I have seen many people be an absolute beast in escape with Cole. If Cole is in the hands of an expert player, he can lay waste to everything in his path. That being said, I decided to level up my Cole character from level 1 to be able to use in escape. As of the time of making this post, my Cole is now level 12. And … I still haven’t figured out how to use his ultimate ability effectively.
This is what Cole ultimate ability reads, "While active, Cole leaves a trail of fire while moving and can stagger and ignite enemies causing burning damage. "
So far when I activate his ultimate ability, I have just been running into enemies and just mashing the ‘B’ button constantly. I also find difficulty in steering Cole into running into his enemies while his ultimate ability is active.
Is this the right way to effectively use his ultimate (I’m pretty sure my way is wrong)? If not, please advise.
Edit : Forgot to mention my controller scheme. I am using 'Tournament" control scheme
Why are there so many cards available which are focused on his ultimate then?
I guess if the devs created those cards then they might have thought that the players could create an escape build focused on :
Shortening the time before which the ultimate becomes active
Increasing the strength and duration of his ultimate
Honestly, the right way to use Cole on the hardest difficulties is to NOT use his ultimate ability.
At level 13 (the next step for you) you will unlock Inner Fire which gives Cole extra damage resistance when he has his ultimate ability in a ready state (so it’s ready to use, but don’t actually use it). Inner Fire gives up to 52% damage resistance at level 6, which is a big amount, especially once you couple it with other defence cards like Damage Dash, Thrashball Pro and to a lesser extent Perk Up.
All of the best Cole players I have played with simply don’t use their ultimate ability unless absolutely necessary, and even then there are risk factors as using it means you lose that damage resistance.
Cole is all about tanking damage and using tackle attacks. Torch Tackle is a necessity to maximise damage, and if crowd-control is needed then add on All The Glory (which is a level 15 card).
The key thing to remember is that with Torch Tackle, your first tackle won’t do as much damage - it’s subsequent tackles that do more damage as they will be burning and burning enemies take more damage.
Also, with Damage Dash you need to be constantly sprinting. If you tackle or slide into cover you lose this damage resistance until you go back into the sprinting animation.
Also, when going for a tackle, DO NOT hold up on your L-stick. This can cause you to vault over low cover instead of tackling. Get into the habit of releasing the L-stick, or alternatively holding down on it to make doubly sure! The B-button on the default control scheme is contextual.
There may be a number of cards which focus on this aspect of Cole, but trust us - the best Cole players do not use them at all.
Broadly speaking Cole players should be using:
Torch Tackle
Damage Dash
Inner Fire
and the last 2 card slots can be filled with any two out of:
All The Glory
Perk Up
Thrashball Pro
EDIT:
Also, as of right now, there is an exploit which makes Cole immune to melee damage. Wardens, Scions, Juvies, anything… their attacks literally go through Cole. What you need are Thrashball Pro and Inner Fire equiped and for the value of both cards to amount to 100% or more (and for Cole’s ultimate to be ready). TC are planning to change this, but no word on when yet (they had planned an update several weeks ago, but it was cancelled last minute).
When you’re on low health in close proximity to enemies while they’re not firing at you, activating the ult can save you and have an use IF you are nearly finished or at the exit of the hive and/or the only one left alive, or for the final enemy encounter[disclaimer : I do not know if you will be immune to Popper blasts during the ult]. Certainly seen Coles stop runs from failing that way.
But as a general rule, I’d follow what Pepper says - only use it in emergencies and/or if situationally appropriate. And don’t bother using it on hives with Shorter Ultimate, it’s just going to end pretty much straight away.
Yes, Cole’s playstyle is very much based around close-quarters. His tackle is the obvious one. Cole’s passive skill is that any kill achieved using a tackle restores his health and gives him stim, so as long as you have the momentum of being able to tackle-kill, tackle-kill, then your health and stim will continuously be restored. It doesn’t make Cole invincible of course, but he’s very tanky.
Another thing I sometimes like to do is to tackle an enemy, and instead of rolling back to tackle again, I just throw a punch at them to stun them and then grab them as a meatshield. You don’t get health regeneration or stim for this kind of kill, but sometimes it’s helpful. Elite Drone variants carry grenades for example, so meatshielding them automatically nabs one of them for you, so I do this if I ever need a grenade.
In terms of when to use Cole’s ultimate, I honestly try not to use it at all. If I’m totally overwhelmed and my team mates are downed then it may be worth activating it to clear out the enemies so I can get the revives afterwards, but even then skilled Cole players may be able to work out a way to do this without using the ultimate. The bleed-out time is longer than past games so generally my team mates can probably hold on unless there’s Juvies around. But in this situation you may need All The Glory to cause explosions as well to maximise the damage you do.
You could use it at the very end of a Hive when you don’t really need the damage reistance anymore.
There are also certain Hives where at the very end, you can spawn-trap enemies when you hit the helipad door switch. It’s fun to activiate it and take out large numbers as they sometimes spawn in the same area.
Ok, but when I am forced to use his ultimate, ‘How do I use it effectively?’
What I mean by that is, if anyone could break down the
1)Fundamentals of his ultimate ability
2)Mechanics of his ultimate ability
3) If I am running an ultimate focused build, which five cards would work best
then I could understand properly on how to effectively use it, and won’t hesitate to use it then.
When you’re using the ultimate, your movement will put you into a sprint animation automatically so you don’t need to hold down the sprint button anymore.
The trajectory of your run is alot tighter, so you can turn at tighter angles than you normally would. This takes some getting used to as it’s a fair bit different to normal.
You can perform multiple tackles one after another without having to take a run-up, and can hit the same target multiple times.
Tackles still restore health and stim, but as I mentioned you lose the extra damage resistance from Inner Fire. All The Glory applies as well, so kills will cause explosions causing AOE damage.
When trying to tackle Rejects from behind, you may end up executing them instead, so be careful and mindful of this.
Enemies that get too close to you or your trail will be set on fire, but the fire damage is small. The main benefit is that it means that tackles on burning enemies do more damage (if you have Torch Tackle on).
My advice is just to try and target small groups of enemies if you have All The Glory, the explosions will probably cause extra damage and kills. The ultimate doesn’t last long so make the most of it.
Also, as the ultimate doesn’t last that long, think about an exit strategy. If you can’t kill all the enemies you need to, you may end up in trouble if it runs out while you’re in the open or next to a Scion of something!
And lastly, before you activate it, if possible it helps if you pre-plan a rough route to run. Time activating it if possible so you don’t get shot as you can still take damage and get downed while using it. Snipers for example, are easy enough to manage as they are slower to shoot so you can pick your chance inbetween shots. Grenadiers also do that thing where they chamber a fresh round in between shots.
In terms of what cards to choose based around his ultimate ability, I don’t really know. I’m happy using a tank build to be honest and this works perfectly okay for me. All of the recommended cards I mentioned previously work in conjunction - just in a different way because Cole can still take damage and get downed while using it, so the extra defence is extremely useful on the hardest difficulties.
I am probably the minority here, and this may not work for you “master runners” but I use a very different build for cole…
-All the glory
I didn’t realize how big of a boom this card can make. Burning enemies exploding on kill means that they can splash to other enemies around them, but I am pretty sure that the explosion itself also applies burning. The explosion can be a neat way to bypass a warden’s thick shell or just to keep a horde of Juvies under control
-Burn boost
The bread of this build. Burn boost active reloads your currently equipped weapon with a percentage damage boost. For weapons like claw: this provides you with a solid boost to damage output after a tackle. Of course, this also counts for those quick stomp kills on downed enemies.
-Play with fire
The butter. Play with fire gives your rounds under an active a percentage chance to cause burning. For weapons that spit a lot of rounds: you have the ability now to inflict burning at a distance. Claw, lancer and even hammerbursts become viable weapons in cole’s hands with the above two cards.
-Torch tackle
Self explanatory really. With the ability to apply burning at a distance: you can light up and weaken an enemy from afar with your rifle, then close in for an easy tackle kill. Burn boost then reloads your weapon with powered up actives, allowing you to continue this chain.
-Glow and slow
This is the more flexible card pick and is open to your choice. Glow and slow for me can slow down enemies that are lethal up close, allowing the team to focus them down at a distance. With playing with fire: you can apply this to enemies at range. It makes for a decent buff when paired with Paduk, who’s ability to fear enemies can cause them to run away and hinder your ability to keep the chain going. All that said: most of the threats to Cole are long range threats, so perhaps damage dash wouldn’t be a bad idea to help you close the distance on enemies you light up.
