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X-Men Legends II - Rise of the Apocalypse
In Depth Character FAQ for Magneto
Playstation II Version
Start Date: 10/19/2005
Copyright 2005 Spencer Bell
Version 1.00
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History:

10/19/05: started FAQ.

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      Index
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1.0 Introduction
1.1 Strengths
1.2 Weaknesses
1.3 Abilities
1.4 Strategies
1.5 Suggestions
1.6 Contact Info
1.7 Thanks, Credits
1.8 Legal Banter



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1.0   INTRODUCTION 
******************************
First of all, I'd like to give a warning. I 
Use an EXTREMELY harsh grading system. If I rate a
character or an ability out of 10, numbers will most 
likely be lower than what you're used to seeing.  I 
rank things based on how they are compared to everything
else in the game, not based on how useful they are as a 
percentage or on their own. I do it this way because I 
believe it helps set priorities. 

For easy access to what you are looking for, hold CTRL
on your keyboard and hit F.  This will bring up the 
"Find Menu." After that, type the corresponding number
from above to get to what section you'd like to view.

I'm writing this guide as a helper to those who are 
looking for a decent Magneto "build." My Magneto was 
level 99 when I started writing this, and I have helped
various people on the boards make him good. In this guide
I will outline things such as his strengths, weaknesses, 
and abilities. Also, if you find any erroneous data,
grammar, or spelling, feel free to contact me.



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1.1  STRENGTHS 
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In most RPG games, characters can usually be divided
into two categories: "Fighter" or "Magician." 
One of Magneto's strengths is even though he is a 
"Magician" character he is still able to fight on the
front lines and survive even better than some of the 
"Fighter" characters.

He possesses a wide variety or attacks doing multiple 
types of damage, effective for fighting enemies on hard
with many kinds of resistances.

If he is built right, he should have the energy to execute
most of his attacks without too much worry.

On his own, he is one of the more damaging characters in
the game.

Good Passive Abilities



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1.2  WEAKNESSES 
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If he is being controlled by the AI, he is somewhat
vulnerable.  While you shouldn't die in this game
anyway, as the difficulty is quite low, you have to
choose whether you want him to help you out offensively
or defend himself while on AI. His best boost - Polarized
Shield can be set to L2. If you do this, he will be well
defended while he's being controlled by the computer. On
the downside, he won't be able to help you as much 
offensively.  Even if you set him to aggressive, he won't 
ALWAYS attack.  Some people have said put him as defensive
or normal and put an attack on L2. Even so, It gets annoying
to have to tap a button if you want him to attack.

While his damage isn't low by any means, it definitely isn't
the best in the game.  The worst part about his damage is 
it can't be boosted like many others can.  Because of this,
his damage can get left in the dust by a well balanced party.

His only party boost is supremacy.  While good early on, 
later in the game it is completely useless. Most "Magician"
characters are good because of their boosts, and he is
seriously lacking in this department.



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1.3  ABILITIES 
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 - I'm not going to bother copying all the 
text from the game underneath each ability.
Simply hit L2 on an ability to get a brief 
description. Also I will not add level
requirements. They are listed in the game 
and are easy to access.
What I will provide, though, is Damage and EP 
cost at the first level, and the max level,
as well as how many skill points it will take
to max. I will also provide a ranking, and
my own, personal description of the ability
below.

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1) LEVITATION - 5/10 
FIRST LEVEL (Counted as Level 1):
11-15 mental damage at lift
9-12 physical damage at impact
12 EP/second

MAX LEVEL (Level 20):
195-217 mental damage at lift
79-89 physical damage at impact
126 EP/second

Notes: I recommend at only getting this to level 8 
max. At this level it costs 53 EP and you can lift
"Massive" Objects with it.  This is more for fun 
than anything though, and you should invest in
other, more useful skills before this one.
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2) MAGNETIC SHELL - 2/10
FIRST LEVEL (Level 1):
30-36 energy damage
3 second hold
22 EP

MAX LEVEL (Level 18):
195-217 damage
7 second hold
126 EP.

Notes: A beam that holds people in place.  Almost
All beam attacks are just flat out bad.  I gave
this a 2 only because there are worse techniques.
Holding people in place gives you no real advantage
to weaker enemies that shouldn't hurt you anyway
and won't work on the tougher ones.
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3) METAL SPIKES - 7/10
FIRST LEVEL (Level 1):
30-36 damage
1 spike
36 EP

MAX LEVEL (Level 16):
121-135 physical damage
5 spikes
142 EP

Notes: This is particularly useful at higher
levels. Each spike does good damage, moreso than
Shrapnel Sentry even.  The only downside is once
a spike hits, it's gone.  5 of these will pretty
much cover the entire area in front of you though,
and as long as there are a group of enemies, this
is bound to hit something.
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4) SHRAPNEL SENTRY - 8/10
FIRST LEVEL: 
2 piles
34-40 damage 
40 EP

MAX LEVEL (Level 16):
6 piles
130-146 damage
156 EP

Notes: This is his most damaging move.  While a 
Metal Spike will do more damage than a pile of 
shrapnel or two, generally when these are thrown
they always find themselves in a large crownd of 
enemies and have a great radius for being so small.
Each pile is capable of hitting multiple targets, 
and it's not uncommon to see enemies get hit 3-4
times per attack.  Even against single enemies and 
bosses this is very useful and lethal move, hitting
multiple times with decent damage.  The biggeset 
downside to this move, however, is that it isn't 
able to be boosted as easily as other damaging
moves.
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5) MAGNETIC GRASP - 5.5/10
FIRST LEVEL:
34-40 damage
60 EP/second

MAX LEVEL (Level 14):
82-93 damage
170 EP/second

Notes: I am fond of this move.  It has a few
specific advantages over other moves than can 
easily be exploited.  The main one being this move
does better with one skill point than many. Most 
"press and hold" moves are the same though there
are exceptions. This move just gives you more of a
"Magneto Feel" than his others. The damage isn't 
too great, but it's a great defensive tool (which
seems to be a theme with him). On top of that it 
is one of his most fun abililties to use. 
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6) MAGNETIC BLAST - 3/5
FIRST LEVEL:
43-50 damage
25% chance to confuse
5 seconds
84 EP

MAX LEVEL (Level 11):
85-96 damage
53% chance to confuse
12 seconds
180 EP

Notes: Enemies fall very quickly in this game,
hence the need for moves that have more a status
ailment theme than a damage theme are somewhat 
useless.  Your goal should be to do high damage, 
quickly, and kill enemies.  Besides completely
failing at this, it also has a terrible attack 
radius. It got a 3 out of a 5 though, because
it can help you out if you get into a bind and
you for some reason like this move.
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7) DEATH TRAP - 1.5/10
FIRST LEVEL:
15% damage mirrored as physical damage.
12 seconds
84 EP

MAX LEVEL (Level 11):
150% damage mirrored as physical damage.
55 seconds
180 EP

Notes: This attack is fairly useless as well. Just
another beam attack with a status ailment attached
to it. For more detail, read the "Magnetic Blast" 
and "Magnetic Shell" descriptions
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8) METALLIC MAYHEM - 1/10
FIRST LEVEL:
85-96 Energy damage

MAX LEVEL (Level 7):
279-309 Energy damage

Notes: Don't bother with Radial Xtreme moves. They
are a waste of your tokens. You can do much better
damage without them, plus you get to keep a token.
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9) METAL MINION - 2/10
FIRST LEVEL:
15 seconds
50% of Magneto's Health
50% of Magneto's Melee damage

MAX LEVEL (Level 5):
45 seconds
100% of Magneto's Heath
125% of Magneto's Melee Damage

Notes: This is pretty bad as well. Magneto isn't a
melee character so this guy doesn't do so well.  
The only reason I gave him a 2 is because I think
he's fun to use once in awhile.  It's more of an
amusement than a practicality.
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10) POLARIZED SHIELD - 9/10
FIRST LEVEL:
25% Chance
13 seconds
48 EP

MAX LEVEL (Level 20):
67% Chance
55 seconds
504 EP

Notes: This is where Magneto really shines.  Set
him up with this thing and have some of his
passives with decent points into them and he's 
almost untouchable. This move at max gives him
the ability to dodge 2/3 of ALL ATTACKS. This 
basically triples the amount of times he can get
hit. More on this in the Notes section.
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11) SUPREMACY - 1/10 OR 6.5/10
FIRST LEVEL:
+1 to all skills 
13 seconds
88 EP

MAX LEVEL (Level 18):
+3 to all skills
55 seconds
504 EP

Notes: This is a fickle skill.  It can be a 
complete waste of time or something you will build
your entire party around.  If you use cyclops and
command (same thing, different name) they stack. At
max with both of them you will have +6 to all
skills which is a nice, nice bonus. If you're going
to use both Magneto and Cyclops anyway, this is
actually a good idea.  Another good thing about 
this skill is that when Magneto is an AI character,
he will keep casting it for no reason. The downfall
is the high EP, but you should always have your 
Magneto with high EP anyway. I am at level 99, and 
I have no use for this skill, as most of mine are 
already maxed from all the free skill points I
have. It's not a bad idea to pick this up early on
although there are so many other good skills it's 
really a coin toss. Another downfall is that it 
takes quite awhile (18 + the mandatory point into
Polarized Shield = 19 skill points!!) to get to +3
to all skills.  
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12) MAGNETIC DEFLECTION - 7.5/10
FIRST LEVEL:
8% Chance to block

MAX LEVEL (Level 15):
50% Chance to block

Notes: Excellent Passive.  Maxed, he dodges half of
all incoming ranged attacks.  Very useful.
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13) INTIMIDATION - 7.5/10
FIRST LEVEL:
+15% Defence
-3% physical damage taken

MAX LEVEL (Level 15):
+127% Defence
-31% physical damage taken

Notes: Excellent Passive. Maxed, Your chance to 
dodge attacks is doubled and if you do get hit, 
it's only 2/3 of what you normally would take
otherwise.
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14) LEADERSHIP - 6.75/10
FIRST LEVEL:
+2% critical chance
+8% combo experience

MAX LEVEL (Level 15):
+9% critical chance
+92 combo experience

Notes: If you need levels, and need them now, this
can help quite a bit.  I didn't find myself needing
this too much though.  Even without the exp bonus 
it still has a nice critical chance bonus so it's
worth the points after other things have been 
maxed imo. the huge disadvantage to this is that 
combo exp ONLY WORKS BETWEEN THE TWO PEOPLE WHO
EXECUTED THE COMBO. Ie if you're playing as Magneto
and throw an enemy into an ally and get "batter up"
the only two people who will get the bonus exp are
Magneto and the ally you hit with the enemy.
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15) FLIGHT - 10/10
FIRST LEVEL:
10 EP/second

MAX LEVEL (Level 5):
3 EP/second

NOTES: Put one point and nothing more. Eventually
you'll be able to fly and it will cost you nothing
even with only one point.  More is just a waste.
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16) MUTANT MASTERY - 10/10
FIRST LEVEL:
+30% EP regeneration

MAX LEVEL(Level 15)
+198% EP regneration

NOTES: Max asap. He will use a lot of EP and the 
faster he regenerates the better. At max this just
about triples your regeneration rate.
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1.4   STRATEGIES 
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In this section, I will give a few different
combinations for how to make a magneto 
"build." First,I will go through and explain
what Stats to use. Then I will list a group
of skills and give them a nickname while 
describing their usefulness together for later
reference. NOTE: You receive no extra bonus/
nothing special happens if you use these
abilities the way I'm telling you to.  I'm just 
grouping them this way for reference, plain and 
simiple.
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As far as Statistics go, it depends on high of a 
level you want to get your Magneto to.  

IF you plan on getting extremely high (75-99) then
don't put all your points into focus.  At level 99
without adding any points to it, Magneto has 151 
Focus points.  In addition, you probably will want
to give him some of the Focus Tech stations.  If 
This is the case, he will need much less than 100
focus before you're wasting points. For your
excess points, I would say go with mainly body. 
Strike is fairly useless for him, and his passives
more than make up for the lack of speed.


If you are just playing to beat the game once, I 
would recommend putting 3 focus/level at least. 
You're only going to make it to level 50. 60 max. 
He needs a lot of Focus so you might as well give
it to him.






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NAME: ULTRA DEFENCE

SKILLS REQUIRED:
Maxed Polarized Shield
Maxed Intimidation
Maxed Magnetic deflection

BENEFITS: If you read what these abilities do above,
it becomes clear Magneto looks more like a "Tank" 
character than he does someone who should fight 
from the back. He should have no problem jumping
right up front and with this and using whatever
you feel like
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Name: CLASSIC MAGNETO

SKILLS REQUIRED:
Maxed Shrapnel Sentry
LEVEL 8 (7 skill points) Levitation
LEVEL 1 Magnetic Grasp
Maxed Mutant Mastery
 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SPOILER IN THE BENEFIT SECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


BENEFITS: This is probably his most fun set up. 
The only reason to get Levitation up that high
is to lift cars in Act IV. Even though is such
a small part of the game, I found it really fun.
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NAME: PARTY SUPPORT 

SKILLS REQUIRED:
Maxed Leadership
Maxed Supremacy

BENEFITS: Higher skills for everyone, higher
criticals for everyone. The extra exp doesn't
hurt either. 
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NAME: POWERHOUSE

SKILLS REQUIRED:
Maxed Shrapnel Sentry
Maxed Metal Spikes

BENEFITS: Two really high damaging moves.
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The Best Magneto build is sujbect to opinion, and
equipment.

My personal recommendation, is to go with Mutant 
mastery and get your one point into flight.  
After that work on his Ultra Defence
skill set.  When your level is high enough, start
working on Shrapnel sentry. Don't do levitation
until later in the game, if you have points to 
spare. Only use Shrapnel sentry to attack.  
You will be using a lot of Energy packs if you
play this way but you'll be doing a lot of
damage too.  Depending on your play style, 
it may be a good idea to put one point into 
Magnetic Grasp.  One point isn't going to hurt
and the fun you get out of it is well worth it.



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1.5   SUGGESTIONS
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This sections will list tips, who I think he pairs 
well with in a party, and any other
miscellaneous information that didn't fit in the 
other categories well.


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Party Suggestion 1)

Other Members: Professor X, Cyclops.

Reasoning: If all three have maxed Leadership you
get a massive experience bonus when executing a 
combo attack.  The only downside is only the two
characters who combo'd together get the bonus exp.
Even so, this can be useful if you want to play as
as a fourth person for leveling purposes as you'll 
get 4x the experience per kill. Even without 
Professor X you'd still get 3x the experience.

Also, If Magneto has Supremacy maxed and Cyclops
has Command maxed, you can get a +6 to skill bonus.
Your whole team could benefit greatly from this 
and could leave the remaining 6 slots of all their 
skills open.  After a few skills, it makes up for
itself even with Magneto.
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Party Suggestion 2)

Other Memebers: Toad, Scarlet Witch, Juggernaut.

Reasoning: 5% EXP adds up overtime, especially 
if you're using leadership.  The 5% exp is just
an added bonus though as this party works extremely
well together. If you're playing as Magneto,
Secretion will allow you do use Shrapnel Sentry
faster, and Probability syphon will allow you to
absorb energy from damage. This party clears things
fast as you all have juggernaut to hide behind.
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Party Suggestion 3)

Other Members: Toad, Jean Grey, Cyclops.

Reasoning: Cyclops for Suggestion 1, and 
Toad/Jean for reason 2 (sub mental vortex for 
probability syphon). The extra 15% Energy is 
an added bonus for the whole team, as well. If you
Find you don't need Mental Vortex (especially with
the extra ep) then sub Jean out for Professor X
(if you have him) for exp or Iceman for damage.
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1.6   CONTACT INFO
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REASONS TO CONTACT ME:

If you see any errors (I'm not perfect, and I didn't 
really check).

You have something you'd like to add/point out.

Since this is my first FAQ, I know it's not perfect 
and it's probably not one of the best looking.  I 
would actually appreciate some constructive criticism.
I will not respond to, nor do I care to get, e-mails
or messages to the effect of "ur faq sux." If you're 
going to criticize, please list actual faults AND ways
they can be improved.  

You want to use this FAQ on your website.

I also don't mind be contacted if you need help with
the game in general, but please keep in mind you can
get help (and probably get it much more quickly as
well) on the gamefaqs message board.  If you ask a 
question that was clearly explain in this guide, or
in another guide (don't ask danger room disc locations)
I will probably just not respond.

If you need to reach me, I am on AIM, Screen name Zibanzo.

My Email address is Zibanzo@yahoo.com



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1.7  Thanks, Credits
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Thanks to Kraftwerk for making the song Popcorn. I would
have never had the energy to make this without listening 
to that for two hours straight.


Thanks to PatrickRThomas for the Supremacy/Command idea.

Also, Thanks to Kaj for all his imput on "ZIBANZO TOPIC"
in the forums.  I not sure, but I may have taken something
from something that he might have said :D.


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1.8  LEGAL BANTER 
******************************
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are
owned by Marvel. 

This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except 
for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web 
site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance 
written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site 
or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, 
and a violation of copyright.

Copyright 2005 Spencer Bell/Zibanzo