Lord Recluse SF - a stalker's experience

[Tgx]

Mission 1 : Assault Longbow Base

Mission Objectives :
. 5 Bombs to set: located in towers (2 in each) and lab; waypoints mark locations
. Kidnap Technician: spawns randomly in towers and lab; will catch up if left behind
. Defeat Crimson: located in Laboratory
. Destroy 12 Chasers: located randomly above the island's airspace

Remarks :
. the map for this mission is similar to that of the Longbow base in Nerva.
. Crimson is usually assisted by 4 Ballista Longbows
. Kidnaping technician triggers a longbow ambush which can, sometimes, lock the tech as long as the spawned ambush hasn’t been annihilated.
. Setting the 5th bomb also triggers an ambush.
. There are jails in this mission.

Tips :
. Using one stealthy guy to explore the map, the two towers and the lab (while other players log for ten minutes) generates a “light” map. In some cases, you can even pick the 4 bombs in towers without being noticed.

Mission 2 : Assault Malta Base

Mission Objectives :
. Steal Orestes Rifle: located in back room inside compound
. Defeat Slinger: located in back room inside compound
. Steal keycard: obtained by defeating Kronos Titan
. Destroy main frame and guards: located just outside Slinger's room

Remarks :
. the map for this mission is in Warburg, the inside of the base is similar to the first mission of Ernesto Hess TF.

Tips :
. most of the outdoor map can be skipped, only the Kronos need to be defeated (and the group in front of the base door). Usually, the Kronos can be pulled from the river.
. Slinger, at some point will call large amounts of robotic pets. So, better proceed in that order inside the base : 1) destroy mainframe and guards 2) assault Slinger while someone picks the rifle in the safe.
. the Oreste Rifle has only one use : debuff and help defeat Miss Liberty in mission #4.

Mission 3 : Defeat Future Freedom Phalanx

Mission Objectives :
. Defeat Numina, Sister Psyche, Back Alley Brawler, Manticore (and his associated longbow spawn).

Remarks :
. the action takes place in a future ruined Atlas Park.
. there is a random "phase shift" effect that drifts around the map, trapping you in between the future and present time; this will make you intangible at random for a fairly long duration.

Tips :
. stand in top of the broken Atlas globe. First, Manticore won’t follow, second you can delay heroes by applying –Fly on them.
. Defeat Order : Numina (teammates buff including fortitude), Sister Psyche (Psi damage), Back Alley Brawler, Manticore (no travel power).

Mission 4 : Assault Vindicator Base

Mission Objectives :
. Steal access code: defeat Vindicators (Malaise, Swan, Luminary, Mynx, Valkyrie) to obtain
. Find base key: found in south room of second level
. Defeat Ms. Liberty: found in east room of second level

Remarks :
. this map is an indoor tech complex.
. Vindicators will be lvl53.
. picking the key triggers an ambush.

Tips :
. Defeat order : Malaise (Psi Damage, pets, fear), Swan (psi damage), Luminary, Mynx (Elude), Valkyrie (Resurrect).
. the Base Key can be picked by a stealthed char, either by cleaning the key room alone or by teleporting teammates.
. Use the Oreste Rifle to weaken Miss Liberty.

Mission 5 : Destroy Statesman and Freedom Phalanx

Mission Objectives :
. Defeat the Freedom Phalanx : Numina, Sister Psyche, Manticore, Positron, Synapse, Citadel, Back Alley Brawler, Statesman

Remarks :
. this takes place in Atlas Park.
. Freedom Phalanx will be lvl54.

Tips and Strategies :
. Defeat Order : Numina (teammates buff including fortitude), Sister Psyche (Psi damage), ... Statesman (probably the strongest).
. Pulling is the key. Each time you’ll pick more than two heroes, you’ll have to exit map and possibly logout for 5 mins to have a new spawn.
. The Shivans are essential. Each teammate absolutely needs to have a full set of 5 shivans. In some case, the team will have to head to Bloody Bay at some point in this mission so as to pick new Shivans sets (leaving at least one teammate in the SF map).
. The brutes are essential, especially the stone ones who can go forever Granite (no Tier9 crash). Two Granite brute seems a good minimum (one backup in case the main tank fall) but a third brute (whatever the defense line) may help managing the aggro and hitting the Heroes.
. The corrs are also essential. One /rad and two /kin seems to work well. The /rad and the first /kin for the targeted hero, the second /kin to delay a second hero. A /thermal can be a nice addition but he can’t replace a /kin due to the lack of debuffs.

. here is the overall strategy :
1) someone pulls one hero (no need to stick to the suggested defeat order – as this only applies when two heroes come – just pick the best choice for a 1-2 hero(es) pull) then retreat breaking LoS (the place behind the Hall stairs works good). A “no damage” power is rumored to be more efficient in picking a single hero. In any case, removing some enhancements to slot with range enhancements for the SF duration may improve the pulling part
The puller tend to die each time, though this can be countered if someone recall him and/or he hits Phase Shift (there is a temp power). Another road is to let him die and “Vengeance the whole team” before rezzing him.
2) If one hero comes alone, use shivans, debuff the hero, buff the team and crush him. If two come, one of them will have to be delayed, usually using half of the shivans, one /kin corr and possibly one brute while everyone else will concentrate on the other (and most dangerous) hero. If more than two come, give up, exit mission and re-enter it (if you already crushed some heroes) or reset mission by all quiting 5 minutes (if you still have 8 heroes to defeat).
3) Pull another hero

. on “two-heroes pull”, the Warburg temp powers can greatly reduce the defeat time, especially when you’re facing Numina or Sister Psyche who tend to be a pain for the Stone brutes.
. always summon pets (shivans and others) before buffing team (this applies to Vengeance as well).
. the heroes have a very high toHit buff. As an example, even double-debuffed, a hero will crush too often through a Elude stalker if he doesn’t stack purple insps (usually 2-3). Stock as many purple insps as you can and don’t hesitate to go back to Pocket D, arena or your base to refill your tray after each fight (succeeded or not).

. definely, this SF CAN’t be completed by casual gamers.
You need precise archetypes, at least 3 corrs (2Kin, 1 rad), 2 stone brutes. If you miss one of them, I don't think you can succeed (alternate teams to try with MM debuffing lines)
You need constant defense insp refilling, if you miss them, you’ll go down without defeating a hero.
You need the shivans. If you miss them, you’ll fail.
You need as much lvl50 as possible. 54 is already overwhelming to a lvl50, it’s even worse for a lvl49 (not talking about the fact that a non-50 will be reluctant in dying repeatedly, which the SF requires).
You need a good puller. As long as you can’t pull 1-2 heroes at a time, you will be overwhelmed and crushed.

The final mission is the pinnacle of this SF. If the team has some hard time in missions 1-4, it’s probably better to just give up.

Last and most important, you need patience. you can be lucky and complete the whole SF in three hours.
But you can really have bad pulls and restart the final mission multiple times (on our first success, the final mission took us 5 hours, yeah we really had bad pulls ! ).
Pick a team who fits the prerequisites and is ready to stay. Needless to say that someone quitting the team (especially corr or brute) will screw everything, thus making everyone ... very pissed.

Final note about alternative strategies :
. there is a strategy based on rush the eight heroes applying 8 or more warburg debuffs at the same time and vengeance on team plus Shivans. It has been tested several times on Union and the best result was three defeated heroes before the teamwipe. Considering the required time to gather the warburg temp powers, this can be very frustrating.
. I’ve also heard about “8 Dominators team” attempts but for all that I know, it has been very fun but never succeeded.


Personal notes :
. this has been written between two meetings, at work, I hope it's not too full of typos and barbarisms (and yes, english isn't my native language)
. I used a lot the great ParangonWiki RSF Guide. My thanks to them for the great work !
. this isn't and will never be a final guide to the RSF, more a compilation of various experiences which you may already know but which will, I hope, help those who haven't yet tried the LRSF

cheers,

Moondust, archvilain, servant of Recluse

[Darknesse]

there is a strategy based on rush the eight heroes applying 8 or more warburg debuffs at the same time and vengeance on team plus Shivans. It has been tested several times on Union and the best result was three defeated heroes before the teamwipe. Considering the required time to gather the warburg temp powers, this can be very frustrating.

I have tried this 3 times and succeeded every time. Each time we hit them with 8 debuffs, hit ourselves and our shivans with the buff nukes, as well as vengance and just walked over them.

[razoras]

I can't wait until the Statesman Task Force, so we heroes get to experience the forced metagaming the RSF has joyously brought villainside.

[Charon]

I really want to try and RSF just for the storyline and experience of it...

But obviously, I'm getting the feeling that it's not going to be possible for me to have much fun on it, since I'm going to have to be watching where I use my nukes and my shivans... And as a Stone Brute, it's basically going to be all on me in the last battle, which isn't going to be too cool when it's the first time I do it.

[Tgx]

You're right, Darknesse.
And you can blame my limited english and the short time I took to write this post

As stated in Parangonwiki, some have succeeded several times with the rush strategy.
On Union, as far as I know, there were three attempts (I was in one of them) to try it and the best result were three heroes down. I recently asked people on Vigilance who tried and failed too.

My point was considering the required time to gather all the Warburg temp powers (as unfortunately, I've never been in any "fully ready team" : we always had people lacking temp powers and/or shivans), the failure tend to piss players a lot

I also noticed that Parangonwiki states it's impossible to have a proper pull while it was the road we followed.
It took us 5 hours but we managed to pull at worst two heroes at a time.

So if you have : time (and patience), 2 strong brutes (Stone), 3 corrs (2 /kin, 1/rad) and a pack of shivans in every player's backpack, it works.

The thing I really missed was Vengeance.

Moondust.

[Vendel]

Originally Posted by Tgx

So if you have : time (and patience), 2 strong brutes (Stone), 3 corrs (2 /kin, 1/rad) and a pack of shivans in every player's backpack, it works.

I just find this funny.

So those 5 and the last three are open....weeeee come all you MM and Stalkers.

Maybe Cryptic forgot that Brutes are not tanks when they made the SF. And no Defenders either. *shrug*

[The Widowed]

Originally Posted by Vendel

So those 5 and the last three are open....weeeee come all you MM and Stalkers.

But no Dominators because Dominators are icky, huh?

*wonders how many Dominators it would take to simultaneously cast their aggro-free Confuses on Statesman before it would instantly sink in and they could sit back, watch Statesman wipe out his buddies and move in when he's the last one standing....*

[Vendel]

Originally Posted by The Widowed

But no Dominators because Dominators are icky, huh?

Well I figure a Dom would have less of a problem getting one of those spots over a MM or a stalker...thats why I din't bring it up.


get thicker skin wids

[The Widowed]

Originally Posted by Vendel

Well I figure a Dom would have less of a problem getting one of those spots over a MM or a stalker...thats why I din't bring it up.


get thicker skin wids

Yeah, sure. We know how you feel about Dominators, Mr. Dogpile-the-Dominator-in-Warburg!

[Charon]

Originally Posted by The Widowed

Yeah, sure. We know how you feel about Dominators, Mr. Dogpile-the-Dominator-in-Warburg!

I was talking to a guy I know named Mindswipe, he's a level 50 Mind/Psi Dom. He's managed to do the RSF six times already, all of them fairly easily, I hear. So Bloodywedd and any other doms shouldn't really have that much trouble finding an RSF team, if you know where to look.

Although, he did say he had plenty of failed attempts to his name, as well.