Install Steam
login
|
language
简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)
繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)
日本語 (Japanese)
한국어 (Korean)
ไทย (Thai)
Български (Bulgarian)
Čeština (Czech)
Dansk (Danish)
Deutsch (German)
Español - España (Spanish - Spain)
Español - Latinoamérica (Spanish - Latin America)
Ελληνικά (Greek)
Français (French)
Italiano (Italian)
Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
Magyar (Hungarian)
Nederlands (Dutch)
Norsk (Norwegian)
Polski (Polish)
Português (Portuguese - Portugal)
Português - Brasil (Portuguese - Brazil)
Română (Romanian)
Русский (Russian)
Suomi (Finnish)
Svenska (Swedish)
Türkçe (Turkish)
Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
Українська (Ukrainian)
Report a translation problem
Discussions Rules and Guidelines
Report this post
I believe you may be approaching the Alien's unique playstyle incorrectly. The melee system favors the Predator and the Rock, Paper, Scissors nature of the combat becomes unpredictable once lag is involved. You should always be attacking from behind, use your ability to see through walls; patience can be key.
Leap attacks are heavily telegraphed and easily blocked. They should not be employed unless at a sufficient enough distance to guarantee knockdown or the target can not otherwise defend itself (either in the air or on the wall etc). It can be used to counter a charging heavy but just be aware it could be bait for a counter. Once the target is knocked down, circle behind them while preparing a heavy attack to keep them stunned; this will usually give you the time needed to complete the attack.
The Alien's tail attacks are the most valuable offensive weapons you have, claws should only be used when countering or finishing off a low health Marine or Predator (know specifically how many of each hit it takes to kill). Chaining tail attacks is often the best method of dealing damage and keeping the target stunned. Be sure to move back while charging your heavy, then moving forward right before the attack to take advantage of the Alien's tail's slightly longer range.
Use tail attacks from walls as often as possible, it is very fast and it will allow you to aim for the head to deal extra damage. (Just be aware of your vulnerability to leap attacks while on the wall and learn how to evasively strafe around your target)
Leap attacks only cause knockdown when the target is at 20 ingame units or farther. (I saw this number a long while ago so don't ask where it's from). Regardless if the target knocked down or not, the damage is the same as a Light Melee attack. Latency is a big issue with the Leap ability for both predator and xeno. Never Leap at a target that is sprinting away or perpendicular. Leaping at targets near corners or up stairs are also risks of missing.
The target needs to be 20 or more ingame units away. I do not recall there being a definitive visual cue that the target is at knockdown range.
Leap attacks deal Light Melee damage and if it does not knock a target down the recovery time from the Leap attack is not fast enough to land a second Light attack before the opponent can block or swing. When a target does not get knocked down you have 2 defensive choices: block the returned panic Light attack or initiate a Heavy Melee attack. The Heavy attack will force the target to either put bullets in your face, Light Melee attack, or die. In the case they respond with a Heavy attack you have to Light Melee and hope you hit them first. Experienced players will likely anticipate your Light Attack counter and will cancel their Heavy Attack into a block and knock you down instead. (Marines will die to a Leap attack + Heavy Attack followup) (Preds and Xenos will die from a Leap + Heavy + Heavy).
If you knock a Marine target down who has full health, you must follow up with a Heavy Melee attack to kill a Marine target. Following up with 2 light attacks is a risk of the second Light Melee attack being blocked. You can attempt to Frontal Grab the knocked down target if you know the target has already sustained enough damage to die from a followup Light Melee Attack. If the target falls prone (face down) you can follow up with a Trophy Kill grab which is a guaranteed kill however the random animation chosen is likely a longer duration than a simple Heavy attack. Don't perform a grab if you can't complete the animation; you're a sitting duck and a prime target during a grab animation.
As said earlier in this post, you can not Leap on targets that are running away or perpendicular to you. Slopes on the terrain will also cause issues but are generally successful. High latency on the server will make this worse.
Heavy attacks will stun the target long enough that you can followup up with a Light Melee attack and they can't block it. However, this does run the risk of resetting melee combat to a neutral state when the target does not die. Marines always die when hit with a Heavy + Light. Predators and Xenos need either (2 Heavy + 1 Light) or (1 Heavy + 2 Light...maybe 3 Light...it's been a long time since I've played). I recommend always engaging with Heavy attacks because they can't be blocked and you can cancel the attack into a block if the target responds with a Light Attack. Light attacks will counter your Heavy attacks but if you're aware enough you can always block their Light attack response. So it will go like this when against preds or xenos:
Engage Heavy > Heavy > Light attack or Grab > dead.
Engage Heavy > Heavy > Cancel the Heavy by pressing Block if target Light attacks > Upon successful block, Light Attack for knockdown > Heavy > dead.
Engage Heavy > Light > Target is no longer stunned, enter neutral combat > Re-initiate with Heavy before they do to force target to Light attack or die.
+If they Light attack, Cancel to Block > Successful Block > Light Attack > Heavy > dead.
+If they Heavy attack before you do > Light attack or begin a Heavy and hope they mistakenly cancel their Heavy or the attacks tie and reset to neutral.