Count Dooku: Force Guide

Overview:

Dooku is one of the stronger characters. His health is just a bit above normal level. His saber I would classify as strong. His dash is good when executed properly. His force powers are force lightning and force choke. His overhead attack is very similar to Vader's.

Dooku's walk speed is slower than normal. This means he can be caught easily. So you will want to take a defensive attitude while playing him. Due to his slower speed his dash needs to be calculated properly. If the enemy is too far and you want to dash them, you may run out of power by the time you get there. So be sure to use dashes at shorter distances, primarily after a choke.

His dash is the same as the Emperor's. It is pretty much a straight-line run while the saber slashes left and right. This dash is advantageous because it usually causes a knockdown. To achieve the knockdown you must time your click at the proper time. As you are sprinting near an enemy, you will want to click just before you get to them. This will begin his sideswipes as you crash into the enemy. By doing this you will probably get a knockdown; that is if the enemy doesn't move at all. You can also curve left and right slightly as he's dashing for those heroes who try to be evasive. There is nothing like a hero trying to run around you and you quickly dash to the side and stun them. Once you have knocked them down, you can turn around and complete the job with Dooku's saber combo.

Dooku's saber combo is effective but people can escape from it. You will find that if you just stand there and don't move forward it takes longer to achieve the swing-around end of the combo. If you do not get to the end of the combo there is a moment where they can escape via roll. So if you want to quickly complete the combo, you must push forward as you are clicking. This will usually avoid the escape.

After a knockdown dash you can do another easy move. Dooku's aerial attack focuses on the ground. In other words, you cannot hit anyone mid air. It will not do damage until you land. If they are already knocked down because of your dash, you can flip around hit jump and click just after. It is a powerful blow.

Using your directional keys can control an air attack. When you see an enemy below you and you jump to do the attack, after you click you will start falling. When this happens you can move slightly in each direction. It isn't a very big difference but it can mean life or death. Also be sure to click again once you land because he will swing again. Sometimes if you come up just short of the enemy the second swing may hit and knock them down. This is generally multiplayer lag but it sometimes works. Also if you are just slightly below an enemy and they are on a ledge, the aerial may strike them. There is a moment in Dooku's downward swing where it starts to do damage a bit before he actually lands, so you have a chance of hitting people above you. Sometimes this reels back in people who were trying to jump away from your aerial.

Because his walk and sprint are slower, his sprint jump into an aerial attack is not similar to Vader's. This cannot be used over as large of distances. You can still use it to propel yourself further than you would get by normal jump, because when you use it, it pushes you forward. If you are using it to get to another roof where normally you would fall short, be mindful of your allies. I've lost count of the times a Dooku or Vader has team hit or TK'ed me just so they could propel to the same roof.

Speaking of roofs: Dooku can survive better while relying on rooftops for protection. Try to stay away from being out in the open a lot. Not only will you successfully choke more, but you will also avoid more deaths by protecting yourself. The smart heroes will be on roofs with you, the not so smart heroes will be on the ground below you. Remembering that choke has the same distance as push, you can limit your exposure. One of the best spots for Dooku (or any villain for that matter) to be is on one of the roofs with domes near the hero default spawn. Many people do not use their mini map and don't know you are up there. With Default Villain spawn around the corner from them, they usually go along that path. You can easily use lightning or choke on them from above and can tuck behind the dome if needed. If there are only a couple heroes around if you choke you can go in for the kill.

Dooku's choke works very well when in close distances. To avoid losing the choke, do not choke someone at the full distance. At least, don't do this when you plan on going in for the kill. Dooku is slow walking as it is, but he's twice as slow when choking. If you want to choke someone at full distance, do so and get in a defensive position, because they will come after you. For example: Look over a roof and begin a choke, use all your power then back off to behind the dome. They will be about half health. Then they will most likely jump up to get you. By then you should have enough power back to choke them again when they land on the roof. Short distance chokes like this are perfect because you can do three things:

You can first hold the choke and move forward in for the kill and begin your combo. Do not forget to keep moving forward as you do the combo or else they can slip away. Be sure you are close enough that you have already begun the combo and are hitting them by the time they drop down from the choke (remember there is a slight time of recovery that works against them when you drop choke). If you release the choke and then begin the combo they also may slip away.

The second thing you can do when you are choking at close distance is your dash. As they drop down from your choke you have time to begin your dash and knock them over. In this case, depending on how low their health is, you may not have to begin the click before you get to them. If you choke them down pretty far, one crash with your dash may take them out. If you only get choke off for a few seconds, be sure to click so you can stun them.

The third thing you can do is the aerial attack. If they are really close all you have to do is choke a second or two, then jump and click quickly. You can also hold the choke and get close until you are in front and do the jump attack. Be sure you have enough power to get close enough. I also would not recommend trying this if you are almost out of power or they are too far away for you to get close. What can happen is that you can choke and if you are too far away once you let go and jump, they will roll and be gone.

If by chance you choke someone and do not get close enough to finish them off, there is a small trick you can do with choke. This only works when they don't roll, or you that you don't give them a chance to roll away. What you do when low on power is choke them until power is out and choke again the second you can. All the while you need to be continuing forward. Because of the slight downtime when they come off choke, you have a chance to choke them again thanks to your power refreshing. This takes great timing and they can slip out if you don't do it right away. The enemy will look like they are choking, then normal, choking, then normal, choking then normal. This is not a glitch (for those who will complain about it), it is just using natural refresh of power. It works best when you have the energy regen buff.

As described in the chapter about the Emperor, you can usually kill someone who has normal health, with a full energy continuation of lightning. Lightning is very helpful for when you just want to do a little damage to multiple characters. You can weaken a cluster of heroes who may be grouping below your roof. Be careful of allies with this too. When TK is on, you can seriously damage your team with lightning.

Unlike the Emperor, Dooku cannot use lightning while jumping. But it is very useful to use lightning while someone is jumping at or over you. Most heroes will do some silly acrobatics to try to sway you from where they are really going. This is effective for them, until you know what they are doing. Use lightning as they are jumping over you. Once they land you can dash them or choke them. They will be weakened from your lightning so it will be easier for you to kill them.

Please do not Choke-Lightning, you only show how new you are by using game glitches instead of skill.

Dooku vs. Gunners:

This is pretty simple. Just be close enough to choke them and finish them via saber. They have a higher health so they can squirm away easier. Be sure to choke them as long as you can before sabering them. If you have the chance to, weaken them with lightning while they aren't looking. If you stun them via an air attack or a dash, do another air attack because it seems to do better damage with less worry of them rolling away.

Dooku vs. Pullers:

As always, try to avoid pullers as much as possible by staying on roofs or blocking yourself with buildings and objects. If you are behind one of the white moisture vaporators, make sure you have block on. For some reason the game is wonderfully lame when it comes to block. If an elbow is showing, if an ear is showing, if a single hair is showing past an object, it's possible to get pulled. If you put a toe out of line, you'll find yourself yanked sideways into the open, then pulled again and die. So make sure you have block on no matter what object you are near until you are completely hidden. When you have the proper distance, choke them. If you are blocking, make sure your saber sparks before you choke, because there is a nice annoying bug where they can pull you right when you choke, even if you push the button first. If they are above you, I wouldn't recommend the jump up and aerial attack, unless they are facing away (Watch the arrow on your mini-map). The reason I don't recommend this is because you can't choke in mid air and they may be waiting for you to pull to their feet.

Dooku vs. Pushers.

Push has the same distance as choke. I still wouldn't recommend being in the open. Having a block-war with a pusher is not as easy on Dooku because of the distance. You may not have enough energy to choke them and still finish them after a bit of blocking. I would recommend to keep hiding as much as possible and strike from the shadows or with choke from above. Make them come to you by hitting them with a couple batches of lightning. If you do get pushed and are not stunned instantly, make sure to jump to a safe spot. A very effective way to jump away is by doing a back jump. Let's say you are on a roof and they are too, but you get pushed. Usually they'll follow you thinking they can get another push off to stun you. If you do a backwards jump from mid-air, you can pass overhead of them and have the advantage of height. Choke them from your new spot above them. If they are not tricked by this and stay on the roof, try to aim an aerial attack to hit them from above.