Setsuna here! Today, i am going to show you how to play Ivan the right way! This guide will be regularly updated depending on how the game progresses (patch wise).

Here's a segment about me:

Ivan is my first character and my main.

Was a GunZ1 veteran and one of the few that couldn't quickly caught up with the new GunZ2 mechanics

My favorite weapon is the Deer Hunter

My first premium was the Lightning Coffin

I preffer to go naked sometimes, it's a fun practice in normal games by improving your survivability ten-fold!

Close friends and clan mates knows me for my hatred for premiums!

Here are the everday basic controls that comes with the character class Ivan. Some of these have been covered in the tutorial

• WASD-Run-Used for moving
  
• Double Click + (W/A/S/D)-Used for dashing
  
• Space-Jump
  
• [ b] W + Space

[/b]-Used for climbing up the walls

Space + (A/D)-Jump off the wall

Left Click-Attack

Right Click- Sword Flip or Guard Break depending on the combo (Left Click + Right Click will make Ivan strike down the enemy and propell a powerful slash to thrust your enemy backwards)

Right Click *While in air and near a wall*- Used to hang to wall

Scroll or HotKeys (1)(2)(3)-Switches Weapons (1.Sword 2. SMG 3. S.Rifle)

[/list]

The weapons Ivan was given were the one-edged sword, the SMG, and the Sniper Rifle. My personal ratings are the numbers before the sword. Scored out of 5.

Weapons:

One -Edged Sword One of the strongest melee weapons in the game.

• 3 [Katana]- The Default weapon of Ivan. It is a surprisingly balanced sword with a good defense range
  
  
• 3.5 [Cutlass]- The preffered sword for Ivan by many players*Note: The Saber Blade has the same stats, but has a better defense range, slightly less damage, and a better crit"
  
  
• 3.75 [Dark Cutlass]- Tesla Weapon that comes in Ivan's B.Package. It's a strong sword and has one of the strongest base damage amongst Ivan's melee arsenal!
  
  
• 4.25 [Blazing Curved Sword]- Revered as the strongest and deadliest sword. It is a premium weapon that hits slightly stronger power than the [Dark Cutlass], but leaves a massive burn of 15 AP/HP!
  
  
• 3.25 [Saw Blade]- The most defensive type sword in Ivan's arsenal. Boasts a high crit. chance and high defense range. Can easily cover player up to the knees.
  
  
• 3.5 [Bloody Saw Blade]- An upgraded version of the [Saw Blade] with a higher crit. chance. Useful for melee players who likes to stack gears. I for one, am not one of those.
  
  
• 4 [Lightning Saw Blade]- An upgraded version of the [Saw Blade] with an ever higher crit. chance. It almost fills the crit's stat bar by 95%. It leaves an electricution effect targeting the hp.
  
  
• 3.5 [Saber Blade]- The best all around weapon for Ivan. Boasts almost the same damage as the [Cutlass], and a crit. chance that can compete with the [Saw Blade]. The defense range is also a keeper!
  
  
• 4 [Shadow Saber Blade]- The most balanced and all around sword in the game. It almost has the power of the [Dark Cutlass] and an even higher crit. chance/defensive range. This is my preffered blade . It is also fairly easy to get compared to the two elemental swords, the [B. Curved Sword] and the [L. Saw Blade].
  

The Submachine-Gun High fire rate and less accurate than the A. Rifle (Elena's gun)

• 4 [Scorpius] - All Around Good. This default weapon has low blooming and is very good for practicing. I use this a lot when practicing.
  
  
• 3.5 [Coffin]- High Fire-Rate. Low Damage. A lot of Ammo. Good for spraying, but aim carefully, and don't use too much of your ammo!
  
  
• 3.75 [Custom Coffin]- Higher Fire-Rate making the crosshair's spread bloom faster. Practice doing small bursts at occasion such as chasing an almost dead player for aim and ammo saving.
  
  
• 4.5[Lightning Coffin]- An upgraded [Custom Coffin] with a better accuracy and a longer distance covered before losing damage. The gun is added with electricity giving it more damage.
  
  
• 3[Striker]- Exceptionially High fire rate and a powerful gun. This has more distance than a coffin, but has less ammo. Use it wisely.
  
  
• 3.5[Custom Striker]- An upgraded [Striker] with nearly the same stats as before, but adding a tiny bit more damage and distance. Good for chasing!
  
  
• 4.25[Blazing Striker]- An even stronger [Striker] with upgraded damage and distance, but comes with a very destructive blazing effect. No need to chase when they are already dead!
  
  
• 3.5[Schmeisser]- The most powerful submachine gun in the game ,but it lacks the firerate of the latter. I personally don't preffer the Schmeisser because of its ammo. It is accurate though.
  
  
• 4 [Custom Schmeisser]- The same as [Schmeisser] ,but even more powerful! This accurate weapon is one of the most preffered guns of newbies and veterans alike.

The Sniper Rifle- Only naming the 3 types because they are very different.

• 5 [Deer Hunter/Krasnov Family]- Good damage. Long Distance. High Ammo.
  
  
• 5 [Reaper Family]- Decent Damage. Medium Distance. High Ammo. Stunlocker.
  
  
• 5 [Predator Family]- Powerful Damage. Very Long Distance. Low Ammo. Two hit.

The preffered weapons i use are:Dark Cutlass, The Lightning Coffin, and the Lightning Predator. Choose from any of the weapons that are part of the following's family tree to have the same effect as me. Example:Blazing Curved Sword, The Custom Coffin, and the Golden Predator.

On another note, i like running the Krasnov sometimes if i feel that i will need the extra ammo, but this is rare.

You are Ivan. The long-range assasin with tricks up your sleeves. Ivans need to try to stay out of trouble, but once caught, make as much noise as u can. Litterily.

• Don't camp, but try finding sniper spots to pick off your enemies. The sniper is Ivan's best friend. It's a long range weapon to provide back up for your teammates whenever they are trouble. Do not attempt to shoot near/inside your ally's hitbox, they absorb the bullet or block your path from the enemy.
  
  
• When sniping, be aware of your surroundings. Zoom when you find an enemy, but quickly zoom out after killing, hitting, or missing the bullet. Don't let the assassin get assasinated.
  
  
• When caught by a Rena, you can either run and gun with your SMG, or do a shielded lightstep with your sword and then proceed to combo her. Flip her before your last combo and then quickswitch to your smg to spray her in mid-air. Use your full combo if you know people will back her up and quickly finish her with your smg while she is on the ground. The air attack is more useful if u can hit the Rena in midair. Also never be fooled by her clones or else it will explode on you.
  
  
• When caught by a Max try to wall hug. Wallhugging is the act of jumping from wall to wall and is a very advanced but useful step for high level players. Keep your distance far, but keep him in sight. Spray him down with your SMG or combo him with your shield. Guard break him easily by doing (Left Click + Right Click) to do a 2 combo guard smash. Most Max players are slow, but fast Maxes are even more annoying. Try not to fall backwards and get put on fire. This is an easy way to die. If the Max is jump striking you with his shield, use your shielded lightstep trick until he flinches and proceed to do a full combo added with SMG fire afterwards.
  
  
• When caught by an Elena, run! Elena's Assault Rifle are dominative up close. They are accurate and very deadly. Wallhugging is an easy way to avoid her grenade launchers. Going against Elenas, you want to be quick, agile, and ready to spray her down before she sprays you. Dashing diagnally and strafing side to side is a better method of avoiding her than moving in a perfect horizontal or vertical direction.
  
  
• When caught by a Wayne, remember lightstepping is your best friend. You can easily pick off waynes by blocking when getting whipped and comboing him when you get the chance. More expirienced Waynes are faster and can get behind your block easily or pull u in and ground slam you with their secondary attack. Again, shielded lightstepping is a quick way of getting a full combo off of him.
  
  
• Do not chase with low health or you may be clutched. Do not chase when your friend has low health or the both of you can get clutched. Wait for the right time. Don't force it unless your gut tells you you will win.
  
  
• Melee is not Ivan's bestfriend, but his worst enemy. Dedicating yourself to become a Melee-specialized Ivan will leave you in the care of your teammates to watch your back while comboing an enemy leaving your back exposed. Watch them, don't let them watch you. You are a damage dealer. Avoid getting into the nitty gritty if you can damage them from far away.
  
  
• Although Melee is strong. It should be more of a last resort type of tactic. Remember, getting used to guns will make u really strong. There are many ways to use a sword, but let's focus on having you get stronger as a marksman, and not a swordsman. A sniper can easily take down an enemy far away if you can aim it. Unlike the sword, you will need to march up to your foe and whack him out cold. Pretty silly unless he marches to you.
  
  
• I asked a friend once, what's the difference between tier 2 players, to tier 1 players, to top players and he said "Wallhugging". Wallhugging can littrly save you and your teammates. Wallhugging lets you dodge enemy bullets easily while shoot at stationary enemies or slow moving enimies. Also, perfect Wallhugging allows you to be able to always take aim onto the enemy's face. Headshots are 2x the damage. Average bullets it takes to kill a man with an SMG is 10-14. That's decreased to 5-7 with a headshot or a critical.
  
  
• The fastest way to move iwth Ivan whether on the ground or through wall-hugging is when u are equipped with your sword!

You need a mindset to keep yourself focused Many people have the intent to kill or stay alive, but these are my general principals.

• Teammates come first. Save them. Without teammates you have less lumps of meat being your bait or you have less people to help you do actual damage.
  
  
• Do not get caught and if you do, just try to get away and relocate. Run and gun if possible.
  
  
• Do not die, the team needs you no matter how incompetent or how badly you are doing this game. You can be their lump of meat or their very key to victory.
  
  
• HAVE FUN! Don't get put on tilt! Games are meant to be played for happiness and an escape of the outside world. Don't let a loss bring you down. Negative K/D? So What! Compeititve or naw, it doesn't matter! You can try your hardest and have fun at the same time c:.

Firstly, let us introduce the Wallhug. It is more of a principal than it is a technique. The basic rule of wallhugging is staying on the wall. There are many ways of doing this. Here are some of the controls, but you will never be able to master it all easily upon reading! *Remember, these are pretty unique steps that are hard to explain so work with me as best as you can. Also, if you have a youtube, please contact me so that i may be able to add videos to demonstrate these step by using you as a very helpful volunteer!* ALSO THIS IS BASED ON THE DEFAULT CONTROLS.

Wallhug

• Sideways Wall-Running - This is the most basic and primitive of wall hugging. The point of the wallrunning is to pick up speed. You will zoom through columns quickly WITHOUT getting hit if you are quick enough! Ever seen players hike upon the mansion columns quickly without you spotting them? Neither have i, why? Because it's that fast. If you master Sideways wall running you will never have to consecutively jump back and forth, side to side to get to the third floor of the mansion or other high places!- Controls: (Walk up to where you run) + SPACE + (A/D). Keep pressing space to get momenting, but dont hop off!
  
  
• Wall Leaping- For the lack of a better name, i named the technique Wall Leaping. Now, i did not discover this, but merely adapted to it. A lot of people do it without knowing it's name. I'm one of those people, but i will try to explain Wall Leaping as best as i can.
  
  The first method is side to side. It's when you get near a wall and as the method says, you go side to side. Hop off the first wall, and then hop off the wall directly beside that (Refer to the small broken hallway besides GSF/NAU spawns at mantion). You will gradually gain altitude and rise higher.
  
  The second method to wall leaping is when you jump beside the wall(this is not part of the actual method, this is for executing yourself in an arial position), hop off, dash forward, and repeat. If you did this correctly, you should be able to scower through one side of the wall without falling off after a few practices. To illustrate this, you are kind of like in the formation of a small slice of pizza each time you repeat the step. You hop sideways, then dash infront, and repeat.
  
  
• Stationary Wall Hugging- Many Elenas do this, but some Ivan's use this to spray onto the other team while being in a single arial position or ,if not done perfectly, area. It involves hopping off the well and quickly dashing back the opposite way you jumped off as fast as possible (making you stick to the wall).

Lightstep is the new butterfly in this game. Let me take that back, it isn't butterfly and it will never be butterfly. People says it's like butterfly because you can shield while doing it. Im saying that now so you dont get confused!

• Non-Shielded Lightstep- This is pretty uselss in my oppinion because a shielded one is 10x better than this and is as easy to execute. You jump and press a directional key while hitting you attack key at the same EXACT time.
  
  
• Shielded Lightstep- Same controls as above, but you can HOLD Shift while doing so making your attacks effective against waynes upon mastering it.
  
  *NOTES: You don't have to wait until Ivan fully touches the ground to execute another lightstep, just redo the steps as fast as possible.*
  
  

Flips

• Quickswitch Flip- To do a quickswitch flip, you must get a hold of your opponent and flip him. While in midair, QUICKLY switch to your weapon (I preffer using the hotkey instead of scrolling) and spray/snipe your enemy in mid air.
  
  
• Juggle - Flip Included- This is very time consuming, only do it in a 1v1 or if you are in a secured area against a single player. To do this, you must flip the person, move up, flip him again while he is INFRONT of you and then lightstep around him as quickly as you can. Depending on your speed, you can juggle once until he falls or you can juggle until he dies.

Combos

• Normal Juggle- To do a normal juggle, you must lightstep an opponent while in mid air and keep them in midair by going back and forth with consecutive lightstep. One can go back and forth by forming a circle of death which is lightstepping around the enemy and completing a full circle or going side to side with a left and right lightstep.
  
  
• Reaper Juggle- To do a Reaper Juggle, you must initiate by flipping the target and then quickdrawing your sniper by hotkey/scroll wheel mouse and no-scoping them consicutively while in the air. The reason why this will work 90% of the time is because if you have under 70 ping and your cross-hair aimed at their body, the accuracy of the reaper and the game's built-in antilead will help you hit the target. Don't try to scope in or else the target will fall down. No scope causes flinches. Scoped shots don't. This combo can be added by a normal flip combo. (3 attacks. a final flip, and no scope juggle them.)
  
  
• Deerhunter or Krasnov Juggle- This juggle is basically like the Reaper Juggle, but you let them drop a little then flip them when they are at ur head's hieght falling down. After that, you quickly switch to your deer hunter or Krasnov, fire and then use a cyclone kick. If the targtet is still alive, spray him down with an SMG.
  
  
• Ghost Stepping *Made by Ussop*- To perform this technique, you must do a jump slash then a lightstep to the side. If you did this correctly, it should look something like this.

Gears are buffs for any type of characters. The different gears are:

• Fortitude: These gears gives the player more HP. It is considered better than AP gears because more maps have AP replenishments rather than HP replenishments.
  
  
• Protection: These gears gives the player more AP. It is considered one of the least common used gears considering the fact mentioned above.
  
  
• Aggression: These gears makes guns increases HP damage while it decreases AP damage. For example: If you do 100 AP damage with a 15% Penetration Damage, you will gain 15 more HP damage and have 15 less AP damage.
  
  
• Perception: These gears give you a higher chance to hit a critical melee attack. This is not a good gear for Ivan unless using a Saw Blade Family weapon considering critting has a low percentage to initiate. Also, melee is, like i said, last resort.

Note: Upgrading gears take up a lot of money (To Upgrade a gear, go to Gear Upgrade at the top left of your client). Some upgrades fail. Most upgrades fai lat Lv4-5. The chances are very slim. DO NOT upgrade to lv 5 unless you are loaded with around 3 million golds.

The best way to get a lv5 is getting 10+ lv 4 gears in a row and upgrading each one of them. If one decreases to lv3, move on the next. Very smart to do!

SNIPING BUILD/CLEAN UP BUILD

This ivan build is meant for snipers and kill securers! Does the enemy have 60 HP and 60 AP left? Not a problem, ill just hit them with my deer hunter and easily kill them. The gears that you will need for this guide are

6 Lv4-5 Pen Gears

Most Ivans run this build because it works really well. Even by yourself, after shooting the person once, u can easily kill them off with a quick burst of SMG sprays or if you are feeling it, a melee charge. I used this build a lot.

DEFENSIVE BUILD

This ivan build is meant for people who wants to live longer after getting shot and want to live through SOME sniper headshots depending on their piercing power and what type of sniper. The gears that you will need for this guide are

6 lv4-5 HP Gears or AP Gears

Heres the difference between the 2. HP Gears helps you with SNIPING survivability and will help you in the long run because you can pick up AP replenishments. AP Gears helps you sponge out SMGs and Miniguns, but considering there are no HP replenishments in most maps, this version is not worth it. A good reason why using this build would be wise is because you MAY BE ABLE TO survive 2 combos with a sword depending on whether they crit you or not and the type of sword it is.

HYBRID BUILD

Not too much dmg to give up and not too much sustain to give up. Good choice for a lot of players! You won't exactly be able to one shot a Max with your favorite sniper rifle when he is running a [DEFENSIVE BUILD] (not a lot of players play Max now-a-days anyways) nor would you be able to survive 2 melee combos (they sprey you down after you get knocked back so whats the point surviving the 2), but it is a good balance! The gears that will need for this guide are

3 lv4-5 Pen Gears
3 lv4-5 HP Gears

I really don't use this build much considering even though it's balance, it's wise to choose one or the other or lean on one advantage more if you are planning to be a hybrid like the next build i am going to present!

THE JUST ENOUGH BUILD #1

This build will allow you to be more damage based, but survive better! The gears you will need for this guide are

4 lv4-5 Pen Gears
2 lv4-5 HP Gears

Enough to completely one shot any roaming Ivans or Elenas with a headshot, but get extra hp!

THE JUST ENOUGH BUILD #2

This build will allow you to be more defensive based, but damage better! The gears you will need for this guide are

4 lv4-5 HP Gears
2 lv4-5 Pen Gears

Enough to get a higher survivability rate, but has a slightly more penetration damage than a full on defensive Ivan.

MELEE CRIT BUILD

This build will allow you to crit with the melee sword more. It's only ever useful in gladiator with a Saw Blade Family sword. The gears you will need for this guide are

6 lv4-5 Crit Gears

Melee is last resort, unless you have really good timing, i don't see this being beneficial enough for you. Wallhugging is the best remedy for a charging melee Ivan.

These are the most useful builds i know excluding the Melee Crit Build solely posted for the optimistic Melee Ivans out there.

Here is the place you want to be if you want to beat expirience with strategies. Not everyone is destined to be a godlike Ivan who can headshot someone in mid air with 500 ping 200 feet away. Im not saying YOU will never be one (maybe i am, jk), im just saying, it's just a very slim chance unless you are dedicated.

In the latest patch with the nerf of Lucky Bullet, Ivan's threat level has gone down drastically, but that doesn't mean he still isn't a good character! In fact, he is viable for the following roles:

*On a small note, i am not saying your job is absoulute, you can always just play however you want mixed with the guidelines i gave you*

• Long Range DPS- The job of a long range dps player is to stay alive, try not to get caught, and pick out the enemies you see. Remember, helping your teammates are important so aim your sniper at your enemies. Camping CAN be a common thing to do if you are new to being a more sniper-proned Ivan, but try to be more self aware of your surroundings and relocate after giving away your position or switch to a more defensive/offensive style of Ivan depending on the situation. Have you heard of these tips before? Im trying to drill it in your head.
  
  
• Distractor- Wayne is another good character to fit this role. Basically, you want to gain your enemies attention and try to keep them stationary or in the same area WITHOUT dying. Remember, killing them is still your first priority so if you don't need help since it's not a flying Elena or a spidermanning Ivan, give it a shot. The bad part about this role is that Ivan's damage is greatly wasted. Not really a good thing ,but i wont to throw this in if you really enjoy running and hopping and wallhugging and moving all over the place. Never stop for a second!
  
  
• More explanation and a further team building set-up is coming soon!

Thank you Heshiko for helping me make this guide. Also, thank you for all the countless friends i made, i couldn't have been any more confident to make this guide. You are all the very reason why i want to make the community better and bring forth more ideas! Last, but not least, thank YOU for reading my guide. Constructive criticism at the bottom and rate up or down depending on what you do or don't like!

Refer to the contributors!

Most helpful editor: Shadowds, Fireorb13 and Flamebird

Most helpful ideas given: Liese and 86

Most inspiration acquired from: All the Ivan players that can crush me without a blink of an eye =)