you're also prepared should some of these problems occur; these are known as Backup Plans, and they can save your life. In 4E, there are also many things that are completely out of your control, such as large quantities of Metal entering your body at high velocity, or slipping off of a Cliff while trying to climb it, or even being in the blast radius of an AoE Power while lying on the ground unconscious; there isn't much you can do about this type of thing (excluding Worshipers of Avandra or Divine Oracles, that is...), but if this type of thing does happen to you, accept it and try to work around it. Most of the time your DM will be willing to cut a Deal on this type of thing, as letting them happen all the time can seriously ruin a Campaign.
In 3rd Edition, Every Man was an Island. Teamwork was laughable, and really only icing on an already delicious cake. Most characters could use Spells, Feats, and Items to become John Rambo at any given time. This allowed for a Party to multitask, as each person could take care of a specific area of the Battlefield all by themselves. Think of the X-Men, if you will. Though they make a powerful team, many of them are only constrained by Ethics, and could actually wipe out most enemies with a few devastating attacks.
However, 4E is an entirely new creature, and as such, new ideas are needed. "I Stand Alone" is no longer the theme in 4th Edition, and teamwork is not only usually necessary, it can yield positive results all the time. The Party is actually a Party now, and they need each other to survive. They're comparable to teams like the Voltron Force, for instance. Every time they split up, they are unable to defeat their enemies.
Due to this new dependency on each other, Planning Ahead is essential if you want your Party to be effective. Knowing who can do what and when is a great way to start, but discussing how to use said effects together will truly improve how well your Party does on the Battlefield. Having the Cleric discuss with the others where they can set up Healing Zones, or discussing when the Wizard should set up Combat Advantage for the Rogue to strike, or discussing what the optimal range is for the Warlord's Powers to remain effective; these are examples of Planning Ahead. Items are also important here. Frost Hammers wielded by the Ranger that give the Rogue Combat Advantage, or Armor that makes you immune to Fire so that the Wizard can Nuke the enemy with you standing in the middle, or even the opposite: items that damage all adjacent creatures, including allies. If everyone knows about these kinds of abilities, who has them, and how they can be used, the Party can put together Strategies that will help everyone, and make almost any situation less problematic.
The following are simply my personal thoughts on Strategy: 1) Front-End Battle: In this Strategy, you try to remove all of the weaker enemies before having to confront the BBEG. In doing so, you can then concentrate fire on the BBEG, stack Status Effects on him, or even just concentrate on getting Combat Advantage more. To wage a Front-End Battle, it is best to be in a Defensible Position (see Tactics: Bottleneck Battle), or at least have the High Ground, and the Party should try to keep the weaker enemies in-between them and the BBEG. Using Artillery fire is also an excellent idea here, as the main point is to keep the enemy from engaging your Party as long as you can while still maintaining fire on them. If you succeed, you will save valuable resources (HP, Surges, Encounter and Daily Powers, or even Action Points) that you will probably need for the BBEG later.
2) Back-End Battle: This Strategy applies when you deem a single enemy to be far more of a threat than any of its allies/cohorts/minions. This enemy is the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy). In this type of Battle, the Party does their best to avoid actually engaging the enemy until the situation is as optimal as it can be. This can include (but is definitely not limited to) waiting for the BBEG to go to sleep, positioning the Party so that they can use a Surprise Round to deal as much damage as possible to the BBEG, or trying to set the BBEG up to fall into a trap. In essence, your goal is to either remove the BBEG from the Battle immediately (making such an Encounter significantly easier), or at least deal as much damage as you can before you have to deal with all of the weaker enemies.
The following courtesy of Arcanisk: 1) Hit 'em Hard: This Strategy calls for concentrated fire, using any resources available to defeat enemies as quickly and efficiently as possible, maximizing your damage output. This is an especially useful Strategy for Solo Encounters, or when you can rest a lot.
2) Hit 'em Fast: A variant of number 1, this Strategy uses the same concept, but is used on less important enemies, or when you're in a hurry and can't afford to rest. The Party still uses concentrated fire maximizes output, but they try to save their Dailies and Action Points unless absolutely necessary. This can be dangerous, though, so be cautious.
3) Make It Count: Primarily a Defensive Strategy, Make It Count applies when your enemies are overwhelming or very powerful. The Party should attempt to make it as hard as possible for the enemy to kill them, meaning playing it safe and looking for a good Tactical Position. The more expensive it is for the enemy to hurt you, the fewer resources you use up, which means you can fight for a much longer period of time. However, sometimes it simply isn't feasible to use this Strategy; if possible, though, make good use of it.
4) Somewhere In Between: This is simply a mixture of 1, 2, and 3, using each whenever possible, but not really shooting for any specific style. The Party is simply trying to remain efficient and adapt when needed.
5) Blast Randomly: This is a bad idea, and will fail. Usually happens with terrible tactical thinking. Do not do.
The following courtesy of Armisael: 1) Pincer Formation: A classic. Surround the enemy from the flanks and strike at his weak points. Most of the forces in any armed group are at the front, with the more fragile elements standing in the middle, protected in front by Meat Shields and in the back by the Vanguard. Therefore, striking the flanks (and consequently, the weakest elements of most enemy formations) ensures the death of many foes, as well as a drop in the Morale of the survivors (this doesn't usually factor into D&D, but it's still something to remember if your DM is permissive and lets you try a good Intimidate check).
2) Bottleneck Battle: Let only a few enemies come to you, and you'll be able to hold the line almost indefinitely. You should be constantly helping your Defenders find bottlenecks, and rally everyone to them.
3) Attack from Below: Not nearly as common as the other two (but quite possibly even more effective), strike the enemy from the only place they won't expect an attack to come from: The ground they stand on! This may take time to set up, but if you can hit and run, this is quite possibly the best ambush conceivable. Remember though, if an enemy can dig, this is not a good idea.
This Strategy is based off of two different Builds that complement each other very well (unlike the cartoon it's named for, actually). Now first we have Pinky: this Build is generally a Fighter with a Two-Handed Weapon, who is also trying to get the best Defenses and Survivability he can. A Dwarf with Plate Armor and a Mordenkrad or Executioner's Axe is a good example of this. He can Second Wind as a Minor Action, he deals decent damage, and he Aggros. With his Marking ability and the tendency to make a nuisance of himself, Pinky should be a high-priority target for most enemies.
Unfortunately for your enemies, Pinky is simply the tool of a greater power: Brain. Brain is a Taclord of whatever kind of Build you would like, as long as you focus heavily on Intelligence and take Commander's Strike. With Commander's Strike, Brain tells Pinky what to do, and Pinky does it, but he does it better. This is an incredibly effective Build combo, as Pinky can use his Powers to lay waste to the enemy, is great with OAs, and then Brain has him add in an extra attack each turn, as well. Add onto this the other good Taclord Powers available to Brain, and these two make a very potent team.
I reckon P&tB needs an explanation of Warlords Favour and how to take best advantage of it.
I'm now going to dispute virtually everything you wrote 1) You want someone with at least 18 Str (or 18Int Intelligent Swordmage ..maybe there's be a dex one sometime) to play Pinky: using Commanders strike when the warlord has +2 to hit more than the guy he uses it on can be rather frustrating. Toughness is less important as things die quickly once you are swinging at +5 or more to hit from Warlord's Favour.
2) Fighting is fun You also tend to meet a lot of people with whom you have irreconcilable differences and rarely have the luxury of knowing who they are or where to find them before they attack you.
3) Deception is unreliable If you are keeping your plans simple then you aren't using a lot of deception.
4) Prolonged battle is not the same as prolonged warfare Slowing down a fight can be extremely effective if you do it in the right fashion (usually by walling off one portion of the battle for later).
5) You can't ready outside of combat: that sort of thing is covered by the surprise round and initiative rolls: if you roll low initiative then you weren't quite as ready as you thought you were.
6) Everyone should take some damage. That fighter may have twice as many surges as you and they may be worth 150% of the HP yours are but you still have surges and HP and are unlikely to fall to a couple of attacks ...OTOH it's much more efficient for the defender to be getting most of the in-combat healing so don't get carried away.
My primary axiom for all combat is to concentrate fire. You'd think this would apply all the more strongly in a game where enemies don't get weaker as you damage them ..but 4E has some interesting exceptions Defenders A Defender's job is to get int eh face of as many enemies as possible and make them target his copious HP&Surges so the team can
Strikers should concentrate fire This is all the more true with a number of monsters that get nastier once they are bloodied. Sometimes you can be confident that a foe will drop to another team member and launch your high damage attack at another target but in general you want all strikers ont eh same target and preferably someone being hit by other party members too.
Strategies: Going into battle without a plan is something only fools do, and few live to tell the tale of their idiocy. Study this plans, for they can be the key to victory:
A) Pincer formation: A classic. Surround the enemy from the flanks and strike his weak points. Most of the forces in any armed group are at the front, with the more fragile elements standing in the middle, protected in front by meat shields and in the back by a smaller force. Therefore, striking the flanks (and consequently, the most frail elements of an army) ensures the death of many foes and a drop in the morale of the survivors (this doesn't factor into D&D, but it's still something to remember if your DM is permissive and lets you try a good intimidate check).
B) Bottleneck Battle: Let only a few enemies come to you, and you'll be able to hold the line almost indefinitely. You should be constantly helping your defenders find bottlenecks, and rally everyone to them.
C) Attack from below: Not nearly as common as the other two, but quite possibly even more effective, strike the enemy from the only place they won't expect an attack from: The ground they stand on! Takes time to set up, but if you can hit and run, this is quite possibly the best ambush you have. Remember though, if an enemy can dig, this is not a good idea.
@Timlagor: "Pinky and the Brain" was based off of a two-man team consisting of an Eladrin Taclord with a Glaive and a Dwarven Fighter with a Mordenkrad. It worked exceedingly well, and so I posted it here (as it seemed like a very obvious thing to do).
Fighting is deadly. Some people deserve to die, or you really want them to, so you kill them; however, you get experience regardless, as long as the Encounter ends with you still alive (usually). Not only that, but no one got hurt, you gained experience, and you're halfway to a Milestone. People don't talk about the Intimidator for no reason: getting your enemies to Bloodied and then making them surrender give you full experience, full monetary gain, and you spend less resources trying to finish that guy with a hundred hit points and 40 AC off.
Maybe you play too much hack-and-slash? I know a lot of fights are Random Encounter, They Jump Out of the Woods and Attack type stuff, but if you have more options, you have a better chance of winning. Being able to Bluff your way past the Brigands, or at the very LEAST, pulling the old "Right behind you!" gag can easily get you a free attack or two. Using Spells to distract or confuse enemies can get you a Surprise Round, and sometimes it can even kill them.
Your example is a maneuver (and a good one, at that) that makes a Battle easier, as it essentially makes one Hard Battle into two Average to Easy Battles. An Extended Battle consists of hitting the Solo with your At-Wills for seven turns running, while it beats on your face and your Healers run out of ways to keep you alive. This is stupid. Do not do this. Find ways to avoid it, or, if you have no other real options here (which means you are in a bad position to start with, anyway), at least make sure you will hit with your Dailies. This Basic Strategy can make a Nightmare Battle not as deadly as it would otherwise be.
I believe what you are saying is, "Everyone should take some damage." This is very, very true. You never want any one character to take more than 60% of all damage dealt in an Encounter. A good Balance is always good for the entire Party.
Also, your last points are also very correct, and I will certainly add them into the TOC. Thanks for your input!
Ahh well that intimidation exploit happens after a bunch of fighting.. but most GMs I know wouldn't let you exploit it very much anyway. Diplomacy has a much higher incidence of being expensive (though occasionally it's a good course).
"behind you!" is modelled by using bluff as a standard action to gain a stealth opportunity for one round.. not multiple free attacks.
You can walk round a corner in a battle ..and indeed it says "as soon as the troll walks out from behind the cormer" and is in a section called "ACTIONS IN COMBAT". Allowing readying outside of combat really really doesn't work as a mechanic. If the enemy isn't aware of you then you get a surprise round. If they are then they can ready just as easily and it's a mess.
The axiom about prolonged warfare doesn't apply -the reasons for it in The Art of War do not apply to individual combats (and we all know that PCs do benefit from prolonged campaigns! ) ..and actually plenty of nations have benefitted from prolonged warfare (for certain definitions of "benefit") but that's OT. You cite one particular way that fights can be prolonged.. and the one that generally the PCs have little/no control over.
Better to stick to "know when to fight and when not to fight": the PCs might prevail with their At-Wills and might indeed be best advised to "suck it up" depending on the circumstances but running away/withdrawing might also be a feasible and good option (if only for a short rest or two).
) ..and actually plenty of nations have benefitted from prolonged warfare (for certain definitions of "benefit") but that's OT.
