*---------------------------* Beast Guide Written by Angelo Heartilly Last Updated: 1/25/05 *---------------------------* *============* 1. Intro *============* Only four of the playable X-Men in the game lack guides at the time of my writing this so I decided to pick one last character to write a guide for. I picked Beast for no real reason, he was my favorite character out of the ones left. As before you are expected to understand the basics of the game as I will not cover them. And when I am referring to a general mutant ability I will usually refer to it by it's first level name. And I welcome any and all emails you have about the guide, check the email policy below. *=====================* Table of Contents *=====================* ================= 1. Introduction ================= 1.1 Disclaimer, Copyright Info 1.2 Contacting Me 1.3 Using the Search Function 1.4 Version History ======================= 2. Say Hello to Beast ======================= 2.1 Bio 2.2 Playing as Beast 2.3 Strengths and Weaknesses 2.4 Frequently Asked Questions ====================== 3. Beast's Abilities ====================== 3.1 Pinball/Cannon Ball/Legend Ball 3.2 Propeller Kick/Propeller Lash/Legend Propeller 3.3 Beastial Feats/Beastial Instinct/Beastial Soul 3.4 Orbital Bombardment 3.5 Toughness 3.6 Mutant Mastery 3.7 Acrobatics 3.8 Grappling 3.9 Critical Strike 3.10 Might ======================== 4. Stats and Equipment ======================== 4.1 Stats 4.2 Equipment ======================== 5. Level Up Guidelines ======================== 5.1 Propeller Kickin' Beast ================== 6. Miscellaneous ================== 6.1 Beast's Danger Room disc 6.2 Beast's Comic Book ================= 7. Outroduction ================= 7.1 Credits #------------------------------# 1.1 Disclaimer, Copyright Info #------------------------------# This document is Copyright 2004 Tommy "Angelo Heartilly" Chambers. You are free to use this FAQ in any way as long as you don't make a profit off of it. From this FAQ and on I am not allowing anybody to post my FAQs except for GameFAQs. -End of disclaimer- If you find this FAQ anywhere except for www.gamefaqs.com please email me. #-----------------# 1.2 Contacting Me #-----------------# My email is homicidal_bunny@hotmail.com. If you want to email me about anything that has to do with the guide then go for it. If you want to point out an error, ask a question, give a suggestion, or compliment/bash my guide that is fine. There are just a few rules to follow when emailing me: 1. Be sure to put something about the Beast FAQ in the subject so I don't delete it. Put something like "I have a question" and I will delete it and laugh maniacally at your ignorance. 2. Refer to me as Angelo. Not as some name you made up like "FAQ d00d" and don't call me by my "real" name. 3. No spam or viruses. #-----------------------------# 1.3 Using the Search Function #-----------------------------# Just a tip here but if you are looking for something in any of my guides push Ctrl+F and type what you are searching for and then click "Find Next." This can help you find things faster, as I'm known to put information in the wrong sections. #-------------------# 1.4 Version History #-------------------# 1/25/05 - My desire to do nothing overcame me but I finally got around to fixing a few embarrassing errors. Happy New Years... or something. 12/18/04 - First version. *=========================* 2. Say Hello to Beast *=========================* I don't believe Beast was ever an extremely popular X-Men character and his skills in Legends don't help his popularity any. Guess I better mention this now before we continue any further, Beast sucks. He is widely considered the worst character in the game and many believe he should have been made a NPC so that a different character could have appeared. He can still be played pretty effectively but don't expect him to measure up to a lot of the other characters. He can be recruited and used in all missions after completing the first. NOTE: I've gotten a couple angry e-mails regarding my comment about Beast sucking. Ok, you can use him with no trouble since this is an easy game and I am not discouraging using him. He still cannot compare to any of the other characters though. #--------# 2.1 Bio #--------# Beast's bio taken straight from the game: Beast Real Name: Dr. Henry McCoy A living paradox, Henry McCoy has the body of a huge ape and the mind of a brilliant scientist. Extremely agile and strong, he earned the nickname 'The Beast' as a college football superstar. When contacted by Professor Xavier to join the newly formed X-Men Hank gladly accepted and was given the codename 'Beast' in reference to his old college nickname. Blessed with a staggering intellect, Henry McCoy has a doctorate in genetics and is considered to be a leading expert in mutations and evolutionary biology. He also enjoys working with his hands and maintains all the X-Mansion equipment, including the Danger Room, the X-Jet and the subbasement computer. #--------------------# 2.2 Playing as Beast #--------------------# Beast is a tank that should be up front fighting enemies most of the time. Close distances quickly using Pinball or jump amongst a large group of enemies with his high jump and then use Propeller Kick to weaken them up. Melee wise he isn't too bad. Might and Grappling make him good for fighting enemies hand to hand. Grappling is particularly useful if you put all of your points in it early on (as it doesn't have a level requirement) so that whenever the weaker enemies attack you they instantly die or take major damage. His buff isn't a major help, maxed out it only gives -20 damage and +12 agility which is rather weak compared to the other tank characters who have -80 damage and other effects. He does however get 150% jump, which is kind of useful. It is at least fun, having his buff combined with double jump you can leap pretty much a whole screen's length and in smaller areas you can bounce all over the place. It also makes you leap only a short distance above the ground, which makes Beast somewhat effective at leaping in and dealing painful downward smash attacks (pushing O while in the air) to the enemy. Beast's attacks come out slow but do good damage. As with Nightcrawler you should put a point into Acrobatics early on to unlock a few more abilities. #----------------------------# 2.3 Strengths and Weaknesses #----------------------------# Strengths - Pinball good method of transportation. - Has Might which makes him a good melee fighter. - Buff is kind of fun to screw around with and leap all over the place. - Might allows him to pick up giant objects like cars. BOOYAH! Weaknesses - Propeller Kick is decent, but compared to other area effect type attacks it isn't so great with less range and generally less damage. - Orbital Bombardment either misses too often or it has crappy range. - All attacks are physical which makes it hard for him to take on some enemies. - Ultimately he is just painfully average or weak in every category, not really excelling at anything. #------------------------------# 2.4 Frequently Asked Questions #------------------------------# Q: Where can I find _____? A: Use the find function. If you can't find it here then I probably didn't want to include it and you should check one of the other FAQs. Q: Will increasing Beast's strike make his mutant attacks do more damage? A: Nope, none of the stats effect your mutant powers as far as I know. The only way to increase power of a mutant power is to put more points in it, equip items that add damage, or put points in a different ability that is meant to power up certain mutant powers. Q: Help?!?! You said you get Beast after the first mission but when I started the second mission I couldn't use him! Why did you lie to me?! A: It seems Beast can only be used the second mission if you talk to him during the first trip to the mansion. If you don't talk to him he will just show up in your party after the second mission. Q: How do I get Beast's different costumes????????????????? A: Beat the game and then start a new game. After you have recruited Beast go to an X-Traction point and then Change Team and highlight Beast and press square to change his skins. *========================* 3. Beast's Abilities *========================* Legend (for looking up effects of skills): Lvl - Required level you have to be to learn skill pts - Mentioned when a skill level will require more than one point to learn KB - Knockback PD - Physical damage #-----------------------------------# 3.1 Pinball/Cannon Ball/Legend Ball #-----------------------------------# When you activate this mutant power Beast will quickly roll around on the screen for as long as you hold X down. If he hits a wall or an enemy he will bounce off, dealing some damage. It could be fairly destructive at higher levels except that energy costs become insane (you lose energy for each time Beast rolls, if you have it maxed out it takes 70 energy per roll) and the purpose of the skill is kind of lost since you can't travel any distance at all before you run completely out of energy. Pinball works best with few or no points put into it, so that it can be used to travel quickly or deal quick blows to the enemy or just have fun without costing all of your energy. If you really want to put points into it then getting it just up to Cannon Ball should do. Damage is ok, energy is manageable and you get a little knockback so that you can knock enemies off cliffs. I suggest just leaving the starting point in it though. It is also worth noting occasionally Beast will get caught on something and be unable to move until you stop pushing in X. This can actually turn him into sort of an environmental hazard and any enemies that come near him will be hit repeatedly with pinball attacks until they move away or die. Kind of useful. PinBall 1: 15-18 damage. 10 energy per roll. 2: 25-31 damage. 15 energy per roll. Lvl 3 3: 50-63 damage. 20 energy per roll. Lvl 5 4: 80-100 damage. 25 energy per roll. Lvl 7 5: 100-125 damage. 30 energy per roll. Lvl 9. Cannon Ball 1: 100-125 damage. 190 KB. 40 energy. Lvl 15, 2 pts 2: 125-150 damage. 245 KB. 45 energy. Lvl 17 3: 150-165 damage. 305 KB. 50 energy. Lvl 19 4: 175-215 damage. 370 KB. 55 energy. Lvl 21 5: 200-250 damage. 430 KB. 60 energy. Lvl 23 Legend Ball (hehe...) 1: 300-375 damage. 500 KB. 70 energy. Lvl 30, 2 pts #--------------------------------------------------# 3.2 Propeller Kick/Propeller Lash/Legend Propeller #--------------------------------------------------# This is Beast's main skill he should be using. Not that it is amazingly great but you don't really have much other choice. Propeller Kick is an area effect skill, doing decent damage but having crappy range. Knockback is tacked on at Propeller Lash which makes it slightly better. Meh... not a whole lot to say here, use double jump to jump amongst some enemies and spam this to weaken them up for your teammates. This is definitely the skill to choose over PinBall, they basically have the same damage and knockback but PinBall only hits one enemy while this will hit several and for only a bit more energy. Propeller Kick 1: 15-18 damage. 5 foot range. 25 energy 2: 25-31 damage. 6 foot range. 30 energy. Lvl 7 3: 50-63 damage. 6 foot range. 35 energy. Lvl 9 4: 80-100 damage. 7 foot range. 40 energy. Lvl 11 5: 100-125 damage. 7 foot range. 45 energy. Lvl 13 Propeller Lash 1: 125-150 damage. 8 foot range. 190 KB. 55 energy. Lvl 20, 2 pts 2: 150-165 damage. 9 foot range. 245 KB. 60 energy. Lvl 22 3: 175-215 damage. 9 foot range. 305 KB. 65 energy. Lvl 24 4: 200-250 damage. 10 foot range. 370 KB. 70 energy. Lvl 26 5: 250-310 damage. 10 foot range. 430 KB. 75 energy. Lvl 28 Legend Propeller 1: 300-375 damage. 11 foot range. 620 KB. 85 energy. Lvl 30, 2 pts #--------------------------------------------------# 3.3 Beastial Feats/Beastial Instinct/Beastial Soul #--------------------------------------------------# To be honest this is a rather poor buff. It only blocks 20 damage at max and that is only physical damage, other buffs will block all damage in general. +12 agility is nice though and the increased jump you get with Beastial Soul is about the only reason I suggest putting points in this. Having a super high jump has a few uses and is fun, but if the high jump doesn't excite you there is very little reason to put points here until you have maxed everything else out. Beastial Feats 1: 15 seconds. -5 PD. 60 energy. 2: 16 seconds. -8 PD. 70 energy. Lvl 7 3: 17 seconds. -10 PD. 80 energy. Lvl 9 Beastial Instinct 1: 20 seconds. -10 PD. +2 Agility. 100 energy. Lvl 14, 2 pts 2: 22 seconds. -13 PD. +4 Agility. 110 energy. Lvl 16 3: 24 seconds. -13 PD. +6 Agility. 120 energy. Lvl 18 Beastial Soul 1: 28 seconds. -16 PD. +8 Agility. +75% jump. 140 energy. Lvl 23, 2 pts 2: 32 seconds. -20 PD. +10 Agility. +125% jump. 150 energy. Lvl 25 3: 36 seconds. -20 PD. +12 Agility. +150% jump. 160 energy. Lvl 27 #-----------------------# 3.4 Orbital Bombardment #-----------------------# A crappy Xtreme, don't get it. It is much like most of the other Xtreme powers except it either has a tendency to miss or it has extremely limited range. You are much better off learning a different character's Xtreme as this one sucks. Orbital Bombardment 1: 2 pts to unlock skill. #-------------# 3.5 Toughness #-------------# As a tank health is important to Beast. You should put points into this whenever you have a spare one sitting around. It is also worth noting it doesn't matter when you learn this or Mutant Mastery, the percent bonus applies to health and energy you already have and health and energy you earn. Toughness 1: +10% health. Lvl 10. 2: +15% health. Lvl 12. 3: +20% health. Lvl 14. #------------------# 3.6 Mutant Mastery #------------------# Not extremely important for Beast, don't bother putting points in this until he has gained a good amount of energy so that the bonus is worth it. Mutant Mastery 1: +10% energy. Lvl 10. 2: +15% energy. Lvl 12. 3: +20% health. Lvl 14. #--------------# 3.7 Acrobatics #--------------# Like Nightcrawler you should put a point into this as soon as possible as it unlocks several neat abilities. The agility bonus is nice to but putting more points isn't necessary until you have maxed out more important things. And here is a short description of each of the new abilities Acrobatics gives you. Double Jump - Push jump after jumping into the air, this extend your jump a short ways. Good for accessing platforms and jumping into a mob of enemies. Wall Jump - Jump into a wall and then push jump when you hit it and Beast will kick off of it and jump back the other way. Not too useful. Kick off - Stand facing certain walls and push the throw button. Beast will kick off of the wall and then start rolling away from it in the other direction at a decent speed. If you hit an enemy you do a little damage to them, otherwise you will stop after a short ways. Acrobatics 1: +2 Agility. Unlock Double Jump. 2: +4 Agility. 3: +6 Agility. 4: +8 Agility. 5: +10 Agility. #-------------# 3.8 Grappling #-------------# This is a technique very fitting for a tank like Beast. There is also no level requirements for it so you can max it out right away and Beast will be able to kill everything in his way with little trouble, as everytime he is attacked the enemy will take severe damage. Kind of loses it's effect later in the game but you should max it out as soon as possible. Grappling 1: +2 strike. Reflects 4-5 punch/kick damage. 2: +4 strike. Reflects 9-11 punch/kick damage. 3: +6 strike. Reflects 15-18 punch/kick damage. 4: +8 strike. Reflects 25-31 punch/kick damage. 5: +10 strike. Reflects 50-63 punch/kick damage. #-------------------# 3.9 Critical Strike #-------------------# Beast uses a lot of physical attacks so this is a good skill for him. Still though... I'd rather have pure damage added with Grappling and Might than a 2% increase for a critical attack. I suggest saving this for later. Critical Strike 1: +2% critical. 2: +4% critical. Lvl 7. 3: +6% critical. Lvl 12. 4: +8% critical. Lvl 17. 5: +10% critical. Lvl 22. #----------# 3.10 Might #----------# This is another great skill to put points into when you can. It makes you do more damage to enemies and destroy objects faster and it lets you pick up bigger objects, even cars after enough points have been allocated! This also allows you to do the fastball special attack if Wolverine is in your group. Just walk up to him and press square and you should pick him up and hurl him at the enemy for ok damage. You start with a point in this, and the other two points have no level requirement so get it as soon as possible! Might 1: +5% damage. Heavy Object lifting. +3 destruction 2: +10% damage. Massive Object lifting. +6 destruction 3: +15% damage. Gigantic Object lifting. +8 destruction *==========================* 4. Stats and Equipment *==========================* #---------# 4.1 Stats #---------# Beast can use a little bit of everything I suppose. He needs some strike to mow down enemies, agility and body help build him up as a tank, and focus lets him use Propeller Kick more often. Ranked in order of importance... Strike Agility Focus Body #-------------# 4.2 Equipment #-------------# There are two great backpacks I would suggest for Beast. He could definitely use a Muscle Accelerator since he is kind of on the slow side. If you are using Propeller Kick a lot then you might prefer to power that up with a Power Enhancer of some sort. Any of the belts will work I suppose. Although I'd probably rank them in usefulness the same way as I did stats above. So a Strike Enhancer would do. And as with all X-Men I would just give Beast the best Nanofiber Armor avilable. *==========================* 5. Level Up Guidelines *==========================* I was going to make two seperate ways to level up Beast but when I started in on it I realized that it really isn't worth typing out two different ways to level up since they are nearly exactly the same. In this section I cover how I personally would put stat and skill points at levels 15, 30 and 45. I don't suggest following my example exactly though, if you think a point would be better somewhere else then go for it. #---------------------------# 5.1 Propeller Kickin' Beast #---------------------------# The basic concept here is that you put points into Beast's best skills right away so that he can rock early on. Then just level up Propeller Kick and put points wherever to help you out. | Level 15 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - 17 points - Strike ---------- +7 Agility --------- +3 Body ------------ +3 Focus ----------- +3 PinBall --------- [x][.][.][.][.] Propeller Kick -- [x][x][x][x][x] Toughness ------- [x][.][.] Mutant Mastery -- [x][.][.] Grappling ------- [x][x][x][x][x] Acrobatics ------ [x][.][.][.][.] Critical Strike - [x][.][.][.][.] Might ----------- [x][x][x] | Level 30 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - 35 points - Strike ---------- +14 Agility --------- +7 Body ------------ +5 Focus ----------- +9 PinBall ------------ [x][.][.][.][.] Propeller Kick ----- [x][x][x][x][x] Propeller Lash ---- [x][x][x][x][x] Legend Propeller - [x] Beastial Feats ----- [x][x][x] Beastial Instinct - [x][.][.] Toughness ---------- [x][x][.] Mutant Mastery ----- [x][x][.] Grappling ---------- [x][x][x][x][x] Acrobatics --------- [x][.][.][.][.] Critical Strike ---- [x][x][x][.][.] Might -------------- [x][x][x] | Level 45 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - 53 points - Strike ---------- +20 Agility --------- +13 Body ------------ +6 Focus ----------- +14 PinBall --- [x][.][.][.][.] Propeller Kick ------ [x][x][x][x][x] Propeller Lash ----- [x][x][x][x][x] Legend Propeller -- [x] Beastial Feats ------ [x][x][x] Beastial Instinct -- [x][x][x] Beastial Soul ----- [x][x][x] Orbital Bombardment - [x] Toughness ----------- [x][x][x] Mutant Mastery ------ [x][x][x] Grappling ----------- [x][x][x][x][x] Acrobatics ---------- [x][x][x][x][x] Critical Strike ----- [x][x][x][x][x] Might --------------- [x][x][x] *====================* 6. Miscellaneous *====================* #----------------------------# 6.1 Beast's Danger Room disc #----------------------------# This is the first challenge disc you can get, it is in the second mission. You can find it in the inner grounds (after destroying the first tank) on top of one of the structures. Your objective is just to defeat 20 enemies, which shouldn't be too hard as long as you have a few levels. Having at least one point in Propeller Kick is helpful here as you are going to be getting mobbed by weaker enemies. Either put whatever skill points you have in that and take out attacking enemies that way or put your skill points into Grappling and melee them all to death. If things get too chaotic then retreat using Pinball and then regroup and attack the enemy again. #----------------------# 6.2 Beast's Comic Book #----------------------# Beast's comic is in the Arbiter mission. When you are rescuing crew members as the ship is falling apart you can find this in the Brig area. It will be in a room with one of the crew members you have to rescue. It gives +2 agility and +2 body. *===================* 7. Outroduction *===================* #-----------# 7.1 Credits #-----------# - Activision for making a great game. - Papagamer, used his excellent walkthrough my second time through to get 100% - cablepuff for his great character FAQs and many tips via Instant Messenger. - pgw and everybody else from the X-Men Legends board that shared their knowledge of the game. Thanks y'all!