TenTonHammer.com - Taking Tabula Rasa Gamers to the Next Level!

Be 007 Sort Of...

by: Tony "RadarX" Jones

So you think you have what it takes to be an agent of the AFS? Are you prepared to move with guile and subtlety through the enemy ranks striking at the opportune moment? The Spy is a natural extension of the Ranger and one of the deadliest classes you can choose in Tabula Rasa relying on stealth and assassination. Like the Sniper, you will kill your enemy swiftly and mercilessly very likely before he has even reacted to your presence. Unlike the Sniper, you will not be crouched behind a rock 80 meters away, this will be up close and personal meaning knowledge of your surroundings is pivotal.

How to become a Spy - As we stated above, the Ranger is part of the Tier 3 class selection and requires you to follow the Soldier branch. When you gain enough experience to become level 5 you will receive a mission to find the Soldier and Specialist trainer. Choosing the Soldier branch will allow you to continue along until you receive enough experience for level 15 and will need to see a Commando or Ranger trainer. While Spy trainers can be found at many locations, the most accessible is just outside the Foreas Command Center in Foreas Base. After training as a Spy you will receive the following skills:

• Signature Ability: Cloak Wave
• Ability: Magnesium Flash
• Ability: Traitor
• Ability: Polymorph
• Training: Blade

Abilities:

Cloak Wave - Adds a huge stealth bonus to the user and all nearby allies. It provides a stealth bonus of 50% has a radius of 25m and a total duration of 2 minutes. Requires 100% adrenaline to activate. Requires Logos Vortex, Enhance, Hide and Around.

What this means is your can give your squad a bonus to their stealth of 50%. If you don't know how much that is, feel free to smack yourself. It's what you have possible with pump 5 Stealth Armor and should allow them to move within approximately 35 meters of a target. This can come in handy in many instances but if this bonus stacks that means you would have the potential for 100% stealth. How effective is this? The information we have available says about 20 meters.

You'll need to find the Vortex Logos in Plateau which can be found in a cave at -118.9, 409.2, -346.3 and requires Empower, Only, The, Strong, and Eloh Logos. You'll also need Enhance in the Alia Das Caverns, Attack northeast of Twin Pillars around 39, -328 in the Concordia Wilderness, and Hide which can be found near two other Logos in Torden Incline southeast around 636, -70.

Magnesium Flash - This attack blinds all enemies in a radius around the target location. Blinded enemies are unable to attack beyond a few meters. This ability has a 30 second cooldown. Requires Lightning, Attack, Target, Looking.

This is like you find in other MMO games in regards to a "blind" ability although it's not completely accurate. Your enemies will still be able to hurt you just less. There is also a bug which still makes this fairly ineffective against most enemies. With each level, the radius increases starting at 13m for Pump 1 and going to 25m at Pump 5. You'll also start with a meager 10 second duration and have 30 seconds at Pump 5 and notice your power cost increases. This will be a great damage reducer to use especially in a group environment but it's currently bugged.

You'll locate both Lightning and Looking Logos in the Torden Plains the first being just south of the Mt. Hellas facility and the other just south of Atta Colony. The Attack Logos is located northeast of Twin Pillars around 39, -328 and Target in the Enigma Caves around -903, -655 in the Concordia Wilderness.

Traitor - Use this ability to confuse the target's allies such that they perceive it to be a traitor. Affected enemies will tend to attack the target, often ignoring attacks from their real enemies. Note that officers, mechanized units, and others may be immune or resistant. Requires Enemy, Attack, Friend, and Control.

This particular ability is an extremely unusual form of crowd control that will help the Spy not only move damage away from him, but focus additional attacks on his target. This is a beneficial skill to assist the spy in getting through crowded areas and in a squad situation can divert enemy attention in a pinch. While it does have it limitations with certain types of creatures, it's wide 50 meter range at Pump 5 makes it quite powerful.

You'll need to locate the Enemy Logos which is behind the Imperial Valley CP and Attack northeast of Twin Pillars around 39, -328 in Concordia wilderness. Find the Friend Logos west of Foreas Base across a river around -759, 356 and Control inside Pravus Research Facility.

Polymorph - Assume the shape of an enemy for a time to walk freely in their ranks. You can take the forms of: Thrax Soldier, Thrax Technician, Caretaker, Kael, and Hominis Machina. Requires Logos Self, Transform, Target, Looking.

There is much debate over the actual utility of this ability. Very few would argue at least pump 1 allowing you to move among the Bane for a few minutes without being beaten senseless is always a really good thing. Once everything gets worked out you will inherit the abilities of whatever you morph into. As a Caretaker, you can heal. As a Kael, you are immune to physical. A recent PvP change to this particular skill changed things to when you take damage from another player your Bane form drops meaning you can't just run around as a Kael or Medic like you used to.

Target Logos is in the Enigma Caves around -903, -655 and Self near -440, -108 at Corman Lake in the Concordia Wilderness. Looking is in Torden Plains to the south of Atta Colony, and Transform is in the Northwest Highlands of Concordia Divide around -478, 588.

Blades - Allows the use of Blade weapons. These weapons are amazingly deadly, but suffer the limitation that they can only attack targets in the melee range. Each skill level above Novice grants a 10% damage bonus. At Expert skill gain massive damage bonuses when striking a targets back.

What can you say about Blades? They are hands down one of the most powerful weapon sets in the entire game. Running around like Jedi you can see spies circling around their targets bringing pain and suffering to everything.

What Skills to Keep:

Your mileage may vary but there are a few abilities you might want to keep from your earlier days as a Soldier/Recruit:

Spring - Sprint is an integral skill (especially if you plan of PvPing) because it allows you to move and kill quickly without being knocked down as easily. Incorporate this with Motor Assist Amor.

Firearms - Most agree you should take this to at least Pump 3 as you can't always depend on your sword especially at long range. It never hurts but you will rely mostly on your blades.

Rage - Most agree the breaking point on Rage is Pump 3 providing you a decent bonus to you DPS while reserving skill points for other skills.

Carpet Bombing - Just a useful skill to have along for a mass AE and might just come in handy.

Net Gun - The ability to pin down an enemy is a useful one so drop at least a point into this. It's quite useful for getting around behind something and backstabbing it.

The Stealth Armor Debate

With changes to the armor rating of most armor sets, Stealth armor is not quite as "versatile" as it used to be. While Pump 5 does reduce your visibility in areas with a high density of enemies it makes little sense at this point for a Spy. Considering you are in range to be kicked, stomped, and shot on a regular basis, maxing Reflective armor is a much more viable option for the Spy. It might behoove you to keep a set of Stealth around to sneak with, but for the most part it's going to sit in your bag.

Do you have more questions or see something we missed? Stop by our forums and discuss it or email me!