Resistance 2 Co-op Guide

Experience in the game is earned in a few basic ways. Hurting an enemy gives xp based on the damage dealt, plus the player that deals the killing blow gets a bonus of xp listed in red. The xp numbers popping up on the enemy is a good way to judge damage dealt. There are also xp bonuses for each class. The soldier gets bonus xp for damage to the Wraith's shields. The spec-ops gets bonus xp for throwing ammo packs to the tune of 30xp per pack picked up by another player. Medics get the majority of their experience from heals, including healing blue allied soldiers. Healing one heavily injured solder can be worth around 600 xp.

Grey tech is dropped by most elite enemies and found at certain objectives. This is spent for class upgrades, and those upgrades are non-refundable and automatically equipped. A soldier with the gloves and hip-ammo packs will always have both pieces of equipment. Weapon upgrades work the same way, and a Wraith with all four upgrades is quite the fearsome weapon.

Level 1 - Main Weapon and First Berserk

Level 2 - Secondary Weapon A

Level 4 - Second Berserk

Level 6 - Armor - Kinetic Gloves(Weapon Handling Improved)

Level 8 - Primary Weapon Upgrade 1

Level 10 - Secondary Weapon B

Level 12 - Third Berserk and Alternate Grenade

Level 14 - Primary Weapon Upgrade 2

Level 16 - Armor - Assault Pack(Extra Clip) and Ability Upgrade (Wraith 55 Shields, Phoenix Triple Chain, Electrostatic Orb Damage Increase)

Level 18 - Secondary Weapon C

Level 20 - Ability Upgrade (Wraith 75 Shields, Phoenix Quad Chain, Electrostatic Orb Damage Increase)

Level 22 - Primary Weapon Upgrade 3

Level 24 - Armor - Chest Armor(Damage converted to shields/heals/ammo)

Level 26 - Primary Weapon Upgrade 4

Level 28 - Secondary Weapon D

Level 30 - Psychokinetic Helmet(Berserks last longer)

This list is mostly accurate for all three classes.

Primary Weapon should always be upgraded, it's far better than the secondary weapons available. The chest armor for the soldier is a must, spec-ops and medic not so much. Psychokinetic Helmet is only useful for making berserks last longer, and with soldier-backlash this can actually be a bad thing.

Main Weapons:

Wraith: The shield runs down at about one unit per second up and one unit per shot taken. It does not block melee and explosives splashing off walls and other shields can be a hazard. This shield can not be raised or lowered while reloading, and when it runs down it enters a shut-down phase lasting a few seconds. Because of the way it runs down, Bulls-eye fire from grunts is by far the most dangerous whereas Titan fire does little to the shield energy. Before the Timing Motor is acquired, aiming to spin-up the barrels is very useful. Likewise feathering the fire by letting off the trigger for a split second will tighten the grouping back up.

Phoenix: This gun does pathetic damage but it does chain to nearby enemies(2 at the beginning, 4 at higher levels), so it is somewhat effective against groups. It also auto-heals the medic by draining the enemy, so secondary weapons are largely useless except for destroying reactors. The healing blast has a splash effect that goes through walls and floors, though it will splash against the first object it hits. To heal someone on the other side of a crowd, try a jump shot. Likewise for people needing a heal, if the medic doesn't have a shot, it's just not possible. Also the healing works on the blue allies, which is not only a good source of xp, but can be very effective in the long term of that battle.

Marksman: The secondary fire is an electrostatic orb that flies out and zaps enemies which is great for firing from the safety of cover and hurting crowds of weak enemies, particularly swarms of flying drones. Ammo packs restore this at a 1-to-1 ratio, so a common tactic is to fire off several orbs then throw out ammo packs and repeat. These orbs will be destroyed by direct fire, so make sure to fire them overhead of the target. The primary fire is very effective and with full upgrades enemies can be sniped from very long distances. Picking off grunt chimera rapidly is a primary duty of any sniping spec-ops.

Grenades:

Frag(Soldier) : Hedgehog(Medic) : Both grenades are fairly similar except the frag tends to travel further while the hedgehog tends to stick the landing. Both also go off quickly, which is great for some situation but also tends to result in a swift suicide if an object or another player blocks the throw. Both are great against crowds.

Air-fuel(Soldier/Medic): This has a delay and obvious warning signs before going off, making it a less suicidal choice. The downside is that there may not still be live enemies in the blast zone by the time it goes off. On the up side it is a great choice against groups of shield carrying ravagers.

Ammo Pack(Spec-Ops): Gives ammo to the spec-ops automatically, plus provides ammo packs for other players. Try to throw directly at players in need, put it where players will naturally walk over it, or put it all in a convenient pile. Grenade packs tend to pop up at a 1-to-5 frequency.

Proximity Mines(Spec-Ops): Placed on the ground, it is armed once the flashing light changes colors. The explosion is quite large and can result in an easy suicide if an enemy surprises the spec-ops and triggers the mine. Best put to use by spec-ops that know where enemy spawns are so as to ruin enemy rushes.

Secondary Weapons:

Most secondary weapons aren't worth the effort. I'll just touch on the ones worth switching over from the primary weapon.

LAARK-Soldier: The missile is effectively a double power frag grenade that is accurate enough to snipe with. Best used on crowds of course. The secondary is a homing missile swarm that works against lots of small enemies or one big titan, though it is best used in open air conditions.

HE Magnum-Medic: Pretty good for taking out reactors.

Auger-SpecOps: Infinite ammo for this makes it worthwhile for the ability to shoot through obstacles and allies alike. For best results, fire into a crowd of enemies so each shot gets multiple hits. The shield is pretty pathetic, so don't depend on it. For a soldier it makes a nice out-of-Wraith-ammo/shields back-up, but otherwise not worth it with limited ammo.

Bellock-SpecOps: Better damage versus crowds, plus the range on it is actually very good. Secondary fire is a waste of effort, just pelt the enemy with ricocheting air-burst grenades. Best place to aim is to have them land just overhead of a crowd of enemies. With a little practice to adjust for the arc, this weapon can fire into a crowd clear across a large area. This beats out the fully upgraded Marksman in enough instances to make it useful.

Berserks: Different berserks charge at different amounts of xp. Some take only 1000 xp while others as much as 3000 xp.

 - Soldier -

Ironheart: Reduces damage taken, particularly good against melee enemies and surrounded situations. With medic back-up this is quite good.

Overload: This is better that fraggicide how?

Backlash: The Wraith shields are refilled and most shot types are reflected back to the enemy. Grunt chimera in particular die quickly. Because the berserk is useless without shield energy the Psychokinetic Helmet is debatable for this berserk. Without the helmet the berserk ends sooner, which means it also refills quicker, and the shield recharge is sometimes the more important part of this berserk.

 - Medic -

Healing Circle: Sets up a glowing circle on the ground that recharges health. This also instantly heals the medic which is a very important note.

Chloroform: While active, any enemy hit by the Phoenix beam will be paralyzed(depends) and take constant damage until long after this berserk wears off. The lingering damage effect on tough enemies can actually recharge the berserk quite a bit.

Phoenix Ash: Auto-life... Just use one of the other two berserks and try not to die. Sounds silly, but the other two are far more effective in the long run.

 - Spec-Ops -

Prototype Ammo: Drops special ammo packs with a special message on the labels. They also refill ammo and grenades and give a +25% damage bonus, and the Spec-Ops gets both effects automatically, making this a useful berserk at all levels.

Invisibility: Invisibility until the meter runs down. Be wary of getting between enemies and allies or having an ally come up from behind. Both are quick ways to die.

Snake-Eyes: One shot with the Pulse Cannon for a smooth 200 xp worth of damage to enemies. Quite a bit like the primary fire of the LAARK except without the scope. Switching weapons with triangle will put this berserk on stand-by.

General gameplay tips:

Players block shots. Crowds of players at a doorway or choke-point is pretty stupid. If say a mass of grays are in a building and the doorway just opened, the most efficient course of action is for everyone to stand back and shoot through the doorway. Anyone going into the room should run in and definitely not stop in the doorway.

Soldiers are basically tasked with putting up a shield and getting shot at. For Spec-Ops, a good rule of resupplying a soldier is to throw an ammo pack at him in between firing off clips of ammo. A raised shield can consume infinite ammo-packs, so throwing the packs several at a time tends to be a waste. Likewise ammo packs will bounce off shields, so hitting them from in front is tricky. Just put the ammo in front of the soldier(so he can see it) or try to land it on top of the shield.

Medics are tasked with healing and chloroforming groups of enemies. Medics that spend too much effort shooting and miss chances to heal are pointless since they do comparatively little damage and get comparatively little xp from kills. Healing gives quite a lot of xp, the main problem is draining enemies to keep health and heal-ammo up, plus staying in position to rapidly heal injured players. A position that keeps the enemy and other players on-screen tends to be ideal. On the offensive front, chloroform at the right time and place can be the difference between surviving or failing a mission as some enemy rushes are just brutal.

Spec-Ops supply ammo and shoot things. Kinda obvious, but spec-ops need to be aware that soldiers can see ammo packs that land out of their line-of-sight. Ammo packs can be lobbed quite far and very accurately, so there isn't much excuse for not tossing the ammo out. Most of a Spec-Ops time is spent sniping enemies however, and this is quite the useful activity for the team as the spec-ops can rapidly remove hybrids from the battlefield and thin out the enemy. There are times however when the spec-ops just need to get behind a soldier's shield and feed them ammo in between firing off clips.

Enemy spawns are triggered events. A rule of thumb is to clear out all of the current enemies before heading to the next way-point or hitting the next switch. Switches in particular tend to activate enemy spawns, some of which can slaughter the unprepared.

The missions are divided into sub-areas of the map, and what happens will vary according to the number of players and whether it is the final mission of the level.

A good example of both points is the Museum mission in the Chicago area. Upon reaching the first checkpoint the door will close and hybrids will rush from another doorway. After going down the new pathway and taking out two groups of hybrids there will be a switch. The next event doesn't trigger until the switch is hit and veterans immediately prepare for the next rush, including having spec-ops mine the two doorways flanking the switch. Once the switch is hit hybrids and steelheads rush out both doors while auger fire from inside the museum pelt the players. Because of the pincer rush and auger fire this is often a point of mission failure due to a Total-Party-Kill. If the graytech is missing from the pedestal in the museum that means this is the last mission of the stage and the doors will close while auger fire comes through the walls. Just have the soldiers easily block the fire and take out the half-dozen or so steelheads when the door opens and the mission is over.