Anthem

Figured I’d make this topic because I’ve been having a lot of fun with this game during the demo periods. Anthem’s combat feels like an insane mash-up between Mass Effect and an Iron Man movie, with a loot grind that makes you want to just do “one more” mission so that you can get that perfect weapon or ability mod. I’ve been having a blast with the game, so figured I’d make some notes about each javelin and how to play them.

The Ranger:
Basic starting javelin. The Ranger is the simplest of all the suits, and there isn’t too much to delve into here. It’s got decent metrics for survivability, movement, and combo capabilities, so provided you play smart you can handle just about any situation. The Ranger’s combo ability is to do bonus single-target damage, so it’s good for you to focus your detonators on the big priority targets on the field.

The Colossus:
The big boy of the javelin pack, the Colossus is what you want if you like heavy classes. This one is actually a bit trickier to use than is apparent up front, because the Colossus has much more weight to it than the other classes. It cannot dodge, so once you get in the fight you’re often kind of stuck. It also doesn’t have an energy shield, instead having a lot more base health and a giant slab of steel that serves as an actual physical shield that can soak the hits for you. The Colossus combo ability is to generate additional AOE explosions whenever he detonates a target.

The most important thing to remember when playing this class is that the Colossus is not an MMO-style tank. Even with Colossus-specific health mods (which are incredible and which you should definitely be using), you cannot use this suit to just stand in the middle and damage soak. You need to be an active tank, using your larger health pool to run into enemies, kill them and then collect the health orbs they drop for you. Use the shield to close the gap with groups of enemies and to block higher tier attacks from turrets or elite enemies.

The Storm:
The space mage of Anthem. Because ability cooldowns in this game are very short, the Storm is extremely potent in just about any encounter. Big things with this class are to make sure you’re priming for your team and that you are hovering. The Storm is called the glass cannon of the bunch, but it gets a massive buff to its shield whenever you are hovering, and it can hover for forever and a day. Use its hover to get a high vantage point on the battlefield, and then use your abilities to manage the fight appropriately. I think this is the class that can most easily direct the flow of a fight. The Storm’s combo ability is to spread the primed effect (fire, freeze, electric, or acid) to any nearby enemies when it detonates a target.

The Interceptor
This is my favored class. The fastest of the javelins, the Interceptor specializes in dealing with high-priority targets. The suit has a triple jump and a triple dash, and while flying can evade (barrel roll) repeatedly and without any cooldown. So it is very, very good at getting to any point it wants in an engagement, killing whatever it needs to and then getting back out. You’ve got invincibility frames while dashing, and because you can chain the dashes into themselves or jumps it’s possible to cover large distances very quickly without even having to use your jets. The Interceptor’s melee tends to stunlock and can be chained into itself indefinitely, and its combo trait is that its melee will gain the primed effect of whatever it detonates for some period of time.

The biggest thing to note with the Interceptor is that its melee and its combo ability are very, very strong. I’ve watched a lot of Anthem videos with the Interceptor, and it is criminal how poorly people are using its combo trait. If you see a statused enemy - detonate it. The aura you get lasts a long time, and while it’s active you can spread the effect to as many targets as you can melee, and because you’re so fast that’s a lot of enemies. The Interceptor can solo huge groups enemies with the right aura. Also don’t be afraid to pick the biggest, meanest enemy you can find and just stab them to death - if you’ve got an aura equipped there are very few enemies that you can’t easily kill in a one-on-one brawl.

I’ve got more I want to say, but this is post is already too long. Open demo is going on right now if anyone want to try the game out; I highly recommend giving it a shot! :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Ability list for all the javelins, which also lists primers and detonators:

2 Likes

I’ve preordered it. Gonna try the demo sometime today.

Put a few hours into the demo today. Didn’t go scientific about it like you, @STORM179
I also blew my money on making my Ranger pink and with fancy armour plates and what not instead of saving it to buy the other javelins to try them. Oops! From what I played so far I’d fancy a melee mech, I’m guessing that’s the Interceptor?

Going to download the demo now

1 Like

The “coin” they give you in the demo is just for vanity stuff. You unlock the other javelins (though you can only get one other in the open demo) by raising your pilot level, which is the leveling mechanic of Anthem.

And yeah, the Interceptor is the most melee focused of all the classss, though it appears you can spec into it via mods and such with other classes late game.

Definitely going for Storm, assuming I will still like it after playing a few hours…

Download 40% complete…

1 Like

I’m in and doing some wandering around. but now need to head out for groceries.

@STORM179 are you up for some games later?
(I have not tried any social features within the game but maybe I can find you)

1 Like

Yeah, I’m down. When do you want to play?

I will be on now and also later this afternoon. In the afternoon I should be able to play uninterrupted (from 3:30 pm JST/ 2:30pm in Singapore). Shall we catch up then?

I am also hopping on and off this morning but also running errands around the house so I might get a bit distracted.

Its all good. I’ll hop on in the mid-afternoon as well then.

I played the Space Mage :+1:

Trying the new demo soon!

1 Like

I played again today but just not feeling it enough to spend 67$ on the full game so I switched my preorder over to Metro Exodus. Maybe one day when it goes on sale Ill give the full game another go.

No worries man. This is part of why I’ve been telling people to try out the demo this weekend - Anthem is different enough that there are definitely people who won’t like the game or who will like it less. May as well try it out for free and get a feeling for if the game “works” for you.

1 Like

Trying out Collossus next. He needs more love.

I really like the game so far. I am having lots of fun.

Will be back online later tonight after dinner.

GGs @STORM179 had fun. Dinner time :slight_smile:

1 Like

Loving the Collossus but just need to get used to optimal battle range and grenades etc.

Yeah. I think the colossus is actually the toughest one to use tbh.

You’re done for the day?
I am going for a few more rounds now.

I made a mistake of salvaging stuff after a mission instead of just exiting :slight_smile:

I started getting connection errors so hopped off. Can be on later though if you’ll still be around in about 30 minutes or so.