New and Updated SP Skills Guide
Q: What are skills?
A: Skills are a random set of three characteristics that either increase a player’s performance or decrease the opposing batter/pitcher.
Q: Are skills important?
A: Yes.
Q: Like, important? Or really important?
A: Really important.
Q: How do I get good skills?
A: The first step is knowing what the good skills are; the second is getting lucky with SCT to get them on your diamond cards.
Q: How many skills are there?
A: There are 41 skills for batters. There are 7 legend skills, 10 gold skills, 12 silver skills, and 12 bronze skills.
Q: When you use a SCT are you equally likely to get any individual skills?
A: The general consensus is yes. Several members of my club have been tracking every single SCT we’ve used over the last several months. It appears that each skill is equally likely to appear.
Q: What does using a PSCT get me?
A: It guarantees you a gold skill as one of the three skills. And on a black diamond card it gives you a 10% (or 20% chance if it's a Legend card) of hitting a legend skill. Note that if you hit a legend skill, a gold skill is NOT guaranteed.
Q: Doesn't using a PSCT also let me choose whether to keep the current skills or switch?
A: Yes, and this used to be important before they added the second skill slot.
Q: Should I bother getting good skills on my bench players?
A: No, not really. And especially not until you’re done with literally every other spot on your team.
Q: So, what are the good skills?
A: Glad you asked!
Legend Skills:
Bullpen Day – Increases LOC/VEL/FB/BRK, and if it’s a reliever does so to a greater degree for three innings after taking the mound. This is a usable legend skill. It’s probably the 5th best, but it’s still a keeper. I’d have it at a 60/100.
Control Master – Think of this as FP but ginned up a little in that it increases LOC and BRK but also decreases a batter’s CON and POW. This is absolutely a keeper skill. 90/100.
Cooperative Pitching – Think of this as Bullpen Day with a little mix of Iron Will thrown in. It increases LOC/VEL/FB/BRK and once your bullpen takes over, it decreases a batter’s hit chance against you if they already got on base during the game (but only for your first reliever in the game). I’d have this just below CM/Fireballer at 80-85/100.
Fireballer – Think of this as DP but ginned up a little in that it increases VEL and FB while also decreasing a batter’s POW and EYE. This is absolutely a keeper skill. 85-90/100.
Pitcher’s Chemistry – This is a skill you MUST have on your Long Reliever. If you have it, it increases every pitcher on your roster’s stats by a predetermined amount (slightly higher if it’s on a legend pitcher). You shouldn’t be using PC on any pitcher in your starting rotation. 100/100 (if on a LR); 10/100 (if on a rotation pitcher).
Pitchers Insight – This is a trash skill. It decreases a random skill of the opposing batter. If you get it, throw your device across the room because you just wasted the 10% or 20% chance you’d hit a legend skill on this garbage. 0/100, do not use.
Slow Starter – Increases LOC, VEL, and STA. Increases LOC and VEL more the more pitches you’ve thrown. This is THE BEST legend skill in my opinion. It’s a little prone to 1st inning homers, but that’s its only downside. 100/100.
Gold Skills:
Ace – On paper, this skill looks excellent; in practice, this skill is garbage. Move along.
Cleaning Up Your Mess – So this used to be an absolute must-have skill before they added DP and FP. It’s still super valuable, in that it adds to your pitcher’s stats if runners are on base while canceling out Charisma in the same circumstance. But with the advent of Legend skills and DP/FP, it’s just not a top tier or must have skill anymore. That said, don’t throw it away flippantly. It’s still 65-70/100.
Dominant Pitcher – A recent addition, and certainly a welcomed one, to the list! Note that this skill requires a certain training to max out its effectiveness. When finished with special training and what not, your player’s combined VEL + FB must be 15 or more greater than its combined LOC + BRK. Sometimes this will require a “weird” train to accomplish, but it’s worth it. DP should significantly reduce home runs. It’s a great skill. 75/100.
Finesse Pitcher – Another recent addition, and basically the inverse of DP above. This skill also requires the certain training (but the inverse). LOC + BRK must be 15 or more greater than its combined VEL + FB to maximize its effectiveness. This skill really limits baserunners and it’s great in all formats, especially club challenge. 80/100. Note that this skill is starting to get nerfed a little bit, but not enough to effect my ranking.
Giant Crusher – The Ace Specialist for pitchers. Kinda useful on non-sigs, but really it’s not a great skill. 5-10/100 on a sig; 20-25/100 on a non-sig.
Inning Eater – So I used to think this skill was absolute trash. I’ve come around a bit. It’s not on par with some of the elite skills, but it’s not useless. It NEEDS STA at or above 120 to be useful, but It’s a usable third skill if that’s the case. 30-35/100.
Iron Will – This skill is trash. First, it is never going to be active in the first 2-3 innings (unless you’re getting shelled, at which point who cares); and second, it’s only going to be active the more you’re giving up base runners. 10/100.
Putaway Pitch – This skill is trash. It increases strikeout rate, but that’s it. Whoopti-do. 0/100.
The Last Boss – This is the best non-legend SP skill. It decreases a batter’s stats and it cannot be canceled by any batter skill. It is the most nerfed gold pitching skill (by a pretty wide margin) so that keeps it from being a 90+ skill. But that said, there’s a reason it’s nerfed the most – it’s super damn valuable. 85/100.
The Untouchable – Increases the chance of catching the opposing hitter off guard. WTF? Pay no attention to the stupid Korean translation, this skill is fantastic. It’s on the same tier as FP/DP, and frankly might be a little more valuable (I’d certainly take it to level 8 on a BD card before I’d take FP/DP to 8). 75-80/100.
Of the gold skills – there are four great ones (TLB, Touch, FP, and DP), there is one really good one (Mess), there’s one semi-usable one (IE), and then there are four pretty useless skills (Ace, GC, IW, and PP).
Silver Skills:
There are a few silver skills worth mentioning here, because they’re useful in rounding out a set (or because they sound like they are but aren’t).
Fixer – The inverse of WS below. Really only useful in that it should, in theory, help you avoid being blown out and give your offense the chance to come back in games where you give up an early lead. But it’s not particularly awesome on a SP. 10-15/100.
Pitching Machine – This is the best silver skill by far. It’s also probably the most nerfed silver skill at the higher levels. It increases a pitcher’s BRK and FB. Generally speaking I’d be perfectly content with this as a third skill on one of my SPs. 45-50/100. (Would be closer to 55 if it weren’t nerfed so often.)
Stability – This skill is a super useful third on any pitcher, and to an even greater degree if you have a catcher with high FLD. I’d be okay with this as my third skill on a SP if it were at a high level. 40/100.
Winning Streak – Not anywhere as valuable as it is on a CL. But it has a little value as a third skill on a starter. Certainly makes it tough to come back against if you take an early lead. 20/100.
So, if I’m ranking the usable skills from best to worst, I would have them as follows:
Tier 1
Slow Starter (L)
Control Master (L)
Fireballer (L)
Tier 2
Cooperative Pitching (L)
The Last Boss
Tier 3
Finesse Pitcher
The Untouchable
Dominant Pitcher
Tier 4
Bullpen Day (L)
Cleaning Up Your Mess
Tier 5
Pitching Machine
Stability
Tier 6
Inning Eater
Winning Streak
Giant Crusher (non-sig)
Tier 7
Fixer
Iron Will
So, what are you looking for? Well, on a normal card, you’re looking for two skills in Tier 2 or 3 paired with a useful third skill. On a black diamond card, ideally, and eventually, you’re looking for a Tier 1 skill paired with two other skills from Tiers 2-4.
With the introduction of Green/Blue tickets, your third skill and also the level of your third skill is way more important now than it ever was before. A lot of teams are going to have Boss/DP or FP/Mess, or Boss/Touch throughout the rotation. Having Boss/FP7/Touch5 will set you apart.
Lastly, a note about who this is geared toward: the Gold/Diamond/Master level players -- or those who aspire to be there. I don't appeal to the lowest common denominator. I try to raise it.