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A Guide for Stronghold PvP
Archived Post
Posts: 1,156,071 Arc User
CONTENTS:
1) Intro
2) Glossary and Map
3) Overall Gameplay: the 3 stages
- A. First Push
- B. Mid-Game (has Video)
- C. Kill the Leaders
4) A Note On Teamwork
5) Squishy Tips, by Niraya@Xeiros
6) Tank Tips, by Triple Agent@Maffreaky
7) Healer Tips, by Mobs@Mobscene and Vixy Medikipz@kamokami (has Video)
8) On Being Nice
--- slightly more advanced stuff below ---
9) Stealthsight, by Monoid@Isometry
10) Tips of the Mudkipz (has Video)
___________
11) Hilarious Quotes (that came up during the process of creating this guide).
12) Thanks!
Intro:
This guide is meant to help those completely new to Stronghold. If you read the helper text in the lobby and were frustrated by the match that followed or felt confused then this guide is for joo!
Despite totaling over 1,500 Stronghold wins across all 3 of her characters, Vixy still loses games all the time. So if you lose, it's okay...you're not that incredibly special. Lots of people lose. Learn from it, ask for help here and in-game and you will improve. It is hard to admit that you have room for improvement and very easy to blame the lack of balance between powers or someone's cheap combos. Just remember that doing the latter will prevent you from advancing your gameplay. After all, why do the work of getting better when you can just whine?
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/4466/234234234234.jpg
All the guides in the world won't help you if you refuse to learn. Have you admitted that you can improve? If yes, then keep reading.
Vixy has also enlisted the help of several super badass players to help her with this guide. You may see their names in several places throughout the guide.
____________________________________________
Glossary and Map:
The map is here:
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/2443/mapkipz.png
Vixy recommends opening it up in a new window so that you can refer to it as you read along.
Turrets - Their most notable ability is that of disabling travel powers of all hostile players within their vicinity. Their damage output is not too bad either. Pic: http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9960/turreti.jpg
Summon Console - Activating the Summon Console summons Reinforcements. Taking damage from a player interrupts activation. The Summon Console becomes available for activation only every 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Pic: http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/478/summonconsole.jpg
Reinforcements - These are NPCs that you can call upon to fight by your side! Your opponents have Reinforcements they can summon as well.
Control Consoles - These affect how many Reinforcements you can call upon using the Summon Console. If your team has both Control Consoles (your own and that of your opposition), then you can call upon 3 NPCs using the the Summon Console. If your team has one Control Console, then you can get 2 NPCs max using the Summon Console. If you do not have control over any of the Control Consoles then you get to summon only one NPC. Activating, or "hacking", a console can be interrupted if you take damage. Pic: http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/7769/controlconsole.jpg
Console Guards - These chumps are summoned when a Control Console is activated. They are weaker than the Reinforcements and generally tend to stay around the Control Console that they are supposed to be guarding. Usually you have to kill them first in order to take control of the Console.
NPC Descriptions by Cutie Pie@Pantagruel:
Hero Reinforcement A: Sapphire. Force, Personal Force Field. Spawns if you have 1 or both consoles controlled. As a force NPC, healing her is of limited value, though she's obnoxious for the other team and thus worth keeping up.
Hero Reinforcement B: Justicar. Power Armor, Defiance, Invulnerability. Spawns if you have 1 or both consoles controlled. The combined defenses make him stupidly tough, so he's definitely worth healing.
Hero Reinforcement C: Kodiak. Might, Defiance. Spawns if you have 0 or both consoles controlled.
__________________
Villain Reinforcement A: Lacuna. Force, Personal Force Field, Lightning Reflexes. Spawns if you have 1 or both consoles controlled. As a force NPC, healing her is of limited value, though she's obnoxious for the other team and thus worth keeping up.
Villain Reinforcement B: Dread Metal. Power Armor, Invulnerability. Spawns if you have 1 or both consoles controlled. Unlike Justicar, he only has Invulnerability, which makes him rather squishy.
Villain Reinforcement C: Ogre. Might, Defiance. Spawns if you have 0 or both consoles controlled.
Leaders - The objective of Stronghold is to kill both of the opposing team's "boss" NPCs known as the Leaders. They are further specified below.
Weak Leader
- this refers to Witchcraft [Pic: http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/6285/witchcraft.jpg] on the Heroes side. She has personal force field, aura of ebon destruction, some sorcery. Main threat is spamming a Hold called Bindings of Araton. Once the force field is down she's basically dead.
- Dr. Tenebrous [Pic: http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/7565/drtenebrous.jpg] on the Villains side. He has personal force field, aura of ebon destruction, some sorcery. Main threat is spamming a Hold called Bindings of Araton. Once the force field is down he's pretty much toast.
Strong Leader:
- refers to Ironclad [Pic: http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7004/ironclad.jpg] on the Heroes team. He has Defiance and is very strong.
- Raza [Pic: http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/5963/raza.jpg] on the Villains team. He has Defiance and is very strong.
1) Intro
2) Glossary and Map
3) Overall Gameplay: the 3 stages
- A. First Push
- B. Mid-Game (has Video)
- C. Kill the Leaders
4) A Note On Teamwork
5) Squishy Tips, by Niraya@Xeiros
6) Tank Tips, by Triple Agent@Maffreaky
7) Healer Tips, by Mobs@Mobscene and Vixy Medikipz@kamokami (has Video)
8) On Being Nice
--- slightly more advanced stuff below ---
9) Stealthsight, by Monoid@Isometry
10) Tips of the Mudkipz (has Video)
___________
11) Hilarious Quotes (that came up during the process of creating this guide).
12) Thanks!
Intro:
This guide is meant to help those completely new to Stronghold. If you read the helper text in the lobby and were frustrated by the match that followed or felt confused then this guide is for joo!
Despite totaling over 1,500 Stronghold wins across all 3 of her characters, Vixy still loses games all the time. So if you lose, it's okay...you're not that incredibly special. Lots of people lose. Learn from it, ask for help here and in-game and you will improve. It is hard to admit that you have room for improvement and very easy to blame the lack of balance between powers or someone's cheap combos. Just remember that doing the latter will prevent you from advancing your gameplay. After all, why do the work of getting better when you can just whine?
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/4466/234234234234.jpg
All the guides in the world won't help you if you refuse to learn. Have you admitted that you can improve? If yes, then keep reading.
Vixy has also enlisted the help of several super badass players to help her with this guide. You may see their names in several places throughout the guide.
____________________________________________
Glossary and Map:
The map is here:
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/2443/mapkipz.png
Vixy recommends opening it up in a new window so that you can refer to it as you read along.
Turrets - Their most notable ability is that of disabling travel powers of all hostile players within their vicinity. Their damage output is not too bad either. Pic: http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9960/turreti.jpg
Summon Console - Activating the Summon Console summons Reinforcements. Taking damage from a player interrupts activation. The Summon Console becomes available for activation only every 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Pic: http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/478/summonconsole.jpg
Reinforcements - These are NPCs that you can call upon to fight by your side! Your opponents have Reinforcements they can summon as well.
Control Consoles - These affect how many Reinforcements you can call upon using the Summon Console. If your team has both Control Consoles (your own and that of your opposition), then you can call upon 3 NPCs using the the Summon Console. If your team has one Control Console, then you can get 2 NPCs max using the Summon Console. If you do not have control over any of the Control Consoles then you get to summon only one NPC. Activating, or "hacking", a console can be interrupted if you take damage. Pic: http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/7769/controlconsole.jpg
Console Guards - These chumps are summoned when a Control Console is activated. They are weaker than the Reinforcements and generally tend to stay around the Control Console that they are supposed to be guarding. Usually you have to kill them first in order to take control of the Console.
NPC Descriptions by Cutie Pie@Pantagruel:
Hero Reinforcement A: Sapphire. Force, Personal Force Field. Spawns if you have 1 or both consoles controlled. As a force NPC, healing her is of limited value, though she's obnoxious for the other team and thus worth keeping up.
Hero Reinforcement B: Justicar. Power Armor, Defiance, Invulnerability. Spawns if you have 1 or both consoles controlled. The combined defenses make him stupidly tough, so he's definitely worth healing.
Hero Reinforcement C: Kodiak. Might, Defiance. Spawns if you have 0 or both consoles controlled.
__________________
Villain Reinforcement A: Lacuna. Force, Personal Force Field, Lightning Reflexes. Spawns if you have 1 or both consoles controlled. As a force NPC, healing her is of limited value, though she's obnoxious for the other team and thus worth keeping up.
Villain Reinforcement B: Dread Metal. Power Armor, Invulnerability. Spawns if you have 1 or both consoles controlled. Unlike Justicar, he only has Invulnerability, which makes him rather squishy.
Villain Reinforcement C: Ogre. Might, Defiance. Spawns if you have 0 or both consoles controlled.
Leaders - The objective of Stronghold is to kill both of the opposing team's "boss" NPCs known as the Leaders. They are further specified below.
Weak Leader
- this refers to Witchcraft [Pic: http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/6285/witchcraft.jpg] on the Heroes side. She has personal force field, aura of ebon destruction, some sorcery. Main threat is spamming a Hold called Bindings of Araton. Once the force field is down she's basically dead.
- Dr. Tenebrous [Pic: http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/7565/drtenebrous.jpg] on the Villains side. He has personal force field, aura of ebon destruction, some sorcery. Main threat is spamming a Hold called Bindings of Araton. Once the force field is down he's pretty much toast.
Strong Leader:
- refers to Ironclad [Pic: http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7004/ironclad.jpg] on the Heroes team. He has Defiance and is very strong.
- Raza [Pic: http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/5963/raza.jpg] on the Villains team. He has Defiance and is very strong.
Post edited by Archived Post on
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Comments
Before getting into more specific tips and tricks, Vixy wants to provide a general overview of a typical Stronghold match. For the purposes of clarity, she has divided the match into 3 stages. There are exceptions and in many cases the stages overlap. This is meant to serve as a general outline and if you disagree with how Vixy has thrown it together, write your own guide. Just kidding
A. First Push
Niraya@Xeiros: "When a match first gets underway, the two main goals will be to summon reinforcements and prevent the other team for achieving the same."
Leo The Lion King of Lionland@danaentertana: "Try and decide, with your teammates, before the battle begins who will be going right/left at the start. Could make a huge difference in the outcome of the battle, who gets their Reinforcements first."
This is key. What happens during the First Push usually dictates the rest of the match. If your team can accomplish what Niraya and Leo mentioned above then you will put the other team on the defensive and most likely keep them there.
Offense:
- After summoning Reinforcements you have 3 minutes and 20 seconds until the Summon Console becomes available again. In that time it is imperative that you move quickly. Try to accomplish as much as possible whether that means killing Turrets or protecting your Reinforcements. You only get them every so often, don't let them die without pushing as far as possible into the opposing team's base.
Defense:
- If the opposing team has Reinforcements out and you have not summoned anyone, what can you do? Take out the enemy Reinforcements asap and try to summon your own. Those should be your main objectives.
You also want to prevent the other team from destroying as many of your Turrets as possible. Once you get your own Reinforcements out, get on the offensive.
B. Mid-Game
Speed, you needs it. This stage usually comes after both team's 1st set of Reinforcements are dead. The clock is ticking and pretty soon the next set of Reinforcements will become available. How can you contribute in the meantime?
Some choices are:
- Capture the opponent's Control Console
- Defend your Turrets
- Kill the opponents' Turrets to pave the way for when you summon Reinforcements
All of these choices are valid. The important thing here is to make a decision and stick with it. Do not let up until you accomplish your task or until it's time to summon. Keep an eye on the bottom right corner as it contains information which let's you know how the match is progressing.
http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/9585/shui.jpg
Niraya@Xeiros: "In the lower right hand corner there will be two boxes. One for each team. If a team has a green check mark in their box it means they can summon Reinforcements.
Also in the lower right hand corner are the symbols for the map's two consoles. These are represented by NE and SW respectively. Which team they are next to will tell you who controls which consoles."
VIDEO:
A mudkipz focuses on taking down the Turrets
C. Kill the Leaders
The main sign of a match reaching this stage is that most Turrets are destroyed (on one or both teams) and there is a clear path to killing the Leaders.
This is the point of the match. Many people forget that. Don't be one of those people...remind yourself and your team to focus fire on the opponent's Leaders. If you're on the defensive, take out the people that are targeting your Leaders first. Everyone else is secondary.
Leo The Lion King of Lionland@danaentertana: "If a teammate is attacking the opposing player's leader... help them! This may sound obvious, but I often find that some players are not aggressive enough and are too afraid to attack a Leader unless it's with their whole team."
Niraya@Xeiros: "...a player death means nothing but lost time. A Leader death can spell a loss for the entire match (or a win
Well that's generally how it goes. First you try and get Reinforcements, then capture the Control Consoles and clear out Turrets, and finally you go after the Leaders. From a defensive point of view you try to prevent each of those three things from being done to your team!
What follows are some more specific tips based on whether you are primarily a Squishy offensive toon, a Tank, or a Healer. But first....
A Note On Teamwork:
Often each player will have their own agenda or pattern that they always play through no matter what. That player's team then gets trampled by a well coordinated assault from the opposition.
Here's what requires teamwork:
- Figuring out who's going right or left at the start.
- Timing Console takeovers so that they happen right before your teammate is about to summon Reinforcements
- Focusing fire on the Turrets, Healers, and Leaders.
- Traveling together as opposed to by yourself.
- Designating who will be attacking the enemy Leaders, ensuring Console control, and defending home base.
A team that does even one of the above items well will utterly demolish the opposition if each member of the opposing team acts independently. It's important to recognize that you actually need your teammates in order to do well at each of the 3 stages. They're not just there for the lulz.
Play with your teammates, not next to them
This assumes you are using an offensive slotted passive. You've sacrificed some survivability for damage. You can be a real asset to your team if you put your skills to good use. Be aware that ganging up is all too real in Stronghold so always try to travel with a teammate or two.
The best defense, in your case is a fast, hard hitting offensive. Make heavy use of both your high damage and CC abilities whenever you are able.
Killing Turrets:
- You've got nasty damage, but you sure as hell can't take what you can dish out. These big guns are not only locking down your travel powers, but they're also dealing a barrage of high damage ticks. No escape. Gotta take em out fast.
- In general when attacking one of these with an offensive build you will need to hit your active defensive power and spike them down as quickly as possible. (Vixy's note: stunning or holding a Turret is also a good way to buy the time you need to destroy it)
Capturing Control Consoles:
- Attempting to capture a Console with a single target attack sucks. AoE AoE AoE! I cannot stress that enough. It's that simple.
Killing the Leaders:
- If you can, kill the minor npcs first even if it takes more than one trip. Killing the leaders as a squishy will often involve numerous deaths.
- This is where your defensive clickies will come into play, but don't waste them. You can run away to heal up when you're low on hp. This will save you more time than having to run all the way back after a death.
- Since you are such a threat to the other team's leaders you will likely be targeted by the other team. Just make the most of the time you have to leave a good dent. Hopefully your teammates will have your back.
- Don't ever stop. Stronghold is all about speed and taking advantage of lost time. From a player kill to a turret demolition on to a console capture to another player kill. Keep that offense coming and send your foes reeling.
____________________________________________
Tank Tips, by Triple Agent@Maffreaky:
Killing Turrets:
- Whenever possible hold aggro off your fellow teammates and especially your summoned Reinforcements. They don't self heal and cannot respawn more than once every 3 mintes and 20 seconds.
- If there is a lull or your team seems to be handling things, it can be very helpful to solo a turret and its two npc buddies.
Capturing and Holding Control Consoles:
- Throughout the game, and especially the beginning, hold down the opposing team's Summon Console (left hallway). An AoE can help you keep multiple players from activating it.
- Since you lack the damage of a squishy offensive build, a knockback or large damage spike power is often needed to disrupt shielded opponents from activating consoles.
- If another player is with you when capturing Control Consoles, do your best to grab the aggro of all the NPC Guards. Then your teammate can capture the Console, help you burn down npc's, or heal you as they see fit.
- A shield, stealth, or hold power is nice for capturing Control Consoles out from defenders.
Killing Players:
- Focus mostly on holding npc's and players' attention. While your team regroups or works on consoles you can hold off 2-5 enemies, buying valuable time.
- When you can afford to focus your fire, go for support toons and offensive squishies. You might not have much luck against fellow tanks, and they don't pose as much of a threat to you either.
Killing and Defending Leaders:
- Focus on holding enemy leader aggro, but don't discount your own damage contributions.
- If the other team has a healer do what you can to disrupt them. However, most veteran healers are very hard to kill and you'll likely need help.
- If defending, hold the aggro of any enemy Reinforcements. Help wear down and disrupt players.
- If your Leaders are just under a minor attack, often it's better to let your team handle it because you don't have as much damage and are capable of soloing enemy forces elsewhere.
____________________________________________
Healer Tips, by Mobs@Mobscene and Vixy Medikipz@kamokami:
Killing Turrets:
Whichever teammate is attacking the Turret takes priority. Do not let them die. Try to stay outside of the Turret's travel power suppression zone in case you need to get away, though sometimes it's unavoidable.
Capturing Consoles:
Mobs@Mobscene: When capturing a Control Console or summoning Reinforcements throw on all the bubbles you can like Mindful Reinforcement and Protection Field. This is done so that the enemy has to break through the bubble before damaging and interrupting you as you interact with the Console. Pic: http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/1512/234323423423.jpg
Healing Players:
Knowing which players to heal is tricky business. Basically you have to know which task is most important for your team at that time and go help whoever is doing it. Does your team need to control more consoles because you're about to get Reinforcements? Is a Squishy teammate trying to assasinate the enemy Leaders? Did the enemy just get Reinforcements that are ganging up on one of your teammates?
Vixy's priority list is the following:
1) Leaders. If your Leaders die, you lose. If one Leader dies you may get stuck playing defense the whole time and then eventually lose.
2) Reinforcements. The enemy's goal is to kill them asap. Yours is to keep them alive. Bonus points if you keep the first set alive long enough to use the Summon Console a second time and get 2 sets of Reinforcements. That will usually win you the game.
3) Key Players. See paragraph above. Someone that keeps attacking an enemy Tank probably does not deserve your attention. However, a Squishy teammate that has aggroed the enemy Leader because of their damage output could use your help.
VIDEO:
Vixy Medikipz guiding reinforcements towards enemy Leaders. Note how players are mostly ignored and the primary focus is to keep the reinforcements alive.
Healing Leaders:
The number one reason Healers lose is that their team lacks offensive initiative. Everyone hangs out at home base while the enemy clears out all the turrets, gains control over both consoles, and comes pouring into the base with their entire team + 3 NPC Reinforcements. Do not let your team fall into the trap of sitting at home base.
Mobs@Mobscene: If your team is going to defend turrets and Leaders you should always have at least one player on offense. It's very important to keep the pressure on and split up the opposing team, especially when they are attacking your Leaders.
And a related quote from a non-healer:
Leo The Lion King of Lionland@danaentertana: Babysitting! Don't friggin do it! If you want to win, I find babysitting your Leader to be a waste of time and a good way to lose. If you are sitting by your Leader the whole match, who's killing your opponent's Leader?
____________________________________________
This is actually pretty important, especially if you agree that teamwork makes a big difference. Coordinate with your teammates and be courteous to your opponents because they will end up on your team at one point or another.
If you get pwned, not just in Stronghold, but in any PvP situation try asking the person that pwned you how they did it. It's one of the best ways to learn and improve!
Often, matches will start off lopsided: 3vs2 or 5vs4, etc. Offer to sit out until the teams are even. This will earn you the respect of everyone in the match and even if the match ends as a loss, the respect you get will pay dividends down the road. Plus a lopsided victory doesn't feel as great. And in case you lose even when your team had more members, it feels even worse.
Stealthsight, by Monoid@Isometry:
The ability to target and attack other players while they use Teleport and other stealth powers is commonly called Stealthsight. It is very useful for hunting down squishy assassins like Vixy Squishykipz in Stronghold.
Niraya@Xeiros: "Cool thing about Stealthsight: you can see enemy players on your minimap so if they are hiding around corners and up on the walls you can hunt them down and kill them."
Stealthsight is something that any archetype or freeform character can obtain by wearing the right gear. It requires items with the "+100% perception" attribute, they can be found on the auction house by searching for the names "sensory", "seer", and "scanning."
For achieving Stealthsight there are two methods: if your INT stat is 140 or higher then use two pieces of gear with +100% perception, if your INT is below 140 then use three pieces of gear with +100% perception. You can experiment with two pieces of perception gear and INT slightly below 140 for partial Stealthsight.
Wearing perception gear is always a tradeoff because it means a loss of at least 40-60 stat points (at level 40), and requires collecting and managing extra pieces of equipment. The decision of whether to use Stealthsight depends on your character's build and your playstyle.
Up to now Vixy has kept things very simple and has done her best to stick to the basics. Even then it's a lot to take in. So take the time and absorb the information above before trying any of the more advanced stuff below. Disclaimer: these are specific to Vixy's playstyle so they may not apply in your case. Make sure you are comfortable with your own style and build before adopting any of this.
1) Teleporting Around Corners: this is especially handy if you are squishy. You want to see your opponents before they see you so when you're rounding a corner, stick to the ceiling and use Teleport.
2) Taking Advantage of the Environment: use the ledges on the walls, go to the far corners of the opponent's base, hide under the stairs in the Heroes base if you see a big spike coming your way. When using the Summon Consoles, land on the pipe near the ceiling and activate it from there many players forget to look up and will not spot you. When capturing Control Consoles, position yourself in the corner where the Console meets the wall and use your smallest costume. You will be harder to spot.
3) Assassinating the Weak Leader: another sneaky tactic is to ninja your way to the back of the enemy base and kill off their Weak Leader before anyone has time to react. This is also a good tactic when your team is attacking the Strong Leader. It puts the opponents on the defensive which is right where you want 'em.
VIDEO:
Can you spot how Vixy executes Tips #1, 2, and 3?
4) Distract and Deceive: one of Vixy's favoite defensive tactics during the Kill the Leaders stage is to very briefly attack the enemy Leader and then run away. This causes a message to show up for the enemy team, stating that their Leader is under attack. Usually one or two players, sometimes the whole team, rushes back to find no one there. Meanwhile Vixy goes off to capture consoles or kill the remaining enemies attacking Vixy's Leaders.
5) Identifying Valuable Targets: getting a high score is easy - just kill a bunch of boxes. High scores don't win you games though. Just like a good healer knows who's worth healing, you have to know who's worth killing. Over time you'll identify these targets easier and faster, but a good rule of thumb is to take out the Squishies and not the Tanks.
Squishies are both easier to kill and more dangerous. Tanks want you to attack them, so don't. You're not some Manimal from Monster Island that attacks whatever hits it with crippling challenge...don't act like one.
If there's one particular player that's making a huge difference and you end up having to kill them all the time, try sending them a tell after the match explaining that it was not personal and that they were too good to be ignored. This makes a huge difference as far as teamwork goes when that player ends up on your team in another match.
6) Some Differences Between Heroes and Villains: always kill the squishiest Reinforcement NPC first. Keep in mind that Justicar is much tougher than his Villain counterpart. On the other hand, the Villain Console Guards are more powerful than the Hero Guards. Sometimes it's fun to let the Heroes capture a console just so that you can re-capture it and summon more guards as a result. You can build up quite the army this way.
7) Use Teleport to boost your speed: Teleport accelerates you to max speed instantly and you can use that fact to boost your average movement speed significantly. Speed is key in Stronghold! Vixy likes to Teleport first then charge up Superspeed while she's phased in.
---Update #1---
8) Dealing with Defiant NPCs: This includes Justicar, Ironclad, Raza, Ogre, and Kodiak.
Watch their Defiant stacks. Use full charge attacks when they're at 0 stacks and use maintains/taps when they're at full stacks.
Justicar and Kodiak: if you know that enemy is about to summon Reinforcements and you're a squishy high dmg spiker, try to get to these NPCs first. Get to them before they draw aggro from others and the Turrets and before they get a chance to build up stacks. Then hit them with your most damaging full charge attack.
Squishykipz one-shots Justicar on a regular basis because when he first comes out his Defiant stacks are at 0.
Same deal with the Leaders (Raza and Ironclad)...your first attack should be a massive spike. Not something lame like a lunge or your energy builder, which would make the NPC build up Defiant stacks. A good hit and run tactic here is to spike, run away until their Defiant drops to 0 and come back for another spike.
---Update #2---
9) Focusing Fire and Picking Targets: Set up your options such that lifebars for Hostile Players are always shown. This way you can more quickly see which of your enemies is closer to death and be better able to focus your damage output with the rest of your team.
To change this option go to Options > Hud (all the way to the right) > Hostile Players (scroll down to the bottom).
Screenshot here:
http://photoupload.org/uploads/13267578631.png
Enabling this option has helped Vixy get many kills. The difference between an enemy that's low on hp and one that is dead is super massively hugekipz. So the speed at which you notice an opportunity for a kill will have a big impact. Hope this helps!
__________________________
If you have tricks like the above that you'd like to see here send Vixy a PM and she will consider adding them with appropriate credit. Don't send Vixy any 'sploits please as they will not appear here but will be sent to the devs instead. Kthx!!
Hilarious Quotes:
One of Leo's submissions for tips -
try to have fun
A tip by Niraya@Xeiros -
...also swinging is good if you're Triple Agent.
Another submission by Leo -
if the match is clearly a loss, then just relax, have even moar fun
Blind Justice@Briguy submitted this gem -
"Mongo take Defiance, Mongo smash!"
And of course Jeshu@crazyguy, easily one of the most experienced players in Champions, had this to say -
Sword Cyclone :rolleyes:
Thanks!
Vixy hopes that you enjoyed her guide to Stronghold PvP. Feel free to PM her directly or just reply here with questions, feedback, and any additions that you would like to see. Vixy doesn't promise that changes will be made but she will read your suggestions.
Vixy would like to thank Niraya@Xeiros, Triple Agent@Maffreaky, Leo The Lion King of Lionland@danaentertana, Monoid@Isometry, Mobs@Mobscene, and Cutie Pie@Pantagruel for providing the awesome tips that make this guide the best thing since sliced bread.
But most of all, Vixy would like to thank herself for being a mudkipz.
if everyone follows this post even slightly we will have better Stronghold matches!
(Edit)
Only thing I have to add is something for everyone/everybuild
If you can't beat that one player, stop and do something else more usefull rather than running up and trying over and over. Can't kill that player? Go help a teammate take on a turret or defend your own with a buddy.
So much excellent information in just this one paragraph alone, and then there's the rest of the guide
Ty, and @bigboypantswearingfolks, STICKY PREAZE!!!
Great work, to all involved!
Sticky or i quit!
Ty ty. Now about that sticky....:D
I think that would be under "tips of the mudkipz" #5
They need to sticky this!
- Trouble
Ahh so you're Trouble! Thanks for the support. Let me know if you'd like more info on anything in there. See you in game!
Depends which of my characters I'm playing.
Construct grabs the big guy and pulls him out of the entry room. This makes it easier for my teammates to get at the squishy if they want as well as keeps the big guy focused on beating on me, not knockback locking my teammates. Since Construct is very hard to kill, I can usually keep said big guy locked up until my team gets around to killing him. Construct can also speed heal his bosses if need be which makes him that much more annoying to his opponents.
Lady E prefers getting past the big guy and bugzapping the squishy with lolsigils. However, since pretty much all her attacks are AoE of some type, she has a bad habit of attacking everything in the room. Unlike Construct, she is a delicate flower so this tends to be a bit...exciting for her.
SARAH doesn't care. She just kills whatever is in front of her. If it's squishy, she's a PA spiker using classic concussor-chest beam. If it's not, she's a gadgeteer with orbital cannon, ye ol' spinny engine of annoyance, and a chainsaw. Strange as that may sound, the chainsaw is still very effective even with electric form as a passive.
Mite is a zookeeper. That means she just casually strolls through Stronghold watching her pets take down the turrets, console guards, whatever. After all, she gets up to 14 pets total, so it's not like she's really needed. Occasionally one of the other team will target her. She's also SS Con Defiant so beating on her is a long drawn out process during which time her pets happily thrash whoever jumped her.
Sergeant Happy is my second best tank. So, he tends to want to tie up the big guy. However, unlike Construct who only has two actual attacks, Sarge has a plethora of options for damage output. He cannot tie up bosses anywhere near as well as Construct can, but he can kill them much faster.
Xavori kills players trying to protect the bosses. He's not quite as tank-y as Construct, and he has nowhere near the deeps of Lady E, so that's where he's most useful. He also has all the annoy-the-hell-out-of-the-other-player powers like evasive maneuvers, smoke grenades, and ego storm. Even if he can't kill you, he can really drive you batty. This tends to lead to fun conversations in zone chat that are full of lulz. And really, if you haven't figured out how much of what I do is for the lulz, you haven't been paying attention.
Hero Squishy Leader: Witchcraft. Has personal force field, aura of ebon destruction, some sorcery. Main threat is spamming of bindings of araton. Not terribly worth healing, once the force field is down she's pretty much toast anyway.
Hero Tanky Leader: Ironclad. Might, Defiance. NPC defiance is very strong, so healing is useful on him.
Hero Reinforcement A: Sapphire. Force, PFF. Spawns if you have 1 or 2 consoles controlled. As a force NPC, healing her is of limited value, though she's obnoxious for the other team and thus worth keeping up.
Hero Reinforcement B: Justicar. Power Armor, Defiance, Invulnerability. Spawns if you have 1 or 2 consoles controlled. The combined defenses make him stupidly tough, so he's definitely worth healing.
Hero Reinforcement C: Kodiak. Might, Defiance (?). Spawns if you have 0 or 2 consoles controlled.
Hero MV: Sweeper (Power Armor)
Hero V: SPARC armor (Power Armor)
Hero H: I forget (Pistols)
Villain Squishy Leader: Dr Tenebrous. Has personal force field, aura of ebon destruction, some sorcery. Main threat is spamming of bindings of araton. Not terribly worth healing, once the force field is down he's pretty much toast anyway.
Villain Tanky Leader: Raza. Might, Defiance. NPC defiance is very strong, so healing is useful on him.
Villain Reinforcement A: Lacuna. Force, PFF, Lightning Reflexes. Spawns if you have 1 or 2 consoles controlled. As a force NPC, healing her is of limited value, though she's obnoxious for the other team and thus worth keeping up.
Villain Reinforcement B: Dread Metal. Power Armor, Invulnerability. Spawns if you have 1 or 2 consoles controlled. Unlike Justicar, does not have Defiance, and NPC Invulnerability is not good.
Villain Reinforcement C: Ogre. Might, Defiance. Spawns if you have 0 or 2 consoles controlled.
Villain MV: Psionic Mastermind (telepathy)
Villain V: Elemental Felon (mostly annoying for snow storm), Feral Felon (claws)
Villain H: I forget
Someone check these things, I probably made some mistakes and it's not convenient for me to check atm. Some particular questions: does Sapphire have LR like Lacuna? Does Kodiak have Defiance or Regen? Lesser NPC info?
Also, worth pointing out that reinforcements are not every 3:20, they are available 3:20 after the last time you called for them, and it possible (though rare) to have multiple sets of reinforcements in the game simultaneously.
Great guide! You deserve a stickie!!!
Woot! Thanks
Nice! Vixy will put in the Reinforcement and Leader descriptions once she gets home.
Vixy does mention that in the description for the Summon Console. She edited the section under Mid-Game which may have been confusing people about when the timer starts counting down.
Vixy added Pants' NPC descriptions into the Glossary. Vixy also added a new Video featuring her healer. You can find it under the Healer Tips section of the guide:
http://forums.champions-online.com/showpost.php?p=1812148&postcount=3
1. Any toon with some support powers can switch to Sentinel Role with no passive and be team healer. This is especially effective with Fire toons and healing leaders, but putting Protection Field/MR on a serious Avenger toon can be really valuable as well.
2. Speaking of, if you're supporting players, the most important powers are Protection Field/MR. The reason is Dark Transfusion suppresses healing, and DT is popular among the Avenger toons. If you have Bionic Shielding, you may actually be getting very little value out of it, and you'll probably never know.
3. It can take a little communication to force DPS squishies to stay still. Having distinctive colors helps as well. "e.g. if you see the green bubble, I'm focusing support on you." Use your heal ranges to keep track of players. If you have a 100' heal and a 50' shield, you can easily tell when the player you're targeting is on the move (the shield will go gray at 51'+).
4. Flight is really good for healers. There all several places you can hide, and one of the best is that little alcove between the leaders' room and the hallway. In the leader's room, if no one's watching, you can rotate protection field and bionic shielding for massive team defense in a few seconds.
5. If you have a crippling challenge power, rotate it on the enemy players when you're not healing/shielding. Keeps their damage and blocks down.
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Of the four active defenses, which one is best against the turrent's (and in general) for a brawler role toon assuming no dodge boost beyond perhaps a 44/44 or 52/52 item.
My guess is Masterful Dodge still, though I don't know hence the question. Field Surge is useless except for the 15% dmg boost AP. It goes down instantly, less than 3 seconds of the 15 second duration.
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Unfamiliar with the whole PvP crowd, is teleport really THAT useful? Should it be a staple TP in every pvp build? My current favorites are super speed and rocket jump.
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Last queestion; what is one of the more useful holds for a typical Sword Cycloner?
Thanks,
Are you the Sword Cycloner? What is your passive if there's no Dodge to it? AoPM?
For Turrets, Masterful Dodge and Unbreakable are both very good. Masterful Dodge is better if you have BCR+adv. Masterful Dodge is typically better if there is an enemy player around, because they can take down Unbreakable with a spike.
Teleport dominates many BASH matches and some T4 UTC.
Most T4 toons have Teleport or Tunneling to avoid repeated ganking and to quickly run Serpent Lantern.
Again, assuming you're the Sword Cycloner, Disable on Thunderbolt Lunge is good (and you can combine it with Evasive Maneuvers). Roots are good for it, and you could try a little knockup/down like Inexorable Tides.
Skeet's advice on the active defenses is solid. TP is useful for the reasons he mentioned though if you don't plan on Bashing much then it may be less useful.
Rocket Jump could be tough to make work if you're melee. Maybe consider Acrobatics instead for a more well rounded power.
Superspeed is Vixy's personal favorite...it's just so fast!!
I "tried" creating a spike-damage sniper-rifle setup instead. It didn't work that well though. Too much setup.
Careful...you'll constantly get hunted if people figure out that you are a sniper. Sniping is fun in Stronghold, but it can suck in UTC as people will try to spot you before you can get a good shot off. Also UTC is purely players only, so people will have time to search for you.
If your team is mainly composed mainly of DPSers...you'll probably beat them to the end first.
/bind 5 target Davis
xD
Spot on. If Eve and Leo have taught me anything, it's that SNIPERS HAVE TO BE SHUT DOWN, so if you're snipin' be sure to have your 'nade and tele r3 (and a flight power tends to be a good idea).
Re your best AD for turrets question: Recintual has no dodge/avoidance, so here's one of the things he does if he turns out to be responsible for turret removal - acro active and run into the turret (if the turret is targeting you, you can time the disable of travel powers to let you slide right into it), activating unbreakable at the last possible moment, summon sigils, trigger electric sheath with matter/energy union, charge chest beam. Usually that's bye bye turret if (and sometimes even if not) he's left alone for a few seconds. Running electric form in avenger, and with high Con/Int and keeping ADs and AOs in constant rotation, he's actually gotten tanking compliments.
Had someone ask our SH PUG last night about what to do during the match, as it was that person's first time (you?). I said "Follow the tank"
The other team hit their console and summoned reinforcements right on top of us (unbreakable ftw) and ran off, leaving us alone and running off to follow their reinforcements into what they thought would be an easy DPS win. I forget the tanks name atm (sorry dude, you rock, I've just smoked too much today), but I'd seen him/her before and knew we were okay. We rolled through their bosses uncontested and never saw notification of our bosses going down. Moral? First thing to remember about SH is not to get too overconfident
Indeed, especially if you catch them at a weak moment due to heavy iniquity usage (about the only time I've been able to blast Medikipz). Actually a little avoidance can be key there, lulling the healer into thinking you're going to leave them alone.
Again, though, nightshade321, everything's situational. Long and the short of it, you're gonna have to get in their and get your head banged around a few hundred times before things start to click and reaction becomes instinctual (I'm still working on that, and of course, it's different for every toon). Even when you get it down, you're still gonna screw up, too. Cure? Queue again.
You, Garfield and Tiny Tim (especially him since he always uses perception gear to locate teleporters) give me the hardest time in UTC/SH. I've started to avoid UTC a bit more everytime I see you guys playing (especially Tiny Tim because he is relentless in the hunt for snipers and his AoPM+enrage build makes him harder to snipe quickly unless ur Eve). I spend most of my time porting in circles in UTC when people hunt me.
So word of caution around being a sniper...you can get locked out by almost any class since anything will disrupt snipe...even a sneeze.
Nightshade, I had another thought about teh turrets that I'm pretty sure is already mentioned in the thread, but I still don't see a lot of it being done...
Holds work on Suppressor Turrets. When Rec used to have Bindings of Aratron, he did things a little differently. Anything that works on a player will typically apply to turrets/NPCs, eh? Open Carrie used to dig sliding into turrets and Ego Storm-ing them followed by DC, for instance. Goes for healers, too. Can be quite disconcerting to role by a turret that's been absolved only to have it reappear next to you, hosing you back to the Recover button.
Yeah same here....fun times.
Cya around in SH and UTC.
The problem facing such teams is they have implicit communication. That is to say, it's much easier to figure out an optimal role in the match if you have an iconic tank, healer or sniper.
I've had to explain the whole "if I'm hunting you, it's not because I don't like you. It's because you're dangerous" quite a few times to people. The very few people who I dislike, I just pretend aren't there.
Aniesia, my telepathy toon, is actually awesome at wrecking turrets because they don't move and she can use all her stuffz on them while bubbling herself. They also have no way to wake up from sleep on their own, which gives her time to get all her other stuff going.
-If your in a PUG and don't really have time or the right team to decide who goes left or right, some things to consider are powers. If you have AoE that does not require a target like sigils or sword cyclone, then you might consider going to the left. If you have powers that give console capturing benefits like smoke grenade or unbreakable you might want to try to go right. If you have neither, you might want to consider just letting someone else go first.
-A neat trick that works a good amount of the time is to let a console defender kill you, then use self rez once the coast is some-what clear to capture the console. Very situational of coarse.
-The turrets can occasionally be knocked back into each other, allowing them to double up on you. You can also knock or pull them into the center of the room with the main console in it. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it makes things worse lol.
It's worth mentioning that when there's a path to your Leaders that is clear of turrets, the opposing team doesn't have to worry about defending their own Leaders if they have 2 or more of their own turrets up. This allows all 5 of them to rush to your base and put you on the defensive.
The significance of clearing the turrets cannot be understated because if you do so, at least one or two members of the opposing team will be more defensive, thinking that any moment you could attack their Leaders - this gives you the breathing room you need to split up their team.
Splitting up the opposition is important because when they're all together a bunch of power synergies combine to make every member more powerful. There's a lot more AoE damage, a lot more crowd control, debuffs begin to stack, they benefit from any auras any of them are running, pet spam makes them difficult to target, etc, etc.
So be sure to kill the turrets to split up the enemy team!
On that note, the SH guide needs to be updated with some of these tips. Also, apparently Vixy's healer video doesn't work anymore so she needs to make a new one. Look for an update soon!
Very useful guide