[Advice Request] How to become a high level fade
RisingSun
RisingCalifornia Join Date: 2004-04-19 Member: 28015Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
RisingCalifornia Join Date: 2004-04-19 Member: 28015Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
Questions for Div 1 and Premier fades.
In regards to Fade movement:
I know about the blink close to the ground and or carrying your momentum from a drop but can someone explain the mechanics behind it and maintaining that speed?
Do you use crouch often or only when required to clear obstructions?
Is a hit and run mentality a must when shotguns come out and you are forced to engage marines who know you are coming? Or what do you do in those crush scenarios with 2-3 good shotgunners?
When is the optimal time to use metabolize? Do you use it right after a blink? Or only when low on energy?
Any tips on enengry conservation early game? (I.e no upgrades or fade abilities)
In regards to game sense:
What sitatuations for you are "no goes"? Meaning in what situatikns do you not engage.
What is the fades role mid and late game?
If marine tech changes your role, what do you look for?
Any miscellaneous do's and don'ts not covered?
In regards to Fade movement:
I know about the blink close to the ground and or carrying your momentum from a drop but can someone explain the mechanics behind it and maintaining that speed?
Do you use crouch often or only when required to clear obstructions?
Is a hit and run mentality a must when shotguns come out and you are forced to engage marines who know you are coming? Or what do you do in those crush scenarios with 2-3 good shotgunners?
When is the optimal time to use metabolize? Do you use it right after a blink? Or only when low on energy?
Any tips on enengry conservation early game? (I.e no upgrades or fade abilities)
In regards to game sense:
What sitatuations for you are "no goes"? Meaning in what situatikns do you not engage.
What is the fades role mid and late game?
If marine tech changes your role, what do you look for?
Any miscellaneous do's and don'ts not covered?
Comments
You can add me on Steam though and I can try to answer as much as I can.
If there is multiple shotgunners, just don't go in unless it's a full team engagement.
Also off the top of any fades head, are there any areas in any map you hate and will not engage in? Or find difficult to escape from?
When he goes in for bites on Marines, it's totally fine to "miss" some of your swipes
this is how you solo one marine with a shotgun:
you should work hard to get a shotgunner to miss his first shot. you need to know when that shot is coming, and the instant it misses you need to be going in for a swipe. so basically dodge around to try and draw out the first shot, and go in for a swipe if it misses. if it lands hard, or you miss that first swipe, just get out. once you land that swipe, try to dodge and quickly land the second swipe. if you know for a fact that they're not on armor 2 yet, try to just walker-fade in the third swipe as quickly as possible. you want all your swipes to land as quickly as possible so that the marine is less likely to get meds. so basically dodge around, swipe, dodge around, two swipes. the main objective is to only let the shotgun fire twice. if he fires three times then you're in serious danger. it's possible to kill a fade with two shells, but highly unlikely.
now, that doesn't end up applying to most real engagements in matches. in game you want to be concerned with a few general types of engagements.
picks
picks are all about map awareness. basically you want to pick off a single marine, either because he's by himself or because nobody notices you. find an open lane and come up behind a recapper. hide around a corner and hope they don't check. let's say two marines are in mezzanine pushing on your server hive. you've got a lerk spiking from server side and a skulk threatening to go in, just keeping them busy. you go down platform and go through the mezz vent. figure out what they're doing. are they both looking toward server? is one trying to kill your harvester? are they separated? once one of the marines looks vulnerable you can try to go for a pick.
let's discuss quickly the different ways this could fuck you. what if there was actually a third guy either walking up to mezzanine from hub, or by the power watching the vent in case of just such a circumstance? well, you should know where the marines are. your team should be parasiting and calling numbers, and you should have map awareness. you need to know your engagement before you take it. what if you fuck up landing your swipes and get meat shot twice on the first guy? what's your escape route? well, you should know your escape route before you go in first of all. do you make for the mezz vent? that's a bad idea. it'll slow you down and it's far. a good marine will have you low enough by the time you get there that he'll be able to pistol you while you're struggling to try to get through the vent. what about hub? that's a death sentence. the odds that they won't have somebody ready for the pinch in hub or north tunnels or somewhere are incredibly low. generally your best bet is to head straight back to server. but what if one of the marines is on the east side of mezz? hopefully he was pulled back to the west side because you were attacking his buddy, but if not you may be fucked. some of the best marines will instinctively move to block exits for greedy lifeforms. this is why it's so important to know your engagement before you take it.
so what's the best possible way to play out that scenario? get ready to hit them with all three lifeforms. when you're in the vent quickly find an opening. go in for the pick, and tell your team to go in as you're about to land your first swipe. they can clean up the second guy by themselves, and probably the first guy if you haven't done enough damage to take you out, and they'll also provide cover for your retreat.
in general, pick are about get in and get out. if you overstay your welcome you're gonna get pinched. you can't give them time to react. map awareness.
crushes
let's say your team needs to crush oxygenation. you have an onos, a lerk, a skulk, and two fades. great! in this situation it can be easy to become overgreedy. first of all, if everybody comes in from the same door then you deserve to lose. come from as many different angles as possible. there are like four entrances to oxy. responding quickly and getting in position to crush rooms is what makes a good team. your lerk should be spiking to try and get armor low, your onos should run in and just start goring like mad. let's say there are four marines. four wep 3 marines can flash an onos real quick, and most teams will just call "shoot the onos" the instant he's in the room. your fades need to be trying to prevent those marines from killing that onos. how you ask? well, are the marines looking at you? no? then swipe them. they are? then look like you're gonna swipe them. either keep them busy or kill them. but, i hear you say, what if two of them are shooting the onos and two are looking at the fades? don't go in. an onos can take two marines, plus he has some backup already. once those two marines are dead the other two are forced to either engage the onos or just get gored in the back. all of this is a perfect version of events, and will end up being highly nuanced and different in every engagement, but the general idea holds true: try to get the marines to split their attention, or punish them if they don't.
with your fade buddy
try and swipe the same marine and eliminate him as quickly as possible.
what's the most important thing about fade in terms of value to the team?
map awareness. being able to apply pressure where it most advances the strategic goals of the team. and remember pressure doesn't always need to mean killing guys. sometimes it's just scaring them. preventing them from pressuring.
what's the most important thing about fade in terms of staging alive?
map awareness and patience. wait for your opening, wait for backup. know your exit before you go in. know where they're going to pinch.
what's the most important thing about fade in terms of killing marines?
land your swipes. if you always land your swipes you can get away with a lot of greediness. be patient, and have a swipe accuracy above 80%.
if you get half decent at all of these things you'll be a better fade than me anyway
ok, but only because it was for science. A high level visualization to accompany my high level flow chart.
Also what @kmg said. Patience, map awareness and energy/hp control. (Last part is quite easier with the NS2+ mod setting, enhancing the ep/hp hud)
...or maybe that's just paranoia talking from fading against snails/sauna shotguns.
You need to land 80%+ swipes or you become useless against equal/better skilled marines. (depending on marine upgrades ofcoures)
1. Do you land every swipe?
2. Do you flank?
3. Do you kill res cappers
if no, you should probably learn or stop playing fade.
The way i see this game ATM, Fades should be pure offensive unless full packing defensive places. Playing defensive as a fade is where you die (going for that extra 1 swipe). ALWAYS PLAY OFFENSIVE.
You need to be effective. No point trying to defend against 2 shotgunners solo. You need your whole team. Go kill res cappers.
Alot of good(i mean bad here) marines focus fades instead of skulks (bad idea) so you should bait shots and let the skulks land most of bites and try and land the killing blows. Good marines will kill skulks first however.
Agree with joshhyy, don't trust your team mates to land ever bite. doesn't happen. Only need to watch top teams in world to realise they miss so many bites