29 replies to this topic

[Spiked]

Its been some time since this game is released, and bunch of us completed it more then once, or twice, or three times or...you get the picture. So, of what combination of skills is your favorite?

Mine is without a doubt stealth+assault riffles. So I stealth my way through anything I can, but I also have AR when things get messy. Also, I like to use those silenced bullets for taking out guys in the distance silently. I also like to buy a couple of ranks in pistol tree, so I can line up a critical from cover, or take down two or more targets with chain shot, If I can't sneak past them, and sabotage gives you some nice things also. So all in all, I would probably split the remaining action points on those two skills.

Martial arts is a great addition to stealth+AR build too, since AR isn't reliable on close distances, especially when your playing on hard.

[razgriz_1400]

I'm still on my first playthrough but I'm using a stealth build with a high pistol rating because chainshot has saved my *** on several occasions in close quarters. Strangely my pistol is only for when I can't get close enough to use a melee takedown and I only have 5 points or so in martial arts. As for my secondary weapon, I bounce between the assault rifle and SMGs depending on if I'm in a wide open map (like most of the Saudi missions) or if I'm in a close quaters map (Lazo's yacht). I have maybe 3-4 points in SMG/Rifle and a couple points with sabotage, tech, and toughness. Also I feel like I'm a bit weird in that when I have the choice between G22 and VCI as my allies I usually pick the VCI because I feel I'm stealthy as hell on my own but if I've got a fight on my hands, I'd rather have SIE backing me up than Albatross: when the **** hits the fan a crazy chick with an M60 trumps a guy who sits in the shadows and observes, IMO. If one could have Sis as backup, I might change my mind, though.

[zkylon]

I love my stealth+tech specialist because i get brilliance and bonus to detection by cameras and easier lockpicking/etc. It was pretty hard against bosses at first but once i got chainshot combined with high levels of shadow operative (and brilliance to do it all over again :D), the battlefield becomes my playground

Edited by zkylon, 20 June 2010 - 11:06 AM.

[jdamien75]

I'm still on my first playthrough but I'm using a stealth build with a high pistol rating because chainshot has saved my *** on several occasions in close quarters. Strangely my pistol is only for when I can't get close enough to use a melee takedown and I only have 5 points or so in martial arts. As for my secondary weapon, I bounce between the assault rifle and SMGs depending on if I'm in a wide open map (like most of the Saudi missions) or if I'm in a close quaters map (Lazo's yacht). I have maybe 3-4 points in SMG/Rifle and a couple points with sabotage, tech, and toughness. Also I feel like I'm a bit weird in that when I have the choice between G22 and VCI as my allies I usually pick the VCI because I feel I'm stealthy as hell on my own but if I've got a fight on my hands, I'd rather have SIE backing me up than Albatross: when the **** hits the fan a crazy chick with an M60 trumps a guy who sits in the shadows and observes, IMO. If one could have Sis as backup, I might change my mind, though.

I haven't tried using G22 as my final handler, but I've heard you can get Sis to help you out at the very end if you pick Albatross to be your handler.

I'm doing my "kill everybody" play through right now, so Sis was executed & is only helping the fishes now.

[Enoch]

I love my stealth+tech specialist because i get brilliance and bonus to detection by cameras and easier lockpicking/etc. It was pretty hard against bosses at first but once i got chainshot combined with high levels of shadow operative (and brilliance to do it all over again :D), the battlefield becomes my playground

Yeah, you get a nice character if you drop the Melee from the standard "Spy" build and go with 7 ranks of Sabotage plus 10 ranks of Tech Aptitude (along with maxed Stealth and Pistols). Basically, earn basic Shadow Op and Chainshot, then go for Brilliance. Add in the Sabotage ranks when you think you're going to need the binary invis, then focus on topping out the Stealth and Pistols.

You've got to run like hell whenever a boss character tries to close to melee range, though.

[Darque]

I like my wall of death build -> Assault Rifle/Tech/Toughness.

You're not invulnerable, but you can just stand there and go headshot -> headshot -> headshot... until the area is clear

And if you get bored with that, instead of a ton of healing items, you can load up on a double ton of grenades.

[zkylon]

Yeah, you get a nice character if you drop the Melee from the standard "Spy" build and go with 7 ranks of Sabotage plus 10 ranks of Tech Aptitude (along with maxed Stealth and Pistols). Basically, earn basic Shadow Op and Chainshot, then go for Brilliance. Add in the Sabotage ranks when you think you're going to need the binary invis, then focus on topping out the Stealth and Pistols.

You've got to run like hell whenever a boss character tries to close to melee range, though.

With Chainshot on expert, bosses don't get the chance. Besides, if they try to melee you, just run, hide behind a column or something and Do Shadow Op. Use that time to cast () Brilliance and Brayko/Deng is done for. I found the Stealth/Tech Spec character to be better suited against bosses than my pure AR-Toughness build (in all fairness, i wasted more than a few points on Martial Arts and didn't get to max out Toughness or Technical Aptitude). Sure, three shots and you're dead but with high Toughness, heavy armor and Iron Will it's maybe ten shots at best. You still can't take that much damage with non-stealth builds.

[Azure79]

Stealth, Pistols, Martial Arts, with some in Toughness.

Sneak in, chain shot, flying knee to the face to any enemy left standing.

Every game should have a flying knee to the face move followed by a stomp option.

[edgarcuk]

My fave so far:

All stealth tree.
All pistol tree.
Sabotage tree up to breaking and entering master
Tech tree up to level 10 (weapon customisation)
Martial arts up to 5 (fury)
Toughness up to 10 (hard to kill)
A couple of Assault Rifles
None for SMG nor Shotguns

Since it's more a stealth/sabotage/ pistol build, I put tech tree because of brilliance, healing and endurance bonus, because of the stealth armor. Martial arts because is needed sometimes. Toughness for those helicopters and similar encounters, and to be able to take some damage.

[razgriz_1400]

I'm still on my first playthrough but I'm using a stealth build with a high pistol rating because chainshot has saved my *** on several occasions in close quarters. Strangely my pistol is only for when I can't get close enough to use a melee takedown and I only have 5 points or so in martial arts. As for my secondary weapon, I bounce between the assault rifle and SMGs depending on if I'm in a wide open map (like most of the Saudi missions) or if I'm in a close quaters map (Lazo's yacht). I have maybe 3-4 points in SMG/Rifle and a couple points with sabotage, tech, and toughness. Also I feel like I'm a bit weird in that when I have the choice between G22 and VCI as my allies I usually pick the VCI because I feel I'm stealthy as hell on my own but if I've got a fight on my hands, I'd rather have SIE backing me up than Albatross: when the **** hits the fan a crazy chick with an M60 trumps a guy who sits in the shadows and observes, IMO. If one could have Sis as backup, I might change my mind, though.

I haven't tried using G22 as my final handler, but I've heard you can get Sis to help you out at the very end if you pick Albatross to be your handler.

I'm doing my "kill everybody" play through right now, so Sis was executed & is only helping the fishes now.

I know about Sis freeing you from the infirmary in the Alpha Protocol compound by reading spoilers. I meant having her fighting side-by-side with you. Despite her revolvers requiring her to reload every 10 seconds or so, she can really tear **** up in a hurry. Of course my "dream team" for an all-out fight is SIE, Heck, and Sis with me ghosting around and stabbing people in the neck while they're pinned down...

[jones092201]

max brilliance, stealth to shadow operative at 12 seconds, sabatoge high and pistols to chain shot 5 or 6 and you are unstopable, bosses become an absolute joke...also you can sneak past baddies without much trouble...you need nothing else though i do like to get martial arts up there because it is prerequiste for a bad ass spy

[mr insomniac]

Played the game twice now, just finished my second run 20 or so minutes ago. First game I kinda scattered my skill points around a bit, tech + sabotage + pistols + rifles + martial arts, because everything just sounded cool, heh. But I never really got good at anything. Second game I went pistols and martial arts with some sabotage and toughness thrown in. I missed the rifles, but only until I maxed out pistols.

Similar experience in both games. What can I say? Melee'ing the bad guys is fun. Awesome fun. Makes me wish Mike made some Bruce Lee noises once in a while. As others have said, knee-to-the-head + stomp = win. But things can get a bit difficult when closing range, or in a crowd. Of course that's where chainshot comes in.

All I've decided about my third run is that I'm gonna try a recruit. Played as a freelancer the first two games.

[macrocarl]

I finsished up my 1st playthrough as a Spy with 13 in Martial Arts, 13 in Pistols, 13 in Sealth, 2 in Sabotage (for the EMP pick locks ability which saved my ass a couple of times) and 3 in AR as my secondary weapon (mostly used AR for long rang attacks vs. helicopter and sniping from afar at low levels). I had to run around a lot vs. bosses but towards the end I could take out a room stealthy like with Shadow Operative....... Totally fun, never threw a grenade the whole game! Also totally dug knee to the face + pistol to the face (MA 13)

For my 2nd playthrough I was thinking more of an aggro free lance kill 'em real bad type wih these stats:

Martial Arts lvl 13 = 52 points
Pistols lvl 10 = 15 points
Sabotage lvl 6 = 24 points
Toughness lvl 5 = 20 points
Stealth lvl 3 = 18 points
Shot Gun lvl 7 = 35 points
Tech lvl 10 = 30 points
+3 points left over

I know the build is spread all over the place but I can't get rid of pistol and martial arts. They are too cool. Does anyone think I need to tweak the build? Am I over doing it in toughness? OR is shotgun or pistol too high? Thoughts?

[Spiked]

I don't know, shotgun+martial arts doesn't make much sense, they pretty much serve the same purpose. Just activate fury and you can kick some serious close-quarter ass in those couple for seconds, no need for shotgun. But it doesn't matter much, you can play the game any way you want, the build doesn't have to be, you know, optimal.

BTW, I just finished my Chuck Norris/Ninja playthough on hard, and it was awesome! Maxed out stealth, toughness, martial arts, and 10 points in technical aptitude(brilliance) and I was unstoppable. Boy, I beat the crap out of Brayko, Marburg, Deng, you name it. Definitely one of my favorite builds. Who needs guns anyway?

Edited by Spiked, 27 June 2010 - 12:25 PM.

[mr insomniac]

BTW, I just finished my Chuck Norris/Ninja playthough on hard, and it was awesome! Maxed out stealth, toughness, martial arts, and 10 points in technical aptitude(brilliance) and I was unstoppable. Boy, I beat the crap out of Brayko, Marburg, Deng, you name it. Definitely one of my favorite builds. Who needs guns anyway?

I am definitely trying this in my next game.

[macrocarl]

@ Prestidigitator
Thanks for the heads up on shotgun...... With your Chuck Norris build, you could hand to hand all the bosses and not get the #%^! beat out of you? The 1st lvl of brilliance is at 8th lvl, no? Did you have points in other places as well? I thought at least 2 in sabotage was really helpful against bombs and crazy locks.

Also quick Q on tech and then I promise to stop hijacking this thread

Has anyone placed landmines right in front of Mike during any of the boss fights and light them off as a boss comes at them with a high enough tech score to not get blasted as well?

[Spiked]

Thanks for the heads up on shotgun...... With your Chuck Norris build, you could hand to hand all the bosses and not get the #%^! beat out of you?

It was the other way around, I beat the crap out of them, without much or any trouble. Epinephrine Spike + Iron Will + Fury, lets call this combo 'Steven special' for future references. For Marburg, I just incinerated his henchmen with grenades, and then gave him one Steven special and that was that. For Brayko, I gave him Steven special, then after he gets high I hide with shadow operative(so that he doesn't call his mobsters on me), while I'm hiding I use brilliance and then give him another Steven special after the effects of the coke wore off. Deng was the easies one, I just gave him one Steven special and that was that, he didn't even have time to react, he didn't even touch me.

Did you have points in other places as well? I thought at least 2 in sabotage was really helpful against bombs and crazy locks.

It was my 9th playthrough, and at that point I was really good at mini games so I didn't need any help, but I did have extra 10 points at the end that I didn't use for anything, so you could buy two ranks in sabotage if you want. Here is how my build looked in the end:



Technical aptitude is really important because of the better healing, more endurance and brilliance. On hard, you really have to rely on fury and iron will or your dead, so being able to reset their timers is important.

Has anyone placed landmines right in front of Mike during any of the boss fights and light them off as a boss comes at them with a high enough tech score to not get blasted as well?

I guess its possible, but I didn't try it.

[macrocarl]

Thanks for the heads up on shotgun...... With your Chuck Norris build, you could hand to hand all the bosses and not get the #%^! beat out of you?

It was the other way around, I beat the crap out of them, without much or any trouble. Epinephrine Spike + Iron Will + Fury, lets call this combo 'Steven special' for future references. For Marburg, I just incinerated his henchmen with grenades, and then gave him one Steven special and that was that. For Brayko, I gave him Steven special, then after he gets high I hide with shadow operative(so that he doesn't call his mobsters on me), while I'm hiding I use brilliance and then give him another Steven special after the effects of the coke wore off. Deng was the easies one, I just gave him one Steven special and that was that, he didn't even have time to react, he didn't even touch me.

Did you have points in other places as well? I thought at least 2 in sabotage was really helpful against bombs and crazy locks.

It was my 9th playthrough, and at that point I was really good at mini games so I didn't need any help, but I did have extra 10 points at the end that I didn't use for anything, so you could buy two ranks in sabotage if you want. Here is how my build looked in the end:



Technical aptitude is really important because of the better healing, more endurance and brilliance. On hard, you really have to rely on fury and iron will or your dead, so being able to reset their timers is important.

Has anyone placed landmines right in front of Mike during any of the boss fights and light them off as a boss comes at them with a high enough tech score to not get blasted as well?

I guess its possible, but I didn't try it.

That's totally awesome. Thanks for the screen shot too........ I like 'The Steven Special'! hahah

[Luckmann]

After playing one Gun-Ho playthrough and two sneakerish, I do have to say that I prefer a Stealth/Sabotage/Pistol character. In the end, you're just sneaking left and right, running into rooms invisible and killing everyone, and throwing flashbangs and incendiary grenades left and right.

It's just amazing.

Whatever you do, don't underestimate flashbangs. It blinds all the enemies and apparently, that is what determines whether you can do covert attacks on them. A single flashbang can allow you to run into a room, or quickly dispose of up to 4 people, maybe more if you're lucky with the attacks (some are near-instant, others take longers).

Outright stabbing them is usually quicker than a non-lethal takedown.

[razgriz_1400]

One thing that I've noticed is that early on a stealth approach using a knife is more reliable/faster than waiting for the headshot with a pistol/AR until I can get the proper skill points invested in weapons skills.