The Players' Guide to the Cities/User Interface/Help Window
The Help Window may be opened by selecting "Help" from the Menu Window.
This window provides a quick reference for almost everything in the game with topics ranging from combat to super group base construction. Select a general topic from the tabs at the top of the window. On the left side of the window you will see a list of terms that apply to that topic. Selecting any of these terms will display a more detailed explanation of the term on the right side of the window.
The contents of the Help window appear below. The text changes somewhat between Heroes and Villains, though the differences are minor. The Hero version is used in this article. Note: Much of this information is out of date. It is provided for reference purposes.
Combat
Bases
Contacts
Powers
Rewards
Social
User
Arena
Bettle Terminal User Interface
On the upper level of the Arena lobby are located the Battle Terminals. These Terminals are where users can set up or join Arena Events. To start up a Battle Terminal, simply get close to it and left click on it.
Weight Classes
Strawweight: Levels 1 to 5
Flyweight: Levels 6 to 11
Bantamweight: Levels 12 to 13
Featherweight: Levels 14 to 21
Lightweight: Levels 22 to 26
Welterweight: Levels 27 to 31
Middleweight: Levels 32 to 37
Cruiserweight: Levels 38 to 40
Heavyweight: Levels 41 to 46
Super Heavyweight: Levels 47 to 50
Finding a Match
You can sort through the matches by using the tabs at the top of the Match Selection screen. These tabs are as follows:
All: Shows you events in every category.
Solo: Shows you events that are 'every Hero for themselves' battles.
Team: Shows you events that are team on team battles.
Supergroup: Shows you events that are tailored for Supergroups.
Tournament: Shows you events that are sanctioned Tournaments, with prizes at stake.
The Drop Down dialog in the upper left is a filter, allowing you to only show events that fit a specific criteria.
To select your match, use the scroll bar on the right hand side of the window to find an acceptable match, then highlight the match you want to join by left clicking on it, then click the Join Match button.
Setting up an Event
You can create your own match by selecting Create Event on the first screen of the Battle Terminal. Here you can set up the rules of the Event, and launch the event when all the players are ready.
You can choose how many Players the match will be for, as well has how many different Teams there will be. You can set up a specific Time Limit, or set up a number of defeats required to end the Match.
If you click the Sanctioned button, then you will severly limit the options you can change, as the event will now count towards your overall Arena Rating.
You must List Event in order for other players to join it. Once it is listed, you can then signal if you are Ready to play (once all other characters who have entered signal they are Ready, the Event Creator can signal they are Ready and begin the event.
Sides
In multi-team matches, your Sides are determined by what color team you are on. If you want to be on the same Side as someone else, change your color to match theirs.
Observer Mode
If an Event has already begun (or you are defeated by your opponent in a Last Man Standing event before the end) you can turn into an Observer camera and watch the action. While in this mode you are invulnerable, intangible, and can not interact with the participant in any way (including trading or chatting).
Ground Rules
Tactical Start: Starting in this mode will start all characters at 0 Endurance, and are not able to use any Inspirations throughout the course of the event.
Max Recovery: Characters are given an incredibly high regeneration rate, meaning Endurance use is no longer a problem.
No Travel Powers: Players are limited in how fast they can run and how high they can jump. Characters can not use Fly or Hover (or powers that mimic those effects). Characters can not use Teleport (except for powers that Teleport your enemies). The other effects of these powers (such as any Defensive boosts) will be in effect if the power is turned on while this rule is active.
No Stealth Powers: Powers that allow an increase to a Character's Stealth have the Stealth portion of the power disabled. You will still recieve other benefits of the power, such as any Defense boost.
No Pool Powers: Disallows the use of any Pool powers players may have on their character.
Invite Only: Other characters in the event must be invited into it by the Event Creator.
Gladiators
A Gladiator Match is a special kind of arena battle where each player commands a host of creatures. These creatures are unlocked by collecting Gladiator Badges, displayed on the Gladiator tab of the Badge menu. You may choose your team of gladiators by selecting the "My Gladiators" button in the Arena Kiosk menu or with the command "/gladiators". All gladiators you have unlocked are listed along with their point costs. To build your team, select any gladiator from your list using the radio buttons next to it. The cost of that creature is automatically subtracted from your total points. You can have up to 3 creatures of the same type and cannot exceed the 1000 point limit. When you are done, select "OK" or "Apply". The game will remember your selections, and these gladiators will be your team for any Gladiator Match. You can return to the Gladiator screen and change your team selections at any time outside an arena battle.
To start a Gladiator Match, go to Create Event and choose the Gladiator or Team Gladiator. Gladiator matches pits your team against all others. Team Gladiator allows teams of two players to field their gladiators against other teams.
Once the match starts, your gladiators do all the fighting for you. You are untargetable and unable to use any of your own powers. You can command your team using the same controls the Mastermind uses to command his minions.
PvP
Player versus Player Combat
Player versus Player combat is when two or more players engage in combat with one another. Currently this is only available in the Arena in Paragon City. While conducting PvP combat, certain powers will have different effects. These effects are against other Player Characters only, and will not effect the normal Villains in City of Heroes.
General Changes
There are a few overall changes that effect players and their powers which are new. Status Effect powers now have a suppression on them, preventing 'Chain Holds' from happening. If a player is effected by a Status Effect in PvP, when that effects duration ends, the player will be immune to that effect for a set period. When the Immunity period ends, Status Effects act normally.
De-Toggle Effects:Several powers now have a chance of turning off one or more Toggle powers on a target.
Powers which shut off a single Toggle:
Inherent: Brawl
Force Field: Force Bolt
Kinetics: Repel
Powers which have a chance of shutting off more than one Toggle:
Storm Summoning: Thunder Clap
Storm Summoning: Lightning Storm
Force Field: Repulsion Field
Force Field: Repulsion Bomb
Peacebringer: White Dwarf Strike
Warshade: Black Dwarf Strike
Blaster: Devices: Trip Mine
Blaster: Devices: Time Bomb
Blaster: Energy Manipulation: Energy Punch
Blaster: Energy Manipulation: Bone Smasher
Blaster: Electrical Manipulation: Charged Brawl
Blaster: Electrical Manipulation: Havok Punch
Blaster: Fire Manipulation: Fire Sword
Blaster: Fire Manipulation: Fire Sword Circle
Blaster: Ice Manipulation: Frozen Fists
Blaster: Ice Manipulation: Ice Sword
Stealth: Stealth, Perception and Invisibility powers now effect the distance at which opponents (and their visual effects) are drawn. If an opponent moves out of your visual range, you will lose targetting on them as well. Note that many powers have been upgraded to add in a bonus to perception range to help offset the strength of Stealth powers.
Taunt: Taunting an opponent in PvP will result in a Taunted message upon activation of any offensive power and automatic Target Change to the Taunter if he is still within range. If you are using a Buff or Healing ability and your targeet is friendly, that power will work normally and not result in a Taunted message.
Terrorize: Terror will cause effected players to stand cowering, unable to fight back for the duration of the effect. If they are damaged, however, they may retaliate with a single attack, or attempt to flee for several seconds before the Terrorize once again freezes them in place.
Confusion: Confuse effects will cause all entities to appear friendly to the Confused target. Any use of Area Effect abilities will effect friend and foe alike, as you cannot tell the difference. Any activation of a targetted power has a chance of changing targets to the next available target instead of your current target.
Control Effects Nearly all Control Effects (Stun, Mez, Immobilize, Terrorize, Hold) have reduced duration when used in PvP. Additionally, these effects are subject to a 'Suppression' effect, which will prevent targets from being 'controlled' repeatedly. The suppression period varies based upoin the ability used and is generally much shorter duration that the initial Control Effect.
Inherent Powers
Brawl now has a slight chance of shutting down 'Toggle Powers' on the target. This can be used to help break through a tankers Defenses, shut down a Blasters Flight or even shut down a Scrappers Regeneration.
Blaster Powers
A portion of all Blasters attacks are unresistable in PvP. This means that the damage ignores whatever resistance the target has.
Controller Powers
Status Effect powers now have a suppression on them, preventing 'Chain Holds' from happening. If a player is effected by a Status Effect in PvP, when that effects duration ends, the player will be immune to that effect for a set period. When the Immunity period ends, Status Effects act normally.
Defender Powers
Defenders Debuff powers are not resistable in PvP.
Scrapper Powers
Scrappers Critical Hit effects are not resistable in PvP.
Power Changes- Tanker
The Inherent Taunt aspect of Tankers attack powers do not effect other players in PvP. Only active Taunts will force players attention to a tanker. Additionally, Taunt has a considerably shorter duration in PvP.
Power Changes- Kheldian
There are no changes specific to the Kheldian Peacebringer or Warshade for PvP.
Invention System
Salvage
There are two types of salvage dropped; base salvage and invention salvage. Base salvage is used for your Supergroups' base and invention salvage is used to make enhancements. Base Salvage does not count toward your inventory size. Personal Storage Lockers will hold your Invention Salvage and are located around Paragon City. Base Storage Objects will hold Base Salvage only. The two types of invention salvage drops are magic and technology.
There are also different rarities of invention salvage dropped: common, uncommon and rare. These will determine how effective your enhancement will be, different enhancements use different rarities of invention salvage. You can convert Invention Salvage into Base Salvage by clicking on 'Convert' on any Workbench.
Inventing Enhancements
You will need two or three things to craft an enhancement: a Workbench, usage fee, invention salvage and, depending on the rarity, a recipe.
When at a Workbench, click on the Workbench to view the list of recipes.
Pressing the >> button will show what salvage is needed to make this enhancement. When you have decided what enhancement you want to create, press the Create button and it drop into in your enhancement tray.
If you don't have any room in your enhancement tray, you won't be able to create that enhancement.
An advantage to using the uncommon and rare enhancements is that even though their regular bonus is lower compared to regular crafted enhancements when it comes to effectiveness, they have multiple effects.
Recipes
Recipes will drop along with salvage. These recipes can be used only once, and are used along with the uncommon and rare salvage. The level of the recipe will be based on the level of the critter it drops from. As you use Common Recipes, you can acquire special badges that allow you to 'memorize' those Recipes.
Enhancement Sets
The uncommon and rare crafted enhancements slot into powersets, which give you additional permanent benefits. When there are three or more enhancements from the same set in a power, you get an overall bonus to your character. These power sets can be as small as three enhancements, or as many as six. When slotting into a powerset, you can only put one of each type of enhancement from the set into the power.
Keep in mind that these bonuses apply to your character at all times; and apply to all of your powers not just the one you have it slotted in. You do not need to have the power active in order to get the bonus.
Consignment Houses
Note: The Consignment Houses section appears in Hero Help only
These are places that you can visit to buy or sell your invention salvage and recipes. Invented enhancements will also be available to you to buy or sell. Wentworth's Fine Consignments are located in Atlas Park, Kings Row, Steel Canyon, and Talos Island. See the Wentworth Information Representative for more information on how to use the consignment house.
The Black Market
Note: The Black Market section appears in Villain Help only
These are places that you can visit to buy or sell your invention salvage and recipes. Invented enhancements can also be available for you to buy or sell. The Black Market is found in Mercy Island, Cap au Diable, Sharkhead, and St. Martial. See 'the guy who looks like he knows something' for more information on how the Black Market works.
Flashback System
Ouroboros
You can reach Ouroboros via an Ouroboros Portal as long as you are level 25 or higher. You will receive the power to create Ouroboros Portals by being exposed to time travel either through completing certain missions or earning particular badges but you may enter Ouroboros via your own portals or the portals of others.
Within Ouroboros you can learn more about time travel and also use crystal pillars to Flashback to your past to replay past story arcs and other notable missions.
Flashback
Visit the Aspect of the Pillar crystals within Ouroboros to activate Flashback. All the missions available to you will be listed, grouped by level. Any story arc or mission you have already played will have a gold star in front of its name and the name will be in gold and everything else will be in white. Clicking on a name will show you the contact and the introduction to the mission. If you accept the mission you'll be taken to the Challenge Settings page. Once you've chosen your Challenge Settings the Flashback is underway! Clicking on the big crystal will always transport you to the mission contact.
Once you're in Flashback mode you can't invite anyone to your team and if team members leave the team they can't rejoin, so it's best to get any teammates invited before you set up the Flashback. While you're in Flashback mode your other contacts are unavailable to you so if you want to stock up on Inspirations, visit Mender Roebuck in Ouroboros.
Challenge Settings
You can increase the difficulty of Flashbacks and Task Forces by selecting Challenge Settings. By customizing these settings you can add a time limit, limit the number of allowed defeats, disable certain powers, weaken yourselves, strengthen the enemies, disable the Enhancements in your powers or prevent the use of Inspirations - in whatever combination you feel daring enough to try. Succeeding Challenges provides rewards (except on Flashback for single missions) depending on the settings and the level of the Story Arc or Task Force. Failing a Challenge does not end the mission, it simply forfeits the reward. At the end of the Story Arc a summary page shows you how you fared.
On the Challenge Settings page you can select the Gold, Silver or Bronze time limit (or leave the default of no limit). You can select from unlimited lives, or from zero to 5 defeats permitted during the Story Arc. You can disable Temporary Powers, Ancillary/Patron Powers, Travel Powers (which will prevent all travel-like effects including Speed Boost) or everything except for your Archetype Primary and Secondary powers. You can debuff yourself and any teammates, which will weaken your damage and make you more susceptible to enemy status effects. You can buff the enemies on mission maps, which will strengthen their damage (among other things). You can disable Enhancements, which will make all your powers perform as if you had no Enhancements slotted, including disabling any Invention Set Bonuses or similar things. Lastly, you can prevent Inspirations from being used.
Each of these categories works independently and they can all be turned on at once.
Day Jobs
About Day Jobs
Day Jobs reward your characters even when they aren't online. Day Jobs give your character additional badges, temporary powers and benefits when they log back in. They're also a great way to fill in gaps in a character's back-story and history. You can earn Day Job benefits by logging in, after logging out for a period of time, at any Day Job location.
Below is a list of some of the Day Jobs available for heroes:
| Day Job Name | Location to Logout |
| City Offical | City Hall (Atlas Park) |
| Law Enforcer | Police Station |
| Commuter | Train Stations |
| Shop Keeper | Store Lobbies |
| Intern | Portal Corp Lobbies |
| Caregiver | Hospital Lobbies |
| Professor | Inside Universities |
| Midnighter | Inside Midnighter's Club |
| Banker | Inside a Vault |
| Clubber | Pocket D |
| Fashion Designer | Tailor Lobbies |
| Mortician | Graveyards |
Each Day Job has a benefit associated with it; try out several Day Jobs to find the ones that fit your character. Explore Paragon City to uncover many more Day Jobs and the benefits they grant. You can learn more about Day Jobs by visiting the Day Job Recruiters in Atlas Park and Galaxy City.
Note: The following are the day jobs for Villains
| Day Job Name | Location to Logout |
| Demagogue | Arachnos Building (Port Oakes) |
| Arachnos Agent | Arachnos Bases |
| Pilot | Near Black Helicopters |
| Smuggler | Ferry Docks |
| Crey Employee | Crey Industries Building in Nerva |
| Painspecialist | Hospital Lobbies |
| Professor | Inside Universities |
| Midnighter | Inside Midnighter's Club |
| Thief | Inside a Vault |
| Clubber | Pocket D |
| Fashion Designer | Tailor Lobbies |
| Mortician | Graveyards |
Day Job Benefits
Day Jobs allow players to log out at a specific location, like a hospital or vault, and when they return to play they will gain a benefit of some kind. All of the benefits, other than badges and accolades, are temporary or have a finite amount of uses. However, logging out in the same area again will replenish the timer or number of uses left on a power. Most benefits take 10 days of logged out time to reach the maximum benefit from the rewards granted from Day Jobs. However, obtaining badges and accolades can not only improve the rate at which you gain additional time on your Day Job powers, but they can also increase the potency of them!
Day Job Badges
If a character is logged out (consecutively or non-consecutively) for a total of 21 days they will earn the badge associated with that Day Job. This will increase the rate at which the player gains the maximum number of uses, achieves maximum duration of the power, or it will increase the potency of the reward granted on the temporary powers awarded by Day Jobs.
Day Job Accolades
An Accolade is obtained by earning two Day Job badges that work in conjunction with one another. There are a large number of Day Job accolades to unlock which grant additional bonuses on top of those normally granted by your Day Jobs. These Accolades grant a character powers, which they can earn additional charges or usage time for, by logging off in either of the areas associated with the Accolade.
Below is a list of some, but not all, of the Day Job Accolades:
| Accolade Name | Day Job #1 | Day Job #2 |
| Police Chief | Law Enforcer | City Official |
| Security Chief | Law Enforcer | Banker |
| Scientist | Professor | Intern |
| Physician | Professor | Caregiver |
| Alchemist | Caregiver | Midnighter |
Once your character obtains a Day Job badge, check your list of Accolades for hints on what Day Jobs to earn next to earn your accolade.
Note: The following are accolades for Villains
| Accolade Name | Day Job #1 | Day Job #2 |
| Web Weaver | Arachnos Agent | Demagogue |
| Black Ops | Arachnos Agent | Thief |
| Crey Scientist | Pain Specialist | Crey Employee |
| Physician | Professor | Pain Specialist |
| Alchemist | Pain Specialist | Midnighter |
On Patrol
A character is considered to be “On Patrol” when they log out. The character will earn 1 bar of +50%% experience (when defeating enemies) for every 24 hours they are logged out. A player can earn up to 10 bars of +50%% experience this way. Periods of bonus experience are shown as a blue portion of your experience bar. One thing to note is that if a player has any experience debt, the debt will be removed first before any bonus experience is applied.
If your character has a number of bars of bonus experience that exceeds the number of experience bars you need to level up, then the +50%% experience bonus period will carry over to the next security/threat level.
Merit Rewards
Earning Merits
A character earns a number of Merit Rewards each time they complete a difficult or time consuming task. The following tasks grant Merit Rewards: Story Arcs, Task Forces, Trials, Raids and Giant Monster encounters. The number of Merits earned is relative to the average completion time for that task.
Tasks that require more man power and time will grant more Merit Rewards upon completion. Taskforces/Strikeforces and Trials grant the greatest number of Merit Rewards per hour while Story Arcs grant a lesser amount.
Merit Rewards and Tasks
Different tasks handle how they grant a player Merit Rewards differently. Taskforces, Trials and Raids offer greater rewards for the time involved to complete them, but completing the same task within 24 hours will reduce the number of Merits that the task would normally grant.
Story Arcs will award the player with Merit Rewards, but they offer significantly reduced rewards for the time involved to complete them. They, however, do not have the number of Merits awarded reduced if they’re completed multiple times within 24 hours.
Spending Merits
Merits can be exchanged for a large variety of rewards including random Taskforce and Trial recipes, random rare salvage, Single Origin enhancements and Invention Origin enhancements. Merit Reward vendors are located within each zone in a central location.