I love Shadowrun, but I understand that it isn't the easiest game for a new player to pick up and be effective at.  I got a TON of positive feedback when I had posted my Gears of War tips and tricks, so I thought I'd do the same with Shadowrun.

These tips are intermediate to advanced, so if you aren't familiar with Shadowrun, or you haven't run through all 6 of the tutorial sessions to get the basics of the game, skip this blog-post.

I don't want to to lose the audience, and I would like to emphasize that while I'm a pretty hardcore gamer, we are NOT a strategy video website, so these types of posts will NOT be the norm.  Hopefully, however, some of you guys will appreciate this post.

This video will show you:

  • How to Quick-Cast - Quick-casting is when you use a power that is not currently mapped to one of your three power slots
  • How to use Strangle - Strangle can be used both defensively, AND offensively
  • The importance of teamwork - We lost this round because I had no back-up, and none of my allies called the enemies out to me

In this game I am a dwarf healer (I mostly cast Resurrect on fallen friends, and place down Tree of Life for healing my team-mates).

The battle hasn't gone well so far, and the enemy team is a quick moving team of elves and humans who have taken Teleport, Wired Reflexes, and Glider to get to the artifact faster than our team can defend.

To defend against it, I have switched roles to a defender using the power Strangle to block off some of the entrances to the room.  Note that I have my most used powers mapped.  As a healer I always map Resurrect for an on-the-run cast, and I don't have a movement power (which I normally map to my RB button), so I have mapped Tree of Life.

To quick-cast, open the menu as if you were going to map the power to a button, but instead of pressing the button to map the power, simply hit the fire button (right trigger) and it will cast the spell.

As the elf comes around the corner, I take care of him, and then I quick-cast Strangle over the artifact to prevent people from getting it.  I make a mistake and cast Strangle too close to my body, and take a little damage.

As the next enemy comes in to take the artifact, I cast Strangle offensively in an attempt to hurt him, and save some ammunition.

Pressing UP on the d-pad will call out that enemy, and mark them on the radar of my allies - basically asking for backup because I see one person in this room.

He ends up getting past me (because I don't have any backup), and they score, but I think the tips laid out are still valid.