CTF Play Guide

From DFI Wiki

1 Foreword
- 1.1 Sections To Be Added/Finished
2 Main Concept & Basic Knowledge
3 Offense
4 Defense
5 Arenas
6 Authors

Foreword

This is a guide/tutorial if you will, on most/all aspects of the CTF gaming experience and all that it offers. I hope that you don't look at this guide/tutorial too critically because I(Qwert) aim to improve it constantly, if you like the guide/have ideas for the guide and/or want to change something in the guide, please post them on the forums instead of changing them yourself. All changes by people other than me will be disregarded and re-changed.

PLEASE READ THE WHOLE MAIN CONCEPT SECTION BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE

Sections To Be Added/Finished

Target Closest Friendly (Complete 22/02)
Flag Timer/Refreshing (Complete 22/02)
Poison Weapon Macro (Complete 22/02)
Detect Hidden Macro (Complete 2:36am 23/02)
Removal of Energy Field spell since it does not work in the CTF arena (Complete 22/02)
Remaining Dexer Pictures (Incomplete)
Remaining Flagger Picture (Incomplete)
Tracking Skill Use/Guide (Incomplete)

Main Concept & Basic Knowledge

"CTF" is the abbreviation used for "Capture The Flag". Which is a staff-hosted event. The title of the game is quite self-explanatory, your objective is to gather points by capturing flags. The team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. I can promise you that you will get flags lightly, a lot of blood will be shed in game before you win.

Even though the title may be simple, the game(Opposed to some players opinions) is not. There are a lot of tricks, tactics, macros and team play to be done and considered when playing CTF games on an elite level. I've divided the core elements of the game into four major categories;

Main Concept & Basic Knowledge - Will contain basic knowledge and concept of the event.
Offense - How to construct your offensive characters, macros, tips, tricks, tactics and team play.
Defense - How to construct your defensive characters, macros, tips, tricks, tactics and team play
Arena - Learn about game modes and features and look at pictorial guides of different arenas.
Authors - Take a peak at the great author(s) of this guide.

The author category obviously is not a core element of CTF.

Tip: Most staff-hosted events are held on Sunday. That's why we call it "Super Sunday"!

The Setup Of Defense & Offense Sections

You may notice that both Defense and Offense topics are quite similar/copied, that's because I wanted to make both categories independent. If you plan to join CTF as a defender, you will only need to read the Defense category and vice versa with Offense. It's recommended to read both, but you can skip that which you've already read.

Basic Rulesetting

You are not allowed to enter a CTF with more than 1 character at a time.
Your player may not be of young status to enter a CTF, the valid command to remove it is "I renounce my young player status"
When joining a CTF, at one point you will be asked to bank/drop all your items.
You are not allowed to go inactive at any time during a CTF game. If caught inactive for several minutes, one will be removed to an unfortunate location.
Inside a CTF arena, opposing teams members will turn orange(Enemy).
Inside a CTF arena, members in your team will turn green(Ally).
Inside a CTF arena, one may not cast harmful spells upon teammates.
Inside a CTF arena, one may not cast beneficial spells upon enemies.
Inside a CTF arena, all criminals/murderers will turn innocent as long as one stays within the arena.
Summoning spells are not allowed inside arena.
Polymorph spell is not allowed in arena.
Fire Field spell is not allowed in arena.
When dead, wait a few seconds and you will return to the supply room alive.
One cannot cast walls on ghosts.
Corpses instantly decay.
Scores and flag activity will be announced in game in yellow speech hue in the lower left region of your game window. Only participants are able to see the text.
One captured flag equals 15 points.
A team can hold a flag 179 seconds before it will kill the carrier and return the flag to it's base, to avoid this read "Flag Timer" section.
You cannot pass flags to enemies.
You can only pass to allies within 2 tiles from your location.
Players with a flag on them will be have their robe yellow and their CTF title(Single click a player) will display that they have a flag.(Exception: If a player has 2 flags and passes one of them to a teammate, they will have their robe dyed back to the team color. Their title will still display that they have a flag).
Players who die when carrying a flag will have their flag dropped upon the ground.

View scores by single clicking a scoreboard inside CTF arena.

Flag Timer/Refreshing

From the time a member of your team picks up a flag, it will be on a timer. The timer is set to 179 seconds. When the 179 seconds runs out, the flag carrier will be killed and the flag will be returned to it's original base. The flag timer will not reset by passing the flag to a teammate.

To avoid this, one can simply do something what is usually called "Refreshing" the flag. What you do is you or a member of your team kills himself/herself when carrying the flag, and the flag will drop on the ground like it would with anyone who dies with a flag. By doing this it will allow the flag to be picked up from the ground with a newly reset timer, giving you additional 179 seconds.

Since Dexers usually do not have anything to kill themselves with quickly, mages usually are the ones that refresh a flag by killing themselves when carrying a flag.

Beware!, players know of this tactic. When refreshing a flag, make sure you kill yourself in a location where no enemies are, do this by walling yourself in/revealing making sure no enemies are there hidden.

Joining A CTF

Public CTF events will be announced by the means of global staff messaging, you will be able view them in yellow speech hue in the lower left corner of your game window. Like so:

When you see a message announcing that "The CTF house will soon open" or something similar to it, you will need to make your way to the CTF house. The CTF house is a custom house located in Moonglow, look at the picture below for map:

After you've made your way with your character to the CTF house, wait until Seers/Gamemasters open the CTF house doors. When doors are opened, you will be able to step inside from any direction(Walls will be relocated). Inside the CTF house you will see two moongates. Enter either one of these two moongate. You will be transported to an area called "Get ready to join the CTF.", in here you are supposed to bank/drop everything you are holding. After you have done so you may enter one of the two gates that takes you to the balance room:

The balance room is shaped by the idea of having more balanced CTFs, by dividing templates into four categories/positions it allows the teams more likely to be equal. Those moongates/categories are:

Position/Template	Moongate Picture
Flaggers
Wallers
Middlemen
Dexers

When you have chosen one of these gates that best fit the description of the position you partake as, you will end up in a waiting area. The floor of your waiting room will be the same as the color of the balance moongate you entered. In the picture below you can see that I entered the Wallers moongate, and you may also view the surroundings:

You will be forced to wait here until the hosting staff members let's you enter the next area. The hosting staffer will open the gates one by one, releasing one template/position at a time. By not releasing all gates at the same time, the different templates/position-characters will be evenly scattered throughout the teams. In short - balancing teams! When the staff member opens up the gate you are in, you walk through the opening and make your way to the CTF joining stones. A CTF joining stone could look something like this:

Double click the CTF join stone available you'll receive a window that will confirm your participation. After you've accepted you'll receive another window that will show a list of teams that you may be able to choose from. In public CTFs, to prevent ganging with friends and instead dividing the teams equally, the setting is usually set to random teams. Like so:

When you've clicked the join button, you'll be transported to the gaming area. And with that being said, the joining tutorial is over.

Exiting A CTF

In any given CTF arena, there will be exit teleporters placed at a few varied locations. Usually in the supply rooms and at the arena floor in all flagrooms. An exit teleporter will look something similar to this(Color may vary):

Simply walk upon the exit teleporter to exit the arena. You will receive a message that requires you to confirm your departure, this feature is added to prevent people accidentally walking upon exit teleporters in the middle of the event. Once you've accepted, you will be teleported into a room that holds four moongates:

By entering one of these moongates(You have to remove all items to be able to use the moongates), you will end up in the sealed-off room above. In that room you will be able to use the bank, heal yourself on one of the green heal stones and choose one of the moongates to teleport you into the town/location specified if you singe click them. You are not allowed to go inactive in one of the exit rooms. If you do, you will be removed and placed in, yes the picture says it all, an unfortunate location.

And with that being said, the exiting tutorial of this guide is over.

Renting Or Sponsoring For A Public CTF Game

On Defiance UO:R you have the ability to rent the CTF arena to hold private matches and/or sponsor for a public CTF.

To sponsor for a public CTF you will need to retrieve either a "CTF Ticket" or gather 1,000,000gp. You can acquire the CTF Ticket by collecting 2 gold tokens(=20 silver/200 bronze tokens) that you use at the reward agent at West Britain Bank. Look below for picture of location and menu:

When you've retrieved either of the two, open your paper doll click the help button and select the "General Question about Ultima Online or Defiance" option, you'll receive another window and in that window select the green button and yet another window will appear. In that window, write your business(In this case that you have CTF ticket or 1,000,000gp and you want to host a CTF). Look below for picture of the Help button and first option button:

You are only allowed to sponsor for an Indoor CTF arena game, but you have the ability to choose what game-modes and/or game features you want for the arena. Two teams, four teams, captains. Read more about modes and features at the "Arena" section. When you've sponsored for a CTF, you'll also want people to know it was you who did it. That's why you'll be teleported to the special sponsor seats which has it's own exclusive moongate to the balance room!

<- Blaze seats, baby!

Renting the arena is something you do privately and have to gather all the participants by yourself. You can host a CTF with multiple teams with as many people in each team as you'd like. The fee for renting an arena per team is 1 million for 30 minutes. You can rent the arena for 60 minutes tops per renting. Good idea is to gather a lot of people on each team so they can divide the cost and pay for the renting.

Note: Do not expect staff to always be available to host your events, if you are to rent the arena, please contact in beforehand stating when you'd like to host your rented CTF to make sure staff can assist you and that you don't gather your participants for nothing. And you cannot rent the arena on Sundays.

Capture The Flag League

The great staff of Defiance has created a league based on the game of CTF. Various systems has been used throughout the different seasons of the CTFL. Currently we are on the 4th season of CTFL. I do not think it's my place to say anything about the rule setting about the game. Admin Rasputin has long been the single greatest contributor to the CTFL and he himself have made a thread about the current rule setting in the 4th season of CTFL.

You may find the CTFL rule setting and information [here].

Offense

In this chapter I will explain the basic and in-depth ideas that build a great offense. Getting inside, staying alive and getting out is not as simple as it sounds. There are a lot of tips and tricks to help you succeed, I hope I will be able to include as many as possible. Your objective is to grab the flag from an enemy base and bringing it home, hopefully I will be the one to improve your CTF game.

Banners are set as flags for CTFs

Razor

I always use the 3rd party program called Razor when I play Ultima Online, it's a great way of having easy access to recording actions and displaying reagents among plenty of other options. I will use Razor as a pillar in my guide and if you are to follow my guide, I strongly urge you to download it before you proceed.

You will find the newest Razor versions at the [Razor webpage.]

Setting Up An Offensive Character

This chapter introduces you to setting up the characters templates, macros and preparations before going out onto the arena floor.

Offensive Templates

Most experienced players have special characters made for CTF gaming. Different skills for different positions and/or tactics. Much like the balance room moongates under the Joining A CTF section, I've divided the templates used for offensive into Flaggers and Middlemen

Flagger

Regarding to templates and positions, as stated previously one of the two offensive ones is called the "Flagger". This template should not be confused with the semi offensive-character templates/position "Middleman"(Read more about Middleman position below) A flaggers job is to do as it's title describes. He's the pillar force when it comes to retrieving flags. Read more about it at "Playing Your Position"

Here's a list of the most common templates for Flaggers:

Templates	Skill 1	Skill 2	Skill 3	Skill 4	Skill 5	Skill 6	Skill 7	Used for
The Hider	Magery	Meditation	Wrestling	Resisting Spells	Evaluating Intelligence	Hiding	Inscription	Public
The Stealther	Magery	Meditation	Wrestling	Resisting Spells	Evaluating Intelligence	Hiding	Stealthing	Public&Private
The Healer	Magery	Meditation	Wrestling	Resisting Spells	Evaluating Intelligence	Healing	Anatomy	Private&Public
The Non-Lethal Scribe-Healer	Magery	Meditation	Wrestling	Resisting Spells	Inscription	Healing	Anatomy	Private
The Magical Fighter	Magery	Meditation	Wrestling	Resisting Spells	Parrying	Healing	Anatomy	Private
The Shielded Mage	Magery	Meditation	Wrestling	Resisting Spells	Evaluating Intelligence	Hiding	Parrying	Private&Public

Inscription - Makes your protective spells stronger
Hiding - Makes your character invisible until someone reveals/uses the skill Detect Hidden nearby you
Stealthing - When using stealthing you are able to walk while you are hidden(Only certain number of steps)
Parrying - Increases your armor when wearing a shield and gives you chance to block incoming blows
Healing - Allows you to heal yourself with bandages and stun blow your enemies.
Anatomy - Allows you to stun enemies for and makes the Healing skill more effective
Wrestling - Gives enemies lesser chance to hit you when you're unarmed
Magery - Allows you to cast magical spells
Meditation - Allows you to regain mana faster
Resisting Spells - Take less damage from harmful spells and gives a chance to resist them
Evaluating Intelligence - Makes your harmful spells do more damage

A stun blow is when a character player hits a player and successfully managed to stun that player for a certain amount of time - Stun blow is not automated

Stats varies from player to player, because you may wish to have more intelligence for mana rather than strength for health depending on your personality and way of playing. I usually would choose 100 strength, 40 Dexterity and 85 Intelligence(Having too large of a gap between Dexterity and Intelligence will cause the spell "Mind Blast" to take more damage on you).

Note; These templates are shaped out of my personal experiences and views. If your opinion differs, you may send a message to me regarding adding a template but please do not add them yourself.

Middlemen

Regarding to templates and positions, one of the two offensive ones is called the "Middleman". This template should not be confused with the all offensive-character templates/position "Flagger"(The template list above is made for the "Flagger" position).

Middlemen, they are people who usually wield a combat skill as well as magical powers. They have varied stats. They are a hybrid mix between a fighter and a mage. They can defend when needed, they can go offensive and flag when needed. They usually go offensive when a flag has been seized, so they come from the other side to help break the defense from behind. They can also kill intruders with their combat skills. Though, having a middleman template means you will never be able to maximize your potential on neither the Defense nor Offensive front.

Templates	Skill 1	Skill 2	Skill 3	Skill 4	Skill 5	Skill 6	Skill 7	Used for
The Defensive Fencer	Magery	Meditation	Resisting Spells	Wrestling	Anatomy	Fencing	Tactics	Public&Private
The Offensive Fencer	Magery	Meditation	Resisting Spells	Wrestling	Evaluating Intelligence	Fencing	Tactics	Public&Private

Fencing - Gives you a higher chance to hit with fencing weapons
Tactics - Makes your weapon blows deal more damage
Anatomy - Allows you to stun enemies for and makes your weapon deal more damage
Wrestling - Gives enemies lesser chance to hit you when you're unarmed
Magery - Allows you to cast magical spells
Meditation - Allows you to regain mana faster
Resisting Spells - Take less damage from harmful spells and gives a chance to resist them
Evaluating Intelligence - Makes your harmful spells do more damage

A stun blow is when a character player hits a player and successfully managed to stun that player for a certain amount of time - Stun blow is not automated

A paralyze blow is when a character with either a short spear or a spear armed hits a player and successfully manages to paralyze the player for a certain amount of time - Para blows are automated

As for Stats, I cannot give any concrete suggestions seeing as it all depends on your player style. Do you run instead of teleporting , then it might be wise to have less intelligence and more strength etc. For more templates, a good idea is to look for other middlemen who preform at an elite level and ask them what skills and stats they have.

Supplying Yourself For Battle

After you've successfully joined a CTF with the character of your choice, you will end up in a CTF team supply room. In this room you will find two stones;

One reagent stone and one supply stone. The supply stone will provide your character with a spellbook, a shield(If you have parrying skill), a leather armor(Already dressed), weapons to match your combat skills, a reagent bag containing all 8 types of reagents, 4 pouches and 3 poison pots(If you have Poisoning). Tip would be to double click the supply stone once, and the reagent stone twice. It's always good to have extra reagents incase your Waller(*See Defense) needs reagents or you are able to survive a long time and use a lot of spells(You cannot get back up to waiting room when you've used the exit). A typical fencers(With Poisoning) Dexer pack would look something similar to this;

Protective spells

Now, there may seem like there's nothing much to do now except for running out and start attacking enemy bases. I would not advice that. First of all you need to decide what protective spell you should use in your attack. There are three spells of which you have to choose which one to use, after casting one you will not be able to cast another until that spell has worn off and re-casting protection spell period is over. Those spells are:

Spells	Description	Spell Circle	Spell Picture
Reactive Armor	Will render enemy weapons less useful for a certain amount of damage/hits	First Circle
Protection	Will make your mage able to cast through disruptive actions, such as weapon blows/harmful spells	Second Circle
Magic Reflection	Will cause harmful spells casted on you reflect and inflict the caster	Fifth Circle

If the resistance you meet are all "Dexers"(Term used for weapon users with high dexterity), then you should only use either the Protection spell or the Reactive Armor spell. If they all consist of mages, you should either use Protection or Magic Reflection. To read more in depth about the spells and different circles please visit the [Spells page].

Pouches

Secondly, you'll need to trap your pouches! Some people never do this, and it will ruin their game play. Trapping pouches is a trick used to avoid getting paralyzed. "Paralyze" is a spell used to freeze people into a position, people will not be able to move or cast spells when paralyzed, they are able to wield weapons but when frozen to a position it won't do much good. To break a paralyze spell you will need to have a harmful action inflicted upon you. By trapping pouches you will be able to inflict damage upon yourself and it will break the paralyze spell. Trap pouches by casting the "Magic Trap" spell on the second circle in your spellbook, target a pouch with the target cursor that will appear and your pouch should turn into the color of red. Like so:

Trapped pouches will always stay red. Once you have double clicked a trapped pouch it will turn back to it's original color. If you want a smoother and faster way of opening your trapped pouches instead of double clicking them, I suggest you make a macro where you say "[blowpouch". By using the "[blowpouch" command, it will instantly set off one random trapped pouch inside your backpack. A must-have command for all CTF players. I would suggest that each time you revive you trap at least two pouches. Many paralyze fields and mages will try to paralyze you, and only you can stop it from happening.

Arm Macro

If you are one of those who have Parrying as one of your skills, then you will receive a kite shield in your backpack. Thinking along the same lines of easily opening trapped pouches, you will need to be able to arm and disarm your shield quickly in battle. Luckily Razor has a great function that enables you to wield/unwield your shield by the push of a button. To set this up simply start by opening up your Razor window by double clicking the Razor icon located on your system tray. Your system tray will usually be found in the lower right corner of your monitor, your Razor icon should look like or similar to the icon circled with red lines;

At the Razor window, go into the "Arm/Dress" tab. In the Arm/Dress tab click the "Add" button in the lower left region of the window, a window will appear that requires you to choose a name for your arm macro. Like so:

After you've selected a name for your arm macro, click the "Add (Target)" button. A target cursor will appear in game, target the shield in your backpack. Now you have successfully created a macro to arm the shield in your backpack. But what happens when you die? Will you be able to arm all kite shields? The answer is no, but there is an option that enables you to wield any kite shield you have in your backpack. Simply right click the arm macro and select the only the only option available, which will be the "Convert Selected to TYPE". Like so;

Now, the only remaining part you'll have to change before this arm shield macro will work as intended, is to set hot keys for it! Do so by going into the "Hot Keys" tab in the Razor window. Click the plus icon next to "Dress", more options will unfold. Inside you should see "Toggle: Arm Shield"(If that is the name you have chosen for your macro). Select the option, and to the right a menu will appear allowing you to set various combination of keys for your macro. Select your combination and click the "Set" button. Now you have successfully managed to set a macro to wield your Shield! Now, to set an undress macro, you have various options to choose from. The most efficient and will be the fastest one is to go into the "More Options" tab in Razor and tick the box that is labeled "Auto Unequip hands before casting". This way, you will not need to press any hot key to disarm your shield, as Razor will automatically disarm it for you whenever you cast a spell.

Now you are able to wield and unwield your shield! Good luck soldier!

Flag Macro

Traveling along the same lines of having an arm weapon/shield macro, you will need a macro for double clicking flags. In battle it's easier to pass a flag when you are able to click a button for target cursor to appear. To set your macro start by opening up your Razor window by clicking the Razor icon in your system tray.

On the Razor window, choose the "Macros" tab. In the "Macros" tab you want to add a new macro, by clicking the "New.." button, a small window should appear in which you choose the macro name. Like so:

As displayed, I myself have chosen the name "Flag" for this macro. You'll want to find a banner, any banner. You can use the ones at the Moonglow CTF house or the ones inside CTF arena/waiting areas. Once you've found a banner, you'll want to record a double click on that banner. Do so by opening up your Razor window again, select your macro and press the "Record" button. Like so:

After you've pressed record, double click the banner in game. Do not make any other action!, like opening doors/backpacks and moving around/talk. Because if you do, the macro will contain those actions as well, and that will ruin your CTF game play. Ok, once you've double clicked the banner in game, make your way back into Razor by either clicking the Razor icon at system tray or tabbing your way into it. On razor you should only be able to click the "Stop" button that has replaced the location of the "Record" button. Click the stop button. Do not check the option "Loop" on your flag macro, it will cause the flag macro to loop at all times once you've clicked the hot key set for the macro, and that will give you a delay on your actions and lag your client.

You will also have to set the macro so you double click ALL banners(Flags), as opposed to the one banner you've recorded the macro on. Do so by right-clicking the recorded macro and select the option "Convert to DClick by Type". Like so:

Now, you've successfully made the actual macro. Now, we have to set a hot key for it. Make your way into the "Hot Keys" tab in the razor window. Once you've reached the "Hot Keys" tab, unfold the "Macros" section by clicking the "+" next to it's name. A larger menu will unfold and reveal a list of all macros and a "Stop Current Macro" hotkey(Used for stopping looped macros, but you really don't want a looping flag double click macro). The list should look something like this:

Select the "Play: Flag (not assigned)" line of text. After doing so, you will be able to select certain combination of keys to the right. Select your combination of keys that you wish to work as your "Play: Flag" macro. Once you've selected the keys, click the "Set" button. In doing so the "Play: Flag (not assigned)" should change to "Play: Flag (keys you've chosen)". Congratulations, you've just made your flag macro!

Flag Macro Uses

Flag macros simply put double clicks the closest nearby banner. So, if you are running towards a flag in an enemy base, you can hold down the flag macro and when you get close enough to the flag you will automatically grab the flag. If you have a flag in your backpack and use your flag macro, it will double click that flag and a target cursor will appear. The target cursor is used to pass flags to nearby allies. By passing flags between each other quickly, you have a greater chance of surviving the way out of an enemy base amongst other situations.

If an enemy has your flag, you want him dead, of course. By dying, the enemy will automatically drop the flag on the spot. As a player, you'll want to grab/return the flag as quickly as you possibly can, flag macro is a perfect tool to do so. By simply holding down your flag macro hotkey, you will double click the flag as soon as it drops and hopefully you'll grab it. Alas, there's many people around in CTF these days that have near to 0 ping and those with greater connection with the server will have a greater chance to grab the flag.

Flag Passing

One of the greatest ability for any CTFer carrying a flag, is the ability to pass it to allies. If you are dying, paralyzed, stuck behind a wall. A good thing is to pass the flag. We've accomplished to make a flag macro so you easily can get a target cursor up. A second macro for flags is "Target Closest Friendly"

The macro basically targets any ally nearby. So you'll be able to click target your flag macro and directly afterward click your "Target Closest Friendly" macro and it will pass the flag without you having to stumble around with the cursor target manually while your allies are running around you.

To add your "Target Closest Friendly" macro, first open your Razor window by double clicking the system tray icon:

After that, select the "Hot Keys" tab. Scroll down in the list that's shown, when you've reached "Targets", click the plus to unfold it. A lot of macros will appear to you, keep scrolling down in this list until you find the "Target Closest Friendly" macro and select it. It should look something similar to this:

Choose your hot key on the right and click "Set", and congratulations! You have a "Target Closest Friendly" macro!

Enhancing Your Flag Macro Speed

There's a few things that you can check/uncheck/alter in razor that will maximize the speed of your flag grabbing. I'm not gonna write a long chapter here, it's a few simple changes with simple explanations:

Title Of Change	Tab	Option Picture	Set Option To	Reason For Change	Downsides
Razor messaging	More Options		None	Will remove Razor messages that causes the game to lag/respond slower when holding down your flag macro.	You won't be able to see any Razor messages.
Auto-open corpses	Options		Unchecked	A person with a flag might die and you'll want to grab it fast, with the auto-open corpse option checked your client will automatically try to open the corpse of the dead person before you can double click the flag.	You'll have to turn it on/of when leaving/entering CTF(If you wish to have it set when playing).

Stun Blow Macro

Stunning is a very underestimated feature for flaggers, wallers and middlemen. By meeting the requirements needed you can turn on/turn off stun ability, and next time you wrestle a player you will have a chance to stun that person. By failing/succeeding the person will get stunned and your stamina will be drained by 14.

Requirements:

80.1 Anatomy
80.1 Wrestling
14 Stamina

Making a stun blow macro

Start by opening the Razor window by clicking on the Razor system tray icon:

After that, make your way into the "Hot Keys" options and unfold the "Misc" tab. Inside you will be able to unfold yet another tab called "Special Moves", inside you will find the "Toggle Stun (Pre-AOS)" hotkey. Select it and set your key on the right. It should look something similar to the picture below:

Playing Your Offensive Position

There are two positions and/or templates if you will, that I will include in the offensive section of this guide. Those are Flaggers and Middlemen.

Flaggers

As a flagger your job is breaking through enemy defenses, grabbing flags and escaping the base with the flag in one piece. Doesn't sound that easy when you realize that a normal defense usually has 3-4 Dexer defenders, now does it? First of all I'd like you to get a better picture of what you should expect when you attack an enemy base.

The Scene

Image:Mazeattack.jpg

Most arenas contain of wall-able locations, usually mazes that a spellcaster(Waller position. *See Defense) can cast the spell Wall Of Stone to block your path. Picture yourself a wave tumbling towards a mountain. The wave will splash against the mountail wall as a hammer will squash an orange. That's how a flagger will experience attacking an enemy base if they do not use tactics, team play and spells to their advantage.

And on top of that, you'll have to manage making your way through wall locations not once, but twice! Only thinking about it makes me wonder how I ever managed to win CTF games. As said before, Wall Of Stone is one of the most important if not the most important spell of CTF. Remember, not only the opposing teams Waller can wall. Which leads us to the next part:

Tactics

Here, I'll pick the thread up from where a Flagger would enter an enemy base. You'll encounter dexers, that's for sure. This would be a good place to have Reactive Armor spell on yourself. I hope you followed my advice and picked one of the templates I listed above(*See .). Because you are definitely going to need some skill to help you survive. There's no point walking into an enemy base with Macing and Tactics as your 6th and 7th skill.

Before entering a base, make sure you have blessed yourself. The extra Intelligence and Strength can be what the decisive factor between having no points and 15 points. There's a few spells and their functions when entering a base that you have to familiarize yourself with:

Spell	Function	Tactical Function	Spell Circle	Spell Picture
Wall Of Stone	Conjures a three-tile wide stone wall that cannot you cannot teleport/cast spells/walk through	Used to block players you do not wish to follow/come to you. Example: Casting a Wall Of Stone behind you when entering a base to block out Dexers	3rd Circle
Teleport	Teleports your character to the location you click with your target cursor	Use it to escape people/make your way faster than you can by running/teleporting through places you can't or don't want to walk.	3rd Circle
Dispel Field	Use this spell upon magical spells such as Wall Of Stones/Moongates/Fields of all sorts to dispel(remove) them(Remember! The dispel field will only remove one section/tile of the spell you wish to remove. Example: It will only remove 1-tile of the 3-tiled Wall Of Stone	Use this spell to remove unwanted conjured Walls and Fields	Fifth Circle
Paralyze Field	Use this spell on the ground to conjure a field that when walking through enemies and yourself(Allies will not be affected) will get Paralyzed(*See .).	Use this to block Wall Of Stone locations(A Wall Of Stone cannot be casted upon Fields or People) and/or block players and hopefully get them paralyzed	6th Circle
Poison Field	Use this spell on the ground to conjure a field that when walking through enemies and yourself(Allies will not be affected) will get Poisoned(Remember, one cannot heal through the poison effect).	Use this to block Wall Of Stone locations(A Wall Of Stone cannot be casted upon Fields or People) and/or get people poisoned.	5th Circle

To read more about spell circles and spells, visit the [Circle Wiki Page]

Most of these spells are crucial for any Flagger. Fields for an example; When you've managed to break through a maze, you can cast fields to block wall spots for the Waller. What does that help? Imagine the back way out of the base, a lot easier without walls ain't it?

I'll give you some concrete examples of how a Flagger could act to get into an enemy base:

Example 1:

Normal flagger behavior would be to attack a base, and most likely you'll meet a wall at the entrance of the maze. A bunch of Dexers will probably attack you. Moving around is the best option for you now, but don't stray to far away from the maze. By doing so you will allow the Waller to recast a wall at the same location, and by that you are not getting any further into their base but in fact just getting slapped by a bunch of Dexers. I would suggest you get an idea how long a wall is up, and when you feel like it's falling down, cast a teleport and try to teleport in before the Waller is fast enough to cast a new wall up.

Example 2:

If the Waller is too good/smart to let a wall decay without a new one being cast before it does, then you'll have little chance to teleport in. One typical scenario is this a waller casting a wall that has one of the sides not touching against something, and that enables you to diagonally teleport through like so:

As the red line shows, you are able to teleport through the gap where the wall doesn't touch anything with it's side. This is a classic move. A normal situation to use this would be:

The scene above is a pretty normal situation, the Waller has blocked you out of the maze by casting a poison field(You'll probably be forced to walk through it) and two walls. Now, a smart move would be to wait for the first wall to decay and use the Teleport spell diagonally as displayed on the first picture.

Example 3:

Ok, if you cannot get inside by teleporting yourself. Hm, what then? There's two options:

Option 1: Either you try to dispel field your way in, simply use the spell to dispel walls. You'll have to be fast! One can also dispel a wall and then teleport diagonally like I've shown above. No need to dispell all walls, only enough to get you going.

Option 2: You could simply push walls, keep alive and wait for walls to decay on them own. A Waller only have so many places they can place walls. When doing this, a tip would be to cast walls behind you so Dexers do not follow. Block them out and you can stand in quiet and push walls! Like so:

You are able to push walls and you can keep Dexers out. From here you can also decide to dispel walls and try to get through like that. Your choice. Make sure you cast new walls to keep the Dexers out.(For Waller tips and tricks go check out the Defense sub-category "Waller")

All great Flaggers use Wall Of Stone spell once in a while. Using it while escaping bases is usually what saves your base from being overrun.

Tactics varies from person to person, I've tried to include the most common ones for maze attacks. If your ideas of tactics varies, please add your views on the [Defiance forums]. There are endless other situations in which good tactics may apply, learn from what I've taught you so far. Personal game experience/intelligence/understanding will all apply into your game and decide the outcome.

Remember!: In all situations you are able to teleport, you are also able to pass the flag(Within 2 tiles of your ally). Make sure you take the opportunity to pass flags between gaps instead of casting Teleport spell while a Dexers are swinging away at you.

Teamplay

Teamplay. How the heck are you supposed to break through a 3-4 man defense(+Mages if their Flaggers die and see you inside their base) by yourself? You can't! Unless your a cunning stealther... Heals, cures, walls, dispels and fields. Spells you need, but maybe don't have the mana to cast and/or ability to do because you are being hit by Dexers all the time.

Individual skill can be maxed, but team play cannot. Work with your players, talk to them. Make tactics together. Example:

One player stands back while you are pushing walls, the player casts heals and dispel fields while you cast miniheals on yourself. The sky is the limit!

I'm sorry to say that in this sub-category, I cannot help you very much. Only you and your teammates can form the team play together, decide, learn from each other and foremost - aid each other.