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6. Watch for lengthy chargeups.

PvE players know that villains and boss characters have “freems” - power tells that tell you when and what type of attack your enemy is about to make. Not so with players, but that’s no excuse. “You’re going to quickly learn that when you see the archery guy strike a pose and hold it for 3 seconds, you need to block - he has a five second chargeup that does a ton of damage,” James noted. “You will see the chargeups.”

7. Boldly fight the hold.

Holds, like any form of immobility, are frustrating. The game counsels you to “Press F to Break Hold” and it turns out to be sage advice, even if that countdown timer bar doesn’t seem to be ticking down faster. “You can hit any key, any of your attacks,” according to Rob. “It’s really misleading, but it is actually working. When you attack the holds, you’re building endurance. So right when you break free, you can lay out a big whammy attack. That would probably be a good strategy for someone with a defensive role: ‘Go ahead and hold me, now I have all my endurance, thank you!’ James added: “By the same token, there are stats that increase the effectiveness of holds. Or increase the effectiveness of holds.”

A long chargeup comes first. The big hurt comes second.

8. Melee DPS - embrace the hold.

Melee DPSers should always keep a hold handy. “A lot of holds are really useful because so many players have melee powers,” James explained, which allow you to close the distance to your enemy despite superspeed, flight, and other travel powers. “The holds may not last for long, but it’s enough for you to get in a good gauntlet chainsaw.”

9. Crowd Control makes a huge difference.. for now

Many MMOs either gimp crowd control abilities for PvP or make them all-powerful. Champions Online leans toward the latter. “Crowd control abilities are 100% useful... to a fault, I think.” But this particular hint might not stand the test of time. From James: “That’s something we’re looking at in our ongoing balance testing. Players complain it’s too effective.” But

From Rob: “We’ve all come from games where the CC war was just insane. You’re a melee DPS and what are you going to do when that other guy has 500 yard roots or mezzes or stuns... But what we can’t have is a PvP mechanic for powers and a PvE mechanic for powers. That’s death to any game. We’re continually looking at it. Right now you have a resistance buff that you get when you get held that reduces the effectiveness of the next hold applied to you. But there are holds that are charge holds and if they charge to the maximum... it’s math.”

10. Don’t forget about deployables

Deployables like gun turrets are a big part of the action in games like Team Fortress 2. Gadgets and sorcery (runes and circles in Champions Online work in much the same way, so don’t forget to deploy (or target!) these damage-dealers to be successful. “We were joking about it, but recently players have started putting together these sigil circles that buff you right over their enemy’s teleport-in locations,” Rob explained.

Thanks again to Cryptic's dynamic duo of PvP design, Rob Overmeyer and James Laird, and look for more great guides here at Champions Online @ Ten Ton Hammer!