Onos 101
Sasuke
Join Date: 2003-07-25 Member: 18414Members
Join Date: 2003-07-25 Member: 18414Members
<div class="IPBDescription">I hope someone finds this useful...</div> Sickened by the amount of unskilled onos that I see, I decided to make a miniguide on how to use them properly in hopes that some excruciatingly long endgames might be prevented by talented (and hopefully literate) players.
Let’s get started, shall we?
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I) Why go onos? It’s..
- the fastest and most reliable killer of outposts
- a large meat shield so your teammates can attack in relative safety
- the only thing that stands a chance against HA’s
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II) Onos Behavior
Since you are so huge, it’s fairly useless to dodge, and with no ranged attacks, you’d best be running as straight as you can directly towards the enemy. Make sure you don’t get stuck anywhere, as many maps have tricky ramps and entrances. Crouch when in doubt. From my experience, the top of ramps are buggy for onos, so you need to jump over it. Just be wary of your large size, and the fact that your teammates will frequently be in your way.
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III) Attack Patterns
- Gore (or claws, as the console calls it) is the main attack of onos. It deals heavy damage, and is pretty easy to aim. Most people have very little trouble using this attack, so I’ll just move on.
- Devour is badly abused by many people, since it’s a one-hit KO as long as you stay alive. Itwas frequently used with redemption, but that has already changed with 2.01b, and for the better. The best use of devour is to instantly remove an HA from the game. Most other times that you use it will only hurt you more than it hurts the marines, as a full tummy slows down our favorite elephant-thing. You should aim at the marine so that your horn is approximately pointed at his chest or stomach, and you should also always try to devour. The range on that thing is just plain wrong, as you can simply just suck people out of vents and while they’re jetpacking. One last note: Please don’t try to devour the FIRST marine in a group, kill them with gore and devour the last if you REALLY want to. Trying to devour the first will only result in your death/redeem, and you will have been useless.
- Stomp is definitely essential for a good onos, which means you better get those 2 hives up before you start running around. What does it do? It freezes people in their tracks, making them unable to shoot or move for about 2 seconds. This is huge for the onos. It only needs a second to kill a single LA, so with a well-placed stomp followed by some tasteful goring will result in marine massacre. Stomp doesn’t work up ramps, nor does it go through walls (even though it looks like it does). You can wait a little bit away from the corner, and when groups of marines come by, you stomp ‘em, gore gore, stomp again, and keep at it. Only really smart HA teams with grenade launchers can really stop a good user of stomp. It’s that good.
- Charge simply allows you to deal a LOT of damage just by holding forward. It also makes you move at incredible speeds, therefore making charge the preferred method of getting in and out of battle. With charge, you don’t really have the time nor energy to stomp, so you want to start the charge, switch to gore, and slam away at the marines. It’s really not that hard to use charge, so long as you remember that you have it at 3 hives. With enough movement chambers and adren, you can keep up an infinite charge, scary stuff.
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IV) Let’s see, which upgrades should I get?
- Redemption: This is easy. Get this if you’re new to onos and don’t want to just die instantly. This functions best at low upgrades, and will help you get the hang of your large incarnation without fear of insta-gib. Just be warned that redeem may impale you with a chamber or hive, and liberal use of /stuck is recommended. Ditch this upgrade once you’re familiar with the critter.
- Regeneration: The most popular upgrade amongst good onos, regeneration pretty much is invincibility against everything but shotguns and grenade launchers. Basically you won’t get taken down unless you run stupidly into groups of marines with shotties and fail to realize that a retreat is in order. This upgrade totally rocks at low upgrades, and still holds it’s own when the going gets tough. Combined with the stomp strategy, this onos is literally invulnerable to any and all marine patrols. It’s also probably the best for finishing off marine’s main base, as you can simply heal back to full during the time it takes for marines to reinforce.
- Carapace: Get this only if you REALLY know what you’re doing, and even then, most of the time regen is better. This won’t save your hide like redemption, and won’t let you recover automatically after each battle. This is by far the onos who requires the most teamwork. Set up a healing station near wherever you’re about to attack, be it marine start or an outpost, and watch the damage flow. The sheer amount of extra damage you can absorb with carapace makes it that much more useful going up against teams of HA, as well as defending the hive. So really, as long as you’re well supported by gorges and defense chambers, you’re even more powerful than the regen onos. Good for dealing and absorbing damage, not so good for long battles.
- Adrenaline: Quite useful, as onos tend to run out of energy faster than they die. Adren will let you make a quick getaway with charge, or just gore that much faster. Basically, the onos simply increases it’s damage output. Oh yeah, and more stomps. Those are always fun
- Celerity: Makes the difference between an onos that took out 2 turrets and lived to fight another day and one that died after killing 1. This enhances the onos’ fleeing capacity, although at hive3, charge + adren is clearly better. It’s really up to you whether to get adren or celerity, both are equally good in my opinion at hives 1 and 2.
- Silence: While this is fun, it’s not really USEFUL for the onos. It lets you get a surprise first attack, but that’s less essential for the onos than for other classes that would die if spotted first. Adrenaline and celerity are almost always a better choice.
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V) Final note:
Teamwork with onos is different than teamwork with everything else. Don’t always try to force the onos to “do or die,” he will occasionally need to flee even with support. With that said, it is very important that you DON’T get in his way when he flees. Make sure the path is clear, heck, support the onos from a different direction. Throw umbra from across the room, attack from behind while the turrets are still shooting at your big fat buddy, things like that. And as onos, you have to remember that you’re not invulnerable just because you have 500 hp and a buttload of armor. You have to MAKE yourself invulnerable by using everything that’s available to you.
Let’s get started, shall we?
-----------------------------
I) Why go onos? It’s..
- the fastest and most reliable killer of outposts
- a large meat shield so your teammates can attack in relative safety
- the only thing that stands a chance against HA’s
-----------------------------
II) Onos Behavior
Since you are so huge, it’s fairly useless to dodge, and with no ranged attacks, you’d best be running as straight as you can directly towards the enemy. Make sure you don’t get stuck anywhere, as many maps have tricky ramps and entrances. Crouch when in doubt. From my experience, the top of ramps are buggy for onos, so you need to jump over it. Just be wary of your large size, and the fact that your teammates will frequently be in your way.
-----------------------------
III) Attack Patterns
- Gore (or claws, as the console calls it) is the main attack of onos. It deals heavy damage, and is pretty easy to aim. Most people have very little trouble using this attack, so I’ll just move on.
- Devour is badly abused by many people, since it’s a one-hit KO as long as you stay alive. Itwas frequently used with redemption, but that has already changed with 2.01b, and for the better. The best use of devour is to instantly remove an HA from the game. Most other times that you use it will only hurt you more than it hurts the marines, as a full tummy slows down our favorite elephant-thing. You should aim at the marine so that your horn is approximately pointed at his chest or stomach, and you should also always try to devour. The range on that thing is just plain wrong, as you can simply just suck people out of vents and while they’re jetpacking. One last note: Please don’t try to devour the FIRST marine in a group, kill them with gore and devour the last if you REALLY want to. Trying to devour the first will only result in your death/redeem, and you will have been useless.
- Stomp is definitely essential for a good onos, which means you better get those 2 hives up before you start running around. What does it do? It freezes people in their tracks, making them unable to shoot or move for about 2 seconds. This is huge for the onos. It only needs a second to kill a single LA, so with a well-placed stomp followed by some tasteful goring will result in marine massacre. Stomp doesn’t work up ramps, nor does it go through walls (even though it looks like it does). You can wait a little bit away from the corner, and when groups of marines come by, you stomp ‘em, gore gore, stomp again, and keep at it. Only really smart HA teams with grenade launchers can really stop a good user of stomp. It’s that good.
- Charge simply allows you to deal a LOT of damage just by holding forward. It also makes you move at incredible speeds, therefore making charge the preferred method of getting in and out of battle. With charge, you don’t really have the time nor energy to stomp, so you want to start the charge, switch to gore, and slam away at the marines. It’s really not that hard to use charge, so long as you remember that you have it at 3 hives. With enough movement chambers and adren, you can keep up an infinite charge, scary stuff.
-----------------------------
IV) Let’s see, which upgrades should I get?
- Redemption: This is easy. Get this if you’re new to onos and don’t want to just die instantly. This functions best at low upgrades, and will help you get the hang of your large incarnation without fear of insta-gib. Just be warned that redeem may impale you with a chamber or hive, and liberal use of /stuck is recommended. Ditch this upgrade once you’re familiar with the critter.
- Regeneration: The most popular upgrade amongst good onos, regeneration pretty much is invincibility against everything but shotguns and grenade launchers. Basically you won’t get taken down unless you run stupidly into groups of marines with shotties and fail to realize that a retreat is in order. This upgrade totally rocks at low upgrades, and still holds it’s own when the going gets tough. Combined with the stomp strategy, this onos is literally invulnerable to any and all marine patrols. It’s also probably the best for finishing off marine’s main base, as you can simply heal back to full during the time it takes for marines to reinforce.
- Carapace: Get this only if you REALLY know what you’re doing, and even then, most of the time regen is better. This won’t save your hide like redemption, and won’t let you recover automatically after each battle. This is by far the onos who requires the most teamwork. Set up a healing station near wherever you’re about to attack, be it marine start or an outpost, and watch the damage flow. The sheer amount of extra damage you can absorb with carapace makes it that much more useful going up against teams of HA, as well as defending the hive. So really, as long as you’re well supported by gorges and defense chambers, you’re even more powerful than the regen onos. Good for dealing and absorbing damage, not so good for long battles.
- Adrenaline: Quite useful, as onos tend to run out of energy faster than they die. Adren will let you make a quick getaway with charge, or just gore that much faster. Basically, the onos simply increases it’s damage output. Oh yeah, and more stomps. Those are always fun
- Celerity: Makes the difference between an onos that took out 2 turrets and lived to fight another day and one that died after killing 1. This enhances the onos’ fleeing capacity, although at hive3, charge + adren is clearly better. It’s really up to you whether to get adren or celerity, both are equally good in my opinion at hives 1 and 2.
- Silence: While this is fun, it’s not really USEFUL for the onos. It lets you get a surprise first attack, but that’s less essential for the onos than for other classes that would die if spotted first. Adrenaline and celerity are almost always a better choice.
-----------------------------
V) Final note:
Teamwork with onos is different than teamwork with everything else. Don’t always try to force the onos to “do or die,” he will occasionally need to flee even with support. With that said, it is very important that you DON’T get in his way when he flees. Make sure the path is clear, heck, support the onos from a different direction. Throw umbra from across the room, attack from behind while the turrets are still shooting at your big fat buddy, things like that. And as onos, you have to remember that you’re not invulnerable just because you have 500 hp and a buttload of armor. You have to MAKE yourself invulnerable by using everything that’s available to you.
Comments
Adren is nice, but in the end, celerity will save your life more.
Adren is nice, but in the end, celerity will save your life more. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Agreed
Questions about Charge:
- Do you activate charge with just 1 click, or do you have to keep the mousebutton pressed to continue charging?
- If I run into a marine or building with charge activated, do I do any damage or do I have to use gore as well?
- More specifically, if I activate Charge with 1 click, then run into a TF, should I also switch to Gore and hack away while pressing myself against the TF?
Thanks,
/Tomper
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Wrong wrong my friend ! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
For example:
<!--emo&::fade::--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/fade.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='fade.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::fade::--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/fade.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='fade.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::lerk::--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/lerk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='lerk.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::gorge::--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='pudgy.gif'><!--endemo--> > <!--emo&::onos::--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/tiny.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tiny.gif'><!--endemo-->
The only thing that stands a chance against HA's is aliens that are using teamwork <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
No offense i just had to say it (saw too many rambo onos on pubs eheh)
Apart from that, nice guide! <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
THING...meaning 1! yeah...you COULD use 2 fades a lerk, and a gorge...but he just means ONE THING
3 Onoses would trip over each other to be completely honest, you need the small guys in there to really get everything kicking.
When attacking with gore/charge/devour, imagine theres a crosshair in the middle of ur screen and aim your imaginary crosshair at the chest of the marine/base of structure.
Manythink charge/devour have an area of effect - they dont, and once u realise this u should hav 100% accuracy on devour and should be able to take out up to 6 marines with just 1 charge.
Questions about Charge:
- Do you activate charge with just 1 click, or do you have to keep the mousebutton pressed to continue charging?
- If I run into a marine or building with charge activated, do I do any damage or do I have to use gore as well?
- More specifically, if I activate Charge with 1 click, then run into a TF, should I also switch to Gore and hack away while pressing myself against the TF?
Thanks,
/Tomper <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
When you use Charge, just click the button once...it takes a small adrenaline investement to start, then it continues until you run out of adrenaline. Until you run out you will hurt anything that you 'push' into. If a guy stands in front of you, but you are not pushing the forward button, you will do no damage. You do not need to switch to gore to do damage. If you do use gore while charge is on, it will use adrenaline as normal and therefore your charge won't last as long.
The tricky part is getting yourself lined up right so you don't just run by them and only do a little damage! The increased speed of charge does not help with that (hence why spreading out your turrets as a commander can make it tougher on onos to take out) If you have time, line yourself up on the turret factory(or other structure) so that you can push into it without going around the side, then hit your charge button. Once you miss once it is difficult to get back on target.
If you have the adrenaline upgrade your charge will last much longer because you are refiling at a rate that is close to the discharge rate.
it does, and yes seeinh that your not invincible as an onos, you got to use strat while being one, take it from me, most people in linuxmonster hate when im onos becuase ill get regen, celer, SoF and i ALWAYS devour the first marine i see, then gore the rest so im getting 50 hp per tick plus an extra 2 inbetween the clicks which could be a life saver, some people hate me for it, i actually got 2 ppl to official quit NS becuase of it but hey its my strat, use it if you like to be the player that every marine runs away from but in other cases it can cause people to flip. if you go with regen and celerity as onos your almost invincible, i only have died once as an onos so far out of at least 40-50 times ive been onos so its a good strat if your new <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Of course this doesn't go on long because I usually head straight for the IP. I like devour but not to the point of "lololol I'm camping at your IP, lololol"