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XBOX 360 CHARACTER GUIDE V. 1.00
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| ^ | \ \ \_| \ \ \_| | ^ | \ \ \_| \ \ \_| | | | \ | |
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|_| |_| \____/ \____/ |_| |_| \____/ \____/ |_| |_| \_|
By: "Zane" J. Kellner-Coffman
GameFAQs Username: Wyhdis
E-mail: [email protected]
Gamertag: Zaneshift
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0. LEGAL JUNK, DISCLAIMER, CONTACT INFORMATION, AND OTHER STUFF YOU'LL SKIP
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This FAQ is my intellectual property, that being said I care very little.
Just let me know if you plan to post if somewhere, and give me credit.
My e-mail is right above this, or you could message my gamertag.
Approved locations:
- http://www.gamefaqs.com
- http://www.neroseeker.com
- http://www.supercheats.com
Seriously though, don't go editing this or taking credit for my work.
I don't own rights to Monday Night Combat or whatnot; as if you'd think so.
This guide contains no spoilers, as the game has no plot (spoiler!).
Again, my email is "[email protected]", so contact me if you have commentary.
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CONTENTS
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0. Legal Junk, Disclaimer, Contact Information, And Other Stuff You Skipped
1. About Me
2. Introduction
3. Controls, Skills, and General Strategy
4. Endorsements
5. Versus Other Classes
6. Frequently Asked Questions
7. Last Words
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1. ABOUT ME
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No, I'm not that much of a narcissist that I need to introduce myself, but I
do think that there are some things you need to know. As of this guide's
writing I'm in the 50's range of the online multiplayer. I don't claim to be
the best player out there, but I pay enough attention to what's going on that
I'm pretty sure I've got something to offer in the way of information. This is
the first FAQ I've ever written, so I hardly mind if you send me questions,
comments, constructive criticism, et cetera. Just keep it reasonable, I don't
care about someone's flaming rant against the Assassin, for example. Don't
feel any reservations about messaging me, I'm a pretty laid back guy so it's
not like I'll bite anyone's head off. I'm a perfectionist, so I'll try and
provide as much information as possible (so no, this will hardly be a breif
FAQ), and I'll toss out a bit of humor to try and keep things interesting. I
use serial commas, deal with it. Also, I'm a native English speaker, so I'm
not making any excuses for errors (besides, my vocabulary makes up for that).
So, without further delay, on to why you're here: MNC's Assassin.
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2. INTRODUCTION
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The Assassin, definitely the most controversial class in Monday Night Combat.
Some whine that she's underpowered, some complain that she's cheap, but no one
really stops to think about it one way or the other. The fact of the matter is
that the Assassin is no better or worse off than the other characters, she
just has a drastically different play style that can create quite a lopsided
learning curve. If you don't know what you're doing, you'll write her off as
a terrible choice without a second thought. If you take the time to learn the
tricks and tips of the trade, however, then you'll find that she can take
down the same threats as any other class, if in a much different way. It's all
about how you play the game, so if you're here to stop blaming the class and
learn some real information about how to play as an Assassin, or about how to
defend yourself against Assassins, then read on as I break down the details of
how she works.
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3. CONTROLS, SKILLS, AND GENERAL STRATEGY
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No, wait, stop scrolling! This isn't your basic "right trigger to shoot"
nonsense, I'm talking about controls specific to the Assassin. I'll still put
basic information for someone new to the game (someone who shouldn't be using
the Assassin to begin with, mind you), but only for the sake of completion.
Mostly, this is information about the different controls, like when to jump,
how to set up a grapple, what you should upgrade, et cetera. It's worth
reading, really, there's some extremely important information in here; I
just prefer to organize this information into the format of a controller.
Left Thumbstick: Used to move. The Assassin moves a bit quicker than other
classes (sprint aside). You can freely control yourself while in the air,
which is extremely important for the Assassin (more on that later). Pressing
in the stick does nothing, by the way.
Right Thumbstick: Used to aim/change the camera. The cursor in the middle of
the screen shows where you're targeting; make sure it's directly over the foe
before you attack (the Assassin has zero spread on her attacks, so precision
is pretty important, and tracking moving foes is difficult for her). Pressing
in on the right thumbstick does the same thing as the left: nothing.
Directional Pad Up: Used for upgrades. At the start of a game, it's always a
good idea to upgrade cloaking and blade (up and down respectively) by one.
From there, getting both maxed out is your main priority. It's up to
preference which you upgrade first, as well as whether you upgrade sprint or
smoke bomb after that (left and right respectively). Feel free to experiment
with upgrade order, but there's no real reason to do something much different.
Directional Pad Down: Used for building turrets and buying bots. Not very
useful early game, since the Assassin is in for trouble without upgrades by
mid-game, but in longer games you often find yourself with plenty of money for
a few turrets or such. Typically, you should just fill empty slots with Laser
Razor turrets, since you won't have much use for Longshots. Make sure that you
have two Rock-it turrets in the two spots nearest your money ball, though.
The Assassin spawns Gremlins, which are average at best, but feel free to
spawn a few if you feel that you have little need for defenses and you need
some distracting bots heading out. If they do anything right, Gremlins are
certainly one of the most distracting, especially since turrets/bots can't
target them, and they hunt down players.
Directional Pad Right: Press A while holding down this direction to taunt. It
seems useless, but you get $5 for finishing a taunt, so it's handy if you
respawn with just a few dollars away from an upgrade. Typically though, you
should just stick to killing off bots for your extra cash. It's kind of fun to
look at the different taunts for each of her 3 weapons (knife, sword, and
shuriken launcher), but there's little reason to taunt outside of a spare buck
or entertainment value. Fun fact: you can taunt while cloaked.
A Button: Used to jump. The Assassin may not have a jetpack, but her jump is
one of the best. It's incredibly easy to dodge shockwave attacks with it, she
has great directional influence in the air, she jumps high enough to be hard
to track, and it's overall very helpful. Jumping, mind you, should only be
done to dodge attacks or to scale terrain. Attacks you can jump over are
limited, but extremely useful nonetheless. The Jackbot XL's ground slam can be
jumped (jump when you see it starting the attack, the hang time is long enough
that you can never jump too early), as well as the Gunner's slam attack. You
cannot, however, jump Sniper traps. You also can't normally jump charging
attacks or grapples, but it does work on rare occasion. The jump button isn't
a panic button, and it simply won't work as such unless you're extremely
lucky, so don't try to "bunny hop" your way out of dying because it simply
doesn't work.
B Button: Smoke bomb skill. Often called the most useless skill in the game
by the uninitiated, the smoke bomb causes a small explosion that slows enemy
movement and disables bots/turrets. If you jump the instant you finish
throwing down the smoke bomb, you'll rocket into the air in a nice escape jump
(it's easier to time then it sounds, just stop moving first). The explosion is
handy in that it disables bots and turrets, making them incredibly easy to
dispatch. Players, on the other hand, are barely affected, so don't rely on
the stun to save you from much in that regard. Against players, the bomb
shines in that the second you feel like you're in trouble, you can disappear
by instantly flying high into the skies then cloaking. It's simply not
possible for most people to keep attacking you when you're moving away that
fast, invisibly, in a strange direction, while they're stunned. Short of a
firebase or such, you're hardly going to get shot so long as you take full
advantage of the distance you can travel with such a jump. That being said,
the bomb jump is nice for mobility in general as well. Think of it as a bot
killing backup plan combined with a panic button for firefights and you've got
the gist of how it's used. Still, it's rarely worth upgrading, since the
recharge time is very reasonable even at level one, and the jump is the most
important part of the skill (and only the explosion gets upgraded).
X Button: Sprint skill. Makes you run faster, pretty basic. Tap the button to
start sprinting, tap it again or stop moving to end it. Mostly it's a perk
rather than a necessity. It's only really essential when quickly approaching a
target, otherwise it just generally speeds up the Assassin. The speed of
sprint is boosted by speed pickups and/or endorsements. There is a glitch that
can get you stuck in Sprint mode without losing energy for a limited time, but
I'm not going to give you information that will encourage sloppy play by using
such a thing as a crutch. Sprint is the skill that you will use the most, yet
think of the least. Sprinting during combat does not help unless you're trying
to run away or advance quickly, so don't try to circle-strafe or whatnot with
it. You can run in any direction quicker while sprinting, but it does not make
you move any fast while airborne. In the air, be sure to turn off sprint, as
the meter still depletes if you run off a ledge or such. Regarding the glitch,
I neither endorse not condemn its use. I think it's sad when a bad Assassin
knows about it and interesting when a good one does, but it really has little
effect considering that with good cloaking you can just as easily appear out
of nowhere. I use it from time to time on big maps, but it's never gotten me
any kills or helped me out of a fight any better than smoke bomb or cloak,
that is to say. Upgrading sprint only increases the amount of energy the skill
gets, not your running speed.
Y Button: Cloak skill. The cornerstone of the Assassin's skills, how you use
cloak determines whether you're a terror or just plain terrible. Tap the
button and you're mostly invisible. The closer you are to someone, and the
faster you're moving, the more obvious you are. Turrets and bots can't target
you, and the Support's heal/hurt gun can only track you if rapidly shot, and
even then it does nothing in the way of damage. Jackbot XLs might still ground
slam you, but the AIs otherwise avoid you. Note that being near a ShaveIce
turret makes you visible, and that cloaking ends whenever you use smoke bomb,
any of the 3 weapons, or you run out of energy. Taking damage, jumping,
sprinting, taunting, or reloading won't decloak you. When cloaked, your foes
will still almost always notice if you approach them from the front, or if you
are too close, so be stealthy. It's not like you're invincible, so don't rush
them. Circle around, then rush them from behind so they don't have time to
react before you're in grapple range (more on grapples later). If you're low
on cloak, retreat and let it recharge. Don't cloak until you see an enemy, or
you're just wasting energy. At level 3, you can simply wait in a corner of the
enemy base for your target to appear, then chase after them. Also, cloaking
will stop a turret from shooting you, so it's nice for taking out turrets via
attrition when combined with smoke bombs. You can cloak at almost any time:
while sprinting, while jumping, while reloading, during a grapple (cool),
while on fire (stupid), while hit by a freeze trap (funny), during a taunt
(what the hell)... and you should do so whenever you're not moving unless
you're trying to recharge it (like when upgrading or building turrets). One
of the best skills in the game, and for good reason. Using cloak correctly
lets you be in the right place, at the right time, all the time.
Right Trigger: Attack, which can be either a blade slash or shooting shuriken.
I'll start with the blade, your primary weapon. The knife is quite weak, and
is incapable of killing much on its own, even bots. The sword, however, is
strong enough to 3-hit kill Blackjacks, and to do quick damage to turrets in
general. Against players, it's only a real option if they're already damaged
and they aren't making a move to run away. The sword has the strongest grapple
attack in the game, which makes the upgrade worth it, but don't expect to take
out any players with the basic slash. Interesting note, you can attack with
the basic slash while airborne, which is sometimes useful (mostly against
Jackbot XLs). Then there's the shuriken launcher. The shuriken fire as you
hold down the trigger (not a tap to fire weapon). The clip is fairly small,
the reload time short, and the accuracy is literally perfect. The blades hit
exactly where you aim... which makes the weapon seem incredibly weak. In
reality, the damage is pretty average among the game's firearms, but the
insane level of accuracy without spread combined with its rate of fire makes
it extremely difficult to hit people with an entire clip without serious
practice. Try it on an immobile target, however, and you'll notice that it can
take down around half their health in a single clip! The shuriken launcher is
thus a fine choice as a ranged option for when stealth alone can't get the job
done, but it takes a hefty time investment to start hitting people with the
shuriken enough to really understand its merits in damage. The aim is similar
to a sniper in most games: the target area is extremely small. It's so hard to
aim because it's like shooting needles. That all being said, you're probably
wondering why it's worth the hassle to learn how to aim the shuriken launcher
when its damage is average at best. The answer? Critical hits. No, not the
endorsement, the Assassin has a neat trick that allows her to automatically
score critical hits on opponents. No, it's not a headshot (which would be
impossible for such a weapon anyway), it's about cloaking. You see, when the
Assassin attacks while cloaked, her first attack is a critical hit (which is
why using a slash to exit cloak is better than decloaking first). The thing
is, the game counts the shuriken launcher's attack as a beam of sorts, meaning
that every shot in the clip becomes a critical if you start shooting while
cloaked! The damage climbs to astronomical values, and you'll find yourself
killing players with less than a clip of ammo (and even the hefty Tank in less
than two). To give you a sense of scale, the critical hit does similar damage
to a juiced attack. If you use stealth to hit your enemy when they're not
moving (or moving straight away from you), and to hit them while decloaking as
to get the auto-critical, then you'll see one after another surprised foe fall
to your shuriken. Note that, despite its power, the shuriken launcher's poor
tracking and pinpoint accuracy makes it a poor choice for close range or long
range combat. In close range, you can't turn fast enough to hit enemies with
any more damage than a sword lunge would get you, and at a long range the
pinpoint accuracy will keep you from getting more than a few hits due to the
lack of spread. The only real exception to the range stipulation is if a
player is moving directly toward or away from you, in which case it's always
useful to throw some shuriken their way (unless they're shooting you, in which
case you should be escaping). At long range, you can risk the launcher if you
are facing a class with poor range on their weapons, or to assist an ally or
finish off a weakened turret, et cetera. It comes down to the situation. At
close range, the blade's extremely good tracking makes up for its low damage
per hit (compared to other any other class's weapons), and so it can finish
off weakened foes with ease so long as you can properly avoid their one-shot
melee counters (if they have any).
Left Trigger: The Assassin's signature grappling moves, regardless of your
weapon. Each weapon has two grapples: one for grabbing a foe from the front
and one for grabbing them from behind. Note that Tanks and Gunners have
different animations for each weapon, due to their size. Also, I don't believe
that grabbing bots from different angles has any different animation (since I
don't waste time grappling any bots other than Jackbot XLs). The grapple does
bonus damage if you grab an enemy from behind, and the sword does more damage
with a grapple than the knife or throwing blade (both of which do equal damage
with their grapples). Because of that damage bonus, you should always grab
your enemies from behind if possible. It's a simple tactic: move around your
foes as to get far behind them, catch up to them with sprint while cloaking to
keep from being noticed, then rush them from behind and grapple them (tossing
in other attacks based on their class and the situation). The grapple will
only kill other Assassins if you fail to grab the foe from behind, and even
an Assassin will survive a front grapple if they have armor. That being said,
Assassins are the only ones worth grabbing from the front if you can avoid it.
Supports, Assaults, Snipers, and Gunners all die from backstab grapples, so
long as they don't have armor. Gunners, Supports, and Assaults will barely
survive if they have armor, but I've never seen a Sniper with enough armor to
survive a grapple from behind. That being said, it's easy to finish off such
weakened foes with a few blade slashes before they become a real threat. Note
that I use the sword's damage in these calculations, and that the other two
weapons have significantly less damage. You apply similar tactics when
grappling with the shuriken launcher or knife, but the bonus damage is much
less lethal, so expect to fight much more after a grapple than usual. Also, I
don't mention Tanks in the grapple information, and there's a good reason.
Grappling a Tank is suicide, end of story. There are ways to kill a Tank with
an Assassin, but grappling a healthy Tank is just a waste of time. You can
survive an escape easily enough, but you'll never do enough damage with a grab
to even make that behemoth flinch unless he's unupgraded, without armor, and
you grab him from behind. While I'm on the topic of Tanks, you cannot grapple
a Tank or Gunner that's deployed, more on that in the "Versus" section. The
grapple takes quite some time to recharge after use, so you're best off
running away and fighting bots/turrets while you wait for some extra money.
There is no way to speed up the recharge, so don't worry about it and simply
wait for the indicator in the middle of the screen to circle all the way
around. If you miss with a grapple, it takes a few seconds to be able to
attempt it again, so try to face your opponent directly and don't grab someone
who is strafing you or otherwise moving erratically (that's what the sword is
for). Also, you can grab enemies that are in the air from time to time (mostly
when they're starting to jump), so you can mostly ignore that issue short of
someone being some serious vertical distance away (flying Assaults, for
example). You cannot grab while jumping, and grabbing uncloaks you, but you
can cloak during a grapple animation. If you are killed before the animation
is finished, you will stop dealing damage and your target can survive, so
cloaking during a grapple can be rather useful for this reason. A grapple from
the sword will kill Black Jacks and Bouncers instantly, as well as deal more
than 70% damage to Jackbot XLs. The other two weapons deal a respectable 50%
or so to Jackbot XLs, but they won't kill other bots as easily. As a point of
reference, the knife and shuriken launcher's grapples can only kill another
Assassin with a grapple from behind (so the sword's damage is much better).
On the other hand, it can be seriously strange for the opponent to be grappled
by the throwing blade in particular, so that's always interesting for some
mind games or just for fun sometimes (it is a game after all).
Right Bumper: Reload button. For the shuriken launcher, it's a simple reload
button, so there's not much to explain there. The blade, however, has no need
for reloading, so the designers decided to add another attack to the button:
the blade lunge. The lunge does a bit more than twice the damage of a sword
swing, and it launcher you forward at faster than twice the speed of sprint.
The range is pretty decent, and it's ideal for tagging weakened foes they try
to backpedal as they shoot you. An excellent follow-up to grapples in many
situations, the sword lunge takes about as much time as about 3 sword slashes,
and has a delay after it's finished of about 1 second. So, while you can't
spam it or use it to move faster around the map, you can chain a few dash
attacks together if the enemy can't track you and is at reasonably low health.
That, or you can use it to close the distance for a grapple, or for a few
slash attacks. It's an indispensable move that is guaranteed to be the number
one source of your blade kills. It is quite easy to hit an enemy with, as they
only need to come into contact with you during the dash to take full damage,
so it's truly a great way to tackle (pun unintended) evasive foes. Note that
you charge the direction you're facing in a straight line, you can't curve the
path once you hit the button. An easy move to use, but using it at the right
times is a matter of practice and experience. If you use it wrong, you end up
in a suicide charge. It's still a better idea to escape if you're injured than
to risk charging at a foe with the blade lunge, as you are hardly invulnerable
during the dash, and you're immobile afterwords for a moment. Don't forget you
have this attack, but spam at your own risk. Interesting when combined with
the cloak critical combo, but I'm not entirely sure how damage is affected.
Left Bumper: Weapon switch button. When should you use each weapon? Well, to
be perfectly honest, you should be using the blade most of the time. When in
doubt, melee is the way to go with the Assassin. As nice as the shuriken
launcher can be, you should always have plenty of time to switch to it when
you plan to use it. The blade is often used out of reflex, and it's much
better against bots, not to mention the sword's upgraded grapples, so it's an
obvious choice. If you prefer the shuriken launcher then by all means go ahead
and keep it out, but you'll find that the Assassin is much more stable when
using such a weapon as a backup. There are many situations where you should
switch to the shuriken launcher, and some games you'll find yourself using it
more often than the blade, even, but you never need to use it out of reflex
since it's simply too bad at tracking to work as a reactionary attack anyway.
More on weapon choice can be found in the "Versus" section.
Left Bumper + Right Bumper (When Juice Bar is Full): Activate Juice. The
Assassin has the most fearsome damage in the game when juiced, short of a
shotgun Support, and her mobility means she can do a lot of damage fast. Best
of all, she gets juice faster than any other class (due to her short life
expectancy no doubt), especially if you properly kill off enemy turrets and
bots to support your team. When you have juice, your best off rushing the
enemy base then using juice to heal yourself just as you start to take damage.
That way, you won't waste a drop of it in travel time, and you can support the
team by killing off the majority of your foe's turrets. Don't ignore enemy
players if they make no effort to dodge, as a shotgun Support or a couple of
Gunners can still kill you, but your top priority is turrets. When your juice
starts to fade, you should typically escape jump out of there to keep yourself
from dying. It's not rare to get juice several times each life with this
tactic, and you can waste thousands of your opponents' dollars on turret
repairs, as well as spawn killing half the bots they might buy. You can kill
any class with only a few basic slashes, so don't waste time with a grapple.
Also, be wary of ring-out attacks, stun, and freeze effects as they will
hinder you enough to run out your juice (if not get you killed). Do not use
the shuriken launcher while juiced, it's not even remotely worth the effort of
aiming to do the same damage as if you were critical cloak comboing and the
reload time is all the more time you could have spent stabbing something. You
can gain juice relatively quickly by killing off bots/turrets with the blade
(not with grapples or the shuriken launcher, nor by fighting players). Juice
is more important to the Assassin than any other class, and even if you can't
do much with it, the instant-heal alone makes it invaluable.
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4. ENDORSEMENTS
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Unlike most classes, there aren't many endorsements that have much of an
effect on the Assassin. That being said, there are 3 key endorsements that can
seriously improve the Assassin's capabilities, but it's important to know how.
There are a few other endorsements that have some situational use, so I'll go
over each endorsement and how useful they are, in generally descending order.
Armor: There is no reason not to use this on any Assassin. It lets you survive
grapples, it gives you more leeway for escape jumps, and it keeps you up to
par with other classes in the way of health in general. Without armor, even a
good Assassin is going to have trouble in a lot of situations, so you're often
better off choosing armor for your gold endorsement, or at least your silver.
Rate of Fire: This endorsement speeds up your blade slash speeds as well as
how quickly you can unload that clip of critical shuriken. Simple enough, and
very effective considering that you don't have the typical drawback that a
fast firing rate has: reload times. The sword never reloads, and the shuriken
launcher only needs at most one reload to finish a foe (if you're accurate),
and even then it has one of the quickest reload times of any weapon in the
game. It does nothing for the Assassin's bread and butter grapple, but it adds
enough flexibility to the class to be worth a gold endorsement, it's up to
preference whether you would rather have this or armor as gold, but the
difference between a gold and silver endorsement is rather negligible. If you
tend to die while weakened by stray bullets, go for armor, but use this if
you find yourself favoring the shuriken launcher. That being said, it's far
from necessary to net yourself any kills with the blade and grapples, so feel
free to pass this by if you really see yourself wanting a different
endorsement, though there are few other choices unless you're springing for
juice, but the shuriken launcher is pretty much useless without extra speed.
Juice: As nice as juice is for the Assassin, getting it even faster is just
plain cruel. It does significantly boost your juice collecting speed, but then
again it's rarely necessary to have that much help in gathering it, if you
think about how fast the Assassin already gains juice. Often worth a bronze
endorsement, or maybe a silver. If you really feel like it, you could even go
for gold juice, but it's not necessary to have at all if it doesn't mesh with
how you tend to play, to be honest.
Skill Recovery: A disappointing endorsement, to be honest. Grapple recharge
isn't affected, and you shouldn't be running that low on energy for your
skills to begin with. If you're having trouble picking up the class then you
might want to give this endorsement a try, but it really doesn't help enough
to be worth the other endorsements it otherwise replaces. Maybe worth a spot
as a bronze endorsement, but I'd rather die once from running out of sprint
than twice from not having enough armor, juice, rate of fire, et cetera.
Still, I guess it's up to preference.
Speed: You have sprint, why would you need this... It seems like it'd be more
useful to a class based on mobility, but there's simply no place for it when
you come to learn how to properly manage the Assassin's skills. Maybe a bronze
endorsement if you have trouble with catching foes? But really, the only part
of it that's interesting is that it does in fact increase sprinting speed.
Clip Size: My first instinct screams useless, but if you for some reason think
that you don't fight melee and get a decent amount of kills with the shuriken
launcher, then feel free to try it out as a silver (with rate of fire as gold,
of course). A terrible idea if you don't overuse the shuriken launcher, for
the obvious reason that you're seriously stupid if you expect the sword to
have such a problem.
Reload Speed: Slightly useful if for similar reasons to Clip Size, but the
super fast reload to the shuriken launcher makes it hardly worth more than a
bronze endorsement, and even then only if you can't see yourself needing any
other endorsement in the slot.
Critical Shot: You have cloak for that, so it's a terrible idea. As weak as
the individual hits of an Assassin are, it's not worth the critical unless you
can land consecutive hits with it (as with the shuriken launcher), or unless
you can guarantee a single critical then chain it with a grapple (as with the
blade). There's no place for it, and I don't care if the default Assassin has
the endorsement because it's not helpful in the least.
Accuracy: If you're missing it's your own fault if it's the blade, or it's
because the shuriken launcher is already too accurate. Bullet spread is
already nonexistent, so what the hell are you trying to do, handicap yourself?
Health Regeneration: The Assassin has low enough health that her regeneration
rate is perfectly fine. The endorsement only affects the speed of recovery,
not the delay between last damage taken and the start of healing. As such, the
endorsement is pointless on any class other than a Tank or a Gunner (who have
large health values that make regeneration slow), and even then it would only
be marginally useful. Don't use it unless you're trying to lose.
I use a single class for the Assassin, it's pretty well-rounded in my opinion:
Rate of Fire (Gold); Armor (Silver); Juice (Bronze);
It's geared toward a balanced play style, with fairly equal kills divided
between blade (mostly when people survive grapples), grapples, shuriken (for
anyone I can't approach for a grapple), and juice (anyone nearby during a
turret-killing frenzy). It's a decent starting point if you're simply
indecisive about what endorsements to choose, but if you find yourself doing
better with different setups then by all means stick with what works for you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. VERSUS OTHER CLASSES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Assassin has trouble with just about every class if you're face them all
the same way. If you run in with little in the way of a plan, you'll be lucky
to get a single kill. This is why so many Assassins online are stereotyped as
idiots, they don't know how to adapt to different enemies. For a Gunner or
such it's simple to adapt to different classes: you turn to face them and keep
shooting. The Assassin needs to act completely differently to fight different
foes, or she won't stand a chance with her inferior stats. You need to adapt
to survive, and if you can't think on your feet then you're dead. So, with
that in mind, here's some general information about facing each class... in
alphabetical order for absolutely no raisin. Strangely enough, alphabetical
ordering is approximately how difficult each class is to face as well. Odd...
Vs. Assassins: The simplest, class to face if you're well prepared, and the
most annoying if they are as well. First off, grapple them if they stop moving
at any point during the fight without fail. Your top priority is keeping them
away from your back, and your second is to keep moving so you can't be hit by
a grapple. If you do get grappled, don't panic. All you need to do is escape
jump with the smoke bomb and you're safe, as with armor you can't be killed
by a normal grapple. Whenever you can, keep slashing away at the opposing
Assassin with your blade. Don't bother with the shuriken launcher unless they
turn tail and run at low health. It's typically a matter of who's paying the
most attention; if you can grapple them before they see you then it's hardly
an issue. Bad Assassins are easy kills, but good Assassins (rare as they may
be) I assume must be a positive nightmare to fight. Overall, develop a good
eye for the cloak effect and learn to keep hidden yourself and you won't have
too much to worry about, just remember that the blade is extremely effective
given that Assassins have such low health. If your opponent has armor, it's
much more difficult, but few people know enough about what they're doing to
have such luck. If they escape jump with their smoke bomb, either give up or
follow suit then switch to the shuriken launcher to finish them off, perhaps.
If you find that they are aggressive in seeking you out (a rivalry thing of
some sort sometimes arises), I would recommend backpedaling with sprint and
using the shuriken launcher. They will be baffled, and likely run straight
through several rows of shuriken before they figure out that you're not going
to face them with a grapple/blade fight. It's an easy way to drive off middle
range skill Assassins, since they're good enough to be difficult to fight at
close range, but bad enough to underestimate the shuriken launcher. If you're
still not sure that you can win, simply avoid them; if you stay near their
base then the only one they can usually kill is you if they go after you (in
which case you win out in money by having their bots and turrets to kill in
the meanwhile, and that's only assuming you don't kill them).
Vs. Assaults: At first glance they look like a nightmare, with all their
skills that can ring you out combined with mobility that rivals your own. The
thing is, so long as you can hide from them until they pass you by, it's an
easy kill. Just relax and let him pass before you start after him, you're
toast if he manages to find you first, but it's easy to get into grapple range
when you can rush an Assault from behind. Typically, they'll die from a back
grapple pretty easily, but don't let your guard down just because you got to
the grapple. If they survive, many Assaults will use the charge attack, which
is an immediate end to your attempt (you get knocked far out of attack range,
and you might even be killed with a ring-out). It's important to avoid being
between an Assault and a chasm. Most importantly though, use a charge slash
after your grapple and you'll finish off most weakened Assaults. Their charge
attack is fairly inaccurate, so you can also try to dodge it (not by jumping),
but typically pushing the offensive is ideal since the worst they can do is
throw you in such a way that you can't finish them off, so long as you keep
away from ledges at least. The shuriken launcher is a particularly bad idea,
as Assaults specialize in mid-long range fire and they can gun you down much
more effectively. In some rare situations it's helpful, but you're normally
better off avoiding the shuriken unless you're baiting them or such (like
tossing out blades to announce yourself then running up to and cloaking by
your Support's firebase, few Assaults can resist following such a lure).
Vs. Gunners: Surprisingly simple foes to face if you know how. You only need
to cloak when you see one then run a wide circle around to their back (Gunners
are pretty nearsighted and move slowly, so you don't need to wait for them to
pass you as with an Assault, you can be more aggressive). Again, don't go for
their front (their minigun will kill you in seconds), but once you get behind
them, you've practically won. If they're deployed, just charge slash them and
start hacking away (or, if you prefer, it's a bit safer to use the critical
cloak combo for the shuriken launcher, and it's just as effective). If they
undeploy when you're slashing, grapple and they're dead. If they aren't
deployed, sprint up as fast as possible and grapple them (don't try to tack
on an extra hit beforehand). The grapple often kills them, but they might not
die so easily. If they survive the grapple, jump immediately. I don't care,
just jump. I said jump damn it. Why? Gunners reflex slam attack so frequently,
and their melee capabilities are so poor, that if you jump the slam you've all
but won the fight. They can't escape, and their grapple wouldn't kill you even
if they could hit you with it (which I have never had happen). That, and you
can keep slashing them from the air, so you don't miss a beat. Even if they
don't use the slam attack (which is rare), that means that they typically
wouldn't expect you to jump anyway, and they'll miss a few shots tracking you.
Gunners are the easiest kills you can get once you remember to jump after
every grapple. The only real problem is if they see you first, but you can
simply escape jump out of there and their miserable accuracy will see you off
with a spray of missed bullets. The shuriken launcher can sometimes work out,
but it's normally not worth the hassle considering that they so easily fall
to the blade. Still, it's worth a shot if they're deployed or otherwise not
moving, just don't get within range of their minigun (you can just barely be
accurate with the shuriken launcher from outside their range).
Vs. Snipers: At first they seem simple, then they use trap. Next they seem
impossible, then you use shuriken. Snipers are the easiest class to kill in
terms of damage, but their tricky tactics can sometimes cause headaches if
you can't catch them by surprise. Firstly, the general tactic is to sneak up
on them from any angle (backstab not necessary) and grapple them the instant
you get in range. After a successful grapple, back away to some extent so
they don't grapple you themselves (if they survive, that is) and blade lunge.
Rinse, repeat, dead. But that's only against the sort that sticks to the
sniper, feel free to be more aggressive if they swap to the SMG at closer
range, as they rarely use the grapple when they can spray bullets, and your
blade can easily finish them off in such a situation. Now to discuss their
other two abilities, flak and traps. Flak is so rarely used that I actually
can't give firsthand advice one way or the other. If it's deployed, I'd
recommend that you get ready to escape jump and watch your health, but I
doubt that it can seriously help them. I think it might make you visible if
you're cloaked, but I can't really tell since, again, it's so rarely an
issue. Traps are a major problem, however. They freeze you, uncloak you,
drain your skills, and lock you into place. Worse yet, the sniper can then
easily kill you with a headshot (and they call the Assassin cheap). On top of
all that, the traps are hard to spot when you run as fast as the Assassin.
There are three parts to dealing with traps: finding the traps, avoiding
them, and how to deal with being caught by one. First off, a Sniper can have
up to 3 traps (fully upgraded). With a bit of luck, you can see the Sniper
before the traps. Unlike with most classes, don't blitz the Sniper the second
you get behind them! It assures a kill against many a Gunner or Assault, but
it's safer to approach Snipers slowly. Scout for traps first (probe their
defenses), then plan your route of attack. Snipers don't move much, and their
scope makes them easier to hang around undetected (just keep an eye on your
cloak energy). So, take your time finding their traps first; it takes a lot
of practice to know how and when to look, but once you get the hang of it
they're a lot less of a threat. That being said, say you find a Sniper and his
traps, and lets assume that you're undetected. Now what? Well, that depends on
how the traps are set up. If the traps are placed in choke points, but not
within the Sniper's line of sight or some distance from him, it's best to jump
them. Not the basic jump, mind you, as the traps are proximity triggered (not
landmines), but the escape jump. If there's a fair amount of room around them
you can simply walk around of course, but I'm talking about getting around
well-placed traps. Anyway, if you can jump one such "door blocker" trap, the
Sniper will normally be taken completely unaware. The next possibility, the
Assassin-paranoid Sniper, who often puts trap(s) directly at their back/side.
It's quite funny, because you can actually run right through the trap and
grapple them while in its effect. That being said, it's hardly a good idea to
intentionally run through a trap, but it's still hilarious if you pull it
off. Typically though, if a Sniper has traps near himself that are too close
to him or to each other you're best off with the shuriken launcher. With the
Sniper's low health, tendency toward sitting still, and slow reaction time,
a critical clip of shuriken can easily dispatch the Sniper that takes traps
for granted as a guaranteed kill against Assassins. You typically don't need
the shuriken launcher, mind you, but be sure to keep it in mind if they ever
start getting spam-happy with their traps. Right, now for how to handle
actually getting hit by a trap. First, cloak and switch to the shuriken
launcher. Start jumping whenever you can, it helps break free a bit faster
and makes you a bit harder to shoot. It's not much help, but that little bit
can sometimes save you. The other important part, besides the escape, is to
harry the Sniper with enough trouble that he won't kill you before you can
get free. The throwing blade critical clip handles this well enough, as a
Sniper that takes damage from a trapped Assassin will often panic and run if
they sense an unexpected threat, or possibly underestimate the damage and
hold their ground (big mistake). On top of all that, if they do neither and
try to dodge the blades while returning fire, their vision and focus will be
obscured enough that it's much more likely they'll miss. It's a nasty
situation if you get caught in a trap, but it's hardly hopeless. If you can
react quickly and keep the Sniper confused, you can last long enough to
escape from the trap. If you do escape, use that smoke bomb and escape jump
out of there (or at least sprint and cloak to escape if the skill drain keeps
you from doing the former). Snipers themselves are hardly a real problem, but
their traps are a serious health hazard if you don't know how to handle them.
Vs. Supports: I was tempted to call this section "vs. firebases", as that's
a full half of the threat that Supports present. As a flexible class that can
be played in various ways, the Support is one of the most confounding foes to
face with the Assassin. I won't terrify you with the list of ways they can
destroy an Assassin, I'll go through the problems step-by-step (otherwise, I'm
sure that you would give up entirely, they're that much of a nightmare for the
untrained). Alright, first off, their heal/hurt gun. Cloak, it can't damage
you, stab him to death, done. Simple right? Well... not really. They'll swap
to the shotgun of death, the highest damage weapon in the game (undisputedly).
It can instantly kill even an armored Assassin with one or two well placed
shots, and it's a far superior melee weapon to the Assassin's blade. So, why
not just grapple them? Well that's a problem too, because they'll survive if
you grab them from the front (or even from behind with armor). So what? You
can just finish them with the blade-- woops, shotgun. Some Supports might not
use it, but it's still a major risk. Now, that means you need to have some
lightning-fast reflexes to finish them off, as well as twice as much caution
as to take them unawares... but then there's yet another problem: firebases.
A firebase can kill you faster than you can finish off a Support after a grab,
and they can mow you down as you prepare to approach... so, smoke bomb stun
solves the problem, right? Well then there's the issue of the Support nearby!
With all that going wrong, you're not going to win with typical strategies,
but it's luckily quite rare to find such an ideal Support. If you do, it gets
complicated, but most do something wrong at some point. Some don't use the
shotgun, some don't use firebases, and some just plain can't shoot or think
straight. Still, it's best to plan for the worst. As such, you've got to stop
worrying about the infinite problems of fighting Supports, and focus on the
solution. So lets take a look at the weaknesses of the Support. Recharge time,
the firebase takes an incredible amount of time to move the firebase if it's
still operational, so you never need to worry about them popping up somewhere
new unexpectedly. Second, firebases have a maximum range... shuriken don't. If
you tag it from a distance, you can take it out. Best of all, that stacks with
the Support's most fatal flaw: range. If the Support leaves the turret to
track down someone shooting it from a distance, they won't be able to heal it,
and they can't attack until they get much closer. On top of all that, the
shuriken criticals can demolish an unwary Support. If a Support is too
defensive about their firebase, this is one of the few effective ways to take
them, and their firebase, down for the count (other than enlisting the help of
a Sniper). Another idea, take advantage of the AI weaknesses of the Support's
firebase. It won't change targets if it's already shooting, it's vulnerable to
smoke stun, it can't shoot though walls, and it can't fire upon cloaked foes.
So, you can grapple the Support from around a corner if the firebase is near
"cover", you can grab him when it's distracted by bots or allied players, you
can stun it if the Support would still be easily grappled, or you can go for
broke and cloak during the grapple and hope for the best, relying on your
experience in melee combat. By that, I mean that your sword's superior speed
and tracking might make up for its lack of power and range compared to the
shotgun if you're good at dodging... and lucky. It boils down to trail and
error at some point, and it depends greatly on the specific person playing the
class, but if you play unconventionally you can take them out. On a better
note, once you master the stealth tactics regularly employed on Gunners and
the like, you handle the vast majority of Supports in the same manner. I only
mention all these insanely over-analytical possibilities because Supports are
so difficult to handle normally. It doesn't mean it's impossible, so be sure
to try fighting them as if they were a less complicated class, then use logic
to counter the individual quirks of the player if you fail. Again, it's about
trail and error most of the time when you fight a Support, so just make sure
to escape jump if you take any damage before you plan to.
Vs. Tanks: The strongest melee class in the game, he can easily kill a
trillion Assassins that go for the typical grapple/slash combination. Even
with perfect timing and reflexes, the Tank will kill an Assassin like he's
swatting flies. Even with a backstab, a Tank can survive a grapple without
armor, with only a single upgrade. His spin attack is lethal, the fire effect
nullifies cloak and does devastating damage over time... it's terrifying to
contemplate trying to take one down by force, and so you need to play as the
epitome of Assassin. So, what are this behemoth's weaknesses? That's a damn
good question. First off, do not under any circumstance grapple a healthy Tank
unless you have a death-wish. Go ahead, try it, see if I'm kidding. Unless he
is completely clueless, he'll use the spin attack or charge, and the Tank's
charge is twice as accurate as the Assault's (since he's twice as big). Still,
the biggest weakness to the Tank is that he can't outright kill an Assassin
that has armor. With armor, you can tank (god that's a horrible joke) the spin
attack and get off an extra sword lunge before he has time to reload. But...
that's still not enough most of the time, which is certainly a problem, until
you realize one key fact: you can lunge before you grapple too. With two such
lunges and a back grapple, you can kill some Tanks before they get to reload.
But... it's still a risky plan. Better off to rush them when they're weakened
by an ally, or to avoid playing right into their strengths of melee. So, why
not just use the shuriken launcher critical trick to break down their massive
defenses. It's best to attack from just outside their spin range with the
shuriken. One of two things will happen, they'll rush you (which makes it easy
to pelt them with more shuriken, given the Tank's terrible mobility), or they
will switch weapons (in which cast you should rush them and grapple them for
the kill). It's one of the few situations where you can't go wrong by sticking
to the shuriken launcher, and it's the number one reason to go with rate of
fire endorsements. The Tank is killable otherwise, but that comes down to luck
and timing. On the bright side, Tanks have just as poor a time killing an
Assassin, since after a spin attack you can escape jump to safety with ease.
Also, you can easily take them out when they are deployed with the throwing
blade critical trick, as with Gunners, but the grapple/blade combo is still
inadvisable due to the spin attack's eminent threat. With less health, you'll
be back in action much sooner than the Tank, so it's also possible to harry
them with repeated failed attempts and wait for them to switch tactics and
screw up. Just because you can't easily kill them doesn't negate that Tanks
have the hardest time taking out an escape-happy Assassin. It's still a gamble
regardless, and it's often better to avoid Tanks, but you can take them out
with a steady hand and a cautious approach. The key is when they're dead that
you'll be still alive, so focus on saving yourself, not killing the Tank.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, the problem with this section is that the guide hasn't been published
long enough to actually have any questions, so these are speculation and
random information I left out before.
Q: Hey, how come I can't move... and am I even taking damage?
A: Congratulations, you've found quite a rare glitch: the grapple lock. The
conditions are hardly clear, but apparently you are sometimes invulnerable
and immobile after grapples. It appears that it might happen if the enemy (or
yourself) are killed somehow during the grapple. It's an extremely rare bug,
and I've only seen it happen once, but your health bar becomes stuck at empty
and you can't move except for attacking. I think grapples might break you out,
but the game ended before I got to test it more and it's hardly much of a bug
you can exploit much, so feel free to take pot shots at foes with the shuriken
launcher to entertain yourself until you find a way out.
Q: You mentioned an infinite sprint glitch... TELLS MEEES!!!!
A: If you've read this far, it means you're both bored and a damn good
listener. Since you are likely to heed the rest of my information to have
bothered to get this far, and considering that infinite sprint can hardly
break a class with such poor stats to begin with... fine, I can hardly keep it
a secret and expect you to think I actually have any credibility anyway. To
sprint indefinitely, you mash the X button while running, and sometimes when
you press fast enough might lock yourself in a higher speed. You'll know that
you did it right if you see your sprint regenerating while you run with the
sprinting animation, or if you find yourself running even faster than with
typical sprint. It's mostly useful early game when you don't have money to
spare on sprint upgrades, or for getting to the enemies from the spawn after a
death, or on rare occasion for escaping from enemies when you're in real
trouble. It's not much of an offensive tool, so it's negligible enough for me
to not mind blathering about. Also, if it becomes common knowledge, it's much
more likely to be patched, so that was a double edged question for you.
Q: Yo, why are all these questions about glitches?
A: Screw you, figment of my imagination, read on before you get all
judgmental. Glitches are what I know will be asked about, that's all.
Q: How come your format is so wierd? You crammed everything into the basic
controls sections and it makes no sense...
A: I was explaining how to use each input, in much more detail than is
necessary. This way, if you find yourself having trouble with jumping or with
cloaking, or if you can't get as many kills as you want with shuriken or with
the blade, you can go right to the control tied to the manuver. Just because
it's not how everyone else does something doesn't mean it's inconvenient.
Still, it is annoying that I have to seperate them with paragraphs, because
that means I can't add line breaks for readability, so I would like to head
about suggestions to fix that problem...
Q: How do I play as a--
A: If your next words aren't Assassin then I'll kick you, and if they are
Assassin then I'll stare blankly, point to the guide... then kick you anyway.
Q: Can I contact you about miswording, or--
A: Yes, if you're not sure about it, contact me anyway. My time is simply
just not valuable enough to be wastable, so contact me even if it's about a
single typo, or for a simple thank you... or even a single insult. Hell, it's
as fun to be thanked as it is to yell at flamers, so send whatever you want.
Actually, viruses are annoying, because they take a full minute to erase, so
I don't need any of those. XD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. FINAL WORDS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Respawn in 3... 2... 1...
No, that's not what I meant...
Right, contact me, I'm bored and I need feedback on the guide. I might put
something more meaningful here after I get a better feel for what I'm doing,
but I honestly don't have any clever end to this so I'm just going to...
Oh, I remember now, special thanks, that's kind of important. >_<
- Uber Games: for the most fun I've had with a multiplayer shooter.
- Rachel: for encouragement, spell-checking, et cetera.
- Shadow of Metal (GameFAQs.com forums): for some great shuriken tips.
- ArierWizard (Xbox Live): because it'll anger my enemies.
- Megaman915 (Xbox Live): because I really know few people who play MNC.
- Anyone else who I seriously ADDed out on and forgot to mention.
- You, for actually reading every word of this guide.
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