X-Men Legends Character Guide: =-=-=-=-= Wolverine =-=-=-=-= by noshorterversion Copyright 2004-2005 Anastasia Ehlers Please only use this guide for your personal (non-monetary!) benefit. Do not reproduce it without my permission. Reach me by email at noshorterversion@hotmail.com, but please, be reasonable about it. I won't open it if I have the least reason not to. Table of Contents I. A Note On Stat/Ability Points II. Levelling Up III. Bio IV. Abilities V. How to Level Up the Abilities VI. Strengths/Weaknesses VII. How to Use Wolverine VIII. Comic Book IX. Danger Room =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- I. A Note On Stat/Ability Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- There are fifteen playable characters in X-Men Legends, the fifteenth is only available during certain missions and does not gain levels or utilize points like the rest. All characters can use the combos described in the Danger Room's "Moves" excersizes. Furthermore, their mutant abilities follow a similar patern, but more on that in a bit. A total of 45 levels can be gained throughout the game. For each level gained, customizable points are awarded. Level 1: no usable points, one (or two, if the character can learn "Might") ability block has already been filled in. Each level that is a multiple of five yields 2 stat points and 2 ability points. Every other level yields 1 stat point and 1 ability point. ===>You can use 54 stat points and 54 ability points to build up your super- ===>hero. Characters have a total of 63-67 ability blocks, meaning you cannot ===>max out your characters abilities. The whole point of this guide is to help you use those 54 points wisely. Only learn the best skills and how to use them efficiently in battle. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- II. Levelling Up =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- It comes as no surprise that you collect Experience Points (XP) to level up. Each level, use your points to enhance your stats and learn new abilities. Adding stats is a no-brainer. You may want to focus on stats inherent to each character (ie focus for Storm and strike for Wolverine). Strike is your strength, agility is your defense, body is your health, and focus is your mutant power. Body is not usually worth putting points into since high agility raises your defense sufficiently enough that high hit points won't matter. For ability points, unlocking a new skill often requires 2 points, indicated by the yellow outline of the block. One tip: you can see what higher levels have to offer by adding points and reading the description at the bottom of the screen. If you don't like what you see, then use the subtract button before you hit accept to exit the screen. All of the abilities are briefly explained when you highlight them, as long as your are able to unlock them. Mutant powers are multi-tiered. For example, there are 5 blocks of Brutal Slash, 5 blocks of Eviscerate, and 1 Legend Slash; all are progressively stronger versions of the same animation. =-=-=-=- III. Bio =-=-=-=- Wolverine has become Marvel's favorite X-man recently through the success of the movies. He is a classic character, gruff and abrupt at first glance, but truly deep-thinking. He was subject to the horrors of Weapon X, a mutant experimentation facility in Canada, where the procedure that plated his bones with adamantium was particularly successful due to his mutant power regeneration (or healing factor). The clincher comes in the comics, when Magneto draws the adamantium off his skeleton and it is revealed that the claws are actually Wolverine's own, not given to him at Weapon X! Real Name: Logan Mutant Powers: Regeneration, heightened senses Level 1 Stats: Strike-4 Agility-5 Body-5 Focus-3 Inherent Stat: Strike Default AI: Aggressive Ability Blocks: 66 Gained: First playable character Use 65% of Wolverine's stat points on strike, 20% on agility, 15% on focus. Wolverine needs no body due to his healing factor. =-=-=-=-=-=-= IV. Abilities =-=-=-=-=-=-= *To the right of each skill name is the level required to unlock blocks. *If only "0" appears, then all blocks are available immediately. Brutal Slash 0, 3, 5, 7, 9 Eviscerate 15, 17, 19, 21, 23 Legend Slash 30 A physical attack, Wolverine performs a powerful 2-handed claw swipe. This attack can hit two or three enemies if they are very close together. Good destruction. Can kill a sentinel in two hits later in the game. Claw Flurry 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 Claw Frenzy 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 Legend Flurry 30 A physical attack, Wolverine rushes forward, swinging the whole time. Each individual claw swipe causes damage for multiple hits. Can hit a few enemies if they are close. A bit hard to control. Number of swipes goes up with blocks filled. Feral Rage 5, 7, 9 Berserker Rage 14, 16, 18 Unstoppable Rage 23, 25, 27 Increases running and attack speed, strike. Most useful in large swarms of enemies when you can attack anywhere and be guaranteed to hit something, a rage will do the trick nicely. Hard to control against bosses like Marrow who moves around a lot, but the attack speed boost could come in handy for Avalanche when you need to get your attacks in quickly between his. The major problem with this skill: it does not affect the rest of your team at higher levels. Bummer. Savage Rampage 15 Wolverine's extreme power. Attacks one enemy for extreme damage. Leaves claw marks on the ground. Blink and you'll miss it. Like the rest of the XTreme powers, save it for boss fights. Especially since he only attacks one. Careful: you cannot choose who he attacks, so don't use it if the boss has minions anywhere. *** SEPH1ROTH5 says that Wolverine can land multiple hits with this move if you mash the punch button (X for ps2). Thanks to him! I have not tried this out myself, but while it certainly helps this skill, it is still fairly random. Worth having, but still not necessary for an effective Wolverine. Healing Factor 2, 7, 12, 17, 22 Higher levels increase speed at which his health restores. Very nice! Who needs health packs when you have a healing factor? Sharpness 3, 8, 13, 18, 20 Increases destruction and eventually adds bleed damage to his attacks. The bleed damage is useful against bosses. Wolvie could use some extra destruction since he has no elemental component to add to his attacks. Toughness 10, 12, 14 Increases HP by a percentage. Mutant Mastery 10, 12, 14 Increases Energy by a percentage. Critical Strike 0, 7, 12, 17, 22 Increases odds of dealing a critical blow by a percentage. This is handy, but not as handy as it is for some of the weaker characters. Criticals do serious extra damage in this game. Expertise 0 Woo-hoo! This skill kicks Brotherhood Butt! Each block is an extra stat point to Wolverine's Strike and Agility. The description may confuse you though. It says, for example, +4 Strike +4 Agility but when you fill in that block and then ckeck the stat screen, they only went up by one. That is because the other three points were added in the previous levels. The fact that you don't need to unlock blocks means you can get all of these right at the beginning! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- V. How to Level Up the Abilities =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Expertise, Healing Factor, and Sharpness are your first priorities. When you have extra points not being used up by these skills, then add to Brutal Slash and Feral Rage until all those blocks are filled. Savage Rampage, Toughness, and Mutant Mastery should be acquired around level 20. Fill all of Toughness and Mutant Mastery. After all that, your remaining 7 points should be divided between Claw Flurry and Critical Strike at your discretion. I like to fill up the first tier of Claw Flurry. If you like Critical Strike and Claw Flurry, sacrifice Toughness since the Healing Factor will make up for his health. Max for sure: Brutal Slash, Healing Factor, Sharpness, and Expertise =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- VI. Strengths and Weaknesses =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- All of Wolverine's attacks are physical in nature, meaning he does measly damage against enemies with physical resistances, which are fairly common. He is unstoppable against others, though. His high body and agility put him on the front lines in battle. Healing Factor is great for when you don't want to waste a health pack. You can just go chill away from the fight for a bit until you have enough health for another assault. His lack of an added element to his attacks make him weak against environmental objects, a deficiency which Sharpness doesn't quite make up for. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= VII. How to Use Wolverine =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Melee High strike, agility, and body make Wolverine a frontline fighter. He excels in the art of the direct assault. Use Rage to close in fast on enemies that shoot. They won't hardly hit you and are defenseless at close range. In large groups use a Slash skill at higher levels for good knockback or Flurry to cut through a line of enemies. Since Wolverine doesn't rely too heavily on energy, send him to destroy the energy-draining generators that are often hard to hit with ranged attacks. All of Wolverine's regular melee combos are effective against regular enemies, his three hit and knockback combos can get you through the game easily. Bosses The focused damage and knockback of Legend Slash is perfect for bosses and sentinels. For slow bosses or ones that don't even budge, use Rage to boost your attack speed and you can pull off even more Slash attacks. His increased running speed is hard to control against the quick ones though. Try going in for an assault, then retreat for a bit to let the healing factor do its thing, repeat. When you move in, press the Call button to make the rest of your team attack and pull off a few combos. Savage Rampage is a good idea for bosses only when it is just the boss on the screen since Wolverine might waste the attack on a less worthy opponent. Support Wolverine has no true support skills, but he is not entirely useless in this category. When playing single player, the AI contolled characters don't take too much damage. Play as Wolverine to utilize his Healing Factor and reduce the number of health packs you use. Puzzles Unfortunately, Wolverine is nearly useless in puzzles. All he can do is destroy things for sabotage objectives, and other X-Men with an elemental addition to their attack can do that better. Danger Room Wolverine is best suited to Assault or Survival courses in the Danger Room. Use him to quickly dispatch enemies during Protect or Defend courses. Best Team I like to team Wolverine up with Emma, Storm, and Cyclops. Emma confuses your assailants, making them docile and harmless while Wolverine takes them out. Storm has her shield skill for defense. Her and Cyclops each have great ranged attacks (though Storm's is more useful if you ask me) and take care of most puzzles. They also add combo damage and experience with their Leadership skill. Replace somebody with Jean or Iceman to build bridges. Equipment Wolverine should use equipment that enhances his strike. Nanofiber is the way to go for armor. You can experiment with his backpack according to the situation, otherwise go for his specialized one. Hammer of Nimrod comes in quite useful. Also try something that gives him extra bleed damage. Note Use any character with might to pick up Wolverine and toss him at an enemy for a flying claw attack! Hee-hee! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- VIII. Comic Book =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- +2 Strike +2 Agility A no-brainer to find. You practically trip over it in the very first mission on your way to save Alison. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= IX. Danger Room =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Challenge Found: Weapon X flashback. At the end, once you get past the nuclear core to go up to the director, go around the director (give him lots of room so you don't end the scenario) into another room that contains the disc. Reccommended level: 15 Reward: Claws of Rage Objectives: Defeat 20 enemies and the director in two minutes. Strategy: Focus on the director first, he goes down without a problem. In fact, if you just dive in to the fight, you may not even notice when you defeat him. Use Feral Rage to boost your speed to quickly take out the 20 soldiers. TA-DA! Nightmare* Found: Sentinel Research Facility. At the end of the Bio Labs Gallery stage in the room where you fight the spider sentinel. On top of a generator- looking thing. Reccommended level: 32 Reward: Shi'ar Mind Gem Objectives: Defeat Ultimate Predator twice in one minute. Strategy: Use Magma form for a boost right in the beginning. Focus on one at a time. There will always be two Predators on the screen at a time (read: when you beat one of them, another one shows up). So if you damage both initially, you'll want to avoid the new one after you beat the first one to save yourself some time. Lava Fissure is useful, but a bit slow. Try a Volcano. The Predators use Savage Rampage against you. It doesn't do terrible damage to you, but can certainly break up your rhythm, leaving you open to other attacks. There are sentries running around, they don't do too much except add to the general chaos that defines the battles of the game. They drop health/energy packs, but don't go after them just for those. If a soldier happens to get in your way, he's dead meat, how lucky for you. Be generous with your health pack use. The two Predators can gang up on you--and it isn't pretty. *You use Magma in this training course, however I have chosen to place this in Wolverine's section since it is his nightmare (Ultimate Predator is the evil version of Wolverine). Updates: 11/11/2004 Finished everything but the Danger Room section and a few levels to unlock ability blocks. Submitted. 11/11/2004 Rejected. 11/13/2004 Changed some formatting. Major overhaul to sections V-VII. Resubmitted. 11/18/2004 Finished the Danger Room section. Minor changes to method of levelling up his stats. 01/05/2005 Added tip from SEPH1ROTH5 about the Xtreme Power. Extended copyright notice into the new year.