Spiral Knights - Lockdown - A Striker-main asks; how do you play Recon & Guardian effectively?

Lockdown - A Striker-main asks; how do you play Recon & Guardian effectively?

34 replies [Last post]

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 04:57

Alice-In-Pyroland

Well after hundreds of games doing the usual 10k-25k dmg running atypical Skolver striker, about a week or so ago I decided to try my hand at playing the other classes instead. Bearing in mind I haven't really touched either since back when Lockdown first began, and after quite a few games, I'm somewhat at a loss. When I run Striker I can go toe-to-toe with several of the best players on the EU server and come out on top as much as I don't, yet in my brief experience as both Recon and Guardian; I've been failing spectacuarly, and not just against good players.

Whilst my pov is inevitably going to be skewed from having essentially played nothing but Striker for so long, the massive lack of agility on the other classes is mindboggling. You can't dance around people, pecking at them while dodging there attacks, nor can you chase down a target or flee if things go awry. It's much harder to deal with other Strikers since the lack of mobility means they always seem to have the upperhand, yet Recons and Guardians are still massively dangerous since no longer do you have a speed advantage and instead battles amount to whom is better at playing the class; which most of the time isn't me.

What I'm getting at here is despite being a highly skilled Striker I have very little experience playing the other classes and in an aim to broaden my playing tactics I want to branch out; so I pose the question to good Recon/Guardian players; what are the best gear set-ups for these classes, and how do you play them effectively? Should I just use the same Striker gear, or should I be taking advantage of the ability to run status bombs, or are different swords and guns more effective for Recon/Guardians?

Similarly I ask anyone whom transitioned from one 'main' class to trying to play multiple or even just changed class entirely; how did you adjust? Did you take over any of the tactics from the class you formerly played, or do you need to rebuild your playing style entirely?

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 06:12

Sir-Didymus

Well........

I am a terrible striker so i play guardian. Not great at guardian either but here goes.

I usually walk to points with a charged brandish line. It doesnt change movement speed and many of the toothpick wielders will walk into it when all they need to do is fire a few shots. If I get to a point and someone needs healing I toss up the shield, if not wait for an encounter. Upon releasing the charge its best to change to a toothpick or GF. Its nearly impossible to kill the elite strikers with a GF because they cancel your attack. Sometimes I can get a kill on one with a BTB but most of them have Max ASI and damage. The biggest issue as guardian are the elite strikers and gunners. Blueflood makes my games miserable.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 06:27

Fradow

I'm playing mainly guardian

I'm playing mainly guardian so I'm going to answer that part (I don't have a clue on Recon either). I usually deal somewhere between 7K-15K per match, which is very good for a guardian, but my first advice will be : don't actively search for damage/kills, because if you do so, you'll fail at it, and make your team fail.

Your damage is going to come from you defending/attacking points and slashing through opposition, not from trying to chase this fleeing enemy. You are the rock, which can go, albeit slowly, wherever he wants. Striker are no more than annoying bees that you can kill with the back of your hand, and recon are cowards too afraid to show themselves. THAT is the mindset of the guardian. Btw, noticed that I said nothing about protecting your friends. If you pick Guardian for that, you are doing it wrong. Protecting your friends doesn't do any damage, thus do not contribute to putting enemies on that juicy respawn timer nor capping a point. This is merely going to happen, but you shouldn't actively try to do that.

That being said, my optimal equipment :
- 2 swords. A piercing one + GF. You are mainly going to use GF, because you are slow, and when you hit you want to hit HARD. But sometimes a piercing sword is handy to have. You can replace GF by DA if you want to, but you loose the occasional Curse. You are not going to use the charge anyway.
- 2 utility guns : Polaris is very good at denying an area, it helps greatly in a lot of situation, and AP/Sentenza is good for breaking charges so your shield doesn't get OS. Those are not meant to do damage. For damage you have your swords. Using a damage gun on a Guardian is a fail because your want to hit hard, and swords do that better.
- 0 bombs : well, at this point I don't have any more slot. I guess a VT could be useful, but i prefer to deny an area using Polaris. It could make a good choice if it wasn't for the debuff of guardian.
- an armor which protect you. Up to you, but i like Skolver + Snarbolax for the freeze immune + some resistance against both piercing swords and GF
- trinkets : for now I have 2 ASI, because my main weapon is GF. I am considering switching to heart trinkets, but i am not in a rush.

So now, how do you actually play it ?

Use your guns for their purpose as explained above. You shouldn't use them much.

The main thing of a Guardian is the shield, and you need to know how to use it. It breaks fast. VERY fast. So no, you are not going to hide all the time behind. The goal is to tank the first hit/combo, and then strike back. First look at the pattern of enemies. Some go for one hit, move, one hit etc... other ones go for full combo. There is always a moment when they are vulnerable. You need to anticipate that moment and strike back with GF. It IS hard, but that's what it takes to be a good guardian. If you do it well, you'll get hit one or 2 times by the time your opponent is dead (really, strikers need at most 3 GF hits anyway). The real purpose of the shield is to extend your life so you can tank the first hits and then you have the advantage over your opponent and can just trade hits (the higher life pool helps too). Then, while they respawn, you put your shield up and regenerate your life, while capping a point. Now you are both full life, but your team has one more point.

A last important note when facing another Guardian : you need to be the first to strike. It is going to be in his shield, but after 2 GF hits the shield is broken, and you have the upper hand because now he can't block anymore.

It's getting a little long, so i'll stop there for now, ask if you want some specific advices.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 06:40

Darkbrady

I also pretty much suck in

I also pretty much suck in LD, just don't play it nearly enough to get good but...

Bomber, Recon typically. (no guns, and I'm a failure with swords, even in the CW) I've tried Guardian for it, but since my natural armour has low defence values, Guardian is generally giving me a boost that doesn't stack very well onto my set, so I notice I die more often (even if slower) as a Guardian, and it does very little else to actually help me.

Recon lets me run around ninjastyle and pop out and drop random RSS/Hazes all over the place and re-vanish again, just to create an obstacle course of sorts for any nearby baddies. It's not directly useful, but the random element of it makes it hard to predict/avoid for others.
When capping points it's simply a matter of spamming hazes and running in small circles inside them. Make the hazes wider and a decent distance from outwith the CP and even strikers who try to zoom in have a hard time getting there without getting caught in it. Guardians can shield their way through, but then it's simply a matter of pulling out a vortex/RSS and letting their shield break until they get the haze effect.
For direct players it's a matter of dropping in and out of cloak to disorientate and dropping RSS bombs.
Some people abide by a "there's a strict placement strategy" for RSS drops when trying to kill a single player, but I find that too predictable; I always find that dropping in (reasonable) random locations as you run circles around them (or away from them, if it's a striker) they have a far harder time predicting where you'll place it and more likely get hit by a shard they weren't expecting.
I won't lie; most of my RSS kills are flukes that I never expected/intended, because nobody (not even me!) sees them coming, which is a huge advantage in itself.

There are good ways to place them, but they do tend to also be the "well, he'll drop an RSS here, so watch out.." effect.

Sayin' that, I don't make my way by killing people directly, or even capping/defending points; I tend to come off lookin' pretty useless on the scoreboards. I earn my keep by being a trouble-maker and causing problems for the baddies, just by spreading hazes around our CPs and cloaking inside enemy CPs and dropping hazes to push them out (especially when I have strikers coming up from my team) and the like. The harder I make their life, the easier I make it for my team to do their job.

But then again, I die a lot, so what do I know?
Also, as far as raw damage from the RSS goes, it can be pretty decent. I can clock up to and beyond 10k's worth just by random drops alone. If I was better at LD and went out on a murder-spree, I could definitely up those numbers, so don't doubt the power of an RSS in the face :)

EDIT:
In case it wasn't obvious, I just use Mad Bomber sets to keep my damage maxed, however it's not the most optimal set, being elemental defence, low base defence and doesn't compliment recon bonuses very well (beyond max! CTR means I'm wasting potential bonuses).
Bombs vary, but usually 2/3 haze bombs and maybe a vortex or nitro; RSS is a must, however, especially with the recent bomb graphic changes.
I could alter my set to suit the recon bonuses more, but since I don't LD enough, I'm more concerned with buliding my CW sets so never really put much thought into it.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 06:54

Alice-In-Pyroland

@Fradow that certainly

@Fradow that certainly clarifies a lot, thanks. Out of curiousity what is the best way to handle Recons that death mark you and wait for an opening, should you just ignore them until they make the first move or is it better to try and dispatch them before they get backup?

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 07:19

Fradow

I don't encounter that much

I don't encounter that much Recons who play that way, but based on that, apparently the Death Mark doesn't work on the Guardian shield.

Based on that, waiting for their first move is a valid strategy, especially if you are capping and they don't prevent you from doing so.

If you are moving between 2 points, just ignore them. As I said, your goal shouldn't be damage. They are worthless if they just hide and don't attack anyway.

If they are some more enemies, target visible enemies, but it can be a good idea to switch on the recon whenever he appears, depending on what is the most fearsome enemy.

When I have an idea of their distance, I like to try to uncloak them. AP if they are far (random spam), if you have a death mark it means they are close, so random spam first piercing sword swing and shield cancel it. With some luck he is going to get hit, which break instantly his cloak. I don't like to be caught off guard, but if they want to trade hits i'll still have my shield for latter hits anyway, so i'll still have the upper hand.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 08:30

Irokwe

l <3 recon

I'd say if you want to do recon, get a callahan and a trollaris.

troll is obvobv.

callahan for chasing a [not skolver] player whilst (you are) cloaked and then shoot and hide.

also, agree with gf, u need to hit hard, cuz as soon as you've been spotted, your bait for btb/ff.

l don't agree with the random cloak popping though. well, not against btb/ff strikers.

then sentenza is good cuz it can interrupt, uncloak, and break shields. as its mainly guns, i suggest getting mainly gun bonuses (get at least one piece of piercing defense tho)

just ask if u have more questions

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 08:42

Trying

From my experience in T1 and T2 LD

Recon:
From my experience there are 3 main ways to play it
1. Use it mainly for bonuses- Hybrid gunner bombers spam their Polaris at a point to knock people off and then go in and status bomb spam
2. Assasin- Sneak up quickly to the player and before the recon mark even pops up you do a full 2 swing combo of a heavy sword
3. Death Marker- Move around and attempt to death mark your opponent and then go in and smack them. This is usually used in big brawls since your opponent is more focused on your allies than finding you.

Guardian:
Use a fast sword if you really want to take on dodgy strikers.
Bomb spamming is also viable for countering strikers.
Usually people will do their full combo on your shield so right when they finish you have a small window to strike back before they recover.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 15:13

Neodasus

I play with a gamepad so I

I play with a gamepad so I actively play guardian and recon. I've done decently as a striker, but only when using analog.

I play a swordsmaster recon:

Gran Faust
Flourish (ASI low)
Voltedge

I mostly defend points from backcappers, and on occassion will backcap solo. If the offense is poor I will assist in single-target elimination, mostly target bombers and strikers in choke points.

I'll make a tutorial video on how a swordsmaster recon should be played, but on average I score 8k damage, 3-4 caps per game depending on a 3 or 5 point map (or number of defends), and at most 11 defends.

but yeah, try to get the timing with recon just right so they don't see the mark by the time you get a gran faust combo in

either ambush them in choke points or ambush them in control points

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 15:05

Irokwe

Removed.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 15:38

#10

Trying

omg

Dont comment if you dont have anything constructive to add to the discussion

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 15:42

#11

Irokwe

it was constructive-_-

what that means is look for groups of them, pop out, and gf/da/btb/ff them. that way you get alot of dmg/kills and defends. Do it suicidally though, as if they know where you are, they WILL find you. and then kill you. so 1st hit-shield-combo or something like that.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 15:46

#12

Slayzz

Recon: If you use a flourish,

Recon:
If you use a flourish, and you are facing a Skolver with piercing defense, get the death mark on them. The flourish works wonderfully with recon to allow for cloak, hit, cloak, hit, etc. It is best with a brandish or a sealed sword line.

I am probably not making myself clear enough, but basically, getting the death mark on is better than rushing and trying to kill enemies. (in the past, before heart pendants, I could go recon, 2 hit strikers with GF (I was ash tail on my other account), and then they die. Today, that won't work.)

TL;DR Get death mark on victim; eliminate enemy. Assimilate control point. Mission accomplished.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 15:48

#13

Trying

"Right at the beginning, when

"Right at the beginning, when everyone rushes in to capture, some striker just dashed in and killed half my team with a gf! So, l went recon (like l always do), went there at the beginning, and epically slaughtered the other team. then l died lol. but after killing 3/4 of the team."

Seems like a brag post to me

"u need something that hits hard b4 they know you're there "

we covered that already

"what that means is look for groups of them, pop out, and gf/da/btb/ff them. that way you get alot of dmg/kills and defends."

that's pretty obvious

"Do it suicidally though, as if they know where you are, they WILL find you. and then kill you"

that made no sense whatsoever

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 01:46

#14

Frozenballzz

given that i play recon the

given that i play recon the most i can give a bit of advice on how i play i spose.

1. as already mentioned, use that death mark to your favour. while most people might be sporting a heart pendant these days, there are still cases where you can pretty much 1 hit kill unsuspecting strikers with a death mark with a gran faust. ive done it to quite a few times, and it really is good, because it means you down your cloak for like 2 seconds, hit the target, cloak and are on the move again.

2. if you're going after guardians who have a flourish out, dont use a slow sword, as you'll get attack-cancelled every time and its exceptionally annoying. use a toothpick, or gun them from a distance to try and get them to chase you, and if you're lucky/fast enough, you might be able to do a quickswitch to a heavy sword, take a swipe at them, and go back to gunning. for guns, id suggest either the AP, sentenza, callahan, or polaris.

3. use shield cancelling to prevent doing full combos. full combos as recon will usually get you killed, specially with heavy swords. though depending on the situation, you CAN pull off full combos from time to time (for example, if you manage to ninja a striker standing still fast enough, you can 2 shot them usually with a gf, or if you hit a recon once, then do a full combo on them, that can kill them as well).

4. dont rush forward. let others be your meat shield/bait.

tis all i got before uni tho. XD

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 04:37

#15

Guyinshinyarmour

I disagree with Fradow in that the guardian really shines when working with your team instead of flying solo.

If you can get one guy to stick with you the entire match, you'll dominate. People will try to focus him down instead of you, and any hits he takes will go to your shield (Oh, yeah, make sure you try to keep your teammates in the bubble), thus making them last that much longer. You can really play up the trick with two guardians, in that one goes on the offensive until the one with their shield up has theirs break/they take it down, then switch roles. Near-constant protection!

Also, keep track of the shield health bar. Don't let it break. It recharges as soon as the shield goes down, but if it breaks, it stays broken for an age (just like normal shields).

Another trick to keep in mind is that guardian shield bubble healing stacks with more bubbles up. One bubble will heal a half pip per tick, two a whole pip per tick, etc. If everyone is using guardian and then pops up their shield and rotates who all is attacking and who's shielding, you can run over entire other teams on healing factor alone.

Also, choose a point and stick to it. You're slow and can't dash to other points and besides, the point of the game is to control the points. Do so. If you can hold one point the entire match (or merely hold out for reinforcements), the rest of the team can hold the others. Mind you, I always seem to be in games where no one bothers doing that and instead rushes to their deaths, then loses the lead we had. What I would give to pound it into people that Lockdown isn't TDM, but CP.

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 03:01

#16

Irokwe

when they find you, you die.

when they find you, you die. (usually)

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 06:22

#17

Darkbrady

@Odin: 1/ Sounded like it.

@Odin:
1/ Sounded like it. Also, what? hearing...something? Where'd that come from?
2/ Don't be melodramatic, he was sayin' that the only relevant point to your post had already been said.
3/ ...idk what you even mean, again.
4/ "if you are spotted, you will be found"
Love that.
Also, you should see some of the good recons out there; being spotted doesn't mean immediate death, however assuming it means immediate death and running in kamikaze style probably IS what gets you killed. How about you try and be a bit more careful next time and don't just assume you're gunna burn, actually put in some real effort to surviving?

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 03:02

#18

Irokwe

Deleted.

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 07:19

#19

Fradow

"Geez, dude, why does

"Geez, dude, why does eveybody hate me?"

I can answer that : your ton is often superior, you seem like bragging (comment 9), you have poor spelling/grammar (notice that almost every one take the time to proofread at least once his comments so that there is almost no mistake), and you add very few to the discussion. In fact, you sometime seem to be trolling.

"Now stop trolling and act like REAL men. Unless you're not a male, then you can continue trolling me."

You know there are a lot of female on this game right ?

Anyway, no more question from the OP, so it's ok for me. Your playstyle may work Guyinshinyarmour, seems like a valid strategy, I was just not successful with it. But I definitely agree with stacking guardian shields. 2 skilled Guardians do a wonderful combo because of that : once the fight is over (obviously, the 2 Guardians won :p), just pop the bublle and heal twice as fast. I used this strategy (but not the rest about defending each other) with success several times.

In my opinion, the Guardian shield breaks too fast in T3 to really be able to use it for friends. I also suspect that if you have several shields up, they will all suffer the damage from anyone being hit in it (meaning if 3 Guardians close to each other use all their shields, you can break all their shield as fast as if there was only one by targetting any Guardian).

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 08:27

#20

Darkbrady

@Odin: 1/ No one's trollin',

@Odin:
1/ No one's trollin', they're askin' you why it always looks like you're trolling.
2/ And IK what "ditto" means, but I cannae fathom the context you used it in, or how it was supposed to make sense.
3/ You're sayin' that real "men" don't troll, but that it's acceptable for females to? That's just...there's so many levels of "...omg" to that, that I dinnae ken where to even begin...

@Fradow:
As a comment to the double-guardian, what I often do is team up with a guardian and drop Haze bombs. Shield + freeze/shock and not a single enemy team member will get past. The status locking down the enemy gives time for the single guardian to recover his shield a bit, and let both of us attack whoever's comin'. If there's a group, simply just shield+haze spamming locks them out of CPs. tried it with two guardians once and I don't think a single hit was ever landed, none of us even attacked, just let the hazes lock them down and let passing strikers kill them.

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 03:04

#21

Irokwe

Deleted.

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 15:16

#22

Irokwe

And now for something constructive:

Today l got back into t2 LD (yay) and found this pretty good recon guy. He used Kilowatt Pulsar and Super Blast Bomb. The blast radius was the same size as the CP, so nobody got on. And he did a very good job of KW blocking.

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 15:43

#23

Darkbrady

1/ Oh well. 2/ Ik what Ditto

1/ Oh well.
2/ Ik what Ditto maens, but you used it in a way that made no sense. It's like sayin' "so, today I walked down to the street TREES into the shop"...just makes no sense.
3/ It's...NOT ok to hit men...it's not ok for any gender to troll or hit or be hit. What the hell kind of analogy was that?

Dark(Tom)Brady? What's that supposed to mean?

And my accent makes me sound like I'm from Britain, I'd take a best guess, because I'm Scottish. What's up with your "accent" that makes you sound like English is your third language? What's your point?

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 03:08

#24

Irokwe

An explanation of Dark(Tom)Brady:

Tom Brady plays American Football. He is a Quarterback for the New England Patriots. He is very famous, popular, and cool (like me >:P)

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 00:33

#25

Darkbrady

They tell you not to hit

They tell you not to hit girls because they generally don't do much about it,you need to be told not to.
Whereas, hit a male and when you get a punch in the face, that generally clues you in to the fact that you shouldn't do that either.
Beyond that though, it's just a respect thing; don't hit people that don't deserve it.
And don't troll on threads and horribly derail them, just beacsue you're unhappy that folk commented on your all-but-derail.

Why would I...talk for show? I talk the way I talk, who would I be tryin' to impress?
If it was VoiP then I'd *want* to talk exactly the way I normally do, 'cuz my accent gets all the girls over in the west :D

And we're not trollin' anymore, we're just derailin' horribly. Doubt it'll be long before Echoez just GYs this. Or just lets us derail it....

FOREVER!

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 00:43

#26

Meanghost

effective recon

Well anyways about recon

I can do pretty well with recon. What mainly happens is that I only use the first slash either on a toothpick or a DA/GF.
slash disappear no one knows where you are. keep it up.
also if they randomly attack stay right where the last strike is out of range and hit them with the first slash to disappear again.
Its really difficult on guardian shields.
I hope to one slash and have them randomly flail their attack. Otherwise its tough
Strikers you have to run away for a while till they are of guard and then return and strike. Thats what i do.

When running cling to the walls no one will ever guess you are there.

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 00:45

#27

Retequizzle

I bounce around between Recon

I bounce around between Recon and Guardian with just this:

-Skolver Set
-Flourish ASI Med
-Storm Driver/Polaris
-Argent Peacemaker/Sentenza

You really don't need a 4th weapon or anything besides a toothpick. Even against other Skolvers, if you time your shield and sidestep early enough by anticipating when they're going to attack, you have a pretty good chance of survival. But I tend to play Guardian rather aggressively by taking routes to either come up behind them or cap their "spawnpoint" which keeps me under a lot of pressure.

I end up finding myself playing a lot LIKE a striker with the attack/action button combo (for strikers it's boost, for guardians shield blah blah blah), but it's slowed down to where I can keep up and can back off slowly if needed. When I face a striker I usually time my swing to when they're about to be behind me so that I turn around and hit them as they're vulnerable. Guardian v. Guardian just comes down to who has better timing, as you said, and as long as you're sidestepping their attacks when possible and making sure yours connect with either them, someone next to them, or their shield breaks, I consider it a success.

Uhhhh I'm not sure if I missed anything that I typically do but when I play Guardian I average anywhere between 8k and 15k damage a game with at least a couple of defends. With a more competent team or if there's decent strikers, I'll go for caps.

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 03:11

#28

Irokwe

Hey, Darkbrady,

Wait, so you're saying that if l talk with a Scottish accent, all the chicks will fall for me?

And lets just delete all our derailing/trolling posts

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 07:11

#29

Xiaobay

Just wanna ask this questikn

Just wanna ask this question how you guys play as a striker?whn I use striker I even kill by a proto sword which is kinda suck for me,but wheni change o guardian I do more damage than a .striker

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 07:10

#30

Xiaobay

Just wanna ask this questikn

So what did u guys do
when using a striker

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 15:12

#31

Irokwe

Well,

they run around in skolver (dusker in t2) with a FF/BTB and first hit -> shield cancel (shield button) -> repeat. In t1, l would recommend:
a) not doing t1 ld
b) going recon and shooting at the pile of enemies that just randomly clash head-on (l don't know if they still just randomly attack each other)

And why is your first post after your second post?

Mon, 01/23/2012 - 22:39

#32

Wyki

Recons

(TL? I think so too. Typed this at midnight. ^^; Scroll to bottom)

>Recons-<

Strikers are pretty straightforward. Charge, attack, withdraw, repeat.

I usually play recon in t2 LD, so some of these tips may not apply to t3 LD. I barely do enough damage to the players to make a difference in t3 as striker, and I don't have good recon weapons... so yeah, gotta up my gear as well. =/ Also, these are based on my shallow experience as a recon; there's tons of better people out there with their own take on what the recon's role entails.

Recons really shine when they're attacking with the team. In fact, if you solo points as a recon, most of the time it's a loss in terms of potential. The other team will be distracted by the recon mark, and the surpise onslaughts by the recon can change the flow of the battle quickly.

>Stalling<

Ever felt over-alert when you see the recon mark? and over-react when the death mark comes up? Let these occupy the enemy as you dance around them, occasionally appearing/harrassing to keep them hooked. When 3 people are trying to kill you on point 1, thats 3 less that your team as a whole have to deal with. It takes tons of skill though, reading all the moves and the occasional counter-recon. It all comes with experience and observation, along with one's ability to play mind games. Don't take risks, play it safe; stalling ends the moment you die.

2 is a decent number, 3 gets devilish (but well worth it)... once it reaches 4, you depend on luck or run.

>Ambush<

How about a WTF moment when the mark didn't appear and they ambush out of nowhere? To pull this off, simply run up to an unshielded enemy... and strike. If you're skilled, hit exactly when the recon mark goes up (death mark takes too long for surprise). This will most likely NOT kill them, especially with the advent of heart trinkets (if you can, that's great). In fact, don't think about killing guardians and strikers in the first place. Guardians can shrug off the attack easily with its shield, while the striker will be moving around so fast that, unless you're lagless, you probably won't get the 2nd hit in. Sure, if you time it right, they might splatter face-first into your sword (feels like a home run =]), but they'll be in the perfect position to counter-attack you if they survive.

So what's the purpose if it's got so many weaknesses? Ambushes are mainly to "soften up" the enemy for the team, and to provide a distraction/dischord to stop Polaris spamming, charged brandishes, and at times, guardian shields. Simply appear behind a guardian, get quick hit in (using gun at a short range... just close enough to make them think that they can hit you), and recloak to avoid strikers. By this time, the team should be able to come in.

It's always nice to bash the stray gunner on the sidelines too.

>Tips<

- Never, EVER, go on a frontal assault against the enemy by yourself, especially guardians. Against guardians... it's like trying to assault a tank with a pistol; double guardians are immortal against you. Strikers are hard to deal with, because it forces you on a very, very thin line between life and death. If your cloak breaks, it's over against them. Focus on surviving, and annoying the hell outta the other players.

- IF your cloak shatters in battle, obviously run. However, as you're running, note how much cloaking you have left. When you see someone coming to chase you down, cloak, and take a run in THEIR direction, slightly to the side. They'll be going at your afterimage, thinking that you ran in that direction. Make them run circles 'til they have to recharge or give up. Stay well out of range... and run back to base.

- Change direction often. It can save your butt sooo many times. Run forward, cloak, run back, and nearly infinite variations of this =P.

- If you spot a fast gun (AP, Sentenza, etc), get away. If you're in range, get out of range. If you're uncloaked and their focus shifts to you, cloak when you're out of range. Better risk a hit uncloaked than to have your abilities competely taken away. If they still insist on chasing you down, play mindgames and run, stall, or go suicide-rambo.

-Guardians (on your team) are your best friends. Follow one, and cloak at the edge of control point/shield. The enemy attacks the guardian, and you attack back or distract the enemy so that the guardian/you can kill. Element of Surprise + Meat shield = Win.

- Recons are more-or-less kill stealers. Finish off those that are running away desperately, if you're lucky, straight towards where you're hiding.

>Weapons<
Swords
Heavy for Max Damage/Swing (t2 Sealed, t3 GF)
Fast for Speedy hit 'n runs, attack canceling other recons (dunno about this though =/)
Never use average speed swords as main; not specialized enough for recon.

Guns
Storm Driver for Shock
Polaris for Field control
Hail Driver for Freeze (fun to freeze, wait for recon mark, then strike. Pity t3 has tons of skolver clones)

Bombs
Voltaic Tempest for the shock

SM Buster (dunno how well it fares vs skolver)

Play mindgames, outmaneuver your opposition, stall a good part of their team, and ambush the annoying players. Your role is to provide support and unpredictability; damage is a bonus you get from doing your job right. (I would highly emphasize the mindgames part.)

Mon, 01/23/2012 - 23:46

#33

Traevelliath

Sneaky Snarby!

I run around with recon in full Snarby gear, and have been for a while. If I'm not, then I'm running around in full Nameless as recon.

The main thing I do is shield cancel with the recon cloak while using a stabby stick. I have recently been messing around with the Flamberge line actually, just because the fire adds a bit of annoyance. I use the deathmark warning stuff to my advantage actually, because a lot of players, when under the effect of deathmark will start using their shield powers. Recons Cloak, Guardians Shield, and Strikers start running all over the place.

- With Recon v Recon, I will quickly decloak, do a quick spray of Polaris or Sentenza, then recloak. Whoever looses their cloak first is the dead man.
- For Recon v Guardian, I shield cancel spam into their back to wither away at their shield. Most of the time they will drop their shield for a quick swing every now and then. It will take a while, but eventually their shield will wear down. That is when they tend to get desperate and do full combos. That is when you rely on your Deathmark to have removed their defenses and you can counter attack them after their final swing. The other option is to just back away and polaris the hell out of their spot or break their shield via Sentenza/AP. They will either shield and try to withstand (in which case, you keep shooting until their shield goes down), or they will try to run around the shots to get to you (sometimes they will shoot back, but you have ASI med and they have reduced attack speed).
- Finally, for Recon v Striker, this is the most luck based match up IMO. It is best to scare them with a quick attack or a deathmark, which will cause them to start sprinting excessively. Then, it is a waiting game. Keep pestering/dodging them until their sprint runs out, which is when you can unleash a full on counter attack.

When capturing a point as Recon, my best advice is this:
- Start by standing on the enemy controlled point, uncloaked. Unless they are passing through, they will not be attracted to your presence. If the point is one of the points near their spawn, then remain cloaked, but other than that, save your cloak
- When the point turns neutral, you have two options. Either cloak and stand the minimum distance away from the center of the point to keep capping. Most people when they see a cloaked recon capping a point will attack through the center first. The other option is to spam the hell out of Polaris on the likely point of entry. That tends to discourage/weaken anyone who would want to counter you.
- If you do get interrupted by someone, feign a retreat. Take a few steps back, off the point and cloak. They will think you are heading back to spawn and will start trying to cap the point. Respond with a Flourish in an uncomfortable spot, if you get what I mean.

In larger team battles, I tend to focus on guns or try to use Deathmark. Admittedly, Hit and run works best, with some gun spams thrown in. Deathmark is really risky when multiple enemies are swinging their Fausts and Avengers around. Stay at the outer edge of the battle and spam a gun of your choice. If you want to be really sneaky, stand by their point of escape and jab anyone between the ribs that tries to escape. Or you can be even sneakier and just invis-walk away from the battle entirely to grab a random point everyone forgot about.

Finally, remember that you do have more health than Strikers. If/when you are left exposed with no method of escape, swing back. You have a decent chance of just tanking their attacks and responding with enough force to kill them before yourself.

As for loadouts, these are the two that I use:

Snarby Armor
- Final Flourish / Furious Flamberge
- Divine Avenger
- Acheron (GF works too)
- Polaris
- +dam med Gun trinket
- Penta-Heart Pendant
The Gun Trinket has saved me many times due to how well Recons can use guns. Other than that, it is a loadout that could be used with just about any class

Namless Set
- Umbra Driver
- Polaris
- Sentenza
- Divine Avenger
- Same trinkets as above
The guns are probably not the best. The Umbra Driver could be replaced with a Voltech Alchemer. Anyways, I rely on the Umbra Driver for good damage, and the charge shot can mess up a large group of enemies. It works well on slower, easier to hit Guardians. The Sentenza and Polaris are standards IMO. The Divine Avenger is there because it has saved my life when a Skolver has caught me without cloak. Its interesting to see how few people expect a Gunslinger to counter attack with a Divine Avenger... even fewer expect the Gunslinger to win, but it has happened enough for me to warrant keeping the DA.

Mon, 12/24/2012 - 01:10

#34

Breaker-Xd

Guardian

Reviving this old thread I guess

Before I got trinkets, I played primarily guardian (just for the health boost). I managed to kill some of the best wolver-strikers out there simply by standing in one spot and shield-canceling flourishes. Though wolvers dash around and try to strike for the rear, all a guardian has to do is predict (correctly) and respond quickly, before shielding to take the hit.

The caveat is that strikers with heavy weapons like SS's and rocket hammers can 2-shot guardian shields. This is a huge problem, and it is actually (in my experience) beneficial to take the hit with your own health than to allow your shield to break. These charging strikers respond like bulls, so do your best to sidestep when they charge, and counter by smashing their backs. If they play smart and shield cancel, wait until they run out of dash. Then they will most likely disengage or start attacking recklessly (depends on the person). Use this time to your advantage

The strongest point in guardian is being able to regenerate health. I'm not even going to let anyone argue against this. After a fight, guardians can sit for 10-20 seconds and be back at full health. Though people whine about strikers being too buff because of trinkets, a damaged striker with trinkets is no better than a striker without trinkets. Keep this in mind; ever sliver of health counts, for both you and your teammates. Healing to full while capturing a base could mean the difference between winning a fight with half a pip and then being able to regenerate again.

Guardians also get a bomb buff, and I have seen haze bombs used phenomenally (@Mk-Vl). These bombs provide a safe-zone for guardians to sit and heal, and deter strikers. I personally don't use bombs, and tend to stick to Swift Flourish, Sealed Sword, and Kilowatt Pulsar. Though guardians get a gun debuff, the kilowatt is still undeniably the most annoying thing in T2 Lockdown. Even guardians can abuse its power, and use it as a primary barrier against strikers.

For fighting recons, guardians simply have to know how a recon will move. Then, they can play dumb right until they are sure and then BAM the recon is caught off guard and killed.

I hope this helps! I have a T2 guide on the mindset of a Wolver-clone striker as well, which may help you (though you probably already have that mindset) Just keep in mind how your enemy thinks and you are sure to succeed!

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/70859

Search

Lockdown - A Striker-main asks; how do you play Recon & Guardian effectively?