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Stacking the Deck: An Ace Breakdown

Sodsboy

FNG / Fresh Meat
Dec 18, 2022
2
1
Darwen
Stacking the Deck: An Ace Breakdown
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Hey there, I'm Sodsboy and I'm an Ace main (obvious enough.) I'm here today to run you through Ace's equipment and how best to utilize each of her unique assets to best help you extract successfully on your next run assignment. I'll go over each Weapon, Expertise and Passive as well as a few loadout suggestions.


Weapons:
Starting us off is the Tier 1 or the weapon you initially start with being: The Queen of Diamonds. The Queen of Diamonds is a bolt action Sniper Rifle with a 5 round capacity capable of dispatching an agent in 2-3 well placed shots. Unique to Ace is that all of her weapons are 100% ACCURATE WHILST HIP-FIRING allowing you to duel in close range encounters but of course with any sniper rifle, you're best off taking mid-long range engagements. The Queen is consistent in it's output, meaning that no matter the situation all she asks of you is a little bit of finesse in your aim for great results and is what I recommend for new Ace players to use until they feel like challenging themselves with the Tier 2 and Tier 3 weapons.
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Next up is Tier 2 which is: Jack of Diamonds. Whereas The Queen is your standard Sniper Rifle. The Jack is instead a semi-automatic Carbine Rifle with much less zoom. Jack allows Ace to be more mobile and aggressive with it's 8 round magazine and fast firing rate, covering up Ace's weakness of close range engagements. However, as a trade off you will be dealing less damage per shot with Jack requiring 4-5 bullets on average to eliminate enemies.
Jack of Diamonds Zoom.pngQueen of Diamonds Zoom.pngKing of Diamonds Zoom.png
Pictured above: The varying Zoom levels of all 3 weapons from smallest to biggest.
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Finally, Tier 3 introduces The King of Diamonds. Probably the heaviest hitting weapon Deceive Inc.'s R&D department can legally provide you with. This rifle packs a walloping big round into the chamber allowing for a consistent 2 tap or even 1 shot on a exposed Spy. However, you only get 1 shot in the chamber followed by a rather lengthy reload after every shot. The King wastes no time in dispatching lesser foes but requires the utmost patience and respect in order to get the most of it. Taking fights up close with The King is a risky maneuver but possible to achieve. Consider taking vantage points with wide sight-lines or ascending to rooftops in order to better increase your chances of your adversaries regretting peaking you.



Expertise:
Ace is a Tracker and as such her Expertise's allow her to trail targets, make them vulnerable or even survey an area without her being near it.
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Queen's Gaze
is simple to understand. Charging a shot allows you to apply a mark on an enemy. You can also mark any enemy you've recently hit allowing you to create a trail of Diamonds for you to follow. The Trail lasts for 30 seconds and accounts for height differences, enemy spies will also be alerted to when an Ace is tracking them.

Queen's Gaze.png

Pictured above: The Trail of Diamonds leading you to your victim Rival.
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Stacked Odds
is a more aggressive expertise that once putting onto an enemy applies the Vulnerable status effect increasing the damage they take from ANY source. They'll also have a Diamond indicator placed on them for easier tracking but ONLY if they're within Line of Sight (LoS) if they break LoS at all by rounding a corner or putting obstacles between you. You'll have to give chase in order to find them again. This does help with distinguishing your foes from a crowd though.
Stacked Odds.png

Pictured above: Some poor unfortunate soul marked for death.
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Big Blind
is our third and final expertise that allows Ace to designate a zone she wants vision of. Once the zone is placed, anyone entering the area is revealed to Ace and her allies regardless of distance. This Zone is quite useful for watching choke points, security rooms, Vault entrances/exits, healing stations etc. You can cancel the zone at any point to put it on a short cooldown before placing it elsewhere making it quite the useful surveillance tool. Do note however it reveals anyone and everyone from NPC guests, staff members, guards. So whilst it's useful for knowing who is there...You won't know if it's an enemy spy or not until they decide to blow their cover.
Big Blind.png
Pictured above: The area of effect of Big Blind and the effect given to those standing in it.

Passives:
Ace's Passives are only used when you fully charge a shot with your sniper rifle. Ace charges her shots in about 1-1.5s with it resetting upon zooming out or taking a shot. This means you're rewarded for pacing your shots but it's only really applicable to 1 of the 3 passives.
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Diamond's Bet
is our first Passive and it is really simple, upon charging your shot you will do increased damage with it. That's it...No really I'm serious, just charge your shot and fire and boom; you get yourself some increased damage. There isn't really a whole lot to it.
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Crippling Shot
is next and just like the first one it is really simple. Whenever you connect with a charged shot you'll slow the enemy Agent down for a few moments, this allows for easier follow-up shots and faster clean-ups. Sooner you can down an Agent, the less likely another one will show up to take you by surprise.
Crippling Shot.png

Pictured Above: Squire being slowed down by Crippling Shot.

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Cover Flush

Our last passive and one that I don't really find to use that much, at least in Solo play. A Charged Shot with Cover Flush will prevent Cover regeneration for a brief moment. This allows Ace to track targets that decide to run away from the initial engagement and prevent them from crouching in a corner to hide from guards. Do note this doesn't stop someone from using a Holo-Mimic in order to disguise themselves to hide, just merely prevents them from donning their Cover once more.


Loadouts:
For beginners I highly recommend sticking to the default loadout you're given until you become comfortable enough with her mechanics. From there you've got 2 options in how you want to approach building.
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Agents looking to bulk their damage to the maximum should use:
  • King of Diamonds as it packs the biggest punch
  • Stacked Odds to make targets vulnerable
  • Diamond's Bet to really send the message
However if you're looking to be more team-orientated:
  • Jack of Diamonds for additional fire-power in teamfights (You're probably going to have to get up close and personal.)
  • Big Blind/Queen's Gaze for area surveillance and target tracking
  • Crippling Shot/Cover Flush for Crowd Control and Cover denial

Quick thank you for reading this Ace guide and I sure do hope it helps improve your Ace performance. And remember:
"Professionals have standards: Be Polite, Be efficient and have a plan to kill every Agent you meet."
-Sodsboy
 
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