Tips for rivals

[TheCarrotGuy]

Game is awesome so far, but has anyone figured out whats the strat on dealing with rivals in the TAB screen where you pick from 4?

[fat marcus]

I just made it to the escape pod for the first time. My suggetions:

- Use only the "stop for x seconds" attack on whoever is leading. It's the most effective in ensuring you get to the pod first. The other attacks barely make a dent into their health.

- In the computer rooms, once you have unredacted someone to get the -50% attack and +15% damage debuffs, move on to the next rival. the remaing debuffs are for staggering from melee attacks which are far inferior to range attacks imo. melee attacks are also a lot less comfortable to play with as they require a lot more button pressing then range which just uses the thumbstick.

- once you beat the stage 4 boss, you have to beat all 3 rivals, one at a time, to get into the escape pod. so save some health for that. the 3 rivals are quite easy relative to the stage 4 boss.

- i used the speed suit in the first 3 stages, and the stage 4 reduce damage by 25% suit in the final stage. as well as the ATOM gun and buffed only range attacks and if i can't help it, dashes.

[BlackjackGT]

Thanks for this. This helps me understand the Rivals system because I just wasn't understanding what the impacts of our combo-key-mashing attacks/debuffs do. Like do they make the battle room encounters against the RIval(s) easier, or are we just trying to sort of slow them down in the timeline thing at the bottom of the screen?

The timeline bar gave me some Star Renegades PTSD :), even if the games don't really have anything in common.

[goka9696]

The best strategy is to rush attack upgrades asap, because the final damage upgrade does a lot of damage and also stops them for like 30 seconds :^)

[BlackjackGT]

Yeah, I guesss I didn't understand with the abilities *against* Rivals - do they just impact their "place" on the timeline thing; or do they actually impact them on the rare occasions we fight them in a room. :)

I've reached the point the RIval doesn't annihilate me, but good grief they are Fast, and I think slow lol.

[Moochii]

Originally posted by BlackjackGT:

Yeah, I guesss I didn't understand with the abilities *against* Rivals - do they just impact their "place" on the timeline thing; or do they actually impact them on the rare occasions we fight them in a room. :)

I've reached the point the RIval doesn't annihilate me, but good grief they are Fast, and I think slow lol.

From what I can tell, the only effect that actually takes effect in combat against them is Vulnerability Up. That causes them to take more damage from your attacks. Slow and Stop only affect their current position at the progress bar. Damage can only be used outside of combat since you cannot use Remote Attacks while in a room with a rival.

Generally, I found two strong strategies for dealing with your rivals.

Slow them the hell down

At every chance you get, use the Slow attack to keep your rivals slow and so you can pass them. Once you're ahead, use your Remote Attack to slow down the rival closest behind. Usually, you'll end up far ahead that you won't ever encounter them in combat, and you'll reach the escape pod far before they can. If you fall behind, use Stop to quickly pull the leader behind so you can catch up to them, or Slow down each rival one at a time if there are multiple ahead of you.

Take them out yourself.

You can kill a rival either by beating them in a room, or reducing their health to 0 with a Remote Attack. If you're itching to fight or confident against them, then use your Remote Attacks to attack enemies whenever you get the chance. Slow or Stop them when you need to catch up, but the goal here should be to remain on a similar pace as them so you have a higher chance to start a fight with them. When you know a fight against a Rival is coming up soon, save your Remote Attack until you get to their door, then use Vulnerability before starting the fight. They will take WAY more damage, and it's actually quite easy to kill them with the higher level version of this attack. If you manage to get them on low health, but not kill them before they run, use your Remote Attack to finish them off.

Overall, the general game plan of how you use Remote Attacks varies, but the gist should be...

• Use Vulnerability Up right before getting into a fight with a Rival to have a better chance at killing them, or atleast get them low enough that a Remote Attack will kill them.
  
• Use slow for a longer lasting chance to catch up with them. Generally works better if there are multiple people ahead of you, as it will last longer and give you a better chance of passing everyone.
  
• Use stop when a single Rival is far in the lead. If you traverse fast, Stop can help make up the most distance, but doesn't last at long, so travel fast when you use it.

[BlamingBuddhaTV]

Thanks for the tips guys. Loving this game so far.