darkSpyro

Fire Kraken is an absolute blast to play with - his attacks are so fun and satisfying, especially his bottom half attacks due to it being based on the rhythm that you press the attack button. One thing I'm a bit disappointed with is the Parade attack - which doesn't appear to do anything all that amazing and leaves me not choosing it for the upgrade path because I don't know if it'll be any good after it's been upgraded either.

Well, when upgraded it unleashes a fireworks storm, so I'll probably go with it.

I think it would be fire shift due to the fact He could do the dragon parade and come back to life.

Yeah.
Can't wait for Wave 3!

grr....I wish wave 2 was out here too....
anyways I love! LOVE Free Zone!!!

Blast Drilla has quietly become my new number 2.

Drop a turret, breathe fire, drop a turret, start tossing from an entrentched position. The turrets and fire keep melee off you and the bombs catch fire and do mid range and long damage. It's more durable than my more aggressive options, and the bulk of Blast works well with how Drilla 'walks' around.
-Unreall

If only Star Strike were a swapper... apparently her fans (when upgraded?) can reflect any other character's projectiles.
I have a question; how are Rattle Shake's bone snake attacks?

Quote: Doomslicer

If only Star Strike were a swapper... apparently her fans (when upgraded?) can reflect any other character's projectiles.
I have a question; how are Rattle Shake's bone snake attacks?

You press and hold his secondary attack. Then a purple light will appear in front of him, at the same time he is dropping small skulls with his tail. When you release the snakes will jump out of the ground. A very cool attack and lots of fun. They are doing 60 damage and the charging up takes a sec.

Nice? What about that ultimate bone snake attack? Is it huge?

I've only played as the Starter Pack swappers as of now, but Wash Zone is a really good combo, especially for getting the maximum scores in the arena stages. The bubble attack and bubble shield (when you hit an enemy trapped in a bubble) is very useful. Combine that with the increased speed of Blast Zone's bottom, Wash's sword, and the flames that come out from dashing. I think Wash Zone is pretty strong, and my current favorite swap combination.

Good to know the starters are good players!
Upgrades are out! //www.darkspyro.net/swapforce/upgrades/
for RS I was referring to this upgrade:

Hold (O) while moving to charge Goliath Bone Snake, release to summon many bone snakes.

It just looks so OP!

its better than the other path that's for sure

Are the snakes as big as that upgrade pic depicts them in-game?

No.

It's actually not that useful IMO.

While walking he drops little snakes, and when you release the button the little snakes shoot straight up while right in front of him, the big snake shoots up. For me, I try and beat everything in front of me, so 'behind me' doesn't do much (the little snakes) and the big snake, which can be great in some situations, is too hard to use effectively or consistently. It looks somewhere between OK and Cool, but of all the Swappers, he is easily the weakest and least useful thus far.
- Unreall

His top half makes Rattle shake quite good. His bottom is lackluster on either path but the bone snakes is better than the little dash on the other path.

Disappointing...

Quote: Unreallystic

No.

It's actually not that useful IMO.

While walking he drops little snakes, and when you release the button the little snakes shoot straight up while right in front of him, the big snake shoots up. For me, I try and beat everything in front of me, so 'behind me' doesn't do much (the little snakes) and the big snake, which can be great in some situations, is too hard to use effectively or consistently. It looks somewhere between OK and Cool, but of all the Swappers, he is easily the weakest and least useful thus far.
- Unreall

Shake bottom is definitely one of the weakest. Rattle top, however, is one of the best due to his Deputy Snake turret. The damage isn't great but it's consistent passive damage while he can avoid hits (mobility is important in harder difficulties). His snake gun can be rapid fired and charged for multi target shot.

I struggle to see the top better than anyone else, the damage is just so low and slow. Yeah he's safe as a range guy, but you could pick Boom Jet or Blast Zone and be just as if not more effective. I guess Fire Kraken's top is underwhelming (it looks super cool though heh), and Magna Charge 'has his uses' but doesn't seem 'in general' to be that strong. Hoot Loop gives you 'good' damage - like Double Trouble, along with 'protection' via his slow effect from hypnotizing. I can't comment on Wash Buckler, I almost never play my top for him...I just like his ink stuff.

I guess you could go all 'RTS-Like' with Rattle Drilla. I'll try that out tonight - always open to trying new things, but I got to be honest, I just don't see his effectiveness. (not saying it doesn't exist - I just don't see it)
- :bluu:

My assessment is pretty narrow minded since it's based on Arena Hard difficulty. It's pretty small area with many enemies. I don't play PvP as well. So whatever I said, it applies to that specific scenario.

Blast top has lobbing attacks which can't hit enemies that get too close. His firewall doesn't do much damage like most damaging ground pool. Boom top has pretty good damage and I'd say a bit better than Blast. Sure Rattle doesn't have the raw DPS as these two but he can apply his damage consistently. The other two need to face enemies to apply their damage and they have harder time against many converging on them. Rattle can just pop his turret, run while charging his gun then shoot when he's safe.

However, I need to try to pair these with Shift. Shift can overcome their weaknesses such that they can apply their damage more consistently. I'm having great success pairing Shift with any Melee tops so I can imagine it works as well with any ranged tops. If that's the case, then the Rattle top advantage isn't such an advantage anymore.

Shift is GREAT with melee types...Free Shift, Night Shift, Fire Shift, all work well (Grilla feels super one dimensional as a top for me now, I'm thinking of reseting the top and going the monkey path). Shift is also great with ranged types..especially vortex - helping to keep them safe up close. For me though, (I don't do PvP *sad* and I only do story mode right now (hard trying to unlock nightmare but new promotion at work has zapped some of that time heh)) I like overwhelming offense - more so than any level of defense - so I prefer Drilla's turrets to Shifts movement, but I openly admit that Shift so far more than likely is the best bottom. And while I like shift's ability, I find myself liking Zone's fire aura more with melee.

The funny thing to me though is playing Hoot Shift, like the Loop is just...not as good as the Shift heh...and it ight stand out more to me because I actually have Hoot Loop and Enchanted so I have both paths and haven't been impressed compared to shift, who instantly was "whoa".
- Unreall

Loop's Soul Gem (Infinite Loop) seems pretty sweet though, how does it work?

Loop teleport is more control and precise than Shift at the expense of speed. Shift is better in combat because of that and slowing effect. Loop is better for platforming and avoiding spikes.

Loop soul gem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW5r_iFiLIM

When you press attack 2, a second ring will appear that indicates his teleport destination. Hold attack 2 to move this ring to his current position to trigger the loop area attack.

I'm somewhat disappointed, it seems all the swappers seem to have some flaw or weakness, or just not so powerful.

Quote: Doomslicer

I'm somewhat disappointed, it seems all the swappers seem to have some flaw or weakness, or just not so powerful.

But thats what makes pvp fun if we just had one extreamly op skylander then all pvps would go to him and it would suck the fun out of the game.
also free zone is great super dash and flying afterwards for high mobility and high attack blades.

I suppose. I guess using Swapping you're supposed to eliminate a character's weaknesses.
Also, sounds like star strike's that OP character we seek :P

Has anyone realized that free ranger's tornado can harm "invincible" enemies? When the spinning guys start to spin you can use the tornado to essentially throw them, and when they land, they won't have there shields up. (same with the tanky guys)

Really? Sweet, he sounds like one of the best Swappers!

Quote: kardonis

Has anyone realized that free ranger's tornado can harm "invincible" enemies? When the spinning guys start to spin you can use the tornado to essentially throw them, and when they land, they won't have there shields up. (same with the tanky guys)

Well I didn't elaborate it but I did mention it in page 1.
Similarly, Charge bottom can also take enemies out of their shielded state.

Hoot Charge
Hypnosis and lazers combo'd with magnetic wheels <3

Hoot Loop isn't to good.
Wash buckler is very strong and cool to use.
Blast Zone is also pretty good.
Free Ranger is strong but not too good.
Magna Charge is great but I hate the limit to his blaster
Rattle Shake is probably my 2nd favorite.

Quote: Doomslicer

I'm somewhat disappointed, it seems all the swappers seem to have some flaw or weakness, or just not so powerful.

And that's fine - its part of the charm of 'swapping'...to make them stronger or cover weakness. Take a ranged guy like Blast, and add a bottom that either covers that weakness (shift) or strengthens it (drilla). Take a melee character like Free, and make him quicker for rushdown (shift, charge). Take a 'specialist' like Hoot, and cover some of his weakness with Drilla or Shake.

While some tops or bottoms are underpowered, there so far seems to be some combo that makes them ALL viable...you just need to marinate on it a bit.
- Unreall

Cool.
Do the darkswappers have unique-looking attacks like DMRS and DNSE

Quote: Doomslicer

Cool.
Do the darkswappers have unique-looking attacks like DMRS and DNSE

It doesn't look like it to me. Though I wish there ws a way to control color simply for matching tops and bottoms purposes. Blast Zone's fire attacks and bombs look the same no matter what and the same for Wash Buckler. The black tentacles look cool as heck though on alot of characters.
- Unreall

So far, Magna Charge has been my go to Swapper. Decent speed, good aoe effects/damage, he can get around shield enemies, and his ability to gather loot put him at the top of my list.

Rattle Ranger is my go to when in strife! BEAST

I've been playing Grilla Drilla and Boom Jet more and they turned out to be better than my initial assessment. They do play differently which is great! I think all the swappers are well designed and offer variety (not wildly but different enough to be interesting).

Grilla Drilla: to play him well, you need to plan your movement: lead close range enemies to your turrets and mine; rush long range enemies while avoiding their attacks. Use his punch sparingly when it's safe to do so. Spam monkey rush. For this reason, I chose Monkey Path for his top. I haven't quite tested the coconut path for the bottom yet but I think it won't change his gameplay significantly.

Boom Jet: his regular attacks are spammable and have good damage that works well medium or close range. I picked Storm Bomb but I dropped it for static enemies or group weak ones. Similarly with Rattle, I always charge his bomb when he's moving. Similar with Grilla Monkey Rush, you also want to spam his air strike. I only use his rocket bottom (smoke path is too weak IMO) for long range attacks. You can actually attack enemies before they are activated/start attacking.

I did a bunch of experimenting this weekend.

Wow - Rattle Drilla is ridiculously 'safe'. The turrets give you so much protection, I can drop two turrets, a bomb, AND a deputy snake and completely shut down an area...super effective in Arena

Hoot Ranger is 'nice'. I used it with the hypnotic upgrades for Hoot, but the other path might be better, spin, hypnotize and blast. Again, GREAT in arena

Fire Shift - the first time I tried it, Fire Kraken wsan't fully upgraded. I got him there this weekend and wow...teleporting with vortex into the dragon parade move. Not so great against bosses or real big baddies, but it hcews through normal guys pretty well
- Unreall