Best Builds for Solo Maps

[ApocalypseMeow]

I'm trying to get the acheivements for completing all the maps with feats of strength. What are the best tower and perk loadouts for each map? I have the core stun and heal, but what else is best? And, what towers for what maps are the best. I can't figure it out. Also, I know how hard going solo is, and that's partly why I'm doing it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Min]

Huge post warning.

I feel bad for doing a shameless plug here, but... My guide has several builds with all characters (with videos to prove they do work on 5 Feats of Strength solo), among other things.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=505739685

Also, if interests you, I have several videos doing 5 Feats of Strength maps solo:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS7CYzATG6xBt_mLLDCy3eENYAoVMTvfZ

Regarding towers, I can affirm without a shadow of doubt Focus (unlocked at Rank 15) is one of the best towers of the game. Every time I go for a serious game on 5 Feats of Strength I always pick it as my "killer tower" since it has reliable attack speed and power, so in case something goes wrong, most of times Focus will be there to kill something big like Heavies.

AR-Mine Dispenser makes for good boss killing if you stock them up (and know if the boss is coming delayed or not).

If you have DLC (Last Stand at least), Anti-Air is a huge helping hand in maps where Spitflies, Healers, Spore Pods and Bliskebaske appears.

On the subject of perk combinations, I'm pretty sure there's not a perfect build that you can use for every map-- and if there is I'm certain another build would do the job better. If something doesn't quite work as you expect, it's time to use another build. Soakers are being a problem? Try a Sweet, SiMo build. Crowds are too damn big to handle? Try out the Corpse Explosion perk. And so on.

People often chastise Sanctum 2 as a "no strategy" game, but only because it decided to focus on FPS elements more than towers. But in reality there's a lot of stuff you can come up with yourself, better than mine's, if you decide to try a bit of everything.

I'll list some of the builds I like the most for 5 Feats of Strength solo.

These are simple loadouts but they did help me hike to Rank 40 when you get to swap your primary weapon and a whole new set of possibilities open up for you.

Character: Skye

Weapon 1:
Assault Rifle

Weapon 2:
Shotgun (SMG, ETK-Tesla Prototype)

Perks:
Against All Odds
Corpse Explosion
Slowing Presence

Character: Sweet

Weapon 1:
REX

Weapon 2:
Battle Rifle

Perks:
Tactical Juxtaposition
Slowing Rounds
Against All Odds (Slowing Rounds, Exposure Rounds)

Character: SiMo

Weapon 1:
Sniper Rifle

Weapon 2:
Assault Rifle (SMG)

Perks:
Slowing Presence
Marksman
Corpse Explosion (Against All Odds)

Character: Haigen

Weapon 1:
Shotgun

Weapon 2:
SMG (Assault Rifle, ETK-Tesla Prototype)

Perks:
Against All Odds
Corpse Explosion
Slowing Presence

If you are Rank 40 (and got DLCs) you can use these instead:

Character: Skye

Weapon 1:
Drone Launcher (Plasma Rifle)

Weapon 2:
Gatling Laser

Perks:
Tactical Juxtaposition
Spray 'N Pray
Corpse Explosion

Character: Sweet (actually Rank 34 necessary)

Weapon 1:
REX

Weapon 2:
Plasma Rifle

Perks:
Tactical Juxtaposition
Fast Hands
Slowing Rounds

Character: SiMo

Weapon 1:
Ballista

Weapon 2:
Plasma Rifle

Perks:
Slowing Presence
Fast Hands
Tactical Juxtaposition

Character: Haigen

Weapon 1:
Ballista

Weapon 2:
Gatling Laser (Plasma Rifle)

Perks:
Slowing Presence
Corpse Explosion
Spray 'N Pray (Fast Hands)

or

Weapon 1:
Your choice (Ballista)

Weapon 2:
Your choice (Gatling Laser)

Perks:
Slowing Presence (Phoenix)
Hydra Blood
Desperate Measures

[DoomyDoom]

Originally posted by Minoru Leonardo:

On the subject of perk combinations, I'm pretty sure there's not a perfect build that you can use for every map-- and if there is I'm certain another build would do the job better. If something doesn't quite work as you expect, it's time to use another build. Soakers are being a problem? Try a Sweet, SiMo build. Crowds are too damn big to handle? Try out the Corpse Explosion perk. And so on.

Well I'd say for the most part, there IS an almost universal solo build core: Plasma Rifle+Gatling Laser with Tactical Juxtaposition.
2 other perks can be varied depending on the map: Slowing Presence/Reinforcements for CC, Armor Shredder for the 3rd DLC maps (area 7), Hip Fire/Bloodletter/Hollowpoint Rounds/Against All Odds for Damage.
Character - generally Skye for that extra bonus damage from passive to push Gatling into 10k territory. Switch to Haigen if you feel like you're dying too much, Simo/Sweet if you have problems with Hoverers/Soakers.
Plasma-related crash can be avoided by shooting secondary fire orbs above the enemies' heads. Disabling Dynamic Lights in options further helps with stability, at least for me.

The ONLY enemy type this loadout doesn't handle perfectly well is loads of Runners (think Train Station/The Bog), which towers can cover for you. Anyhow, 5 FoS Solo isn't hard if you know how to not die. In fact a pretty big number of maps can be done without ANY towers whatsoever. You can find some loadouts/mazes here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=597415270

As far as Towers go:

• Focus is the safe choice. Just remember that it needs unobstructed Line Of Sight to target to actually deal damage (i.e. the beam does no damage if it's visually blocked by terrain/towers but stays on the target).
  
• Spamming Cannons works just fine on lots of maps. No need for Range/Amp really.
  
• ACP can be useful on certain maps, but really doesn't take off on one player's worth of resources, unless you bring the likes of Synergy perk.
  
• Slow Mines (SF Dispenser) are generally not worth your time. You need to put too much resources into SFD+Range to get any reasonable efficiency. Just pick Slowing Presence and tank the wave instead.
  
• AR-mines get stupidly OP if you just spam dispensers left, right and center. The only way I've found to 5 fos solo Sokol and Abandoned Lab with 0 Core hits (not "healed up to full", but literally "nothing reached the Core").
  
• Gatlings can have insane DPS when overcharged, but you generally don't have enough resources, just like with ACP.
  
• Everything else is largely a choice from either "extremely situational" (AA, Drones), "I'm making my life deliberately harder because it's too easy otherwise"(Makeshift Cannon, Friendship Lazor) or "6 FoS time" (Violator, Rupture Mines) category.

[UNLUCKY STAR]

i would gladly help you, if you are interested just ad me

[ApocalypseMeow]

Right now I'm stuck on train station and nothing is working. Focus, mines, drones. Idk wtf to do but I'm getting pissed off.

[DoomyDoom]

Originally posted by ApocalypseMeow:

Right now I'm stuck on train station and nothing is working. Focus, mines, drones. Idk wtf to do but I'm getting pissed off.

If your problem is wave 8 - stash AR-mines (3x8=24 if you build AR-mine dispenser on wave 1) and let them take care of whatever makes it past you, so you don't need to waste time running after every random Walker or Broodmother you missed while reloading.

[ApocalypseMeow]

Should I just build mines on wave 1? When do I build focus?

[DoomyDoom]

Originally posted by ApocalypseMeow:

Should I just build mines on wave 1? When do I build focus?

Whenever. First 3-4 waves you don't really need any towers to begin with. Oh, and the map also has 5 environmental mines, you might want to pick up those too (there should be a guide on mine locations if you don't know where).

[ApocalypseMeow]

Tried several different levels and can't beat them. Either I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ suck or these strats dont work anymore. My weapons and towers aren't doing enough damage. The furthest I've gotten is wave 8 on train station but everything gets overwhelmed. Other levels I lose on the early rounds. Maxing a focus isn't helping, and spamming mines isn't working either.

[DoomyDoom]

Originally posted by ApocalypseMeow:

Tried several different levels and can't beat them. Either I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ suck or these strats dont work anymore. My weapons and towers aren't doing enough damage. The furthest I've gotten is wave 8 on train station but everything gets overwhelmed. Other levels I lose on the early rounds. Maxing a focus isn't helping, and spamming mines isn't working either.

Well, the only thing I have to say without some more info on what you've tried (loadout-wise) - you have to be quite good at the FPS part.
Throw some of your loadouts (and what's the exact problem - how you lose, what kind of wave overwhelms you etc) at me and I'll try to see what it is you're doing wrong.

[ApocalypseMeow]

I'm going into levels with the weapons and perks you suggested. For train station and the next maps level I used Focus, ar mines, drones, and aa. On train station I started once by maxing an early focus, and then tried making a bunch of mine towers. I get to about level 8 before the towers stop holding enemies back. I'm shooting at weakspots as accurately as I can, but enemies just get past regardless of what I do.

[DoomyDoom]

Ookay then.
1) AA is a pure waste of resources on Train Station. All the flyers should die as a collateral damage from Plasma's and Gatling's AoE. So are Drones, you don't ever get double passes and not enough Bobbleheads/Hoverers to justify them.
2) You do not need Focus at wave 1. 3 Walkers and 1 Hoverer physically can not get past the first bunch of explorers on their path. That's why you build just 1 mine dispenser at wave 1 (exactly 400 resources you're given)
3)

Originally posted by ApocalypseMeow:

I'm shooting at weakspots as accurately as I can

This is not how Juxta Gatling loadout works. What you should do is:

- Spray secondary Plasma Rifle Orbs above enemies' heads. Make sure to move around so they don't collide with terrain or each other, or they explode. Those orbs will constantly hit enemies in ~1.5 blocks' radius for minor damage. This damage stacks Skye's passive really fast (+2% damage per hit up to +50%) as long as the damage is > 0 (i.e. doesn't work on armored enemies without Armor Shredder). Orbs explode when shot or on contact for even more damage.

- Switch to Gatling and use its secondary fire. It hits everything in AoE around you, including above and below. Note: the amount of charge increases range, not damage.
This hits all the enemies for a huge chunk of damage (~5k with no bonuses, ~6.7k with just Haigen's Passive, 10+k with stacked Skye's passive and some other damage perk like Against All Odds ) + orbs explode to finish off whatever is alive. Most regular enemies die from that, notable exceptions being Warriors and Matriarchs (obviously, tanks, bosses etc can urvive + doesn't work on Hoverers).

- For Hoverers/Bobbleheads - straight up kill with Plasma primary. For Soakers - let plasma orbs and Gatling's primary DoT stack their multiplier first, then finish off with Plasma primary.

[ApocalypseMeow]

Still no luck. Tried the weapon stuff and still got overran. Then tried mines, focus, amp, and range and got to level 8 pretty easy but then got overran.

[Min]

Originally posted by DoomyDoom:

The ONLY enemy type this loadout doesn't handle perfectly well is loads of Runners (think Train Station/The Bog), which towers can cover for you.

I don't think any build is perfect, flawless for that. Even with TJ'd Plasma Rifle and REX one or two of those cockroaches always gets by me in maps like Train Station, Bog and SOKOL.



Train Station is the first curveball this game throws at you out of many others and when the game starts to get maddeningly difficult and annoying in 5 Feats of Strength.

I tend to build only Focus towers as close as possible to the Core because of Wave 8 (maybe 9 too). And an Anti-Air Level 3 because I really, REALLY, hate flyers and they are annoying distractions.

Most of the times I go with Shocking Revelation for safety, it's your choice swap some firepower or another offensive perk for that. On Wave 8 you can lessen the problem by killing Hoverers and Soakers as fast as possible, let the core get hit a bunch of times if you must, Plasma Rifle is particularly good for that thanks to its accuracy and power (with speed if you use Tactical Juxtaposition).

90% of times I lost there was because a single damn Hoverer got to it and made shooting other enemies off the core way harder than it should've been, and you can imagine what kind of trouble 2 or 3 of those can cause (aside from the fact they take 60 core health per attack). Then Soakers got to the Core, I took longer to kill them because I was having trouble with Hoverers (and my Focus towers weren't hitting its back) and while I was killing Soakers, Walkers and Rhinos got there with Brood Mothers... To sum it up everything snowballed like crazy.

Anyway, actions speaks louder than words (and seriously I write way too much for my own good), so I got a video done at the beginning of this week beating this map without DLC stuff with Skye.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAIheCRrg8I
Watch Wave 8 at 13:56. It certainly could've been better but considering I had runs where my Core ended with less than 1k health, that one was pretty decent.

You can see there whenever Soakers and Hoverers show up I say "f**k it" to everything and go for them. If anything else reaches the core Shocking Revelation will take effect and the towers will most likely kill the offender for me (unless it was a stupid Brood Mother that went behind the Core, sometimes that happens).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG8aQ6OW8cA&index=9
One last video of me using Sweet here to prove sheer firepower isn't the only way to win here. Core perks CAN make a huge difference if you know how to work with them.


Lastly, don't give up. Train Station used to be the bane of my existence (like Jellyfish Cove, SOKOL, The End), but now I can beat those maps with a lot less trouble I used to.

EDIT: I've managed to beat that map without any Core damage with DoomyDoom's build:

Character: Skye

Weapon 1:
Plasma Rifle

Weapon 2:
Gatling Laser

Perks:
Tactical Juxtaposition
Slowing Presence
Shocking Revelation (was unnecessary)

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS1oPAT7EIY&feature=youtu.be
Wave 8 at 14:00

You might notice I'm purposefully missing most of the Plasma Rifle's secondary fire shots. That's on purpose as the little sparks doing pitiful damage (4 to 24 per tick) WILL add to Skye's passive (unless it gets something like Rhinos, Heavies or Hoverers, zero damage ticks DOESN'T count for her passive). So you can see Gatling Laser's secondary deal a lot of area damage at times (over 7.5k, enough to kill Walkers and Screamers in one blast).

As DoomyDoom said, this build doesn't rely a lot on aiming. It's good for singular enemies (Plasma Rifle with Tactical Juxtaposition is very versatile), but it's mostly about heavy crowd control with both weapons' secondary fires.

Anti-Air is overkill and unnecessary, but I really hate Spitflies that much. Shocking Revelation wasn't needed... Which was really surprising considering this is the first time I've ever beaten this map without any Core damage.

P.S (to DoomyDoom): I'm adding that build to my guide if you don't mind.

[DoomyDoom]

Originally posted by Minoru Leonardo:

P.S (to DoomyDoom): I'm adding that build to my guide if you don't mind.

Don't even ask. It's a classic, and not even something I came up with to begin with.

Originally posted by Minoru Leonardo:

Originally posted by DoomyDoom:

The ONLY enemy type this loadout doesn't handle perfectly well is loads of Runners (think Train Station/The Bog), which towers can cover for you.

I don't think any build is perfect, flawless for that. Even with TJ'd Plasma Rifle and REX one or two of those cockroaches always gets by me in maps like Train Station, Bog and SOKOL.

No-TJ Gatling + Ballista can take care of Runners perfectly 90% of the time, throw in Explosive Exchange (same AoE as full charge Gatling) for 100%. The reason I didn't suggest it is because it requires even MORE precision with Gatling (you need to know how to throw 2-3 AoE attacks per Gatling magazine with correctly charged ranges for your positioning, which is tricky as hell).

[ApocalypseMeow]

Got to wave 9 on train station with focus towers, range, and amp. Got overran. Tried the next map. One lvl 2 focus tower and lost on round 1. I don't understand how this ♥♥♥♥ works, but looks like I'm not getting the acheivements.