Flashers

written by: Shooter

the plans, stats, and all information in this article is from the former Manager "Shooter" (now known as "Suspended"). He has not played WEBL in a year+ (due to his suspension) so he doesn't know the latest tweaks, etc. WEBL University & it's overseers are not responsible for this document's contents. Use this information at your own risk, however he will be happy to revise this information if suggestions that he considers valid are presented. E-mail comments, flame, etc to slick_customer@hotmail.com



Flashers are one of the most feared fighter types in heavyweights, and the most hated. Although WEBL rules have been changed several times trying to rid the divisions of flashers they keep finding ways to survive. A flasher is a fighter with high STR/KP, and extremely low conditioning. I used to get by with 3-conditioning, but 4-5 is a better starting stat.****Editors Note**** 4-5 conditioning is too low, it should be 6-8 in the current rules



In this tutorial I will simulate a flasher moving through regionals in the division they have always struck fear in, heavyweights (even though they have won of WT's in other division's also). Note I am using a pure flasher and not moving into the conditioned flasher (Affordable, Reg Dwight, Who's Dover?, etc realm)



We will start off with a 6'9 flasher (my best flasher experience with a pure flasher was with a 6'9er, and they seem to be just right)



Stats: 15,8,8,1,21,4,9,4*(should be 6-8)* vh (stats will always be in str,spd,chn,cut,hgt,kp,agl,con,build order). Let's examine my choices.

STR (15) = Good solid choice. Could have went lower but 15 is the perfect #. Any higher and we would sacrifice spd & agl & chn.

SPD (8) = Not bad, although some people swear spd = (2/3)str. You could go higher, but you would have to knock off str or hgt some.

CHN (8)= Ah, this could be risky. If we fight a 270-pound fighter we get +{ ((300-270)/300)*10=1 } so +1 str and +1 chin. But if we need a chin point in our first fight we can float it.

CUT (1) = No need to worry about this

HGT (21) = Some people insist 7'0 goliaths are the best, and they work fine. But you only get a meager +spd & agl bonus, and flashers need more str/chin then spd/agl, so putting the aps into str/agl is better. I chose 6'9, but we could go down to 6'6 and boost str up to 18 and have a 300-pounder (but KP would not be maxed with a floating point)

KP (4) = We saved this for a floating point. KP should always be maxed

AGL (9) = nothing wrong with 9, in fact lower could be used. 8 is a good number also, but again it's a personal preference.

CON (4)*(should be 6-8)* = Yuck. With 4*(should be 6-8)* con we have to win in round one. 6 is a good number because you will not lose all endurance in one round, but you can train that up later on.

Build (vh) = Build is very heavy to keep us near 300-pounds. When we train agility in the future we will lose alot of weight (just add 2 agility points to him and nothing else, we dropped to under 300 pounds!). You always want to 300+ pounds to make sure you get the full benefits of being a flasher.





First fight

The first fight is the hardest to scout, since you can only see the height and weight of your opponent. Whenever I fought a fighter over 306 pounds who had not had a fight before I always ran the first two rounds, then checked his endurance. If he was faltering I would add some power and KO or TKO him. If he wasn't I would just start fighting and try and collect a win. Maybe it was a bad idea but I beat several flashers that way.

Let's pick a real heavyweight to use as our example. We'll use Gary "Big Daddy" Hunter (a 6'6 287-pound heavyweight that is 0-0-0 currently) as our example.



Now we need to know what this fighter is going to do, because it all hangs on whether we win or lose. Remember we have 4-conditioning, so we have to choose the right style. We have two options open; (allout) or (inside). We can mold these to fit, say 4h/9!/7 (allout) vs a short clincher but 6h/12!/2 (allout) vs a sissy with little strength.



Because this fighter is 287-pounds we get a .43 boost in str & chn. Ugh, we get very little help. By checking out the gym we find his manager had a 4-3 record, so he's a newbie. He also uses the premade fight plans. Now we can check allout off of our list to use, but what do we train, etc. I say by a quick look our opponent is probably 12 str, 8 agl, 9-10 chn. We don't need to know anything else except his KP, which I'm betting is 0. Now this fighter could be a flasher (12,10,11,1,18,4,8,6,vh) so let's sim it both ways. We'll use this fp:

4h/9!/7 (inside)

if round >1 and opponent =2 then towel

if round >1 and opponent =1 then 1/1/6 (clinch)

if round >6 then 5h/10!/5 (inside)



This fp covers our backside. Say round one passes by without a KO or TKO. While our conditioning stinks, if we manage to say on our feet until round 7 then we KO him. We could do into more detail but there is no real need for it.



Let's sim the fight with our opponent using 4h/9/7 (inside) for the flasher and 4h/8/8 (clinch) for the no Kp one.



We win both times. We could have gone 5h/9!/6 but I think 4h/9!/7 was enough, and we do not want to open up to much(oh yes we trained chin both times).



Now let's assume we go 6-fights and are now 6-0-0 (6 KO's, if you don't have all KO/TKO/DQ wins then you must have trained CON to win by decision). Our training got us up to 11-chin, 17 str, 9 spd, 5 kp. Now we get someone who is a little more complicated to fight for a flasher, a 7'1 sissy with a bit of str & kp. Let's use Rudiger Trabant as an example. He started out at 7'1 247-pounds. Now he is 246-pounds, but has dipped below the 237-pound mark. So he has some str, let's give him 3, and 1 kp. The reason I say 3-str is because RoadKill likes to use abnormal builds for his fighters (usually a little heavy). People are less likely to allout a 247-pound sissy then a 233-pound sissy, and you can get some benefits over lower weight fighters (say a 233-pound sissy). Let's give RK's fighter a 4,12,9,1,25,1,14,16. Yes this is more aps then he can have (I'm talking about where he is when I'm typing this up, at r/s of 6) but that's how I do it. When I fought Zutt for the world title in heavyweights both times I gave him 120 aps even though I knew the cap for aps was 110 (+1 for training during wt fight) but that did not stop me for boosting his chin to abnormal levels. The more aps you give your opponent the more ways you have to make your fp more bullet proof.



Let's sim this fight. We obviously will be using allout, but what wil RK do? Either 4h/8!/8 (ring) or 3h/5/12 (ring). You ask where 1/1/18 (ring) is? Well it's a possibility, and probably would be used, but most people use something like this.

1/1/18 (ring)

if round >3 then 4h/8/8 (ring)

heck let's throw it in as well . Let's sim all 5 variants with us using this fp (and training str)



5H/11!/4 (allout)

if round >1 then 1/1/5 (clinch)

if round >1 and endurance_percent <37 then towel

if round >3 and hisstuns >mystuns then 5h/10!/5 (inside)

6)5h/11!/4 (allout)

7)1/1/5 (clinch)

if round >10 and score > (13-round) then 1/1/11

12)if round >1 and endurance_percent <37 and score <1 then towel





We won against him fighting back, but lost to his 1/1/18. The reason is because we trained chin up early in our career incase we needed allout, and left STR/KP & spd in the dust. Even 6h/13!/1 (allout) couldn't KO his 1/1/18. So we took a loss, most flashers do early in their careers. There are exceptions, such as Basher Bombastic, Affordable, and several others. Lord Bremen has had several regional title winner flashers that were unbeaten I think.





Okay, on to r/s of 10. We'll have 83 aps now, and hopefully they look something like this. 21,10,11,1,21,6,9,4*(should be 6-8)*. We could have trained up chin more, but I'd reserve that for a little higher r/s (say 12). We float KP and hopefully get to something like this after r/s of 12 (86 aps). 21,10,12,1,21,7,10,4*(should be 6-8)*. Now what do we need? Well 4-conditioning is nice but we maybe need 5 someday to avoid being TKOed in the first round. So we can boost that to 5 and start lessening the penalties for having such low conditioning, or just boost our str/kp higher.



We need to train chin to 14-15 level, primarily because we want to turn into an offensive flasher (the defenition for a flasher who uses allout against everyone, whether they change their fp or not (but we will always check and see if we can win with inside so we don't use allout against a fighter with lots of KP)).

24,12,14,1,21,8,11,5*(should be 6-8)* is where we want to go towards, more or less. When you hit r/s or 20 if you look like this then you are on your way.



Now let's say you manage right and play your cards perfectly (manage to scout your opponents str/kp/agl/chn to almost exact #'s and then pinpoint from there what he is most likely to do, given your style against other fighters of similar look) . You get to R/S of 28/28 and you look like this. 30,14,17,1,21,10,12,5*(should be 6-8)*. You need one win to fight the Bobbleheads for the Heavyweight WT they've won for 40-straight weeks (j/k). Unfortunately you draw a fighter like Future Considerations (only it's not him because he is #2 in the world with a win streak of 40 fights waiting for the #1 Bobblehead fighter to retire so Considerations can win the wt).



Your opponent Sten och Stanley is fierce and very frightening. 6'8, 250, and like most heavyweights loaded with KP. He looks like a 19,16,11,2,20,6,19,17,normal. You don't know what to do. You float a point of str and go inside (6h/11!/3). He backpedals when the fight starts and you begin to cry, thinking he went 1/1/18. You scroll down and notice he's fighting back! You KO him because he used 3h/5!/12 (ring), underestimating your massive str/kp combo, thinking you had more conditioning. Sim the fight with him using 4h/8!/8 (ring). Only 1/1/18 (ring) would have saved him, but rarely do KP fighters do that because they fear allout attacks.



Flashers in training

Flashers need to be precisely trained. You can go for total offense (take our R/S 28 above). We could have just added str & kp and left chin at 11-13. But you would be vulnerable to 4h/8!/8 and even 3h/6!/11 counters when you were allouting or just insiding against a KP fighter. Few flashers make it to 25+ r/s levels, and even fewer get to fight for wt's. It takes not just guessing as flashers fighting flashers is called (coin flip; heads 4h/8!/8, tails 1/1/18). You can just pick a style and a 1-line fp, but that will not always work.



Also, floating points are great, but you must think ahead. If you think about just getting this victory you could set yourself up for a fall later on, just like with any other fighter type. A good method to follow was this:

if chin >11 and r/s <10 then train str & kp and for every level (every 4-7 aps) add +1 spd

if chin >15 then no more chin until needed and then float a point

if r/s >20 then agl >10

con <6 always*(should be 6-8)*

str + kp = spd+agl*1.5

The last may seem confusing, but for some reason it seemed to work. As status climbs chin loses it's worthfulness, after about 16-17 chin you should focus on agility as a damage reducer. Remember flashers are no efficient, they are prowlers. Whatever gets them a first round KO win is the best way to go.



The lower division flasher:

Lower weight division flashers have more trouble with people, but the upside is they almost always win their first fight.

Our example will be a 5'7 flasher. He starts out at 20,9,12,1,7,6,11,4*(should be 6-8)*,vl. He will be a super-welter to middle (you might prefer middle, i don't know)

Let's examine these choices, shall we?



STR (20) = Solid choice. More = better, but we need it in other stats. 20 seems to be the best #.

SPD (9) = Low number, but again we sacrifice effectiveness if we pull from other stats.

CHIN (12) = Now this could be lower, say 10. But flashers in lower divisions need more chin then heavyweight flashers. 12 is my personal preference for starting flashers.

CUT (1)= no brainer choice here:) fights cannot be lost by cuts in round 1 & we only need 1 round:)

HGT (7)=this doesn't really matter but <welter division flashers have terrible trouble

KP (6) = maximum we can have currently.

AGL (11) = again we can lower this but we want to win by KO, not lose by them. We could drop to 9 and have str/kp at 21/7 but I chose 11.

CON (4)*(should be 6-8)* = This should go up to 6 asap.

Build (vl) = this is just a division movement. Say we draw Bobblehead in our first fight. He will not suspect us of being a flasher and BAM, we got him:) Build doesn't matter in lower divisions because there are no weight advantages so it doesn't matter what division you are in. VL means you might get a hgt advantage, but a str disadvantage. So who knows?



Where do we want to head with this fighter?

Well str/kp should hit 30/10 by r/s of 15 if not sooner. Chin should hit 18, and spd 14, and con 6. AGL should not be ignored though, get it to 14+. AGL is a key to a non-heavyweight flasher's success at higher levels. More AGL = less overall damage taken = less stun damage taken = lower defense used = higher power used = more stun damage dealt = more wins.



Say we take our flasher and manage him successfully to r/s of 28. In reality he would be plagued by random aps (they always seem to fall in conditioning on flashers, that's what got me thinking about conditioned flashers). But in our dreams he would be a 36,15,18,1,7,11,16,6,vl (float KP each fight). This sounds kind of ridiculous, but he would be a feared super-welter.



The key to managing lower-weight flashers is to keep them unpredictable. Some managers use the same basic fp every time (slug first round, rest next two, slug next round, etc). Good managers pick up on that and quickly rid the way by going 1/1/18 (ring) in the first, 5b/10/5 (allout) in rounds 2 & 3, and then in round 4 just pacing with the flasher and Koing him. If you can win and keep the same looking fp though you can beat some great managers. For example let's say for 15 weeks straight you win KO, 14 in the 1st & 1 in the 2nd because your opponent lowered his defense. You always use allout, sometimes you use 7h/10!/3 and other times 4h/9!/7 but always looks the same. Now you fight say African Monk. He'll look at your last 15 fights and see you used allout (and looks like the same allout as the one that went to round 2). So he will hook up a counter plan, because you've KOed sissies in round 1. You come out with 6H/11!/3 (inside) and you should knock his socks off, because you maintained a pretense of predictability but were really just waiting to use that to your advantage. But it if is between winning and maintaining a false pretense, win.



Some managers insist that flashers are not fun to manage, but for people who just want to mess around or are short on time they can be a real joy, especially when setting records like longest undefeated streak for a flasher to start a career. I'm not sure what it is now, but when I set it at 15-0-0 I was very happy. Of course 10 weeks later my mentor Rife set it one higher at 16-0-0.



Now what about fp's? Well flashers are easy to manage here. Scouting your opponent when you are a flasher is easier and less time consuming. Check and see if he has kp (get's ko's when opponent is not wore down very much). A few early KO's is now indicator, but if he does it relatively often or gets lots of stuns & KD's then I'd lay some money on KP. See if he has chin, basically can he stand up against fighters that seem to have KP. A good indicator of high chin is if he has faced a flasher before, didn't run with >14 def, and wasn't stunned by an allout attack, or wasn't stunned by an inside (or allout) attack when he used 10 or lower def. Now try and locate his strength. You only need to know his str,kp,&chin. Knowing his agility helps, but is not exactly necessary. Now see what he (or his gym) likes to do against flashers if they have faced any, or just try and guess. If he has no KP then allout is the answer (unless he has massive strength).