The Speed Build: Hit, Run, Repeat
The speed build player in Dovion doesn't win fights — they steal them. One pass, two shots, and they're already out of range before the counterattack lands. This playstyle — harassment, hit-and-run — might be the single most frustrating thing to face in the whole game, and one of the most thrilling to play. But it doesn't forgive much: with no thick hull behind you, every misjudged trajectory costs you dearly. Here's how to build and pilot a ship that lives at full sail.
Why speed is both a defensive AND an offensive stat
Speed usually gets sold as an escape tool. True, but incomplete. Being faster than your opponent gives you control over the terms of the fight: YOU decide when the exchange starts, when it ends, and at what range it happens. The slower enemy only has two options — take your hits or leave the area. Either way, you've gained something: damage, or territory.
The trade-off is well known: whatever you invest in mobility, you're not investing in resistance. A harasser hit twice in a row is a dead harasser. Your armor is simply never being where the cannonballs land.
The Skirmish path
Starting at level 5, the Goélette — the Skirmish path — is your natural starting point: it's the fast branch of the tree. At level 15, two lines carry the style forward:
- Ghost (Clipper → Écumeur → Vaisseau Fantôme): the stealth line. At the end of the path, the Vaisseau Fantôme carries the Voiles Mortes, which make you vanish from enemy screens — the ultimate repositioning tool for a harasser. Just watch out for the Forteresse's Fanal, which reveals invisible ships.
- Narval (Corsaire → Corsaire noir → Trirème des Sirènes): Charge converts your speed into ramming damage — the faster you're going, the harder the impact hits. This is THE perfect pairing with a mobility build. Keep the punishment in mind though: charging into empty water stuns you, exactly the kind of mistake a fast player can't afford.
Bonus style point: the small hulls of the Skirmish path can harness sirens as a sled team. On the Trirème des Sirènes, the team maxes out at 10 sirens and 5 draft whales.
The three rules of hit-and-run
- One pass, one goal. You go in to land your shots or your E ability, not to "see how it goes." If the target turns on you faster than expected, the pass is off — no negotiation.
- Always have an exit. Before engaging, scout your escape route: an island to swing around, a patch of fog, a blind spot. Players who improvise their exit end up against a coastline.
- Attrition works for you. Three passes that each take 20% of their health beat one heroic pass that costs you half of yours. Harassment is a metronome, not a fireworks show.
Who to avoid, who to hunt
Your favorite prey: big slow hulls with a full hold, miners locked onto their rock, already-damaged ships heading back to sell. Your nightmares: area-damage lines and traps — an Estacade dropped in your escape lane turns your exit into a wall. Facing something stronger, there's no shame in it: the art of retreat is literally your specialty.
The speed build also shines at bounty hunting: the gold marker on the minimap points you to a target worth chasing, and nobody catches a bounty faster than you do.
Also worth reading
- The burst damage build: melt hulls before they can react
- Dodging fire: reading enemy trajectories
Hoist the sails: join Dovion for free and give someone a taste of your wake.