To complete a map on Invasion, you must complete all 50 rounds in one sitting. If the party wipes, you must start at round 1 again. These must be done in PUBLIC matches. A private match will get you Still Alive, but won't count towards Resistance Hero.
Loadouts (Level 50 assumed):
Soldier:
Ammo Pouch
Armorization
Blast Protection
Mega Health
Scout:
Blast Protection
Point Collector
Point Gatherer
Sniper:
Point Collector
Point Gatherer
Quick Prompt (sniper rifle chambering animation is considered a "reload")
Heavy Gunner:
Armorization
Blast Protection
Medi-Pouch I
Medi-Pouch II
Striker:
Armorization
Blast Protection
Medi-Pouch I
Medi-Pouch II
Area 1: Sniper
Area 2: Scout || Sniper
Area 3: Scout || Sniper || Heavy Gunner
Area 4: (Scout + (LE-18 || RAOW-S7) || Heavy Gunner) + 2 Medkits
Areas 5-7: (Heavy Gunner || Striker) + RAOW-SR1 + 3-5 medkits
Areas 8-10: (Heavy Gunner || Striker) + RAOW-SR1 + LE-18 + 5 medkits
I use Soldier as my respawn class in the later rounds. The Soldier's rifle has lower rate of fire and less ammo, but much better accuracy and range. The point-boosting nanos can earn you an extra 1000-2000pts during the match.
In Areas 8-10, everyone should buy the LE-18 pistol in case they run low on ammo or have to carry the shield. Work this out ahead of time, and wait until your teammate has confirmed purchasing the shield before readying up. If you do not have a mic, use the voice response menu (Affirmative/No can do) to confirm you have it.
If you can afford it, bring a couple decoy or chaff grenades with you in the areas 8-10. They're good for distracting Hercs and mobs.
Combat
After spawning, the enemy AI is scripted to climb over the barrier to enter the main area. During this time, they cannot defend themselves. This is the best time to take them out at little-to-no risk to you. Once they hit the ground, they will advance slightly, and begin combat.
Minigun Hercs are the only exception to this; they will begin shooting while climbing over.
If they haven't seen anyone yet, they will start to patrol the level, looking for your team. Their patrol routes are set up so they will comb the entire level; there is no place you can hide indefinitely. Contrary to a lot of other games' AIs, they do not magically know where you are. They will engage you (and alert nearby bots) if:
- They make visual contact with your team
- You damage them with a weapon
- You fire a weapon near them
They are programmed to attack the closest enemy they can see. If the closest enemy is not attacking them, they may divert their attention momentarily to someone farther way attacking them. For this reason, it is important that shield-bearers are at the front of the group. They tend to spray around the shield-bearers, so try to keep some distance from them to avoid being hit by stray fire. They favor engaging the host when you and your partner are close together.
If they lose sight of you for a few seconds, they will engage the nearest visible teammate, or start searching where they last saw you. If they still don't find you, they'll return to their normal patrol. This can be used to lure bots to one position while you or a partner sneaks up behind them. A Rocket Herc may fire where he last saw you, so be sure to get far away from that spot.
All enemy spawns and their locations are tightly scripted. New spawns are usually triggered by destroying bots from another area. Some bots spawn in sequence, replacing the one that was just destroyed. This is often the case with shield bots.
Host vs Client
Invasion works differently for the host and clients
For the host:
- Enemy grenades explode a few seconds after landing
- Creepers explode normally after balling up
- Player is targeted aggressively by bots with very rapid and accurate fire, and thus ideal shield-bearer
- Hits count 100% towards stunning Hercs
For the client:
- Enemy grenades explode immediately on landing
- Creepers will ball up, unfold, then ball up again before exploding
- If Creepers reach the unfold stage, they can no longer be destroyed; they've already blown up on the host's side
- Player is targeted much less often than host if near, sometimes ignored at distance
- Less rapid and slower tracking from bots, enemy melee attacks prone to missing
- Hits count very poorly for stunning Hercs
Shield Bots - Due to a design flaw, the shield bots (green Assault Shooters with shields) never reload, allowing them to fire continuously. Keep this in mind when engaging them.
Nanos
Ammo Pouch - This does not increase the amount of ammo you get for explosive weapons. The extra bullets it gives you is nice, but not really necessary. Also, using it will prevent you from using Blast Protection and Medi-Pouch II together. Since you respawn without a secondary weapon or medkits, I keep it equipped on my respawn class. If you don't have Medi-Pouch II, this makes a good alternative.
Blast Protection - Without it, grenades will instantly down you, and Creepers will instantly kill you. With it, grenades will only knock you over and into the red, and Creepers will only down you. However, even this cannot save you from a direct or near-direct rocket from a Herc.
Bullet Upgrade - This makes the Yamato sniper rifle a one-hit kill for Deadeyes on Area 3, but blocks Point Gatherer. On Area 7, the RAOW-SR1 can still kill Jarheads in three shots instead of the normal four. Not recommended except for the Sniper class in Area 3/4.
Point Gatherer/Point Collector - These bonuses are cumulative; using both gets you +40% points. Regular kills will be worth 33/39/42pts while Hercs will be worth 220/260/280pts. Point Gatherer unlocks at level 50.
Rush Prompt - This makes the Yamato sniper rifle a one-hit kill for Deadeyes and most Assault Shooters on Areas 3-4, but the health penalty makes it very risky. It also blocks Point Gatherer.
Ammo boxes
- You get 4 boxes for Areas 1-2, 8 for Areas 3-5, 12 for Areas 6-7, and 16 for Areas 8-10. Only restock if you're low on ammo in the early rounds.
- Ammo will likely be a problem for Area 2 due to the Simian infestation; use melee whenever possible with them in those rounds.
- The Heavy Gunner's melee is a one-hit kill for Simians in Area 2. The pistol takes one shot+melee to kill them.
Bulletproof Shield
- The shield offers little protection when aiming, so don't aim if you're taking fire.
- It does nothing against explosive weapons.
- It will block melee attacks from the front, even from Hercs. If you manage to sneak up on a Rocket Herc with the shield, he will be unable to fire, allowing your team to take it down with little trouble.
- Enemies at point blank can shoot "through" the shield if their guns are inside the shield when they fire. This is also sometimes the case with Hollow Children and Hercs' melee and ranged attack.
- Pressing Square does a simple thrusting attack, and holding back on the left stick while pressing Square makes you swing out.
- You do approximately double damage with melee when you have a shield.
Friendly fire
- This is disabled for you, but always enabled for the bots.
- It is possible for bots to take each other out with chaff grenades, well-placed decoys, or bots' poorly-thrown grenades or rockets. Rocket Hercs can also take themselves out by firing rockets into a wall.
- You get no points for friendly fire kills.
Purchasable weapons
- The RAOW-SR1 is the best all-purpose secondary weapon in this mode. It's got excellent range, high rate of fire, and plenty of ammo.
- The RAOW-S7 makes a good secondary for the Heavy Gunner if you're spawn camping. A 2-4 round burst from it will kill any normal bot. Very useful on Areas 3 and 4 if using Sniper or Scout.
- Decoy grenades only work if a bot sees it activate. If you throw one out of its field of view while it's focused on you, it will ignore the decoy.
- Chaff grenades make enemies nearby fight each other for a few seconds. If no enemies are in range, they will simply stand idle and ignore you.
- The rocket launchers are NOT refilled by ammo boxes. Once you've used up the MCGM-76 or Ikazuchi-M6, discard it.
- The Orochi-G6 minigun can be useful in Area 8 of Shibuya and Agro-Center, and Areas 9-10 of Underground. Only one person should buy it. If you come across a minigun your partner has dropped while you have one, theirs will be removed to refill your ammo.
- The LE-18 makes a good backup weapon for mid-range fighting. Everyone should have the LE-18 for Areas 8-10, especially if they have shield duty. It's also useful on Area 4 if you're a Scout or Sniper.
- If you're not buying a shield or minigun for Area 10, pick up an MCGM-76 if you can afford it. If you're a Rockefeller by Area 10, you can purchase the Ikazuchi-M6. Their only use in Area 10 is taking out the Gunboxes. Both it and the MCGM-76 are one-hit kills against them, which otherwise take 150-200 bullets to destroy.
- Dropped items disappear after 30 seconds, so be careful not to leave your minigun or shield unattended for too long. If a dead player dropped a different secondary weapon, you can swap it over and over to keep it around until the player respawns and grabs it.
Hercs
- Aim only for the head; anywhere else is a waste of time and ammo.
- If a Herc takes enough hits to the head, it will become stunned for a few seconds. Once it's stunned, switch to your rifles to finish it off.
- If you need to distract a Herc, you can have someone run up to him from his blind spot, then shoot it from point blank, preferably with a shotgun. It will do a long spinning melee attack, which takes about 4 seconds to complete. Roll to the side when the animation starts, then get behind it again. It will continue doing this until it knocks you down or is destroyed. Do not hang out in front of it, as may do a quick thrust and lay you out. It may even decide to fire at point blank.
- Rocket Hercs fire their rockets aimed at the center of your body. If you can face it in the open with no cover behind you, you can fight it directly if your reflexes are quick enough to dodge the rockets.
- Cover does not protect you from the rockets' blast radius.
- Hercs are very resistant to explosive weapons. Grenades and rockets do very little damage to them.
Critical condition
- The bots are programmed to ignore you when you are downed, and will focus on your remaining teammates. They will not react to you shooting them in this state.
- Bots will ignore a player in the middle of reviving a teammate.
- If you are the last player alive on your team, the bots will continue firing on you while you're down.
- At the end of each round, all damage is removed and critical players are revived. If you get downed near the end of a round, try to have your team kill the last enemy before you die to get a free revival. You can last about 10 seconds in critical condition.
Enemies by Area:
Area 1: Assault Shooters and Shield Bots (both green)
- Shield bots are a pain to fight head-on. Work with a teammate to flank them, or try to sneak up on them. If you have to fight head-on, try to fight with them up against cover that blocks their rifle. If positioned correctly, you can hit them with little fear of taking fire.
Area 2: Simians
- Simians are pretty clumsy, and tend to hit each other while hitting you. Melee attacks can take out multiple Simians in one swing.
Area 3: Deadeyes
- These guys have no self-preservation in their AI. When they spawn, they immediately run to their assigned spots and stay there. Their aim is very slow and they will fire after a few seconds even without a bead on you.
- You will have two Rocket Hercs on Round 15.
Area 4: Creepers
- These are instant death if they go off next to you without the Blast Protection nano. If one explodes, it will take out the Creepers next to them.
- You will have two Rocket Hercs on Round 20.
Area 5: Golems aka "Linebackers"
- Their melee/shotgun combo can be instant death if they catch you off-guard.
- The RAOW-SR1 works best against them, killing them in 3-5 hits. Machine guns are not very effective.
- They make very little sound when moving; don't let them sneak up on you.
Area 6: Jarheads
- The Red Jarheads are very accurate with their pistols.
- Against Melee Jarheads, simply move to the left or right to avoid their attacks.
- Sniper Jarheads can insta-kill you if hit while you're in the orange.
- Shield Jarheads are harmless as long as you fight them at range. Aim for their oversized feet.
- Jarheads are very good at using cover, so try to catch them when they're moving about. If you can rush one in cover, or otherwise make it think it's exposed, it will take a few seconds to get up and either face you or find new cover. They're wide open during this time.
- If you're at short range against a Red or Sniper Jarhead, get right up next to it. They'll do an easily-dodged melee attack, leaving themselves open.
Area 7: Tube Gunners
- Machine guns/pistols and shotguns work best against them. The RAOW-SR1 is not very effective. Try to fight them at range or around cover.
Area 8: Hollow Children
- Machine guns work best against them. The RAOW-SR1 is rather ineffective. Shotguns are not recommended, as their melee attacks are very damaging and can be hard to dodge.
- You will now face two Rocket Hercs and two Minigun Hercs on rounds 40, 45, and 50.
Area 9: Rapid Shooters aka "Red Devils"
- They can move and shoot very quickly. Do not attempt to fight them in the open.
- Shotguns will make quick work of them if you catch them at their spawns.
- Like with Jarheads, getting close to them forces them to stop to do a melee attack.
Area 10: Gunboxes
- Once a player is spotted, they will stand still and attack the closest teammate. Use this to distract them while you fire the 150-200 rounds needed to kill them.
- These are a great target for the MCGM-76 or Ikazuchi-M6; either one will one-shot them.
Shibuya:
This level requires the most planning and coordination to complete. It is best saved for last.
There is a large spawn area in the NW and SW area of the map, and a small spawn in the NE and SE. You should pair off and have each pair watch them from the west side of the map. Enemies will run around the map looking for you. A Heavy Gunner should stand on the middle set of boxes at the north and south ends. Standing here gives you a good view of the area. A Striker can camp the NW or SW spawn.
If Simians or Hollow Children are getting on your case, you can climb up on the boxes to get away from them.
Area 2: Have everyone retreat south to clear out the Assault Shooters before moving up. All Simians will spawn from the NW.
Area 3: Have someone stay as a sniper (or buy a RAOW-SR1) to take out the Deadeyes on the buildings. Deadeyes will spawn on the NE and SW buildings on rounds 13-15.
Area 4: All Creepers come from the SW spawn in Area 4. Two players should be watching that spot at the start of Rounds 17-20 to make sure they don't get loose. Playing Scout and/or using the RAOW-S7 here lets you get a ton of bonus points for taking them out while protecting you in case one sneaks up on you. Alternatively, you can have everyone move to the far north side, and only attack bots that pass the central ammo spawn. This way, the creepers will never get alerted, and will stay in their spawn until you're ready to face them.
Area 5: Most Golems spawn at the small spawns on the east side of the map. Try to catch them there before they get loose.
Area 6: Jarheads are priority targets, in the order of Sniper->Red->Blue->Shield. Take them out before they get a chance to move around.
Area 7: You need to work fast before you get overrun. Work your way towards the south from where you start, and focus first on taking out the Red Jarheads. Watch out for a few coming over the south wall.
Area 8: Stay up on the crates and ignore the Hollow Children. Focus on any Red Jarheads you can see. Two can spawn simultaneously in the NW, so watch for them. The Orochi minigun will tear up the Hollow Children quickly, and works well for camping the NW spawn. A shield actually hurts you here; nearly half the enemies you face will be melee types.
Area 9: This can be done without a shield. Initially, camp in the tower until you've taken out the Rapid Shooters. Once they're down, move to your camping positions. You need to have a Striker at the NW and SW spawns. Have a Heavy Gunner backing each one up from the crates.
Area 10: You definitely need a shield here. Two Sniper Jarheads will spawn on the buildings in each round: one in the SW, one in the NE. This makes camping the NW spawn too dangerous. The shield-bearer and a partner should take refuge in the tower, keeping the attention of enemies from the north. The south team can continue camping its area, but take care not to attract attention from bots on the north side. Take out the SW sniper ASAP at the start of each round. In a pinch, you can move to edge of the map by the subway entrances; the Sniper Jarheads cannot hit you there. Keep in mind that if the Sniper Jarhead hits you while you're in the orange, it's instant death. Make sure you're fully healed before engaging one.
Rocket Hercs are a serious threat to the tower team. When a Rocket Herc spawns in the NW, both teams should focus on taking it out before it reaches the ground. If it does, the tower team should move to the very top of the tower and stay there until the Herc is down. If you're cornered in the tower, you can wait until the Herc is near the burnt-out van outside. Carefully inch over to take potshots at its head while staying on the upper level. There's a bug of sorts with the top floor in that rockets cannot hurt you there if he's that close. In one match, I took over five near-direct hits to the railing in that area, and took no damage. If you've got a decoy grenade, throw it down so that it lands in the Herc's line of sight. If he can't see it, he won't shoot it.
If you have to leave the tower to get ammo during a round, you'll need to be able to roll off the second floor. Hit X just as your feet hit the ground to tuck into a roll. Otherwise, you'll stagger for a couple seconds, and risk getting downed or killed.
Outside Agro-Center:
The Invasion version of this map has the upper NE and SW and lower North and South sections walled off. There are spawns in each compass direction on the upper levels, with Hercs spawning in the North and South. Most Deadeyes spawn in the East and West.
Areas 1-7: Pair off at the North and South spawns. Shield bots come in through here often. Take them out before they land to save yourselves a lot of trouble. Enemies from the East and West spawns will split up after coming over, and will sprint to their next waypoint.
Areas 3-7: Rotate your teams counter-clockwise for the fifth round (S->E, N->W). If a Rocket Herc spawns, it's unlikely you will be able to destroy it before it gets over the barrier. This puts you at a safe distance to engage or avoid it.
Area 4: There is only an initial wave of eight Creepers. The rest of the area is mostly Shield Bots / Deadeyes plus one Minigun Herc on Rounds 17 and 18.
Area 6: I recommend bringing an extra frag grenade for round 29. On round 29, all enemies spawn at the east barrier. Bombard the area with grenades to take out the Jarheads quickly. Try to time your throws so each of your team's grenades hit separately.
Area 8: Everyone should gather at the east spawn, sniping the Rocket Hercs. Do this for rounds 45 and 50 as well.
Area 9: This can be completed without a shield, but you must be careful on how you pick your fights. The host should stay back and let the clients do most of the fighting.
Area 10: You'll need a shield. Everyone should be Heavy Gunners. You should take shelter in the lower outer hallway in the NE side (left of the elephant slides) or the SW side. The shield-bearer should be next to the stairs, but not on them. Your characters are right-handed, and these spots provide better cover. Camping the North or South spawns is too dangerous, as up to eight bots can spawn at once now. Most enemies will come from the upper levels, with the odd bot coming from the left as it patrols the level. On round 50, try to hold the eastern spawn initially, doing as much damage as you can do the Rocket Hercs as they come over the south wall. If you can take both out, you can camp the lower hallway as long as necessary.
Underground Garage:
There are four main spawns here, along with two small spawns on the upper level that are occasionally used by Assault Shooters and Simians.
For rounds 1-4 of Areas 1-3, you'll each take a spawn. On round 5, meet up and camp the north spawns in each of the vertical hallways. Starting from Area 4, start at these vertical hallway spawns until the initial wave of enemies are taken out. In Areas 5-8, try to have a Heavy Gunner and a Striker for each one. The group on the Eastern vertical hallway will be under a lot of pressure, but it is survivable. If a Herc gets over the wall on either side, move to the adjacent horizontal hallway and fight it from there. In Area 1, the Hercs will arrive via both East spawns. This is the only time one will arrive this way.
Area 4: It may be safer to just flee the area rather than try to stand your ground against the Creepers. Get to a safe distance, then fight your way back in. On round 20, stick together until you've taken out the Hercs.
Area 9: The shield-bearer and two others (one with the minigun, if possible) should camp the ammo spawn. One player should camp the SW spawn. On round 45, two Rocket Hercs will arrive at the ammo spawn, and two Minigun Hercs will come from the east.
Area 10: The shield-bearer/minigun team moves to the spawn at the north end of the eastern vertical hallway. The shield player should get into position behind the outcropping just west of the spawn or against a wall support on the east side. Only melee types will come near you, but the minigun/shield will stop them in their tracks. One player should camp the far NE spawn. On round 50, two Rocket Hercs will spawn at the shield/minigun team's location. Near the end of each round, give the minigun user time to to back to the ammo cache, reload, and get halfway back to the spawn before finishing the last bot.
If you're covering a spawn and get overwhelmed, your best bet is to stay behind cover near the barrier. The enemy AI wants to keep some distance between you and it, so only melee types (Golem, Blue Jarhead, Hollow Child, Simian) will follow you back there. They will start chucking grenades after a while.
The videos below have links to each area and round 50 in the description when viewed directly on Youtube.