You just picked this game up, or you completed the so called "end-game" content and are probably wondering "is there more to this game?", and the answer is: YES!

The PvP of Freedom Wars Remastered is the true end game content for the game and has the most to offer in the game. PvP requires you to have the best gear possible, while PvE really doesn't have such a requirement, so isn't it apt to say PvP is the true end game content???

This PvP is a very fast paced movement shooter that has a very useful grappling hook. You can either choose to specialize in melee combat or ranged combat, both offer very different play styles (even within their own class) so if you feel that one build isn't working for you, there are plenty of other builds you can try out!

PvP lobbies usually form around 22:00 JST / 15:00 CET / 9:00 EST ; and 8:00 JST / 3:00 CET / 21:00 EST

If you are having trouble finding lobbies, join the international discord server and ping PC-PvP-Requests with the @PvP ping ~

The link for the international discord-- if it doesn't work, let me know and I'll change it
https://discord.gg/WYBTVKw

The game will let you access PvP pretty early on in the game, but for your own sake, ignore it.

The reason for this is that weapon levels, character augments, and weapon modules all apply to PvP, meaning if you don't have the three things I just mentioned, you will pretty much never win against somebody who has all three set up. So long as you simply ask in the international discord server for help in farming for materials and citizens, getting yourself set up for PvP isn't that difficult.

So, before you hop into PvP, here is a checklist of things you need to have done:
1. Finish the story missions because you can get some nice rewards to help you prep your PvP loadout
2. Have your augments crafted
3. Have your modules crafted to XXL or XL
4. Have 2 PvP weapons (KATZE REQUIRED, gold notch on clip or headshot) maxed out (both level and rarity)
5. Create a dedicated PvP loadout

Once the checklist is complete, you are ready to jump into PvP!

Augments are very, very important for PvP ---- if you bring the wrong set up, you will either do no damage, die instantly, or both. That is why I am just gonna post some augment set ups as well as an explanation for how I use it for people to have a starting baseline.

TB Augment Setup










The strength of HM comes from its great base damage, as well as its mobility from the thorn dash attacks. As such, I try to utilize TB as more of a "hit and run" build that seeks to move in and out of enemy lines. Because of that, I do not carry any attack augments, but rather focus on what can keep me in the fight as long as possible (thorn economy ++ and HP++), as well as focusing on survivability as I will naturally draw aggro from the enemy team (Def firearms, Def low, Accel low). Mobility is king, and if you sit around like a deer in headlights, you will explode~

Spear / Light Melee Augment Setup










The strength of Spear and LM are both in their ability to lock down enemy sinners by applying stun with their attacks. As such, I focus entirely on being able to tank hits from anyone while not giving any mind to my damage as my job isn't to apply damage or get kills, it is to apply stun to vital targets so that my teammates can either finish off the kill with a high DPS weapon, or focus on taking down the rest of the enemy team whose focus will be on me as I will be targeting their DPS (backline players).

Tanky Ranged Augment Setup










The strength of this build is that you can not only tank a pretty decent amount of damage, you can also dish out a decent amount of damage as well. This is the go-to frontline build where you use a katze with igel or AAW. You should be focusing on deterring anyone from carelessly pushing past you with a katze or contesting their push with a push of your own (with an igel or AAW). Try to focus on spreading out damage or finishing off low HP targets with your katze.

DPS Ranged Augment Setup










The strength of this build is that you can tank a decent bit of damage, but can also dish out a crazy amount of damage. This is the go-to backline build where you use a katze with igel or AAW; or SR with katze, AAW, or Igel. You should be focusing on contesting the enemy's DPS and killing enemy accessories. DO NOT focus on trying to kill people who are pushing or has already pushed past your frontline. Your job is to stop their backline from dealing damage, as well as ensuring the frontline doesn't collapse due to having too many enemy accessories around. DO NOT use the SR unless there is absolutely no one else using it, or unless you have had lots of practice with it. The SR is the most unwieldy, difficult weapon to use in the game. You are guaranteed to have a bad time with the SR unless you are prepared to learn it as it has a pretty high skill floor and a high skill ceiling.

***If you want a little bit more speed, always replace defense melee or defense firearms with the "acceleration" augment -- the other augments are too good to give up on.

Just like augments, your modules are very important as well. Here are some module set ups that I use for PvP weapons.

Melee Weapons
TB










Hawkshadow










Gration/Hyuga










Ranged Weapons
Katze










Igel










AAW










SR










Weapons for Accessories will be in the Accessories section :D

Before starting on loadouts, here are the best gold notch enhancements you can get for some of the weapons:

• Melee Weapons - Crit Chance
  
• Katze - Clip or Headshot
  
• SR - Power or Clip
  
• Barbara - Clip
  
• Igel - Power
  
• AAW - Clip
  
• Dragonfang - Power

***For Accessories

• Nambu - Lock-on distance
  
• AR - Clip

Generally speaking, your loadout should always have a katze.

The katze is not only the easiest weapon in this game to learn and master, it is simply a weapon you can't forgo in PvP. This weapon pairs well with just about every playstyle and loadout that is in the game, so make sure to have a katze for yourself.

Once you got yourself a katze, you can try out any of the following loadouts to see what resonates with you most.

***The recommended loadout for beginners or players returning to PvP after a while is the Katze+Igel loadout! It has everything you need to get kills and keep yourself safe from melee users, so I highly recommend using this loadout!

Melee Loadouts
Katze + TB -> Disruption + Push
Katze + Hawkshadow -> Disruption + Flank
Katze + Hyuga or Gration ->Disruption + Push + Support

Ranged Loadouts
Katze + SR -> Backline + Accessory killer
Katze + Barbara -> Flanker + push
Katze + AAW -> Frontline + push
Katze + Igel -> Frontline + push
Katze + Dragonfang (Garyu) -> Frontline + Flank

Your accessory can be a great tool in PvP, it can either be the very thing that saves you, gets you a kill, or sometimes even wipe out the entire enemy team.

There are generally speaking, three meta ways to use your accessory.
1. Mobile Support
2. Stationary Support
3. Distraction / DMG

The mobile support accessories are generally given a katze, AR, or a barbara. These accessories can somewhat keep up with their sinners so it is best utilized by sinners who like to play forward or flank the enemy team. You generally want to have these guys on either "Follow Me" or "Prioritize Revival" order and just play the role of giving you supporting fire, or staying behind to teammates as you push forward. Giving your accessory a katze or a barbara will increase their overall killing potential, but cannot stun melee users nor accessories for you. Giving you accessory an AR will make it so that they can stun enemies for you to get easy hits on, but the accessory themselves will not really be the one getting kills.

The stationary support accessories are generally given a nambu or a dragonfire. These accessories cannot keep up with their sinners at all so it is best utilized by backline sinners. You want to set these guys up with "initiate counter-attack" in areas where they have a decent line of sight on where your enemies will push, but also keep them somewhat protected from enemy SR or katze fire. Nambu is great at shutting down melee that push too far in to your lines, while the dragonfire is great at keeping the enemy team at bay while being able to position itself at a fairly safe spot (due to the dragonfire's insane tracking).

The distraction / DMG accessories are given a dragonfang. These accessories will do one of two things -- kill a sinner that wasn't paying attention or put them at 1 HP, or take all the attention off of you because of the danger it poses to enemy sinners. You want to keep these guys somewhat tucked away in a safe corner with "initiate counter-attack" until the time is right to let it go commit crimes using any "target enemies" order. Once you send it out, you either sacrifice the accessory, run away and regroup, or you push with your accessory to see if either of you can get some kills.

Combat items to bring --
Adrenaline +
This is the meta pick for most builds. There is essentially 0 downsides to having 3 extra adrenaline + that gives you somewhere around 25% more damage while active. The best way to use this is with the order "use medical supplies", as that will make the accessory administer the adrenaline to you. HOWEVER, if you use the "use combat items" order, the accessory will use the adrenaline on itself. If you want your distraction / DMG accessory to one-shot any sinner regardless of their build, you can use this order. If not, just use the former.










Anti-Personnel Mine +
This is an okay pick for some builds. This is mostly done to be kinda funny or make pushing into an area an absolute nightmare, but generally not the most useful unless you know the map pretty well. There are some maps where mines are extremely hard to spot, so you can get some free, easy kills by placing the mines in the correct spots. Not that recommended overall, but really it's just the second best choice after adrenaline +.










Accessory Orders for PvP
This is just what I personally use, there is no need to copy this directly. however, I do suggest having similar orders in your order set, and try to figure out how you want to set up the interface of the orders as you will need to access orders fast during a match. You don't want to open up the accessory orders menu and struggle to locate where your orders are (because if you are on KBM, you CAN'T MOVE while the order menu is open).










*Weapons for Accessory usage (except for the Dragonfang, the others are not worth using as a player)
a quick tip, your accessory has unlimited ammo so don't worry about giving it any "carryable ammo" modules.

Dragonfang










Nambu










AR

FIRST THINGS FIRST, USE A DEFENSE THORN AND CONSTANTLY BUFF YOURSELF!!!
This defensive buff gives you somewhere around a 40% damage mitigation buff, that's massive! If you don't have this buff up, it really doesn't matter if you have a lot of defensive augments or health augments, you will just melt. I like to use Adrenaline + as my timer for when to buff myself again. The defensive buff lasts just a bit longer than adrenaline +, so as soon as I notice my damage off, I buff myself again.

The biggest things players often struggle with in PvP is knowing the map and knowing when to push or fall back. You can be the most talented player in the game but it doesn't really mean much if you don't push with your team at the right times, or if you just do not retreat when you should. The Time To Kill (TTK) is extremely fast in this game, no one is that much of a bullet sponge. Because of that, even newcomers can pick off the highest skilled players as long as you strategize correctly.

As tempting as it may be to revive your accessories or sinners, always remember two things:
1. Is it actually safe to revive?
2. Sinners are always more important to revive than accessories unless in Citizen Rescue mode.

Generally speaking, the game's flow will go something like this -> everyone goes to the popular contested spots of the map (usually the main lane in lane based maps, and left or right on open maps) -> skirmishes happen where both teams are trying to break through each other's lines -> one side breaks and gets steamrolled for a couple lives or both sides break, so back to skirmishing. You always want to pay attention to the kill feed and the minimap. The minimap is pretty terrible, but it tells you if someone is flanking or setting up an ambush for the next push, so its best to keep an eye on things. The kill feed is what you want to pay attention to the most. If your team is able to get 1-2 sinner kills and at least 3 accessories downed in quick succession, that is your queue to send it. The highly skilled players will generally make a push at a decent timing, so you can also just follow them around and try to give them supporting fire.

As for when to run away? It's pretty simple. Ask yourself -- "how many other sinners are still alive?" If the answer is lower than 2, you run. Only a couple people are capable of holding back more than 1 player for longer than 5 seconds, there is no point for you to try the same unless you are playing as a melee and you KNOW there is help close by, or its just a situation where you can't even run.


Before I really get into the maps, there is one thing you need to keep in mind, especially as a melee player. There are thorn generators all over the maps, they are usually slightly blue-greenish in color and tend to present themselves in an actual reactor/generator like form, or in the form of a mound of abductor parts. The developers were rather careful with the color shading on the levels, so if you see something glowing in a blue-greenish color in the level, it will likely give you back all your thorn if you latch on to it. So, if you are a melee player, head into the practice battles in your contribution directory and figure out where all the thorn generators are on all 4 maps! It really helps to know where you can refill your thorn gauge as that will determine just how long you can stay in a fight!

Large Facility










This map entirely depends on how you can move with your team. Whoever snowballs and wins the first major team fight will probably win the match unless the other team can get a really good team wipe and snowball from there (rarely happens). The only tip for this map is don't stand around as soon as you spawn, move first and then get your defense buff, the other team's SR can get free shots on you otherwise. This map is the most melee friendly of all due to so many angles melee users can take to flank or retreat. Try to bring accessories that can stay close to you and provide support fire or revive teammates.

Desert










This map is similar to the previous one. Whoever wins the team fight and snowballs will likely win the match unless the other team gets a really good team wipe. This map has much more wide coverage than the previous map, so the SR is far more dominant here. You want to bring accessories that either have phalanx, nambu, or an AR to constantly apply pressure to the other team as there is little to no cover on the map. Stay with your team and keep your accessories up when possible. Numbers win this map always.

City










Our first lane based map. The top lane on the map is the main contested area, and the bottom area is entirely for flanking or skirmishing. Bravo team will always have the defensive advantage on the map, but if alpha team can either bait out the bravo team from their defensive area or push aggressive enough, the tides can turn very quick. Alpha team's goal is to capture the top lane and control it completely, as that will shut down bravo team's spawns and trap them in their initial spawn area that is not defendable at all. Bravo team must do everything in their power to not lose the top lane for that reason as well. If you are on Bravo team, constantly keep an eye out on the alleyway that alpha team will constantly flank from.

Night Facility










Another lane based map. The right side of the map is the main contested area, and the left area entirely for flanking or skirmishing. Bravo team, once again, has the defensive advantage being situated on top of a hill. While Bravo team's ultimate goal is to hold the top of the hill, it is highly advised to push down the hill and take that general area in order to deny the alpha team some decent cover and their primary staging grounds for attacks. Alpha team must either make the choice to hold the area right in front of spawn in the hopes of getting Bravo team to overextend or push up the hill so fast that Bravo team cannot get their defenses set up in time. It is highly advised to use the flanking spawns as not for the purposes of flanking, but for the purposes of regrouping with your team if you lose your most defendable areas (areas right outside of spawn for both Alpha and Bravo).

Before I begin, the best places to practice your skills for PvP are operation 7-1, any of the practice battles in your contribution directory, or just joining a casual lobby and asking questions as you play!

*Thorn Canceling -- every weapon's attack recovery animations can be canceled early by simply using the thorn. It does not matter if you commit to thorning or if you cancel the thorn by pressing dodge, but if will simply cancel out whatever recovery animation your attack has. This is VITAL for EVERY MELEE USER as there are a lot of attack animations that have a hilariously long recovery animation that will guarantee someone a kill unless you cancel it early and get out of there.

*Quick Firing -- if you want to use the SR or Dragonfang, you must learn this first. The idea is the same as thorn canceling, but instead of using thorn to cancel your recovery animation, you click sprint to cancel it. You shoot, sprint, shoot, sprint, shoot. It's pretty simple but you have to find the rhythm for it. SR and Dragonfang both have different rhythms so you gotta learn both, can't just learn one and call it a day. Once you get the rhythm down ,you can do it fast or slow depending on what you need at the moment.

Katze
"shiko-shiko aim" - a tech where you rapidly mash the aim button while shooting with the katze. If you input "aim" before starting to shoot the katze, there is a strong aim assist that appears for a very short amount of time. Mashing aim while shooting the katze will constantly reset the aim assist so you can stay on target much easier with this.

Hyuga / Gration
the first heavy attack has invincibility frames (i-frames) that start as soon as your feet leave the ground. This very attack makes this spear the strongest weapon in the game, so do not forget to use this! The bread and butter combo for this weapon is thorn dash attack into a heavy attack.

TB
the first heavy attack of the TB comes out much faster than its other variations, and can roll catch if you attack from the correct angle. This makes the TB the best choice for Heavy Melee (HM), as the other HMs simply lack a good neutral attack. In general however, the bread and butter combos for this weapon is heavy attack into a thorn dash attack, running heavy attack (backslash) into a thorn dash attack, air light attack into a thorn dash attack, and air heavy attack into a thorn dash attack.

Igel
this thing has a nasty arc that is just downright horrendous. however, this thing also has the biggest AoE (vertically, pretty much 0 horizontal reach) and the highest damage out of all the artillery weapons. This is the most beginner friendly ranged weapon as there is nothing fancy to learn -- just that arc. If you can consistently land shots with the igel, life will not be too terrible for you in PvP.

1. Have your weapons, augments, and modules set up before joining PvP
2. Use a meta loadout and get familiar with it before moving on to other loadouts
3. Constantly move, if you don't you explode
4. Push and work with the team, it's not a solo game
5. Some maps are all about numbers some are all about positioning
6. KEEP YOUR DEFENSIVE BUFF UP AT ALL TIMES!!!!!! this is the matter of dying instantly or being able to tank hits
7. Thorn everywhere, you can thorn 99% of the map
8. Katze + Igel will be your best friend, go practice Igel shots in operation 7-1!
9. Good luck and have fun!