[Baalz]

**anti-thugs**

Anti-thugs are intended to carve up much bigger targets. Generally they’ll be targeting other thugs and SCs, but they can also be a good option for dealing with particularly tough troops like Niefel giants or Palashankas. The big difference between an anti-thug and a crowd control thug is the anti-thug is much more concerned about damage outlay than damage avoidance – the idea is to kill them quickly before they can hit you back much. Anti-thugs are seldom going to have shields, preferring to dual wield or go for the big two handed weapons. Foregoing their own buffs and flying in to smack the bad guys before they lay they can get their own buffs up is how they like to roll, but this is often complicated by wily opponents placing chaff around so some cleverness is often called for. Weaponry obviously varies a lot, but a couple weapons bear special consideration:

Demon bane, flambeau, moon blade – many of the things you’ll be targeting anti-thugs at are undead, demon or magic beings. These items lay out a lot of damage themselves, which stacks with your strength then multiplies. Its not uncommon for thugs to have strengths in the twenties (particularly if you kit them for it), it’s not hard to figure how what happens when you add a big number to that then multiply.

Duskdagger & gate cleaver – AN damage is great for taking down notoriously tough guys as not only does it ignore their armor, it also ignores their shield – punches right through it. Duskdaggers can be dual wielded, gate cleavers add a ton of their own damage, both are great in the right situations.

Axe of hate – causes an aoe fatigue effect which is a great way to bypass the rest of a SC’s strong defenses, particularly dual wielded by quickened guys.

Flesheater axe – This dirt cheap item not only delivers a large amount of damage, the chestwound it inflicts can be a death sentence for non-zero encumbrance SCs even if they kill your anti-sc. They start racking up the fatigue, and…well I already covered what happens then.

Sword of swiftness/wave breaker/stone bird – anything which gives you multiple attacks is invaluable for breaking through high defenses. Make sure you stack this with quickness and attack boosters like the ring of the warrior.

Serpent Kryss/astral serpent – often overlooked, death poison can be a great way to take down guys who aren’t poison immune if you expect your anti-thug to be on a kamikaze mission anyway. Particularly consider this if they’re using invulnerability.