Aliens - Lerk

Written by TheAdj

Monday, 31 July 2006

Lerking is all about doing maximum damage to as many marines as possible while exposing one's self as little as possible. Skulks are generally throw-away units that can sacrifice themselves in an attempt to take marines with them. Gorges rarely face combat, and when they do it usually ends with their death after a few moments. Fades constantly dart in and out of combat, using their hefty amount of health and armor to absorb damage while they attack. Onos has an insane number of hit points and literally exist to absorb damage for other life forms. Then we have the lerk. It's small, agile, can be incredibly fast, and yet has practically no armor. What this means to you, the reader, is this: Do not expose yourself, or you will die. This is the first lesson to learn when lerking. The role of the lerk is two-fold. It is mainly a combat support unit, which is a role it performs by lowering the overall armor of the marine team via sporing and by umbraing other aliens in combat. It also performs a harassing role, by picking off marines incapable of defending themselves. This usually occurs when a marine is already weak and has its back facing the lerk, or is reloading. Despite several people that can take on an attack role as lerk (myself included), I would not suggest anyone learn how to lerk this way initially. It is very difficult to master and it is much better to start off by merely playing a support role and learning the ins and outs of the lerk flight model, which even I have yet to master. The lerk flight model is a mouse-driven, linear moving system that is very much different from the old flight model of 2.01 and earlier. To start flying simply tap the jump key to flap and hold the jump key to glide. Two jumps close together in timing will max out the lerk's airspeed. Any more jumps are merely wasting adrenaline. Over time gliding begins to slowly lose speed, so every 10 seconds or so flap again to go back to full speed. Anytime the lerk turns in-flight it loses a percentage of its speed that is proportional to the speed and degree of the turn. Small turns generally don't slow the lerk down much, but significant turns will slow the lerk greatly. If a 180 is performed, the lerk will lose almost all momentum and stop in mid-air. Master the flight model by learning how to keep maximum speed at all times without wasting adrenaline. The lerk is the equivalent of a spell caster in other Real Time Strategy games. It is highly maneuverable, weak physically, and can cast powerful ranged area-effect spells. Managing adrenaline (Mana or energy in other games) is incredibly important. This is why mastering the flight model is very important. Flight uses energy to perform, so it needs to be made as efficient as possible. Once one has mastered the art of flight, it is much easier to begin using the lerk and not being an easy kill. Spores are the main weapon of the lerk, and are probably one of the most important weapons the alien team has. Spores do area damage to marines, stripping their armor in a few seconds. Constant exposure to spores will cripple the marine team that lacks Heavy Armor, and is absolutely devastating. Without support marines start dropping like flies, and are easy prey for fades. This is the lerk's primary role until the second hive is up, constantly putting spore clouds in the marine team's path. This greatly weakens their armor and significantly slows their advance, which is what the alien team does prior to the second hive going up: they delay the marine team as long as they can until it finishes. A lerk is capable of delaying the entire team on its own using spore and some harassing tactics. Marines tend to have one of two reactions to a lerk that spores constantly: they either wait for it to expose itself or they advance past it. When they wait for the lerk, continue sporing and keep their attention, because you are preventing them from reaching their goal. Delay of the marine team before the second hive is completed IS your goal as lerk, as this supports the team by giving them more time to prepare and allows them to kill weakened marines. The second reaction requires a little bit of cunning and skill on the lerk's part. Once marines start ignoring the lerk, try to get their attention back. Fly around and be a distraction, keep them focused on the lerk. If they continue to ignore you, swoop in for the kill. Marines that have their backs turned are easy prey. Glide in when attacking marines from behind, because the flapping sound will give the lerk away easily. Spore them as the lerk flies in, because what will happen is the lerk will get in 1-2 bites before the marine turns around, and the spores will do the rest of the damage. Lerk bite is quite weak compared to the skulk, so make sure the marine is heavily spored to remove his armor before attempting to bite. The lerk is very weak, and the exposure time needs to be as minimal as possible. Get in the surprise bites, and then get out. Take note of the location before attempting this. Long hallways are not a lerks friend, although tall rooms are. Because of the flight ability the lerk is able to take advantage of large rooms in much the same way a fade can, weaving up and down to avoid fire and deal damage. Use the advantage flight offers and never approach a marine head on, weave up and down as well as left and right to dodge fire and make the marine lose tracking. This is best exemplified with celerity, as the massive speed boost it offers renders the dodging lerk pretty much invulnerable to anything but concentrated and coordinated fire that only the best teams can barely manage. Once the second hive is up umbra becomes available to the lerk, and the increased armor value of hive2 armor increases the lerk's safety by a decent amount. Use umbra to cover teammates, but do not spam it indiscriminately, and this also applies to spore clouds. Both of these weapons do not stack which means only one cloud will work in the same spot. No matter how many spore clouds are in a location, it will only do seven damage per second. Umbra will still block only 1/2 of the bullets that would otherwise hit a life form in the cloud. Both of these abilities use around 1/3 of the lerk's energy, so use them wisely. Shoot spore clouds in front of advancing marines so they must pass through the entire cloud, not just part of it, attempt to maximize damage as much as possible. Make sure umbra is aimed so it covers the alien in question as much as possible. For fades shoot it at the marines and at the exit when the fade leaves. For skulks aim for the marines, and just aim anywhere near the onos when it begins to take damage. It is difficult to judge where to fire umbra due to the extreme speed of aliens, and the main thing is to make it effective, which usually means aim it at the marines. Don't neglect to spore marines once the second hive is up, if anything the second hive abilities and armor increase the effective of spore in weakening marines so other aliens can kill them. Two hive fades are the backbone of the alien game, and when facing 1-2 swipe marines, they are incredibly damaging. Combined with umbra they are nearly unstoppable when faced by such weakened marines. There are three special cases that must be talked about. The first is a direct hive assault. When marines run into the hive and start shooting it down, simply sit on the hive and spore them. When one of them appears to be reloading, swoop in for the kill. Continue this until the hive drops or all the marines are dead. Lerks are extremely effective at breaking marine camps, because spores force the marine to either stand and take damage or fall back. In a hive attack they have little choice but to stay, so they all slowly die to spores. The lerk is very adept at fast swooping attacks, and the marines have little ability to repulse it in such a situation. Watch the adrenaline bar and take them down as fast as possible without exposing the lerk for more than a few moments. The second case is jetpacks. Jetpacks are absolute murder against all aliens, and the lerk is no exception. Try as best as possible to spore them down so they are easier to kill. The normal hiding abilities of the lerk are negated by jetpacks, so maneuverability in the air is the lerk's best friend against JPs. Aiming is easy when it's a mere 2 axes experience, but the addition of another axis while in flight makes it exponentially more difficult to aim, especially against something as nimble as a lerk in a large hive room. Use the speed of the lerk to one's advantage and keep the jetpackers busy while help arrives. With no movement abilities this task is difficult, but with adrenaline or celerity it becomes much easier. Movement chambers also return a huge amount of energy every 2 seconds to nearby aliens, so stick near these and spam gas and umbra everywhere the jetpackers may go. When they appear to be reloading or are landing, dive in for the kill; just try not to take them face on. Shotguns are the lerk's main enemy and jetpackers usually have a shotgun or a HMG, both of which will shred the unwary lerk in moments if not instantly. Fighting is best left up to fades and skulks, but lend help where one can, because every JP down helps the hive survive longer until the threat is totally eliminated. As in any direct hive assault, umbra the hive so it has a constant cloud on it, another cloud taking the previous cloud's place as it evaporates. The last case involves Heavy Armor, and sadly this is the counter to lerks. Heavy Armor is invulnerable to spores, so the best way to help the team is to umbra the hive when they attack and umbra the HA themselves when aliens attack them. When one is reloading swoop in for some free bites, but don't stick around long and umbra the HA before attacking, because his friends will likely fire at the lerk. My final words on the lerk: Stay alive. A dead lerk is useless to the team, while one alive is infinitely more useful. The best way to stay alive indefinitely is to never expose the lerk to fire, however sometimes circumstances dictate otherwise. Minimize exposure by attacking only defenseless marines, and NEVER attack marines that are prepared and waiting, that is the #2 cause of lerk death, behind carelessness and not paying attention. Marines will ambush lerks that don't watch their surroundings and blindly attack, which is why situational awareness is key to Stick with fades and don't get ahead of them, because marines will attack you before they attack the fade. I'll be posting several demos in the Download Section as I record them, so download them as they become available and watch as I demonstrate some of the things I've talked about in scrims and matches, as well as public server play. The success of the alien team depends on the skill and intelligence of its higher life forms, and the lerk is a key example of intelligence being key to the survival of the alien team.

Last Updated ( Friday, 15 December 2006 )

 

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