Massive City of Heroes Guide : City of Heroes - Submissions

Contents of Guide:

1) Character Planner

2) Extensive FAQ

3) All About Enhancements

4) General Spawn Locations

5) Current Known Exploits & Tricks

6) Strongest Hero Types / Powers



1) Character Planner

A guy named Lil Pips' created this awesome program that lets you plan out your character ahead of time as well as save the plan to refer to it later. Unfortunately not many people know about it. Anyhow, the program and all the info about it can be found here:

http://coh.warcry.com/index.php/content ... lanner.php

2) Extensive FAQ

Where do I train?
Go talk to Ms. Liberty in front of the Atlas statue. (the guy holding the globe) If you started in Galaxy City talk to Back Alley Brawler who is at the top of the main stairs. As you move to different zones, there will be different trainers. The Skyway trainer is Mynx, and she's in the park just off the Tram with Synapse. The Steel Canyon Trainer is Valkyrie, right next to Positron under the huge statue in Blyde Park. The Talos Island trainer is Luminere (sp?), right outside tram station with Bastion.

My first contact is underground!
No, your first contact is inside city hall. The doors to City Hall vary depending upon start location, but once inside finding the contact shouldn't take long.

Can I invert the mouse look?
Yes. Go into the right hand corner and click Menu. In the pop-up, go to the bottom and click Options. Invert mouse-look is in the second group on the first tab. You can change key bindings on the second tab. Audio/graphics settings are on the third tab.

I can jump?
Yes, you can. Hit the Space bar. Very useful for getting around.

How do I Auto-Run?
Hit R. To stop auto-running, hit R again.

Can I toggle the target dialog box?
Yes, Hit T to turn the target box on and off. You can also turn on and off any other GUI Elements by hitting any of the named buttons under your Health/Endurance/XP meters. This is also possible through the menu.

Is there a hotkey for switching targets?
The TAB key cycles through targets in order from nearest to farthest. If you hit the esc key you can unselect a target to start the cycle over.

How do I unqueue an attack?
Pressing Z unqueues any attack that hasn't already started.

Where is the monorail?
Bring up the map. The monorail in any city is the "T" icon. Click on that. Your Nav point is now the monorail. In your compass you will see a "T". If you do not see the "T" spin around until it appears on your compass. On screen, you'll now see a yellow distance marker. This counts down as you get closer to your target. This also works on other map points, such as contacts, hospitals, zone barriers, current missions, and neighborhood markers.

Is there anyway to regain health and endurance quicker after a battle?
Yes, there is Rest. You gain the Rest power after completing the tutorial. (or alternatively, gaining your first level) Rest can be dragged onto your hotkey bar and used by clicking on it, or pressing the end key. Rest forces your character to kneel and regains health and endurance at an increased rate. To stop resting click the power again. Note: Rest has a rather long recharge time. Only rest when you know for sure you will be completely safe. If you are hit while resting you take 4-10x damage- pretty much guaranteed death. Also available is the fitness powerpool which has passive powers allowing you to regenerate hp and endurance faster (you may began taking it at lvl6, then 14 for health and 20 for stamina)

How do I follow someone?
Select your target, hit F.

Can I invite someone into a group if I cannot see them?
Yes. /invite <name>

How do I make a SuperGroup?
There is a supergroup registration area in the city hall of Atlas Park or zone hub in Galaxy City.

How can I find someone in my group?
Click on their name in the group window. They will become your target. Look for the green target reticle on your screen. Follow the reticle until you meet your team member.

Can I auto-attack?
Yes, you can. Crtl-click on the power that you wish to have auto-attack. You can only have one power on auto-attack. The auto-attack activates whenever you are clicked on a target and the target is in range of the power. Auto-attack can be turned off by crtl-clicking on the power again.

I have to talk to a contact in *insert zone here*? Can I survive there?
Here's a general overview of what level enemies you will find in what zones. Rememeber, certain Hazard Zone cannot be entered unless you are of a specific level.

Atlas Park: Levels 1-5
Galaxy City: Levels 1-8
Kings Row: Levels 5-11
Sewers: Levels 5-18
Perez Park: Levels 7-15
Steel Canyon: Levels 11-19
Skyway City: Levels 11-20
Boomtown: Levels 12-19 (must be minimum level to enter)
Faultline: Levels 14-22 (must be minimum level to enter)
Talos Island: Levels 20-27
Independance Port: Levels 20-29
Dark Astoria: Levels 23-32 (must be minimum level to enter)
Terra Volta: Levels 23-37 (must be minimum level to enter)
Brickstown: Levels 27-39
Crey's Folly: Levels 30-? (must be minimum level to enter)
Founder's Falls: Levels 30-?


How can I check how much HP and Endurance I have?
Two ways. One, right-click on your HP or Endurance bar. This will show you the exact numbers. Two, click on Menu->I.D. This is your Hero I.D. It contains your battle-cry and description, as well as your exact HP.

How many missions can I have?
You can have up to three missions at one time, after that your contacts will say you are to busy to take any more missions. A max of two of these missions can be indoor.

When do some of my other powers open up?
Powers open up as you gain levels. Here's a list of primary and secondary power availability:

-Primary-

Level 1* Primary 1
Level 2* Primary 2
Level 2* Primary 3
Level 6* Primary 4
Level 8* Primary 5
Level 12* Primary 6
Level 18* Primary 7
Level 26* Primary 8
Level 32* Primary 9

-Secondary-

Level 1* Secondary 1
Level 2* Secondary 2
Level 4* Secondary 3
Level 10* Secondary 4
Level 16* Secondary 5
Level 20* Secondary 6
Level 28* Secondary 7
Level 35* Secondary 8
Level 38* Secondary 9

Flight
With flight on, mouselook determines your flight plane. The normal movement keys (WASD) determine your direction of movement on that flight plane. In addition, JUMP moves your character directly upwards on the flight plane, while X moves you downward.

Hotkey Tray
The Hotkey tray is naturally on the lower-right of your screen. Any power in a hotkey slot can be used by pressing the corresponding number key from 1 to 0. Powers can be dragged to different spots on the tray. New powers will automatically add themselves to the tray once gained. To drag a power not present onto the tray, click on "Powers". This will open your Powers List. From here any power can be dragged onto the hotkey tray.
If you wish to have more than ten powers hotkey-ed, then you must use your Alternate Tray. By default, your alternate tray is the same as your normal tray. To see your alternate tray, press ALT. To use a power in the alternate tray, press ALT plus the number of the corresponding power.

You have a total of nine hotkey trays. To switch between them, click the arrows on the side of the hotkey tray. Each different tray is denoted by a number. Also, to change which tray is your alternate hotkey tray, hold ALT and use the arrows to switch to the one you desire.

Clicking "Inspirations" on your hotkey tray raises and lowers your inspiration tray. Clicking "Enhancements" brings up your enhancement window.

Inspirations
Inspirations are hotkey-ed to F1 through F3 (A range that increases as you level). Only the bottom row of inspirations in your tray can activated by hotkeys. The others can be clicked on to activate them. To see the effect and description of a inspiration, right-click on it. Inspirations are randomly found from enemies, sometimes from objects in missions, and also from civilians in distress on the streets.

Enhancements
-You can only use enhancements intended for your archtype or general enhancements.
-To see if you can add an enhancement, click on it and hold. If it's useable, the slot on that power will glow green.
-The number on each enhancement signifies the level of the enhancement. You can only use enhancements within a certain range of your level.
-The color of the number signifies how much the enhancement will boost you:
Green: Big boost.
Grey: Medium boost.
Yellow: Small boost.
Red: No boost/unusable.
-Any enhancement within your tray that is red is either way above your level, or below your level, therefore proves no bonus.
-Once an enhancement is slotted within a power it cannot be removed. Only combined or thrown away.
-To combine enhancements, click on a power that already contains an enhancement, this will switch you to the combination window. From there, you slect an enhancement already attached to the power to combine. If you can combine the enhancement with any from your tray, those enhacements will not be greyed out. Select the enhancement you wish to join with the slotted enhancement. You'll be given a chance of success and then asked to ok the combination.
-Combined enhancements have a + or ++ behind them. + means that the enhancement acts as a level higher than the number indicated. ++ means it acts two levels higher. Once an enhancement has a ++, it cannot be combined any longer.
-Useless enhancements can be dragged into the trash. The same is true of a slotted enhancement.
***For more details on Enhancements read section #2***

The Assist System
In a group situation it may be beneficial to attack the same enemy your partner is attacking. This can be done without selecting the enemy itself. If you target a player character, any attack you direct at them will be used on whatever enemy they have targeted at the time.

Chat Window
Directly above your chat input section, there is a line of lettered buttons. These determine who will hear what you say.
L - Local: Only those within a certain radius will see your text.
B - Broadcast: Everyone across the entire zone will see your text. If you plan to talk to only one person, make sure you are not broadcasting.
T - Team: Only those in your team hear you.
S - Supergroup: Only those in your group hear you.
R - Request: If you wish to ask for something across the entire zone, this is an alternative.
F - Friends. Everyone in your Friends list will hear you.

The Con System
The colors determine how far away from your level the enemies are as shown here:

Purple: +4 or more levels
Red: +3 levels
Orange: +2 levels
Yellow: +1 level
White: Even level
Blue: -1 level
Green: -2 levels
Grey: -3 or more levels

Note: For Lieutenants add 1 level to their base for color and for bosses add 2 levels, this helps to better indicate their tougher difficulty.

Camera Controls
Holding the right mouse button controls the direction the camera is facing. Holding PAGE UP allows you to rotate the camera around yourself. Hitting PAGE DOWN snaps the camera back behind you. Scrolling the mouse wheel allows you to zoom in or out.

Sidekicks
Sidekicks are low-level characters who fight at a higher level (1 to 3 lvls less than their mentor) whenever they are physically near their mentor. They don't get any new powers, but their regular powers pack the punch of someone of much higher level. A Mentor/Sidekick pair is called a Duo. A player may have either a sidekick or a mentor; a sidekick cannot have a sidekick.

This lets people of diverse levels play together.

If the Mentor and the Sidekick are 200 ft or more from each other, then the sidekick will lose his bonus and revert back to the weakling he or she really is.

A potential Mentor can invite a character to be a sidekick if he/she is high enough level, the potential Sidekick is low enough level, and neither are already part of a Duo. A character can only have one Sidekick/Mentor at a time.

The Duo is permanent until broken by either the Mentor or the Sidekick; it is remembered from session to session.

Right clicking on a character will give you the Sidekick options which are valid for you and that character. (Including breaking up the Duo.) Alternatively, you can "/sidekick name" and "/unsidekick" to invite a Sidekick and disband a Duo.

You must be at least level 10 before you can Mentor a Sidekick. To be a sidekick, a player must be at least 5 levels below the Mentor.

If the difference in levels between the sidekick and the mentor is:
>=5 and <11 then the sidekick acts like they are one level below the mentor.
>=11 and <26 then the sidekick acts like they are two levels below the mentor.
>=26 and <41 then the sidekick acts like they are three levels below the mentor.

What are the secrets to leveling?
a) Group. Find a group of friends or good players who know what they are doing. Do missions as a group, stay close, stay healed and buffed, make precise decisions on pulling, and most importantly keep focused.
b) Don't Die. You'd think this would be self explanatory, but if it was people wouldn't fight questionable battles. If you don't know FOR SURE that victory is guaranteed, I say don't try it. Even if you're moderately confident (but not 100%) that you'll win, a single unexpected addon (an outside enemy jumps in the fight) or flinch of the wrist or mistake can kill you. When grouped be aware of the tide of battle. If you sense danger, run like the wind. Your xp bar will thank you for it later, and your teammates who will likely be dead will be jealous of your spiderman senses.
c) Minimize Downtime. If you're soloing, in which case you're already missing point A, your downtime amount is crucial. This means missions are where you want to level. Missions tend to make your battles a series of 1on1s. Fighting masses of lower level enemies is slow leveling regardless of your downtime- its only acceptable at pre-teen levels. In groups downtime should be less of an issue- but make sure you're making efficient use of your powers. Know your role and don't try and throw in unneeded powers because you can.
d) Efficient Fighting. This means not using redundant powers or flinging attacks around because you have the endurance available to do so and the power button is ready to be pushed. Efficient fighting means learning to understand all the factors going on around you in combat. How many attacks of which power will it take you to finish the next mob. Another mob aggroed me- do I have enough endurance to finish them or should I run now to avoid a possible death. These are things you learn to think through with experience, but the first step is simply deciding to try.. Thinking more in combat = better experience for you and your teammates when the tough battles hit you.


3) All About Enhancements

1. What is an Enhancement?
An Enhancement to a power is just that, something that Enhances a particular aspect of a power. Putting a Damage Enh. on a power increases the amount of damage it does, putting a Range Increase Enh. on a power will increase it's range, etc.

2. What do the numbers on the Enhancement mean?
The numbers correspond to your Combat Level (the level at which you fight). An "average" Enhancement is going to be the exact same number as your combat level. Example: Plantman is Level 5. He has a Generic Level 5 Damage Enhancement in his main attack, his main attack is now 10% better. If Plantman was level 20, and had a Generic Level 20 Damage Enhancement in his main attack, his main attack would still be only 10% better. Having an Enhancement OVER your level gives you a slightly bigger boost, and under your level is not-as-big-a boost (but a boost nonetheless)

3. What do the Colors of the numbers mean?
Colors determine how strong the Enhancement is to your level. Green numbers are Strong or Very Strong, White numbers are Average, Yellow numbers are Weak or Very Weak, and Red means unusable. Enhancements are red for two reasons:

The enhancement is too low level for you to gain any bonus from (and so it provides 0 benefit),
You are not high enough level to use it yet (you can only use an Enhancement 3 levels above your current Combat level).
It will tell you below the Enhancement's description why you can not use it.

4. How do I upgrade my Enhancements?
There are two ways to upgrade Enhancements, replacing or combining.

4a) How do I replace an Enhancement?
Simply drag the new one over the old one and it will slot in over the old Enhancement, destroying the old one in the process.

4b) How do I combine an Enhancement?
Click on the Power Name on the Enhancement Screen, this will bring up the Combine interface. Select the Enhancement you want to combine and your inventory will highlight combinable Enhancements. Select the one you wish to combine and then you will see the percentage chance of success. Click Combine and you will merge the two Enhancements together.

When merging same-level Enhancements, the chance of success is 100%
When merging different-level Enhancements, the chance of success drops.
The merging always treats the highest level Enhancement as the Parent one (even if you had a lower level one slotted in). If the Combine fails, then the Parent will live, destroying the other one. Example: You have a Level 11 Enhancement slotted in, and try to combine it with a Level 13. If the combining fails, the Level 13 Enhancement gets slotted in, and the 11 is destroyed. If it succeeds, you will have a Level 14 Enhancement (displayed as 13+).

5. I combined a couple Enhancements, now the number has a + on it instead of going to a higher level, what does this mean?
Treat the + as "+1". So a 13+ is the exact same in functionality as a 14.

5a) What are the +'s for then, why not just display "14"?
Because any Enhancement can only be combined TWICE, so a 13++ can not be combined any further. You will never see a "+++", as that denotes 3 Combines were performed on this Enhancement.

5b) So what is better, a 13++ or a 15?
Functionally, they are the same. Both provide the exact same bonus to the power. The sole exception is that a 13++ will never get any bigger, and eventually you will outgrow it. The 15 is "better" because it can become up to a 17 (displayed as 15++) and thus last your character longer.

5c) I am level 10. I have a level 13 Damage Enhancement in my power. I want to combine it with my level 7 Damage Enhancement, but the level 13 Damage Enhancement slotted in my power is grayed-out in the Combine interface. Why can¡¦t I combine my level 13 Damage Enhancement to make it a 13+?
You can only use Enhancements that are 3 levels above your combat level. If you are level 10, they highest level Enhancement you are allowed to use is a 13. You are not allowed to improve this to a 13+ because you are not high enough level. When you advance to level 11, you will then be allowed to combine the level 13 Damage Enhancement.

6. Can I take an Enhancement OUT of a power?
No, once used it becomes part of your character, part of his 'back story' as it is. The only place you can move an Enhancement from a power is the Trash Can to destroy it.

7. What classes of Enhancements are there?
There are 3 classes of Enhancements, Generic (aka Training), Dual-Origin, and Single Origin.
Generics provide the weakest bonus to a power of the three classes.
Dual-Origin provide a bigger increase to the power than Generic. It is ALWAYS better to have a Dual-Origin Enhancement slotted in than a Generic one, even if the Dual-Origin one is lower level than the Generic.
Single Origin provide the largest increase to a power. It is ALWAYS better to have a Single Origin Enhancement slotted in than a Dual-Origin or Generic one, even if the Single Origin one is lower level than the Dual-Origin or Generic.

7a) I slotted in a Generic 17 over my Dual-Origin 12++, and my power got WORSE, what happened?
This bears repeating: It is ALWAYS better to have a Dual-Origin Enhancement slotted in than a Generic one, even if the Dual-Origin one is lower level than the Generic. In addition, it is ALWAYS better to have a Single Origin Enhancement slotted in than a Dual-Origin or Generic one, even if the Single Origin one is lower level than the Dual-Origin or Generic.

8. What kinds of Dual Origin and Single Origin Enhancements are there?
Cybernetics- Single Origin, Tech
Inventions - Dual-Origin, Tech and Science
Experiments - Single Origin, Science
Genetic Alterations - Dual-Origin, Science and Mutant
Secondary Mutations - Single Origin, Mutant
Focus - Dual-Origin, Mutant and Magic
Dimensional Entities - Single Origin, Magic
Relics - Dual-Origin, Magic and Natural
Techniques - Single-Origin, Natural
Gadgets - Dual-Origin, Natural and Tech
So a Magic Origin character can use Training (Generic), Focus, Entity, and Relic Enhancements.

9. How can I easily tell if I can use an Enhancement for my Origin?
Look at the border of the Enhancement's Icon. Each Origin has a unique border on an Enhancement. You can quickly look at the Enhancement and see if it fits your Origin.

10. How many different kinds of Enhancements are there?
There are currently 27 different kinds of Enhancements. The "Power 5" are the ones that appear most commonly, and are used in the largest % of powers. These are: Endurance Reduction, Recharge Reduction, Range Increase, Damage Increase, and Accuracy Increase.

11. Can I put 2 Recharge Reductions into one power? Can I put two (any type of Enhancement) into one power?
Yes, and their effects stack. Example: If your power has two slots, you can put two Damage Increase Enhancements in it to greatly increase the damage (the downside is that you are not reducing it's Endurance, Recharge rate, or making it more Accurate).

11a) Is it better to have 2 Enhancements of the same type, or should I combine them?
It is better to have 2 Enhancements of the same type than to combine them. Example: Having a level 12 Generic Damage Enhancements and a 13+ Generic Damage Enhancements will give you a better bonus to damage than merging them into a 13++ Damage Enhancements. However, this would open up an Enhancements slot and allow you to put something else into that power if you so wanted. The only exception to this rule is if one or both of the Enhancements are more than 3 levels below your combat level (the Enhancement should be red in color). If an Enhancement is more than 3 levels below your level, it is not giving your power any bonus and it should be destroyed or combined with something else.

12. I seem to get a lot of Enhancements I can't use, what do I do with them?
You have a few options. The easiest is to throw them away. Simply drag them to the Trash Can on the Enhancement screen and they are gone forever. You can also trade them to friends who can use them. Or you can sell them at a Store.

13. A store? You mean like the store my Contact has?
Your contacts don't buy Enhancements, they only sell them alongside Inspirations. You need to find one of the in-game stores to sell your Enhancements. Near Ms. Liberty and Back Alley Brawler are Freedom Corp Trainers who you can sell Enhancements to. Other Stores are physical locations in the game, not NPCs. These stores also sell all 27 types of Enhancements, so if you have an obscure power that you want to enhance, but can't find the right Enhancement for it, go to a Store and buy it. Stores only sell Enhancements in 5 level increments. Steel Canyon is an example- there is a different store for every origin type that sells Dual-Origin enhancements of every type (lowest are lvl15 which is usable at lvl12). DO enhancements (and later SO) are very expensive.

14. Where do I get Dual-Origin and Single Origin Enhancements?
Dual-Origin's start dropping off of villains at around 10th level, but they are rare. Single Origins start dropping around 30th level, but, again, they are rare. Generics stop dropping at 30th level. You can buy Dual-Origin Enhancements at Stores starting at 15th level.

15. Is there a way I can guarantee what kind of Origin Specific Enhancement I get?
Yes, by fighting a select Villain group, then you will receive an above-average number of Origin Specific Enhancements, at the levels that those drop. For example, fighting high level Circle of Thorns will see that you get an above-average number of Magic usable Enhancements. Every Origin has one enemy group like this that tends to drop their origin type enhancement the most.


4) General Spawn Locations

Banished = All over Dark Astoria (20-32), Also, Can be found outside of the Dark Astoria Zone in in good quantities, along the bridge leading towards Dark Astoria, at night. 24-28

Circle of Thorns = Alleys in Kings Row (5-11), cracks and all over the dam in Faultline (14-18), several spots in Perez Park (8-12), small spawns in the sewers (5-12), back of Dark Astoria (30ish) <Khar>, Circe (22-24) and Ithica (20-21) isles in Talos Also, around the Spanky's Boardwalk area in Talos (23-24)

Clockworks = Corners in AP (1-3), all over KR where there are power lines and most rooftops (4-12), the freeways of Skyway and other spots (10-18), several spots in Perez Park (4-10), several spots in Boomtown (11-20), all over Faultline (11-20)

Devouring Earth = Talos Island on Scylla (24-28) Also a few near the Terra Volta zone in Talos, by the Pier of Doom, All over Founder's Falls (35-40) and of course Eden and The Hive

Fifth Column = SW corner of Kings Row (7-10), spread out among Steel Canyon (11-14), random spawns in Independance Park (21-25), far north side of Boomtown (13-17) More numerous in Independance Port around the Valor Bridge area (21-25)

Freakshow = All over Talos Island (20-28), Independance Port (24-32) <Plasma> and Bricktown (24-32) Terra Volta in clusters (25-28)

Hellions = All over Atlas Park (1-6), Sewers (3-8), small spawns in Kings Row (5-9), Perez Park (7-12) Also, in Galaxy City throughout (1-6)

Lost/Rikti = SW corner of Kings Row (5-12), North third of Skyway (14-20), North part of Boomtown (16-22), All over Founders Falls (30+).

Outcasts = All over Steel Canyon (12-16), Boomtown (14-19)

Skulls = All over Kings Row (3-11), Sewers (11-20), Perez Park (7-12)

Sky Raiders = small spawns in Independance Port (20-25) and Bricktown (24-32) Found in large groups in Terra Volta (25-28)

The Family = small spawns in north Steel Canyons (20-22), all over Independance Port (21-32)

Trolls = All over Skyway (15-21), far north side of Kings Row (16-19), and Boomtown (13-20).

Tsoo = Random spawns in Steel Canyons near the south and central (16-18), all over Talos Island (20-25), small spawns in Independance Port (22-28), near Hospital in Steel Canyon

Vahzilok = alleys of Kings Row (4-9), West part of Boomtown (15-21), several spots in Perez Park (8-13), several spots in Faultline (14-20), small spawns in the sewers (6-12), north part of Steel Canyon (11-15) <Fallen>

Warriors = All over Talos Island (20-28) and Bricktown (24-32)


5) Current Known Exploits & Tricks

*You can partially to fully override all kinds of character animations including character powers by performing them mid-jump. For instance using a normal ranged attack as a blaster such as fire blast, if you hit the power hotkey then immediately tap the spacebar while in midrun, your character will cast in mid air WHILE still running. You can tap spacebar to jump and override buff powers and inspiration uses in midrun. This is most effective with powers that don't have long animations. Mastering this skill gives a big advantage in combat as you are able to avoid many more melee attacks, chase/attack at the same time, etc

*Find an area with lots of enemies that are near a city exit (with police drones). Drop your big area of effect attacks on them then run to the exit. The police drones / guards will finish off all the enemies and you will receive all the experience for the AOE damage you did to them. A great example of this is Perez Park. It is now necessary to do at least 50% damage to an enemy in order to receive xp when the police drones kill it.

*Zoning out and then back into an area will often completely heal you. This can be very useful to fight enemies near a zone exit. Fight till you're drained, zone out/in and immediately start fighting again without downtime. This also works with entering/exiting missions but not elevators.

*Get a long fence or wall between you and an enemy. Queue a ranged attack (without having line of sight to use it yet) then simply jump up. You will gain line of sight with your enemy for a split second with your jump height and then as you're landing your character will perform the attack through the wall. On the other end though the enemy's AI is too slow to do the same so you can continue to get free hits doing this. If the enemy tries to come to your side of the wall simply jump to the opposite. Continue to do this till the enemy is dead. If you have any hold/immobilization powers it will make this very very easy. Without hold/immobilize powers it will take some practice to do this without getting hit.

*Hover sniping. If you have ranged attacks and the hover power, you can hover far overhead a group of enemies and shoot at them out of range of their own powers. It may be necessary to add range increase enhancements to your powers so that enemies with long range attacks won't be able to shoot as far as you can. When you hover-snipe the AI causes some enemies to flee after a few hits but they always quickly return so its all good and you can do this endlessly to kill without taking damage. This can be done to kill enemies far higher level than you as well but realize you will miss alot. The #1 thing to be careful about is not to run out of endurance otherwise hover will automatically be disabled and you will fall to your doom.

*Some walls and fences (specific few) can be jumped on ONLY by heroes- these being ones that are extremely thin. This means if you jump on them during combat the enemies will be unable to hit you with melee attacks _AT ALL_. They will still be able to shoot at you with ranged, but when they que their melee attacks they'll just run into the wall and stay there for a while until deciding to use ranged again. This is a very nice trick at low levels and for ranged characters who don't use hover/flight. You will simply have to learn which fences/walls are bugged and which are not. Metal fences (very common) are an example. So when you see a metal fence hop on it during a battle and you'll be safe from melee.

*If you're in a mission with a very tough boss, lure him to an elevator or mission exit and fight/zone-and-heal/rezone-and-fight etc until you kill it. As soon as you click on a zone exit you become invulnerable so its easy to kill enemies this way. Also remember that going through mission exits (to outdoors) will heal you to full usually- but this doesn't work with elevators. Note that sometimes the boss will return to his original position and sometimes he will wait at the elevator for you (which you want as to avoid the run to find him again). This varies..

*Instead of running around doing several missions or running around outdoors killing enemies to level, an easy trick to have an endless supply of enemies to kill is get a good indoor mission with enemies that are ideal for you to kill (least resistance to your damage type, etc). Go through the mission and kill most of the enemies- basically just do whatever you can without completing the mission, and then simply logout and log back in. Your character will be outside the mission door and the mission will have completely refreshed.

*(Hover is pretty much required for this) Join a group, turn hover on, click a teammate and hit f (follow hotkey), then hold control and click on one of your most used ranged powers. If you're a melee and only have something like a ranged debuff that's ok. Now just leave your character alone. As long as that person stays in the group and doesn't do anything funky you will follow them with hover and attack anything they attack automatically with whatever power you toggled with ctrl-click. If you're a melee any ranged power will do so long as it *looks* like you're participating. Its easy to get away with going afk for a long time like this so long as the group knows what they're doing and doesn't get killed (its easy for competant groups not to die)

*Very rarely you'll get a mission where you're supposed to retrieve an set amount of objects. These being maybe 5 drug caches or 4 artifacts something like that. In most cases these objects do not give xp when you grab them, but sometimes they DO. If you find a mission like this and you happen to have stealth on your character, you can exploit these missions by running through and grabbing the objects (except ONE, or just whatever you do don't complete the mission) and then exit the mission and logout/login and repeat. This is a very easy way to get hundreds of xp for no work. However, like I said these missions are rare.

*If you ever get a temporary power that is absolutely GREAT for your character and you don't want to lose it, simply do not complete the mission. If its a timed mission just let the timer run out and never go to that contact. Potentially you could have 3 permanent temporary powers by doing this.


6) Strongest Hero Types / Powers

Blaster: Fire/Energy or Energy/Energy (Fire as primary gives the highest damage output, Energy as primary gives good damage plus knockback effects). Energy as secondary is best for the buffs and especially for conserve energy. Assault Rifle primary and Gadgets secondary are great for the best solo versatility. I recommend energy/energy if you really want the best in damage and Energy/Gadgets if you want the most versatile soloer.

Controller: Illusion/StormSummoning (Illusion Control gives absolutely nasty powers that deal insane damage and great pet summons that deal high damage. The damage is actually an illusion, or temporary. This means that the enemy will actually take the damage, but if he's not killed after a certain duration the illusion damage will disappear. Storm summoning is one of the best secondary for Controllers because of Freezing Rain). Radiation Immision is also a great secondary for Accelerate Metabolism (gives resists and tons of buffs to all teammates) and Enervating Field. However, its hard to go wrong with any controller setup you take. Just realize your damage output will be small so you'll be wanting to group almost always. If you do not like illusion for your primary, Mind is superb as well.

Defender: Its also hard to go wrong with any Defender setup. Look over the powers for each primary and just decide which sounds good. Right now radiation for primary is a big popular pick but its possible some of the powers (accelerated metabolism and enervating field in particular) may be nerfed in the future. In fact radiation for primary is really the best choice if you plan to do any soloing as well.

Tanker: At this time tankers are a rare breed because they just lack the offensive punch (which can make it difficult to keep aggro off teammates in a group). Tankers have it extremely rough in the beginning but at high levels (25+) they start to shine. Whether or not its worth it to suffer the pain that long is up to you. If tanker is your choice, just about any combo you choose should work. Stone/Stone and Invulnerability/Superstrength seem to be popular, however.

Scrapper: Best scrapper at high level is DarkMelee/Regeneration hands down. DarkMelee just far outdamages all other scrapper primaries at this time. The damage is amazing. Spines comes in second I believe. For secondaries, regeneration shines heavily at high levels. All reports of high level gameplay show scrappers with regeneration pretty much unkillable with their self-healing powers. The combo of DarkMelee/Regneration truly makes a scrapper godlike with the ability to absorb endurance from enemies and then heal to full instantly.

Power Pools: Hasten (super speed pool) is a power that almost no hero should be without. It speeds up the reuse timer of ALL powers (around 40%, HUGE) for 2 minutes. The Health and Stamina powers (fitness pool) are also powers that I'd recommend to almost any hero. These increase your base regeneration speeds for hp/endurance. I also recommend deciding upon a travel power at level 14. These are flight, super speed, or super jump. 14 is the soonest you can take one (you must choose one previous power in the same designated power pool before lvl14 in order to make them available) and you want to get one as soon as possible to make life easier. HOWEVER be advised that your character can only take FOUR POWER POOLS (that is to say 4 of the side-pools you get in addition to your primary/secondary powers). Personally I'm not a fan of the other 3 super speed powers and I end up getting only hasten out of that pool. Some people would view that as a waste, so the choice is up to you.

Travel Powers: Super Jump is by far the fastest with a very low endurance cost. Super Speed is extremely fast as well however there is a large problem with grabbing aggro and getting hit while running through dangerous zones. Teleport is up there with super jump HOWEVER the redurence cost is horrible and you will have to enhance it multiple times with SOs before it becomes efficient. Flight is great, its flying after all, but its the slowest of the travel powers. Also remember if you take teleport its rather necessary to have hover as well.