============================
[3.2] Combat & Mutant Powers
============================
Combat, and lots of it, is the name of the game in X-Men Legends. Each X-
Man has two primary melee attacks: standard and strong/knockback. Standard
attacks are made with the A button, strong attacks with B. By hitting an
opponent with different sequences, you can perform a special attack that
does more damage. Some of the special attacks are:
- Triple Hit: A, A, A
- Knockback: B, B
- Popup: A, A, B
- Trip: A, B, A
- Stun: B, A, B, B
- Power sequence: A, B, B, A, A, A
While some X-Men can be effective just unloading melee attacks on the bad
guys, the best way to win fights is to use your X-Men's mutant powers. Even
better, you should learn how to hit "power combos"--two mutant powers used
on one opponent at the same time.
Hitting combos in multiplayer requires communication between the players
and a good sense of the timing of each mutant power being used. Wolverine's
Brutal Slash, for example, is much faster than Storm's Lightning Strike. If
a player controlling Wolverine wants to hit a combo with a player
controlling Storm, the Wolverine player must watch the timing of the LS and
initiate the Brutal Slash immediately before the lightning hits.
In single player, hitting combos is part luck and part skill. In combat,
you press L repeatedly to call your teammates to you and have them attack
your opponent with their mutant powers. Again, timing is an issue, but you
don't have much control over when the computer AI will actually unleash its
power(s).
The primary method of hitting combos in single player is to hold down the R
button and repeatedly press both the L and either the A or B button.
Experiment to find different teams that work well for hitting combos.
(Note: Emma Frost's Confuse and Jubilee's Photo Flash powers do not appear
to cause power combos.)
Make sure you always have either Cyclops or Storm (or both) on the team for
the bonuses they provide to power combos. The Leadership skill possessed by
both X-Men adds bonus damage to power combos and bonus experience points
earned from an enemy on whom you used a combo. You do not have to actually
defeat the enemy with the combo. As long as you used a combo on that enemy
at some point, you get the bonus XP. Also, you only need Storm or Cyclops
on the team for the bonus, other X-Men can actually hit the combo.
The damage bonuses from the Leadership skills "stack"; i.e. if both Cyclops
and Storm are on your team and both have Leadership 5, you'll get 300%
bonus damage to your combos! The XP bonuses, alas, do not stack. Still, the
primary purpose for Leadership is the damage bonus, so having both X-Men
leaders on your team is a good thing.
You can also score combos even if you are just fighting hand-to-hand; just
keep pressing L while you're punching to keep your teammates blasting away
with their powers. There's even a "Batter Up!" combo that is scored when
one X-Man hits with a strike sequence at the same time another X-Man hits
with another strike sequence.
Examination of gameplay videos shows the powers do not have to hit exactly
simultaneously. There is a small window of opportunity surrounding each
power when you can cause a combo. Powers that temporarily stun your
opponents are especially good for combos as you can hit with the second
power any time while the foe is stunned. Area-of-effect powers also give
good chances for hitting combos as multiple enemies are affected.
Once you get to level 15 and purchase Xtreme powers for your X-Men, you can
use these powers by pressing R + Y. You can hit super power combos by
hitting a combo with one or two Xtreme powers. Xtreme powers require Xtreme
icons, which will display at the bottom center of the screen. In order to
fill these icons, you need to collect Xtreme tokens the same way you
collect health packs, etc. Each token fills one-quarter of an icon, so you
must collect four tokens to get one full icon and use an Xtreme power once.
The Xtreme power icons are shared by all X-Men. Thus, if you have one icon
filled, and Gambit uses 52 Pick Up, Storm cannot then immediately follow
with Cyclone Fury until you pick up more tokens. At level 15, you can have
one filled Xtreme icon. At level 20, you can have two filled icons. At
level 25, you can have three; at level 30, you can have four; and, at level
35 and after, you can have five filled icons.
Xtreme powers are most useful for crowd control. The best Xtreme powers are
those that launch enemies away from you, such as Colossus' Seismic Smash.
Try to avoid using Xtreme powers against bosses, as most Xtreme powers are
large area-of-effect powers that are intended to damage multiple enemies.
Against a single enemy, they're a lot less powerful. Use focused, single-
opponent powers and combos against bosses.
Another method of dealing with your enemies is to throw things at them. A
character with the Might skill can pick up and throw cars, trucks and other
really heavy things--or Wolverine for a Fastball Special (see section 4.17
below). Any character can throw barrels or crates; the exploding barrels
are especially nice. Gambit and Jubilee can both charge objects and throw
them before they explode--sort of homemade grenades.
As you attack enemies, keep an eye on the enemy status bar in the top
center of the screen. This shows your opponent's health status and any
damage resistances possessed by the enemy. For example, some enemies are
physical resistant. This means attacks causing physical damage are less
effective. Team up on the foe with energy and mental attacks. The same goes
for opponents listed as mental resistant, etc.
Keep an eye out for rejuvenators. Various mobs have a special unit that can
revive fallen comrades. If you don't take out the rejuvenator, the bad guys
will keep coming and coming and coming and coming. See section 5, Enemies,
below for a list of rejuvenator units.
Finally, if you can, avoid combat on bridges (especially bridges built by
an X-Man) or near ledges. The computer AI is just stupid enough to
occasionally send your teammates jumping into the abyss after enemies that
have fallen over the edge. That's a bad thing.
Combat in X-Men Legends is fast, furious and goes on forever; so, you'll
get plenty of practice in taking care of the bad guys. If, for some strange
reason, you can't get enough combat, try the Danger Room.
[3.2.1] Power Combo Names
-------------------------
Every power combo or super power combo has a name composed of an adjective
and a noun; e.g. Atomic Blades or Electric Quake. The two words are taken
from the X-Men powers that were used. The first power that hits determines
the adjective; the second power determines the noun. To determine the name
of a combo, just look up the adjective and noun for each power. Thus:
Cyclops Optic Beam + Wolverine Brutal Slash = Optic Claw
Wolverine Brutal Slash + Cyclops Optic Beam = Adamantium Beam
Here is a list of adjectives and nouns for most of the offensive mutant
powers. Emma Frost's Confuse power and Jubilee's Photo Flash power do not
appear to cause combos, perhaps because they do not harm your foes.
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Character | Power | Adjective | Noun |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Beast | Pinball | Rolling | Strike |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Propeller Kick | Simian | Kick |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Orbital Bombardment | | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Colossus | Power Smash | Charging | Smash |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Concussion Slam | Catastrophic | Slam |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Seismic Smash | Diving | Quake |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Cyclops | Optic Beam | Optic | Beam |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Optic Sweep | Immobilizing | Shockwave |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Optic Rage | | Rage |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Emma Frost | Confuse | n/a | n/a |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Fear | Spectral | Terror |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Psychic Bedlam | | Shellshock |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Gambit | Charged Card | Atomic | Cards |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Staff Slam | Charged | Slam |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | 52 Pick Up | | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Iceman | Freeze Blast | Icy | Chill |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Ice Shards | Piercing | Blades |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Freeze Frame | | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Jean Grey | Telekinesis | Lifting | Kinetics |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Psychic Shout | Shrieking | Scream |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Phoenix Force | | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Jubilee | Energy Burst | Dazzling | Sparklers |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Photo Flash | n/a | n/a |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Independence Day | | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Magma | Fiery Blast | Burning | Blast |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Lava Fissure | Molten | Eruption |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Volcano | | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Nightcrawler | Teleport Leap | Quantum | Leap |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Teleport Flurry | Leaping | Flurry |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Blindside Blitz | | Chaos |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Professor X | Hammer Legend | Astral | Flash |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Blast Legend | Cerebral | Nova |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Psychic Maelstrom | | Maelstrom |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Psylocke | Psychic Slash | Crushing | Slash |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Psychic Bolts | Slicing | Bolt |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Psychic Onslaught | | Devastation |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Rogue | Southern Strike | Vampiric | Strike |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Ability Drain | Devitalizing | Diffusion |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Energy Drain | | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Storm | Lightning | Electric | Surge |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Whirlwind | Tempestuous | Twister |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Cyclone Fury | | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Wolverine | Brutal Slash | Adamantium | Claw |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Claw Flurry | Bestial | Assault |
|--------------|---------------------|--------------|--------------|
| | Savage Rampage | | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|
|
|
