You think Alien is OP? Here is a quick guide to help you out
Welcome! The Alien has released 3 days ago and, as always, a lot of complainments from survivors about the powerlevel of the new killer came in hand in hand. On the other side, some Killer-Mains think he could need some little buffs like a less penalty when a Tail-Attack misses or a little faster recovery when you landed a hit with the tail-attack.
However, this post from a newborne Xeno-Main (XD) is for you, survivors. From my overwhelming experience of three days I can give all of you some small adviced how to counter the "OP-Xenomorph".
Shall we begin?
First you need to understand that the Xenomorph wants its tail as much as possible. Thanks to the possibility of using tunnels right from the start (other than a Freddy or Sadako who have a cooldown for their teleport), the spawn-location of the killer is ignorable. Also, you receive your tail before your first chase.
So what will Xeno most of the time do? Right, the first action likely will be to use the tunnels to activate the tail and to locate a survivor asap and start a chase in the first 10sec of the game.
Now, what does this mean to the survivors?
- Grab a Turret before doing anything else
- Use that turret to prepare your chase-route you wanna go when Xeno is coming out next to you to deny its power OR, at least, get distance while Xeno has to suffer a weapon-animation when destroying the turret
- Expect to get chased right from the start!
Next, you need to know that Xeno has a build-in Anti-Camping-Mechanic, which allows Xeno to come out of a Tunnel next to a hook much slower than usual. Keep this in mind.
Now: What can I do against the Tail-Attack.
- Use Turrets !!! They seem weak? I can tell you: They are not. Maybe they will not push Xeno out of Crawler-Mode that easily, because as the days go on more Xeno-Players will learn the timing when a Turret is vulnerable (not when you come out of a tunnel, you need to wait till the turret shoots at you as Xeno - I havent found out the trick to hit turrets before they shoot at me)
- Learn to dodge ! This seems an easy take, but there are a few ways to counter the tail-attack with strategies you´ve learned against Wesker/Demo/Nemesis. Fake Window-Vaults (without an Item its much better because Items disappear when you start the Vault-Animation, so the killer knows when you perform a vault or not. Without an Item, you cannot predict it) and use your crouching behind Obstacles.
- Learn that Xeno can hit over Cars, Pallets, Windows and smaller walls. Xeno can hit over Picknick-Tables etc.
What are Turrets do?
- The visibility is a bit harder (not much of a deal)
- It CAN pull Xeno out of its power, making it to a PURE M1-KILLER without anything
- It slows Xeno down with 2 ways: 1.) Xeno has to go through the recovery-time when destroying the turret and 2.) The movement-Speed of Xeno FEELS a bit slower than 4.6m/s. Im not sure, but I guess Xeno walks at 4.0m/s when inside the fire
Overall: Keep in mind that Xeno cannot use the tail-attack like Nemesis or Wesker, which can flick the attack to the left and right. Xeno get stucked at some point in the Tail-Attack-Animation, HOWEVER: Xeno can flick up and down, so experienced players will use this for their advantage, attacking over you and flick to the bottom to hit you. Keep this in mind. Dodging to the left or right is much better than dodging by using crouch. It can still works, but keep this in mind.
Xeno-Addons:
Personally, I really enjoy the green Helmet-Addon which inflicts you with Mangled when you get hitted by a Tail-Attack (so basically 50% Sloppy). Most of the addons are nerfs to Turrets or featuring around Turrets. There is not a single addon which increases the recovery-time, the Tail-Attack-Animation or extending the lunge. With this in mind, you do not have to learn to counter different types of Tail-Attacks, its limited to its basekit-settings.
Hopefully this can help you against Xenomorph, which personally I really enjoy to play as and against (more as). Overall, I think Xeno is in a very decent Spot, A-Tier without Op-Addon like Blight, a counterplay, a possibillity to disarm the killer, making him a pure M1-Killer, but with the option to regain the Power quite fast when using tunnels.
A very good design for both sides, enjoy learning to play as and against.
Comments
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You do realize baiting windows/vaults wont work forever? Once Xeno mains get better at aiming and more patient, you'll notice that it doesn't work anymore. Also, turrets are tragically weak in solo queue. You cannot dodge his attack, you need to predict because there's not enough time to dodge, yes the maths was done. With no sound cue or animation, it becomes a pain.
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Conclusion: If this happens and that happens then the other thing probably won´t work anymore.
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You cannot react to a Xeno tail attack, iirc. Likewise, his missed attack cooldown speed allows him to spam the ability without losing much distance.
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That's all very nice except you don't actually have enough time to dodge the tail and you can't fake vaulting either because Xeno can just M1 you instead (unless you have enough distance but then there's no need for fake vaults). The only thing you can do is hold w and pre-drop safe pallets if you have enough distance to spare.
And "predicting" (aka just get lucky) doesn't work against killers who know what they're doing because they'll just force you into lose / lose situations and guessing if you'll get hit by M1 or the tail won't be of any help.
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Fun fact: Huntress can spam her power faster. Especially with addons. Yet no one complains or finds her overwhelming OP.
I mean, seriously. In the thread before this, someone complained about encountering wesker 5 times in a row. Alien hasn´t even been out for a week. Yet people ask for nerfs before anyone can even learn to play as or against Alien. Its almost like people don´t want more viable killers. But prefer to have the next push over killer, in order to complain about the 3 meta killers ad nauseum.
So far there are no "watch me get xxx streak kills on Alien" or "with this combo, Alien is unstoppable" video from the content creators. Mayyyybe the tail attack isn´t as uncountable as people claim.
Just give people time to adapt. Or do you see Complaints about Sadako? Remember the killer that got a rework and everyone predicted that she would be the most unstoppable killer? Since some even called her a S-Tier killer?
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Uh, yeah, I still see complaints about Sadako. She's still pretty nuts and at the very least, is an absolutely miserable Killer to play against. They just took the old Condemned strat and made jt basekit, for all intents and purposes.
I didn't say the tail attack was uncounterable, I said that I thought it was unreactable.
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to be fair though, huntress is a 4.4 killer. In order to make her up to 4.6 (with add-ons), she has to not have hatchets - so in other words, she's balanced around either being able to hit over pallets or being 4.6. Xeno gets both
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A good Huntress is overwhelming and OP, but she has actual drawbacks. She's 4.4, there are visual and audio cues for the hatchets so they're potentially easier to avoid, she has to wind up a hatchet, which slows her down even more, she can run out of hatchets and has to leave chase to get more, and you can duck under a hatchet.
Window baiting and turrets aren't going to work against Xeno unless you're in a coordinated SWF. We've had years now to learn on semi ranged killers to just wait until the vault animation starts.
The only thing that works against Xeno is to get as much distance as you can, hope they follow you across the map, and hope your teammates are slamming gens.
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Really? I haven´t seen a Sadako thread in over a week. Sadako herself also seems to be quite rare. I´ve faced 2 in 2 weeks.
Just had a match as Alien where a Leon reacted pretty well to my Tail attacks. So not everything is lost. People are adapting.
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Which doesn´t matter in that specific close encounter szenario. When she is at the range the Alien would require, the speed difference is meaningless. Only thing that counts is the windup time. Which is quicker than the Alien.
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Nah, there is more that works.
See posts above.
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yeah - and regarding her being 4.4, she even has an add-on that makes her 4.6 - but only if she doesn't have hatchets. It's one or the other with her.
I guess Nemo has his whip, but it requires an extra hit sorta, and has a lot of pre-reqs before it's strongest. Even then I think there's more cooldown when he misses though, plus windup time before he can use it, which also gives the player warning that it's incoming
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Huntress is 4.4 killer.
Huntress is getting even slower when she hold hatchet.
Huntress is giving clear information when she is using her power.
Non of them is correct for Xeno.
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As i said above. At the distance at which the Alien can hit, her movement speed makes no difference. She can wind up faster.
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it's not about cooldown it's movespeed when missing you're not losing any distance if you hold W, and the worst part you still gain bloodlust when you miss you can spam it infinitely
huntress is a very bad comparison, he has infinite ammo, strong mobility with tunnels, 4.6ms with no lullaby, tail is harder to dodge than hatchets, huntress is slower if you disarm your m2 and need a quick m1, the only counter are turrets and they're almost irrelevant with proper add-ons
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comparing his tail attack to huntress is silly. the huntress runs at a slow move speed, cannot teleport around the map with footstep tracking and does not have stealth, also she runs out of hatchets and has to reload them. these differences are not offset by the fact that his tail shoots out a bit slower. not even a little.
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It is unreactable. The maths was done but I forgot who did it...
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Is it counterable though? Please inform me how with a futuristic perspective where Xenos can now aim and are patient.
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The Killer released 3 days ago. Give it a couple more days. Someone will make a guide.
Btw. use turrets!
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Thank you very much for your efforts.
Much appreciated.
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Funnily enough, Xeno is now the talk of the town. This always happens here.
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So your saying, if the killer plays good they get a hit? I can give you a list of killers that work the same.
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Give me the list and I can assure you that they are counterable no matter how good they are.
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Spirit, Pig on short loops, Nurse if she makes no mistakes, Pyramid head when he doesn't hesitates, Zoning demogorgon, Artist that doesn't hesitate in loops, Bubba when he has chillies and has the pallet side of the loop.
These are what come to my mind right now.
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It's because he's a new Killer and we are trying to figure out how best to balance him.
What areas need shoring up and what areas need toning down.
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You say that like the majority of discussion about them is actually impartial and unbiased, and not just reactionary yay/nayposting
I mean, I want you to be correct, but...
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I actually think it's quite balanced as it is. Hell, against very strong groups it's very weak. But that's 90% of the roster.
I think, the cooldown for missed attacks could be higher. That's it.
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The cooldown is already 3 seconds, which is longer than M1 hit cooldowns. Xeno does not need longer cooldowns.
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Main issue i see is that some people barely use turrets. Maybe they think they are not worth it. Or don´t know how they work. But a turret at a chokepoint or somewhere you can lead the killer to, can make all the difference during the chase.
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Spirit - invest in good headset with virtual surround sound and learn their playstyle (aggressive or passive?). Make sure to pay attention to scratch marks and see how they react to double-backs. Her add-ons got nerfed pretty bad so she's less of a nuisance now.
Pig - literally an M1 killer mainly. Don't need to explain this one at all.
Pyramid Head - you learn the playstyle and adapt accordingly, take particular notice of their ability pathing (left or right). Pre-drop pallets if safe to do so. Be aware of I'm All Ears perk.
Demogorgon - His zoning isn't as strong as other killers so this is an odd example to give. His ability isn't anything crazy either.
Bubba - don't put yourself into such silly situations. Take advantage of vaults when he's in a sweep.
Nurse - just lose line of sight and think like a Nurse main. They are only good at Nurse because they predict where survivors are thanks to their survivor experiences. She is pretty annoying to face for certain but it is what it is.
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I think making the flammenwerfer mechanic might have been a mistake, even though i get why they did it. too many people just have the wrong expectations of them, both in terms of how to properly use them and what their intended purpose is. hopefully its just a slow adapting period for a lot of people.
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I disagree. The turrets make playing against Xenomorph unique. When there's over 30 killers in the game, having those unique interactions help keep a breath of fresh air.
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People talking as if there's no wind-up to the tail attack. Not to mention locked in animation during the attack.
Yes, Huntress is slower but can throw hatchets further. The tail has a set range and you are unable to attack immediately afterwards. So if you miss and the survivor vaults you can't do anything about it. Where's the spamming again?
Huntress does not need to fully charge a hatchet to throw. Negating much of the slow down. Also the slow down penalty is the same hit or miss so following up with a M1 is a common tactic with her.
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you misunderstand, I don't mean they should get rid of the turrets, I just think a lot of survivors "want a gun to fight back" too badly. The EMPs absolute shutdown potential set a bad precedent for how strong any weapon-type of countermeasure gets perceived at first glance, while the flameyboiz are meant more for area denial/anti-stealth/forcing decisions/etc. I actually like them as a mechanic, I just don't think the playerbase has the right expectations.
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If anything, EMPs were the mistake. The fact that Alien came after the EMPs was bound to have survivors in the mindset that turrets should completely negate the killers power.
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exactly. Only reason i called it a mistake was because they can't go back and undo the EMPs, so the connection was bound to happen. I'm optimistic most people will learn how to use them better, if they haven't already.
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The Flamethrowers are extremely useful if used right. They start to ping when the killer enters a certain perimeter and go faster the closer the killer is. Which feels amazing to me. It gives me a headstart. The flames themselves serve to slow the killer down. Depending on the placement they can totally shut down the power. So they are powerful and require the killer to change tactic when he gets hit.
About how strong or weak this is. No idea. As survivor, my first 5-6 matches against the Alien felt, like the fire was a bit lacking. Best of it was the ping. Then i played my first matches as Alien and it felt like the fire was getting me out of crawl mode to quickly. So it might actually be balanced as it is. But time will tell.
All in all, i like the mechanic. It makes both roles more interactive and hope we see more of that in the future. Not like the EMP, but more like the flamethrower.
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The cooldown isn't the issue, he feels very fast during it, that's the issue imo.
You don't lose much distance for missing.
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This requires either coordination that most players won't have or an extremely large time investment which most games aren't able to reasonably accommodate without it being a throw move.
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You can see turrets as survivor. No coordination required. All thats needed are semi competent teammates.
And before you start, i refuse to believe that "all survivors" are bad. Otherwise the kill rates would be through the roof.
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I'm curious if the opt out on hook shows up as a normal kill or something different. If it is a normal kill, I would imagine the Xeno kill rate is spiking rather quickly.
The hook opt outs now will not only be annoying to people in the lobby but will end up resulting in a killer nerf.
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I´m speaking about general kill rates. Like where survivors suicided left and right, because they don´t like "killer, map, teammates, weather, pallet distribution, or the current friends episode" before this chapter released.
The devs are more aware now, how our community reacts and will probably postpone any heavy balance decisions by at least 3 months.
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The the movement speed during cooldown. It feels extremely forgiving.
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Nothing was posted above except fake window vaults, which only work against new killers, and use turrets, which are mostly useless unless you're on a sweaty coordinated SWF.
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another insight, as majority of xeno players tend to tail attack turrets and run 'helmet' addon (weakens the ability of turrets) it is important to double stack turret, to place them very close to one another so xeno gets fired from both of them and will definitely leave the 'cat' mode
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