Line #72 YMMV/CityOfHeroes


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** Nemesis is either a brilliant schemer with a hand in friggin' ''everything'', or an egotistical blowhard who keeps trying to take credit for other people's work.
3	** This extends to in-universe, with the Council leadership calling him out on it. Mind, the Council's also not above this...
4	* {{Altitis}}:
5	** With all the power and costume options, it's not unusual for one person to have 20 or more characters.
6	** Given [[strike: 573]] 672 (as of Issue 18) possible archetype/power set combinations, 20 is ''few''. This is probably the game whose players named Altoholism.
7	* AmericansHateTingle: ''City of Heroes'' gathered a devoted fanbase in North America, but never took off in South Korea, with the full game release actually being [[NoExportForYou cancelled]] there after the beta failed miserably. This unfortunately played a role in the game's eventual shutdown, as its publisher [=NCSoft=] was a South Korean company primarily concerned with their home market.
8	* BrokenBase:
9	** {{Munchkin}}s and [[TheRoleplayer roleplayers]] each look down on each other as the nerdier way to play the game.
10	** Ironic, considering that a small portion of the fanbase consider themselves both, and come up with long, intricate storylinIes explaining why their character can now use Fire/Kin control powers.
11	* CompleteMonster:
12	** [[TheHedonist Giovanna Scaldi]] was [[FromNobodyToNightmare once a simple farmer's daughter]] in the 17th century until she discovered she possessed substantial psionic powers and evolved into something much worse. Growing bored with the life of a farm girl, Giovanna used her PsychicPowers to brainwash anyone she encountered into thinking that she was a wealthy duchess, purely so Giovanna could entertain herself with an extravagant lifestyle. Later deciding that this was not enough, Giovanna would supplement her psionic abilities with Dark Magic provided by a sorcerer named Uriel, magic which she soon put to use enslaving the entire population of Venice and forcing them to become her personal harem while committing other acts of debauchery purely for her own amusement. Later being stopped by a psychic church hero, Giovanna would have her soul put inside of a porcelain mask which would be lost to time, until her descendant Vanessa [=DeVore=] discovered it in the present. Using the Rikti War to coax Vanessa into donning the mask, Giovanna overwhelmed Vanessa's mind with her own, and used Vanessa's rewritten personality as a cypher to once again indulge in her hedonistic depravity.
13	** [[AliensAreBastards Arakhn]] is the leader of the [[EnergyBeings Nictus]], and she shows herself to be one of the cruelest of them all. Seeking a new home base for her Nictus forces in the war with the other Kheldians opposed to her monstrous ways, Arakhn would come to Earth during the time of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and make contact with the Axis powers. Arakhn would then craft a plan alongside the equally monstrous Requiem to subsume the entirety of planet Earth with Nictus forces. Helping to overthrow the 5th Column in order to gain the resources of the newly formed Council, Arakhn would begin [[PlayingWithSyringes conducting horrific experiments]] on unwitting members of other villain groups, and [[BadBoss even her own soldiers]], in order to create more warriors who bore the powers of a Nictus symbiote. Gathering up Shadow Seeds to summon her armies to Earth, Arakhn is thwarted by the heroes of Paragon City before later escaping, vowing to never stop her work until all life on Earth has been fully consumed by the Nictus.
14	** [[ThoseWackyNazis Requiem]] is the leader of the 5th Column, a Nazi villain faction dedicated to world domination, and he proves himself to be a new low even amongst them. Originally starting as a mere lapdog of UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, the man who would become Requiem would soon be merged with a Nictus, and, alongside Arakhn, begin to plot the usurpation of the entirety of planet Earth with Nictus life forms, all the while waging war against the free world. Requiem would continue with his monstrous deeds even after the 5th Column was subsumed by the Council, up until Arakhn's plan was foiled by the heroes of Paragon City. Following this, Requiem abandoned Arakhn and set a plan of his own design into motion. Bringing loyal 5th Column soldiers with him back in time, Requiem made contact with Romulus Augustus of Cimerora, and began working alongside him to conquer the entirety of the timestream with Cimeroran Warriors enhanced by 5th Column science.
15	** [[EvilGenius Lord Nemesis]], real name [[BadBoss Gerhardt Eisenstadt]], is a major antagonist in the game who is responsible for numerous events throughout the plot. Originally a [[GadgeteerGenius master tinkerer]] and a Prussian ally of the [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Confederate States of America]], he would later attack Washington, D.C., killing many people as he took over the Capitol. Once he was foiled, Nemesis settled on trying to gas the entire population of America out of spite. Decades later, Nemesis masterminds the Rikti War by sending his [[FalseFlagOperation automatons to attack the Rikti]], prompting retaliation from them and thus being responsible for the deaths of millions across the globe, all so he could swoop in to become a hero. Nemesis saw another opportunity when the Rikti invaded again, as he attempted to send a copy of his intelligence onto the Rikti Psychic Network to mind-control the Rikti population for him to conquer both worlds and live forever with an immortal legion of bodies.
16	** [[InsaneAdmiral Lord of War: Hro'Dtohz]] was originally [[FromNobodyToNightmare no more than]] an ambitious Rikti warrior before he rose to power as the leader of the Rikti Lineage of War during the Rikti War. All too eager to push for the [[KillAllHumans genocide of humanity]], years after the Rikti's first defeat, Hro'Dtohz would open a second portal to restart the invasion to finish the eradication of mankind. Upon cracks beginning to form within the Rikti ranks, Hro'Dtohz ordered any Rikti opposed to mankind's extinction to be killed on the spot [[CategoryTraitor as traitors]]. Upon learning that Nemesis was responsible for the Rikti War, Hro'Dtohz redoubled his efforts to eradicate humanity to take the truth with them to the grave. It is later revealed that Hro'Dtohz crucified the heroic leader of the Omega Team to use him as a living weapon to slaughter the very world he had sacrificed himself to protect, [[ItsAllAboutMe all to secure his power and avoid being labelled a war criminal]].
17	** [[EldritchAbomination Mot]] is an ancient god of death and decay, and one of the most dreadful deities of the Banished Pantheon. Centuries ago, in the time of the Cimerora, Mot [[MindRape psychologically broke Marcus Velarius]] and molded him into his sentinel after convincing the heroic Cimeroran that his sacrifice to get Mot's influence away from his homeland was meaningless. During the Rikti War, Mot sent his followers to the district of Paragon known as Astoria and slaughtered every man, woman, and child present as [[HumanSacrifice human sacrifices]]; the bloodbath and his influence caused it to be renamed "Dark Astoria". After fully awakening from his slumber, Mot drives numerous people to despair and suicide while [[SoulEating feasting on their souls]] to become stronger. When confronted with his old foe, the noble goddess Tielekku and her allies, Mot [[HeroKiller successfully consumed them all]], including the goddess herself, and set his sights on devouring the whole world next.
18	** [[GhastlyGhost The Praetorian Tammy Arcanus]], more commonly known as [[NightmareFetishist Diabolique]], was a [[FromNobodyToNightmare simple sorceress]] in the Praetorian Midnight Squad who had an unhealthy obsession with dark, eldritch magics and Death. Accidentally causing her own body to wither into nothing, Tammy [[{{Patricide}} murders her father]] for his failure to save her and [[YourSoulIsMine enslaves his soul]] with the [[SoulJar mystic medallion he used to anchor her soul]]. Tammy would then flee the Midnight Squad and eventually become the magical attack dog of Emperor Cole, taking great pleasure in murdering numerous other mystics, including the entire Ravenwing Cabal, even if she couldn't refuse to do so. When Tammy, now called Diabolique, managed to acquire the medallion that was binding her to Cole's will, she journeyed to Primal Earth and joined forces with Mot. Exploiting the hatred of her enemies, the Talons of Vengeance, Diabolique tricks them into gathering more people to kill and further empower her new ally, delighting in all the death she brings wherever she goes. Upon her initial defeat, Diabolique is empowered by Mot and exploits her master's defeat to take his powers, thereby becoming [[AbstractApotheosis Death Incarnate]], setting her sights on conquering not only Primal Earth with Death, but Praetoria and all other Earths.
19	* DemonicSpiders:
20	** The Malta Group have been one of the most-loathed enemy groups in the game since they first appeared, generally having the right abilities to eventually hose ''any'' PC trying to fight them.
21	** The Knives of Artemis are also deserving of this. Knives can see through stealth, can easily keep player characters stunned permanently, and they stack Caltrops to a ridiculous level, ensuring that most players can barely move while taking damage. Unless there's a character on the team with Speed Boost to free others from Caltrops, teamwipes happen on every single Knives of Artemis mission. Fortunately there aren't that many. (You can save yourself through use of flight. And, if you have the team teleport power, you can teleport all your teammates in range to a safer spot.)
22	** Historically, players have given the role to the Rikti (when they first started invading and everyone panicked because they were showing up everywhere, only to calm down once they realized they weren't so bad once you became powerful enough), the Malta ([[ManaDrain Sappers]] used to be much more plentiful than they are now, and their spawn rates were decreased as a result of player [[strike:complaints]] feedback), and the Rularuu (which have ridiculously powerful and accurate powers and are extremely hard to kill, but thankfully only show up in [[ThatOneLevel Those Four Zones]] that are entirely optional).
23	* DracoInLeatherPants: Ghost Widow. Scirocco also gets this occasionally. They're the most borderline-good of the Arachnos patrons. A planned future update would even have seen Scirocco abandon Arachnos to turn fully heroic (and, in the process, allow heroes access to previously villain-only Patron Power Pools without having to switch sides), justifying his "leather pants," [[WhatCouldHaveBeen had the game not been shut down.]]
24	* EnsembleDarkhorse: [[ValleyGirl Becky the]] [[PerkyGoth Tarantula Mistress]], [[MemeticBadass Blue Steel]], [[MrFanservice Foreshadow]]...
25	* EvilIsCool: Lord Recluse, natch. InUniverse, he even receives RootingForTheEmpire (see below).
26	* FandomRivalry: ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline'' is headed up by the creator of ''[=CoH=]'', and was accused at times of trying to "poach" players from [=CoH=] and "borrowing" certain mechanics while both games were running. The results were not pretty. ''Champions'' then "winning" by default only served to further embitter many former [=CoH=] players.
27	* FanNickname:
28	** When the Council were first introduced, they were known by many as "Sazis" or "Spazis" (for "Space Nazis"). Seems to have died out, though some still call the masked Galaxy soldiers "[[MaskedLuchador luchadores]]".
29	** Rommy and the Fuzzies, for Romulus Augustus and his three Nictus, who look like floating balls of purple black smoke. Boobcat for the new Praetoria revamp of [[{{Stripperiffic}} Bobcat's costume]]. Hami-O's for Hamidon Origin Enhancements. Quite a few signature characters have shortened versions for ease of use: States, Posi, [=BABs=], Manti, GW, Scorp, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and DocQ]].
30	* FridgeBrilliance: the CosmicRetcon above also explains where every new character has to do similar missions: Time gets rewound. Making the ever repeating missions your alts have to do perfectly Justified!
31	** Every named Praetorian signature character in this game uses a different codename than that used by their Primal Earth counterpart. For example: Michael White is Back Alley Brawler in Paragon City, but Marauder in Praetoria. This is keeping with the OneSteveLimit the game imposes on every server it runs on; two characters cannot have the same name on the same server.
32	* FridgeHorror:
33	** Some might notice that the entangles produced by the [[CombatTentacles Carrion]] [[NightmareFuel Creepers]] power continue to deal damage to the defeated enemies. Apparently dead bodies are tasty.
34	** A late mission reveals that Nemesis had drone copies of Rikti, which itself isn't a big deal until recalling that the drone predates the Rikti invasion, suggesting Nemesis intentionally provoked an interdimensional war to cover his escape.
35	** Most players found this on their own the first run through of the game, when they find out the exact cause of the Lost's mutations: they're turning into Rikti.
36	* GoddamnedBats: Exactly which enemy type fits the trope depends on the individual player.
37	** PPD Equalizers and Ghosts are a very common offender. If you don't kill one immediately, they will use a very long duration debuff. The Equalizers have a Glue grenade that is autohit and slows you to a crawl, while the Ghosts' Flashbang can neuter your chance of hitting and dodging if it connects. It's especially noticeable because heroes never really fought the PPD - until a certain story arc featured a faction of villainous rogue PPD. Cue hero-players horrified at how overpowered the 'new' group was.
38	** In general, enemies capable of inflicting ManaDrain with their attacks, like Longbow Nullifiers or Arachnos Mu Mystics. The Mystics especially, as they're a subfaction within Arachnos, so [[ThatOneLevel a few missions will pit you against nothing but Mu Mystics for flavor's sake]].
39	* GoodBadBugs: Countless pop up every now and then. From the ability to make illegal but cool (and lag-causing) outfits, through captives being replaced by harmless killer robots, to [[HumongousMecha ten foot tall robots]] trying to ma- er.. ''[[CombiningMecha combine]]'' with players. [[ChunkySalsaRule And succeeding]].
40	* GrowingTheBeard: Early in its life, the game was littered with poor design choices, uninteresting quests, and a lack of incentive (there was no economy, for one). But starting at around the release of ''City of Villains'' (a year after the game originally launched, coinciding with the release of Issue 6), the devs eventually proved themselves ready and willing to listen and communicate with the playerbase, and steadily made several quality-of-life enhancements along with adding genuinely interesting new content -- this is a large part of the reason the game survived as long as it did against so much competition. Many players agree that the turning point was when Creator/CrypticStudios, the game's original developers, sold the rights to [=NCSoft=], who created a division called Paragon Studios to exclusively work on the game -- which coincided with the departure of the Jack "Statesman" Emmert. (Though, in the long run, people wonder just how well that ended for [=CoH=] and Paragon...)
41	* HilariousInHindsight: The idea of using a shovel as a weapon is much less {{Narm}} and more NarmCharm after ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight''.
42	* HoYay:
43	** Statesman and Lord Recluse. They act like two bitter exes who can’t stop thinking about each-other. With Statesman hoping to one day get back together with Lord Recluse, and Lord Recluse devoting his every waking thought to spiting the guy that dumped him. It is ''EXACTLY'' what it sounds like!
44	** Sister Psyche’ and Aurora Borealis are close, ''really'' close. How close? The former has been ''inside'' the latter.
45	** Positron and Synapses due to their status as ThoseTwoGuys - namely being practically joined at the hip. They always hang out together, finish each other's sentences, got their powers at the same time, and said event ended with Positron activating his armor for the first time to break open a window and fly to the ground with Synapse in his arms.
46	** Malaise and Infernal may give off this vibe being on a team of otherwise all women with zero awkward sexual tension. Malaise’s bright magenta and over dramatics does not help counter the vibe.
47	* MemeticBadass:
48	** Blue Steel is responsible for so many DeusExMachina rescues in ''City of Villains'' that fans hail him as a Super Super Hero. He has a fact list similar to "Chuck Norris" facts. Until recently, his shield-based power set was impossible to show in game, making him even more awesome.
49	*** Amusingly, when he finally showed up as a fightable entity, his defensive power set was a mashup of Shield Defense and Willpower. Fans of the game would recognize these as two sets which could buff the user's HP with auto powers. Blue Steel apparently had both of them, as he had nearly twice the health of an Elite Boss of his level - More than Tub Ci, leader of the Tsoo; More than the Mother Keres, leader of the Talons of Vengeance; More than the [=SENTINEL OF MOT=], the avatar of a god of death; More than the [=AVATAR OF HAMIDON=], who sadly only showed up as an Elite Boss in an arc that never made it to live. Suffice it to say, the devs grabbed Blue Steel's MemeticBadass status with all available hands, affixed it to the nearest super speedster's back, and let him run with it.
50	** The exact opposite happened to the NPC hero, Fusionette, and owner of the MAGI vault, Azuria. Their incompetence (in the case of Azuria, someone else's incompetence) has been played up to ridiculousness.
51	* MemeticMutation:
52	** Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls.
53	** Also, it's all a [[{{Chessmaster}} Nemesis]] plot.
54	*** It gets somewhat circular in one specific tip mission, involving a hacker on a forum devoted to this meme discovering an actual Nemesis plot in his workplace.
55	*** Loading screens will inform you that "Everything is a Nemesis plot", "Not everything is a Nemesis plot" and "With [[LevelEditor Architect Entertainment]], anything can be a Nemesis plot".
56	** DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
57	** IT WELL BE GONE TO THE AMERICANS!!!!!
58	*** Because of Jerk Hackers dupin rares.
59	** Freem![[labelnote:Explanation]]From a [[https://cityofheroes.fandom.com/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day April Fool's Day newspost]] promising the addition of [[WrittenSoundEffect "visual sounds"]]. "FREEM" is used as the onomatopoeia of an energy blast, and caught on as an {{Inherently Funny Word\|s}}.[[/labelnote]]
60	** Devs hate red.
61	*** Which is rather ironic, since the Dev's Names on the Fora are in red.
62	** *Hoorb[[note]]Imitating Dillo's VerbalTic.[[/note]]
63	** Real life badge pics [[labelnote:Explanation]]Many badges in the game are awarded for clicking plaques that detail in-universe history, or finding literal badges with distinctive icons. Cue people taking photos of themselves touching real plaques and emblems and claiming to have found badges.[[/labelnote]]
64	* MoralEventHorizon:
65	** Villain alignment missions (the ones which cement your alignment as villain after you have done ten morality missions with the villain choices) generally feel like you are crossing one of these. As they should.
66	** The [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Crusader Rebels of Praetoria]] are a good example of what happens when a WellIntentionedExtremist goes ''[[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope waay]]'' over the line. And these guys are supposed to be working for ''the [[LaResistance traditionally]] morally superior faction''.
67	** [[{{The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized}} War Dog]]'s story arc provides [[{{La Resistance}} Resistance]] characters with unparalleled opportunities to went JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope. In one mission, he sends the PC to [[spoiler:kidnap and threaten the family of a PPD officer War Dog is interrogating]]. After [[spoiler:the cop sings like a canary]], War Dog [[spoiler:kills him, and orders the PC to kill his family]]. Later on, War Dog lets the PC in on his master plan: [[spoiler:to set off [[{{Nuke Em}} a neutron bomb]] in the heart of the city, in a gambit to destabilize Tyrant's regime]].
68	** [[FallenHero Maelstrom]]'s transition from "Hero" to "Vigilante", when he turned to his only friend in the world and shot him in the face, just to improve his own bargaining position with Tyrant.
69	* {{Narm}}: Invoked - not just by the players, but by the developers. You can't take a look at all the various customisation options for your superhero (or the battlecries) and ''not'' imagine all sorts of goofy characters people would come up with.
70	* NarmCharm: There are two types of players in [=MMORPGs=] - those who make serious characters that fit within the "lore" of the game, and those who make joke characters for whatever reason. In ''City of Heroes''? Almost ''nobody'' took character creation seriously - and this was part of the charm.
71	* OnceOriginalNowCommon:
72	** Younger gamers who never played ''City of Heroes/Villians'', and are more familiar with ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'' and ''VideoGame/MarvelHeroes'' may look at videos and records of ''City of Heroes'' and wonder what the big deal was. But it's hard to understate how big a part of internet culture ''City'' was in the mid to late 2000's. In its heyday, the game enjoyed a popularity (in culture if not an actual headcount) on par with ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''!
73	** Younger gamers also might be surprised at how its in-depth character creator was lauded as one of its features - with the sheer amount of options and flexibility beating out even some more long-running and recent [=MMORPGs=]. The game actually beat ''VideoGame/TheSims2'' to market. These days, players might wonder what was so special about mere character creation options.
74	* ParanoiaFuel:
75	** When you idle in the game by civilians, sometimes they'll talk about your exploits. Nemesis is fond of using Automatons that perfectly resemble normal people. If you've encountered Nemesis troops lately, you might hear a comment like this:
76	--->"I can't believe how Carol behaved today at the -- Lord Nemesis is watching you, $CHARACTER_NAME. He will not let this transgression pass without punishment. We know who you are -- before the toner ran out and I had to get more."
77	** A couple of tip missions in the 30-40 range revolve around a former hero who falls foul of this, and ends up being driven AxCrazy by the belief that anyone can be a Nemesis automaton. In one Vigilante mission [[spoiler:it's actually the player character that does so, blowing up a Longbow base and killing everyone inside in the belief that they're ''all'' automatons.]] One possible interpretation of the whole affair, bearing in mind Nemesis' nature as a chessmaster and his "Heroes are a threat" propaganda, is that this [[WildMassGuessing actually his real goal]] rather than successful infiltration.
78	** Metronome, the [[{{Mirror Universe}} Praetorian]] [[spoiler:Clockwork King]]. He has no physical body. You can't kill him, because [[{{Our Ghosts Are Different}} he's already dead]]. He can possess any robot by [[{{Psychic Powers}} telekinetically]] rewriting the operating system on its hard drive (which he knows how to do because [[spoiler:he helped Anti-Matter design them]]). You know, those [[{{Robot Buddy}} robots]] that Praetoria uses for [[{{Super Powered Robot Meter Maids}} everything]]. Throw a stick and you'll hit three of them, and now every single one of them could, at any time, suddenly drop what it's doing, turn around, and try to murder you. He's not just [[{{Haunted Technology}} a ghost in the machine]], but a ghost in any machine, in every machine. And since [[spoiler:Anti-Matter murdered him]], and Penelope Yin [[{{Stalker With A Crush}} spurned his affections]], he's [[{{Roaring Rampage Of Revenge}} angry]].
79	* RootingForTheEmpire:
80	** The fight between the Loyalist Praetorians and the Resistance was supposed to be various shades of grey for the Going Rogue expansion, with logic being more or less "At what point is peace oppressive, and at what point is a noble rebel cause anarchy"; But Emperor Cole and his Praetors, with possible exception of [[TokenGoodTeammate Praetor White]], are so corrupt/insane that you really can't fault the rebels for anything they do even when blatant terrorism is on the menu.
81	** As Lord Recluse points out to Emperor Cole, he is an unapologetic CardCarryingVillain and even '''he''' is supported by the populace once they find out the sort of things Cole was doing. He literally marches into the city with his army of doom, stating he is there to takeover the world and is cheered on for it. - That was how low Emperor Cole had inadvertently set the bar.
82	** Even prior to Praetoria this was the case for many. The Rogue Isles are a playground of scum and villainy, but there is zero pretense as to what they are. It is a [[SocialDarwinist Social Darwinist's]] utopia, dedicated to hedonism in which AsskickingLeadsToLeadership. After looking at the conspiracies, corruption and, in some cases, stupidity, that pops up through-out Paragon law-making, [[StatusQuoIsGod to maintain the status-quo]], it is hard not to root for the society breeding new evils as the intended end goal instead of as an accident due to an incompetent system.
83	* ScrappyMechanic: Seems to be mandatory that each endgame raid have one:
84	** Behavioral Adjustment Facility trial: In the second phase of the trial, [[UnexpectedGameplayChange gameplay changes]] from traditional MMORPG to TowerDefense, with the players acting as the towers. (This was usually handled by just having everyone summon their Lore Pets, putting them on aggro, and letting them go to town. Other summon powers and ground-targeted abilities were also recommended)
85	** Original Keyes Island Reactor trial: Every 30 seconds, an unresistable damage pulse takes off half your hitpoints. It was toned down in the later version of the trial.
86	** Underground trial: The final room of the map contains a strong confuse effect, which, if not protected against, causes players to see enemies as allies and vice-versa. Particularly bad because for most players, it's the only time they've ever been on the receiving end of a confuse effect, so it's a good bet that ''someone'' will [[TotalPartyKill let off a nuke while confused]].
87	** TPN Campus trial: During one phase of the trial, any time you're moving around outdoors you've got a chance to be one-shotted by the trial boss. As a bonus, if you're the only one outside (say, because you're running back from the hospital after being one-shotted), guess who said villain will target?
88	*** The fact that the mind-controlled protestors can kill you just by throwing rocks (even though they're supposed to be just normal humans while you're literally a godlike superbeing), but you're not allowed to fight back against them or your ratings go down (you need ratings of 500 to finish a phase), was also a very unpopular mechanic.
89	*** Also the boss himself, who in all his appearances in other content, is a C-list villain at best. He's literally just a normal human with normal handguns. But here, with no explanation, he's suddenly strong enough to take on entire groups of Incarnates (even one-shotting them with some of his skills), and you have to beat him three times before he stays down.
90	** Minds of Mayhem trial: An NPC ally will offer to revive any defeated players, at the cost of shortening the time limit to complete the trial by 30 seconds. Virtually every raid leader opens their instructions with "If Desdemonia offers to rez you, refuse".
91	** In general, any signature or high-level character is canonically an archvillain/hero or elite boss, making them strictly better than the player's character. This is true no matter the character's significance to the story, how many times you have defeated them in the story, or even their health in the story. This gets truly irritating toward end-game for City of Villains, where players may have to team up to defeat the Vindicators, ComicBook/TeenTitans [[{{Expy}} expies]], making it the equivalent of [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] summoning the LegionOfDoom together to defeat Beast Boy.
92	* ScrappyWeapon:
93	** When it comes to building characters using Gravity Control or Dark Miasma/Darkness Affinity, you'll likely be told to avoid taking "Dimension Shift" or "Black Hole". These powers deal no damage, but instead cause foes in an area of effect to become intangible, unable to target or be targetted by anyone who isn't intangible themselves. Needless to say, this can bring fights to a screeching halt as the party is forced to wait around for affected enemies to re-materialize. Expect to be mocked if you use them on an arch-villain, as now the bad guy has free time to heal up with their rapid passive regeneration.
94	* ThatOneBoss:
95	** Which boss is That One depends on the PC's powers -- Malta Gunslingers and Carnie Master Illusionists tend to be much-hated.
96	** Also the Carnie Ring Mistresses. They are completely normal bosses, except for one power, Mask of Vitiation. Said power:
97	*** Almost autohits any character without defenses.
98	*** Lasts twice as long as it takes to recharge.
99	*** Completely shuts off the target's Health and Endurance recovery (in a group famous for Endurance drain)
100	*** Makes any other attack against the target pretty much autohit, roughly doubling the damage intake.
101	*** Oh, and it drains a fair chunk of Endurance, too.
102	** Romulus (in OneWingedAngel form) is often very difficult for unprepared teams, as can be Reichsman.
103	** Kadabra Kill.
104	** When ''Going Rogue'' came out, a new boss class enemy was added to the Freakshow lineup: the Super Stunner. Along with being able to kill most characters' recharge, they have endurance drain abilities just this side of a Malta Sapper, and they always come back to life the first time they're KO'd, so you have to defeat them twice to get rid of them.
105	** Issue 19 added two new task forces, with two more contenders for the title: Battle Maiden (as she appears in the Apex TF) and Director 11 of the Malta Group (in Tin Mage's). Possibly also Bobcat in the latter, if you hit her BerserkButton.
106	** Night Widows have high damage output and the very annoying ability to blind players (now reduced, thankfully), as well as very strong recharge debuffs. Mu Guardians heal their allies and heavily drain a player's endurance. Tarantula Mistresses and Queens combine blinding, strong recharge debuffs and very high damage output of the rarely resisted Psychic type.
107	** A much, ''much'' earlier example would be the Headmen Swordsmen in ''The Lost'' enemy group. They have [[{{BFS}} giant swords]] they pull out of [[{{Hammerspace}} nowhere]], possibly [[AssPull their asses]], that deal insane damage. Needless to say, Headman Swordsmen can be a pain for Scrappers and Stalkers, who fight in melee but don't have high defences.
108	** The Arachnos Patrons. '''Especially''' to members of their own arch-type who serve under, and ultimately need to fight them.
109	*** Ghost Widow is a Dominator who has '''heavy''' [[PsychicBlockDefense resistance to control effects]]. - With control moves rendered pretty much useless all a Dominator can do is keep at a distance and peck away at her health.
110	*** Black Scorpion is a Brute who could [[MadeOfIron take a few hundred missiles to the face without being fazed]]. - Which makes a battle of brawn a very big uphill battle for another Brute.
111	*** Mako is a Stalker and well... The game devs put a safety measure on enemies to prevent them from one-shotting anyone less than five levels away from them.... Mako is the only boss in the game that '''[[OneHitKill does not]]''' have this feature! - So if you are a Stalker and will only get one shot off before he sees you...
112	*** Scirocco is a Corrupter who has long range [[ManaDrain endurance drain]] moves and personal knock-back armor. - Particularly devastating to Corrupters who need to ration their endurance.
113	** [[MirrorBoss Your Doppelganger]] can be a real pain to fight with certain archetype and power combinations. The saving grace is that they only inherit your primary and secondary powersets; they do not inherit any bonuses or temp powers you've picked up from elsewhere. They balance that by [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard having stronger versions of your powers, as well as powers you haven't unlocked, yet.]]
114	*** The Arachnos Widow deserves a special mention on this one, as she eventually gains the option to become a Night Widow. Which, in turn, turns her Doppelgangers into more powerful versions of the bog-standard Night Widows mentioned above.
115	* ThatOneLevel: Certain mission tilesets, including the "layer cake" room in several caves and the Circle of Thorns' city, Oranbega. The Shadow Shard consists of four entire ''zones'' of scrappyness and are all but deserted nowadays.
116	* ThatOneSidequest: "Defeat all enemies" type missions are known for being time-consuming, but one of those with the more complicated tilesets named above can sometimes lead to the party needing to scour the map top to bottom searching for that [[LastLousyPoint last lousy mook]].
117	* {{Wangst}}: Scirocco is downright maudlin over his curse.

Context YMMV / CityOfHeroes