Xenomorph Builds/Tips
There's been several discussions revolving around Xeno lately and I've honestly really appreciated reading them as I had picked him up within the last 3 months. I'm a Billy main and had gotten to the point my games were a bit mindlessly won. I wanted to try my hand at new killer for a challenge and am big Alien fan, so have been plugging along trying my best to "get good" with Xeno. But even though as I've seen in mentioned in these recent discussions, that Xeno has a strong power and great map presence, I find my matches are always sweat fests and that I just can't seem to find a build that I feel pairs well with my power.
Does anyone have some build suggestions and/or general tips? I'm not asking expecting to win games consistently; my whole reason for trying a different killer is because I do want to have to work for it. But if playing a "perfect" game as it currently stands makes me sweat every ounce of water in my body and overclock my heartrate and still come out averaging 2k's, I just wonder what I could do to improve. Thanks in advance 😊
Comments
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As the one who has started a few of the mentioned discussions, i just want to say ive only played a few games on this killer, however ive done well in my matches and hope this build might work for ya
Eruption
No Holds Barred
Bamboozle
Batteries Included
However there are more expirenced Xeno players on here and i hope they can help
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Lol yes! You've been the main one talking about Xeno and I'm glad because I've read every single comment to your threads just trying to learn more (learned yesterday the reason I couldn't hit survivors over turrets was because of auto-aim, had no idea).
I too ran Eruption for a bit before switching to Overcharge which is what I've stayed with the longest. I'm currently doing an exhaustion build because I felt I was struggling with Lithe/Sprint Burst players, but not sure how much it's helping anyway tbh.
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I have a very fast growing passion for this killer, and im glad my threads have been of help to you! Also a Xeno with Overcharge? i get the odd feeling ive played against you before, back when Huntress map was showcased. Ive never actually thought of Xenomorph with Overcharge, i might actually give that a try. and yeah SB has been a HUGE problem lately, though i will admit Xeno is good at making survivors wary and screwing up their pathing (o glorious tail) Those perks can hurt. I actually think Languid Touch would be really helpful but thats me.
Edit: as was reccomended to me, check out Mr Headache on YT, he made an extensive guide to Xeno and could help
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Yes! Overcharge, Mindbreaker, Languid touch, and Overwhelming Prescence (re-worked gives decent aura reading on exhausted survivors) is my current build. I'd like to have something a bit more balanced and not so heavily exhaustion based, but this current build is the one I've had some small amount of success with.
And I actually have thought I recognized your name for a while as well! Nice to meet outside the fog 😅
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did you play against a Bill who kept spamming a turret in shack and ran around there? even after the gen was done? cuz that was me lmao
Honestly this seems like a fun build, however with like no gen slowdown gens probaly fly back extremely quick dont they?
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That does sound familiar 🤣 Broke that turret so many times lol
And yes it's fun for the chases, but the gens are exactly my problem. That's why I'm trying to find a balance and was looking for any additional suggestions too.
Idk that it makes a massive difference for Xeno, but I also play on console and know there's just some killers that are a harder learning curve (Nurse, Huntress, etc). That's what I keep telling myself anyway 😭
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Shack was like the only place that i was confident i could loop you so i kept running back and putting a turret there. i was too scared outside of shack. I would reccomend No Holds Barred or Corrupt Intervention, they help you eitheir start off strong or provide amazing slowdown throughout the game. If it makes you feel any better im a Switch player lol, im worse off then you
i also thank you for letting me live, it was a really fun game and you did fantastic
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Of course! I like sparing the ones with personality and you were a lot of fun even with your stinky turret. :)
Genuinely though, thank you so much! I'll try those out tonight.
And for your sake, I hope BHVR optimizes DBD for you poor Switch players soon. There's so much wrong with the game on that platform rn.
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Hello,
Don't worry too much about builds yet.
Focus on understanding the killer.
Learn, at your own pace, how to use the Tail Attack, how to play around turrets and how to get value from the tunnels.
Once you understand what aspect of the killer you enjoy most, whether it's chase, stealth, macro, ambushes or information gathering, you'll naturally find perks that complement your playstyle.
I don't really know what to recommend because I don't know you. Some people will tell you to read MrHeadache's guide and watch his videos, but my best advice would honestly be to stop reading advice for a while.
Play some matches. Struggle. Lose. Find your style. Vibe with the killer (the most important advice, have fun).
Eventually, all the pieces will start falling into place and you'll figure out whether the killer is for you, and if it is, what kind of build suits you best.
If you really want something strong, I'd recommend the Hex build with Harpoon Gun, as it's probably one of the strongest things Xeno can do right now. It naturally encourages frequent tunnel usage instead of relying solely on the Tail Attack. It will teach you the fundamentals while still being very powerful.Build:
- Hex: Ruin
- Hex: Undying
- Hex: Hive Mind
- Hex: Thrill of the Hunt
Add-ons: - Harpoon Gun
- Self-Destruct Bolt
Gameplan:
Once you exit a tunnel, Harpoon Gun will activate for 30 seconds and make any survivor farther than 16 meters from you scream whenever another survivor loses a health state. Your Hexes will be difficult to cleanse, you'll have a ton of information and the mobility to pressure everyone and their ancestors.This build teaches you not to overcommit, how to deal with turrets, how to pressure through tunnels and how to use the Tail Attack effectively. The tail part will come naturally anyway since you'll be using it constantly.
As for the infamous turrets, break them on sight.
That's it.
Don't overthink them.Think about the whole picture like key generators, ressources, survivors positioning etc.
So break them, evaluate whether the chase is still worth pursuing after the distance you lost, then either go underground or continue the chase.
One important thing about the Tail Attack is that you can strafe it as long as it doesn't collide with anything except turrets. You can aim slightly beside a survivor and drag the tail into them. You can hit two turrets, or a turret and a survivor (in that order), or even shoot over certain obstacles and drag the tail down onto someone behind cover.
As I said, the Tail Attack is the simplest part of the killer. It will come with practice because it's mostly a mechanical skill. How you use the tunnels and how you approach turrets is what really separates the "scorpion" from the Xenomorph.
Also, remember that the tail follows a descending arc. Aiming slightly higher than you think is often the correct play, otherwise, you'll occasionally hit the pallet or the window instead of the survivor.
Sometimes you'll hit the wall behind them as well, so be mindful of that, precise hits in tight spaces, strafing in open ones.
Don't overthink turrets, again. You can usually reposition faster than survivors can fully set up their defenses. Destroy them, use the tunnels, keep moving and keep applying pressure.
Remember, you can binge 10 hours of Otz content and read everyone's advice, but you'll never be invincible anyway. Sometimes survivors will pre-run perfectly, set up double turrets and deny your ambush.
That's fine.
It happens.
I don't know if this helped, but I hope so.
I hope you find your way with the killer. Once you really connect with the kit, you can do a lot with it, especially on the macro side.1 -
Im glad i was fun to chase lol, i honestly lost hope because it was just me and one other alive and they werent doing a single thing while i was running away. And of course! let me know how it goes! i really wish you luck! also that would be awesome, at sometimes during the match i couldnt hear you enter the tunnel behind me while i was doing the gen at shack so i was like spinning around looking. we need some love and dont need every update to be delayed for us
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I really appreciate you setting up your response on this the way you did and can tell you put so much thought into it! To start, I think I’m moving out of the understanding phase of Xeno and more into the trying to improve on that understanding and capitalize. I have nearly 4k hours in the game, but only within the last 3 months have I really started focusing on Xeno, so that might enlighten you/others on where I’m at to some extent.
Your specific build suggestion is honestly disgusting, and I LOVE it! To further the scream potential, do you think switching one out with Hex: Face the Darkness would work? I assume despite the turrets giving me away that being in the tunnels would count the survivors as “being outside of the terror radius” right? Genuinely thank you for suggesting this as is. I don’t run Hexes too often so this sounds like fun.
you can strafe it as long as it doesn't collide with anything except turrets. You can aim slightly beside a survivor and drag the tail into them. You can hit two turrets, or a turret and a survivor (in that order), or even shoot over certain obstacles and drag the tail down onto someone behind cover.
To this point, my question is, does strafing work/feel similar to Nemi’s? As mentioned, I’m on console and find for Nemi I rarely get successful hits when moving my camera (mouse for pc), but rather dragging my character (WASD for pc) to the side nearly always hits. I’ve tried employing the same type movement for Xenomorph, but not hitting consistently it seems. Could just be I’m still not use to him though.
Again , thank you so much for your thoughtful response!
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Glad it helped !
For Face the Darkness, it can definitely work, but perk slots are tight. Ruin / Undying / Thrill is the core of the build, so Hive Mind would be the obvious perk to replace.
Face the Darkness would make the build even more resistant, but Hive Mind is so precise that, as long as Ruin is still standing, it can completely lock down the game. Personally, I'd probably leave it as is.
You won't be able to protect your Hexes forever anyway. Some matches will see the entire build disappear within a couple of minutes. That's just the nature of Hexes. Most of the time though, the build does some serious heavy lifting.
While underground, you are Undetectable, so yes, Face the Darkness will work.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that tunnel depth varies significantly from map to map. Some tunnels are very close to the surface while others are surprisingly deep.
This can have a huge impact on your ability to gather information. The main building on Nostromo is a nightmare because generators and survivors are practically heaven-high above you, making it very difficult to hear anything. Meanwhile, Ormond is fantastic because you can often hear a Lara breathing right above your head.
Some tunnel layouts are amazing for information gathering, while others are much less forgiving, so be mindful of that.
As for the Tail Attack, the horizontal strafe works almost exactly like Nemesis. The main difference is that Nemesis can hit a wall and still drag the whip into a survivor, whereas Xenomorph immediately enters the miss animation whenever the tail collides with something other than a survivor.
You'll see the tail snap back and Xeno wiggle it in front of the camera.
Xeno technically has a slightly better strafe window than Nemesis (0.333s vs 0.4s), but honestly, you barely feel the difference in practice.
Then there's the vertical strafe, what we call the "guillotine". It's much more finicky. You use it to scan an area vertically, similar to how Nemesis scans horizontally. If done correctly, you can even hit someone standing behind another survivor or hit people from very unusual angles.
For example, on RPD, there's a generator next to the burning helicopter. When you approach that area from the helicopter side, survivors will often run down the stairs. They'll either enter RPD through the door immediately at the bottom of the staircase or continue around the staircase and enter through the lower hallway near the save room and restrooms.
If they choose the second option, you can launch the tail from the top of the stairs and perform a nearly 90-degree vertical scan to hit someone below you. It's flashy and the stars need to align, but Xeno has a surprising number of those "demonic hits" available.
There's a Reddit post called "Xenomorph tail hitbox visualized over large obstacles." that does a great job showing how the tail hitbox actually works.
It also shows a small gap in the Ormond staircase that you can shoot your tail through. Those tail shenanigans are both fun and effective because most people don't really know what this killer is capable of. They often won't react to it at all.
Don't collide with anything except survivors. Turrets are effectively empty space for the tail.
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