Tactics and Strategies for successful Worms 2 (some can be used in other Worms games as well) players, divided into three
groups: Dark side, Light Side and Neutral. Choose your destiny, worm!
Light Side Tactics
Light side include friendly Worms players who stay in range of their
opponent, and play the game the way it was meant to be. Most people
play it light.
Basic and Advanced Ninjarope tactics
Some people tend to try to get over
an obstacle in the terrain by attaching the rope, reeling in, and then
pressing and holding down either of the up or down key. That makes the
worm bounce from one side to the other in a very high speed. After that
they try to get their worm over the obstacle. It MAY work. But it takes
time. Try this way of reaching over the terrain instead: Attach the rope
and hold either of the arrow keys down, now, the worm bounce up in the air.
When the worm is in the air, moving upward, extend the rope until the worm
starts to fall down again, then you decrease the length of the rope. This is
a bit hard to explain but, if it works now the worm should have gained
extra speed and if you stop holding the arrowkey down and extend the rope, the worm
will now flip over all the way to the other side of the terrain you
attached the rope on.
Setting mines off with the ninjarope and swinging,
detaching, and then attach again while in the air, are also very basic
tactics which are recommended to learn to use.
The "Indian rope trick"
is a nice and quite useable trick aswell. Choose Bazooka or any other weapon that you can aim straight down with, and then simply do so - aim straight down.
Now press backspace to jump up and quickly press F8 to choose ninjarope and Space to attach the rope while in the air,
now directly press up to extend the rope and you can advance through the landscape to either side.
I also have some tricks for you ropegamers, who need to get from one place to another in the terrain fast. The
first: Attach the rope in the ceiling and start swinging from one side to the other. If you've got the feeling
for ninjarope, you probably know how to get some speed on it. Now, detach the rope when your worm is at its fastest
moment and it will fly away in a direction depending on where you released the rope, moving very fast. The second move
is performed like this: Attach the rope anywhere, depending on where you want your worm to be throwed. Hold down either of the
arrow keys, the one that suits the situation best. Now this requires concentration, exactly after when your worm bounce on the ground/wall
press space to detach. If done right, the worm will fly away in very fast speed, free for you to attach your rope somewhere else.
And just one more, final, rope-tactic. Personally I don't use this, I think it's an unsportsmanlike act, but indeed it is mighty. When performed
right, that is. Well, to the point. Here's how ye should do it: Can only be done when a worm stands close to a deadly drop into the water. And with advantage when
ninjaropes are unlimited. Attach the rope in the ceiling above an enemy worm. Swing very gently and detach from the rope at the right moment, so your
worm knocks the other down in the water. As with all other ninja tactics, this needs training and it's also quite hard to explain how to perform it. but, when
you know how to do it right (without throwing your own into the water), it will give you a great advantage, especially in 1 on 1 games, since you still have your
turn left to do something more. I use this move seldom as said, I think it's a bit lame, almost cheating. It stinks Dark Side too. I
prefer to play Worms 2 the fair way. This action can also be done with having the parachute selected, so you can glide in air to safety afterwards.
Walking mines off
Daring worms can also set off mines by walking close to them
and then jumping away to safety. This is dangerous and only recommended
if you don't have any ninja ropes left or need them for something else. This ONLY
works if mine has random or 3-6 second fuse, like mines not laid by worms have.
The many uses of the Shotgun
The shotgun is much more than just a
little harmless gun. Here are some of the many ways of using it:
Do 50 damage to a close worm by hitting good with both shots.
Finish off a 25- health worm.
Shoot a worm into the drink.
Shoot the terrain so your worm can be able to move eg. up a cliff edge.
Shoot a hole in the wall and make a safer place for your worm to be in.
Shoot a crate near an enemy worm to protect that one from taking it, and
maybe even do damage caused by the explosion or the fire.
Shoot mines in effort to clear your path or shoot them on enemies to do
damage.
1. Blowtorch your worm towards the cavity that the enemy worm is hiding in,
but stop the blowtorch exactly so that one shotgun shot wont be enough for getting access to
your worm, standing in the blowtorch tunnel created.
2. Retreat your worm.
3. Hopefully your enemy
will do something stupid, like trying to shoot you with the handgun, now. Don't care.
4. When it's
your turn again, drop a mine close to the end of the blowtorched tunnel.
5. Again, count on the enemy to do something foolish,
and only thinking that the mine you dropped was just so his worm would not be able to get there.
6. Now, simply attach a
ninjarope and trigger the mine! Stay safe from the mine and when it explodes, the explosion will provide you access to the cave first, doing whatever you want to
that poor little darksider stucked in there!
Dark Side Tactics
Dark siders are badass people who dig themselves down in the ground, and
then starts throwing airstrikes on their enemies and so on. Teleporting
to well protected places is also a common move of a dark sider, as well
as just protecting themselves from enemy fire.
Dark side Hide
Hiding away includes teleporting away and blowtorching in purpose
of protecting worms. When your worm is in safety, just wait and see what
happens and maybe throw a chanceshot on the enemy. This works best late
in the round and sometimes you may win just by standing higher than the
enemy worms and therefore, not drowning when the water rises.
Girder shelter
Using girders to protect worms is an old dark side tacic. Useful for
bouncing off grenades, but just a well aimed bazooka shot will make the girder
useless.
Drilling or blowtorching worms down the drink
If an enemy worm is standing close to water, darksiders can use the pneumatic drill if their worm
is standing over the worm, or the blowtorch if on the side, to make them drown. Foolish? Why not use dragonpunch or something? Hey,
darksiders can't spell to such things! They must use their old blowtorch or drill, that's part of the darkside curse!
Some darksiders even use the digging tool duo to finish off, or just to irritate their enemies...
Neutral Tactics
Misc hints for both dark and light players:
Some tips for winners:
Don't waste Ninja ropes.
Always try to attach your ninja rope
somewhere else when you can't extend it anymore. Having a few
ninja ropes left late in the round, is often the key to winning
Don't ninjarope-blow mines if you don't need too.
You may be unlucky
and set off a 0 sec:er. Save the mines instead and use them to hurt your
enemies. Although I believe setting off mines with ninjarope is recommended when
one or more of your worm may risk to fall down and set them off in a worse way.
Don't waste your time.
Time is money, or in this case, maybe
health. Think of something smart to do, and do it fast, especially if you have
a long ninjaroping ahead of you to get to the place you want. Why all
this stress? I'll tell you, because if you have short time left, you
will most certainly do mistakes, which may even end in suicide for your
worm.
Stay Cool.
Staying calm is one important ability a good wormer owns.
This will hopefully prevent you from doing mistakes and messing things
up.
Don't show your fantastic talents at important stages of the game.
If you want to win, do not show how good you are, for example, to blow
worms in the water with the bazooka, when your opponent only has one worm
left close to the water. If you're not a expert at a such a move, trying that
will most certainly end in your opponents favor, so he/she can finsh you off
afterwards. Which is, not good. Instead, use the dragon punch and win.
Don't take crates if you don't need to.
If booby trapped crates is
on (like in a league game) don't take any crates if you stand in range of
an enemy worm and can do something to that one. Booby trapped crates will,
as you may be familiar with, do damage and worst off all, end your turn. Only
take crates if you have nothing else to do and stand safe from your enemy. Also,
approach crates by walking to it very slowly bit by bit, not for example by swinging
towards it with a ninjarope. That will make the explosion go off closer to the worm, and it
will be sent up in the air in high speed. Not good.
Damaging factors
It's not only weapons who damage worms, many more things can make a worm's life
a painful experience, and noting these is useful when thinking your strategies over:
Mines I believe I've alredy written how to handle these in other
sections of this site, but it's only one more thing, triggered dud mines CAN
actually be blown by doing a lot of damage to them, eg. by doing the "all-cluster-
go-off-at-one-place"-trick on them. That's it. Note: Mines that are already on the landscape when
you start to play, *always* have random fuse.
Tombstones When a worm dies, a tombstone pops up at the place and it starts "dancing"
in a most funny way. As you might have experienced before, the dance sometimes become more sluggish
after some time. That's a clear sign that many explosions have gone off close to it, it has been damaged.
If enough more damage is inflicted, the stone will explode in a small explosion of it's own, doing about 30 points of
damage max.
Water Ok. The water doesn't hurt worms. It kills them. Which is far more better, and should be used
with enemies as much as possible.
Ordinary Weapon and Health crates Usual non-booby crates and health crates will blow up and spread fire around them if an
explosion goes off close enough.
Booby trapped crates Booby trap crates can really be irritating... and yet a matter of pleasure. That depends on if
it's you or your opponent's crate which blow up. Sometimes the explosion isn't enough, a sheep jumps out and makes it even more
pain/pleasur-ful.
Fall Damage Watch out when jumping over gaps or falling down precipices, if you fall too
long, your turn will end and your worm will be damaged lightly. Have the bungeerope or the parachute selected to be on the safe side.
Oil drums Oil drums appear on some single player levels and can be choosed to
appear instead of mines in ordinary games. Oil drums blow up if an explosion goes off close to them or if fire
heats them up enough (The color of the drum will get light).
Surrendered Worms Worms who have surrendered due to network problems or another other cause will still be on the terrain, waving their small white flags. If they get damaged enough and their health reaches zero, they will blow themselves up like they do when they die ordinary, and will cause up to 30 points of damage.
Worms who die When worms no longer have any health points left, they will, as you may be familiar with, fall down on the ground and blow themselves in a small explosion causing a maximum of 30 pts of damage.
Hide and Win
Some people may claim that this is a darkside tactic, but I think it suits any
form of play. Ok, here we go: In a multiplayer game, with three or more players, I
have come up with a tactic that I believe really works. I have tested it in all
major Worms games and with about the same result. The very easy way of doing it
is simply to teleport or in any other way, move one of your worm to a place as far away
and as protected as possible. Sometimes one of your worm may alredy be at such a place in the
beginning, that's only good, it will save you the turn when you should do it. However, now don't
care about that worm, simply play with your other at the main battle field. Hopefully, your enemies
will not care about that worm as it's too much work trying to get to it, so, they will only care
about the worms somewhat near them. So, in most cases, after
some turns, you will notice that you will be in the lead, with a full health worm! If needed, get
it into action too now. This tactic works best if no other player attempt to do the same, and, it MAY also
work in a two player game, but I wont assure anything there.
Kill or Damage?
In MOST cases it's much better to kill an enemy worm instead of damaging
another. Four worms with health 1 is ofcourse much better than one with 4.
The rare moments when damaging should be considered is when eg. two enemy worms
are at one place and one of them needs to be hurt a little, so you can kill both
at one time afterwards with a weapon that affect a wide area. But, as said, these
situations are very rare and killing should really be considered.
Do 50 damage to a close worm by hitting good with both shots.
