In Deathloop, players have quite a few details to consider as they navigate through Blackreef. The time of the day, all of their leads when it comes to arsenal and Visionaries, as well as gathering Residuum to eventually Infuse their gear and become even more powerful.
One of the major mechanics of Deathloop is, however, Julianna. The rival assassin to Colt has the opposite mission than he has: to protect the loop and the Visionaries. Julianna will invade the player's game at certain times and try to hunt down Colt. She's powerful, but there are ways to deal with an invader, player-controlled or not.
When And Where Does Julianna Invade?
Julianna will only invade if Colt is in an area where a Visionary is currently present. This piece of information is key to know as players plan their loadout for a specific time of the day and a specific area, as they can usually safely expect Julianna to make an appearance.
Julianna always invades a specific spot on the map. When she appears, a message will appear on the screen informing the player that Julianna's on the hunt. Moreover, a new red marker will have also appeared on the screen. This is the location where she will first spawn, and it's also the location of the antenna Colt needs to find and hack to access the tunnels again.
Should Colt Fight Or Flee When Julianna Invades?
When Julianna invades in Deathloop, players are presented with two options. They can either stick around and try to take her on or try to get a hack on the antenna marked on their map in order to open up the tunnels and simply run away.
Fleeing has a few advantages. First of all, Julianna is incredibly strong. She's armed with a powerful sniper rifle and can take aggressive long-range angles on Colt. Moreover, she has the Eternalists to help her, and a bunch of laser wire traps she can set up around the map.
Players who prefer to flee from her can try to first lure her away from her spawn point and then take an alternative, stealthy route back to the antenna to hack open the tunnels. Avoid Eternalists as much as possible, as invading Juliannas can use the Eternalists and their behavior to figure out where Colt is. Having the Aether Slab for this approach is very helpful since it lets Colt become invisible.
How To Best Defeat Julianna In Combat
While fleeing is an acceptable route, taking Julianna down has even more advantages than running away. If Colt still hasn't used his Reprise slab in that area, it's definitely worth sticking around and trying to take her on, since Julianna carries extremely valuable loot, including a Karnesis Slab, weapon, and character trinkets, and a nice weapon.
In fact, Reprise should be the main concern for players when making a decision on whether to fight or run. Julianna only needs to die once, which gives Colt an advantage. However, if Colt does die, Julianna will usually attempt to camp his body, to which most players will want to return to get back their Residuum.
To avoid these types of situations, players should avoid getting cornered in indoor areas. If Colt happens to be indoors, the best way is to set up a few traps in the main choke points and hack any turrets which deal major damage to Julianna, if they're available.
Julianna's sniper rifle makes her deadly at long range, but it's possible to "out snipe" her if the player has completed a secret that gives them the gold-tier Sepulchra Breteira sniper rifle, or if they use a long-range rifle to duel her. All this depends on how confident the player feels in their ability.
Another strategy is to close the distance. Colt's machete is fantastic for taking down enemies quickly, especially in one-hit kills. Using the Shift Slab, players can try to close the distance with her and stab her quickly to take her down and overwhelm the invader.
Deathloop was released o September 14, 2021, and is available on PC and PlayStation 5.