Arcade Mode Tips and Tricks

[Mr. Freeze]

So right now I'm using

Seek and Destroy
Saving Throw
Armored Offensive

On Nightmare difficulty and generally scoring pretty high. What's everyone else using/doing for sweet point multiplication? I find that the Plasma Rifle's Stun Bomb + Rocket Detonation makes for multiple stun kills and multikill medals.

[Touchdown]

Saving Throw + Savagery + Dazed&Confused

Pop Rockets + Stun Bombs + Scope + Remote Detonation + Precision Mode + Mobile Turret

That's on UNM. I just use whatever suits the situation, trying to master the art of quickly switching to correct weapons. Blasting everything with shotguns, Rocket Launcher and Gauss Cannon, murdering stuff with melee, occasionally doing headshots with the Assault Rifle.

[MrGlide]

The Ruins I use are - Rich get Richer, Seek and Destroy, Blood Fueled. When below 75 armor I replace Rich get Richer with Savagery.

Weapons, I exclusively use (for arcade mode that is)-

• Combat shotgun - Charged Burst.
  (Used as main source of medals in conjunction with plasma stun)
  
• Assault Rifle - Tactical Scope.
  (Used for Melee canceling)
  
• Chaingun - Mobile Turret.
  (Can be used to build up score multiplier)
  
• Plasma stun ftw.
  (obviously best way to get medal combos)
  
• Rocket Launcher - Lock-on Burst.
  (Good damage to soften mid-tier monsters for combo medals, or multi-kill trash)
  
• Gauss Rifle - Penetration Bolt.
  (I rarely use it for actually killing things, mostly to Gauss Hop)
  

I will add to this post as I refine my style for this mode.

[Kristian Nebula]

I use Rich Get Richer, Equipment Power for Siphon Grenades to charge up armor to MAX value whenever it drops too much, and Dazed & Confused/Intimacy is Best

 

I use a lot of Holograms to confuse the monsters, stun them with plasma rifle stun bomb and aim for the head with triple hit charged burst which adds also headshot kill. This brings 3 medals per kill. Messing with Zombies a lot, shooting them once with the pistol every 5 seconds so the medal chain holds between long distances. Sometimes one has to be very creative in order to hold the medal streak in certain areas. For bigger monsters I'm always weakening them first with plasma/RL/SSG before stunning them and doing the charged burst headshot. :) Summoners are an exception, I tend to kill them as fast as possible with RL/SSG/Gauss.

 

At the moment I'm in Global top 10 PC list on all maps, still need to improve a few of them :)

Edited August 5, 2017 by Nebula-Kristian

[Vorpal]

I actually scribbled down my findings when I was playing this:

 

• 1 kill can be made into 2 medals e.g. Direct Hit + Stunned
  • Glory Kill + Stunned is achieved via chainsaw proof
• chaining kills for multiplier is one thing, chaining medals together is totally separate with its own algorithm/multiplier (needs research)
• need to investigate medal chain decay time. ~15 seconds and reset to 0 upon damage? reset to 0 upon kill? reset to 0 upon obtaining a medal?
• dont rush to the exit until your medal chain decays and awards your points (untested if it awards the points on exit but for now why risk it)
• there are no points for speed, aside from potential lost points from letting multiplier decay
• there are no points for end-of-level "Badges", I dunno wtf those are for
• Armored Offensive rune is critical, the extra armor drops add to your multiplier
• Blood Fueled is critical, faster speed means less multiplier decay
• cutscenes, elevators and so on will pause multiplier decay
• multi-kill medal is perhaps detrimental? getting 1 medal for killing multiple enemies is inferior to getting 2 medals for each enemy [presuming all medals are equal value]
  • therefore barrel/relic explosions are best saved for lone enemies or until after enemies are milked for medals
• getting hit is a major penalty to multiplier decay
• exploding barrels count give a minor boost to multiplier time
• dont fuckin die

[Kristian Nebula]

9 minutes ago, Vorpal said:

•  dont fuckin die etc. :)

Multiplier can be also maxed with Power-ups (Berserk,Invuln,Haste,Quad Damage etc.) I usually don't use them until I need to move to the next area and grab the medals from the monsters without power-ups. Chainsaw & ammo boost are a great combination for it, too!

 

Argent Tower has the ending part where the gateway to hell opens and it's a kind of a lottery which monsters you get in the end point-wise. There's the possibility to exit the level with medal streak on and it is also a bit unclear to me if it's counted or not. It seems to be counted if the timer ends before the scoreboard is reached and seems not to if there's too much time left for it. And the timer for medal chain decay time is about 6-7 seconds :)

Edited August 5, 2017 by Nebula-Kristian