Villain.
Let the word roll off your tongue. Sounds awesome,
doesn’t it? Every hero needs a villain. Where would Superman
be without Lex Luthor…Spiderman without the Green
Goblin…Batman without the Joker? Throughout history to
today, every great hero needs a mighty foe to test their mettle
against, from Arthur and Mordred to Luke versus Darth Vader, villains
are needed. Villains represent all that is wrong, people who use their
power, not for good, but to enslave others and further their own
selfish ends. They are a dark reflection of superheroes, what a hero
could succumb to being if they were not filled with a sense of right
and wrong and a commitment to justice. To prove themselves heroic,
superheroes need titanic foes to test their mettle against. Luckily for
us, Champions Online has provided you, the player, with a way to create
a villain of your very own!



Easily one of the coolest aspects of Champions Online is that you get
to design your own personal arch villain, your nemesis. You get to
design their look, their powers, and what minions they use against you.
Afterwards, you meet your villain for the first time in an instanced
mission, and then they become a thorn in your sides for a long time
until the final showdown. Your nemesis is always lurking in the
background, waiting to pounce upon your unsuspecting hero.



Your nemesis selection begins once your character hits level 25, when
you’ll receive the following email.

Your hero’s
name,



Look, I know you superhero types are really busy and we hate to waste
your time, but I’ve got somethin’ here that could
really use your help.



It’s important you come speak to me as soon as you can, you
can find me in Millennium City just outside the MCPD station behind
City Hall.



-MCPD Captain Martin

Once you receive this email, you travel to the MCPD station and talk to
Captain Martin who’s standing outside. He’ll tell
you that they need your help updating their criminal database. Once you
accept that mission, you’ll step over to their database and
create your nemesis. We’ll now look at the following steps in
your nemesis creation.



Step
1: Choose Theme

This step involves deciding on what powerset your nemesis uses. The
powersets are the same as in character creation (sorcery, munitions,
power armor, etc). You can also choose what color their power effects
have. Now, I have a strong concept for my hero, Crimson Twilight.
I’ve always been a big fan of pulp heroes like the href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow" target="_blank">Shadow,
who uses some minor powers and his twin .45 pistols to dispense
justice. I’ve created a female version of the Shadow called
Crimson Twilight. Now, the pulp heroes originated back in the 1930s
when anything associated with the Orient was new and fascinating.
I’ve decided that my nemesis will be an oriental villain who
has crossed paths with my hero in her past. Looking over the powersets,
I decide on Martial Arts as the nemesis’ theme as that my
nemesis is a leader of a secretive group of assassins.

Step
2: Choose Nemesis Minions

In this step, you choose what type of minions your nemesis uses. There
are 15 types of minions; undead, soldiers, pirates, infernals, aliens,
beastmen, thugs, mafia, robots, cowboys, convicts, demons, insectoids,
lizardmen, and ninjas. From that diverse group, you pick one type of
minion. Whatever minion you choose, there are four versions of them;
melee henchmen, ranged henchmen, melee villain, and ranged villain. As
you’re cycling through the list, you can click on the types
to see what they look like. As my nemesis is the leader of a group of
oriental assassins, I chose Ninjas as his minions. I would have
preferred a more Chinese look to them, but overall they look pretty
cool.



Step
3: Choose Nemesis Minion Power

This step requires you to determine what powerset the minions have. You
have the choice of one of 6 different powers; dark magic, super
strength, powered armor, martial arts, military weapons, and psionic
projection. Naturally, skilled assassins would use Martial Arts, so I
picked that power.



Step
4: Choose Nemesis Gender

This is the easiest step as that you pick male or female. Since my hero
is female, I decided to make the villain a male.





Step
5: Choose Nemesis Personality

Here, you have to choose what personality your nemesis has; maniac,
mastermind, or savage. I decided on Mastermind as that Crimson
Twilight’s nemesis is incredibly smart as well as ruthless.



Step
6: Choose Nemesis Face

Just like in character creation for your own hero, you decide on what
type of face your nemesis has. I chose a wide face for my nemesis as
that it makes him look strong and ruthless.



Step
7: Choose Nemesis Body

Again, following character creation, you choose a body type for your
foe. From the various body types, I decided on the brick body as that
my foe is incredibly strong from his years of constant fighting and
killing.

Step
8: Choose Nemesis Costume

Once again, this is just like character creation. You create the look
of your nemesis and you have access to any costume unlocks
you’ve achieved so far. I decided to make the color scheme of
my villain similar to Crimson Dawn’s, but a little different.
My heroine uses gray and red, so I decided on red and black for her
foe. I gave him a bald head (looks menacing) and an eye patch. I
decided that when Crimson Twilight was traveling in the Far East
learning her powers, she crossed paths with the nemesis. Crimson
Twilight managed to defeat him, but not kill him. However, she did
cause him to lose his left eye due to one of her bullets shattering
next to his face, causing shrapnel to destroy his eye. The villain
looks forward when he can exact retribution for this injury. Overall, I
gave my villain an oriental look with some ninja armor and some small
tweaks to his costume (a high collar and shoulder flares).



Step
9: Choose Nemesis Name

Finally, you get to name your nemesis! In addition, you can write a
back story for the nemesis in this step. At the bottom of the screen,
you’ll see a summary of your nemesis. Mine read Martial
Arts/Mastermind/Martial Arts Ninjas. I chose the name Blood Dragon for
my heroine’s nemesis. One, I think it sounds cool, and, two,
it sounds like a good pulpy oriental assassin name!



Once you finish your nemesis creation, Captain Martin offers you a
mission, Lemurian Antiquities. This mission has your hero attempting to
stop the theft of a powerful Lemurian artifact from the nearby museum.
There’s a pretty cool intro scene that lasts a few minutes
that shows the patrons of the museum gathering followed by the
presentation of the artifact. Then your nemesis makes his appearance by
blowing in one of the museum walls and his minions swarm over the
place, capturing everybody. Your mission is to rescue some museum
patrons and guards, then defeat your nemesis. Once your nemesis is
defeated, he runs away vowing revenge against you in the finest comic
book hyperbole!



So, what happens with your nemesis later on? First, your hero will need
to keep his head on a swivel as that the nemesis’ minions
will periodically attack you, normally while you’re fighting
some other mob. Be sure to check any loot you pick up from the minions
as that they will sometimes drop items that will start a mission. In
addition, you’ll receive missions that involve you in a long
story arc against your hated foe. Some of the missions you’ll
receive will take place in instances while others can be located
anywhere. Not every nemesis mission will be a titanic struggle between
good and evil. Some of the missions will be simple little diversions,
such as beating up on some of his minions, and these missions can take
you to any map.



Having your own nemesis is one of the things that make Champions Online
stand apart from other games. It is inspired. Having a backstory and
concept for your character really helps you in nemesis creation. I
found that it was pretty easy and straightforward since I had a strong
concept in mind. Now, I look forward to Crimson Twilight bringing Blood
Dragon to justice for his crimes!