Dealing with Kamikaze Guys

[Bradxkillyou]

Anyone have a decent strategy for dealing with the fat explodey guys? Even if I manage to get my heroes out of the room in time to avoid the blast (which I generally don't, because there are so many enemies pouring into the room, it's sometimes hard to register there are kamikazes in the room until it's too late), all of my modules get blown to hell, destroying my holdout and totally throwing a wrench into my gameplan.

I certainly can appreciate the game trying to push me off-balance and not letting things go according to my plan, but on Easy mode, it just seems absurd when 3+ kamikaze guys roll in with a group of 20+ other enemies and all detonate at once. Had my whole team wipe on floor 12 the other day because of this.

I just want to beat Easy mode with any pod, but I consistently get murdered by kamikazes.

[Lord Stuffington]

Well, they are not that tough, a decent dps hero should take them out reliably and they are a primary target for heros and tesla modules, which you may throw against them as well.
So iff you are for example thinning down the waves with gas+stun modules, run into the room with a dps hero, let him blast them quickly and get out again. They may die to the gas alone but sometimes it triggers they exploding thing and that can be nasty.

Perhaps you are having the waves coming all from one direction, leading to overwhelming numbers of these guys? A few here and there can be handled. Having a runner with good dps like Ken certainly helps.

What you do NOT want to have is anyone in the room with taunt (hipster scarf mostly) because that immediatly triggers their exploding and at still full health you probably won't be able to bring them down and even if you run, the explosion will be carried over to the room your hero ran to, which seems quite buggy to me btw. Unless of course you can make a strategy of offensive taunt, i.e running to the things as they spawn to purposely trigger them. That would be another way of dealing with them if you have something to absorb the damage.

[Bradxkillyou]

Oh, wow, I had no idea that using an item with Taunt instantly triggered the explosion. I usually gear one at least one of my characters up with Hipster Scarf or Armani Suit and have them be sort of the main tank for waves of enemies. I guess I'll watch out for this on higher floors. I also rarely use Tesla modules, how do you usually place them? Do you place them in the room you put your heroes in, or along the route the enemies take to get to your heroes?

I usually do try to stack everything up and have the enemies come from a single route that I fortify as much as possible. Is it worth it to fortify two different routes to split the enemy spawns?

I've spent a lot of time playing this game, but tower defense games are usually not my thing, so perhaps my general ideologies and strategies need work.

Also, do you actually use your runner to inflict damage while they're separated from the other heroes? I usually have them open the door and then book it back to the rest of the team.

Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated.

[Lord Stuffington]

First of all, I think major modules can trigger the explosion as well, so you should avoid having them up front if kamikazee guys are around.

Secondly, in terms of defense, tear gas + neurostun is your best friend. Having a long corridor with nothing but 2 neurostun ( more won't decrease the speed much more if you got them on IV) + 2 or more tear gas kills all but the toughest monsters. The leftover can easily be picked up by an operator in the room after that. That kind of defence can be built in several directions, you just need a long room and 4 or more minor module slots. So with that in mind, you can easily expand in one direction with your dust while defending 2 other directions, only with 2 rooms lit in each.

I use teslas if there are any anti-module mobs around because they focus them good. To defend that chokepoint with stuns+gas it requires to lit a room more ahead. 3 Teslas on IV + 1 gas for def reduction can take out quite a few anti-moduls there but any numbers helps I guess.

There are runners who a good at dealing damage like Ken, Rosetta or that wannabe spider Gorgy. It may help to give them an Aftershave to compensate for the poor defence/health values though. With that you can use them anywhere for the cost of some DPS. Although others are not so good at dps for giving a bonus on opening doors like Max.

[Bradxkillyou]

Thanks to you, after almost 100 hours of playing this game, I cleared Easy Mode. The double Neurostun + double Tear Gas proved extremely effective. Just wanted to say thanks for the assist!