- You know what is Chaser Mode in the first place, and have at least played it a few times.
- You know the basics, and quite a bit of the intermediate skills on how to play S4. By "Intermediate" I mean stuff like: moving fast with the least amount of SP, walljumping to great effect, dodging and dodge canceling, aiming accurately at the drop of a dime, the art of bashing someone with the blunt end of a bat successfully (or other melee attacks) at a moment's notice, knowing your skills inside out, etc. Trust me, you need all that to get ahead in Chaser.
- Despite having the skills, you still sux in Chaser somehow. Maybe you're doing something wrong. Perhaps all you need is some ideas, an idea or something to kick-start how you go about playing Chaser mode properly...
If that last point describes you this guide is what you're looking for (hopefully). But I want to make this clear right now: this guide is a STRATEGIC and TACTICAL guide to get you thinking. It is not a "how to" guide (how to jump, what to shoot, where to hide, etc). In effect, it deals with the... shall we say "overall game plan" or "the long view"?
Lastly, this guide represents ONLY my own opinion and thus it can be wrong/different from what you think. You'll probably have your own ideas of how to do things in a game of Chaser, so feel free and voice your opinion below afterwords.
Now, with that out of the way...
The different game modes of Chaser
First up, any game of Chaser mode consist of two sets of very different objectives in one larger package, classed under Round-long mini-games and the (actual) game-long objectives. Here they are:
Round-long random "mini-games" objectives
These are the random things that might affect your experience of each round. Depending on what your long range objectives are, you might want one of these mini-games a lot more than the other...
"Chaser Round"
You're a big hunk of neigh-unkillable super-boosted virus-infected monster of a monster, hungering for the blood (or bytes?) of all the other players in the room. 'nuff said.
"Victim Rounds"
Ohnos! There's a big hunk of neigh-unkillable super-boosted virus-infected monster of a monster, hungering for my blood!! ... instead of logging off, LETS ATTACK!!
Game-long objectives
These are the actual reasons why you're playing Chaser mode (unless you're camping, farming, goofing around, or just simply playing for playing's sake). This can affect how you play one of those mini-games up above.
"Points Chaser"
This is technically the correct only way of playing any Chaser mode game. Eventually you realize someone who ends up at the top of the table also have the tendency to NOT get a ranking place in the Damage rankings for various reasons. However, **** Damage and that pathetic EXP bonus thing, we're going right for the top spot in the score charts!
"Damage (Exp) Chaser"
Getting EXP and leveling up is always a joy*. And if you can rank high in the Damage race, you will get the most amount of EXP earned in a single game, in all the possible game modes in S4! Here's to us farming... *ahem*... playing Damage Chaser!! (Or you might be playing Damage Chaser only because you have one of those irritating "Get 3rd place in Ranged attack" missions...)
* of course, most people know rank =/= skill. And after about level 20+, ranking up is next to useless. But who cares?!??
The above 4 points makes any Chaser mode game a combination of four slightly overlapping objectives. Depending on which of the game-long objectives you decide to concentrate on, this will determine how you play Chaser for the "mini-games" objectives, and thus how you approach the entire game.
So, now that we know what we might be aiming for, lets start.
Note: the following will be scattered with "Douchbag moves" tips. These tips may or may not be sportsman-like behavior (and even if acceptable it is likely to be very borderline), but they are ultimately just different ways of playing the game. They are named "Douchbag" for the lots of flaming thou.
General Tips
- Don't name your character "Z<something>"
Stupid *!@%* victim selection always chooses the last guy in the alphabet as the "target victim" in the first round of chaser.
Note: This is only a whine. I hate it thou.
- Start the game from the very beginning
I cannot stress the importance of this. To "win" in Chaser either in damage rankings or in points, there is no bigger advantage than to start at the very beginning of the game. You get quite a few rounds more shooting done to advance in the damage rankings, quite a few more +5 points tidbits (or +15 points if you survive) from the first few chaser rounds, your have more attempts to get the Chaser, etc, etc.
Douchbag moves: This IS 100% a douchbag move and you WILL get a lot of flak for it: starting a Chaser game without warning and when most everyone in the room is not ready.
Some people know how much EXP/PEN they're missing out on just because they readied 5 seconds late, while others don't particularly like Chaser and are only playing in your room to complete missions (which requires you to start with the room)... expect to see quite a few guys quitting.
- Equip for mobility, not damage
Movement is very important in Chaser. As a Victim, you will want to run away fast (or approach the Chaser even faster before launching an attack). As a Chaser, you will want to close in on the Victims as fast as possible. Either way, movement is very important in Chaser, so grab yourself at least one "fast" weapon for one of your weapon slots (PS/Bat and SMG, if not a HG)
- If not a S.O. game, equip a reliable ranged GUN
Reliable ranged GUN = not a HG or SmashRifle, and definitely not a HMG, and even the trusty SMG is a very borderline choice as it is inefficient at range.
Why? Simple: There are more than a few spots which are neigh-impossible to get to unless you have the correct skills equipped (fly/anchor). However, those spots are less "secure" than the hiding victims think: a good long ranged weapon can easily hit and wound them from the correct angles.
So for goodness sake, equip a gun of some kind. It'll stop the frustration of wasting time climbing that obstacle for the 10th time while the person on top is laughing away at your futile efforts.
- Even if not a S.O. game, a melee weapon is always nice to have
Melee weapons > Guns in Chaser because of one single vital point: Melee weapons can hit-stun the Chaser.
This effectively shuts down any damage from the Chaser (especially that broken Chaser-powered MS). And if you can combo & time the hits just right you can keep the chaser from doing any damage at all, getting him flung through the air (and hopefully into a bottomless pit) while you into cover to prepare for the next combo/get away.
Also: Expert dodgers. If your "aim" with a melee weapon is even half-good, a sword > a gun against expert dodgers: one hit-stun later, he's definitely dead.
- Douchbag moves: If possible, equip Anchor and Fly
These two skills allow you to access almost-unreachable areas in the trees of Connest 2, allows for certain irritating dodging patterns in Temple-O, prevent falling death in Circle-Chaser and allow you to do absolutely disgusting time-wasting maneuvers in Block Buster.
Although it still depends on your skill and playing style, equipping these movement skills will give you quite an advantage in Chaser.
Note: there is an ultimately DISGUSTING combo possible using a Block user and a Fly user in maps with bottomless pits... ... ah well, Alaplaya/Pentavision had the right idea when they decided to make the Chaser mode weapon restrictions.
- Douchbag moves: If possible, equip a MS
No, I am not asking you to use a bugged MS to kill someone with super-boosted Chaser HP. Rather I am asking you to use the Chaser-super-boosted 1~3 hit-kill version of MS to kill someone with only normal HP. There's a difference there... ... very slight, but its still there. This "tactic" is absolutely disgusting thou.
PS: I don't know for certain, but have a feeling that the Chaser-boosted MS will still have the same killing power as it has right now even if the "normal-mode" MS is patched. Thank the gods for Chaser-mode weapon restrictions.
Playing Damage Chaser
- Ranking in Damage Chaser = completed damage bars
"Damage" in Chaser mode depends on how many full damage bars you filled up. This is then compared to everyone else's completed damage bars to determine who gets first/second/third in the damage race.
Thus an almost filled bar will not give you any advantage in the damage race. You'll need to work your strategy around filling up as much damage bars instead of charging forward stupidly with guns blazing and dying with a half-completed damage bar.
- You do not want the Chaser's attention...
Basically, what you want to do is to be able to do damage to the chaser as much as possible in order to get as many completed damage bars as possible. This requires two things:
- Being able to get close enough to the chaser to shoot/melee.
- Being alive so you can shoot/melee.
These two tends to be mutually exclusive. Being close enough to shoot the chaser also means you're being close to the Chaser's own guns too, that is. This is ESPECIALLY painful when there's a chaser-boosted MS equipped.
Thus to do well in Damage Chaser you'd have to do anything and everything you can do to prevent yourself from being the target. Wallsnipe. Hide behind something always (even if its a "I can shoot through this" bush). Use the Sheild/Block if you have them. Spam Dashing, Walljumping, Seizure jump-running and Bunny hopping. Do anything and everything to stay alive.
More of such tips in "Victim Tips", below.
- ... thus Dying is good for you. ... HUH?? (when playing ONLY Damage Chaser)
The title looks as if I'm contradicting myself. After all, I've only just listed "staying alive to shoot something" is good for you.
However, the best way NOT to stay alive is to have a set of green crosshairs when you're close to the Chaser. Even if you manage to stay alive, all the dodging and running just to avoid being messily dispatched by the Chaser means you're not going to have time to shoot (and gain damage bars).
Thus, this is a tip for those who're playing ONLY Damage Chaser (most likely because of missions): if you have any chance to LOSE points, do it. Getting the +2 points per full damage bar is pretty much unavoidable, but getting the extra 10 points for being alive at the end of match isn't. Unknown to the Chaser, letting him kill you at the last 10 seconds of a round (preferably right after you fill up YET another damage bar) is the best thing he can do to you.
Or in maps with bottomless pits, help the chaser yourself and suicide...
Note: This is the singular reason why "Damage Chaser" and "Points Chaser" tends to be mutually exclusive: the moment you get lots of points, you're going to get that stupid crosshairs stuck on you sooner and end up spending more time dodging and running rather than shooting the Chaser for more ranks in the Damage Rankings.
Also note that you CAN get the top spot in both Damage and Points chaser at the same time, but that's difficult, and usually depends on some amount of luck to pull it off.
- Douchbag moves: Dying is good for you, part #2
You get damage bars when you're shooting at the Chaser. However, what happens when YOU are the Chaser? Yup: you do not get chances to add to your damage rankings. And at the same time your opponents, especially those with the big guns, are furiously gathering their own completed damage bars.
Well, you can do the following:
- For maps with bottomless pits (AND when playing ONLY Damage Chaser) go ahead and commit suicide. It is very unlikely they will have the time to finish even one bar by the time you're dead and gone. This has the added bonus of not getting you any points (thus putting you further back in the "I don't want to be a Marked victim" queue)
- For maps without bottomless pits, run and hide to prevent yourself from easily giving away "free damage" to your Damage Chaser opponents. While running, turn around from time to time and kill any and everyone who so much as sneezes in your direction: chances are if anyone is chasing a Chaser that hard, those guys are the same people who are playing Damage Chaser too. Killing them early prevents them from getting a lot of rankings in the damage rankings.
- Douchbag moves: Dying is not good enough for him?
You get damage bars when you're shooting at the Chaser. Thus if a Chaser is at the bottom of a bottomless pit you can't exactly shoot at him now, can you?
Sometimes it pays not to assist the people who are actively trying to push a Chaser down into oblivion... ... but there is one exception: If you are already ranked 1st in whatever Damage ranking you're aiming for killing off the Chaser prevents others from gaining Damage rankings and helps secure your position as the top dog.
This is a very situational decision. It is kinda difficult to kill a Chaser in the first place after all.
Playing Points Chaser
- Pray for lots of Chaser rounds...
A Chaser round has the potential for you to earn a LOT more points than a Victim round (8 non-Target-Victim kills nets you 16 points, with more victims in the background. Or just 4 marked victims, or any other combination). 'nuff said. Thus, for the most part you want to start praying to the luck gods to become a Chaser.
Douchbag moves: Or go buy a Chaser doll. Expect some grumblings from those jealous people who can't afford and/or don't have a way to pay for it.
- ... AND Chase 'em well
Yup. At 2~4 points per kill, a Chaser round has the potential of getting more points than any Victim round.
HOWEVER, the same is true for the flip side: there are Chasers out there who gets stun-locked and end up getting a poor 4 points for their efforts because they only managed to kill 2 unmarked victims. What is sadder than not getting Chaser the entire game is getting Chaser and performing pathetically.
It IS possible to out-points everyone else without being the Chaser even once, but that's quite difficult to pull off. Most of the time you're going to have to depend on that one or two rounds* when you get to be the chaser to pull ahead, so use these rare chances and try not to flub it...
* rarely, you DO get three or four runs as the chaser. If that happens be happy at your luck (or AP doll...) and use the opportunity to pull away from the pack. But if you are solely depending on "multiple chaser rounds" to get enough points to be top dog, you're likely to not end up on the top 3 if you don't get chaser
See the Chaser section for more tips on how to "Chase 'em well"
- Survive!
You get 5 points when you've died but the Chaser fails to kill everyone. And 15 points when you finish a round with some HP left. Its a no-brainer: if you're a victim and survive you get 3 times the points than if you died (in other words, 10 points difference), so do everything you can to Survive!
I mention this (supposedly no-brainer item) because there seems to be a whole lot of people who tends to suicide themselves on the Chaser for the oddest of reasons... of course there are always exceptions (see the Victim tips section). But in general, because those +10 points will make up the bulk of your points in Chaser, being alive = good.
- Taking Pot-shots at the Chaser = nice +2 points...
... but only if it is safe.
A full damage bar gets you +2 points. And gathering points during a tight race for the top = easier to get 1st place. So if you see the Chaser being distracted, busy elsewhere (probably attacking that one poor "target" guy), AFK (it happens...) or meleed & binded left and right (that also happens...), feel free to whip out your biggest weapon and start laying in on the hurt.
But always remember: Survive > 2 points. It takes a LOT of shots with a reasonable gun to get even 2 miserable points, especially if the chaser is mobile and lethal. You're NOT going to be able to earn enough points from shooting to cover the 10 point difference you lose when you go from "being alive" to "being dead".
When you are the Chaser
- Killing the target victims is good
Instead of netting you 2 points each, a targeted victim is 4 points each. Killing these guys is always preferable to any other target in the room (if you can kill him that is. Some players ARE expert dodgers)
Not only that, killing target victims usually means you're wiping out the people with the highest score who are still alive. These are the same people who're at the top of the table, and are also the same people who are competing with your for top spot in Points Chaser. Slowing down their points increase (with a loss of +10 points) means you'll be able to get closer to the top much faster or pull away from the 2nd place person with much more points.
All in all, a good deal. However, there are exceptions to this rule, all of which are coming up below.
- Wiping out the entire room is best
Lets see now, when you wipe out the entire room, at absolute minimum you just got a boost of 20 points when compared with your "peers" (15 bonus points + the 5 points all victims loses). What's more, you get to keep all the kill points (2~4 points per killed victim).
This is as opposed to you only getting somewhere around 5~15 points more than any other player in the room if you didn't kill them all. (you did not kill everyone, you lose the 15 point "kill everyone" bonus and all victims getting at least 5 points even if dead = the points you get from killing is 5 points less relatively).
So, this is a simple tip: In the race to become top dog, KILL EVERYONE!
- Watch the Clock
In a full game (12 players), you're given 120 seconds to wipe the entire room clean. That's approximately 11 seconds to kill all 11 other players (don't forget to count yourself
).But when that targeted victim of yours is an expert dodger, chances are you're NOT going to get him killed in those 11 seconds. That is when you need to have to dole out and manage your time: you CANNOT afford to waste time on any one person more than is necessary, and if you're "behind schedule" you HAVE to go after the less optimal targets so as to "store up time" before getting back to him.
- Douchbag moves: Opps, you're unmarked? Sorry I shot at you... ON PURPOSE!
A very simple way of "saving time": chase after the targeted victim at first. If you can get him within those 11 seconds, good for ya, move on to the next marked victim.
But if you can't, the chances are high a lot of the more newbie players will be standing right out in the open and easy to shoot at. Especially the HMG'ers. This is due to poor and wrong prediction of Chaser behaviour by the victims: they automatically assumes the Chaser is chasing only after marked victims in a "perfect score" attempt. Thus, some of them starts to think the chaser will never shoot in their direction.
This is stupidity that needs to be put out of their misery... So put them out of their misery. And even if some lucky few manages to get away chances are they'll be injured, and thus much easier to kill when it is their turn as the marked victims...
- SP is not limitless
One of the few things a Chaser gets is a large SP bar. The victims on the other hand have to work with what they have.
So, run them ragged. Chase them down. Don't give them a chance to recover SP as they keep dodging left and right in an attempt to get away from you.
This tactic is especially useful on expert dodgers: they tend to use a lot of SP-based abilities in an effort to get away and/or not get shot, thus they'll run out of SP a lot faster. Just sit tight, keep up the pressure (and thus keep them wasting SP), and you'll soon get a SP-less victim moving a LOT slower than (s)he used to be.
- Shortcut ambush!
Sometimes, a targeted victim prefers to run rather than hide. These sort of victims are hard to chase down... so unless you have a HG and the victim doesn't (and thus you runs faster than they can) don't run in their dust.
Instead, use the nice green crosshairs to keep track of their progress, and take a more direct route to where you think he might appear. If you plan things correctly, you'll appear in FRONT of him right when (s)he's running short of SP. Can anyone say "easy pickings"?
This is especially easy to do in Temple-O, just note that a smart victim CAN take the time to pause and recover some SP.
- You do NOT want to be meleed
One of the most irritating things as Chaser is the fact a Chaser can STILL be hit-stunned. That's instantly 1 to 2 seconds lost, AND chances are the melee-er can hit you again in a combo.
So don't let them: most of the time those dedicated to meleeing a Chaser will appear soon enough, very close to your location and making a beeline TOWARDS you instead of away. Use your boosted SP bar to dodge out of the way and dispatch them asap.
This tactic also has the added benefit of getting several "extra" 11 seconds to use later on marked victims... but it does have a disadvantage (see "Fear me" below)
On a similar note, bind users MUST die. Railguns and Cannonade are also specific weapons: chances are you will be moving too fast for such weapons most of the time, but if you get hit more than twice, instantly assume the guy is good and hunt him down.
- Douchbag moves: Hide!
Huh?
Simple answer: if you're playing BOTH points chaser AND damage chaser (my my, arn't you a greedy one), you have a secondary objective when you're the chaser: you do NOT want the entire room to shoot you and gather damage bars. So move around a LOT, spend as much time inside passageways and small rooms as needed, and keep those damage chaser playing victims away from you as much as possible...
(... right until you suddenly turn around and murder the whole lot of them
)This is only "safe" on some maps: If you attempt to do so on Circle or Block Buster chances are you will get close to a bottomless pit, thus you're only setting yourself up for an instant-kill.
- Douchbag moves: Fear me, for I kill everything that moves!
Basically, instead of going after the Marked targets, this tactic have you go after anyone you can see.
This is a twin-edged... no, it is a double-bladed 4-edged sword which cuts all over the place.
Advantage:
- You force people to hide as the victims now knows you'll kill them if you can see them. This will help you quite a lot when playing Damage Chaser.
- Hiding people = a lot less chance of gang-melee, which is one of the biggest headaches a Chaser can face.
- The marked victim might get confident enough to "come out and play" (to get Damage Chaser rankings and/or +2 points per damage bar)
- You get more time to deal with the marked victim later.
Disadvantage:
- You force people to hide. This means you now have to chase each and every of them down individually, instead of having the victims "confidently" (more like stupidly) standing out in the open. Mess up, and you WILL get pathatic score.
- Hiding people = bigger chances of ambush melee. Irritating as all hell when this occurs as the melee-er have a better chance of getting away due to the "surprise factor" of the whole attack.
- You getting less points overall. These are unmarked victims you're killing...
When you are the Victim
And last, we have (IMO) the most fun you can get when playing Chaser Mode.
- Douchbag moves: 11 vs 1? Pru~leeeesh, are you dumb?
Damange Chaser = getting damage bars.
Points Chaser = getting points.
Neither of which suggests anything about "co-operation", or teamwork. Its every victim for himself!!
^ Surprisingly, keeping this in mind is the best way of playing a successful victim, either in Damage or Points Chaser. Being selfish and running away most of the time > being that lone hero who challenges the Chaser directly to a duel... and finding himself being alone, 2nd best and dead 5 seconds later.
Note: However, this does not mean there's no teamwork: to survive you sometimes need to do things that are not "run and hide". See below for examples.
- Survive!
(repeated for emphasis) You get 5 points when you've died but the Chaser fails to kill everyone. And 15 points when you finish a round with some HP left. Its a no-brainer: if you're a victim and survive you get 3 times the points than if you died (in other words, 10 points difference), so do everything you can to Survive!
- Read the Chaser's intentions
Different players play the chaser differently. Some will go after the targets (and only the targets). Some will go after the targets and kill any innocents in the way, while others will kill innocents only when things are going bad. Some will go after anything they see. Some are just plain Noobish. Etc etc, yadda yadda.
So, to be able to "read" the chaser's behavior and intentions is important, and needed in order to be good at Chaser mode.
Not only that, remembering the Chaser's previous behavior is always good: if a Chaser acts a certain way a few rounds ago, he's most likely to act the same when he's the Chaser for a 2nd round.
- Wasting the Chaser's time is best
No matter what happens, if you waste the Chaser's time enough, he'll not get to kill the entire room. And if the Chaser does not kill the entire room, he does not get the large bonuses given (see above for the points calculation). And if he does not get lots of points but you do, you'll eventually win in Points Chaser.
This also applies in Damage Chaser: the slower the Chaser kills each victim, the more time it takes before you're the marked victim, and thus the more time you get to accumulate damage bars.
Thus, each and every victim must try their utmost to prevent themselves from being killed. They WILL be killed eventually, but the time taken to kill each person will become longer. And if it is long enough, the victims (even the dead ones) wins.
Douchbag moves: As said above, Fly and Anchor can be used to great effect in wasting the Chaser's time. by staying at the bottom/top of the map (those in the know knows what maps those are...) and conserving your SP as much as possible, you deny the marked-victim-chasing Chaser his double points kills for quite some time.
- Help the marked victim!! (Runner-up positions in Points Chaser only)
Supporting the marked victim might seem a bit against your long term goals of "surviving" at first, not to mention you are protecting the guy ABOVE you in points.
However, consider this: if the chaser kills an unsupported marked victim... who will be the next marked victim? And with lots of time in the round left over, do you even have a ghost of a chance to survive?
Basically, this is a version of "Wasting the Chaser's time". This is especially needed when facing a good Chaser (or a OK chaser with a big gun in Block Buster, or a Douchbag Chaser with MS in Circle): EVERYONE is going to die if they go their separate ways and hide, because the Chaser is just that good (or just that big a douchbag).
If you instead support the current target (and Survive. Remember to Survive!) you're wasting the Chaser's time... which means by the time YOU become the marked target, the clock will be at a few seconds left and you'll have a good chance of surviving the round.
The best support usually is to ambush-melee the chaser (hit stun = godly), although a few other skills work quite well: Bind allows the marked victim time to get away, Railguns and Cannonades allow you to support from a "safe" distance and (if you can equip it) Block can really close up passageways in addition to giving cover in very open locations
- Oh great, you killed me. Congrats at getting only 2 points
This is sorta a "consolation prize", but there IS something worse than getting killed by the Chaser: getting killed by the Chaser when you're a marked victim. Given that the Chaser can get a LOT of points with marked victims (upwards of 22 extra points if that chaser is skilled enough to do perfect runs), this difference is actually quite significant.
So in a failed attempt to waste the Chaser's time, take solace at the fact you forced the Chaser to get less points when you die.
- Douchbag moves: Wait, where did everyone go?? (when playing Points Chaser only)
Supporting those marked victims is nice and all, but what you REALLY want is the guy above you in points dying, and you surviving (creating a 10 points boost in your bid to become the winner in Points Chaser)
So take a close look at the clock: when you think enough time has passed, ABANDON the marked victim to his fate and start running away. Ideally, the chaser kills him, he doesn't kill you in time, you're happy and everyone else is pissed off. Ah, the sweet and sour taste of winning at all costs, it smells good
- Douchbag moves: Active sabotage!! (only reasonably possible in Block Buster)
This is 100% a douchbag tactic: Actively kill off fellow victims for fun and profit by shooting out the floor under them.
HOWEVER, you just helped the chaser to give away 2 points and 11 seconds. And not only that: you just hastened your own death because you're now one step closer to being a marked victim. Given how open Block-Buster is, chances are you'll die.
Thus, this "tactic" is only applicable to those playing Damage Chaser (where points doesn't matter more than you having more time to get damage bars than your "opponents")
- Douchbag moves: Fresh Chaser? Ah well, here's a "pity" kill for ya (Ranking very, very high when playing Points Chaser only)
This is one of the exceptions to "Wasting the chaser's time": IF the current chaser is someone who joined 1/2-way (very low points as opposed to your "top-dog" 150++ points), AND you know he is going after marked victims, AND you know he's good, let him kill you.
... huh?
The reasoning is simple: that Chaser will never get anywhere close to the top spot due to his points (unless he gets to be Chaser 5 times in a row). And if everyone in the top 6~8 spots die, everyone gets 5 points only = no difference in rankings.
Wasting half the round dodging the Chaser and STILL ending up dead to have some 4th place survivor suddenly jump the ranks to top spot sucks, so allowing the chaser to kill you fast = the chaser gets some "help" to kill the other people in the top spots = you still get to stay at the top.
This has a BIG chance of back-firing on you (especially if the chaser turns out to be noobish) so be careful when using this tactic.
- Douchbag moves: Using your allie*ahem* distractions for fun and profit
Sometimes, a chaser will start to chase down random victims instead of the marked Targeted-Victim ("Fear ME!!", he says). And sometimes that victim the Chaser has his/her eyes on is you.
Well, if you want to live, you'll need a distraction. And the best distraction of them all is another victim: run past one of them and immediately after that attempt to hide. If successful the chaser will change targets and you'll get away to recover SP for the next encounter.
- Always know where the Chaser is
This is important, if only to stop the Chaser (of all things) ambushing you while you're running up and down like a headless chicken.
You do NOT want to give that chaser an easy kill, do you?
Tip: you can know the approximate location of a Chaser without even seeing the chaser. Just look at your allies: any direction they're shooting at, running away from, etc... is the most likely location of the Chaser.
- Douchbag moves: Being Friendly to the Big Bad Wolf
Chasers usually try to kill everyone, while Victims try to stay alive. But what happens when a pair of players in the room are friends with each other, and one of them becomes the Chaser?
Simple: We get what is known as a Farming*/Friend-pair
Farming, in this context, does not refer to the bannable "afk farming". It instead refers to farming for points and damage bars without the Chaser retaliating
BUT, while the entire room is raging at the pair shooting away and getting freebies, there ARE disadvantages to a Friend-pair. Here they are:
* Luck plays a role: as said above, if you have to depend on luck to become Chaser in order to win in Chaser mode... you sux.
* Room is not "cleaned": The point calculations are above if you want to read it again, but ultimately the Chaser-friend has just lost out on a LARGE chunk of points: (a) a 4 point kill right in front of him, (b) the 20 point bonus for wiping clean the room, and (c) everyone catches up to the chaser by 5 points (or 2 and a half of the Chaser-friend's kills just went "poof")
Of course, the smarter thing to do is to have the Chaser-friend kill the victim-friend at the last second to get those points... which means the victim-friend will only get what he gets from shooting.
* For the victim-friend... the points he gets is significant, but not much. This is because even a HMG can fill up damage bars only so fast (includes reload). Approximately, 40 seconds with a +X HMG means the victim-friend is going to only have around 14~20 points from shooting before the round ends... which is roughly equivalent to surviving a Chaser round.
Add a competant room with enough expert dodgers and time-wasting melee ambusers and given that the Chaser-friend has to kill everyone first, the victim is not even going to have time to get his extra points.
* Not all the points goes to one friend: Note the above: Either the Chaser gets +20 points for clearing the room, or the victim gets 15 shooting + 15 survive points for living.
Thus, friend pairs can only go one way: both persons can only focus on one friend getting most of the points, otherwise the extra points they get either way is pitiful.
* You incur the rage of the entire room. That rage is going to backstab you later (most likely lasting the ENTIRE GAME): 2 out of 12 players means a Friend-pair is very likely to get a non-friendly Chaser out for their blood next turn, not to mention in certain maps team-kills are not only possible, but easy to perform.
Note: Currently there are threads hotly debating whether Friend-pairs are an illegal move. Answer: it is not bannable and it is not even a glitch/bug abuse, at least in the Rules as Intended (as the way the rules are set means even without such messy things as Friend-pairs, you still HAVE to be a douchbag to win)... But you can do the following:
- Douchbag moves: Loath the Love
So there is a known Friend-pair in the game you're playing. What should you do?
* RAGE!! TYPE YOUR ANGER LOTS AND LOTS!! RAGE QUIT!! COMPLAIN IN THE FORUMS!! <-- you're being stupid. The options below are better:
* Actively assist-kill them: only possible in Block Buster, all you have to do is to follow the Fiend-pair and shoot the floor from under them.
However, there are other ways of assist-killing a Friend-pair. One example: You can tell the current-chaser where they are (If they complain, just say: "Hey! I am ALSO a friend with a Chaser!!"
) * Actively sabotage their ability to get further points... by bodily blocking their shots with the simple act of standing in front of them (it really does mess up someone's aim).
This is especially potent for someone with a melee weapon: you block 100% his attacks without damage, and weapon delays means the Chaser will shoot/melee the Friend-pair to bits.
* The best option however is to ignore them... most of the time: if a Friend-pair becomes a Chaser again, spend a lot more effort trying to stay alive. After all, a Friend-pair can only truely farm for points and damage if everyone else is dead, so if you are not dead... worst outcome is they don't get points, best case outcome is they give up hunting you and you get an oppotunity to share in the farming
And that's all, folks. There'll be future edits to this guide, watch this thread for announcements of edits.
