Being the Best of the Worst: Tips and Strategies for The Lamplighters League

One phrase appears again and again in our designs for The Lamplighters League: “Characters, not Units.” From the very start of this project, we wanted to build a tactical strategy game where you didn’t lead an army of interchangeable soldiers, differentiated only by their in-game class, but a ragtag team of distinct and colorful characters. Each agent in our game has a combat style influenced by their personality and their story, and the very best moments come out when you discover ways that these unlikely allies come together on the battlefield to beat the odds.

The game starts off by introducing you to three of these agents: Ingrid, our mysterious femme fatale whose weighted gloves give her the momentum to keep dropping foes with each hit; our “Gentleman-Djinn” Lateef, who can slip through the crossfire without a scratch on him; and last but not least, Eddie, our two-fisted gunfighter whose revolvers will keep spinning as long as he’s hitting his shots. At a glance, their roles in a fight are easily understood, but their abilities are deceptively deep – anyone can run an agent into cover and start shooting, but learning how each ability complements the others is critical to your survival.

The Banished Court, you see, does not fight fair. By the time you meet your starting lineup, the enemy has already spread their forces all over the globe as their sinister leadership prepares to tie the bow on their conquest of the world. The missions you take will see you dramatically outnumbered and outgunned, and the only way you’re going to win your battles is to fight dirty. We thought it might be nice to share some of our dirtiest tricks to help you get started.

Playing as Eddie

Let’s start with Eddie. His job is fairly straightforward: put bullets into the bad guys. With two guns, he can target two enemies with his standard attack, which is a great advantage in a tactical battle where every action counts. The flipside of this is that Eddie chews through ammunition like popcorn – he has six attacks before he needs to reload, and with two attacks per action, that’ll empty him out quick. Eddie also earns a few skills early in the game that let him take even more shots in a single move, eventually unlocking the ability to target six enemies at a time, but these all cost ammo.

So how do you keep Eddie from spending half the fight reloading? Well, Eddie starts with a passive ability, “Quick Load,” that gives him extra ammo every time he lands a critical hit. Finding ways to give him better shots will not only drop your enemies faster (as critical hits do much more damage) but also keep Eddie’s effectiveness up as he’s able to keep firing, turn after turn, without stopping. There are a few easy ways to boost your crit chances, such as targeting enemies from the flank or while out of cover. Ambushes are a big one, too: the enemy will start a battle if they discover you while sneaking around during your infiltration, but if you start the fight before you’re spotted, every agent on your team gets a healthy bonus to hit and to crit in the first round. If you let Eddie shoot first before the Banished Court can scramble for cover, he may just get some of those shots back.

As the campaign goes on, you might also recruit a weaponsmith who can create gear and accessories that increase crit chances – which would make a great choice for Eddie! Look for ways to flush enemies from cover, apply the “Marked” debuff and the “inspired” buff, and eventually Eddie will become a bullet factory fast enough to win the Great War himself.

Playing as Lateef

Compared to Eddie, Lateef might not have the same raw firepower or skill set with a gun. But, as the man himself will remind you, he’s not the Gentleman-Gunman; he’s the Gentleman-Djinn, and his skill lies in speed and distraction. Lateef has an incredibly valuable passive ability, “Dodge,” that grants him a free “Evade” buff every time he moves in battle. Even a single square of movement will grant him an Evade, which guarantees the next attack against him will miss. Other characters can also get Evade – for instance, Ingrid starts with that ability – but it costs them one of their actions to apply, whereas Lateef gets it just for doing what he does best: staying on the move. As such, you can run Lateef towards the enemy and present them with a tempting target, and watch them waste their attacks as Lateef effortlessly dodges their shots.

The key to using Lateef’s ability effectively, however, is to know its limits. Evade will only nullify one attack per stack of the buff, so if Lateef has moved once but is targeted twice, he can still be hit. It also doesn’t avoid attacks that cover an area, such as grenades or flame blasts. This is also a good time to bring up Stress: every attack, whether it hits a target or not, builds that character’s stress level, and having your stress reach its maximum can be even more harmful that having your health reach its minimum. Just because Lateef can dodge bullets, that doesn’t mean he enjoys doing so!

Using Lateef is about utilizing his high mobility and picking his moments. Since Lateef can safely avoid an attack every time he moves, he makes for a great flanker, able to rush around behind the enemy without worrying about being caught out of position himself. Standing him in the middle of a pack of enemies is a much bigger risk, of course, but it can also be a lifesaving move to run Lateef through the field with multiple Evades if it means drawing fire away from a more vulnerable agent who is pinned down. It can also be worth distracting the enemy into positioning against Lateef if it means they leave themselves open to crits from Eddie!

Playing as Ingrid

Once Eddie and Lateef have softened up the Banished Court, it’s Ingrid’s time to shine. Ingrid doesn’t carry a gun, preferring to bring a personal touch to the battle with devastating punches and forceful kicks. While this does make it a little trickier to position her safely, one immediate advantage is that Ingrid’s attacks have their own mobility included. Where most gun-toting characters have to spend separate actions to move and to attack, if Ingrid is within one move of an enemy, she can move and punch with the same action! Any time her punch attack is highlighted, you don’t need to waste an action moving (unless you prefer to prioritize an enemy outside of her range, in which case definitely move first). What’s more, you may have different options for which space Ingrid moves to when she delivers her hit, so don’t just mash the confirm button right away – you may be able to place her into cover from other foes while she gets the job done.

Given that Ingrid will necessarily need to be in the thick of things, she will frequently be vulnerable to attacks from close-by enemies. Luckily, Ingrid has an Evade action that works just as it does for Lateef, except she doesn’t apply it for free simply by moving. If Ingrid is going to end her turn near her foes, be sure to save an action for her to apply Evade before she wraps things up!

Of course, the best way to keep Ingrid healthy is to make sure there’s nobody left to attack her. This is best accomplished with Ingrid’s powerful passive ability, “Killer Instinct,” which grants her an extra action when she finishes off a foe! An absolutely vital part of your strategy in The Lamplighters League will come down to using your agents in the right order. You also don’t have to use all your actions on a single agent at once!

Bringing it All Together

Consider this example: if Ingrid punches an enemy twice, bringing him to low health, and then Lateef slips around from the flank for the kill shot, that’s great, but if he misses, now Ingrid is in a tough spot. However, if Ingrid hits once, and then you attack with Lateef next, now you have options! If Lateef misses, you can spend Ingrid’s second action on an Evade to dodge the counterattack, but if he hits, Ingrid can spend her second action to take him down – and she gets to go again! When every action counts, getting extra actions is one of the most powerful rewards you can get. As Ingrid earns more skills, she’ll also gain the ability to earn bonus actions more often, and deliver attacks of opportunity as well. If you send Ingrid to finish your weakened foes, she can dance through the enemy lines and drop half a dozen baddies before they know what hit them!

One final tip before we let you loose to try out The Lamplighters League on Xbox Series X|S and Windows: don’t be stingy with your Signature Moves! Every agent gets one big move per mission that can turn a battle on its head, and it can be very tempting to save it “until you really need it.” But these moves don’t carry over at the end of the mission, and you may even find pickups in the field that replenish these powerful abilities, which are wasted if you don’t have any moves to replenish. Plus, special attacks refresh between missions, but agents who go down from injury or stress don’t! It is always better to use your Signature than to let the enemy gain the advantage during a battle, so don’t be shy – let them see what you can do!

As you explore our game, you’ll meet more agents and allies you can recruit, each with their own story and style, and discovering what they can do – and how they work together with your other agents – is what The Lamplighters League is all about. For now, Eddie, Ingrid and Lateef will help you start strong if you use them cleverly. You’ll need everything they’ve got if you’re going to save the world. Good luck!

The post Being the Best of the Worst: Tips and Strategies for The Lamplighters League appeared first on Xbox Wire.