Techiedude’s First
(and probably only)
Player Guide
Nightcrawler for X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse
v2. 02-24-06
author: Scott Mathemeier (techiedude)
Acknowledgement: This Player Guide is based on my own experience in the game
along with a big *Thank You* to PapaGamer’s FAQ found on www.gamefaqs.com,
www.neoseeker.com and his own website www.pyric.com. If you’re looking for a
really good and thorough walkthrough, his is the way to go. He also has many
other great game walkthroughs! Check ‘em all out at www.pyric.com. If you
like the character Skill Guide, see PapaGamer’s FAQ for something similar
for all characters (I've tweaked it a little for this guide). A "thank you"
also goes out to Cameron for his idea to use Toad and Gambit when trying to
scam some tech bits.
Thank you also to all the gamers that have emailed and asked questions - it's
feedback from you that keeps this game fun (even on the third time through!).
Any questions/comments feel free to email me at:
t e c h i e d u d e (at) s b c g l o b a l . n e t
and include ‘XML2 Player Guide’ in the subject line.
Note: If you’re not interested in using Nightcrawler, this isn’t the doc for
you. But if you are, he is a whole lot of *BAMF* clobberin’ fun!
(And I hope this helps you enjoy Kurt and the game more.)
I wrote this guide only because I had so much fun playing Nightcrawler
(I’ve been gaming for over 25 years and this is the first time I’ve gone into
this much detail - alas details are in the eye of the beholder).
There are some FAQ’ers out there with a lot more *game* detail than I offer
here. Checkout www.gamefaqs.com and www.neoseeker.com for other walkthroughs,
cheats, and ideas. God Bless the FAQer community.:)
Legalese:
Marvel, X-Men and all Marvel characters and the distinctive likenesses thereof
are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc. Copyright 2005 Marvel Characters,
Inc. Game copyright 2005 Activision Publishing, Inc.
This guide is not endorsed by, nor is the author associated with, Marvel
Comics, Activision or Raven Software.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
Please do not reprint without permission or use parts of the guide in your own
publication without offering credit. If you find this guide anywhere other
than www.gamefaqs.com, www.neoseeker.com, www.dlh.net or www.supercheats.com,
please email me to let me know - I think I'd be more curious than anything
that somebody actually enjoyed it and found it useful ;)
My reason for using Nightcrawler (other than his *bamfing* butt-kickin’) is
that his best attack/skill requires NO (repeat NO) use of the Focus setting,
so you can spam that attack all day long and to your hearts’ content - but
there’s a catch. This ability *Teleport Frenzy* doesn’t become available until
later in the game :( And before you are able to get Teleport Frenzy, they
tempt you with another ability -Teleport Attack- but don’t do it, don’t
succumb to the dark-side padawan! Here’s why: Teleport Frenzy not only kicks
better butt, it’s free!
That’s right boys-n-girls, it’s free -> as long as you don’t assign ANY skill
points to Teleport Attack - oooh, there’s the catch! As soon as you assign a
skill point to Teleport Attack, Teleport Frenzy will not be a free attack.
You have to wait longer to get Teleport Frenzy, but if you leave the character
on AI control and level-up ‘crawler correctly, and redistribute skills later
it won’t matter. Remember: avoid Teleport Attack like it’s the Mutant Plague.
Never, ever assign a skill point to it or it will cost you in more ways than
one. Wait for Teleport Frenzy!
In my experience (and I’m not going to boast because I’ll be the first to admit
it’s not all that and a bag-of-tech bits), ‘crawler should be played two ways
to get the most (fun and use) out of him. For the first 27 levels, concentrate
on his sword skills when leveling-up and let the AI handle him in combat. For
the levels post-27, use him as your primary character and wreak havoc (no pun
intended) with him.
Here’s my justification for this: he’s a pain to control in the early stages
(levels 1-27) with the powers/abilities available to him, so let the AI do all
the work. While Divine Blades can cause some really good damage, it can be a
bit tedious to control and get the hang of directing Kurt in combat in order
to get the most out of an attack (and you’re likely to get your butt kicked
N-S-E-W until you do). You could also inadvertently run-off/teleport-off a
cliff...not a good thing ;)
In the later levels (post-28), his sword skills are almost irrelevant except
for debris-clearing rooms with Divine Blades for tech bits and equipment. Why?
Because his best attack *Teleport Frenzy* doesn’t use swords at all, it’s all
mano-a-mano. Remember the opening of X2 (the movie) where Nightcrawler is
*bamfing* about the White House and just laying waste to all those in his way
with just his fists? That’s essentially what Teleport Frenzy is - and it is a
beauty to behold! (I actually laughed out loud in later levels of the game
watching at how poetic, powerful and precise this attack is! I’ve cleared
entire rooms before the other AI characters have even gotten so much as a
"Danger Will Robinson" alert.) Just use Teleport Frenzy and ‘crawler is nearly
unbeatable.
Others have written to ask what characters I complement Nightcrawler with:
Storm - "Whirlwind" and "Chain Lightening" rock when combined with
Wind Mastery and Lightening Mastery! Don't forget to level up
Will of the Goddess for invulnerability and Mutant Mastery for
faster EP regen! Default AI attack: Chain Lightening or
Whirlwind (but I usually leave it on Whirlwind).
Wolverine - The best at what he does! Eviscerate and Lethal Lunge kick
and his passive skills really pile on the damage/bonuses.
Default AI attack: Eviscerate or Lethal Lunge.
Magneto - level up Leadership to improve XP combo bonuses. Levitation,
Magnetic Shell, Shrapnel Sentry and Mutant Mastery are great to
level up. Two other favorites are Metal Minion and Supremacy
(Supremacy, especially in the early levels). Default AI attack:
Shrapnel Sentry (covers a wide area).
Give Storm and Magneto a level of Flight, just in case.
For an added bonus, once you reach Act 3, you can switch out costumes to
"Age of Apocalypse" and gain 100% ATK for your characters. That bumped my
Nightcrawler character to 1845 ATK and Wolverine to 2955 ATK - some serious
Melee kickin'! It doesn't really help/affect Storm or Magneto since it only
affects Melee attacks and not Power attacks but it really bumps up the butt
kickin' for my two Melee-centric characters.
AoA costumes, if you're interested:
Storm: short hair, full body costume w/yellow belt & loooong white boots
Wolverine: red/blue outfit w/no left hand and claws attached to stump
Magneto: red suit with red helmet
Nightcrawler: crossed swords on his back
Nightcrawler’s turning point for player usability may be between levels 31 and
34. At this point he’s started Teleport Frenzy and acquired enough Master of
Chaos & Critical Strike to be dangerous (and controllable) -> this is the
perfect time to buy skill points, extra levels and redistribute skill points!
And leveling up here gets you closer to huge milestones - Teleport Frenzy
levels 34/37 and Master of Chaos levels 35/40.
If you’re going to buy a level from Forge (or Beast) check the character’s
stat sheet before you level them up. It makes no sense to pay to level up a
character that is 1/3-3/4 filled on the XP bar. If you’re going to level up a
character do it right after he levels up normally, that way you get the most
bang for your "tech bit" buck. If you didn’t already know: buying a level only
gets you to the beginning of the next level, it doesn’t give you a "full"
level up. If you’re at the ½ way point on the XP bar, it gives you enough to
reach the next level; it doesn’t level you up and put you ½ way into the next
level (bummer). Exa: If you’re at level 23 and your XP bar is ¾ers filled and
you buy a level, it will only fill your XP bar the remainder ¼ to reach level
24, it won’t put you at 24 ¾. Also, if you’re going to pay for a level-up,
wait for a milestone. By milestone I mean make sure you’re going to be at a
new level that allows you to get something worthwhile (for ‘crawler that would
be levels 34, 37 or 43 for the additional bonuses in Teleport Frenzy or levels
35 or 40 for Master of Chaos).
To ramp up multiple levels of experience: find the dual teleport pad room in
the Holding Pens (mid-Act 4). Use ‘crawler with Teleport Frenzy - just keep
spamming with Teleport Frenzy and watch your XP hit the roof. For added XP,
bring Magneto and Storm along. Set Mags to Levitate as his default AI power
and set Storm to Whirlwind or Electric Shock as her default AI power. If
you’ve ramped up Mags with high Leadership, congrats, you’re in for an XP
buffet (if not, add him to your team and re-distribute his skills)! Just keep
spamming Teleport Frenzy and the call button (calls teammates to your aid and
‘usually’ makes them use their default AI power). With both of these AI
characters attacking with Radial powers (and you *bamfing* all over the
enemies), it’s much easier to hit Combo attacks which result in XP bonuses.
You could easily level-up each character four or five levels in this room
(depending on how easily you’re bored or how much you like to kick @$$).
Of note: this room is prone to crash/hang systems, so EVERY chance you get
(i.e. EVERY five minutes) *Blink* back to base and save your progress. When
I say EVERY, there is a reason it is in CAPS -> nothing sucks more than to
have your system hang or crash after playing so long that you’ve leveled up
two or three characters and you didn’t save the progress. I’m speaking from
experience here -> ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! Learn from my mistakes...
Another way to accelerate your leveling-up is to keep a character with
Leadership on your team throughout the game (I didn’t do this until late in
the game - oops). See above example with Magneto and Storm (she’s not a
‘Leadership’ player but her radial skill helps create more XP combo
opportunities!).
Remember: the Danger Room is your friend! *Usually* ;)
I'm speaking of the in-game Danger Room that you can access at bases, NOT the
menu screen Danger Room. The menu screen Danger Room has no bearing on in-game
characters or play, it's only for busting heads (a noble act, to be sure, but
not beneficial to the regular gameplay).
A friend of mine played the game almost all the way through before using the
Danger Room once. This can be a HUGE mistake because the Danger Room gives you
additional XP; it can also give you additional equipment, skill points and
talent points (Focus, Body, Speed, and Strike). This additional XP with talent
points can level-up your character and make you that much more powerful going
into the next level.
You are also presented with challenges for specific characters - upon
completion you will receive a piece of equipment specific to that character
that is usually better than anything you will receive in the actual game. The
Legends level will grant you (5) extra trait points and (4) extra skill/talent
points!
One thing I noticed on the "Legends" level: go in with all of your XTreme
tokens - you'll need 'em! I actually found the first enemy (DeathStrike) to
be the most challenging. Skip her and go in order of the remaining challenges
and save DeathStrike for last (this was when I re-played the game on the
'Hard' setting; the first time through on "Normal" difficulty was a cakewalk).
Before using the XTreme attack (Master of Chaos), use the "Call" button to get
the other characters involved - the more combo attacks you can generate the
faster you'll finish the challenges - and you'll need all the assistance you
can get.
Attempt the Danger Room ‘Legends’ level after attaining level 45 (and no
earlier than 35). At level 45, you’ll be able to spam Master of Chaos while
calling your teammates and complete the levels with *relative* ease (and these
aren’t *easy* battles). The trick to this is that after you complete one
mission, exit the Danger Room and go back in to attempt the next level. (Don’t
forget to level up/spend skill points and save the game before going on to the
next Danger Room mission.) If you don’t, and just continue each mission in
order without exiting, you won’t replenish your Xtreme Tokens for the next
mission -> Xtreme tokens used in Danger Room missions aren’t consider ‘used’
in regular game play but they’re kept track of and deplete normally when used
in the Danger Room until you exit completely (at which time they're replenished
automatically). Best bet: If you're getting your butt handed to you on a silver
platter, go into the battles with Storm as the active player, have her cast
‘Will of the Goddess’ and switch to ‘Crawler to dispense some pain (via either
Teleport Frenzy or Master of Chaos).
Note: Sauron can fly. Wait until he lands then open up a can of whoopass on
him and don't stop (MoC, call button, MoC, call button, etc - do this until
he either dies or flies; if he manages to fly again, wait til he lands again
and repeat the smackdown).
Note: Deathstrike is difficult. More so than the other characters and more
so than her earlier incarnation. If you're using 'crawler, you could use
Shadow Master and get close to her without her even knowing it (you could
actually stand right next to her and she wouldn't "bat-a-claw"). I used
Shadow Master and Master of Chaos with the call button - I barely finished
the level in time. Defeating her isn't in question - doing it in the time
alloted is a little more difficult. If you want to improve your odds, there's
a door behind you when you start the mission. Try to get Deathstrike over to
that area because there's less room to move around and she'll take a bigger
pounding without the ability to escape. Above all else, spam the call button
before and while you use MoC - if you can hit XTreme Combos, that will really
speed up the fight. To give you an idea of what I was up against - I was at
level 75 (I think my highest character was at 76), she was at level 92(!).
Note: Stryfe can stop you cold in your tracks (ala a "Darth Vader-like" choke
hold). Make sure you're free to move about and not immobilized by Stryfe before
committing to use Master of Chaos - I found out the hard way that MoC doesn't
cause a lot of damage if you're being dangled like a puppet in mid-air ;)
Want to put a little extra tech bit cash in your utility belt? Visit the Tower
Apex (end of Act 4). This level has dozens and dozens of destructible
canisters. Upon finishing just this one screen, I had increased my tech bit
cache between 55,000-65,000 tech bits. "So what" you say? Well take into
account that you may want to level up each character (twice for each character)
, buy skill points (four for each character) and maybe redistribute skills for
two or three characters and you’re looking at some considerable cha-ching. The
beauty of this particular level is that you can *Blink* back to the mansion,
sell equipment, save your progress and *Blink* back to the Tower Apex and
-voila- all of the canisters have returned for additional destruction (with no
enemies in sight)! Nightcrawler with Divine Blades or a player with a good
radial attack will make quick work of this level -> before you know it, you
could have a couple of million tech bits. Now you’re ready to level up your
characters, buy skill points and redistribute skill points (in that order).
Now for the REAL exploit (thanx to 'Cameron' for this one): how would you like
to clear 900,000 to 1 million tech bits each time! Once you've cleared this
level, *blink* back to the mansion and save the game. Move to the Extraction
Point and select "Change Team". Replace two of your current team members with
Gambit and Toad, if you aren't already using them on your team (I play
Nightcrawler, Storm, Wolverine and Magneto; make substitutions in your party
as you see fit). Ramp up Toad's XTreme power 'Plunder' as high as you can and
ramp up Gambit's XTreme power 'Prince of Thieves' as high as you can - all
other settings are superfluous if you are only going to use these characters
for this purpose. *Blink* back to the Apex Tower and get your party
(specifically Nightcrawler) in position to attack the most canisters in as
little time. The next part you'll have to perform quickly to get the most out
of it: select Gambit and activate "Prince of Thieves" (#8) then select Toad
and activate "Plunder" (#8). Now re-select Nightcrawler and start clobbering
canisters. With Gambit and Toad's XTreme powers in effect, you can increase
your tech bit haul by 600% - I've cleared 900,000 to 1,000,000 tech bits each
time I've done this. Keep in mind that their XTreme powers are time-limited -
you'll need to use their XTreme powers 3-4 times to clear the entire level of
canisters and get the maximum benefit (depending on how high their XTreme
power is leveled-up, you may have to use it 5-6 times). Don't worry though -
some of the canisters you destroy will also have XTreme tokens in them so
you'll be able to re-fill what you use. Between the tech bits found and the
equipment sold, I've totaled as much as 18,000,000 tech bits (really helps in
buying levels and skills). Your options seem almost endless for this scenario.
I haven't tried it yet, but another option would be to use both Gambit and Toad
with their XTreme powers when you open Weapon Caches. This may be overkill, but
it is an option if you don't mind *blinking* back to base, switching out
characters, *blinking* back to the Weapon Cache, opening it and waiting to
*blink* back to the base to save your progress. I said it's option - I never
said it was a good one ;)
While playing the game (not the Danger Room missions), you might encounter a
piece of equipment specific to Nightcrawler that grants +1 to Teleport. I’ve
read elsewhere that a +1 Teleport from this equipment affects ALL teleport
skills (Frenzy, Attack, and Mastery) - unfortunately I didn’t experience this
benefit. The only skill that increased when I armed this piece was the Teleport
skill (as noted by a green-filled box instead of a yellow/gold-filled box).
Your experience/mileage may vary - check to see if it’s worth it before
dropping a better piece of gear! Besides, if you increase your Teleport skill
by +1 you may end-up ‘over-porting’ into rooms you aren’t quite ready for and
bringing a world-of-pain down on you and your party (been-there-done-that). ;)
When choosing/arming equipment, pay attention to what it affects. Nightcrawler
could really make use of an item that bypasses defenses, increases ATK, and
improves strike & speed. He doesn’t have much need for equipment with body
and focus ‘implants’. Also, just because an item is higher in the gear list
doesn’t automatically mean it’s better; again, look at the item and the player
and how the player is being used in the party.
Ability/Skill Can Level-up at Should level up at
----------- --------------- ----------------
Divine Blades 1 Starts at this level
4 4
7 7
10 10
13 13 Redistr. to CS @ lvl 31
16 16 Redistr. to CS @ lvl 31
19 19 Redistr. to CS @ lvl 31
Ability/Skill Can Level-up at Should level up at
----------- ------------- ----------------
Teleport 1 3 Won’t be using TPort or
4 8 TPort-based ATKs til later
Ability/Skill Can Level-up at Should level up at
----------- ------------- ----------------
Teleport Frenzy 28 28 Level this skill up at
31 31 EVERY level-up you are
34 34 allowed.
37 37
40 40
43 43
46 46
49 49
52 52
55 55
58 58
Ability/Skill Can Level-up at Should level up at
----------- ------------- ----------------
Master of Chaos 15 15 Level this skill up at
20 20 EVERY level-up you are
25 25 allowed.
30 30
35 35
40 40 Buy w/tech bits at lvl 40
45 45
Ability/Skill Can Level-up at Should level up at
----------- ------------- ----------------
Sword Mastery 1 2
2 11 Redistr. to TM @ level 31
4 12 Redistr. to TM @ level 31
6 24 Redistr. to TM @ level 31
In my original Nightcrawler guide, I recommended leveling up Sword Mastery.
This isn't a bad idea in the beginning of the game (and for the levels that I
specify to level-up that trait) but Sword Mastery becomes meaningless later on
in the game because your attacks (Teleport Frenzy and Master of Chaos) don't
use swords at all.
In light of this, I think that once you get Kurt to a good level with Teleport
Frenzy (level 34/37), it might be better to ramp up Shadow Master instead
of Sword Mastery. Shadow Master improves both your ATK and DEF traits and does
a decent job of implementing surprise attacks when combined with Teleport
Frenzy or Master of Chaos. If you're using TF as your main attack, feel free
to redistribute your skill points from Sword Mastery to Shadow Master in order
to take advantage of this - it'll probably be the only power you use that
requires serious EP drainage ;) (And when it's totally maxed out you get
+180% DEF and +80% ATK! Every little bit helps...)
Note: The first time I finished the game with Nightcrawler, he was at level 51.
He’s now at level 76 by-way-of revisiting the ‘teleport room’ in the Holding
Pens and re-playing on the 'Hard' difficulty. ;)
If at any point you have accumulated enough tech bits to buy skill points for
‘Crawler, feel free to do so - just put them into a useful skill you won’t
need to redistribute for a while or at all (Critical Strike, Teleport Mastery,
Uncanny Reflexes). Use 'level-up' skill points for Teleport Frenzy or Master of
Chaos whenever you can.
Buy three ‘Skill points’ and one ‘Redistribute skill points’ for Kurt at level
31. (If you haven’t bought any equipment and have been destroying everything
to find equipment to sell and saving your tech bits you should be able to
squeeze this out.) Redistribute skills as noted above to take better advantage
of Teleport Frenzy.
Buy one ‘Skill point’ at level 40 and assign it to Master of Chaos (you used
the regularly-assigned skill point on Teleport Frenzy).
Buy a level-up as soon as you attain level 33 to jump to level 34 (i.e.
*Blink* out back to base if you can); wash, rinse and repeat at level 42 to
jump to level 43. Repeat after me: "Teleport Frenzy is FrEaKy; Teleport Attack
bytes the big one!"
I've also recently had some good news confirmed: if you happen to choose
Teleport Attack early on, you CAN purchase "Redistribute skills" and move all
skill points out of TA and it would be as if you never chose it. This would
then allow you to use Teleport Frenzy without EP cost! Also, before you get
too worried/worked up in a lather: you may notice that even though you have no
skill points assigned to Teleport Attack, Teleport Frenzy's properties page
will indicate an EP cost. This is normal! The programmers never intended for
TF to be FOC (free-of-charge), so this is what the cost WOULD be if the game
didn't have this bug - I like to call it a feature ;). For instance, I'm at
level 76 and TF's property page reads as follows: +375% DMG, 5.2 second stun,
6 attacks and 140EP. I can honestly say in the entire time I played through
the 'Hard' difficulty, not once did TF cost me a single EP (especially not
140EP!). The only time my EP lowered was when I activated Shadow Master (and
it costs so much, thank God TF is free!).
If you’re going to spam the Teleport Frenzy attack, make sure to mix it up with
the call button - more XP in order to level-up faster (but only applies if you
have a ‘Leadership’ character on your team). Also, consider setting your
teammates' AI to radial-type attacks so it's easier to hit combos.
If you want to ‘port free of charge in an area you’ve already cleared/decimated
, use Teleport Frenzy. If no enemies are around and you use TF, it will
teleport you once in the direction you are currently facing (instead of
*bouncing* around, ala when you're in a fight). If the area isn’t cleared yet
or you discover an ‘un-tapped’ area, TF will revert to its default *multi-bamf*
butt-kickin' behavior.
Because only so many maps can be held in memory (I think they start to drop off
after five maps have loaded), weapon caches can be picked up multiple times if
you go back to a previously visited area - alas the tech stations cannot. Once
a tech stn is used, you have to replay the game from the start to re-use it. :(
Something I wish I knew early on #1: the (Rare) equipment for specific
characters that you find usually isn’t any better than regular equipment and
definitely not better than the (Unique)-labeled equipment. Sell it (the Rare)
for tech bits - don’t keep it expecting to use it later, there will always be
better equipment (the notable exception is equipment you get from character
missions in the Danger Room.) If you wait to sell this equipment, it won’t be
worth as much in later Acts.
Something I wish I knew early on #2: In the Danger Room "Protect" missions
bring Storm with you and use her "Will of the Goddess" Xtreme power -> it
protects everyone in your party (via invulnerability) **as well as** the
character you are assigned to protect for a certain period of time. When time
is winding down, have Storm cast it again (and use it until the mission ends).
Wallop on the enemy with radial attacks and Teleport Frenzy.
Something I wish I knew early on #3: The Danger Room missions that require you
to hit combo moves should be done as early as possible. If you wait too long,
your characters will be too powerful (one hit-one kill) and you won’t be able
to complete the missions.
Something I wish I knew early on #4: Don’t buy equipment/gear - save your tech
bits for level-ups and skill points. You’ll *find* better equipment along the
way anyway.
Rule #1: Save and save often - not because the battles are exceptionally hard
but because if your system crashes (and you’ve made really good progress) you
may want to put a hole in your nice lil monitor or throw your cordless mouse
across the room through a window. Use the *Blink* portal once you’ve got it.
Don’t go more than 15-20 minutes without saving (I recommend *at most* every
10 minutes) - and definitely save before boss battles. A friend of mine said he
experienced crashes on his XBox - so this isn't a problem exclusive to the PC
version.
Rule #2: See Rule #1 (corny but I couldn’t resist).
Version tracker:
v1 -> 12-02-05. Original version (duh)
v1.05 -> 12-12-05. Corrected some misspellings and punctuation; added 'Key' to
Skill Point Assignment Guide; added map memory/weapon cache tip; added
www.neoseeker.com to approved site list.
v2.0 -> 02-24-06.
Added www.supercheats.com and www.dlh.net to the approved site list.
Updated (S2) Playing Kurt to include 'crawler's companions & AoA info.
Updated (S4) Danger Room to include new info on the 'Legends' level.
Updated (S5) Tower Apex/tech bit exploit- thnx to Cameron for the info.
Updated (S7c) Redistribute Sword Mastery skill points to Shadow Master.
Updated (S8) Post Level-Up Notables to include redistributing Teleport
Attack skill points and still able to use Teleport Frenzy
without EP cost.
