Awakened is the core ability and discipline of all characters starting out in the Matrix. One might think of it as the measure of the characters’ belief in themselves, as well as their understanding of the Matrix as a whole. A player must have Awakened loaded in their ability tree to use any other ability.
“This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.....You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up and believe...whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill.....you stay in Wonderland...and I show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes.”~~ Morpheus, The Matrix
Main Abilities:
The Awakened Discipline’s ability set is laid out in several branches, geared towards providing players with a variety of basic combat skills, self-defense skills, and general personal buffs. Some are accessible from the moment one enters the game, while others cannot be accessed until a character has raised the level of his basic Awakened ability and then taken other abilities as well.
Some of the abilities have obvious connections with the Coder, Hacker or Operative discipline trees, and others are generalist abilities that any character loadout might find useful. Read below for more details on the various skill branches for the Awakened discipline.
Primary Branch:
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Awakened
As mentioned above, you’re required to have this ability before you can load any other abilities. It should be raised each time you level, as it is a measure of your power and skill in the game. It also grants you the basic Self-Defense ability. |
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Evade Combat
Many abilities within the Matrix require some breathing room to be able to use. Evade Combat gives you a chance to avoid being pulled into Interlock, and is essential for ranged combatants or those who plan to follow the Coder or Hacker discipline paths. |
Enhancement Branch:
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Hyper-Sprint (level 1)
Hyper-Speed (level 25, Hyper-Dodge 25)
These abilities are essentially movement enhancements that allow you to quickly traverse large areas or escape bad situations. Hyper-Speed will stack with Hyper-Sprint if you really need to get somewhere quickly. |
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Hyper-Jump (level 10)
This ability allows you to jump incredible distances. It is very useful for reaching remote areas or evading enemies. |
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Hyper-Jump Beta (Pre-order Only)
This is a special variation on Hyper-Jump that will only be available on launch to those who've pre-ordered the game. It improves on the first ability, allowing you to jump even greater distances and heights. Plus, it takes up none of your memory capacity, allowing you to include more abilities in your loadout. |
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Hyper-Dodge (Hyper-Jump 15)
Hyper-Dodge increases your skill in dodging ranged attacks. This is priceless if you think you might get shot at on a regular basis. |
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Hyper-Strength (Hyper-Speed 35)
This ability allows you to hit harder and thus cause more damage. Also, you may find things in the Matrix that can’t be lifted unless you have this ability. |
Focus Branch:
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Concentration (level 1)
This ability is absolutely essential for Hackers and anyone who uses abilities that can be interrupted if they take damage. The higher the Concentration ability is raised the less chance you’ll have of failure. |
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Detection (level1, Concentration)
This ability lets you use the Concealment Countermeasure tool to flush out anyone hiding around you. It gives you a chance to locate enemies whether they are sneaking or invisible, and negate their opportunity for a sneak attack. |
Centering Branch:
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Consistent Technique (level 5)
This ability makes your Interlock scores more consistent, giving you a much clearer idea of how you’ll fare in a fight. This ability is extremely useful for combat-oriented characters, along with Detect Vulnerabilities and Energized Attacks. |
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Empty Mind (level 8, Consistent Technique)
With this ability loaded, you can maintain an almost Zen like calm during combat. This gives you the edge in that you don’t leave yourself as vulnerable in Interlock. |
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Calm Mind, Calm Body (level 8, Consistent Technique)
This ability grants a boost to the rate of Health and Inner Strength regeneration while resting. |
Finesse Combat Branch:
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Detect Vulnerabilities (level 1)
As you learn more about the Matrix you’ll find that like any program, it is full of patterns. This ability improves your chance to be able to spot the patterns and weaknesses in your opponent’s attacks, and then exploit them. If you do not exploit your opponent’s weaknesses, you can be sure that he will exploit yours. This ability is extremely useful for combat-oriented characters, along with Consistent Technique and Energized Attacks. |
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Precise Blow (level 8, Detect Vulnerabilities)
This ability creates an entirely new group of tactical combat icons that can be used on the weaknesses you find with Detect Vulnerabilities. If you choose them correctly you’ll have an increased chance of hitting. |
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Punishing Blows (level 12, Precise Blow)
This ability allows you to do additional critical damage when you attack your opponent’s exposed weaknesses. |
Brute Force Branch:
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Cheap Shot (level 1)
This is an ability that allows you to make an unexpected (and not very nice) attack on your opponent, usually with an increased chance of hitting because the enemy is shocked at your audacity. |
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Head Butt (level 1, Cheap Shot)
Use this move to do some damage and leave your opponent a little dazed. You’ll need to load out Cheap Shot before you can load this ability. |
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Ignore Pain (level 1, Head Butt)
This ability allows you to shrug off the pain of your wounds and continue fighting longer than normal. |
Fierce Combat Branch:
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Adrenaline Booster (level 5)
This ability stacks with Detect Vulnerabilities to help you sense and take advantage of more of your opponent’s weaknesses and do more damage while attacking. |
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Energized Attacks (level 8, Adrenaline Booster)
This ability replaces your normal combat tactical icons with three new ones. They do more damage, but their use will drain your energy. This ability is extremely useful for combat-oriented characters, along with Consistent Technique and Detect Vulnerabilities. |
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Power Shot (Level 12, Energized Attacks)
Although this ability does slightly less damage than a normal attack, it will regenerate some of your Inner Strength, which is handy in combination with Energized Attacks. |
Looking Forward:
Awakened and its many underlying abilities are the foundational skills of every character in the Matrix. Although these are invaluable to the lower level player, they can also be very useful for a higher level, more specialized character in search of a way to round out other capabilities.
For example, a player may have specialized as a Patcher (essentially a healing character), but would like to be able to hold his own in combat. Although the Patcher doesn’t have a great deal of skill in combat, taking a few Awakened abilities such as Cheap Shot or Head Butt may give him the edge that is needed to survive.
In addition, certain abilities combine well with abilities in other disciplines, such as Evade Combat, which stacks with the Hacker’s Gaussian Blur 1.0 and is buffed by the Team Medic’s Resist Combat 1.0.
Minimum Level: 1 (for basic abilities – some in branches have further requirements)
Hints and Tips:
The term Awakened applies both to one’s starting discipline and its core ability, like Hyper-Jump and Hyper-Dodge. The Awakened ability influences both your overall combat effectiveness and your ability to deflect hostile viruses. It should be the first thing you increase each time you level up.
Combat-oriented characters would do well to get the Detect Vulnerabilities ability as soon as possible, as taking advantage of an opponent’s weaknesses in Interlock combat will frequently give you the edge you need to win.
Hyper-Jump is an extremely handy ability. Need to get to the other side of an apartment complex quickly? Stuck in a group of enemies and low on health? See a tempting Data Node at the top of a building? Hyper-Jump is extremely useful in all of these situations. Not to mention… it’s just very cool to find yourself sailing through the air for long distances.
Posted by Errorcode & Skweek
