How To Skulk Better!

[Niteowl]

seeing as i rarely skulk, and wouldn't consider myself a good skulker (average at best). i'll offer up what i know about skulking, and i'm SURE that the skulk experts will input what they know

-ambush
-use walk often
-if you MUST rush a marine, go on the walls, ceiling, over and around crates, ANYTHING but on the ground directly for them.
-vary vertical positioning as much as possible
-try and take the time to setup a bait and switch, or find the vent to flank them
-marines trying to take down ocs are extra tasty treat
-strafing around a marine as you are about to bite will help you live a bit longer, never run straight at them.
-try to attack in groups, from many different angles. 3 skulks running at marines from a corridor is not an effective group attack :/
-when marines are grouped up with heavy weapons is ESP a good time to hit them, ESP on LM, as the FF on will make them hesitant to open fire.
-when they are bundled up, they are the best attack and use for cover
-know when not to attack (a large open room, with marines spread out is just free RFK)

[crisano]

One very important aspect to add to skulking which I would place as #1:

Parasite, use it often and constantly, it really helps you and the team if you get into a habit of parasiting the marines you see. Sometimes I'd say if you died parasiting a couple of marines, that's worth more than killing one of them. It's so much easier to get the jump and ambush marines if they're sited. Plus when they're sited, they can't ninja your hive and you have knowledge of where they are rushing or working towards.

Edit: Another thing to add to parasiting. It can save you from needing an extra bite. Fresh Armor 2 requires 4 bites for a marine to die. However, if you parasite the marine once, just once, it changes to 3 bites. So 4 bites or 3 bites + 1 parasite at range, take your pick.

[Niteowl]

doh! i know i forgot something. you'll notice the really ubar skulkers are always parasiting. it really helps the team out and promotes teamwork (everyone starts tracking that pretty yellow circle on their HUD).

[Clashen]

- Learn to bunnyhop.

You don't have to use it in combat but it's essential for moving around fast on the map.

[Satiagraha]

- Learn to bunnyhop.

You don't have to use it in combat but it's essential for moving around fast on the map.

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Bleh, wall strafing is good enough :p

yes, I highly encourage parasiting. Not only will this lead to many future kills (they move in groups, hopefully), but it can also show the direction of progress that the marine comm hopes to achieve.

-vary vertical positioning as much as possible

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Definitely a must if you are up against anyone with a decent amount of skill or are a fairly large distance away without much cover. Remember that the hand on the mouse is more adept at horizontal movement, and therefore it is, by human nature, easier to track horizontally. Vertical motion require the movement of the entire arm and is harder to utilize.
Climb walls, jump over crates, scurry around, just don't run along the floor.

[Legionnaired]

When FACING a skulk, always pull your wrist back and hold the mouse just in your fingertips. With any degree of sensitivity, you'll be able to adjust vertically no problem.

[-Lancer-]

note to self: stop being a nub skulk.

[BobTheJanitor]

If you absolutely must cross open ground to get to a marine, vary your path as much as possible.

Actually, before you do that, ask yourself "do I HAVE to run out in the open?" Too often I see people charging marines for no good reason whatsoever. If they're in an open room with nothing in it, why charge them? They're not presenting a threat there. Get inbetween them and the nearest important objective (hive, RT, empty res node, siege spot, whatever) and get into a good ambush spot. If at all possible, let them come to you. And a marine building a res node is not an immediate threat. Which is better, to let him build the node, then kill him when he rounds the corner, then go eat down the node before it even earns back its cost, or to rush at him, die, and let the node stay up unattacked for a few minutes?

Anyway, back to that open ground. Use any and all available cover, even the tiniest bit of pipe or whatever, to get as close as possible. Then if you have to charge, charge, but do it in a randomly zig-zagging pattern. Don't strafe in one direction too long. If you can bhop, do that, but don't even do that too long because it's predictable.

When you do manage to close that gap, stick to the floor. It's your best friend when actually attacking. The instinct (and I'm guilty of this too much myself) is to bounce around madly while biting. There are a few problems with this. One, it brings you right up in front of the marine's gun, taking away your vertical advantage. It's harder to aim down and track a target, so try and make him do that. Two, it can throw off your own aim when you bounce like crazy. And three, it's harder to adjust your attack angle. On the floor you remain in control, you can change direction instantly. If you're in midair and that marine jumps away from you, there's nothing you can do until you hit the ground again. You can't twist and immediately follow him in the air, you just have to finish your jump arc. This is often where skulks get killed, is in midair while bouncy-attacking.

[LowCrawler]

will someone please post a guide to bunnyhopping and other cool things that nubpais like lowcrawler scarcely know exist?

if theres something like that already please accept my sorries as i have no time to search. I have to go do some mowing before it becomes dark.

[Mr.Ben]

Wallstrafing is like hacks. Last time i checked it screws with your hitbox slighty and makes you harder to hit. That being said, a skulk moving in a straight line isn't exactly the hardest thing to track and obviously it requires the use of a wall which aren't always present.

If you can bunnyhop then great, but understand it's combat effectiveness is limited. You're very easy to hit, easier than a skulk who runs around random and hits jumps because your hitbox doesn't realign. Don't expect 500 speed to get you hundreds of marine kills, you still can't charge.

Ambushing and knowing the map are priotery. Make sure the marines are parasited and then get into place. Try and think outside the box, get into a marines head. "If i was a marine, where would i look?" Note most marines look above doorways, hide low and to the side.

Hunt out new spots, the skulks bite model is very bad representation of how big you are, what may seem like an insanely easy to see spot may not be. Use thirdperson and friends to see how well hidden you are. Also learn how to control your model alignment to make sure your backside doesn't stick out at unwanted times.

Use things to your advantage, line of sight, structures, etc etc. If a marine can't see you then he can't hit you. Use things like the RT to dodge his bullets then catch him when he runs out, better yet hide IN the rt, its hitboxs absorb most of the bullets and you remain unharmed and often unseen. Then jump out and kill any knifing marines. Note though that you're visible on mini map, apart from that most marines are too stupid to see you.

And most importantly, KILL MARINE RTS AND PARASITE MARINES.

[Sancho]

Yeah, what bob said.  Skulks don't attack, they ambush.

Also, use your teammates.  If you see that one of them is camping a corner waiting for a marine to come by, try to lead the unsuspecting marines to him using parasite.  Marines can't resist the becone of an easy skulk kill.

-use walk often

When it comes to seamingly godlike marines that can't be killed, walk is really your best weapon next to ambushing.  These marines usually like to knife RTs by themselves to lure skulks to their doom.  Walk almost always catches them off-guard (because no one ever does it) and can save your RT.

When you walk, make sure you don't use strafe.  The moment your speed exceeds the normal walk speed, the marine can hear a click or two from your feet, and since some of these guys use headphones, thats all they need.

[fatty]

looking down at the ground while running (not jumping) helps with speed, not as much as bhopping though. doing this off ramps can give you CRAZY flight and freak out marines. an example of a good spot is on mineshaft, below the elevator by ms on the way to cafe. or the marine start stairs on tanith has a ramp, you can get from the bottom of it to BEHIND the comm chair in 1 "flight".

[EmperorPenguin]

I've been trying to improve my skulk skills lately.  I used to treat skulks as expendable assets, and rushed like mad when I was one.  Now, some servers this works, but we all know LM is not one of those places.  

One thing I'll have to say works really well for me (and it's already on here) is the vertical movement!  Even a simple parabolic movement up and down a straight wall gets you to the rine much safer.

[Keyser59]

Don't wait until you see the marine when you're ambushing. Time it so as soon as the marine croshes your threshold, you'll be in his face. This prevents him from checking the ambushing spot and gunning you down before you have the chance to move.

Of course, the way to combat this as a marine is to make like you're going through a doorway, do a quick bunnyhop backwards and usually the skulk will show itself. Or, if he doesn't bait, and you are a marine with backup, try to speed (by strafejumping or bhopping on an available slope) through the doorway as soon as possible and get him to chase you a bit. Then have the backup shoot him.

And of course, the way as a skulk to counter this is when you see a marine speed through your threshold, run down (should already have had a jump start) but go through the doorway, and you'll usually get a kill on the dude's teammate. At this time you shouldn't have taken much damage and can hide easily since the remaining marine is on the other side of the doorway.

Like a game of rock paper scissors really.

[lolfighter]

When FACING a skulk, always pull your wrist back and hold the mouse just in your fingertips. With any degree of sensitivity, you'll be able to adjust vertically no problem.

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Wrong. Don't do this just when you're facing a skulk - always do it. This is how you use a mouse, fellas. If you slap your entire grubby meat-hand on the poor little thing, then muscle it around with your macho arm, you're raping your carpal tunnels. Set your mouse sensitivity so high that you can reach anywhere on your standard desktop without lifting the mouse. Then place your wrist on the table/mousepad, and move the mouse around with only your fingertips. Finer control and less aching wrists are your rewards. Oh, and better vertical control. Instead of moving your entire arm, you just have to curl and straighten your fingers. PRESTO!

Edit: Apparrently I know nothing about carpal tunnel syndrome. You get it from putting pressure on your wrist I now hear, like resting it on your desk (or even those gel pads). So take care whatever you do.

[UKchaos]

To reinterate what Mr Ben said, its much easier to attack a marine from the side than from directly above. If you drop down from above a doorway, its very easy to get disorientated when the marine dodges. If you go from the side you can easily track the marine's movement and land all your bites. Also there are hitbox issues that make it hard to actually land bites directly down onto their head, even if your aim is correct.

I find its easier to land bites while strafe-turning around the marine, keep a small distance between you,  than by holding +forward and pressing right into the marine.

[Doobie Dan]

Remember, the best skulk ambushes are those lured by poor defenseless gorges.