Tips: Playing A Fade, Well.
Propain
Join Date: 2002-11-08 Member: 7705Members
Join Date: 2002-11-08 Member: 7705Members
I've found that most people can't play a fade well. Even my friends who I would consider very experienced gamers. I've always found fades overpowered (I play aliens about 3/4 of the time, and a fade about the same). It's very common for me that when I turn fade, the game ends, I haven't died, and I've added 20-30 kills to my name. It didn't seem like it was anything special. It actually seemed that it was a result of really stupid marines. What it *really* is, is that I learned a lot from my days of the quakes, and I didn't even realize how much I was using it. The quake games, especially rocket arena and 1 on 1 built up incredible defensive gameplay which I now do without noticing. I'm hoping that maybe this will help any of you out there who've overplayed CS, never played quake, and really don't have too much more in your arsenal other than aim and teamplay.
If you believe that an onos is better than a fade, read on!
0) Carapace/Adrenaline - No reason, at all, to use anything else. Regeneration: With the amount of health you have, it's faster to run back to the nearest hive. Redemption: Do you plan on dying? I mean, go ahead if you *really* suck =P. Spit is your #1 attack, hands down, and it takes a lot of "juice", so you need adrenaline.
1) Speed - Utilize it. You're faster than any marine without a jetpack. Keep your distance.
2) Splash damage - This is what I consider overpowered about the fade. The amount of damage the splash from spit does is way too much, in my opinion. You can spit all over the place, and do nearly as much damage as if the marine was taking it in the face every time.
3) Combine the first two - If you keep your distance, you'll usually do just as much damage as if you were 3 feet away from the marine. Except the marine is going to do much less. If you run into a marine without aim, you may even come out unscathed
4) Aim - Aim is *not* something you need to play a fade, but it is something you need to understand. If you've played any of the quakes much, you'll know how to aim as a fade already. Shooting at a marine with spit is pointless. Sure you may do a little more damage, but if you miss, it's damage gone down the tubes. Always shoot at their feet. You may get lucky and hit their feet, if not, it'll hit the ground and splash them. If you don't have an angle to shoot their feet (rare), use anything else near them.
5) Groups - Groups of marines get cocky. They usually lose their defensive tactics if they're in a small group, use it to your advantage. Ran like a little ****, but do it backwards. This brings me to 6.
6) Running backwards - Another skill which was mastered in quake by anyone whoe played it a lot. If you can know the map well enough to run through it backwards, without looking, you'll have a huge advantage.
7) Combine 5 and 6 - While running backwards, splash every corner you can. keep yourself *just* out of view while takings shots on corners that the marines are coming to. This also works against single marines, obviously.
8) Fast "weapon" switching - Most have this grasped, but at close range, use your claws. If you've got a marine beside you, spit as much as you can, then toss out the claws and rip em apart.
I just need to add this... I read a post where someone said the words "Melee fade". It makes me speechless. Don't play your fade like a skulk, 54 resources is a big waste... I can't even believe some people go running into a room with their claws a flailing...
I can't think of anything else to add at this time. Hopefully I've helped some of you guys out.
Propain
If you believe that an onos is better than a fade, read on!
0) Carapace/Adrenaline - No reason, at all, to use anything else. Regeneration: With the amount of health you have, it's faster to run back to the nearest hive. Redemption: Do you plan on dying? I mean, go ahead if you *really* suck =P. Spit is your #1 attack, hands down, and it takes a lot of "juice", so you need adrenaline.
1) Speed - Utilize it. You're faster than any marine without a jetpack. Keep your distance.
2) Splash damage - This is what I consider overpowered about the fade. The amount of damage the splash from spit does is way too much, in my opinion. You can spit all over the place, and do nearly as much damage as if the marine was taking it in the face every time.
3) Combine the first two - If you keep your distance, you'll usually do just as much damage as if you were 3 feet away from the marine. Except the marine is going to do much less. If you run into a marine without aim, you may even come out unscathed
4) Aim - Aim is *not* something you need to play a fade, but it is something you need to understand. If you've played any of the quakes much, you'll know how to aim as a fade already. Shooting at a marine with spit is pointless. Sure you may do a little more damage, but if you miss, it's damage gone down the tubes. Always shoot at their feet. You may get lucky and hit their feet, if not, it'll hit the ground and splash them. If you don't have an angle to shoot their feet (rare), use anything else near them.
5) Groups - Groups of marines get cocky. They usually lose their defensive tactics if they're in a small group, use it to your advantage. Ran like a little ****, but do it backwards. This brings me to 6.
6) Running backwards - Another skill which was mastered in quake by anyone whoe played it a lot. If you can know the map well enough to run through it backwards, without looking, you'll have a huge advantage.
7) Combine 5 and 6 - While running backwards, splash every corner you can. keep yourself *just* out of view while takings shots on corners that the marines are coming to. This also works against single marines, obviously.
8) Fast "weapon" switching - Most have this grasped, but at close range, use your claws. If you've got a marine beside you, spit as much as you can, then toss out the claws and rip em apart.
I just need to add this... I read a post where someone said the words "Melee fade". It makes me speechless. Don't play your fade like a skulk, 54 resources is a big waste... I can't even believe some people go running into a room with their claws a flailing...
I can't think of anything else to add at this time. Hopefully I've helped some of you guys out.
Propain
Comments
Well, if you played Quake you're able to shoot an acid rocket right into his face. It's easy to to but needs a lot of practice, you have to guess where the marine will be in 0.5 seconds when the rocket will touch him. If he strafes too much, aim at the floor like you said <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I wish I could actually give some numbers, but I can only give what I believe. Say you shoot 4 shots, usually what you can get off from max to 0 "juice". If you hit 3, miss 1, I can nearly garentee you're going to do the same damage if not less than 4 splashes. Why bother taking the chance? Even if the guy runs right at you, do you *know* you're going to hit him? (rhetorical). Shoot right at his feet, not in front of them, right at them. You've got a good chance of making a connection, and even if you don't, you've got splash.
Maybe people also don't realize the difference in splash damage vs direct damage. It's not much, not enough. A direct hit should be worth a lot more than one that was intentionally shot at a wall beside him, but it isn't. It's damn close to the same.
I also know Fade players, who use regeneration, which makes a fade too fragile and not very effective.
best is if you plan a siege on a marine base or enemy occupied hive, be first a gorge or have a gorge with you that build defense chambers (4) along with some offense chamber near it, but out of range of siege cannons.
Then get fade or as fade use carapace and adrenaline and just attack constantly. If your low on health and armour go back to the DC, heal up and strike again.
Notice that you should retrear not when you only lost 10 armour points, but the dependence lies on how much marines you encounter and how they are equipped. So you can stay until your armour is depleted if there is almost no resistance. Or you retreat sooner with maybe 50 armour points left if the resistance is stronger and you´re pursuit by several marines.
...now if we could only figure out how to spit-jump Q2-style, I´m one happy fade...would make for a nasty surprise for them JPers when you fly up to them and claw them to death in mid-air... <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I think you´ve underrated the melee values of the fade though...blink+slash is eeeevil.
Second...People actually shoot at the marines? Anyone who does should be knocked upside the head, the only time you shoot directly at the marine is when theyre rushing you with a knife (can't imagine why they do that, but they seem to like dying quickly and painlessly). Maybe people, instead of not playing Quake enough, overplayed Quake II Rail Arena, and they expect the rockets to hit isntantly and blow up whatever they touch and anything they touch behind the first guy they blew up.
And also, with the way they've doubled the rate of regeneration, it's now just as good as carapace. Though I still prefer Cara for anything but lerk.
celerity on fades makes you damn fast, although it's not nearly as crazy as skulk - those little bastages can run <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
the swipe attack is more powerful than the acid rocket so if your up close make good use of it (only Onos is more powerful)
blink i still can't use much (cause i don't understand how it works fully yet)
the best use for fades i found is to duck in&out of doorways/around corners shooting at the marines turrets and phasegates etc. a couple of fades doing this can make life hard for the marines trying to keep that res or hive location - this is where adrenaline and regen work well together (since you dont get hit much at a distance, unless there's one of those pistol sharpshooters on the team)
EDIT: quake and quake3 rocket skills make you a fade to be reckoned with
-- Codeman
*edit* Sorry, I did post this in the wrong place. If any admins see it, please feel free to move it.
<!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Tip: Don't double post... <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Oh, and to keep this post relevant, BLINK OWNS ALL. Celerity is useless when you can just instantly be inside a group of marines, clawing them all to death. If they are HA/HMG, do not attempt to claw, just acid spam from around corners as post #1 said.
Its great fun lol and shows more skill then sitting back throwing acid at the marine running at you with his knife <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
I'm actually a regeneration/adrenaline Fade myself... my biggest advice is don't go in alone. Just came back from a game on Tanith where we got second and third hive after a very unlucky phase-rush failure on the marines part, and four out of my six team-mates went Fade and utterly crushed opposition. Three hive Fades rock!
Mele fades are absolutly devastating
Celery and Carap and you've got a super skulk (higher damage output, higher damage absorbtion).
Claws have a much higher DoT than acid rockets so use them at close range way above the acid rocket (spit is the gorge attack).
Blink, hell you need an intire thread on its own to cover how good blink is and how it should be used.
BlueGhost
Actually i use celerity + carapace for fade most the time now... its more fun... and it kills quicker and more often.
And blueghost, about blink, ive got a blink phobia, so i never use it now. I normally get stuck in doors with it <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Neg.
Swiping fades that attack me in my HA are just free welder kills... <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> That is if I get the kill from three of my team mates opening up with HMGs on it at once... Can we all say ouch?
Adrenaline is necessary versus HAs. You have to just keep them welding and not moving forward, and three to four fades spamming acid all over the place really cranks out the splash damage. (More damage than even swiping, just due to splash, AND you are safely behind the next corner.)
That's Celerity / Cara or Cloak / Cara.
But I'll be low on health, or I'll die with one sat there on 20/0, and he's skulk foddder now anyway.
With friends, my numbers actually go up, because not so many people are shooting at me <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Anyway, if you've got something to prove to yourself, go ahead, shoot your rockets at their faces, blink-slash, whatever... But I'll be the one who only left their base after it was dead. (disclaimer: Only on small servers, lol. I can't take on 12 marines at once =\)
Propain
A) I've re-healed, to rinse & repeat
B) My teammates (especially the Gorges) get to save rez & do whatever the hell they like.
If you do it as a LERK, now THAT stresses the marines out even more. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Neg.
Swiping fades that attack me in my HA are just free welder kills... <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> That is if I get the kill from three of my team mates opening up with HMGs on it at once... Can we all say ouch? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Affirmative. You can see the fade corpse lol
If you havnt tried the celerity cara fade, then do so, and youll see how devastating they are against marines.
Acid rocketing a phase gate takes time, and if the marines are half decent, theyll rush at you anyway, so youll have to use youre claws.
But i agree adren cara fades are more for base killing, whilst celerity cara fades are for marine killing.
But like I have stated in a other post the important thing is to mix your forces. A fade in the base will draw fire away from the fade shooting acid.
I have never been on the receving end but my guess is that to suddenly have a fade in the middle of base is quite stressfull. Add acid rockets into the mix and marines will have trouble regrouping.
If you also can have a lerk in the base covering the fade with umbra then they truly have problems. Gl:s will work quite bad since your in the middle of the marines so the only real threat to the lerk is marines using the knife and since you should have on fade killing the base and one by the door shooting that shouldn't be that big of a problem.
Once on Tanith the marines relocated to sat placing the CC up by the hive. I blinked up, took out the turret behind the cc and started swiping the cc. To my supprise there was allmost no marines who came up and tried to killed me. I told a friend this who also was a fade in the game and he told me it was because he constantly shoot all marines who tried to get up there. Just a small story of teamwork among the Kharaa. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
But, 2 days ago I began to experiment with celerity fades. Sure, with the acid spammer fade, you can attack marines from afar, but in all truth, it just gives them the chance to run away <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Celerity fades are extreamly quick (to me, they seem faster than regular skulks), and they swipe faster. So, instead of acid spamming everything, just blink into a group of marines and let them have it. When I played as an acid spammer fade, I never seemed to be effective at doing anything except holding down the fire key.
Celerity fades who blink into a group of marines 1) gives you a close quarters advantage, 2) Gives you more health and armor than a skulk (Hence, it is not a waste), and psychologically, will hopefully scare the crap outta marines.
Nothing is more satisfying as a fade than to swipe 6 guys in their own base while turrets are firing and then blink right out. If you get the same satisfation from doing acid spams...I guess that's your own thing <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Still, I've found a huge performance increase as a fade when I just use celerity and carapace. Then only unit I do use without celerity and carapace is the lerk and Onos, but the onos is boring <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->