II. Positioning

As we know it only takes a couple of bites to kill a level zero armored marine in the early stages of the game, it takes marines a good few minutes until they have researched motion tracking abilities depending on the type of strategy they choose, this is the most useful stage for the skulk unit using their stealth like attacks on the weak marines. When getting ready for an attack make sure you place your self in a position that will cover your legs and arms, also try and keep still because when you move around that's when model features will start poking out. Once a marine has passed your screen wait a couple of seconds incase there is another one behind him, if there are no more incoming then carefully jump down and attack the marine.

In war game situations its always good to allow the commander to build a resource tower then kill the marine in the process of building, so position yourself near the closest resource nozzle to the marine base to give you the advantage over the enemy while he is busy, of course if there are other marines around parasite them letting your team know where the aliens are.

III. Attacking

Skulks can attack very fast in small areas, for example if your hidden behind a box and you hear a marine approaching you can quickly jump into action within a couple meter radius giving the marine no hope of really getting a clean shot on you, once your at the marines legs try and strafe left to right putting off the marines aim, doing this will help you have a better chance of killing the marine also registering bites easier. While planning attacks skulks should always come in numbers, the strength of grouped skulks can put the marine off aim causing inaccuracy and bad judgment, in the example shown below at south loop you can see how the aliens have placed them selves in positions ready to get a clean shot from any angle, this type of formation makes it very hard for the marines to counter due to lack of sight also if the marine has been parasited in makes the job even easier.

Once the second hive is up you can then attack by using the leap and attack together, this is a very effective way to attack because once you leap into the marine you can get into biting range and cause a lot of damage, its important while skulking to be patient, also its vital you use your ears to hear incoming marines, if you watch some good skulks playing you will see that they use the obstacles on the map very affectively making it a lot harder for the enemy to register hits, this gives you time to counter attack while the marine has used up most of his ammo clip.

IV. Parasiting

While skulking its very important to use the parasite feature, which is similar to the marine motion tracking ability, once the marine has been affected with a parasite he will be seen as a yellow blip on the screen showing his location on the map, this is a excellent way to jump out on marines and seeing where the majority of the marine team are heading, once you have played for a while you will understand the main areas on each map allowing you to counter attack these marine strategies they are planning on most occasions.

Just remember while skulking not to run into open spaces because that's when skulks are most vulnerable, so like in the above has been stated stick to the stealth type skulk strategy, they are a great unit because they cost nothing but they can help out it almost every type of situation and come in numbers.

V. Leap

The skulk leap feature is available once the second hive has been built, the leap ability is one of the best features of the skulk because it allows you to spring your self right into the action of battle getting fast hits on your enemies, because the leap is also very fast it makes the skulks very hard for the marines to hit in mid air. When using the leap feature practice switching between bite/leap so you can kill the marines in mid air, also using leap can allow you to cover the map a lot better and gain control over the map faster.

VI. Xenocide

The xenocide feature is available once the third hive has been built, xenocide allows the skulk to kamikaze it self (blow it self up) which inflicts quite a large radius of damage upon marines and structures, its best used in areas where there is a lot of grouped marines and structures built close together to get the most out of the splash damage, xenocide is not used very often in wars because once the alien team has three hives the map is usually dominated and very hard for marines to retaliate.

VII. Conclusion

When skulking on the field just remember to always use your ears to hear incoming marines, most marines will not be able to counter attack if you place your self in the correct position. Take control of the map early by stopping the marine resource income at the vital areas, this can easily be done by planning ambushes outside the resource room, also make sure you pick a skulk role on your team as stated above, this should give your team the advantage over the enemy if you just think wise about the current situation and act. While skulking always try and have other skulk support because they are much more effective in numbers, also remember to never run into any really open spaces which will give the marine advantage over you, stick to the compressed corridors and try your best not to make any noise. Following the above steps should put you on the right track to becoming a good team player and do the Kharaa proud.