Super MNC Strategy, Tips and Tricks Compilation

Super MNC Strategy Compilation by VortexContinuum

A part of what separated decent players from good players is the utilization of various intricacies of each character and map. It’s up to the player to know when it’s appropriate to use these tactics, but I thought I would make a running list of simple things people can put to knowledge for their benefit. Some of you may already know and use these on a regular basis, but I’m sure many new players could benefit from this pool of knowledge. If you know something useful that isn’t on the list, post it here and I will add it to the original.

The Annihilator:
-The Annihilator, located in the center of the top area of every map so far, takes several seconds to activate and destroys all enemy bots and damages all enemy pros. Very important! It comes up 5 minutes from the start or after it was last activated, and costs $1000.
-If you can afford to without endangering your life or health pool, be sure to pick up as much cash as possible early-game so you can have $1000 for the first annihilator.
-Defend the person who is activating the Annihilator. Don’t stand behind them, stand in front of them and grapple/repel pros who want to disrupt your team’s activation. The question of whether or not to sacrifice your life for the person is down to the specifics of the situation and cannot be expressed in general terms, but the most important thing is to not be overly passive.
-Similarly, if the enemy is trying to activate it you should try to knock them off. The Ka-claw, Assault Bomb, Airstrike, and Karl’s stun are very effective at stopping an activation. Sharpshooters can repeatedly rail the activator with headshots, and every class has a grapple on the alt-fire of their secondary weapon.
-Capitalize on the advantage the annihilator brings! It may be tempting to faff about in the upper area (“jungle”) but if you fail to kill incoming bot waves and take out the turrets that are now less defended, you just wasted a valuable opportunity.
-Be mindful of enemies going around and ambushing your team from behind or from the side. Do the same if your class is particularly bad at team fights or you know the pincer will succeed.
-Don’t rely on Mickey Cantor to tell you when the Annihilator is up. The enemy team might already be set up around it and it will be much harder to take that ground.

Grapple Etiquette:
-As stated above, every class has at least one grapple on the alt-fire (M2) of their secondary weapon. Some have holding grapples which lock enemies in place, while others have throwing grapples that launch enemy pros, possibly scoring a ring out.
-Chain grapples together to hold enemies in place and stack damage. If you see a lone enemy being grappled by a teammate, head over there and get ready to continue the chain. If you see an enemy grappling a teammate try to help them.
-Damage is heavily reduced in a grapple. Because of this, it is best to time your burst damage attacks such as Gunner’s Missile or Karl’s Junior just after the grapple is finished.
-DO NOT HUMP PLAYERS by holding down or mashing the grapple button. If you have a steady internet connection it is best to time one precise grapple. Instead of standing there waiting for someone else’s animation to end, add some DPS by firing your weapon.
-Certain stuns like Cheston’s banana and Karl’s Short Circuit can break grapples. Save a teammate!
-Activating juice while being grappled will break it, setting you free with 2 seconds of juice and knocking the enemy on his face for a second. It seems wasteful but if you’re going to die you’ll waste the juice anyway.

Mobility:
-Hit reload with any melee weapon to initiate a lunge. Commandos will lunge further than others. Use this to get a burst of speed to catch up to a target or to cut down on travel time.
-You can grapple while in a melee lunge. This may be a bug to be fixed, but if not it is useful for holding down fleeing enemies.
-For Pros with a forward mobility skill and jump jets (Tank, Veteran) you can charge off a high area and tap jump to launch yourself forward. Characters with only a charge/lunge can do the same for a smaller gliding effect.
-Lunge or charge across an open jump pad (ex. the ones leading to the Annihilator platform on Loco Moco) to get huge distance.

Bots and Turrets:
-If you see more than one Fuji in a group of bots, prioritize cutting them down and alert your team if applicable. An ignored group of Fujis can wreck turrets and bring down the moneyball on their own.
-Slims do not award 5-second assists for kills like other bots do. If you are going to damage one, you might as well kill it.
-Not only do Scramblers block skills, they block melee lunges too. Time ambushes to send high-mobility pros to a lethargic grave. This of course works both ways, so be sure to kill Scramblers immediately so you don’t end up trapped.
-Turrets have a shield around them that can only be taken down by bots.
-If a turret is targeting a Fuji, use the opportunity to get closer and deal heavy damage to it.
-Fuji Avoidance: Strafe quickly back and forth. The bot calculates where you are going to be and fires there, so this movement will throw it off. If the Fuji (or shady) is in a safe area you can simply walk circles around it.

Miscellaneous:
-There is a clock with gametime on the scoreboard. Check it every once in a while to estimate the status of the Annihilator, and to better prepare for the Jackbot storm if a match lasts longer than 25 minutes.
-Use a throwing attack such as an alt-fire grapple or charge to send Bouncers out of the jungle and into your enemies. Watch as it causes havoc and, if possible, clean up the bouncer’s kills. Don’t try this against a group of enemies as it will just give them all money.
-Don’t end the match with $4000 in the bank! If you have a big surplus be sure to buy Metabolightning to traverse the map faster and other map elements.
-Dancing on top of people’s heads is a viable strategy. Especially effective with melee weapon characters, because if angled they can deal damage straight down. Be warned that jumping on top of a Cheston can be dangerous because his rampage might hold you aloft and take away a good portion of health.
-Pickup pickups. This should go without saying, but I see a shocking number of people just ignore those delicious armor upgrades and juice boxes. Coins aren’t that important past early game, but every bit adds up.
-Shoot enemies with weapons to lower their health. (This one is important )
-If you are confident in your abilities and internet connection, bait enemies into using the ejector early-game so they won’t have enough money to hit the first annihilator.
-With a melee weapon, stand in between enemies (easiest with bots) to hit more than one, effectively doubling your damage output or more. this technique is called cleaving.
-If a teammate is at critically low health and running from a pro without piercing damage, position yourself in between them to soak up the fatal hits.
-If you have a method of throwing an enemy, try to outmaneuver them and send them to friendly turrets to get cleaned up.
-Jump and ride the knockback of certain attacks to escape danger. Charges and explosions are the most common, but it can also be pulled off with blackjack punches.
-Don’t let a single firebase or kitty nest bog your team down. If everyone nearby actively focuses a turret it will go down instantly.
-You can spear multiple bots with one shot from a weapon with piercing damage such as the Rail Gun or Sniper Rifle.
-Tap everything for assist points! Injured bot in a far-away lane? Shoot it a few times. Enemy about to die to someone’s grapple? Shoot them. By continuously hitting enemies you will rack up assist cash, even if you aren’t doing any good damage.

Map-specific:

[Bullet Gorge]
-The annihilator platform is made of glass. Check the progress every once in a while by looking up from the bottom lanes!
-Take advantage of the open nature of the central bridges. Ka-claw across the gap to send enemies plummeting; jump from the upper area and use a charge or throw on an unsuspecting laner.
-An Enforcer with jump jets can access the jungle from the start by flying up the small platform area to the left of the moneyball zone, skipping the jump pad. From there you can make the small gap to jungle.
-Bullet Gorge has many precarious ridges you can use to surprise chasing enemies or flank unaware victims. Explore some of them in a practice match.

[Loco Moco]
-Throwing enemies off the annihilator platform can often be more effective than just trying to kill them.
-A pro without vertical mobility can get a clutch boost up to the annihilator pad by jumping before a Blackjack pimp slap. This is risky and highly situational, but if pulled off can ultimately save your team from defeat.
-On Loco Moco jump-jet Enforcers can access the jungle from the start by standing on top of the dispensers and floating on up. Note that this does not work with the Regenitol to the left of the moneyball as there is an overhanging ledge. Uber has mentioned changing dispenser collision in the future.

Pro-specific:

[Assault]
-Turn bouncers and other jungle bots against your opponents by hovering up high with the jetpack.
-If you see a teammate grappling an enemy, take advantage of the situation by getting an easy headcrab. Activate after the grapple is finished for maximum damage.
-Harass the moneyball ad infinium by hovering back and forth over the moneyball shields. Works better with upgraded Fly, obviously.
-Utilize alternate routes with your Fly ability. Hover outside of the map to go around obstacles and across gaps.
-Bomb-jumping workds differently now than in MNC but it still viable. Hover over your bomb and detonate it and you will float gently upward. This means you can access the jungle early if you have a specific strategy in mind, or save yourself from certain doom ring-outs where you hover inches above oblivion.

[Assassin]
-The Assassin’s cloak makes her an excellent turret diver, although she is still visible to pros. Chase weak enemies past their defenses and use the Mega Jump to escape if needed.
-For optimum headslashing, jump over an enemy pros head and land outside of their grapple range on the other side. Repeat.
-Both of the Assassin’s weapons have grapples. If you want to combo an enemy, start with the Shuriken grapple -> switch to the blade -> lunge into your next grapple.
-Grapples will deactivate the Assassin’s cloak. If you are in a risky location do not use your grapples and try not to get grappled yourself.

[Combat Girl]
-Heal beams slowly regenerate armor when at full health. Form a half-circle in front of your CG out of spawn so all four people get the boost.
-Toss a Combat Kitty and Fortify it shortly after if you need a quick burst of damage.
-You can fortify base turrets too. Moderately effective with Lazer Blazers, but turns Rockets into insta-killers.
-Set up “Kitty farms” in chokepoints to hold them down and kill bots on the side. Fortifying them all with an enemy in the vicinity is extremely deadly.
-Leap frog your nests to the enemy’s base, inching closer and taking more map control as time goes on.
-Aim your laser at an enemy’s only means of escape to guarantee damage.

[Cheston]
-Aim barrels at walls and bots for best results. Not every throw has to be a 1337 direct hit.
-Quickly resetting your accuracy on the Tommy Gun is better than holding it down at medium range unless you are shooting a Fuji or Jackbot that encompasses the entire spread.
-Cheston has surprising mobility for an Enforcer. Jump into the air and press rampage twice quickly if you need the speed, but be warned that this will quickly drain your skill.
-Spam bananas, win game. Just be sure not to slip on them yourself. The banana is very useful for getting an Assault to land at close range and ending grapples on teammates. Note: New banana features coming in a future update.

[Gunner]
-Mo’ missiles mo’ better, but sometimes you should keep a missile in your pocket so your enemy maintains confidence and won’t run away when you have no burst potential to finish him off.
-It’s critical that you remain aware of your team’s location at all times. The Gunner has no reliable escape besides simply out-damaging your pursuer and you will need to know where team support lies.
-Spin up the minigun while using your jump jets to maintain mobility before reaching max damage potential.
-Pop in and out of deploy when it’s safe to take advantage of the armor boost. Use this only when you are sure there is no one around.
-Deploy also cuts down on your missile cooldown and can actually allow you to fire two missiles at once as long as you have two valid targets. Find an elevated position and cut down multiple enemies’ health.
-If you find yourself flying towards the ring-out abyss (charges or Chickey Cantor slams are the most likely culprits) with no likely escape, you can use the slam ability to immediately cancel your momentum and land.
-Getting ka-clawed is bad new for low mobility Gunner. If you think you are about to be pulled, quickly slam or deploy to prevent it from working.

[Gunslinger]
-Sharpshooters can land headshots on bots as well as pros for extra damage. This does huge damage and a sharpshooter can easily control a lane if left to their own devices.
-Spellslinger combo: Knee cap an enemy to limit their mobility -> Gun Flurry. If your aim is good you can use the slow time to land Trigger Happy-boosted headshots.

[Karl]
-The Killer Karl Kombo: Shoot until they react -> Short Circuit -> shoot some more and throw Junior -> right before the stun ends switch to the Bouncing Buddies and grapple. This will usually take over half an enemy’s health and is great for exerting your dominance over an early-game jungle, which you can access with your Hop.
-The Prop Hop has strong utility. Disorient players trying to chase you down, flee an encounter by jumping to the jungle, and use the knockback to get just enough breathing room not to be grappled. Since it negates previous momentum like the Assassin’s mega jump, it can also save you from ring-outs and at higher levels cause ring-outs with the larger knockback. It even does a smidgeon of damage, so if you’re ever unable to finish a kill without reloading and your target getting away, tack on the extra chunk of power.
-You can have multiple juniors out at once, so keep throwing them at higher levels when the cooldown is very low. They will disappear after a time, however.
-When aiming the Short Circuit, go for the feet. On a similar note, you can time a Short Circuit to hit an enemy just as a teammate’s grapple finishes to maximize stunlock potential.
-The Handler’s alt-fire is good for bombing slimbots from a distance where aiming the Bouncing Buddies would be difficult. The projectile does disappear after medium distance.

[Sniper]
-Sharpshooters can land headshots on bots as well as pros for extra damage. This does huge damage and a sharpshooter can easily control a lane if left to their own devices.
-Repeatedly headshot enemies activating the annihilator. You are the best at this do to your lack of spread on the Sniper Rifle.
-The Flak doesn’t do very good damage, but is very showy and annoying. Even if you aren’t doing much with it, you can toss it in an area you want to deny and enemies will be more reluctant to push forward.
-You can throw traps very far by jumping and aiming high. This will force the enemy team backwards as it will be difficult to get to you.

[Spark]
-Not only does Flip Switch lead to some interesting Ring-outs, it can also throw a fleeing pro backwards to your slower team members.
-When ambushing a weakened enemy, start slashing and then use your Megahurtz, not the other way around. This way they will not be alerted to your presence until after you’ve taken a small chunk of their HP and the blind will be more significant.
-Arc flash up into the air to make less observant enemies think you ran away. Land behind them and do your thing if it’s safe.

[Support]
-The Support is very good at healing himself. Use the Hurt beam on bots to top off your HP, but don’t use it too often because your shotgun will be doing more raw damage at optimum range.
-Classic Support Combo: Jump -> shotgun -> land, grapple -> shotgun again. The grapple animation will end with the enemy pro centered perfectly in front of your shotgun, so take advantage of the free hit.
-If an enemy wanders into the range of your firebase, grapple them while overclocking to get some quick damage or maybe a kill before they escape.
-The firebase will automatically target the enemy you are draining with your Hurt beam, use this to turn the turret’s attention away from one target to a more desirable one.

[Tank]
-Jump up to a good height and charge to get a huge burst of movement.
-If you have a solid internet connection, you can get a quick burst of damage by using the Death Blossom, then mid-spin switching to the Railgun to grapple. This also can be used as a defensive technique against grapple-happy players as the blossom blocks grapples.
-You are very important for establishing map dominance. Use your health pool and shield to take risks, ambush people, light them on fire and push them back, then jump high and charge away to safety if needed. Use caution if the enemy team has a smart jungler or Veteran.
-The rail gun has low falloff and can pepper enemies and bots at medium range when otherwise you would do no damage.
-If a tricky opponent runs away after you deploy your shield, pay attention and use it to track their location to avoid any funny business.
-Product Grenade 4 does huge damage to bots and turrets in addition to stunning them.

[Veteran]
-The Ka-claw gets half cooldown if it doesn’t grab anyone. Don’t be afraid to miss!
-People are very predictable when at low health. Put your claw between your enemy and their only means of escape to seal the deal.
-The more extreme the angle vertically (up/down) the less momentum a clawed target will have. If done at especially steep angles they will just fly harmlessly up into the air.
-If you can get away with it, try not to use your Freight Train to initiate a chain grapple. The sudden burst of mobility can be invaluable to chasing them down if they flee. Similarly, combine the melee lunge with Freight Train to quickly close a gap.
-The Freight Train has considerable launching power when used in midair or against midair pros where the grapple doesn’t initiate.
-If you have a lone enemy in your midst maximize your pinning power with the following combo: (Ka-claw, equip Hot Seat) -> Skid Row Throw into a wall or towards your turrets -> Freight Train -> Lunge in the direction they flee -> Hot Seat Grapple. Note that pros with mobility skills like Assassin may escape the combo if you use the Skid Row Throw.

[Wascot]
-Use Party Pooper to reduce damage taken when an enemy notices you or is trying to chase you down when you are injured. Remember that it has no slowing effects.
-The lifesteal on the Shifty Shuffle ability can be very useful for tanking hits. Combine the effects with juice to sap even more health from enemies.
-You don’t always need to time Shifty Shuffles for a counter. The simple act of you putting on your devil horns has a psychological effect on your enemy and they are less likely to mess with you in close-medium range if you want to push forward a little.
-Crook Hook has huge movement potential. I suggest playing around with it in a practice game to see just what you can do.
-Unlike the similar Ka-Claw ability, you retain mobility while using the Crook Hook. Keep moving!
-Wascot has really humiliating taunts and weapons. Sure enough, buying them can actually be a good strategy as using them will make your enemy angry and more likely to make mistakes.