Ask the dudes who go 44-0 in a fifteen minute game as fade. Nexus is one hehe, I almost never fade in pubs cuz I know I'm a paper fade. My res is much better spent for my team as a lerk or onos. When I wanna practice (dying) as fade, I hit up combat. Peep some of It's super effective's videos on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/user/Abysmalnight/
-Watch your health and energy. Neglecting either of the two will cause your demise.
-Don't fight a pack of Marines, especially Marines with shotguns. Instead wait for skulks, a lerk, or another fade to assist. #FadeTangoOP
-Try moving erratically before engaging a target. Make him waste him ammunition and reload making it easier to kill him.
-As Super said in his video, swipe once and blink upwards, and land behind the target Marine.
-Know the best path of escape and be careful not to venture where Marines can pinch you.
-Jump while swiping. You will have to look down to hit your target while in the air but it's harder to hit you while you're jumping.
-Play on a combat server. Once you reach level 5, you can evolve to Fade. If you die, you can just re-evolve back to Fade over and over again. Great practice.
I'm not a super awesome Fade. I feel I know enough to do well in pubs. I still need improvement in pugs or competition level. If any other Fade players want to add to the list, feel free.
Comp fades terrify me. I can fade in pubs but I'm nowhere near comp level. They don't need a blanket buff but if there's something that can help newbie fades while not really buffing high level fades, that would probably be a good idea. Most pub fades are just downright bad at it and could use a little help.
The only issue with fades right now is the nerfed structure damage. This hurts the lifeform tremendously as viable.
The reason this was implemented was because before B250 you had the "Fadeball"; in every comp game, more or less, you had a timepoint (depending on alien RT count) when suddenly there would be 3-5 fades on the field and the game was over.
Now, most teams only use 1-2 fades, (sometimes zero), rarely 3.
The lifeform did receive a massive overhaul in 250, rendering it closer to a 'weaker' NS1 fade (thus your original post makes sense to me); but the lifeform is certainly still viable in competitive, and in pubs, it's still capable of stomping 80:0 in no time.
The thing is, as a Fade, the game is more about knowledge and intuition about engagements than about 'skillz'; you need to know when you can commit and when you can't, when you're going to be pinched or flanked, and have very detailed knowledge of specific map benefits (room details, geometry, so on).
Best of luck. If you want some fade tips and things, feel free to add me on Steam and i'll gladly show you some details.
I am a comp level fade, please watch this video. Fades are amazing in the right hands...
Skip to 10:55, thats when I start fade egg
My largest piece of advice? Do whatever is necessary to get a free swipe without taking damage, this includes ambushing, waiting for reload / welding and blinking in from behind. A single shotgun marine with medpack support can solo even the best fade, not over committing (1 swipe is the general rule, 2 is the MAX).
Comp fades terrify me. I can fade in pubs but I'm nowhere near comp level. They don't need a blanket buff but if there's something that can help newbie fades while not really buffing high level fades, that would probably be a good idea. Most pub fades are just downright bad at it and could use a little help.
I seem to recall this was always the issue with the design of the fade. In the right hands it's been a terrifying powerhouse, racking up dozens of kills in short order. But in the hands of a new player, it seems hilariously bad and weak.
Honestly I have no idea how to make it more noob friendly while at the same time not making it severely overpowered with the already pro players.
I think your frustrations are coming mainly from not knowing how to utilize the Fade to the best of its potential. In the right hands Fades can be really deadly. I do think they are a bit too difficult to use for newer players and too difficult to learn considering how once lost they cannot be re-purchased.
Energy conservation is the key to playing fade. You need to have 100% swipe accuracy while maintaining movement speed and not stopping. Constantly being aware that an extra swipe might remove your ability to blink away...
- Try and hit them without stopping. This means blink + bhop just to the left/right of their player model, turning your aim to point at them as you drift pass and hitting them midair. This allows you to conserve momentum which reduces your energy requirements for engagements
- Blinking in the air and down again is very costly. If you added the energy costs, you probably only have enough for blink in + swipe + blink up + blink down + 1 swipe. You would be borderline zero energy, thats assuming you engaged on 100% energy to start with which rarely happens.
Combat Engagement
- I play a sneaky fade, it's the only way to get a double slash without being nailed. This means only engaging from side / behind or when marines hit E on res towers.
- 2 Swipes = death against 2 shotguns
- 1 swipe + blink out. If you still have 50% armour left, its safe for another swipe
- Do not engage for no reason. Killing shotgun marines on a phase gate without any chance of grinding the gate only puts your fade at risk. Don't fucking do it.
Upgrades
- Adrenaline : I've never needed it, I've only ever been caught out maybe 4-5 times in total in about 3 months of scrims with no energy. This mostly comes down to me being greedy and not waiting for adren bar to regen during down time
- Celerity: Celerity > all other upgrades for fade
- Scent of Fear: Obvious
- Cara: I don't like cara, heal rate is 50% slower which is fucking anooying and really cripples field gorge
- Regen: Don't really notice it, but cara is shit so I pick this instead
I don't even think it's the mechanical side of the new fade people have trouble with. I mess up on my energy and overcommit on strong aimers more often than I'd like, but besides that you just need to always be thinking if what you're actually doing is having any impact on the game.
mf summed it up nicely, if you're a solo fade. Your only job is to kill solo recappers. And you're probably doing that with a skulk or are protecting one from dying in the process so they can get any RT down if required. Just get picks and scout where you can. If they send multiple to build because of you - less marines pressuring or camping pg.
Problem I see is people going for kills on camping shotguns when the marines are turtling phase gates. It doesn't even matter if you get the kill unless the rest of your team can get some other frags at the same time and get a push out of it. You can't engage groups by yourself anymore, best you'll do is get a sneaky pick on a pressure player assuming slow meds.
Should also practice swiping without losing momentum. You can get away with strafe swiping (walker fade) in a marines face early on, but it becomes too risky to get any kills or medigate dmg done to you against ups, sgs and nano. You can do some pretty huge sweeping movements with the fade momentum and you want to be drive by swiping in group fights / against multiple marines.
tl;dr: deny recap with fade. scout for an opportunity for the rest of your team. dont risk yourself on useless kills.
And don't practice using vortex, swipe or shadow step. You'll never get to use them in any scrim. And they're pretty shit
It's fun to the point when you don't die and you kill everyone. But then you realise, games end by killing structures and you're like "COME ON GUYS DO SOMETHING".
It's funny how as soon as you go a different life form, you easily forget basic accuracy things like 'dont hold mouse1' ... After watching MF's vid I realise I do that when I'm fade quite a bit but I have no idea why, considering I dont as a skulk. Gonna have to pay attention to that this evening
Comments
-Watch your health and energy. Neglecting either of the two will cause your demise.
-Don't fight a pack of Marines, especially Marines with shotguns. Instead wait for skulks, a lerk, or another fade to assist. #FadeTangoOP
-Try moving erratically before engaging a target. Make him waste him ammunition and reload making it easier to kill him.
-As Super said in his video, swipe once and blink upwards, and land behind the target Marine.
-Know the best path of escape and be careful not to venture where Marines can pinch you.
-Jump while swiping. You will have to look down to hit your target while in the air but it's harder to hit you while you're jumping.
-Play on a combat server. Once you reach level 5, you can evolve to Fade. If you die, you can just re-evolve back to Fade over and over again. Great practice.
I'm not a super awesome Fade. I feel I know enough to do well in pubs. I still need improvement in pugs or competition level. If any other Fade players want to add to the list, feel free.
They've been nerfed like....20 times since build 250 with maybe two actual buffs after their rework.
Are you surprised that the lifeform designed with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing marines is good at it?
The reason this was implemented was because before B250 you had the "Fadeball"; in every comp game, more or less, you had a timepoint (depending on alien RT count) when suddenly there would be 3-5 fades on the field and the game was over.
Now, most teams only use 1-2 fades, (sometimes zero), rarely 3.
The lifeform did receive a massive overhaul in 250, rendering it closer to a 'weaker' NS1 fade (thus your original post makes sense to me); but the lifeform is certainly still viable in competitive, and in pubs, it's still capable of stomping 80:0 in no time.
The thing is, as a Fade, the game is more about knowledge and intuition about engagements than about 'skillz'; you need to know when you can commit and when you can't, when you're going to be pinched or flanked, and have very detailed knowledge of specific map benefits (room details, geometry, so on).
Best of luck. If you want some fade tips and things, feel free to add me on Steam and i'll gladly show you some details.
Two cents from a "Comp fade",
-Colt (re., formerly DN, All-In).
I'm not sure if you're serious, but that's the entire point of the fade. All they do is kill marines, they are supposed to be good at it.
You do great work, and it benefits the retention rate and enjoyment for new players. :-bd
Skip to 10:55, thats when I start fade egg
My largest piece of advice? Do whatever is necessary to get a free swipe without taking damage, this includes ambushing, waiting for reload / welding and blinking in from behind. A single shotgun marine with medpack support can solo even the best fade, not over committing (1 swipe is the general rule, 2 is the MAX).
I seem to recall this was always the issue with the design of the fade. In the right hands it's been a terrifying powerhouse, racking up dozens of kills in short order. But in the hands of a new player, it seems hilariously bad and weak.
Honestly I have no idea how to make it more noob friendly while at the same time not making it severely overpowered with the already pro players.
http://ausns2.org/showthread.php?772-Learning-how-to-NS2-Merged-Threads&highlight=fade
I'll quote some of it.
+1 for killing Jekt in that vid, even tho i've already seen it before. Let's see if you've uploaded new material..
Thus, i rather lerk!
The commanding ones I'm working on are a doozy, hopefully it will be just as ...super effective.
MF
YOU ARE A LUCKY SON OF A....
Great fading there, your hit accuracy was outstanding. I imagine that video will be a revelation to many would-be fades!
Sounds great, let me know if you want a pair of eyes to review objectively!
Pretty much mf in a nutshell right there... lol