DC Universe Online MMO News, Guides, and Features at Ten Ton Hammer

Acrobatics

More Powerful Than a Locomotive...

Picking this powerset gives you much more than just Batman-like agility. It also breakneck running speeds fast enough to propel you over the surface of water, and the ability to crawl along walls like your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!

Wrong franchise, I know, but I'm afraid I can't think of a DC equivalent. So sue me!

Of course, this ability to wall crawl can lead to the same frustrations as Super Speed - your character will occasionally latch onto surfaces you had no intention of interacting with, and controls get even more wonky when you're near a ceiling or hanging feature like an indoor lamp. The best bet is probably to simply turn this power off while indoors because it's best to live without the frustration of sticking to a wall or object while in the middle of a battle.

The running speed of this powerset is not quite as fast as Super Speed on the ground, but it makes up for that with a great deal of vertical freedom. From wall climbing and double-jumping, you'll find this powerset is a great middle ground between lightning-fast ground action of Super Speed and the total aerial freedom of Flight. In fact, find yourself a high enough perch to leap from and hold down your jump button while in the air and you'll find yourself gliding with ease over huge portions of the city, free from the confines of that pesky ol' gravity.

Why didn't I just pick Flight?

While Super Speed and Flight both have abilities that give you an extra speed boost, Acrobatics instead offers you the opportunity to enter what amounts to an "auto-fly" mode which changes your standard glide into a rocket-assisted form of flight with the press of a button. What this means is that, while this powerset begins it's life as the middle-ground in terms of speed, it ends up at the bottom of the pack even if you purchase this enhancement. Furthermore, the height of your rocket-glide is not controlled by the player and instead automatically adjusts itself on the fly using some sort of complicated pathfinding system which makes it a bit unpredictable near bridges or the open-sided parking garages in Gotham City, and utterly useless on interior maps like the Watchtower and Fortress of Doom. Unless you happen to enjoy having your camera crammed into the ceiling.

Whip it good!

What Acrobatics lacks in speed however, it attempts to make up for with fancy gadgets and toys. Included in this powerset are a number of grappling hook abilities that can allow skilled players to swing from buildings with ease and scale buildings with blinding speed. You can also use these same ziplines to grab your opponents and pull them in close, or tie them up and immobilize them.

Just hangin' out.

And let's not forget that this powerset is inspired by heroes like Batman, Robin and Harley Quinn - the most nimble and dangerous hand-to-hand fighters in the DC Universe. It stands to reason that it would include a few maneuvers that assist in kicking some serious tail, and this powerset does not disappoint on that front! With just a few points into the tree you can be flipping across the battlefield and laying a surprise beatdown on unsuspecting foes with ease, and just a bit more investment makes you the slipperiest sucker around with abilities that stun your opponent while sending you soaring backwards to relative freedom. While you've got some distance, why not toss out a salvo of throwing knives?  Don't mind if I do!

To compliment the standard knockback and stun resistances, this powerset also offers a few different sudden escape options that can be used to break out of the enemies' control powers while at the same time retaliating against such attacks. You can't tie down an acrobat!


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