Rune Central

I'm no fan of traps, but I also accept them as a core part of rune quake.Traps (ice, fire, glue, dspots) you can avoid, and player runes (jump, shield, head, zen) you can run and return fire. Blizzard rune is almost impossible to defeat. 100H and 200A are gone and you never get a chance to return the shot. Does anyone have any tips to combat this rune? What about toning it down so it doesn't hold you as long? Comments?

According to my rune guide... you're f'd if a good player has it.

But more seriously, there are a few things. One is the recharge time, but if it's a 1 vs 1, then it's unlikely you can recover soon enough to retaliate. In which case you have to start being tricky. Obviously Blizzard Rune and Enviro Protection rune holders are protected from the freeze effect, but so is a Ice Trap Rune holder. Then, there is the Shield Rune. Envirosuit may exist in the map... also, flame runes (firewalk, human torch) reduce freeze time.

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a random mod server: zop.runequake.com

There are some runes if you're lucky to get them (Radiation then I immediately try to find beserk) that are extremely deadly but also hard to find at the moment you need it. But having a environmental protection would make you immune.

So with every rune there is a somewhat effective way to fight them.

In the case of freeze-- Zop pretty much said it. But as much as you hate traps it is very effective especially if you follow the patterns that those players take (ie.. always going for armor or a specific area for health) Throw in a death spot/fire or use the switch rune trick and drop them in lava. Also rune of shielding is greatly effective if you can time it right.

In the case of me getting one of those powerful runes-- it is frustrating but I really do follow a predictable pattern. I know I do since I always stick myself in each and every one of my own ice traps. For me-- getting Rune of Vengeance is a good way to rack of the points... but remember all good players always fill up on health/armor at every moment... especially with that rune.

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WEE!

Traps can be a whole other discussion. Most people are pretty random with them and I've learned ways to avoid them. I simply don't use teleporters anymore (one reason I hate Start).

Freeze rune though gets a special kind of hate for me. In 1v1 I can hunt for a good counter rune, load up on H and A, and take it away from whoever has it. In a crowded game though it's a lot harder to find a rune, find some powerups, and make it to whomever has it with enough strength left to fight them. It's the only rune that gives you no warning, visual or audio, that it's about to go off. You're just stuck, then you're dead. It's a plague.

I just went through this with. Got 100H, 200A, resist, a bio suit, all ready to go find the freeze rune, and uh oh! A hail of gas bombs and it's all gone. All that work for nothing. It's impossible to stop that fucking rune. It needs to go.

Before the Blizzard Rune, there was Zolmod, and it has/had a rune it based off of ice traps. This "popsicle" rune would shoot out an ice trap, similar to the sniper rune. Thus, the effect is like Blizzard, yet you had to aim it. I can't say that mod was a beacon of balanced gameplay, but it's a good example of a less powerful Blizzard.

Actually, Sniper is another good rune to contrast. I would say it's only used in dire circumstance, due to its self-damaging side effect. Blizzard's side-effect is being frozen in water for two seconds. It's quite a difference in disadvantages, but really, so is the difference in power; ie. insta-killing an enemy.

Now, I am leaning toward the argument that it is too powerful.

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a random mod server: zop.runequake.com

If I had to pick a most annoying rune, it would be piercing, with resist being a close second. You can cripple pretty much any opponent with two rockets. This is where the freeze rune really shines. If the server is active, the freeze rune doesn't really pose much of a threat as there are multiple players who can attack while others are frozen and the rune is recharging, but it can be quite challenging in 1v1. Far less challenging than pierce or resist though.

The sniper rune can be a deadly weapon on close quarter maps with a lot of health boxes or mega healths. More often than not it's a suicide rune to help take down annoying runes like pierce or resist. A firing delay would only make this rune much less effective and that makes complete sense to me.

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Slot Zero

The thing is people don't gang up on the freeze rune user. Everyone just does their own thing while the freezer racks up free frags.

Pierce and resist are countered by keeping moving. Don't really find them that annoying. A little gas goes a long way stopping them. So does hit and run.

All runes change things up, and sometimes surprise you. That's the fun of the game. I just personally find freeze rune irritating as shit. Like, even shield you can run away, and when it expires, turn and fire. You can't do that with freeze rune. You just stand there and die. That's not fun at all.

Agree on Cobalts other comments. As a frequent zombie user, I wish they would persist for a bit after dropping the rune

Agreed with Slot. 1v1, piercing rune is the best rune available. Second best is Jack (for me at least).

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aka -sole-
Quake 1 Resurrection - QuakeOne.com

Piercing is definitely the most powerful 1vs1. Revenge is a b*tch too, against a good player.

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i'm tellin y'all it's 5AB0TAG3 !

I wonder what the mathmatical comparrison with "strength" would be... I wonder about the damage with/without armor from a direct rocket hit, for example.

Red armor absorbs 80% of damage.

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Slot Zero