IMO those two lifeforms are the greatest source of frustration in the game. You save for them (especially for fade) for quite some time, then BAM, a shotgun blast and you are back at skulking again. Little time to learn. I am still learning fade, but for the new players who are afraid to use them (always saving for onos that may never come), here are a few pointers:
LERK
- Buy sooner rather than later, once shotguns are out, lerks have much harder time
- Some players are confused by the perpetual motion when flying, so to hit things, they perch and spam spikes. Never do that! Due to lag, when a marine spots you and you start eating bullets, you will be dead before you can react. Always move, always dodge.
- Lerk has a poisonous bite! New players do not know this. You can bite just once, retreat, let the poison work, and when the marine starts running to the base to heal, bite him in the back!
- Think basically in two modes - chopper and fighter plane. In chopper mode, just dodge left-right-up-down continuously, while spraying with spikes. IMO this has limited use, and you are quite vulnerable to rifle fire, but it's good for relatively safe harassment. Fighter plane mode - seek TyrsisXL videos on youtube, he demonstrates it perfectly. Mark with spikes, let the marine shoot wild, emptying clip, and when he's reloading, come close and kill him with bites. Alternatively, bite once or twice, retreat, let the poison work, then return to finish the fleeing enemy.
- Practice vertical dodging. People are good at tracking targets dodging to sides, but if you fly against an enemy who fires at you, and suddenly start climbing steeply up, they fail to track you. Practice zig-zagging up and down, it's a powerful evasive maneuver that will often save you.
- Check your map often. You are the fastest unit, you should respond to RT harassment, slow down pushes against undefended assets until rest of the team arrives.
Fade
- Don't go to battle without blink. Ask commander to research it before evolving.
- This one is tough as hell, seek TyrsisXL videos and practice the Shadow-step-jump-jump maneuver. Keep in mind that you are not a tank, fade is very fragile, so you should be never rushing head-on. Let the enemy shoot and then close using s-step or blink.
- Very effective for closing to battle is blinking not towards the enemy, but into the air above them, then fall down on them and start slashing. Chances are you will confuse them.
- Keep eye on your energy, always retreat using Blink.
- Do not attack RTs and building, you are doing puncture damage which is best against players. Leave demolition work to skulks, gorges and onos.
- As with lerk, never attack standing still, always shadowstep to the side when attacking. Confuse the marines, let them empty clips, then close in for the kill.
- Be wary around shotguns. Sometimes you can pick their rythms, and shadowstep out of the way just before the marine shoots, but it's hard.
- Pick solitary marines, groups of 2 at most. Never charge head on against an organized, large team. Fade is a glass cannon.
Most importantly, play conservative, and don't lose those lifeforms. They are a great asset to your team, offsetting marine permanent weapon and armor upgrades. If you die, the investment is gone. let expendable skulks rush first into combat and close in only after marines are shooting other targets.
This sums up my experience with those two lifeforms. After some 180 hours of playing, I can be an average lerk, but I still suck terribly with fade. However, for successful alien play, competent fades are essential. This quote sums it all:
"When I play marines, we are often massacred by a single fade. Put when I pick fade when playing aliens, I die in seconds. I don't know how to feel about that, besides rage."
LERK
- Buy sooner rather than later, once shotguns are out, lerks have much harder time
- Some players are confused by the perpetual motion when flying, so to hit things, they perch and spam spikes. Never do that! Due to lag, when a marine spots you and you start eating bullets, you will be dead before you can react. Always move, always dodge.
- Lerk has a poisonous bite! New players do not know this. You can bite just once, retreat, let the poison work, and when the marine starts running to the base to heal, bite him in the back!
- Think basically in two modes - chopper and fighter plane. In chopper mode, just dodge left-right-up-down continuously, while spraying with spikes. IMO this has limited use, and you are quite vulnerable to rifle fire, but it's good for relatively safe harassment. Fighter plane mode - seek TyrsisXL videos on youtube, he demonstrates it perfectly. Mark with spikes, let the marine shoot wild, emptying clip, and when he's reloading, come close and kill him with bites. Alternatively, bite once or twice, retreat, let the poison work, then return to finish the fleeing enemy.
- Practice vertical dodging. People are good at tracking targets dodging to sides, but if you fly against an enemy who fires at you, and suddenly start climbing steeply up, they fail to track you. Practice zig-zagging up and down, it's a powerful evasive maneuver that will often save you.
- Check your map often. You are the fastest unit, you should respond to RT harassment, slow down pushes against undefended assets until rest of the team arrives.
Fade
- Don't go to battle without blink. Ask commander to research it before evolving.
- This one is tough as hell, seek TyrsisXL videos and practice the Shadow-step-jump-jump maneuver. Keep in mind that you are not a tank, fade is very fragile, so you should be never rushing head-on. Let the enemy shoot and then close using s-step or blink.
- Very effective for closing to battle is blinking not towards the enemy, but into the air above them, then fall down on them and start slashing. Chances are you will confuse them.
- Keep eye on your energy, always retreat using Blink.
- Do not attack RTs and building, you are doing puncture damage which is best against players. Leave demolition work to skulks, gorges and onos.
- As with lerk, never attack standing still, always shadowstep to the side when attacking. Confuse the marines, let them empty clips, then close in for the kill.
- Be wary around shotguns. Sometimes you can pick their rythms, and shadowstep out of the way just before the marine shoots, but it's hard.
- Pick solitary marines, groups of 2 at most. Never charge head on against an organized, large team. Fade is a glass cannon.
Most importantly, play conservative, and don't lose those lifeforms. They are a great asset to your team, offsetting marine permanent weapon and armor upgrades. If you die, the investment is gone. let expendable skulks rush first into combat and close in only after marines are shooting other targets.
This sums up my experience with those two lifeforms. After some 180 hours of playing, I can be an average lerk, but I still suck terribly with fade. However, for successful alien play, competent fades are essential. This quote sums it all:
"When I play marines, we are often massacred by a single fade. Put when I pick fade when playing aliens, I die in seconds. I don't know how to feel about that, besides rage."