Stealth runs aka Focus farming

[Darzenis]

Recently I've started to farm for focus and right off the bat I started to hate Draco for its repetitiveness and the fact that I can't play for ship in there. The next best thing for me seemed stealth runs in Exterminations on Ceres and I kind of started to like it until I noticed that they spawn in close dense clumps (about 10 in one spot) right at the first tile.

Being a natural klutz I get one kill (while being invisible via Ash's skill) and the whole crowd starts to notice or I pick on at the furthest side and they also notice that. I've watched a ton of videos about the subject and all of them told to "play smart". Now I may be an idiot for that matter but I don't get it. They showed that although the enemy noticed them killing another enemy they didn't rush to the alarm. In my case I may as well be cloaked like Harry Potter but as soon as they notice me pick someone off it's straight to the sirens and then the run is pretty much screwed.

In that 12 second window that I have to quickly pick off the ones at the sides and to calculate if they won't notice me and also to know where to retreat and not run into anyone is quite frankly beyond me. I seriously don't get it how you people do it.

I get about 500-2000 focus per run and at this rate my grand children will get to somewhat enjoy the focus system before me. So, any suggestions, tricks or supper dark secrets are appreciated!

TL;DR: Plz halp, i n00b! Cant git gud, no fucuz.

[Gelkor]

I don't know about Ash, but I do it with Ivara.  Sleeping enemies can't become alerted.

[Gelkor]

13 minutes ago, Darzenis said:

Under certain (personal) circumstances I can not use Ivara. And Loki is kind of not my type. I mean...we tried but it just didn't work out. Ash understands me better.

Only other advice is primed reach orthos prime, start swinging as you approach enemies in stealth, it's massive reach will stealth kill many of them instantly without triggering a stealth take-down animation, allowing you to kill many enemies in one swing, thereby bypassing alerting them.

In the end, you won't be able to do perfect stealth runs because enemies become alerted when they see someone die, even if they didn't see what did it.

Keep track of your minimap, enemy arrow markers come in 3 varieties: Empty, partially filled, or filled.

Empty means they are unaware and will give a stealth kill bonus.  Partially filled means they are cautious, they will not trigger stealth kill bonus but will not raise the alarm, they will eventually return to unaware if left alone.  Filled means they are alerted, will activate alarms, and will actively search for you, they will return to cautious if left alone long enough, and eventually unaware.  

Sometimes after killing a whole group one enemy will be left cautious (partially filled) so I leave it alone and move on to come back when he's in a better mood, as I'd rather backtrack than lose my 5x combo multiplier. 

Edited May 18, 2016 by Gelkor

[Darzenis]

Under certain (personal) circumstances I can not use Ivara. And Loki is kind of not my type. I mean...we tried but it just didn't work out. Ash understands me better.

[Darzenis]

Thanks! I didn't know the arrow concept. Will be sure to use that.

[DatDarkOne]

Another option you can use is a Bow as Primary weapon.  Bows have the added benefit of punch thru, and can kill multiple enemies that are in a line with just one charged shot.  Good luck and happy hunting.  :D  

[AXCrusnik]

3 hours ago, DatDarkOne said:

Another option you can use is a Bow as Primary weapon.  Bows have the added benefit of punch thru, and can kill multiple enemies that are in a line with just one charged shot.  Good luck and happy hunting.  :D  

Just sayin, I stopped using bows for stealth runs, because the body that ragdolls from getting shot can alert enemies mid flight.

Using Ash for stealth runs... there's not much advice I can give other than be patient and, of course, play smart. You can go invisible and bypass a clustered group of enemies to kill off ones that are less likely to cause suspicion.

Edited May 19, 2016 by AXCrusnik

[Wopel]

14 hours ago, Darzenis said:

Under certain (personal) circumstances I can not use Ivara. And Loki is kind of not my type. I mean...we tried but it just didn't work out. Ash understands me better.

It sounds like you can't play the way you may need to for the desired results. You may just have to accept that.

Also, you do realize that when people talk about these great affinity gain numbers 1) they are using a booster 2) it isn't every run. Some runs are only 50+ enemies and you will be lucky to hit 9k gains if you run perfectly. Others are 100+ and those are the ones that pay out well.