Good combos to use without queen

[sappysalamander]

Lately whenever I have xeno'd I find I am unable to secure kills without Mother's screech. What are good ways to tip the scales in my favor?

[CABAL]

If marines are not behind cades then Boiler Gas is what you need. Or Prea acid shotgun spit. No single xeno will secure kill outside of Queen when Marines are in group and/or behind cades. Screech is the only way, becouse barricades are broken concept in itself and only another broken concept of spammable AoE stun is able to deal with it. How could this tiny metal wall shorter than average human stop Queen, or other T3? They are supposed to be huge. This is by lore.

By Gameplay is that you can't do anything to barricades without T3's/Queen assistance. You can just spin like autistic toy all day as beno when this happens.

Remove barricades, buff marines.

[sappysalamander]

I see what you are saying, I wonder if a new glider caste who can traverse barricades could be a solution as well.

[CABAL]

Nope. What good you can have from few xenos that can go behind cades? Marines will just shoot them while rest of the hive will have to wait to slash, or melt tiny metal walls.

[sappysalamander]

Also true, maybe the boilers artillery acid could melt the cades after 6-10 attacks?

[CABAL]

Easy to replace even if there would be no possibility to repair the cade. One engineer could be a counter for that and if there are cades, there must be engineer.
Besides, it's still T3.

[Exodus]

Personally I find that Sentinel and Carrier is an exceptionally good combo. The truth of the matter is that a Carrier is an exceptionally squishy caste, even though it brings a great deal of versatility with it, and is primarily thought of as a totally defensive class instead of being an offensive combat-hugger. That said, a Sentinel, while not necessarily super bulky, is fast enough to close the distance to a Marine, and can neuro-lock them with relative ease.

Carriers can also serve as suppliers as opposed to direct combatants, using their ability to carry eggs to the front to supply much faster and somewhat more combat-capable Drones in the event that they have no stunners available, or when dealing with cadelines. Simply place eggs near the front, and whenever a Drone has taken a hugger, replace it by sliding a new hugger into the egg until you have depleted your supply. Serve as a Recovery and Supply beacon as opposed to a direct combatant, thereby skipping out on your most blatant weakness: your squishyness.

The Sentinel and Carrier combo wonders. The Sentinel runs forward, stuns the first marine, runs past them to the next and draws attention. The Carrier comes up behind, and face-hugs the downed guy. By this time, the Sentinel should have Neuro'd the second marine, and the process repeats until either has to fall back and heal. The Carrier being able to essentially remove a downed person from combat makes this surprisingly viable, and prevents the Sentinel from being over-run unless they are dealing with an entire squad by themselves.

I've also found that a Lurker and Spitter work well for somewhat similar reasons. The Lurker can pretty easily take out a single person, unless they are a SADAR. The Spitter on the other hand can offer a level of protection to the Lurker while it's busy slashing someone with its pounce. The acid spit can be used to hurry along a death, or can be used to delay marines from charging directly forward, and the neuro is excellent for preventing shotgunners who rush forward to save their friends from the Lurker. In this combo, the Lurker scores the kills, and the Spitter works as a screener so that the more damaging combat caste can do its work with impunity. Solid combo unless you're dealing with Snipers or SADARs.

Runners are useful in any circumstance barring two: Tight hallways wherein they provide little more than a nuisance, and where they can lead to a great degree of body-blocking, or in sieges where they are altogether useless. That said, having a Runner who can quickly knock a weapon aside, even for a moment, can be quite useful in most open-skirmishing, and they're excellent at covering the retreats of somewhat slower castes.

[sappysalamander]

Well said Exodus, it seems that, from your point of view, the carrier should be the nominal center of alien tactics, especially with prolonged engagements where we desperately need more numbers to pull through. My new question is, how can slower classes like the defender and warrior actively support these maneuvers when most of the combat seemingly moves on without them due to their slower base movement. Better yet what kind of hive composition mid game can stop large unga rushes that usually go unchecked until the queen De-ovis and takes to the fight herself?

[FGRSentinel]

Presumably if Sentinels are disabling marines for the Carrier to hug, Defenders and Warriors would be relegated to collecting the impregnated marines and moving them to nests near the front line. In this way their lower speed isn't as much of an issue since they're simply ferrying marines to nests behind the combat, which is a waste of two castes honestly...

[sappysalamander]

I agree, I like playing defender with boilers to help them stay front line while being able to depend on me to soak up rounds. But warrior for me right now seeks like a very specific move that should be used for shock value by elder and ancient defenders to quickly take ground mid-late game. I really feel people should stay defender pretty much all game then all go warrior at one time for mass hugs when Xenos finally begin a full offensive.

[CABAL]

Presumably if Sentinels are disabling marines for the Carrier to hug, Defenders and Warriors would be relegated to collecting the impregnated marines and moving them to nests near the front line. In this way their lower speed isn't as much of an issue since they're simply ferrying marines to nests behind the combat, which is a waste of two castes honestly...

You meant: "Presumably if Sentinels are disabling marines for the Carrier to hug, Defenders and Warriors would be relegated to collecting the impregnated marines and moving them to nests near the front line *slashing impregnated marines to abuse this stun mechanic.

[Lil Mayo]

Rav + Prae

Get the Rav Warding from the Queen and Frenzy from the prae, watch it meme entire squads with hit&run. Eventually, add a boiler for gas funtimes.

[Sleepy Retard]

lurker gang

[Exodus]

Well said Exodus, it seems that, from your point of view, the carrier should be the nominal center of alien tactics, especially with prolonged engagements where we desperately need more numbers to pull through. My new question is, how can slower classes like the defender and warrior actively support these maneuvers when most of the combat seemingly moves on without them due to their slower base movement. Better yet what kind of hive composition mid game can stop large unga rushes that usually go unchecked until the queen De-ovis and takes to the fight herself?

I mean, I don't necessarily mean that the Carrier itself should be the absolute center of alien tactics, but I do believe that Xeno tactics should revolve around capturing, and frankly the Carrier is a little more versatile in that regard than a Drone, even if it isn't necessarily better at combat-hugging. Due to a Drone needing to run all the way back to the Hive in order to retrieve a single egg for their own combat-hugging purposes, it makes a lot more sense to have a Carrier in the field taking care of most of the front-line hugging. Obviously, in a straight 1v1, however, a Drone is a better option since the Carrier is pretty pathetically poor at defending itself, even with its hugging powers.

I'll admit, I don't particularly find that Defenders are exceptionally useful except in a single regard: Protecting squishy Xenos. Primarily, this is often expressed in a Defender lowering its crest in front of a Boiler. Defenders, imo, are there almost exclusively to provide an extra body and to soak up bullets. Honestly, if you aren't almost constantly being shot at as a Defender in place of someone else, I'm not really sure what your purpose is. That does express itself rather well in that, despite your slower speed, you can lead a charge in order to soak bullets that would seriously hinder your squishier siblings.

Warriors, I've found, should almost never actually be using their fancy abilities. They're very useful, but they also make you exceptionally slow, and you deal enough basic slash damage that it's really more worth it to just stay on all fours and slash stuff like a knock-off, bulkier Runner.

In the end, to answer the question about composition, I think there are several things that can certainly help, and that each member of the Hive can add something to the fight, even if its just soaking rounds. Boilers are extremely useful for stopping charges, and they can pretty easily contain corridors so long as there are a couple of them. Spitters are also pretty great for adding pain-damage on more distant Marines which typically does slow them since their self-preservation will kick in, or for using Neuro to get a couple of slashes in. It's not necessarily a negative thing to lose a little ground here and there so long as you have equally well-prepared ground behind you, and you keep a constant escape route open. The thing that kills the Xenos most often is that they get flanked, and don't know where to run.

Also, stupid as it sounds, I've personally found that Carriers can actually slow unga charges by a few seconds at a time simply by wasting a Facehugger and lobbing it at the marine force. It will absolutely NEVER actually catch everyone, but it'll freak a lot of them out enough that they'll stop moving and they'll get all maneuver-y to try to shoot it instead of chase you. It's actually quite funny.

I know this is a bit more into specific Hive tactics, but I find that the greatest advantages that the Xenos have are their mobility and their ability to see through the darkness. Sometimes, you forget just how little the Marines actually know about their environment once they get into the caves, and while obviously they'll start flaring, and the darkness will become a lesser issue as they go on, it's still a LOT easier for you to traverse the caves than it is for them. I like to attack from one direction about twice, and then, once I know they'll be looking for me to go from that direction, I'll go around, even if it takes a while. They might go slightly off-guard from the lack of sudden tension, or they might stay rather prepared, but still looking for you in the other direction. You'd be surprised by the number of kills you can rack up if you're just willing to constantly shift where you're attacking from, and turn the environment into a pro rather than a con.

[GoliathTheDespoiler]

When attacking a barricaded position you need to switch things up as a xeno, your focus should be on going up to the cades and slashing them down when a boiler gasses it. If not, then your job is to encircle the position as best you can, find any weak points or undefended areas, and destroy them.

Create breaches to push in with, eventually the marines will rout from fear of being overrun.

When attacking an open force, speed is key, so having an escape plan before you go in is great. But as for synergy, it's quite easy to list a few:

Lurker/Spitter is a good combo, a spitter can stunlock multiple marines, buying time for the lurker to cut them up to their heart's content.

Carrier/Drone is fantastic, as the drone can feed the carrier plasma to produce WAY more traps.

Ravager/Crusher is great, as if the crusher is blocked by a flamer, the rav can push in and fight them off, whereas if the rav gets hit by a grenade, the crusher can block any following attacks until the rav recovers from the stun.

Boiler/Crusher/Ravager is the ULTIMATE LIFEFORM, as both the Crusher and rav benefit from the gas, and can block incendiary/normal bullets from killing the boiler.