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City Of Heroes - Team Tactic Basics
CoH offers a variety of tactics due to the fact that so many powers can be used in tactical ways. This guide will explain some basic skills and go in depth on some of the tactics used by the groups I play in regularly. My main is a level 22 fire/devices blaster and my alt is a level 14 empathy/psychic defender, so this guide will definitely show more of their tactics than those of a tanker.
Pulling
Pulling refers to aggroing mobs that are not yet attacking your party. There are several methods of doing this:
1. Pulling with ranged powers - This can be very useful for picking off individual bad guys from large groups. It's definitely easier to manage incoming damage from a one to three mobs than it is to manage damage from 6-10. The best way to do this is to have your ranged player pull with a power and then duck behind an obstacle that does not permit the mob to attack the puller. This will make the mob run up into melee range and will also keep it from aggroing the entire group. If mobs are constantly attacked at range then their group will see it, but if they run after an attacker then they will not notice when your tank and/or scrapper rips it apart far away from them. This takes a little patience though and is not nearly as incredible in xp as some other methods, but it is by far the SAFEST method. Good idea to do this if you are playing without a controller or defender.
2. Pulling with pets - This is a VERY safe way of pulling. If you have a controller in your group that has pets then you can take on large groups of mobs by letting the pets get all of the initial aggro. This means that the mobs will attack them until you outdamage the pets. It isn't difficult to pull aggro from the pets, but that's okay. The trick is to not get that initial aggro that so often kills players. Running into large groups it is very easy to get whittled away to 0 very fast by all of the mobs shooting at you. The important thing to know when pulling with pets is that you better have a group that can manage a large group of mobs after the initial aggro is taken. Otherwise you will soon steal aggro from the pets and be overwhelmed. Additionally, pets do not know when to stop fighting and there is a good chance they will pull additional groups of mobs on top of you after your group has finished the first set. Be careful when using this method.
3. Tanks rush in - This is good for getting the inital aggro on your tank and works great for duos or trios where there are not a lot of mobs present. In larger groups where mobs are more abundant, your going to want to be sure to have a healer on hand to get the tank back in fighting order after he gets peppered by all of the mobs in an area.
Adapting your Tactics your Team's Powers
This part becomes a bit fuzzy because there are SO many powers out there that have tactical uses. By combining powers from different players you can see truly awesome effects, and by using certain tactical powers your entire group can benefit.
For instance, a storm defender gets a power called freezing rain which debuffs mobs movement speed, damage resitance, and does a good deal of damage as well. If you enter a battle with this power, then have your blasters throw their aoe rain powers you can quickly widdle down the HP on minions to nothing and focus the rest of your attacks on lieutenants and boss mobs.
Another example is caltrops. Caltrops cause mobs to take damage and slow their running speed enormously. By positioning these well, your group can play ring around the caltrops and stay out of melee range of rough mobs. This is very useful in fights against villain groups like the Freakshow who are just monsters from close range.
I could go on and on explaining all of the tactical powers, but the important part is to learn what powers of yours serve a tactical purpose and explain to the group how they can best be utilized.
Know Your Villains
Different groups have different specialities, and it is important to adjust your tactics around them.
For instance, the Tsoo have Sorcerers that provide heals to their minions and teleport around crazily. It's a VERY good idea to take these sorcerers out first even when there are boss mobs around because nothing is more frustrating than getting a boss down to a tiny bit of HP and having him suddenly be healed back to full health by a swarm of sorcerers. Also watch out for the Tsoo's Ink Men. They are minions who all have mez powers. We generally take out sorcerers, ink men, bosses, and enforcers in that order.
All of the villain groups have specialties and I won't spoil more in this guide because some of the fun in the game is learning them and learning how to cope with them. Sometimes it is as simple as staying out of melee range and sometimes it is more interesting like in the above example of the Tsoo.
Assigning Positions
Who calls when to pull the next group? How long do you rest? Who is the puller? Does your group trade enhancements and when do they do it?
It's important to know who is calling the shots. This is the biggest problem I've found when playing with public groups. Usually deaths can be traced to someone making a bad decision on when to pull or two people pulling from two separate groups of mobs.
Assign a puller based on the tactics that work best for your group type and have the leader (sometimes this is also the puller) decide when the group is ready for another pull. This doesn't mean that EVERYONE needs to be full stamina before every pull. Some players will bleed stamina off almost instantly due to their enhancement choices, while others will remain nearly full the entire fight. It's a pretty good idea not to pull until everyon in your group is at atleast 50% stamina and some are completely full.
Also, don't trade enhancements during the middle of a fight! I know this is insane to even mention but players do this. The right time to trade enhancements or even mention what you have for trade (NO SELLING during fights either!) is during down times between fights. Also, be concise and informative when stating what you have and what you expect in return in ONE statement.
Do say: I got a 21 DO (Natural, Magic) - Enhance Damage, will trade for a 20+ DO for Science Origin or 4K influence.
Don't say: I got a 21 DO damage - anyone want it?
If your really clever then you'll even look to make sure there is a natural or magic origin player in your group before speaking up. You can do this by clicking on their name in your team tab and mousing over their origin for text (if you don't know what the little bubbles mean yet).
Conclusion
This guide is not nearly complete and I am happy about that. CoH's immense variety of powers and villains allow for so many different strategies that covering them all would take a great deal of time.
In the meantime, I hope this guide helps in explaining some of the basic tactical principles and allows you to start learning the advanced tactics specific to your team's powers on your own.
Have fun!
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City Of Heroes - Using Police Drones
Now that they are closing down some of the XP exploits for the Police Drones it is time to use a little better strategy. I have done this with a Mind Controller but I know that others can do this too. Especially with lots of crowd control.
Healing, Insight and Damage Inspirations are a plus. Use Insight and damage Inspirations first and heals as needed.
Dominate a boss and run to a Police Drone. Use crowd control like Mass Hypnosis or similar effects as much as possible to keep everyone, espcially the boss, away from Police Drone range. However, stay close enough so the drones will kill anyone near you. That way anyone missed by the Hypnosis will not be a problem.
Use Dominmate on the boss along with Levitate to damamge him and kieep him immobile while damamging him to death. Then move to doing this with any Leutenants and any other unlucky foe.
Remember, that if a drone kills any mob you can now forget any XP. So, when Mass Hypnosis wears off and not recharged freshen Dominate on the boss and work to let the Drones kill off some of the others but try to save a few by running away if you can and using Mass Hypnosis on them. Then return to the drones range and continue.
Usually I can kill the boss and maybe one or two others this way depending on the mobs. This is very useful for XP when new to an area or in larger groups than you can handle alone.
Since they closed the Police Drone explot it hard to get XP when your a controller. Espcially with everyone kill stealing your life away. I would recommend this be done in areas that people rarely zone at because they can take the blue line faster. For example: The zone to King's Row to Galaxy City at the north part of the map. Its a great place to hunt because people usually don't crowd and the mobs are manageable.
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City Of Heroes - Tip: Dirty Little Tricks
XP PICKING
What you'll need: An area-of-effect ability, a means of transportation that can allow you to quickly escape, a mission.
On the way to your mission, if you pass by some bad guys somewhere close to your level, fire off an area-of-effect ability (like ball lightning) and then continue on your way, ignoring them. If you do this four or five times on your way to each mission, this can add up.
When the next hero finds them and beats them you get a minimal amount of XP for the damage you did. After a while this can add up and it doesn't cost you anything.
THUG LAUNCHING
What you'll need: Any attack with a knockback effect, a rooftop with thugs on it.
Use your knockback power (such as power thrust) to knock one of the thugs off the roof. Strangely enough, this doesn't do much damage, but while he's down you can take care of the rest of the thugs.
When he gets back up, knock him off again. He runs back up, hit him again.
MISSION ENHANCING
What you'll need: A pathetically easy mission, some other players.
Okay, you've gone through a mission map and beaten the boss. There's a few thugs left but all-in-all your mission was far too easy. It happens. Rather than complete the mission, though, leave.
Invite two or three people of your level or slightly lower to join your team, then after they join, re-enter the map without them. Quit the team.
Your mission now has a larger number of bad guys and you don't have to share the XP with anyone.
TEAMMATE BLITZ
What you'll need: Leadership of a team, the ability to teleport all of your teammates, a group of hard enemies, a bad teammate.
Okay, so let's say you have a member of your teammate who's causing everyone grief. Maybe picking fights when everyone isn't ready, or running at the first sign of danger to leave the rest of you to do the work and still get the XP.
Sure, it happens now and then to all of us, but when someone consistently does this it's time to punish them.
First, have your team go to a hazard zone or anything where there are large groups of bad guys that are difficult. After a few battles, tell them you need to go buy an enhancement or level up, but that they should go ahead without you.
Get up on a high rooftop and watch them from a distance. When they begin fighting a really tough group of villains, suddently kick the offending person from the team. Then teleport everyone in the team (those that haven't been kicked) up to the building with you leaving the jerk to fight them alone (and ultimately get killed).
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City Of Heroes - Tip: Quick Hospital Exit
This is a minor tip that may save your team if they are in a tight spot. Often a matter of seconds can make the difference. This tip should help you get back from the hospital to the fight and your team about 15-30 seconds faster.
When the round medical tube that you appear in begins opening spam left-click it. If you click it after it opens all the way then it will say "door locked". If you succeed in clicking the door at least twice before it opens all the way you will appear in the outer lobby or outside the hospital. Depending on load time, this could mean the difference between showing up just as your team is dying and showing up just as your team really needs you!
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City Of Heroes - Tip: Zone for Health
This is a nifty little trick to reset your rest timer and get a free full heal essentially making you invulnerable...
This is an old trick back from my EQ days. Whenever you go to a new zone stay near the entrance for a bit and look around the entrance area. Don't let the zone entrance too far out of your site.
Once you get your barings, pull a bad guy to the area just outside the zone entrance. You can fight him there and you don't need to worry about dying because you just need to walk through the zone boundary to get a full heal. Zoning also resets your rest timer. So, you can use this trick whenever you find yourself near any zone boundary just to refresh your rest timer.
Have fun zoning!
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City Of Heroes - Tip: Conserve Endurance
One of the best things about City of Heroes is the fun travel. You can sprint along the streets and speeds only druids could think of in other games.
Anyway, when you enter combat *don't forget to turn your travel powers off!* Duh. You don't need them in the sewers and office hallways. Do turn off sprint and turn off hover and all the other endurance using powers you don't need. This will optimize your endurance rejuvenation. It really makes a huge difference in a tough fight. In fact, next time you die in a close fight check to see if you forgot to turn off your travel powers. Noteable, with Sprint in particular, leaving it on in combat is extra dumb because it actually lowers your defense.
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City Of Heroes - Tip: How To Powerlevel
This is a great way to powerlevel your lower level buddy. Essentially, is the same kind of strategy we have been using to powerlevel our buddies for years in MMOGs. Higher level character A puts the smack down on the beast, lowbie character B gets all the credit... Read on for the details.
By the numbers, the way you like it:
1. Group with our buddy that you want to powerlevel. Make sure you sidekick him and have him attack a mob at the level of the high level character.
2. Just before the bad guy is dead, freeze him or web grenade or just run off a little ways so that you aren't hurting the monster any more.
3. Unsidekick the lowbie and have the lowbie finish off the monster. It should only have one more hit left in it.
This makes it seem as if the lowbie character just killed a monster many levels above him and he will get a ton of experience for it.
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City Of Heroes - Tip: Group Exploit
The other day I made a new character and once I got in the game one of My friends was level 6 and I was level 2. We grouped and he ran an indoor mission and I stayed inside at the entrance, he grinded the mission but did not accomplish...unselected mission and reselected mission. All bad guys respawned immediately...we contiued to do this .....he got me to level 5 in less than an hour and my character did not even kill one bad guy in the game or even met my contact...then I went and trained 3 levels at one time. WOOT. The higher the missions of your friend the more xp you get, i.e. I was getting 1/3 of an xp slot per kill by him.
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