Top Fighting Arts in the Game (Patreon)

Given that Gencon released pictures of the new, updated Sculpture Innovation, we're now in a position where we can somewhat manipulate what Fighting Arts our survivors get.  Well at the least we can choose a Fighting Art to sculpt an image of and then share out amongst the rest of the survivors.

So the question is, what Fighting Arts are the best in the game? Which ones would you most like to give out to survivors over and over because they give the most benefits?

Here's a list of my top Fighting Arts, the ones I like to have on as many survivors as possible:

• Abyssal Sadist - Manhunter Expansion

The first time you wound the monster each attack your survivor gains +1 Survival and +1 Insanity. You're given this fighting art during the event where the Manhunter turns up.    This has a huge amount of practical applications, including uses with Survival actions (especially Surge) and Blood Paint.  In addition, because you're given this one in every single campaign where the Manhunter turns up, you have that added benefit that (as long as the survivor lives through the L1 Manhunter fight) you can easily get access to this, keep it safe and sculpt it.

 

• Carapace of Will - Dung Beetle Knight

Gain a Steadfast Token for not moving in a turn. Spend 2 Steadfast Tokens to ignore a hit.

This one is a lower priority because you can get it by endeavouring at the Round Stone Training Innovation, but it is still a very powerful Fighting Art that should not be overlooked.  Ignoring hits is one of the most potent abilities in the game, especially when you can use it after Evasion, Block, Deflect and Ripple Pattern have all had a chance to trigger.  

This is not one to Sculpt most of the time, but it is one to try and get on your defensive/static survivors.

• Heroic - Lion God

Once per showdown, if you are standing adjacent to the monster with 3+ survival, you may spend all your survival to inflict an automatic hit that causes a critical wound.

A built in range 1 Founding Stone? Yes please!

The cost to activate this is high, but you can build settlements and gear grids that are very good at ensuring that survivors have a lot of survival available.  4 survivors with built in founding stones is going to make a lot of fights significantly easier.  Especially when combined with Hit Location manipulation such as the Wisdom Potion (Gorm).

• Monster Claw Style - Core

Fist and Tooth attacks gain +1 Accuracy, +1 Strength and Savage.

FaT is a super important Weapon Proficiency to complete and Monster Claw Style gives you a boost in getting closer to doing it by patching two of the weaknesses of FaT attacks - accuracy and strength.  

Combined with Acid Palms, which can be gained via various means, or the Cult Speaker Knife (White Speaker Boxed Set) you can build a survivor who isn't just training up FaT; they're decimating monsters with it.  

Also, maxing out FaT Weapon Proficiency is amazing on any survivor because the bonuses work with any weapon type.  So this Fighting Art is useful all game.

This Fighting Art can be gained via the Bone Witch event, but we all spend so much time avoiding that event at the moment - so we'll have to see what it's like in 1.5 before judging how viable sculpting Monster Claw Style is.

• Extra Sense - Core Game

You may dodge an additional time per round.

Extra Dodges are always welcome. This one combines well with Abyssal Sadist and Thrill Seeker because they refuel your Survival.  

• Otherworldly Luck - Flower Knight

During the Hunt and Settlement Phase, you may add +1 to any roll result on a table.

There are some really nasty things that happen when you roll low on tables in the Settlement and Hunt Phases.  They're the phases where most survivors suffer random deaths or get beat up so much that they have no chance in the showdown phase.  

Otherworldly Luck smoothes all this out.  No more 'both parents' dying when making babies, better chances at getting Propulsion Drive from Round Stone Training.  Better Chances at getting the Apostle Crown when hunting the Sunstalker and so on.

It's a really, boring thing to Sculpt in itself, but having bonuses on the tables in the game will give you a huge amount of fun benefits.

• Propulsion Drive - Dung Beetle Knight

Gain +1 Momentum Token for moving each turn.  When you attack Spend  5+ Momentum Tokens to gain 1D10 Strength and Luck for the first hit location you attempt to wound.

+1D10 Luck?  Sign me up!  In the longer, nastier fights this ability on a survivor who moves around a lot (which is most DPS survivors) gives you a very high chance of scoring a vial critical hit

Again, just like Carapace of Will, this one can be picked up from the Round Stone Training Endeavor, so it's not so important to Sculpt it.  But you should now realise how good the Round Stone Training is.

• Strategist - Core Game

During the Showdown you may place a Giant Stone Face or Toppled Pillar terrain card on the board.

You can get this one via the 'Protect the Young' principle, which is absolutely amazing.  It's one of the best Fighting Arts for a ranged character due to the extra range and accuracy (and protection) the Giant Stone Face gives.  

Being able to Sculpt it means that you'll always have access to this Fighting Art for your bow based hunter(s).

• Tenacious - Lion Knight

Once per round, when you fail to wound a hit location, you may put it back on top of the deck.

This one is a subtle one, but putting back a beneficial Persistent Injury or resource crit location is a huge thing to do.  This is the kind of thing you'd have on one of your DPS characters, so they can drop the location back on top of the deck for the other DPS character to take a crack at.  It's very similar to the Dagger Weapon Proficiency in some ways, but you're not tied to using a weapon type that is rather poor at the moment.

• Thrill Seeker - Core Game

Whenever you gain Survival in the Showdown Phase, gain one additional Survival.

There's no surefire way to get this Fighting Art, but it's an absolutely amazing one when combined with certain gear cards and armor sets (Rawhide in particular).  

More survival gains = more survival actions = more survivors staying alive

• Timeless Eye - Core Game

Get Perfect Hits on a 9 or 10 when attacking.

There are so many weapons that trigger on Perfect Hits, currently this is the only way to increase that Perfect Hit range.  So having it sculpted into your settlement would allow you to really focus on items like the Counterweight Axe, Acid-Tooth Daggers, Skull Hammer, Riot Mace and similar.  

If anything this is the Fighting Art I would most like to Sculpt as it's very interesting and can change the way you play.  However there is currently no way to guarantee getting it.

• Tough - Core Game

+1 to severe injury rolls (not brain trauma), maximum roll is 10

This one just keeps you alive longer by reducing all of the harmful severe injury results by 10%.  It's not fancy, but it is very powerful.

• Unbreakable - Dragon King

Once per Lantern Year you can ignore a severe injury result. You gain a disorder instead.

Like Tough above, Unbreakable gives you more durability.  In this case you can choose if you're taking the relevant injury or not.  It's like a built in Dried Acanthus (you choose when to activate Dried Acanthus, that's been confirmed by Poots) and that's super powerful.

This has some issues with the Accept Darkness Principle (because lots of Disorders can result in you dying from brain trauma), but it also means that you can build survivors who, as long as they don't take too much Brain Trauma, are really durable.

In a People of the Stars Campaign, you can easily gain Unbreakable (if you know how), so stacking it with Tough is very simple and ridiculously effective!

• Unconscious Fighter - Core Game

It takes 7 Bleeding Tokens to kill you

Like the two above it, this ability gives you more durability, in this case vs. monsters who like to inflict Bleeding Tokens on you.  Of particular note is the Sunstalker, who has a special trigger that will work for you if you are at 5 Bleeding Tokens and not dead.

You can gain Unconscious Fighter while hunting the Sunstalker, if you plan to hunt it a lot I'd recommend considering Sculpting this fighting Art because the Secret Fighting Art that can be gained from the Black Blood status card is very good.

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So, there we are, a list of the Fighting Arts I think are the best in the game.  You'll notice most of these directly or indirectly increase your chances of staying alive or gaining extra things.  Because those are the most important parts of Kingdom Death, not losing survivors and gaining extra resources/free gear/abilities and so forth.