This, is pretty good. I might add a few things.
One! The deathmark itself distracts. People go around looking for you, like, "Where the hell are you?!" A good place to hide is right behind the striker, or in a corner.
Two! Pulsar shots dont always work. So when they attack, step towards them. They'll miss more often, or dash towards them and get a few strikes in. You only need to stall. Then you can go back to annoying the crap outta them.
Three! Recons need to strike fast, then get out with swords. Flourish is good for this. Also, a weapon with a lot of knockback could work, but never the second strike. You just need to knockback, then retreat BEHIND THEM! They'll always go for that spot they last saw you at.
Four! Always bring a bomb with you. Strikers are the damage dealers, Guardians are the defenders, Recons are the cappers. The bomb will keep swordies away. A pulsar will fight the gunslingers and the bombers. Swords are more of a backup plan, if they get too close, but calling for help is a good idea as few recons are good enough to defeat a dusker with SF and Hammer.
Five! Hammers and Heavy weps! This is where a flourish comes in handy. Once they miss you, go up and hit, the run around them to the back.
Six! Recons can easily get to the far bases. This is why you should try not to leave a trail. Instead, have others make paths for you, or just use premade paths. Try not to destroy anything, as it might give you away.

This is just my personal opinion, but it's what I've gathered about reconning for... 4 months. Hope you like it :D

A few months ago, when I was really active, I was bent on trying to figure out how to make people respect the then-fragile recon, and after a bunch of trial (less error, but a lot of trial, haha), I got to the point that people hated me and I hated them back. [thumbsup]

While I originally set out to be a sword/hybrid recon, I ended up finding its strength through high-speed guns. I can still be a threat with heavy swords, but when dealing with tougher enemies, I prefer being a gunslinger recon.

Having a gun is important for recon.
Recon's weakness is its mobility, so anything that lets you stay mobile is good : Blaster/Alchemers/Catalyzer/Pulsar/Antigua - basically everything except for the Autogun and Magnus lines are good for peek-shooting (uncloaking to attack and immediately shield cancelling). If you're going to use a sword or slower weapon, you better have ASI or you'll have a terrible time.

You can attack while leading into a deathmark
Ex: [Warning]+[Attack x1-3, depending on ASI] -> [recloak] --> [Deathmark]
If you fight using guns, this is incredibly useful because the distance you can attack can be used to delay for deathmark. But seriously, deathmark is oh-so-useful. Guns WANT damage; Most swords deal normal+other damage, so by doing deathmark, you increase your attack by more than a Striker ever can alone.

DON'T RELY ON INVISIBILITY ALL THE TIME
Anybody can spam a pulsar, a few skilled players can track footprints as you move (in any map). It's more important to learn common patterns that players do, and use your cloak to get first hit, then after that, purposefully SHOW them where you are to pull them into a trap. Recon gets really fun when you get to the point where you're reading and countering movements before people even know they're doing them.

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Also, my philosophy on recon has always been to never get into "fights". This was born out of recon's "once-you're-hit-you're-dead" state, but it still applies. A "fight" is when the opponent is alive for longer than 5-10 seconds after they find out you're there.

That said, these are not "fights": instant assassinations with heavy swords, status assassination with alchemers, sniper shots with magnus, deathmarking and stealing the finishing hit when near a teammate, removing control of a far away point.
Play dirty and embrace it. "Honor" is for strikers and guards.

Thanks for teaching us strikers/guardians how to find a recon! :D
Anyway, very helpful guide, I'll try to do some Recon today.

i hate dying in LD so recon is the way to go for me and with these tips it should be much easier to get my damage # up a notch

Bombs are useful for the main goal of the game: earning points by keeping control of zones.

Voltaic Tempest, Stagger Storm, and Ash of Agni (the mist bombs) are great at keeping people away from points. Vortex/Shivermist are situationally good (Vortex can bait out dashes, scare Strikers/Recons away from entering a point for fear of getting caught in a terrible trap, Shivermist can disable non-resistant players for minutes).

The explosive bombs and shards are useful around zones, as they constantly push (or force different movement/status) strikers/recons who try to enter those zones all while chipping damage away.

While IMO, Guardian holds the points better with bombs, Recon's cloak can be used in really interesting ways because bombs catch the opponents' eyes:

One of my favorite traps is to chain a bunch of vortex together near a chokepoint or a zone, and when people come close/stop further away, cloak and use a heavy sword to knock them into the bomb.

With faster-dropping and delayed-exploding bombs like shards, you can pretend to be moving in one direction then when out of range, cloak and go the opposite way. I've been using Shocking Salt Bomb a lot lately, and it's surprisingly good - not as a primary bomb but as a diversion (and its shock effect is great, too).

Recon's free max-charge bombs lets you throw in pretty much whatever bomb you'd like for a nice variety of effects/support without sacrificing gear bonuses for swords/guns.

After playing as guardian for about 3 months, and striker for about 2, I finally decided to try recon.
Why? Because I hated (and still do) getting hit by random AT swings. Just a personal thing.
But now, with my recon cloak... HA! Seeing dem random AT comboers swinging their GF/DA around is so much fun!
The mistake I make is that sometimes I tend to combo too much (as guardian I played as mist bomber, so whenever one was shocked/stunned it was a great chance to throw a combo in their face).
I can tell I am improving and I am becoming more and more unpredictable.
Definitely the recon buff made everything MUCH better. It's actually much more fun than I thought.
I get much more consistent scores than I ever did.

The real only problem I have is... teammates. I find it very hard to be effective when another teammate is around. What do you guys do? Wait for your teammate to die? xD Or maybe move on? Or even just death-mark the opponent?
Probably for recon gunners the problem doesn't really exist, but since I rely a lot on heavy swords, I find other people screwing up my mind games...

Ok, welp, if you're gonna bump this, might as well ask a question.
I was a great reconer.
Then footprints happened.
What do I do?

Killerhotness is an excellent recon! He will teach the ways of Darkfang Stalkers. Stay in one spot in a random area after hitting the target. Killerhotness likes playing roulette with enemies by hiding in one of the many places you can hide in! When cloak is running out, run as far as you can from enemies ASAP! Killerhotness suggests carrying a Faust and a Tundrus. If you are running away to recover your cloak and an enemy follows you counter the following enemy with Faust. When you obtain half your cloak hide and run away to a safer distance. Use the stop technique to reveal less footsteps! When you made sure you approached a safe area wait for a full cloak gauge, then continue your stalking! Killerhotness suggests sniping enemies with Level 10 Mega Tundrus, and now that you don't fall on your butt anymore the charge attacks are much safer now, although Killerhotness recommends non-charge attacks than charge attacks.

Tundrus >> Cloak = safer distance (recommended for amateurs)
Faust >> Cloak = recommended for Recons that can hide very well and have perfected the stop technique and the hiding technique. Read further!

Hiding technique = there are three hiding techniques.

Hiding technique 1: Stop technique
When you attack an enemy, cloak and run somewhere not too far from the enemy and CLOAK AND STOP! Sometimes you will need to wait a very long time for the enemy to run away. However, there are "smart" enemies that will literally shoot everywhere! This is when you get to move around but slowly. Move slow enough to dodge the enemy attacks. When the smart enemy is attacking then the smart enemy will no longer pay attention to looking for footsteps because the smart enemy will think the recon is long gone. Even the smartest enemies will be fooled by the stop technique. If your cloak is running out and the enemy is STILL there then that means the enemy is AFK or waiting for no reason. Try sneaking around. If the enemy was waiting all that time for you, congratulations, you stalled an enemy and helped make it easier for your team to capture nodes!

Hiding technique 2: Perfect hiding spots
Never go to corners or next to a wall. Prior to contrary belief, EVERYONE shoots the walls and corners first since recons tend to hide as FAR AWAY as possible from the enemy so that they can unleash a secret charge attack or something else. Don't do that mistake. Instead, if you happen to be along a wall keep moving! The best hiding spots are areas not next to enemies, walls/corners, nodes, or behind shootthrough walls like the two in the "Gardens" map. Killerhotness also believes hiding alongside the ENEMY base barrier using the stop technique is a great method!! Enemies won't think a recon will hide there. Hide behind bushes in Forest map, hide behind/alongside the rocks in Ramparts map.

Hiding technique 3: Fool's facade technique
When you cloak as recon, pay attention to the direction you faced last before hiding! If you go left and cloak, the last place enemies saw you going was left.
Enemies will start attacking the area you went last and try to find you. Then, they will go to the opposite side. Often times recons will cloak going left for example and then during cloak they try to go as right as much as possible. WRONG! Players will immediately check the left and right sides first! If you keep repeating that you will become VERY predictible, with players memorizing what direction you will go when cloaking. After the enemy searches left and right they search up and down. Then they freak out like when you see a spider in your room and you can't find it anywhere, that is, if they haven't found the recon yet. Thus, I developed the diagonal fool's facade! First, head in any diagonal direction (up left for example). Then, cloak! Enemies will have NO idea where you went. Up? Left? Right? Corner? Down? Hmm....! HOWEVER, some smarties will immediately track footsteps...! Stop technique! After going diagonal and cloaking walk a pretty short distance based away from enemies (and your team members to avoid getting accidentally hit) and STOP! Remember to stay low until things have quieted down.

Notes: enemies will often double-check to see if the recon is still there. You should still be using the stop technique! I use it so long that enemies are in the other side of the map by then.

Another note: check your map OFTEN! For recons having team members near you is a hazard! Safe areas = areas that are somewhat hidden and have no team members nearby. Safe areas = recharge cloak.

So what are recons for? Damage? Nope! Caps? Nope! Defends? Since when did that matter? No! Recons are made to ellude and TRICK enemies. Particularly, stalling. I stalled two enemies through a whole game (Guardian and striker). Stalling means the enemy cannot cap or attack your team members. It's psychology for people to kill recons since they think they're annoying. If you never get caught, you can hook up a ton of stalling.

Stalling locations = best near enemy bases.
To start a stall: attack! Make a deathmark, but usually players ignore deathmarks. Attack with Tundrus, or Faust to get their attention.

Now, recons aren't made for damage, but for stalling. On occasions it's best to cap if you have team members around. Though, you should've been alone...

Surprise techniques (for advanced recons): This is a textbook example of the many fun things recons do!
Technique 1: hide on a node that is your team's color, in other words, a node that your team has already capped. If an enemy comes, Faust swing the enemy! Cloak using fool's facade! Stop technique!

Technique 2: Furnace only: Hide behind one of the many blocking unextinguished fires. Wait for the water to be thrown on the fire (make sure an enemy throws that water), and SURPRISE! Faust swing! Fool's facade, then STOP!

There are many other surprise techniques out there I cannot even...

There are cool tips I have but I feel if I give them out then I'll be found easier for anyone who read this. So, I'll keep those tips to myself. Plus, you guys can make tips too!

Anyway, here is the process of reconning:
Hide, shoot enemy and stall, use techniques and keep attacking and stalling. It's very frustrating to get groups of enemies to be stalled, so one to three enemies are recommended.

Enemies = enemy players

Stalling = to leave an enemy in a certain area(s) for an extended period of time.

HOPE THAT HELPED! Recons never die.

Basically don’t think like a striker and hit anything with a pulse and don’t try and wade in and tank like a guardian.

Recon's weakness is speed and maneuverability so having range weapons is a must (status weapons work best). Change your footwork and don't move in streight lines and try to increase assassination effectiveness by outthinking your opponents. I'm not a fan of polaris, autoguns or Tortos for recon but each to his or her own I say.

The way I see it you have 3 choices.

- Gun-based recon is defensive - You need to learn how an enemy approaches and their patterns to prevent direct damage and cause statuses. AA is pointless as your focus your aim on the move and use prediction to prevent melee hits.

- Bomb-based recon is supportive – You need to learn where and when to lay down some ground cover, start death marking and generally cap and evade while supporting your team

- Sword-based recon is offensive – You need to learn enemy reactions and patterns to catch them when they don't expect it and where they don’t expect it. For this type of recon to work, good prediction and footwork is needed to prevent melee from touching you as much as possible.

I am not going to bore you with what has already been said by better recons than myself about recon tactics, but what I will say is that as a recon you have to know your distances. Knowing these not only help with your tactics but also will help you live longer.

- Recon cloak warning has around about 4 tile. the same radius as a 5*bomb.
- Long-range guns have a +/-8 tile radius
- Mid-range guns have a +/-6 tile radius.
- Swords have about +/- 1.5 tile sweep (more with AA on I have heard but I have not tested that theory)

On a side note, Combos are not necessarily a bad thing. Timing it so the second swing of combo connects on a Death marked striker with no trinket is a one hit kill . . . which in my book is not a bad thing.

I've always found recon to be the hardest class to play. Thank you very much for all those advices, pro recons! :D I try them next time I can play properly lockdown.

Obviously, you can hop into the game and see yourself that (now) the shield isn't OHKO. It hasn't been OHKO for a long time. I was talking about the mentality of just not-getting-hit when you're cloaked.

I don't remember if it was already like this by 2013 but when I picked up recon, it was during a time where getting hit once with your shield meant it was gone and you were going to be exposed. It really doesn't hurt to play with that mentality though - the better you get at avoiding getting hit, the longer you last and well, the better you get at the game lol.

It seems like you didn't understand that.