Tips for the noob fades from pro fades?

FuleFule Join Date: 2009-06-04 Member: 67683Members
By pro fades I mean the top clan player fades that somehow circle around you and you can't even find him - all you see is the shadow and your health bar going down in seconds. I can remember two guys doing this - duplex sutty and arc ray, but I'm sure there were others. WHAT IS YOUR SECRET :/
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Comments

  • ritualsacrificeritualsacrifice Join Date: 2012-11-14 Member: 171148Members, Reinforced - Shadow
  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    1. Stay alive
    2. Stay alive
    3. Stay alive

    Learn when and how to retreat and do it often. Don't feel afraid to run after taking one hit. Its better to retreat and stay alive than to try to get one last swipe for the kill.
  • Blarney_StoneBlarney_Stone Join Date: 2013-03-08 Member: 183808Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    That Bitey video really helped me. After watching it I went from being a mediocre Fade to going like 25-2 as Fade on public servers
  • ColtColtColtColt Join Date: 2012-06-27 Member: 153707Members
    If i may offer something;

    Don't be reliant on blink. Shadowstep is your bread and butter until late-late and/or jetpacks.

    Blink is for very tricky situations, jetpacks, and correcting erroneous shadowstep fails.

    Shadowstep in all directions, not just forward/backward. Use strafe-shadowstep, etc.

    Learn to half-commit, don't always fully commit nor constantly retreat. Draw fire and when the fire slackens, get your damage in.

    -All-In | Colt
  • casan0vaxcasan0vax Cloverfield, USA Join Date: 2012-11-04 Member: 166663Members, WC 2013 - Shadow
    Listen to Colt. He is one of the best fades out there.

    Beyond the movement being a good fade is, like what others are suggesting, just knowing the situation and your role in it. You're not a tank, so don't act like it. Shadowstep+jump in, swipe once or twice, and get out. When you get blink, your movements can be even more erratic and unpredictable.

    Also, you might want to consider different keybindings as well. I believe Bitey, in his video, says he uses one of his mouse buttons to jump when he fades (although he's lerk 95% of the time), but the fact is, don't be afraid to experiment with different/more comfortable keybinds for Default Shift (shadowstep), Default Control (crouch), and Default Spacebar (jump)--all three of which are crucial to "pro" fade movement.
  • MestaritonttuMestaritonttu Join Date: 2004-07-29 Member: 30229Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
    I think the OP is looking for some pro tips, he's a pretty good Fade to begin with...

    I'm very interested on the keybinds people have. I have no extra buttons on my current mouse, and somehow having shadowstep/crouch/jump all on my keyboard feels awkward as hell, because 3 fingers are sitting on WASD so it leaves only 2 fingers free for 3 functions you need to use almost in unison. Having a button on the mouse for 1 of them would be ideal...
  • ResRes Join Date: 2003-08-27 Member: 20245Members

    Now if
    I think the OP is looking for some pro tips, he's a pretty good Fade to begin with...

    There really isn't that much to learn when playing fade other than movement and learning when to engage/disengage a fight.

    And mostly movement itself just consists of shadowstep + jump for speed and constantly shadowstepping to make yourself harder to hit. Sure you can do somewhat trickier stuff when you get blink, like blinking towards the cieling and shadowstepping back towards your target on the ground. There's really not much else to playing fade.
  • NominousNominous Baltimore, MD Join Date: 2012-02-18 Member: 146518Members
    edited April 2013
    I'm very interested on the keybinds people have. I have no extra buttons on my current mouse, and somehow having shadowstep/crouch/jump all on my keyboard feels awkward as hell, because 3 fingers are sitting on WASD so it leaves only 2 fingers free for 3 functions you need to use almost in unison. Having a button on the mouse for 1 of them would be ideal...

    I agree. There are too many keys you have to press just so you can pass under ceilings when Shadowstep jumping. I've bound Mouse 3 to crouch in order to solve this problem. On my Logitech G400, it's the extra button closest to my thumb. I highly recommend buying a good mouse that has a few easy-to-press extra buttons. It will give you some greatly-needed options for keybinds.

    The only disadvantage I find is that crouching as a marine makes it very difficult to aim (for me, at least). My thumb usually rests on a groove directly below the Mouse 3 button. This wouldn't be a problem if you could bind a secondary button to an ability or if there was a way to instantly change keybinds through a script like in TF2. :/ I prefer binding crouch to ctrl for anything other than the fade.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited April 2013
    My shadow step is on my mouse, helps a lot.

    EDIT: Also crouch is C, always has been, always will.
  • SyknikSyknik InversionNS2.com Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2064Members, Constellation, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Shadow
    Crouching while shadow stepping can be pretty good. Like the others say, you can move front, back, side to side while shadow stepping. You can also go from SS to Blink once its up and you can go around the map and engage marines very quickly, just make sure to get out as quickly as you can. Don't be scared to not get the kill go in do your damage and get out. Go back in when you got your health back up.
  • ZenuZenu Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72861Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited April 2013

    I'm very interested on the keybinds people have. I have no extra buttons on my current mouse, and somehow having shadowstep/crouch/jump all on my keyboard feels awkward as hell, because 3 fingers are sitting on WASD so it leaves only 2 fingers free for 3 functions you need to use almost in unison. Having a button on the mouse for 1 of them would be ideal...

    I solved this problem by binding crouch and shadowstep on same button, it works quite neatly but if you only want to crouch and not do shadowstep at same time you must press crouch before any movement button. Also you can stay crouched after shadowstepping by keeping the button down. I use this kind of bindings: mouse left= attack, mouse right= shadowstep+crouch, shift=blink, space=jump. Works for me

  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    I liked the vid. Bitey is amongst the top right. And it shows in his movement.
    I cant do it like that... yet :p
  • ResRes Join Date: 2003-08-27 Member: 20245Members
    I liked the vid. Bitey is amongst the top right. And it shows in his movement.
    I cant do it like that... yet :p

    here I thought it was pretty easy to do movement like that as a fade...... kinda surprised some can't to be honest because it's not that hard.....
  • EgoGamerEgoGamer Join Date: 2012-06-21 Member: 153536Members, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Supporter
    Although it's obvious as soon as you see it done, it never occurred to me to jump after a shadowstep to keep your momentum. I'd sorta toss SS, Blink and double jump around randomly and then blink out the room when I took a hit or two.

    After a bit of practice it's like a whole new game. Cheers Bitey, and ritual for linking it.
    (I still suck mind you, but not quite so much now. ;] )
  • Blarney_StoneBlarney_Stone Join Date: 2013-03-08 Member: 183808Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    As soon as I realized that you can strafe jump like you do in Quake, Fade movement became much easier for me
  • amoralamoral Join Date: 2013-01-03 Member: 177250Members
    As soon as I realized that you can strafe jump like you do in Quake, Fade movement became much easier for me

    strafe jumping was different, you mean air strafing.
  • suttysutty Join Date: 2010-08-01 Member: 73403Members
    Slightly OT but proper strafe jumping is in the balance patch for the skulk and its ace :D

    On fading I think most of it has been covered, a massive part of it is map awareness and when to push, so keep the map open understand what your team are doing etc. Big parts of my time when in matches are spent just denying areas and not necessarily being aggressive.

    When close up or chasing jet packs it no different from any other fps aspect, all about reactions and twitch - just keep practicing I guess :D
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    Never occurred to me is one thing.
    But I myself have trouble learning repetitive longterm movement ingame.

    Bunnyhop took me a hell of a long time.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Yeah...I feel you Darkling...
  • FuleFule Join Date: 2009-06-04 Member: 67683Members
    sutty wrote: »
    Slightly OT but proper strafe jumping is in the balance patch for the skulk and its ace :D

    On fading I think most of it has been covered, a massive part of it is map awareness and when to push, so keep the map open understand what your team are doing etc. Big parts of my time when in matches are spent just denying areas and not necessarily being aggressive.

    When close up or chasing jet packs it no different from any other fps aspect, all about reactions and twitch - just keep practicing I guess :D


    Nah man, I'm talking about that day when we were in the hbz combat server - I was marine and you were aliens and you kept killing me pretty easily, but most of the time I could hardly see you because of the shadow everywhere - do you blink all the time or is it shadowstep? How do you evade shotguns that well, or was it just me that I cannot aim? :/
    You almost made me go to anger management classes :/
  • joederpjoederp Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165992Members
    This is helpful but I'd really like to see footage of someone like bitey using fade during actual combat.
  • GrueneMedizinGrueneMedizin Join Date: 2012-12-13 Member: 175008Members
    I heard someone once say to get out a bad/dangerous situation before it happens. Fits pretty well. Other than that, move around a lot, be a hard target to hit. Don't attack groups of marines bigger than 2 alone, especially if they have shotguns.
  • ritualsacrificeritualsacrifice Join Date: 2012-11-14 Member: 171148Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Try to remember where the marines are at all times, it'll help you prevent getting caught in a pinch between two groups of marines. (I.e. you're in summit reception, know marines spawn in flight and have a phasegate in crossroads, so you go through crevice to avoid contact). Sounds simple, but it's super important and if you pay attention to it you'll likely be surprised how often you die because of stupid little things like that.
  • MestaritonttuMestaritonttu Join Date: 2004-07-29 Member: 30229Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
    joederp wrote: »
    This is helpful but I'd really like to see footage of someone like bitey using fade during actual combat.

    Nobody in the thread has actually addressed killing marines yet. Which is something that varies alot. Some people never hit marines without shadowstepping back and forth, some people blink in for a hit, blink around, hit again.

    Personally, I don't have a clue.
  • ritualsacrificeritualsacrifice Join Date: 2012-11-14 Member: 171148Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Fading during combat is kind of tricky to explain.. a lot of it is a mental game where you're trying to fake out the marines and make them look one way while you're going the other.. also, it's usually a good idea to go in and out a lot, like blink in, hit once and run, come back and hit again, repeat until the marine is dead. I don't really know how to break it down other than just saying you have to figure out what works for you. You really won't be using a lot of the super fast movement techniques in combat though, a lot of it is just going to be really simple get in, swipe a couple times, and get out kind of stuff.
  • NeokenNeoken Bruges, Belgium Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27447Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester
    This is a good video as well. I really like the blink up shadowstep down+swipe combo. :)

  • FuleFule Join Date: 2009-06-04 Member: 67683Members
    Neoken wrote: »
    This is a good video as well. I really like the blink up shadowstep down+swipe combo. :)

    It's good, but figured that out myself :/ Bitey needs to make some gameplay footage so we can see what he does in every situation, would be nice!
  • kk20kk20 Join Date: 2012-10-30 Member: 164592Members
    When you have blink dont forget vertical approaches and exits. It is hard for marines to track over their head's
  • Blarney_StoneBlarney_Stone Join Date: 2013-03-08 Member: 183808Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Just went 31-3 in a public game as a Skulk/Fade! One of my best games ever :)
  • BurdockBurdock Join Date: 2012-08-27 Member: 156553Members
    As fade, always consider your speed and vulnerability.... If you are nether moving fast, or out of line of site, your DEAD....
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