What do I do on Gaia? Not much really...

I guess I'm something of an oddity, because money doesn't motivate me.



Most of the time, I'll be playing zOMG. (Probably hanging around Otami Ruins.)

Other times, I'll probably be browsing the Forums, wandering around Towns, or playing Word Bump, if I'm feeling cerebral.



I used to do a little Fishing, but I just don't have the reflexes for it anymore.

"Well Gaians, Are you ready to face the enemy?"



In this section, I'll be sharing what I have learnt regarding zOMG combat tactics.



BASICS:



Pick your targets. Pressing the Q key will target the nearest enemy to you, and further presses will cycle through the enemies on the screen.



Normally, you should target enemies in this order:

Healers > Crowd Control Users > Ranged Attackers > Melee Attackers



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Running around to avoid enemy melee attacks (kiting) is a good tactic that can give you time to heal or replenish stamina.



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Use only 2-3 attack rings, or you'll find yourself running out of stamina alot.



While beginners tend to pick the attacks that do the most 1-hit damage, those rings also have a long recharge/cooldown time before they can be used again.



For a more in depth explanation of rings, I highly recommend this forum thread:

z!F Guide to Rings and Stats



MELEE ATTACKS

Generally, people favor melee attack rings over ranged, as they do more damage.

Hack and Mantis are the best to use. Learn to love them!





Bump does slightly more damage, but Slash can attack more enemies at once.





People tend to favor the "Santoryu" ring combo of Hack/Mantis/Slash, because while Bump is stronger than Slash, its secondary knockback effect makes it undesirable for melee combos.



RANGED ATTACKS

While ranged attacks are weaker than melee, they give you the advantage of keeping the enemy out of melee range, thereby saving you from taking damage.



Guns, Guns, Guns and Shuriken are the best ranged attacks to use, and also feature in the Space Trooper and Ninja ringsets respectively.





Solar Rays is weaker and slower, but has the advantage of having no firing delay, and protects you from instant death from the Grue in DeadMan's Pass/Shadow.





When using ranged attacks, you may want bring crowd control (CC) rings such as Quicksand or Scaredy Cat to keep the enemy from getting too close.



Alternatively, the Bump ring compliments ranged attacks by knocking back the enemy. A ring combo of Guns, Guns, Guns/Shuriken/Bump has proven to work well.



LEVEL:



You can change your CL (Charge Level) yourself, by going to "Options" in the bottom-right corner of the game screen. You can lower your level anywhere, but you can only raise it again while in the Null Chamber.



Why would you want to lower your level? Well, here are two very important reasons:



1: To receive more loot

When you target an enemy, their name and the thin border around their face image is color-coded to indicate difficulty. This difficulty (and your luck stat) is what determines the amount of loot that enemy may drop. (Gold, Orbs, Rings, ect...)



Here is the basic color-coding for difficulty/drops:

> Purple: Very Easy / Few drops

> Blue: Easy / Some drops

> Green: Normal / Many drops

> Orange: Hard / Some drops

> Red: Very Hard / Few drops



Typically, the Normal range will be within 0.5 of the enemy level. (For example, an enemy with 2.0 CL will give the best drops to a player between 1.5 CL & 2.5 CL)



2: To give your crew an advantage



When entering certain instances, (such as Hive World or Otami Throne Room,) the enemy CL is determined by the crew member with the highest CL. So if one crew member has a higher CL that the others, the crew will be at a huge disadvantage, as the lower leveled players will be killed easier, and the high level player will struggle without support from their crewmates.

So when entering an instance, it is HIGHLY ADVISED to synchronize your crew CL!



GHI:



Ghi is a portmanteau of Gaia and Chi, meaning it is the "lifeforce of Gaia". (Think of it as Spiritual Energy, or The Force.) In zOMG, Ghi gives you small passive stat boosts to Willpower/Max Health/Luck/Dodge/Accuracy. You can check your Ghi Abilities by opening your Character Info menu and checking the Ghi tab



By remaining "active", you earn Ghi Exp that fills the blue bar at the bottom of the Ghi menu. When the Ghi Exp bar fills, you gain a new Ghi Ability, or an existing Ghi Ability will grow stronger.



To earn Ghi Exp:

> move to a different screen or area

> defeat an enemy

> chat on talk/shout/crew (whispering doesn't count)



It also encourages teamwork, as your Ghi points will slowly drop as time goes by.



To gain Ghi points:

> 4 crew (including yourself) in the same area.

> 6 people in the same screen.

> Visit Barton Town.



RAGE:



Obviously, you can just attack enemies to increase your rage bar, but in quieter moments, it might be better to self-rage.



Switching rings around on your fingers causes your Ghi Abilities to reset, and your max health should drop for a split-second. When this happens, you can heal yourself using Bandage to gain rage.



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Teflon Spray, Improbability Sphere, Pot Lid, and Rock Armor work slightly differently than the other buff rings, and can be used repeatedly to gain rage at any time.





HOWEVER! Using these 4 rings will reset an existing buff, so they should be used to gain rage for your other Buff first, and then not used after both Buffs have been set at r4. Also, Rock Armor won't increase rage if you or anyone in the crew has r2-r4 Rock Armor already.



BUFFS:

A lot of crews I've joined seem to fall apart when it comes to assigning Buffs, so learning which Buffs to assign and how to use them is vital.

After reading the forums and testing rings myself, I believe this to be the optimal buff setup:



() keen/pot (knife)

() dense/sphere (tape)

ghost/div

() iron/teflon (cat)

halo/rock

coy



AGGRO:

I am still looking into how to be an Aggro/Tank/Healer, so this section is still under construction...



Meat, Wish, Bandage, Diagnose





Buff (iron?), Player Choice, Passive#1, Passive#2





Buff: The Aggro generally takes Iron Will, but this isn't always the case.

Passives: Integrity/Fitness/Fortune's Favor (In that order)

Player Choice: An attack (Solar Rays), a Croud Control (Quicksand?) or a 3rd passive.



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I welcome any comments, questions, advice, or constructive criticism!



"If that is all, then go now, for the hordes of Animated are still on the attack!"

Wish, Bandage, Mantis, Hack





Fire Rain, Buff#1, Buff#2, Meat

Meat, Buff#1, Debuff/CC, Hack





Mantis, Buff#2, Passive, Bandage

Meat, Wish, Bandage, Diagnose





Buff, -choice-, Passive#1, Passive#2

Pirate: +10% Persistent Armor





Ninja: +30 Accuracy +30 Dodge





Medic: +48 Speed





Chef: +70 Dodge





Space Trooper: +70 Accuracy





Demon: +2 HP Regen





Angel: +3 Luck





Prankster: +300 Max Health





Shaman: +0.2 Stamina Regen





Athlete: Debuff Resist