Tepamina's Soldier Guide (3/3)

Class: Soldier
Faction: All Factions
Level: All Levels
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Big Guns and Reflects


Table of Contents


1. Introduction
2. Breed
3. IP
4. Weapons
5. Armor
6. Nanos
7. Implants + Symbiants
8. Perks
9. Research
10. Fighting as a Soldier
11. Taunting and Aggro Control
12. Special Formulas



++9.0 Research++


With LE finally here, we finally have an exciting range of research line. Each line has 10 levels, each of which give a different bonus. Below I will explain what each ones gives, and which ones to prioritize. The information for all of the specials can be found at the end of this section.

9.1 Sweep and Clear

Designed to help soldiers live longer and be tougher. This will add more Max health, along with a few good abilities.

TOTAL Stats :
Max Health 500
Body Dev 30
Stamina 30
Agility 15

1- Body Dev 5
2- Max health 50
3- Stamina 10
4- Agility 15
5- Max Health 150
6- Special : Target Acquired
7- Body Dev 25
8- Special : On The Double
9- Stamina 20
10- Max Health 300

9.2 Strategic Planning

Designed to help with a soldier's nano skills, especially with Matter Creation, which along with the next research line (Combat Sense), will help us to cast our reflects. Also helps with Computer Literature.

TOTAL Stats :
Computer Literature 25
Matter Creation 75
Psycho Modi 25
Time & Space 15
Max NCU 4
Add all off 20

1- Max NCU 4
2- Computer Literature 10
3- Time & Space 15
4- Computer Literature 15
5- Psycho Modi 25
6- Matter Creation 25
7- Special : Graze Jugular Vein
8- Matter Creation 50
9- Add all Off : 20
10- Special : Furious Ammunition

9.3 Combat Sense

Focuses on a quite a few abilities with strength being the main one. It also has a huge Time & Space boost, which will help with our reflects.

TOTAL Stats :
Time & Space 85
Strength 50
Stamina 15
Agility 15

1- Special : Shoot Artery
2- Special : Deep Six Initiative
3- Strength 15
4- Stamina 15
5- Time & Space 25
6- Matter Creation 25
7- Strength 15
8- Agility 20
9- Strength 20
10- Time & Space 60

9.4 Marksmanship

Focuses on weapon skills. A very good line to research at any time of a soldier's career.

TOTAL Stats :
Assault Rifle : 160
SMG : 110
Full Auto : 75
Burst : 65
Ranged Initiative : 30

1- Assault Rifle : 10
2- Full Auto : 10
3- Special : Emergency Bandages
4- Assault Rifle : 15
5- Burst / Full Auto : 15
6- Assault Rifle : 25
7- Ranged Initiative : 30
8- SMG / Assault Rifle : 50
9- Burst / Full Auto : 50
10- SMG / Assault Rifle : 60

9.5 Forward Observer

Divides focus between weapon skills, and intelligence related skills, especially Matt. Mettam, which will help with our +damage lines. It has a very nice Burst/Full Auto boost.

TOTAL Stats :
Intelligence : 20
Sense : 10
Matt. Mettam : 75
Ranged Initiatives : 30
Burst / Full Auto : 50

1- Intelligence 5
2- Sense 10
3- Special : Concussive Shot
4- Special : Gear Assault Absorption
5- Matt. Mettam 25
6- Intelligence 15
7- Ranged Inititiatives 30
8- Burst / Full Auto 50
9- Matt. Mettam 50
10- Special : Fuse Body Armor

9.6 Classified Ops

Boosts a few of our nano skills, which will be usefull for our add damage line, and our taunts. The Add all Offense boost is very decent.

TOTAL Stats :
Psycho Modi : 60
Matt. Mettam : 50
Strength : 20
Sense : 10
Burst : 25
Add all Off : 40

1- Special : Successful Targeting
2- Psycho Modi 10
3- Strength 10
4- Sense 10
5- Strength 10
6- Burst 25
7- Add all off 15
8- Psycho Modi 50
9- Matt. Mettam 50
10- Add all Off 25

9.7 Force Recon

Focuses on the soldier's alternate weapon lines. This will be good for non AR soldiers.

TOTAL Stats :
Pistol / Ranged Energy : 140
Fling Shot : 75
Multi Ranged : 30
Ranged Initiatives : 30

1- Fling Shot : 10
2- Pistol / Ranged Energy : 10
3- Fling Shot : 15
4- Pistol / Ranged Energy : 20
5- Special : Reconditioned
6- Multi Ranged : 30
7- Ranged Initiatives : 30
8- Pistol / Ranged Energy : 50
9- Fling Shot : 50
10- Pistol / Ranged Energy : 60

9.8 Total Stats

Abilities

Stamina 70
Agility 35
Strength 55
Intelligence : 20
Sense : 20

Health

Max Health 500
Body Dev 30

Nanotechnology

Matter Creation 100
Psycho Modi 85
Time & Space 100
Matt. Mettam : 125

Computer Literacy

Computer Literature 25
Max NCU 4

Weapon Skills

Assault Rifle : 160
SMG : 110
Pistol / Ranged Energy : 140
Full Auto : 125
Burst : 140
Fling Shot : 75
Ranged Initiative : 90
Multi Ranged : 30
Add all off 60

9.9 Research Specials

Reseach specials run like auras in your ncu. They take 40 ncu each. You can run one special per type, there are 2 types. Below is the complete list, and what they add. More info on each, when I get it.

Type 1 :

Research level 3 :

Emergency Bandages
Max health +176, Heal Delta +2

Concussive Shot
Energy/Projectile Damage modifier +15

Research level 8 :

On The Double
Initiatives +150


Research level 10 :

Furious Ammunition
Projectile/Energy Damage Modifier +88

Type 2 :

[size=16Research level 1 :[/size]

Shoot Artery
Projectile/Energy Damage Modifier +4

Successful Targeting
AddAllOff +23

Research level 2 :

Deep Six Initiative
Initiatives +50

Research level 4 :

Gear Assault Absorption
AC +280

Research level 5 :

Reconditioned
Max health +361, Heal Delta +3

Research level 6 :

Target Acquired
AddAllOff +35

Research level 7 :

Graze Jugular Vein
Projectile/Energy Damage Modifier +70

Research level 10:

Fuse Body Armor
AC 800



++10. Fighting as a Soldier++

10.1 Solo

Soldiers are not the best soloing profession out there. Because of our lack of any good heals, once we take damage, it's gone. Nice Damage will help you here. The faster you can take out a mob, the less he'll hit you. You'll also need a good TMS. To solo effectively, you'll need very nice equipment to say the least, especially at the beginning.

At low levels, you'll pretty much be stuck killing stuff that you can kill pretty easily. Since your TMS won't last very long, once it's gone, you'll be a sitting duck. Try not to take on stuff that is too hard, or you'll end up in reclaim, and watch out with adds. You might be able to kill one mob, but not 4 at once :)

Once you progress in levels, and you start to get better TMS, eventually TMS 10, then you can start taking on much tougher mobs, and do what is called TMS kiting. This basically meant that you tank the mob for the 1:20 minutes of your TMS, using stims and perks to heal yourself as necessary. Once your TMS expires, you start to kite, while still shooting your specials on the mob. This will last for 40 seconds, until your TMS returns. This is a very nice way to solo, especially for the really hard mobs, or simply to save your butt if you underestimate a mob.

10.2 teams

In teams, if you're equiped right, you will often be called to tank. If you're serious about your profession, and not powerlevelling too much, then you should be able to hold aggro if you need to. It is your responsability as a good tank to buy the proper taunts, and guns needed to make sure that mobs stay on you. Your team will thank you for it.

Assuming you have taunts, when fighting, always keep an eye out for adds, especially if one is on the doc. If you are currently the main tank, while it is not entirely your responsibility to save the doc (other team members should pitch in), you still have the tool-set to help him out. If you find that taunts aren't powerful enough to get aggro from your doc, then it is perfectly acceptable to stop attacking your current mob to go against the add that's on the doc. While killing the new mob, keep spamming the old one with taunts, and he should stay on you, at least till your team gets organized. If you're currently not the main tank any reason, then your job is add control. Even if you're not tanking the current mobs, then the doc should never be touched, and it is your job to keep him alive. If any adds come, quickly go on him, and the team will be fine. If more adds come, then shoot one, and taunt the other.

All this is assuming that you don't have an enforcer in the team, if you have one, then he'll most likely be the main tank, and add control. If you see that he's having difficulty staying alive, then you can certainly help him with adds. Him, and the doc, will be grateful.

10.3 Pulling mobs

As the tank, you will often be asked to pull mobs. If you're not new to the game you will know this allready, but never pull mobs with your gun, as this will get adds. Always walk close to the mob and wait for it to attack you before running back for your team. Beware of mob clusters, as if the mob hits you while pulling your reflect shield might pull the rest of the cluster.



++11.0 Taunting and Aggro Control++

I felt compelled to write this new section when after I started to play more on my new doc. When teaming with a many great deal of soldier, most either had no taunts at all in their arsenal, or they just had the first ones in the line (which they never used either). To be honest, I really wasn't surprised when I saw this, because most soldiers tend to forget that taunts are part of our toolset, or at least have the impression that just because we don't have AoE taunts, it means they're no good. We can't forget that our taunts are the second most powerful in the game. Taunts are for us what heals are for adventurers, not the best in the games, but certainly still very useful. Also, there is a reason why TMS doesn't debuff PM. It's so that you can still taunt even if you can't cast anything else. So while you're nearly invincible (with TMS) you can taunt multiple mobs on you, while the team kills.

As previously mentioned, a soldier should be able to handle adds. Maybe not as good as an enforcer but should still be good. I know for sure that even low level soldier can do it well, as I've helped org mate soldiers before with this, and they've done nicely. I've seen soldiers able to handle 3+ adds with taunts and firepower. And this is at level 110-140ish. The taunts only get better from that point. After seing this, I was concerned to see how many soldiers in teams that didn't have any taunts, or didn't know anything at all about add control. It feels like such a waste of abilities. I'm hoping new soldiers reading this section will realise that taunts are really important, and a soldier that is able to handle adds will get a very nice reputation.

11.1 When you should start buying taunts

The first useful taunt will be at level 15. This one can be bought in nascence garden. The earlier you start practicing to use individual taunts, the earlier you'll be able to use them effectivelly.

11.2 What taunts you should buy / blitz

The list on auno can be a bit confusing, since there are 3 different kinds of nanos in the same list, and they're in a order of skill needed to cast, which doesn't always correspond to the amount of the taunt. Therefore, I will list the most useful nanos that you will need, in order. Early on, the shadowlands timed taunts will be more powerfull. These will very soon be passed by the single RK taunts. Eventually, you will want the SL single taunts. Also, the detaunts are almost useless, at least for any other purpose other than saving yourself (which you shouldn't do if it will kill someone else in your team). Therefore I will not list them here.

Soldiers really have no excuse not to buy taunts either. They use the same skills as our weapon nano lines. Therefore, we allready raise PM. So IP is not an issue.

Here is the list, in order of PM. Keep in mind that the shadowland ones are level locked.

NamePsiMod reqTaunt valueLocationLevel req
Minor Insult 95 350 Nascence Garden 15
Enraged Mind 151 349 Rubi-ka
Lesser Insult 263 650 Elysium Sanctuary 45
Annoying Presence 336 712 Rubi Ka
Aggressive Captivation 428 890 Rubi Ka
Id Assault 615 1244 Rubi Ka
Only You, Only Me 706 1617 Rubi Ka
Obvious Victim 805 2250 Adonis Sanctuary 125
Clear Victim 1029 4580 Inferno Garden 185
Distinct Victim 1229 5125 Inferno Sanctuary 205
Undeniable Victim 1437 6600 Pandemonium Garden 211


Aggro Tools

These tools were mentioned earlier, but I thought that I would repost them here.

Aggression Multiplier
Aggression enhancers can be bought from shops up to level 125. You can blitz the higher qls. The ql200 version is called Aggression Multiplier. These also can, and should, be upgraded (Aggression Multiplier (Jealousy Augmented) by combining it with an Essence of Pure Jealousy found in Steps of Madness off of Jealousy.

Modified Aggression Enhancer
This Solitus only taunt gives a minor taunt, but has the bonus of being able to be equiped, for a minor projectile AC and reflect boost. Drops off Iron Reet.

11.3 How to use single taunts effectively

Ok so we've covered what you should buy, now we'll talk about ways to use them effectivelly.

First off, you'll always need your taunts and taunt tools on your quickbar. The ability to use them easy and quickly is crucial to taunting well. If you're fighting mobs that drain your skills, it's a good idea to have a backup taunt ready, if not on your quickbar, then at least know exactly where to find your lower ones. This also holds true for your TMSs.

Now on to the basics of taunting for soldiers. The basics of taunting are simple. Simply put, if you're on one target, taunt it if you want it to stay on you (if another prof can OD you). If you have adds, simply attack one, and tab the others and send taunts. This sounds extemelly simple, but believe me, it gets complicated.

I'll try to illustrate specific situations that you may/will encounter.

1- Let's say you're on a heck team, in elysium. You have no enforcer, and there is a shade (or any prof that can OD you) in your team. Now if you can't OD the shade, he will die and the team may wipe, if you don't taunt that is. If you have no adds, you can use taunts on the heck as well as doing your normal damage. The shade should not be able to get aggro if you do this. Keep in mind that one taunt may not be enough, and, in certain situations, you may have to spam them also.

Let's say you would get an add. This will be very tricky, but possible to get out of. The team will have to assist you obviously, and not touch the second heck. You'll need to go full damage on the first heck. As soon as you start attacking the first heck, you'll need to target the second one, and taunt. At this point, you may or may not have to use TMS, because you'll have 2 hecks on you. Keep an eye out on the second heck, always keep taunting at this point, because you certainly do not want it to go attack the doc. After a couple of taunts, throw 1 or 2 on the heck that you are fighting, just to keep from losing that one (from the shade), afterwards, taunt the add. Keep doing this until the first one is dead.

2- Another situation is alien raids, again without an enforcer. Let's say you have 3 org members present, you'll get 4 aliens each wave. That is alot of aliens to keep on you, but again, it is possible.

As soon as you see the wave comming, target the hacker and alpha it. Immediatelly after, tab another alien and send a taunt. This will get 2 aliens on you even before the aliens arrive to the raid group As you wait until the taunt finishes to recharge, you'll need to tab another alien. Once the recharge is done, taunt. At this point, try to find out if the first and second one that you taunted are on you. If they are, move on to the 4th one. If they aren't re-taunt, they should go on you at this point.

If at any point an alien goes on the doc, or another squishy prof, you can do one of two things. First is taunt that mob. This techique will enable you to keep attacking your current mob, but will not necessarilly garantee that the mob will come on you. Use this technique if you're certain that the character can handle a few hits, or if you're fairly certain that the taunt will succeed in one or two tries. The second method would be to change target, and attack the mob that's causing the problems. This way, you'll fairly quickly get the mob off the character. However, the mob that you were attacking before, will die less quickly, and you'll have adds for a longer period of time. I can't tell you which method is the most efficient way, because it will depend on the situation and characters. You'll have to make that decision in a split second, and only practice and experience will tell you which to use.

Keep in mind that if another character in your team can handle an add, he should be the one to take adds off of squishy players. While you can help, the team should also pitch it if they can.

These 2 situations are examples only. I could try to explain forever, but the only real way to learn to do it, is to actually do it. Don't be discouraged if you don't get the hang of it on your first or second try, or if someone dies on your team. Look at that as a learning experience and try to figure out what you could have done differently, so that next time, things will happen differently.

11.4 When it is not necessary to taunt

Anytime an enforcer is in your team, you can pretty much take a break on taunting. He will be more than adequate to hold the adds. You can however help him out if he needs it, by attacking one of the adds. Again, this will depend on the situation.

Keep in mind that even though you have an enforcer in your team, that doesn't necessarily mean that he's a good enforcer. Keep your eyes out, if he loses aggro, or adds. You can act as backup, in case something goes wrong. Again, if any mob goes on the doc, or any squishy prof, take it off. That's your main job in this team situation.

Another situation where it may not be necessary to tank, is if another player ODs you, but he can handle the mob, then you don't necessarily need to taunt. You can taunt if you want, but in this case, it's not really needed. Your choice. However, in any case where that player has even a bit of difficulty, you better not take the chance and shoot a few taunts.





++12.0 Special Formulas++

When picking your weapon of choice, knowing how to calculate the special recharge time is extremelly useful. Below, you will find all of the formulas to calcute the recharge times for each weapon. You will also find the formula to figure out how much skill is needed to cap a certain weapon.

The Burst and Full Auto Cycles can be found on either Auno or AODB.

12.1 Fling Shot

Fling shot recharge

Wep Attack time (in seconds) x 16] - Fling shot skill/100

or
1600 x Wep Attack time - Fling shot skill100


Skill needed to cap

The cap for fling shot is 7 seconds. No matter how much skill you have, you'll never have a faster fling shot. Here is the formula.

[ (Wep Attack time x 16) - 7 ] x100

or
(1600 x Wep Attack Time) - 700


12.2 Burst

burst recharge

[Wep Recharge time (in seconds) x 20] + BurstCycle/100 - Burst skill/25

or
2000 x Wep Recharge time + BurstCycle - 4x Burst skill
100


Skill needed to cap

The cap for Burst is 9 seconds. No matter how much skill you have, you'll never have a faster burst. Here is the formula.

[ (Wep Recharge time x 20) + (BurstCycle/100) - 9 ] x 25

or
(Wep Recharge time x 2000) + BurstCycle - 900
4


12.3 Full Auto

Full Auto Recharge

[Wep Recharge time (in seconds) x 40] + FullAutoCycle/100 - FullAuto skill/25

or
4000 x Wep Recharge time + FullAutoCycle - 4x FullAuto skill
100


Cap calculation

To figure out the FA cap of a certain weapon, use the following formula.

10 +Wep Recharge time (in seconds, rounded down)


The Wep recharge value is rounded down, ie 1.8 seconds = 1 seconds, 2.1 seconds = 2 seconds.

Skill needed to cap

You will first need to calculate the cap with the formula above. The formula below assumes a cap of 11 seconds, which is the lowest cap possible. However, if a certain weapon has a higher cap, replace the 11 with the appropriate cap.

[ (Wep Recharge time x 40) + (FullAutoCycle/100) - 11 ] x 25

or
(Wep Recharge time x 4000) + FullAutoCycle - 1100
4


12.4 Aimed Shot

Aimed Shot Recharge

[Wep Recharge time (in seconds) x 40] - (3 x AimedShot skill/100)

or
4000 x Wep Recharge time - 3x AimedShot skill
100


Skill needed to cap

The cap for Aimed Shot is 11 seconds. No matter how much skill you have, you'll never have a faster Aimed Shot. Here is the formula.

[ (Wep Recharge time x 40) - 11 ] x 100
3




Last updated on 10.17.2012 by Llie
Written by Tepamina
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