Line of Sight – Basics to Game Mechanics

The basics for the beginners, explaining the basics to how certain game systems work, PK’s and ESP’s, and weapons.

Outside of Match Mechanics / Main Menu

Rotations

Rotations consist of two weapons and one character most of the time. These weapons are randomised, as are the character. Weapons in rotation are the full weapons, and will have any mods you have equiped on it previously. You can also equip any mods you want on it, with the standard charge, without buying the gun. The characters will have a special ability that the buyable characters don’t have. Some examples are:

• John Freemont: Faster Reloading
• Yamazaki Noboru: Faster Ability Regen
• Mei Hua: Faster Weapon Switch
• Vincente de Armas: Faster Movement Speed 

Characters will have upgraded armor too, 20 bullet resistance with reduced movement speed.

Occationally there may be more items in the rotation. Upon launch, the game had server issues, so Blackspot made 5 items in the rotation as part of an appology event.

These rotations last a week. They will reset every Monday at UTC 2:00

Attendance Reward

Every day you’ll get a small amount of Gems for logging on. You don’t have to play a match in order to gain it, or even join a server. Every 7 days you’ll get a sizable amount, and every week the amount will increase. Log on every 28 days and you’ll get 248 gems. Unless it’s Febuary, it’s possible to miss a few days and still get the full amount of gems. The calendar does not reset if you miss a day, instead it’ll reset at the start of each new month. You can claim your new daily gem reward after UTC 2:00 If you are still logged on during that time, you’ll need to head back to the main menu and click the calender next to your name.

Gem Subscription

This is something that every new player will have for a week for free. Log on each day and gain 50 gems. You can buy 30 days worth of subscription for 10 USD (I don’t know the costs for other currencies). You’ll gain 50% more gems this way than just buying them outright, but of course there’s a catch. Miss a day and you lose that day’s gems, no refunds. Log in for 30 days, get 1500 gems. Log in for only 29, and you get 1450. Be mindful of this!

First Time Gem Purchases

This confused me the first time I found this. Buying one of these will give you double the usual gem amounts for the amount of money listed than usual, but they only can be used once. You can actually use ALL OF THEM ONCE, so if you want to buy gems, use these first!

Tickets

Currently unobtainable, with no use at the moment.

Even More Outside Match Mechanics

Random Boxes

These are where you can get variant weapons, the yellow ones that show up in the kill feed. In other games, this would be the “Gacha” or “Capsule” section. It’s not guarenteed that you will get what you’re trying to get, but you will get something. If you are lucky enough to get the perm version of the variant gun, you will get a notice shared across the game boasting your gain.

This is also the only place you can get paint at the present time (besides the zombie camo). It’s highly likely that you will gain some GP in the process this way. Click “View Item List” to show everything that is in the random box, which will be possible to grab. Buying the bulk option costs slightly less if you want to buy lots of the same box.

Weekly Leaderboards

Every week there is a ‘contest’ that rewards GP sometime after the week’s over (it sometimes gets delayed. I got mine quite late once). The rewards depend on the percent you are compared to everyone else. Checking the picture should give you an idea of what this means, as I’m showed on it with a very low percentage. There are five categories that you compete in:

• Team Death Match Wins (ESP Only, this is not explained)
• Headshots
• Playtime (Total time the game is up)
• Psionic Kills (PK)
• General Unranked Scores (Matchmaking only, again not explained) 

The timespan of said week is listed over the categories.

Global Leaderboards

This is the big ♥♥♥♥ leaderboard. There is no reward for this board, but it’s permament. There’s tons of sections here, from Map Wins, Mode Wins, Weapon Kills, and PK Kills. It’s ever changing, but the numbers will always rise, so the longer you wait, the harder it’ll be to become the top.

ESPs

ESPs do not harm other players directly and use a lot less AP to use. There’s a larger variety of these than PK’s, and each do very different things.

Resistance

This will prevent any PK’s or ESP’s from harming you for a set amount of time. This is one of the cheapest to use abilities. Very useful when you’re getting satillite spammed in United, as you just walk right through it like nothing even happend. The Shockwave ESP is also nullifed.

Blink

Also one of the cheapest abilities to use, this will teleport you forward several meters. You can use this to close gaps, get away from nades and PK’s, to get closer for a knife or fisting, retreating, or just plain confusion. Keep in mind though, this can be disorentating for the user, so it may take some practice. A trail is also made when you blink, so enemies will know you blinked.

Just a warning, I’ve ran into a case where I blinked into a vehicle and got stuck. Mind where you blink.

Scan

This acts as a weak wallhack to say the least. It shows everyone within a small radius around you behind cover for a short time. Note it does make a loud noise when you activate it, as do most of the ESP’s, so alert enemys will know what you’re up to. It really does have a small radius though, and it doesn’t move with you. Every time you want to check again, you need to recast it. It also costs a lot of AP. The plus to this ESP is that it shows locations to the minimap to your teammates.

Shockwave

Creates a shockwave bursting around you, stumbling anyone around you and pushing projectiles backwards. Anyone caught in the wave will be inmobile for a few seconds (or until they put resistance on, as I learned), allowing you to get a kill. It’s a quick cast, and spammable.

Boost

The favorite of SMG users and knifers for good reason. For several seconds, you sprint much faster. Your feet will glow for the duration of the ESP. It’s super quick to cast too. Boost is stright to the point, so there isn’t much to say.

Jammer

Will jam the minimap and the large map for the other team temporarly, disabling their ability to see where enemies are on the minimap, as well as friendies. It also creates a small buzzing sound for them as well, which may be slightly annoying for the enemy~ It lasts about 10 seconds, and you don’t get notified when it’s over. It’ll have no effect on your team.

Footprints

Simular to Scan, it will spot enemies behind walls. However, the difference is that it tracks their feets only, and only when they move. It also does not show your teammates where they are. The range is much farther though, so it may be perferable if you can stand just seeing glowing feet moving around and not a whole body. The glowing effect is simular to the boost effect.

Decoy

Creates a fake you that walks in a straight line in front of you, complete with a nametag and your currently selected weapon. The decoy does not fire, nor switches weapons. It has a faint purple cloud effect as well, though it usually isn’t that noticable when just glancing. If it runs into a wall, it’ll just stand there. It lasts for several seconds, then slowly fades away. If shot, it makes the same hit sounds, but it doesn’t hurt it. It makes for an excellent distraction.

Medkit

Creates a medkit that can heal you or a teammate for around 30% of your hp. Keep in mind though that it will hurt you to summon it, so keep that in mind first. Enemies will be unable to use it, and the kit will appear grey on their end. Summoning it makes quite a bit of noise, so be sure there isn’t an enemy around you. It lasts for quite some time, and will slowly fade away. Very useful in PvE, and will be nessicary for the later stages.

Psionics

Satellite Strike

Designate a location to summon a bunch of falling satellites to CRUSH. If inside of the ring, it will instant kill. If close to the ring, but not inside it, it’ll deal heavy damage for each strike they’re still nearby for. Doesn’t work indoors for hopefully obvious reasons. This is the only Psionic that can kill you if you are not careful, so flee the area you set before it lands. The screen will shake a lot for quite a distance from it, and the lighting distorts if you’re close to it (don’t have to get hurt from it to happen). It’s also super visually obstructive for enemies, but also allies. This will be the default Psionic, so bear this in mind. It’s also the most expensive one, though the most powerful when used properly.

Pyro

Blasts a wide fire strike in front of you for a short range, killing most in range. A very basic ability, but effective. If aimed right, you can hit many targets at once. It also is the cheapest to use out of all the abilites, tied with Flame Launcher.

Flame Launcher

Also fires flames like Pyro, but does it in a matter like the grenade launcher, launching a fire ball that drops over distance. It keeps the same damage no matter how far it goes, but you can hit people for long distances if aimed carefully. I’ve even aimed it stright up once and lured someone over to me just so they could get smashed by the falling ball of fire (it was the best). Though, like the grenade launcher, you can scrape your target for a very small amount of damage if the aim isn’t right. Like Pyro, this is the cheapest to use.

Ice Buckshot

Readies up a charging ice blast, which the longer it charges, the more damage it does. The charge takes a long time, like a loong time, but it can instantly kill people. The charge also clutters your screen with ice shards and slows you down to a walk, so time the charge right. Not charging the ability at all makes a very weak and narrow attack that will only kill injured enemies. A fully charged buckshot has a very wide radius, and a longer range that one would suspect. Use that to your advantage!

Tornado

Summons a twirling twister forward that splits into three smaller twisters upon hitting a wall. They will never one shot, and sometimes may not even two shot, so it requires map knowlage and aim to kill a full healthed enemy with it. Even if you kill no one with it, odds are that you hit several people and will get assists for it. If you didn’t hit anyone, well you at least caused some chaos and a good distraction/area avoidance. It lasts quite some time actually, but is pretty slow and easy to outrun and dodge. It’s best to use in crowded rooms, or behind enemies.. Keep this in mind though, I’ve noticed that sometimes the tornado slants on slopes. Try to use this only on flat land if possible.

Lightning Field

Possibly the least used ability. It summons a ball of electricity that shocks enemies that come too close to it. It’s highly visible, creates lots of noise, and generates a faint cloud after a few seconds. You can have two set at once, and they last a very long time if not depleted. I’ve killed people long after I forgot about the field being up before. It’s a very weak ability though, needing to three hit full healthed people, sometimes four hitting. It also disapears after a set amount of hits, which I think may be 8. These hits also count for spawn protection, so bear that in mind if you want to spawn kill with it, because you can’t. The field disapears nearly instantly after death, disappointingly. It’s a great way to block off a section temporarly, but hard to get consistant kills with. You can though place one of these over small walls, hitting those on the other side, which in my case usually kills them. This one will take lots of practice getting used to.

Electricution

My ability of choice (obvious when looking at the leadboard~). Causes a bolt of lightning to storm from your hand, arcing to enemies nearby. It never one hit kills anyone, but it will cause a hefty amount of damage to those hit. To those without the anti psionic vest, it deals 80 damage I’ve noted. The big draw to this ability is that you can fire over cover and the arcs will hit everyone behind it. I’ve got a crap ton of multi-kills this way. The main bolt can be cut short by hitting walls or players, so it’s best to shoot over the heads of people all the time. The bolt itself has a moderate range, though the arciness causes the bolt to technically be a little bit longer. Perhaps the best PvE ability too, as it will one hit most zombies in a long area if shot over them.

Gamemodes

Each gamemode (other than PvE and ESL) has three seperate types to them. Psionic, ESP, and Classic. Psionic allows the use of offensive abilities (PK), ESP allows the use of the blue personal abilites, both of which allows combat masteries. Classic disables all abilites and combat masteries and plays like any old FPS.

Team Deathmatch

I shouldn’t have to explain this, but I will to be consistant. This is your everyday team vs. team deathmatch. Each kill gives the team 40 points, and the first to either 3000 to 7000 wins, with the default score being 5000, or until the 20 minute time limit is up.

Free For All

One man (or woman) for himself. Kill everyone to get the point limit. Default is 1080 points, with each kill being 40.

Domination

Capture and hold the control points to earn points for your team to hit the score limit. Kills don’t add to the score, only the points do.

Search and Destroy

Think Counter Strike. Plant or diffuse the bomb on one of the two points. If you die you are out for the round. 12 rounds is the default. Sometime around the half way point (unless one side dominates), the sides will switch.

TSV / Team Survivor

Like Search and Destroy, but without the bomb. On occation there will be a very quick enemy scan that will show surviving enemie outlines for one second.

ESL Search and Destroy

Like I mentioned in the disclaimer, I know nothing about ESL rules. I’ve never played this, and don’t plan to, so someone else needs to fill this in.

Defense Mode

The PvE Zombie Defense. Defend the generator from 10 waves of zombies of various types. Zombie camos are handed out after certain waves.

• Wave 4: Secondary skin (for the current pistol)
• Wave 7: Character skin (for the current armor)
• Wave 10: Primary skin (for the current primary)

Basic Weapon Mechanics

All weapons have 6 stats to them.

• Accuracy – How tight the spread is.
• Firing Rate – How fast it fires.
• Damage – Obvious.
• Mobility – How fast you move with it.
• Stability – Recoil.
• Range – How far does it do max damage.

Weapons can be modded in the tuning menu to slightly adjust the stats. Different guns have different mod slots, but they they can be:

• Muzzle – Effects one or more of: Stability, Firing Rate, Accuracy, Damage. Silencers are also possible. 
• Barrel – Long barrels will increase range and damage at the cost of mobility and firing rate. Short barrels do the opposite. 
• Utilitys – Locations depend on the gun, Includes accuracy increasing lasers, flashlights that can blind, and stability improving grips for the bottom. Snipers can have stability improving bipods. 
• Optics – New sights and scopes that improve accuracy, or switch to two new iron sights. 
• Magazine – Can increase damage, or increase it more for a range and mobility penalty. Shotguns can switch to slugs for high accuracy. 
• Body – So far can only paint these.

Assault Rifles

The balanced guns. While very unstable while fully automatic, they are very accurate when controled. There’s a variety of guns from the fast, smglike FAMAS to the slow, but powerful HK417.

SMGs

Ment for close quarters, these are fast and stable guns for up close. The low damage and range makes it super ineffective at range, but can chew up people in it’s range. It’s still a good idea to burst them so the aim doesn’t spread too much, but they can be bursted at a much faster pace than assault rifles.

Machine Guns

High magazine counts and big and strong are what the MG’s are. They are heavy, but you won’t have to reload them for a while. Currently there’s only three, with the M60 being the slowest, but super powerful one, the M249 being the fastest, and the RPK being the middle man. It’s possible to find a PKM out there too, but I have yet to figure out how some people have it. Trigger control is highly recommended as they are easy to spread wildly.

Snipers

From the powerful bolt actions to the semi autos, these excel at range. All snipers, minus the M14, have an accuracy penalty when moving while scoped. Standing still when shooting is pretty much the only way to shoot accurately. The M14 is the weakest of them all, but is by far the fastest and is immune to this penalty. It also doesn’t come with a scope, unlike the other guns.

Shotguns

Fires 6 pellets in one shot, being best at close range. It’s possible to get one shotted with a well aimed buckshot. There are no fully automatic shotguns yet, but there’s two semi-auto’s. Shotguns can also get slugs, which makes them like a close range dmr.

Pistols

Pistols. 2 semis, 2 autos, and 2 magnums. Nuff’ said.

Melee

The default knife is good. The Downrange axe also has a longer attack range than the other knifes. Fists are also always an option, being much faster than a knife, but tend to be much weaker.

Thrown

Frag, Flash, Smoke (yellow for some reason), and an Psionic inhibitor.

Written by Miyafuji Yoshika.