how op are predators?

[NeverLoseHope]

i heard that they are stronger than queens, is that true? i mean when i observe most of the round the xenos choose not to even go near them and even the marines ignore them, and someone also told me that a single predator can wipe out an entire side is that true? and to be honest i dont think ive ever seen a predator lose a fight to anything besides it own xd probably happened plenty of times but have i ever seen it? no.

[Butlerblock]

[NeverLoseHope]

looks tankier than crushers and queens combined o.o, marines can prolly deal more damage though...

[Butlerblock]

looks tankier than crushers and queens combined o.o, marines can prolly deal more damage though...

they cant

[BillyBoBBizWorth]

i heard that they are stronger than queens, is that true? i mean when i observe most of the round the xenos choose not to even go near them and even the marines ignore them, and someone also told me that a single predator can wipe out an entire side is that true? and to be honest i dont think ive ever seen a predator lose a fight to anything besides it own xd probably happened plenty of times but have i ever seen it? no.

Yes, ive seen them wipe out almost entire squads a few times, but not a entire side yet.They get treated as basically a Abomination or almost a SPC in strength, except they can be destroyed, hence the ignoring of them by both sides alot of the times.So that indicates to me that they must be stronger than queens just from that alone, among other things.

In saying that though, just recently and still fresh-ish in the memory banks is a few fun interactions i had with Predators.

One was on LV where we were pushing the east side of the map and north east caves as usual and there was one running around that i ended up having a fist fight with, then xenoes caused me to divert attention back to them after getting medical quickly and then later on we had another round more south i think, and possibly even once more again.

This might have even been in the same round as the previously mentioned event, where on LV, east side of LZ1 shuttle pad, the marines SWARMED the fuck out of a predator that made him self destruct! Im not sure if he still could of fought or fled, but i think the marines really did fuck him up that much and why he decided to blow up.Hoorah!

The next one which is the most recent was near hydro road/cargo on LV and i had a motion tracker and a HPR wielded running around like a madman trying to keep the xenoes off the road and a predator was stalking me trying to get close enough to maybe kidnap me or whatever they had in mind, but everytime he got close i had him on the sonar and started blasting/chasing him, i actually got him a few times with the HPR on burst.I was just treating him as one of the xenoes and alot of the time as he was around the xenoes that were pushing too so he was fair game to me, other marines i remember were saying things like "WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY, YOUR SHOOTING AT THE JAMICANS?!?!" Hahhahaha! It was pretty fun reversing it back on a Predator and making him the one being chased like that, good times.

But yeah, stay away from them!

[Sulaboy]

Predators are supposed to be about RP. They are very strong and are whitelisted for this reason. There whitelist is supposed to show that the predator won't abuse the power that have and will instead use it to further the RP of the role. The same goes for most of the whitelists, you get some powers but are expected to act a certain way. Commanders have above average skills, special weapons, the ability to BE, and a battalion of marines at their disposal, but they shouldn't be deploying as just a special marine. Synthetic's have very high skills, are very durable, can understand any language, and have high melee damage. They cannot use firearms and must follow specific guidelines. Predators have their honor code to balance the futuristic technology they possess, and the strength a Yautja has.

So yeah they're pretty op.

[Madventurer]

They're stupidly OP.

And if you play as a xeno, and they decide that they want to hunt you, gg. Your round is ruined.

That's why I hate predator rounds.

[Chaznoodles]

Preds are stupidly OP, and them being a whitelist role doesn't excuse the imbalance. Their armour is nigh-impervious to damage (Having nicked full sets from dying preds and paraded it around, surviving elite ravager slashes and crusher charges without breaking a single bone), spike launchers have a 100% chance to cause internal bleeding (confirmed by devs), they have next to zero stun time, thermal vision, crystals that instaheal anything besides I believe internal injuries - not that those matter because they have coded resistance to broken bones, and if all else fails they can nuke everything onscreen with a single click.

There used to be only one way to ensure a predator didn't fuck you up, and that was to make sure you're in the squad with an AT-loaded SADAR. Nowadays, people just avoid predators and don't bother interacting with them, because they know as soon as you do you're out of the round permanently and that the pred might just take a fancy to killing the rest of your squad with ranged kit too.

[Steelpoint]

As a whitelisted Predator. I'll claim that Predators are simultaneously underpowered and overpowered. It all depends on the circumstances.

[CABAL]

It's hard to tell by what I saw as living marine and as a ghost. In 1vs1 of course you gonna lose, even as ancient T3. Squad of marines is able to easly wipe out any predator in closed spaces, so Prison station and big red are marine's best friends. In the open field of LZ Predators can just run around and throw glass shards and that would be enough.

Simple slug is enough to deal damage, even when you are aiming at chest. Group of 5 marines locked with Predator in one building and predator might as well SD from the start.

[Bancrose]

At this current moment in time, Spooky has buffed them to be stronger. While I don't know what he buffed, what I can say is that they are far more resilient than the last time I fought one.

How it usually goes is that you will break before they do 98% of the time. The robust ones like SpartanBobby and Dave could probably shit on the hive and marines. I have even seen Balto kill a 5 Ancient Xenos including the Ancient Empress by himself prior to their buff. They without a doubt are as strong as you'd imagine the movie Predator to be.

Most players would be smart to not pick a fight with a pred unless you have the number advantage. But even if you manage to seriously wound the pred, he'll get the last laugh through an SD. So you most of the time you don't even get their armour/weapons or get them as a Predalien. Its a High Risk / High Reward sort of player in the round. But seeing as you don't know much about the ones currently. I'd avoid them unless you see people dog piling on them.

And to the players who haven't really fought preds yet. The only effective tool you have as a marine is loading AP due to the pred armour being quite strong, and maybe fire as it will go through said armour(Haven't tested fire on the new pred). Also the Tank and explosives will hurt the pred, So place claymores around the area if you plan on throwing your life away to hunt a pred in the round. If you don't want to go that route, you can test yourself against them in an honour duel where they may fight you with more fair terms. But do know that dying will usually result in you being flayed for your skin and you will be food for the pred.

As a xeno, you just gotta get defenders and warriors and try to stun lock with the punches, flings, headbutts and tailsweeps. You can also use lurkers and runners but you will usually get stunned on the pounce most of the times. Ravs also have a decent chance of delimbing them but I haven't tested that with the new preds.

But at the end of the day, its a Roleplay role that is a side antagonist and not the main attraction of the round. Don't be afraid to try and RP with it, but be careful to not try and challenge one of the strongest things in game at this current time.

[GoliathTheDespoiler]

Predators are extremely durable, fast, and can deal ALOT of damage once in melee.

But they are also melee-exclusive... mostly, and their armor values are kinda... unreliable vs. bullets.

Xenos tend to have a harder time fighting them, but are harder to kill, whilst marines can kill preds faster, but are faster to die.

Preds are balanced in the fact that a: They can't go ham on everyone because they're not allowed to fuck up the round so much. and B: They suck vs. multiple enemies without traps (I.e. while they're actively hunting)

[Renomaki]

Predators are OP if they have an excuse to go all out.. IF they have an excuse.

Otherwise, predators are not as strong as people make them out to be. For instance, if you manage to KO a pred with a melee weapon like a knife or a rifle/shotgun with a bayonet, you pretty much won the fight and they can't do shit to get out of it if you just keep hitting them and chaining up KOs.

And while a predator is pretty strong against most xenos one on one, against a group of 3 or more? Chances are the predator is going to have a bad time dealing with all the pouncing a group of lurkers/runners could accomplish, and if a praetorian is present, it is possible to steadily weaken a pred with acid spits until they are completely crippled, being that they can still suffer pain crit like anyone else and that, despite having higher pain resistance, they can only take so much before they start to slow down.

Marines can do this too with sustained fire as well, as well as actual fire, which like acid will cause pain damage to build up until the predator becomes an easy target. And don't even get me started on ravagers...

Predators are as mortal as any marine. And depending on a predator's restraint, their "OPness" can vary. Some predators are very quick to pull out the heavy weapons for the slightest offence, while others might be more willing to attempt honorable melee over blaster spam. It just depends on the situation at hand.

[Stripetail]

Predators can be murdered quite easily if you know what to do.

[Mister Jeether]

well, they have high resistance to literally EVERYTHING you can imagine.

Best ways to kill them is:

-Rocket him DIRECTLY. It won't do THAT much damage, but it will make him go sleep for a few moments. Use that time to kick his ass or light him up.

-KO'ing him in melee

-if you get some decent AP shots on him, you will badly injure it. Expect to die in his SD explosion, though.

[NeverLoseHope]

so predators are the tankiest sons of twats in the entire game, lovely

[x31stOverlord]

In my experience there is only one thing more terrifying than a pred and that's the Abominable Sno- Predalien. With a pred we are bound by honor code and unless you do something stupid you won't experience the full arsenal.

The moment a Predalien spawns, they are bound by no code of honor, no rules, nothing. Almost as fast as an ancient runner, healthpool that seems to be about the same as a crusher with the slash damage of an ancient ravager. They are death walking to the point where preds will struggle to 1v1 them and rely a hell of a lot on plasmacasting the bugger.

[GoliathTheDespoiler]

In my experience there is only one thing more terrifying than a pred and that's the Abominable Sno- Predalien. With a pred we are bound by honor code and unless you do something stupid you won't experience the full arsenal.

The moment a Predalien spawns, they are bound by no code of honor, no rules, nothing. Almost as fast as an ancient runner, healthpool that seems to be about the same as a crusher with the slash damage of an ancient ravager. They are death walking to the point where preds will struggle to 1v1 them and rely a hell of a lot on plasmacasting the bugger.

The best chances a pred have to fight an Abomination is to trap it, and deathsphere the living SHIT out of it.

[Steelpoint]

Predalien versus Predator usually boils down to a case of who can hit who first.

[Chaznoodles]

Fighting a predalien is just like fighting a guy on hyperzine with an eaxe on LRP stations. Get good at melee.

[NeverLoseHope]

The best chances a pred have to fight an Abomination is to trap it, and deathsphere the living SHIT out of it.

but how RARE are predaliens o.o ive only seen one once, and that was on a special round, (vietnam event) which was like weeks ago i presume?

[Dolth]

Predators can be murdered quite easily if you know what to do.

Claymores are an insta-fracture, slowing them down. Not sure about the stun but they will be blinded, allowing you to PB buckshot their head.

If you do that, which is pretty easy to do once you successfully baited, you'll just have to finish off a limping predator close to paincrit, use a flamethrower on the limping pred, (shouldn't be too hard if you can use your left click with your mouse), he's dead.

So no, predator are double edged, they can deal lot of damage, but can be fucked pretty easily aswell. Pretty sure a mature ravager can deal severe damage aswell and don't tell me it's hard to melee with aliens amount of speed.
On another hand if they go full no honour, which happens sometimes, it's the same strength ratio a marine has alone against a T3. Pretty harsh but from far doable.

Remember, behind preds/aliens/marines are players and each of those caste have different weaponery that can be fucking powerful in certain situations, it's your job to bring your opponent into those. I mean, no one ever moved/hacked airlocks to trap a pred. It's not that hard, jeez, most of us aren't CM natives.

[NeverLoseHope]

Claymores are an insta-fracture, slowing them down. Not sure about the stun but they will be blinded, allowing you to PB buckshot their head.

If you do that, which is pretty easy to do once you successfully baited, you'll just have to finish off a limping predator close to paincrit, use a flamethrower on the limping pred, (shouldn't be too hard if you can use your left click with your mouse), he's dead.

So no, predator are double edged, they can deal lot of damage, but can be fucked pretty easily aswell. Pretty sure a mature ravager can deal severe damage aswell and don't tell me it's hard to melee with aliens amount of speed.
On another hand if they go full no honour, which happens sometimes, it's the same strength ratio a marine has alone against a T3. Pretty harsh but from far doable.

Remember, behind preds/aliens/marines are players and each of those caste have different weaponery that can be fucking powerful in certain situations, it's your job to bring your opponent into those. I mean, no one ever moved/hacked airlocks to trap a pred. It's not that hard, jeez, most of us aren't CM natives.

so basically the only way to kill a predator is tactic xd neat, they cant be killed as ordinarily as xenos and marines, wow the devs really went the lowest common denominator with then XD

[ThePiachu]

Predaliens are pretty rare, because you have to fist fight the pred, then get them low enough that they drop the mask, then infect them and nest them, then fend off them trying to escape for X minutes and self-destruct themselves, or just die from their wound, as well as chasing away their buddies. You'll probably only get them on low pred population rounds and only if a pred player doesn't go for the nuclear option straight away. So, pretty rare.

[Dolth]

so basically the only way to kill a predator is tactic xd neat, they cant be killed as ordinarily as xenos and marines, wow the devs really went the lowest common denominator with then XD

That's what I understand in their balance and it makes 'sense' in my opinion.
Predators are meant to be the strongest, therefor an alien alone or a marine alone will get his ass kicked in front fight.
An alien is meant to be stronger than a marine, therefor a marine alone will get his ass kicked in a front fight.
Marines are meant to be the weakest, therefor they need to use each other to prevail, meaning numerical advantage, tactic, traps, baits and support through using comms.

The same logic applies to aliens regarding predators but we all know aliens are too dumb to act that way, (Come on, how often did you see two crushers waiting on prison, north east of chapel hallway, waiting for marines to swarm in to just murder the whole squad? Once? Twice? Don't tell me it requires much big brain to do it.)

But yeah, in other words as a single individual predators are the strongest from -very- far. (Even for a Queen)