Are Crows OP?

they've already lost they just don't

know it get him from

behind stop looking at me attack save it

for the enemy we've lost control of the

command

post primates are notorious for their

incredibly broken intelligent sta which

grants them access to incredible

Advanced Techniques such as tool use

coordinated team strateg IES and even

bartering and trade but primates are not

the only faction in the game with a high

intelligence stat satation seapod and

bird Mains also commonly opt not to spec

into powerful damage dealing abilities

and instead invest into leveling up

their brain power skill tree while this

does seem like a risky choice leaving

the player more vulnerable in direct 1v1

combat in actuality this often results

in a much less risky playthrough as the

player's intelligence opens up more

options for them to progress that don't

require winning in combat this is

especially true of the bird faction as

their ability to fly already allows them

to quickly Escape most unfavorable

combat encounters today we're going to

discuss one of the two main intelligence

centered bird builds the faction that

contains crows Ravens and magpies the

corvid this video is going to focus

mostly on Crows as an example but

generally what I say in this video

should apply to most

corbetts first let's discuss their stats

as well as the abilities and strategies

that exemplify them we'll begin with

their stealth stat which corvids aren't

particularly excellent in the most

popular corvid Skins are either jet

black or pyal neither of which Grant the

user that strong of a stealth bonus in

fact in snowy areas jet black feathers

are actually one of the least effective

choices when trying to remain hidden a

dark appearance is most effective as

camouflage at night but crows and other

corvids are not nocturnal pills so they

aren't really gaining this benefit from

it now granted stealth typically isn't

all that important for Birds given how

agile and Vigilant they are plenty of

other high tier Aven builds like for

example parrots are arguably some of the

least stealthy birds in the game and

they do just fine you could even argue

that corvids are even less stealthy than

their black feathers initially appear as

their iridescence actually makes them

even easier to see for certain other

players typically other birds ultimately

I think it's safe to say stealth is not

an important part of their game plan at

least nowhere near as important as it is

for Ambush Predator builds like the owl

the main Predators a crow needs to worry

about are raptors and because with a

Raptor's Keen eyesight ability it's

unlikely having a higher stealth stat

would make much of a difference anyway

the Crow's defense and Constitution

stats are fairly average for a bird

which is to say not great birds have

hollow bones and their feathers offer

fairly little in terms of Defense

feathers do absorb some blunt force

damage but when it comes to slashing and

piercing damage it's nearly useless and

because of their hollow bones which make

them more vulnerable to blunt force

damage the benefit there kind of cancels

out as well snakes cats raccoons Raptors

and dogs all have a high chance of

taking a crow out in one hit so they

cannot let their guard down when

interacting with any damage dealer

builds given that their play style

necessitates taking some risk Pro

players definitely wish they had more

room for error thankfully their next

stat makes it pretty easy to avoid

damage the Crow's Mobility is a little

above average for a midsized bird which

is to say excellent birds in general are

just extremely agile both on the ground

and in the air making them extremely

hard to land and attack on if they see

you coming some bird builds like geese

and jungle foul require significant

startup in order to get airborne meaning

that they can't rely on their flight to

escape danger if the danger is already

right in front of them crows are not one

of these bird builds and in contrast the

startup on their flight move has some

shockingly broken Frame data and allows

them to quickly and easily reposition

themselves in basically any direction in

3D space almost instantly this makes

their ability to dodge attacks one of

the best in the entire game and makes

what would normally be fairly dangerous

positions such as right next to a

powerful Predator quite safe as long as

the corvid doesn't use any laggy moves

this synergizes well with the Corvette's

combat move set as we'll discuss in a

moment corvids are blessed with many

High stats but power is not one of them

them their ability to deal damage is one

of the weakest in their weight class as

their only attack option is a simple

pecking strike this move has quick

startup and very little end leg but its

damage is egregiously low simply

attacking with this move will deal

minimal damage to anything larger than

an insect most players will be able to

ignore this attack's damage however this

doesn't mean a crow's attacks are

useless it just means they've got to be

clever about how they use them a

well-placed PEC can provoke an attack

and if you're able to move out of the

way quick enough enough the enraged

player will end up being forced to lash

out at whoever just happens to be nearby

and create an opening for the corvid

player to capture an objective steal

some loot or Escape

trouble it might seem like a Jank

strategy but really this is the bread

and butter of corvid gaml and can lead

to massive swings and Advantage the

chance to afflict the enraged status

effect scales with the user's

intelligence stat so the reason this

strategy works so well is that the

Corvette's intelligence stat is

ridiculously high for a non- primate

build corvids are t with parrots for the

highest intelligence stat in the entire

Aven faction and in addition to enabling

the goting strike move set having high

intelligence grants corvids access to a

lot of other powerful techniques too

including the ability to use tools tool

use is one of the most notoriously

powerful abilities in the entire game

and in Crows this is no less True by

using hook-shaped wooden sticks crows

can score kills on grubs that are

normally safe from everything except for

woodpecker attacks and given how many

expensive Niche perks woodpeckers need

to spec into in order to perform these

sorts of drilling attacks the ability to

bypass all of that investment while

still gaining the same rewards is a huge

Boon to the crows but High Intelligence

has far more benefits than just allowing

crows to copy the success of hypers

specialized builds arguably the most

important benefit is team tactics this

is what allows baboons to fight off

Lions what allows ants to bring down

tarantulas and what allows wolves to pre

upon bis when crows work together they

can capture territory and control points

of interest that they'd otherwise be

helpless to defend they can even rescue

each other from what would otherwise be

guaranteed lethal attacks using a tactic

called mobbing mobbing is a strategy

most commonly seen in Birds consisting

of bombarding a single Target with a

barrage of both physical and Sonic

attacks on their own these would be easy

to shrug off but when you're getting

pecked at and screeched at from all

directions at once it inflicts heavy

physical and psychic damage this is what

allows social corvids like magpies and

crows to successfully chase away prors

several times their size Ravens on the

other hand tend not to really need the

help as they're large enough to handle

most opponents oneon-one but can still

team up in order to lock down a good

source of

carryon alternatively they may even Ally

themselves with wolf players leading

them to a carcass and letting them do

the work fighting off their competition

before sharing in the rewards anyway

that's a basic overview of the Corvette

build now let's talk about their

matchups the Corvette matchup chart is

heavily dependent on how effective their

goating strike and mobbing Tech

techniques are against a given Target

luckily because of how high the

Corvette's intelligence stat is the list

of targets goating strike works against

is quite long it is best against builds

with lower intelligence stats things

like vultures things like reptiles and

things like rodents what's more this

technique even works on one of the

corvids two primary threats feline

builds deadly as cats are they're often

quite reactive and easily aggroed so

goting strike is the perfect tool to

redirect their ferocity this move is

admittedly less effective against the

Corvette's other main concern Raptors

however thankfully the mobbing technique

is quite effective against Raptors so

for both of their main threats the crow

players have options the only builds

these techniques aren't that effective

against are other high intelligence

builds such as monkeys and parrots

because of their extremely strong social

bonding and top tier intelligence stat

parrots are highly resistant to psychic

damage and do not turn on each other

easily in fact when pestered by a corvid

they are likely to defend each other

fiercely using their own more powerful

beaks and louder shrieks oneon-one

they're fairly evenly matched so it

tends to just come down to size but in

groups corvids tend to have difficulty

forcing parrots away from an objective

as for monkeys their higher HP allows

them to more easily ignore the pecking

attacks of a crow and they're used to

getting their tails tugged all the time

by their own party members so a crow

doing it is unlikely to provoke

punishable response crows and parrots

have an interesting Dynamic I've said in

previous videos that I believe parrots

to be the more viable build they have

higher dexterity with their beaks their

sonic streak attack is incredibly

effective they're more social and

arguably more intelligent even and yet

of the two most intelligent bird builds

there's no denying that in the city

biome corvids are much more successful I

think the reason for this is that even

though parrots are indeed more powerful

on their own and are better at using

most tools than crows are crows are

better at using the most important tool

other players from provoking attacks and

redirect aggression to using passing

vehicles to deal damage for them and

unlock high value loot corvids are the

best of the best when it comes to using

other build strengths to cover for their

own

shortcomings and if the human build's

dominance is any indication co-opting

the strengths of less intelligent builds

is one of the strongest strategies you

can possibly execute in the game and

it's for this reason that corvids sit

proudly in s tier speaking of builds

with a high success rate within the city

biome another creature that thrives in

cities is the centipede

with their quick Twitchy movement and

flat shape they have no trouble weaving

through all of the nooks and crannies

common in urban environments this is the

subject of my next video which will be

out on YouTube in a month or so however

if you like to watch that video right

now you can access it a month in advance

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