Hi mates,

I will like to ask the more experienced players some tips for playing a Shiba Bushi Duelist, my first character in HoR4. A school that I haven't played before, I mostly played Shugenja or GM

First, I will like to ask to those who have played one before for some gaming tips that are useful for that School.

Also I will like to take the the Jade Legionnaire Path. Is this a good path for the Shiba Bushi?

Thanks in advance.

The school is great for dueling.

Use the hell out of the x2 void use ability.

Be warned that the school suffer for lack of 2 attack till rank 4.

And some of the ranks require a shugenja to work.

The rank 5 ability is also the only one i know in the game that can bypass the katana one void rule per the designers.

So overall it's a great school

as for the Jade Legionnaire Path, it is more designed for shugenja then samurai.

the emerald legion would be more in line with a bushi.

That said I'm Not a fan of the gem paths, I feel they grant weak substitutes for the powers they replace.

39 minutes ago, tenchi2a said:

as for the Jade Legionnaire Path, it is more designed for shugenja then samurai.

the emerald legion would be more in line with a bushi.

You're thinking of the Jade Magistrate, not the Jade Legionnaire.

If you're planning to play an high honor character the extra bonus and attack and damage can help you.

1) Find yourself an Ishiken and become best buddies. The more he or she can boost your void use the better you are.

2) Seriously, find yourself an Ishiken. I can't emphasize this enough.

3) Using Void on attack rolls is the worst use of Void in the game. Spending on armor TN is the best. If you absolutely must boost your attack rolls then go Full Attack instead and boost your armor TN. A squishy shugenja or a samurai in full attack is a tempting target, but if you guard them you tend to draw the agg; if you spend Void to boost your ATN you basically allow them to wreck havoc on the enemy while someone who can handle the damage soaks it. Invest in full armor and have fun.

4) Don't over-invest in Iaijutsu. Dueling doesn't come up in HoR nearly as often as people expect it to (at least using campaigns 2 and 3 as reference). It's far, far better to invest in Void to power your Rank 1 and 5 Techniques, then use your powerful Focus roll and Void use abilities to win the duels that do come up, plus get a lot of non-dueling benefit as well.

5) Seriously, don't over-invest in iaijutsu. Rank 3 so you can draw in a skirmish for free is the most I would do. Rank 5 if you really must but I discourage it.

6) Jade Legionnaire is a nice, versatile technique but it's gonna be hard to max out honor in HoR 4 rules. If you've found your Ishiken best buddy (you have, haven't you? That's kind of important) you really want your rank 2 ability so he or she can cast spells on you with max Raises. JL isn't a bad choice, but it's not going to be nearly as effective as spell manipulation. Keep in mind that this even effects spells that buff the entire party so long as you're one of the targets, to say nothing of offensive spells that target the entire party.

Thanks suburbaknght. That's what I was looking for.

Funny that you mention sushi. Our group is composed of a Kitsuki Investigator, an Ishi and me. There's another player that haven't decided between a Matsu Berserker or a Toku Bushi...

2 hours ago, BitRunr said:

You're thinking of the Jade Magistrate, not the Jade Legionnaire.

You are right forgot there was a differents.

2 hours ago, suburbaknght said:

1) Find yourself an Ishiken and become best buddies. The more he or she can boost your void use the better you are.

yep

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2) Seriously, find yourself an Ishiken. I can't emphasize this enough.

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3) Using Void on attack rolls is the worst use of Void in the game. Spending on armor TN is the best. If you absolutely must boost your attack rolls then go Full Attack instead and boost your armor TN. A squishy shugenja or a samurai in full attack is a tempting target, but if you guard them you tend to draw the agg; if you spend Void to boost your ATN you basically allow them to wreck havoc on the enemy while someone who can handle the damage soaks it. Invest in full armor and have fun.

2k2 is nothing to turn your nose up to.

and I was talking more about the ranks 5 ability to get 2k2 on damage rolls with a katana.

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5) Seriously, don't over-invest in iaijutsu. Rank 3 so you can draw in a skirmish for free is the most I would do. Rank 5 if you really must but I discourage it.

I would agree.

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6) Jade Legionnaire is a nice, versatile technique but it's gonna be hard to max out honor in HoR 4 rules. If you've found your Ishiken best buddy (you have, haven't you? That's kind of important) you really want your rank 2 ability so he or she can cast spells on you with max Raises. JL isn't a bad choice, but it's not going to be nearly as effective as spell manipulation. Keep in mind that this even effects spells that buff the entire party so long as you're one of the targets, to say nothing of offensive spells that target the entire party.

If you really want a path, I would wait till you hit rank 3 and and get and take the Shiba yojimbo.

The ability to redirect damage then reduce it by 20 (40 at rank 5) is great for keeping the shugenja or an impotent NPC alive. and its one of the few Paths to me that gives enough to make up for the loss.

+ it's not dependent on the stats of the enemy.

Hey everyone,

Before I give my few zeni to this post, I want to introduce myself.

Actually Im a big fan of L5R-RPG, but never had a big chance to play it much, beside a few Skype-Games some years ago.

…The L5R community in Germany doesn’t seem very big.

Since than I read occasional on the Forums (former AEG) and now here, to feed my thirst.

From time to time I create new characters and since Im a big fan of mechanics, this is right now my only pleasure I get from the game.

So to state this, Im may not so familiar, what really works in game, but I believe I have a quite good understanding of a narrow part of mechanics.

I hope this helps, to accept some of my arguments, also if I believe they will not make every Shiba player happy:

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3) Using Void on attack rolls is the worst use of Void in the game. Spending on armor TN is the best. If you absolutely must boost your attack rolls then go Full Attack instead and boost your armor TN. A squishy shugenja or a samurai in full attack is a tempting target, but if you guard them you tend to draw the agg; if you spend Void to boost your ATN you basically allow them to wreck havoc on the enemy while someone who can handle the damage soaks it. Invest in full armor and have fun.

2k2 is nothing to turn your nose up to.

and I was talking more about the ranks 5 ability to get 2k2 on damage rolls with a katana.

I don’t have my book on hand, but it stands, that there is never a possibility to spent 2 Void points on the Katana damage roll.

The rank 5 of Shiba-Bushi let you spend 1 and get the effect of spending 2. Since its not possible to spend 2 you also don’t get the effect.

I know here were controvers answers made from the producers…, but the answer was never that clear on the special case and seamed more like an quick answer without rereading all the relevant aspects (you can find this kind of (I call it “defending”) a lit in the new SR5).

How I read it, you can only increase your damage with a Voidpoint on a Katana, if you have have Paragon of (I guess it was Duty), since it gives you 2k2 instead of 1k1.

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The ability to redirect damage then reduce it by 20 (40 at rank 5) is great for keeping the shugenja or an impotent NPC alive. and its one of the few Paths to me that gives enough to make up for the loss.

Reducing it by 40 at rank 5 is correct. But before you can only reduce it by 10, also as Shiba-Bushi.

The rank 1 technique lets you only spend two times 1k1. The ability to spend 2 Voidpoints on all emphases comes only with rank 5 into Play.

14 hours ago, FelixPhoenix said:

Thanks suburbaknght. That's what I was looking for.

Funny that you mention sushi. Our group is composed of a Kitsuki Investigator, an Ishi and me. There's another player that haven't decided between a Matsu Berserker or a Toku Bushi...

Happy to help!

That's a pretty good group and remarkably similar to my main group (two Toku, a Shiba, an Ishiken, and a Kitsuki, plus a Kakita duelist, a Kakita Artisan, and a Sohi magistrate - we cycle through eating the mods and usually one person can't make it so it works out).

Personally I'd recommend the Toku over the Matsu but that's also because I'm playing a Toku this campaign. It's arguably the most powerful school in the game right now (not the reason I'm playing it) but is certainly the best generalist school in the game. Matsu are really good at combat and maybe Athletics; Toku can be pretty decent at everything and for a campaign that embraces a variety of types of challenges (which you don't know about when playing) it's one of the best options to get involved. That said, Shiba Bushi is a very close second since your Rank 1 and 5 techniques are not just limited to combat. Plus we're getting a pretty sizable minor clan community and quite a few Monkey so there's good people to play with.

Have you played any mods yet?

The Toku Bushi is a Force to be reckoned. Very solid party. Very flexible and adaptable. Wish you good luck.

Thanks guys!

My friend chose Toku Bushi over Matsu Berserker, look for him in the HoR4 Forums he will going under the name of Toku Mitsuo. The Monkey clan is my favorite clan after Phoenix. I just love the positive attitude and jovial demeanor. I would love to create an alliance between these two Clans if given the opportunity.

Oops sorry I forgot, we haven't played yet. We're just giving the finishing touches to our characters and will start playing by the end of the week.