41 replies to this topic

[Shadohz]

So after having vultured the forum and played my first 100 games, I noticed alot of complaints from players about speedrunning. Well I here to tell you, that pretty much both of you are doing it wrong, speedrunners and looters alike. Why do I say that you ask? Because in most conflicts, both parties usually share some responsibility and blame. I will save this explanation for the end of the guide however.

Disclaimer: The is a general use guide intended with new players in mind. Results can vary with player experience and difficulty levels.

Basic battle tactics:
Your team - 

a. Assess your team situation. You should have a combination of ranged and melee fighters. If your team composes of more than two melee kits, then walk away from the lobby.

 

b. Melee kits are the slowest looters. Melee kits have no business being in the back of the pack. Keep these two things in mind for later.

c. Range kits are the fastest looters. Range kits have the advantage of reach. Also important to keep in mind.

d. Sprint - On console, you click in the left analog stick while moving forward. On PC, it's the... umm... I didn't buy a game copy for PC. I bring this up because alot of players have not figured out that you can sprint. You should be sprinting anytime you're not fighting or looting.

e. Jump - Stop it! Unless you are trying to evade an enemy or jump over an obstacle, stop jumping everywhere. Your character collides with other players and breaks their targeting and sprint.

f. Everything (A)/(X) button - This is an issue with console and not PC (that I'm aware). BW put all the actions on the (A)/(X) button, again. This can be a problem for players since jump, revive and target-mode spells rely on this. This can be especially bad for a mage character who finds himself in a jam trying to revive a team who is too close to him while he/she is trying to get their barriers up. Don't crawl under someone to get a revive. Move away from the combat area that is safe for them to approach or lie still until they can draw aggro away from you.

g. Threat Assessment - Kill fast moving or close targets first, archers and range mooks second, foot soldiers third, and slow targets/bosses last. This is biggest mistake I've seen made by practically everyone, even myself at times. Everyone zones in on the big guy but the team is steadily being picked off by projectiles. The ranged characters should be especially cognizant of taking down archers first since you are more likely to see them than melee players.

h. L2shoutcorrectly - Do not  spam the game with "Thank you" and "Get Over Here". Use shout if you've gone down in a battle. Use shout if too many enemies are on you and you need help. Use shout/Thank you to confirm you've cleared a (treasure) room. Use shout to give players map directions (if they get lost). Do not overuse/spam shout. One reason is because it may distract other players in combat to look away to their map (potentially getting killed). Another reason is because they may start to ignore your shout requests. You could find yourself in a bad situation and really need help but they think you are crying wolf.

 

Battlefield:

This is a dungeon-crawler but think on the level of a SWAT team. Everyone has an assignment. Make sure you are holding up your end.

a. Play 2-2 Zone Offense - Two guys should be in front and two in the rear. That means melee players need to stop lagging behind to loot (you know who you are).

b. Premature Projectile Dysfunction - Range players should wait until the melee character is about to engage a group before he fires. Do NOT draw aggro until they have engaged or about it. You want to take the mooks by surprise.

c. Clear the zone first - Second biggest mistake I've seen make by everyone. Do not rush to open a treasure room door. Clear out al the mooks in the surrounding area first and check your map to make sure noone is drawing aggro.

d. Room breach-  Let the melee character in first in all situations. Range players do NOT stand in front of a doorway or narrow hall to volley shots. Archers have the ability to move and shoot, but mage players are notorious for this.

e. Help A Brother Out - Range players take out the pots from far back. This will save melee characters the trouble of trying to break pots. I believe this was a troll joke by BW. Most often a ranged player will hit a vase incidentally during combat. It's not however a priority target. Melee characters should only stop to grab loot if it is directly in front along his path.

f. Clean-up crew -  After a battle round, melee characters on Team A should be off to the next fight. Team B (which should consist of ranged players) should have one guy grabbing any remaining pots. The other member of Team B is there to help cleanup as well as backup if there is an ambush (invisible mooks who evaded detection).

g. Oh This Looks Interesting - Do not stop in the middle of a fight to go grab loot or run off to spot a treasure room (you know who you are, looters). The battle always comes first, looting second.

h. Ivan Drago - Sometimes NOT reviving a player is for the good of the team, especially for Ram-bro (explained later in the guide). Revive your strongest player first. Pay attention to enemy routines. Rushing in to revive someone can sometimes lead to a "revive cycle" that ultimately ends in your whole team dying. Only one man should try to revive and the others distract the enemies away. Do not stand bunched together. Revive your teammate then move away, giving them room to run if you're both in danger. "If he dies... he dies".

 

i. Are You Afraid of Commitment - If you see a mission objective ("collect the <objective>") has been initiated by you or one of your teammates, then commit to the objective. Leave the treasure room behind for now. If you got it room open then do NOT open the boss chest. Exit immediately and assist your team. Come back for the chest later. The payout for the reward is 9/10 better than what you'll get from the chest. If someone has set off mission objective after you have already opened the chest, then bring the boss to the team while slowing the boss progression to your team. You are stronger as a team than divided up and dead. Do not purposefully trigger a chest boss or objective out of spite.

Treasure Room Raiding:

 

a. Remember The Titans - It does not take all four players to raid a treasure room. There should be at least one man guarding the entrance way to the room to fend off enemies coming your way, if any. This should be preferably a ranged player who has strong bow/powers. Their secondary duty is to lay down cover fire if an enemy is spawn from the main chest (always still guarding the door though). This also has a strategic advantage because sometimes the boss will target the player outside the door. This gives the other 2 or 3 players doing the raid to take him down while he's not focused on his attackers. The other strong player should be the one to open enemy chests (it's an elevated chest on a pedestal).

b. Divide and Conquer - Some treasure rooms have back ways out to the next battle round. Team A should take that route. Team B (which includes the person guarding the treasure entry door) should take the normal route. This allows you to flank the enemies. Wait until the other team is ready to engage before you start the battle.

 

c. Big Bank Takes Little Bank - Grab the main chest first, not last. That means skip breaking the vases and go straight for main chest. This cuts down on the time to clear the loot and lowers your risk of death in case you have a Rambro (explained later). Other players may wander off if they do not notice a "eliminate all enemies" soon after a treasure door is opened. Grab the vase loot on the way out.

d. Not All Money Is Good Money - Opening an enemy chest is NOT always the best idea. This applies mostly to noobie groups and under-equipped players who are playing above their difficulty. If a player has gone down more than once then taking on a treasure room boss may not be in that player's best interest to engage in that fight and risk another death. Look at the big picture. If they have no more Incapacitates left, then Zone 5 is going end badly for you and your team.

e. Get Rekt - Do not be the guy that causes your team to wiped because you got greedy. Do not open a treasure room door in the middle of a fight. Do not open a boss chest in the middle of a fight. Do not draw unnecessary aggo from mooks outside the treasure room. Do not stand in front of the doorway while one of the players is opening the treasure room (enemies may come out and they have no way to back up if you're in the way).

f. Get Over It -  If the only guy on your team who can open a treasure room is too far away and does not/is not coming back to open it, then move forward. Standing at the entrance point and spamming "get over here" is pointless. Move on to the next battle. Finish your game and leave or drop out of the game if you feel like losing your XP. Kicking them out of the game is not a smart move because you're now down a man and have a 30% chance of getting a new player who can actually open the door. If 3 out of the 4 teammates have moved on but you're the only one standing there, then you're putting the team at risk not vice versa. Conversely, speedrunners need to be cognizant of other players doing a last minute treasure raid. Idle up until you see the prompt for the main chest item being attained. Note, this is why you grab the main chest first. It is better to walk away with the prize instead of pocket change. If the players are taking too long to kill or loot then speedrunner leave the match. If you're playing as a unit then there is a lower chance occurrence of goods being overlooked even with the two playstyles on the same board. Looters are about money, runners are about time. There's a happy median there.

 

g . Beware of Ram-Bro (Rambo's knock-off brother from another mother) - 

Spoiler

This guy can be either a speedrunner or a looter but usually are a speedrunner. These are the guys who go rogue literally (most of the time they are an archer or assassin). They are either initiating  combat outside the treasure room, running off in the middle a fight to open a treasure room or chest, starting battles when noone else is ready/aware, starting a fight then running back towards the team when they realize they are in over their heads ( ), or trying to play "team leader" and gets everyone killed because of bad strategy (often times these are the shout spammers). These guys play fast and loose. They are often times NOT the best player in either skill or game knowledge on the board, but are a psuedo-alpha male personality type. They are your best friend in Call of Dooty but your worst enemy in a PvE. Don't get into a shouting match with them over the mic. It's pointless and you ruin the game experience for other players as well.

[/endofguide]

 

Congratulations on making it through the guide. DAMP Reading Achievement Unlocked! If you made it this far and want to continue reading then you do so at your own peril.

There's quite a few things players do not take into account about other player's performance. Constant game disconnect, freezing, and load errors are a major issue right now. Sometimes a player is not speedrunning or "leeching" but simply is having major issues with the game so they would rather play fast and get the game over as soon as possible. Keep this mind as to why you should be using sprint and not lollygag or wander off during the game. They may be just as frustrated as you are. I speak from personal experience of losing several hours worth of XP because of errors and lag. If you join someone's lobby who is speedrunning then you're playing by their rules, not yours. Create your own lobby to set the game pace. If you join a Quick Match then do not speedrun their game unless the team majority (including the host) is fine with it. Contrary to what some say, speedrunning does not impact your reward gain all that much. What you lose in grind play, you gain back in XP and gold for Store chest pulls. I have played both styles and barely noticed a difference. Any of you who have read my equipment document know that I have been tracking game behavior closely. I have great unique equipment/armor and plenty of salvage parts, so speedrunning can't be hurting me as much as some would suggest. It is a quality over quantity argument. I've hosted several speedrun lobbies (when I am in a rush or having serious game issues). I have very little complaints (two). I actually gained 10 new Xbox Live friends because of it. They prefer fast-paced games because I provided them XP, good loot, and almost guaranteed operation completion that they would not get otherwise with other players of their current caliber.  That being said... bring on the hate. 

[KalGerion_Beast]

You forgot to mention boss chests are the ones on a pedestal.

[Shadohz]

You forgot to mention boss chests are the ones on a pedestal.

D*mn are you a power-reader?! I'll add that in.

[Azrus]

See, I'll agree that combat takes priority over looting, but that doesn't mean people should be sprinting after every enemy in sight while ignoring the treasure room behind them.  Once you've engaged, mobs will chase you.  Pop the seal on the treasure room, step inside to pull the mobs to you, and lay waste while they're bottlenecked.  Not only did you create a great choke point, but now you don't have to backtrack through half the zone to get to the treasure room.  This generally works best with the "shortcut" treasure rooms that are guaranteed not to have enemies in them, but even with the mini-boss rooms, you can generally clear the spiders/3 random guys before the group that's chasing you can close.  Just keep in mind, the further you run from that treasure room, the further you have to run back to open it.

 

Too many people get tunnel vision.  They want to top that scoreboard in the end and race after every enemy in sight while ignoring their team.  Kudos to you for clearing that pack solo, but chances are the rest of us have at least one character that could do the same, so we're not terribly impressed.  Stick with the team.

 

Another tip worth adding:  If you initiate the "collect the <blah>" mission, you're committed.  Do not sprint back after that treasure room you missed.  Clear the mobs, collect the random item, and then go back for the treasure.

[Rolenka]

So when I stayed behind looting everything as the Keeper and the other three ran ahead and got all banged up...

[Shadohz]

See, I'll agree that combat takes priority over looting, but that doesn't mean people should be sprinting after every enemy in sight while ignoring the treasure room behind them.  Once you've engaged, mobs will chase you.  Pop the seal on the treasure room, step inside to pull the mobs to you, and lay waste while they're bottlenecked.  Not only did you create a great choke point, but now you don't have to backtrack through half the zone to get to the treasure room.  This generally works best with the "shortcut" treasure rooms that are guaranteed not to have enemies in them, but even with the mini-boss rooms, you can generally clear the spiders/3 random guys before the group that's chasing you can close.  Just keep in mind, the further you run from that treasure room, the further you have to run back to open it.

 

Too many people get tunnel vision.  They want to top that scoreboard in the end and race after every enemy in sight while ignoring their team.  Kudos to you for clearing that pack solo, but chances are the rest of us have at least one character that could do the same, so we're not terribly impressed.  Stick with the team.

 

Another tip worth adding:  If you initiate the "collect the <blah>" mission, you're committed.  Do not sprint back after that treasure room you missed.  Clear the mobs, collect the random item, and then go back for the treasure.

Agreed, but I've seen that strategy fail as well. Quite often in fact when it comes to noobies and PUGS. You can gauge how good or bad your teammates are by end of Zone 1 (or should be at least) as well as how they plan to play throughout the game. Archer/mages sometimes draw unintentional aggro during a treasure raid because they popped off a shot too close to the next mook battle (where the battles are close together). You can end up with a death knight/lich in the room and mooks rushing from the outside. This is why I make the suggestion to have a room guard. I've never had this happen when I do it, but when I turn my back to raid I end up on my back because someone decide to get one off. Most treasure rooms offer no exit so you could end up in a two front battle with you on the losing side. People read the scoreboard? lol I'm too busy commenting or watching YT at the end of the game. I'll add your tip in though. I seem to forgot that even after just leaving a game where that happened. Thanks. 

[Shadohz]

So when I stayed behind looting everything as the Keeper and the other three ran ahead and got all banged up...

Even in a bad Congress/Parliament the majority rules. From your purview your team ran off and got themselves killed. From there's, you left them hanging when they needed your assistance. As I explained at the top of the guide, there is often enough blame and responsibility to both parties in a conflict. Grab what you can and get back in the fight.

[Azrus]

That's true.  My tactics definitely shift depending on the skill level of my team.  I think that's an important element as well.  I'll take more chances in the name of clearing a bit quicker if I know my team's solid enough to handle the extra risk.  That said, I'm also kind of a dick and don't mind leaving a team mate to hang if it means teaching them an important lesson.

 

Also, I forgot to mention earlier, but you were commenting on the "bunny hopping".  I agree, it's freaking obnoxious, but unfortunately it's a really good way of getting around quickly if you're suffering from severe rubberbanding.  I've only ever used it once or twice, and in both cases it was so bad that my sprint speed was lower than walking should have been.  I hate doing it, but sometimes it's a valid method of travel.  Outside of those circumstances, it's obnoxious and people shouldn't do it.

[Sir Jessku]

The gold doesn't seem too important. But on routine & threatening these guidelines are probably less important. But well thought out post for sure.

[KalGerion_Beast]

I would like to also point out, If you go down to the demon commander spiraling uppercut and a melee teammate rushes in (shouldnt, but pugs be pugs) its not a bad idea to crawl to them.  When the demon commander AoE panics, they will just be standing there, unable to move or do anything other than revive you.  Might as well make the most of the opportunity.  

[Vishimtar]

Rambro checking in.

[Catastrophy]

[...]

a. Play 2-2 Zone Offense - Two guys should be in front and two in the rear. That means melee players need to stop lagging behind to loot (you know who you are).

 

[...]

Curse you! I'm role-playing. It wasn't me who put a dwarf up as starting character. The gold is theirs! All of it!

[Shadohz]

I would like to also point out, If you go down to the demon commander spiraling uppercut and a melee teammate rushes in (shouldnt, but pugs be pugs) its not a bad idea to crawl to them.  When the demon commander AoE panics, they will just be standing there, unable to move or do anything other than revive you.  Might as well make the most of the opportunity.  

The Demon Commander is actually programmed to "corpse camp" a person who is incapacitated. If you stay within her green aura, then she won't move while you're incapacitated. You can use this behavior strategically to have a range player knock off a few of her health bars, then have the incapacitated person crawl away from the DC. Once you crawl out of her aura she is primed for her panic attack. They should wait the 2 seconds out after the panic (just outside of range), then attempt the revive or else they'll get the sonicboom uppercut. There are other "corpse campers" in the game as well. Pay attention when you go down. 

[KalGerion_Beast]

Im kinda confused now.

 

I know melee'ing the DC while he is in uppercut/panic state is a bad idea, but pugs are gonna be pugs.  Once DC AoE panics the pug melee people are left standing there helpless, until it wears off or they get blasted by an attack.   They are however able to revive whoever is incapacitated in that state.  

 

Considering the DC is traveling off (luckily usually behind a wall) to somewhere to range attack people, wouldnt it be a good time?  Melee pug cant do anything, DC is going away to range attack.  You definitely have a small timeframe, but assuming you begin the revive almost immediately after panic the downed person should be up before the ranged attack even gets to either person.  Then haul ass away from each other and try to successfully dodge the incoming uppercut.  

 

Or am I missing something?

 

Once again, this is under the idea that some melee unit is going to charge in recklessly into the DC in the wrong form anyway, and get panicked.  

[Beerfish]

The gist of your post seems to be bent totally towards leaving treasure rooms behind and letting the lead melee character run the show.  I want to see some points that say.  "Listen to team mates calling you to a treasure room door and do NOT run forward to the next spawn location. 

 

Also re archers, you simply want them to be ineffective and mop up if you want them to not shoot at all until melee engages.  As an archer I am missing out on 3 or 4 attacks while the melee guy goes in to do his thing and destroys the spawn.  In some cases what you say is valid but a heck of a lot of melee guys don;'t use a taunt anyway it seems.

 

There really is no excuse for any team to not be able to pick up all chests, all loot pots and still make very good time moving as a team.  The theory some have that moving at top speed and ignoring measly pots usually means longer games because spawns take longer t0 be removed and people go down.

[Rolenka]

Even in a bad Congress/Parliament the majority rules. From your purview your team ran off and got themselves killed. From there's, you left them hanging when they needed your assistance. As I explained at the top of the guide, there is often enough blame and responsibility to both parties in a conflict. Grab what you can and get back in the fight.

 

Nah... my belief from playing MMORPGs is if you can't kill it, don't pull it. You can complain to someone that they are taking too long, and sometimes dilly-dallying may even be disrespectful, but the person doing the pulling when the group isn't ready is the only one making that choice and taking that risk.

[Moridan]

Am i a loot ****** if i make sure to loot every vase, even if the alpha nerds rush right by a broken vase and cant waste the the 2 seconds to loot it?

[Stinja]

First post is fine in an ideal situation, but PUGs aren't ideal.

 

I saw this which is another interesting take on how to get all loot quickly: http://www.reddit.co...min_speed_runs/

 

Essentially:

- send a Necro thru the map to aggro everything

- regroup back to party

- nuke enemies

- PAY DAY!

 

However it also requires a bit of team coordination...

[Shadohz]

Curse you! I'm role-playing. It wasn't me who put a dwarf up as starting character. The gold is theirs! All of it!

That makes you sound more like a leprechaun than dwarf.

[Silvershroud]

Nah... my belief from playing MMORPGs is if you can't kill it, don't pull it. You can complain to someone that they are taking too long, and sometimes dilly-dallying may even be disrespectful, but the person doing the pulling when the group isn't ready is the only one making that choice and taking that risk.

I'm with you there.  I usually play as a healer in most games, and I have no problem leaving that idiot DPS guy who started the fight by himself to die.  I will  give him one warning first though, that way both he, and the other players know why I am ignoring the fight, rather than thinking I'm just not paying attention.

 

That said, if the group is clearly wanting to run ahead, I probably won't bother hanging back to bash the pots (unless they are all clearly good players and can handle it without me).  Generally though, I approve of vase-smashing.

[Catastrophy]

That makes you sound more like a leprechaun than dwarf.

The continent has dismissed claims about their existence.

[Shadohz]

The gist of your post seems to be bent totally towards leaving treasure rooms behind and letting the lead melee character run the show.  I want to see some points that say.  "Listen to team mates calling you to a treasure room door and do NOT run forward to the next spawn location. 

 

Also re archers, you simply want them to be ineffective and mop up if you want them to not shoot at all until melee engages.  As an archer I am missing out on 3 or 4 attacks while the melee guy goes in to do his thing and destroys the spawn.  In some cases what you say is valid but a heck of a lot of melee guys don;'t use a taunt anyway it seems.

 

There really is no excuse for any team to not be able to pick up all chests, all loot pots and still make very good time moving as a team.  The theory some have that moving at top speed and ignoring measly pots usually means longer games because spawns take longer t0 be removed and people go down.

Did you pull a TL;DR and skip the comment section? Alot of things you are bringing up are pretty much outlined or already discussed.

Paragraph 1: There's an entire section dedicated to treasure room raiding so your "gist" is inaccurate or a misinterpretation. I also never said melee character(s) run the show or alluded to them being team leaders. I said ranged characters (archers, elementalists, keepers, necromancers, hunters, and arcane warriors) should allow the melee characters to get into position before rushing a spawn. Melee characters also do the most travelling/movement because they don't have the advantage of reach that range players have.

Paragraph 2: Most archer PUGs are ineffective that why I gave tips on when the best time to fire is (for all range players not just archers). Most times that I'm on a melee character I have to take down the ranged enemies myself because the range players are too busy focusing on the big targets. The majority of my deaths I can attribute to ranged attacks. This is especially true in Zone 5. You see it as wasting 3-4 shot opportunities before the melee fighter gets there instead of your melee teammate getting hit 3-4 times by mooks before they even reach the combat area. Innuendo: Stop thinking with your arrow. I rarely have my ranged teammates die because I pay attention to the battlefield (as outlined in "threat assessment"). If the melee player is doing his job he can wreck without using taunt and still keep you safe.

Paragraph 3: This sounds a bit like U.S. Core-Curriculum math question. If you've played enough games then you should already know that most players aren't tactfully scanning for pots. One guy runs around, then another guy is running right behind him doing the same thing. That's wasting time. As I also explained, not every raid is worthwhile. What's the point of one or more of your teammates taking a death over an enemy chest (not a regular chest) when there's an objective just further up the map that payouts twice as much. It's another situation I see alot where my character earns a death because the 3 other guys couldn't handle the boss. By Zone 5 I have no incapacitates left (that if the team didn't wipe before completing the objective). Don't confuse XPRunners for SpeedRunners. A speedrunner should know the map layout pretty well and which chests to raid to maximize time and earnings. It's not a theory when I'm playing with "extreme" looters who bring DOWN my gold/hr AND xp/hr. That's not hyperbole.

[Azrus]

Also re archers, you simply want them to be ineffective and mop up if you want them to not shoot at all until melee engages.  As an archer I am missing out on 3 or 4 attacks while the melee guy goes in to do his thing and destroys the spawn.  In some cases what you say is valid but a heck of a lot of melee guys don;'t use a taunt anyway it seems.

The other thing to consider is that most mobs will target the first guy to engage.  By firing before the melee can engage, you're pulling a lot more aggro than you should.  Quite honestly, that's fine with me.  I don't have a problem with mopping up and reviving the ranged that felt it was absolutely vital get three shots in before I got within melee range.

 

That aside, entirely too many people are caught up in the need to top the scoreboard at the end.  There isn't any real benefit to soloing the spawn.  Stop being so damn stingy.  Let the melee engage, drag mobs through that fire wall/traps.  Whatever, dead is dead.  Does it really matter if you got that fancy kill streak?

[OriginOfWaves]

didn't see this mentioned yet but after the patch there is no difference in appearance between guardian and normal chests.

[Beerfish]

Battlefield:

This is a dungeon-crawler but think on the level of a SWAT team. Everyone has an assignment. Make sure you are holding up your end.

a. Play 2-2 Zone Offense - Two guys should be in front and two in the rear. That means melee players need to stop lagging behind to loot (you know who you are).

 

You should not be blaming the melee guys for lagging on this one but rather blaming the projectile guys for running ahead, especially if the archer refuses to loot.

b. Premature Projectile Dysfunction - Range players should wait until the melee character is about to engage a group before he fires. Do NOT draw aggro until they have engaged or about it. You want to take the mooks by surprise.

 

This one is one of the most common problems there is, I am guilty of not being able to hold off with my archer at times, which is not a good thing.

c. Clear the zone first - Second biggest mistake I've seen make by everyone. Do not rush to open a treasure room door. Clear out al the mooks in the surrounding area first and check your map to make sure noone is drawing aggro.

 

This one is far from clearly defined.  It seems to be common sense but a fair bit of the time, if the group sticks together the treasure rooms can be looted but half the time one person has to run ahead and activate aggro from a spawn.  Most often not the fault of the looter but of the non looter.

e. Help A Brother Out - Range players take out the pots from far back. This will save melee characters the trouble of trying to break pots. I believe this was a troll joke by BW. Most often a ranged player will hit a vase incidentally during combat. It's not however a priority target. Melee characters should only stop to grab loot if it is directly in front along his path.

 

Well my melee guy grabs loot all the time because the rest of the group is totally ignoring it.

f. Clean-up crew -  After a battle round, melee characters on Team A should be off to the next fight. Team B (which should consist of ranged players) should have one guy grabbing any remaining pots. The other member of Team B is there to help cleanup as well as backup if there is an ambush (invisible mooks who evaded detection).

 

Recipe for disaster on the tougher waves, having a group split up.  When this happens in my games by the time my archer or mage gets to the battle one of the melee guys is already dead.  Especially maddening if you are barrier keeper.

h. Ivan Drago - Sometimes NOT reviving a player is for the good of the team, especially for Ram-bro (explained later in the guide). Revive your strongest player first. Pay attention to enemy routines. Rushing in to revive someone can sometimes lead to a "revive cycle" that ultimately ends in your whole team dying. Only one man should try to revive and the others distract the enemies away. Do not stand bunched together. Revive your teammate then move away, giving them room to run if you're both in danger. "If he dies... he dies".

 

Good idea in theory but most often in battle you can't distinguish between who is going to do the revive and who is going to distract.  I do agree about not running in too fast to revive (something I am guilty of at times.)

 

Treasure Room Raiding:

b. Divide and Conquer - Some treasure rooms have back ways out to the next battle round. Team A should take that route. Team B (which includes the person guarding the treasure entry door) should take the normal route. This allows you to flank the enemies. Wait until the other team is ready to engage before you start the battle.

 

In general I have found the 'short cuts' to the next battle from treasure rooms to be recipes for disaster and wipe especially for the archer wave.  It can be used well but only if aggro is activated from the normal route 1st and the someone flanks.  It almost never happens this way.