Rakion: Chaos Force/Gameplay

Rakion is an online-only, multiplayer fantasy action computer game made by softnyx. It was in "closed" beta testing from August 11 - 25th 2005, meaning that it was in free beta testing in a limited group of countries (which includes the United States and the UAE). It switched from development to open beta testing on October 13 2005. When the beta testing ended on December 1st of 2005, the game began to follow the same model as softnyx's other multiplayer online game, Gunbound; users may purchase "cash" in order to purchase power-user status (Which offers various benefits) and items that are often very powerful. The website to download "Rakion" is

Gameplay and Controls
The core gameplay of Rakion consists of player-versus-player battles, usually involving ten to twenty players at once. A player controls his character, who appears in a standard "third person" view, using the WASD keys and the mouse to move, and the mouse buttons to attack. The left mouse button is a character's normal attack, and the right mouse button is used for a stronger, slower, and usually "unblockable" attack. Both mouse buttons pressed simultaneously, while the player is in direct contact with an enemy player, performs a "Grip" (throw) attack, which does significant damage, and renders both characters invulnerable for the duration of the attack. The shift key is used to block, and the space bar is used to jump. The Q key switches between a character's melee and ranged weapons. The first three number keys on the keyboard can be assigned to summoning different monsters to fight alongside the player. Once a player has killed enough other players in a match, the C key activates "Chaos Mode", which temporarily turns the player into a monster which is significantly more powerful than the player's normal mode. Each characters specific attacks, keypress combinations for additional attacks, and the monster a character turns into during Chaos Mode are all determined by that character's "class".

Classes
As in most fantasy games, player characters are broken down into distinct "classes". Unlike most fantasy games, however, the race and genders in Rakion are strictly determined by the classes. Only two classes are humans. Rakion's five classes are:
 * Swordsman: A male "knight"-like character with a sword. The most well-rounded class. The chaos form is a blue, very shiny looking and powerful character who excels in close combat. Swordsmans are humans.

Primary weapon: Long sword- a versatile weapon useful for slashing and stabbing. Ranged weapon: Throwing knife- Heavy and arched. Fairly ineffective at long range as you have to calculate how high you will have to throw it for it to actually hit someone.

Chaos mode: The chaos mode swordsman has lightning-fast strikes and attacks in complete combo-strikes. He has a devastating dashing special attack capable of wiping out multiple enemies in a line and defeating golems.
 * Archer: A female character with a bow and shortsword. Naturally, Archers are heavily slanted toward ranged combat, and are not very effective up close. However, that does not mean they cannot defend themselves from melee attackers in a heartbeat. They also have a powerful grip attack that deals damage over time and keeps an opponent out of the action for around 5 seconds. Most people think Archers are humans, but they are elves. Their ears are pointed.

Primary weapon: Short sword- it is the default weapon though rarely used except for defending in short ranged combat. It still has combo-tactics much like the swordsman

Ranged weapon: Longbow- capable of firing deadly arrows over long distances. Arrows travel very quickly but deal light damage at lower levels. However, it is extremely damaging when the character's range attack is maxed.

Chaos Mode: The archer turns into an angelic-looking being with a very fast basic arrow attack and a devastating multiple-shot attack, dubbed the "shotgun" which shoots 5 arrows in 5 degree intervals that cannot be blocked and knock down the enemy. This multiple-shot attack can one-hit-KO characters when all 5 arrows hit a particular target. This is achieved when a target stands directly in front of the chaos archer.


 * Blacksmith: A large, brutish-looking male character with a warhammer. Blacksmiths have the strongest attacks of all the classes, but are also one of the slowest class in the game. Blacksmiths are golem type creatures, although their real race is unidentified.

Primary weapon: Warhammer- Blacksmiths carry around a giant warhammer that can knock out enemies in one blow. Their special knocks enemies off their feet and stuns them. In chaos form, blacksmiths have powerful area attacks.

Ranged weapon: throwing axe- similar to the knives of the swordsman, except they travel slightly faster and more accurately, this is also the most powerful ranged attack in the game but is the slowest to fire.

Chaos Mode: The blacksmith turns into a giant, heavily armored golem. His warhammer turns into a flail, and it can knock an enemy back a very long distance if it hits. He has devastating area attacks and can eliminate weaker foes in a matter of one or two hits.


 * Ninja: A lavender-haired female character with a dagger and shurikens. Ninjas are the fastest characters in the game, and particularly excel at "grip" (grabbing) attacks. They make up for their speed with weaker attacks and a lower defense than the other classes. Their invisibility attacks become annoying, but also deadly. A Ninja's chaos mode is particularly powerful because attacks bypass armour and hit right for health damage. Ninjas are the other human class.

Primary weapon: Dagger- used in explosion combo-attacks that can kill opponents easily. Has a powerful grip attack that involves grabbing the enemy, stabbing them in the back, and jumping up and stabbing them again.

Ranged weapon: The ninja throws out shuriken-like weapons, either individually or in groups of 9. Useful for slaying slow enemies like golems and fleeing enemies.

Chaos Mode: The ninja turns into a ninja with a longer blade and a more intimidating red look. The blade has a slightly longer reach than the normal ninja blade, and the ninja can now dash towards someone when she attacks, which will execute two slashes followed by three explosions that track the enemy. The explosions have the best splash damage in the game. She can also do a deadly spin, and can launch out nearly 27 shurikens, which can decimate golems in seconds.


 * Mage: A small, male, moogle-like creature with a staff. Mages are primarily designed to be "support" characters, with both healing magic and a range of long-distance magical attacks. Mages wear masks over their true face, which is never shown in the game. A full grown mage is much shorter that any full grown human, and they live longer (not in the game) than any other human. The mage's devastating spells makes it the strongest character in the game if used properly.

Primary Weapon- battlestaff: the mage's battlestaff can be used for weak melee attacks, but is also used for casting some of the strongest spells in the game. The projection attack, a row of ice spikes, deals massive damage. This weapon can also produce blessings, or orbs that heal an ally.

Ranged weapon- the mage holds a roughly spherical object in its hands and uses it to cast the rotating bomb and the meteor spell. The bomb detonates after 1.5 seconds, dealing area of effect damage. It is a versatile weapon that can be very effective. The meteor attack shoots two homing meteors that deal heavy damage.

Chaos Mode: The mage summons another powerful mage and controls it by sitting on top of it. It has three main attacks: 3-way projection, Fireball, and prayer. The projection spell launches over 10 ice spires in 3 different directions, making it the strongest spell in the game. The meteor is a faster, stronger version of the original mage's meteor (4 shots (cast twice) is enough to slay a player). The prayer spell heals all allies around the chaos mage, but not the mage itself.

Character Guides

 * Warrior: Warriors are the most balanced class as far as stats go. This is their greatest advantage since they can excel in multiple fields (like close combat damage, health, special attack, speed, etc) while staying moderate for other fields.

A Couple Strategies I Wish I Knew as a Noob

Warriors are commonly used as an annoying tank, inflicting/taking damage and chasing down opponents in the center of a battle. However, this is a bad strategy which leads to your death.

The best offensive strategy for Warriors is to play smart by attacking when an enemy is facing them (and not running away) or attacking after an enemy is delayed after his/her attack. Yes, playing smart can many times be DT ing confused opponent. And no, this is not mean or very cheap (well, maybe only to the victim).

As for defence, I have just one word to say: DELAY. Delay is the key to keeping any player alive. When going on the offensive, make sure that you swing only one first, to see if you've got a locked on critical hit on the opponent, when you see a HIT 1 on the mid-right of the screen, you've got a lock-on. Don't worry, there's about a second for you to respond to a second swing, and then the third. Another important rule is to NEVER get DT ed, or you'll find yourself in a world of pain. Instead, just run away from the DT ers, or just try to keep them busy. After all, you're only one guy and two guys are wasting their time chasing you. Keep this up until at least one of them gives up.

Stat Builds

By default, the swordsman is built with strong overall stats. An effective player of swordsman is able to easily defeat multiple enemies, but only with the proper build. This is an exploration of the different ways to spend points on swordsman stats. 'Normal Attack:'This is integral for the swordsman! By putting points into this skill, the swordsman is an excellent 1 v 1 player and can devastate opponents with the triple slash. Normal attack players should synergize with attack speed to launch deadly volleys of slashes at their foes. Effective ways to use the normal attack is to use the running strike, which can hit twice and knocks enemies down. 'Special Attack:' The swordsman's special attack is a charge-up quadruple strike that deals heavy damage. This generally is very effective versus groups and golems, so you might want to invest in this. However, the special attack is slow and you should not put points into this skill exclusively. 'Tank Swordsman:' By default, swordsman is strong enough to kill. He has good armor and life, but he is still vulnerable. A tank swordsman is good at distracting foes, but can also gain kills 1 v 1.

'Not Recommended:' Cell destruction is not recommended, because he already has a base of 15, that can improve with weapons you buy. It's more important to focus on player killing with the swordsman, and the high damage with balance out even without cell destruction.

Strategies Against Class

Remember, the Warrior is the top of the food chain. However, be careful while moving around- an inexperienced swordsman is easy prey.

Archer

One thing I've noticed when playing against archers is that whenever I chased an Archer down (especially ones that have their helmet on) I end up losing the round. I don't recommend chasing one of these chicks down, but what I do tend to do is sneak up on them and combo them until they eat dirt.

If Archers ever start to annoy you, just charge at them. They'll try to shoot you a few times before running. The best strategy now is to zigzag and NOT guard. Guarding an arrow may feel cool (and it really does) but it wastes times, allowing others to sneak up on you, and it gives the archer some time for another arrow. I've NEVER been hit by an archer while zigzaging towards him/her. Just zigzag in a direction for at least 2 seconds or else you're too predictable.

After that, they tend to run away, with a few that try to melee you. The reason why it's bad to chase them down is that they usually get away, and DT you with a companion. It's just always good to look for opportunities to strike these threats.

Mage These small-fry should't be underestimated by any class. Mages can do massive damage and usually have some of the most kills in a game. Only problem for them is that any Warrior can easily kick their $@!# with the proper strategies.

Anyone can avoid 90% of all Mage's attacks. It's not too hard. Mages have very short range melee stick, giving you a big advantage to avoiding their strikes. Their ice spikes can easily be avoided by jumping. (Some mages use a LOT of ice spikes, while others almost never use it, use this fact to your advantage).

For long distance, a mage's energy granade can surprise you the first time, but it's very easy to run from it before it explodes. A Mage's homing meteors can be easily dodged by jumping when they're a few feet away from you. And NEVER follow a mage onto an isolated platform like some you'll find in Lava maps where many tend to tornado you into the lava.

After you learn to avoid 90% of their attacks, kicking their $%# is very simple. Just combo them when they're delayed from an attempting an attack you've easily dodged, and it might even be fun to chase these guys down sometimes.

Ninja I consider this class very annoying. Most Ninja aren't very deadly and commonly combo, or range you, which does very little damage. But once in a while, there'll be a Ninja that will make your jaws drop. These professionals will try their best to annoy you and do many damaging grips.

Overall, Ninja aren't to be feared by any Warrior, and should be considered pests. If I get comboed by one of them, I just sit back and watch them take away %10 of my armor and/or very little of my health. Their range is even worse. They might think they're doing a some damage to you, but they're really not, so don't take them to seriously.

Blacksmith

Blacksmith are considered to be a your equal. They're similar to you in stats, but have superior defence and inflict more damage. Brains is your ultimate weapon against these guys. The key to beating these guys is to wait for them to attack, and strike back when they're in delay. This is a very simple, but effective strategy. A Blacksmith's combo and invincible attack aren't too hard to avoid.


 * Side note*: An experienced swordsman should easily be able to decimate a blacksmith, because warrior has far higher normal attack damage (100+ as opposed to blacksmith's 80) and faster attack rate. Beware the charge up attack, which can easily kill you in a few hits. Don't try to close the distance if you have low hitpoints. An experienced blacksmith can tell and will use their invincible attack when you try to approach. Work on stabbing techniques to take out enemies before their special attacks can reach you.

Overall, common sense is crucial to beating these guys.

Warrior The Warrior has good melee, decent range, and good armour. It is similar to the BlackSmith, but is is slighly faster.

~Mages

Mages are strong, small and monkey looking creatures

Pro-Most CP, strong range, healing, whirlwind, projection, good amount of CD, so-so armor at higher lvs Con-Slow attacks, High Delay, Move slow

Stratagy

Mages are usually seen as annoying noobs who run and throw things, those are only the noobs. DTing people is often fun and its even more fun to snipe people

Learn to grip really well, frontalgrips especilly. If you watch somebody on a front grip and know your not going to get hit, heres what you do->after the 2x frontal grip hit, jump attack backward, projection. Doing that will cause atleast 4x hits, 5x or more if well placed. If you find that your standing somewhere that dosnt allow projection to move(such as gravity elevator tops), just do 2 jumps attacks.

Grip is a good technique to master but don't put any points into it just because mage has few follow-up attacks after using the grip attack. Projection rarely works, especially if you use the wrong grip on your enemy.
 * Side note*: Magic bombs are incredibly effective in twin castle and gravity map- they are designed to benefit mage. The magic bomb is very powerful and can decimate many close-range fighters without getting scathed.

Against Blacksmiths -Most blacksmiths are super easy to fight. Why? They block so slow that you can land grips easily. IF you fight Proish blacksmiths, they do 1 hits or a special attack f you block. Run if they use special, it hurts. If you block a hit, go for the grip!!! If they do 2 hits and you block, go for another grip! If they start throwing axes, becareful because they can switch anytime.


 * Side note*: Skilled blacksmiths are some of the deadliest foes in Rakion. They have the hardest armor to penetrate, making them virtually immune to ninja. Their hammer is deceptive- it does less damage than the swordsman's weapon. However, watch out for the special! Truly skilled blacksmiths are a stark contrast to the slow and clumsy characters controlled by newbs.

Against Archers -Archers are fun to fight. Everytime you get close, they run. They need time to shoot which is what we should give them. Right after they shoot, theres about a second that you can land a grip, not hard after you get used to gripping. If they decide to use short ranged then they arn't smart because they have as high as delay attacks as we do. Only use projection if you know its going to hit, staff strike(1x) is usually enough to see if they glitch off the hit.

A high-leveled archer is devastating- with ranged damage maxed out and an experienced hand, they can snipe you from in the air or predict your movements. Use obstacles to hide you from the skilled archers.


 * Side note*: Inexperienced archers will try to keep shooting you even if you approach. Grip attacks will instantly decimate archers, so watch for noobs to prey on. Don't be afraid to use guard, unless there are multiple archers. Remember: You flinch when you are hit, and fast archers can permanently lock you down.

Against Warrior -This is annoying. They usually spam 1x hits and walk around you if you block. The key to killing them is patience. After you block a hit, they'll go for an opening, use that time to dance with them and *try* to land a few hits (1x). Gripping this character will be a bit harder than the rest but no different.

Against Ninja -Ninjas have horrible defense, thus making them easy targets. However, their speed and uber-broken dartknife attack makes them your worst nightmare for golem games. Time your attacks to take advantage of their delay while they use their throw, and try not to spam out your most powerful attacks- they will grip you to death.

Against Mage -This is like a dancing monkey fight. Usually thy will run around looking for opening to hit you. Or wait for you to do something stupid and then projection or grip. Since you and theme attack slow, NORMALLY you can land a grip right after they do a 2x hit (2 staff strikes).

Experienced mages are deadly- they will appear to trap themselves in a corner, then bomb you to death. The best way to kill mage with a melee character is to watch when they use their projection- they have a 1.5-2 second cooldown where you can whack them with impunity.

Game Modes
Aside from the Stage gameplay mode, all of the modes use the same collection of arenas. The various modes are:
 * Stage/Quests: Single-player or cooperative missions, all of which involve running from one end of a dungeon to the other, killing all monsters encountered along the way. The amount gold and experience awarded at the end is determined by how quickly the mission is completed.
 * Team Deathmatch: Battle between two equal teams, over a set number of rounds. Each round ends when the time runs out, or when one team reaches a set number of kills. Slain players respawn after 15 seconds. Between rounds, the game will automatically swap skilled and unskilled players between teams to balance the skill level between the teams.
 * Solo Deathmatch: A battle royale between all of the players, over a set number of rounds. Each round ends when the time runs out. As in the Team Deathmatch, slain players respawn after 15 seconds.
 * Golem War: Similar to Team Deathmatch, but each team is assigned a huge, indestructible "Golem" monster. A "Gold Golem" exists at a point between the two teams' golems, and the first player to kill the Gold Golem receives the "Golden Sword". The player with the Golden Sword is the only character who can damage either of the team golems. Unlike the other modes, slain players in Golem War do not respawn until the beginning of the next round. Each round ends when one of the team golems is killed, all of one team's players are killed, or time runs out. As in Team Deathmatch, the game will automatically try to balance the teams between rounds by switching skilled and unskilled players.

Profanity Filter
The in-game chat system automatically replaces most profanity with the word "LOVE", as in "You LOVEing LOVELOVEer!" Unfortunately, the filter isn't limited to whole words, so typing the word "class" (which is used fairly often in Rakion) will appear as "clLOVE". There is a way to bypass this though. If you type in an apostrophe in the middle of a word that is considered profanity, it comes out as normal, since the game does not show the appearance of an apostrophe in the text.

Criticism
Currently, as of a patch intended to remedy lag, instead has a negative effect of characters floating in midair and frequent disconnections on users connected using a LAN or router. This can be remedied by forwarding certain ports.

Also, being a relatively new game, Rakion suffers from an incredible number of hackers. Such hacks include speed hacks, damage hacks, and autogrip hacks.