User:Owao

Striker- General autoaimed toothpicking... It's not always the smartest thing to doIs effective, true. While generally spamming your attack button while having an autoaimed barb is rather useful... You may want to learn from the more experienced(aside from that, so people don't look down on you as a generic autoaim combo spammer).

• "Shield Cancelling" is awesome as striker. One might wonder.. how does one shield cancel with a Strike Booster? Well of course you can! After executing the first 180degree slash of your barb, immediately hold your shield button, and boost away. Once you have started the boost you can do 2 things:
  • Run away. It's safe, and if you need to you can heal up as well by running back to the locker room. Of course if you are still near full health you can do a more sensible thing...
  • Run around and strike back. Confuse your opponents! As they try to hit you in one direction, run around behind them and strike again. The slower their reaction speed the more guaranteed you can defeat them. It works well in crowds too as that wide slash of the toothpick's first hit tends to hit many people at once. Those with high damage tend to do this quite a lot.
• Gunning as a striker is ever useful! Not only can you shoot as fast as you would in the clockworks, you also can run fast(with a health penalty of course)! With guns like the alchemers, you can use autotarget, fire a shot, run around, fire another, and so on. The following methods are covered for some of the more used guns:
  • The alchemers have moderately fast bullets. Shadowtech, voltech and firotech are some of the better alchemers, Shadowtech since not many have shadow defense, voltech for the shock, and firotech for the fire. At MK II the bullets would ricochet once. allowing for the double hit method or hitting other players.
    • Double hitting is a technique that is done with alchemers, and is also effective in the clockworks. Since their bullets ricochet to the left, fire slightly to the right of the target (helps with autoaim off) so the bullet ricochets right back to the target, dealing double damage.
  • The pulsar dance as I call it, is done with, obviously, a pulsar. While the Heavy pulsar (it's T2 LD) works Kilowatt is better because of the shock and elemental damage. Basically the trick is like this: Their bullets tend to be slow and most average duskers carry one as well. So you basically shoot twice over a spot (like a point), strike-boost TOWARDS your own bullets, fire one shot to both diagonals, repeat. Most of the time they end up flying right into the bullets and getting shocked, or they might even think you are flying into their bullets while they are dodging their own. This makes use of the striker "footwork". The end result is usually the most satisfying if you have a barb, nightblade or elemental brandish to finish them off.
    • The above tends to use up a lot of your boost, and this method is more boost conserving AND effective. Take note the danger of this tactic is if you have bad latency you'll die easily in close range. Basically you fire two shots: one toward the target and another towards WHERE they'll go (left right etc) then boost in a clockwise/anti clockwise according to where they dash too. If they dash towards you, dash towards them and avoid them. This requires skill at aiming, timing and control, but is more effective.
  • Antigua's fast bullets makes it the "toothpick of guns"- it hits very fast and even with full dusker one bullet can take away= half-one pip. It's certainly the gun of choice for the speed inclined.
  • Autogun lines, pepperbox and needleshot/toxic needle, are used by the not so veteran-ish knights. HOWEVER it can actually get the job done and personally kudos to those who use it so well because I myself can't haha. A strategy with the needles I learnt from a friend, go to the corner of a better field as recon, shoot at the area where the battle occurs, cloak and go to another "background" area of the battle, shoot again. It's somewhat mose effective in Facility where the map is very spaced out.
• There are a couple swords that are effective in LD! Obviously you have your toothpick and sealed swords/troikas. A less known and moderately powerful sword is the arc razor. When used effectively and comboed with footwork, it can actually finish off the not so experienced. Plus Arc Razors make you move a lot and has a side of speed, which are required in LD. However, it isn't as good in the clockworks though.
  • Another sword is the DLC reward, Stable Rocket Hammer. The full elemental damage gets pasts the defenses of most recons and it's SUPER EFFECTIVE when you have auto-target on; Hit once, dash to another area, strike back. The hammer's dash is certainly interesting and opens up a whole new level of play and strategy, and the hammer's charge can be devastating when used properly. And the hammer is not just a striker exclusive sword (by exclusive I mean suited to), it works well with guardian too and recons to a point. As guardian, you can even dash around the battle field with the hammer. Give it a go if you own the DLC!

Recon- Most newbies use it to sneak around, and the instant they get a recon mark (NOT the death mark) they start hitting them. Often the result is the death of that recon when it's your generic skilled Pendant using Dusker. Few ways to make Reconning an "art" (taught to me by a special friend of mine :3), and not just an invisibility ability...

• Learn that for a second after you release defend key, you are still cloaked. Use it to your advantage! Hit once, recloak, move to another spot, recloak, repeat. It tends to confuse your enemies AND at the same time you can hardly be seen because you are probably there for a split second and then disappearing again.
  • Especially helpful when using magnus line to snipe; you can move from one spot, release and autoaim shoot (to SNIPE and not miss), then recloak and do said strategy. If done correctly, you expose yourself for about 1.3 seconds at most. Helps when you do this at mid range then move towards the enemy and slash them with a toothpick!
• Learn how to be a team player. The pulse has a range; use the range to your advantage by standing in a corner and deathmarking enemies while your strikers handle them. DO NOT stand too close to the enemy unless you are prepared to strike back with a sword; most strikers/guardians tend to be able to strike you back if you get to close. In the case of a striker, the minute you are exposed you are probably never gonna survive.
• The cloak is not a shield, dammit. I see so many beginners shielding on a point while their teammates are there, as though they are using a guardian shield to protect them. Please, you are wasting your cloak on nothing.
• Not so smart recons tend to stand on a point to recapture, even when enemies are around. Be smart! Look at the point- if it's increasing/decreasing (depending on whether they are reclaiming or removing your team's influence) then you know that a recon is there on the point. Fire some shots- they'll usually be caught off guard and then you can deal with them easily.

Guardian- "Stalwart protectors on the battlefield". Their shield heals allies half a pip about every 2-3 seconds, including yourself. It can also protect allies! But how do you actually use it effectively? First of all there are 2 types of guardians: The pure guardians, and the offensive defenders.

Pure guardians tend to be weak, and mainly defend their allies. This is usually the case when you happen to be not so equipped for the current tier (a 0* with a wolver coat in T2. Happens all the time y'know...). Basically what you do is, take a guardian shield, avoid fighting, stick with your allies and protect them. Honestly I've seen a few 2*s do this job so well I sometimes envy them. But other times, some people don't do their job well. Here's the dos and don'ts of Pure Guardians:

THE DOS

• Remember to shield every time on a point and heal allies. I've seen people standing on a point with a 4hp dusker and not healing them. End result, the dusker striker dies due to low hp and the guardian himself dies in 3hits.
• If your shield breaks, try to retreat rather than fighting enemies lest you die yourself. While this isn't the case for offensive defenders, but when I say a pure guardian, I am referring to the under-equipped.

THE DON'TS

• Obviously the opposite of the dos. But there's more.
• Don't go alone. You'll tend to die easily without someone backing you. (again I speak under the impression you are under-equipped because that is when one should be a pure guardian)
• You do not need to shield all the time. Learn when to shield, such as in the heat of battle. When crossing a safe corridor, you can walk faster (and without worry for enemies). BUT when you get a recon mark, beware.

Offensive guardians usually are the properly equipped players who choose to go guardian. They tend to be able to defend as well as attack, making them very balanced. They also have the advantage of healing unlike strikers, and usually are team players yet can handle themselves when alone (unless when against 3-4 strikers obviously). Here are a few key points:

• Even though you can output damage, take note you ARE a guardian and you SHOULD heal allies (and yourself) when there isn't battling involved.
• Just because you get a recon mark doesn't mean you need to go berserk and let down your shield and trying to stab thin air; recons can take advantage of this and deathmark you and let a nearby striker unleash hell on you.
• Remember that a guardian should be a team player, ALWAYS. Remember to be aware of your team, try to help the weaker players and all.
• Allies taking damage while in your shield radius will decrease YOUR shield's health. Take note of who you protect! If it's someone who can't output much damage and tend to die easily it isn't really worth wasting your shield on him. I know I sound rude, but sometimes you can't really afford to lose the shield health especially in critical moments when there are actual damaging strikers who need the help.
• The best weapons for guardians would be hard hitting weapons. Try to pick weapons like Sealed Sword, which can hit hard.
• Strikers tend to run to the back of guardians and then strike. Try to predict their moves and counter attack.
• Guardians CAN BOMB, unlike strikers. Try to set down a haze bomb MK II/lightning cap to immobilize enemies and then pound on them.