Countering Spitter

[BatteryBan]

He�s just standing there MENACINGLY

[Simonset55]

Counter it by shooting it dead before it spits you in the eyes

[PogoMarimo]

you don't really counter spitter

synths are technically able to counter them because they don't get neurostunned, so they can comfortably stand behind people and instantly help intent them to their feet without risking a stun themselves, but they're not supposed to be combat units and don't do that kind of thing very often

I'm now picturing this. Danny Love--Machine, the Synth that wanders the front line stroking fallen marines and gives unwanted hugs. Ooooh yeeeeaaaaah.

[BeardedWall]

I'm now picturing this. Danny Love--Machine, the Synth that wanders the front line stroking fallen marines and gives unwanted hugs. Ooooh yeeeeaaaaah.

If thats what it takes to not get 100-0 without being able to fire again....

[SirMandrake]

I love scout spec. You murder sents/spitters with ease and it's glorious

[Grubstank]

Spitters and lurkers rely on skillshots for their stuns. It's a bit more difficult in heavy armour, or without an M39/gyro shotty, but so long as you aren't too badly wounded you can usually just bait and dodge them.

Good spitters and lurkers (ravs and often runners too!) will try to line you up along the x or y axis as much as possible before they go for their stun. If you're moving at a right angle or parallel, they will likely pop it early if it seems like your speed/direction will remain predictable. This isn't always the case--the best and the baldest will go for some weird opportunities--but if you play enough xeno you'll eventually figure out the shots you like to take, which gives you an intuitive understanding of when to expect it as a marine.

Anyways -- just bait out the skillshot, dodge the instant before they take the shot, and blast them with your gun. If you're in full unga mode, tack in a direction that takes you even closer to them for a better shot/PB. Immediately after a failed shot most xenos will try to distance themselves for the cooldown, and if you're practically on top of them that can quickly turn into a solo kill while they're panicking. A lot of xenos will start shitting themselves if you suddenly go ham on them after pretending to run away yourself.

It's high risk/high reward (and rarely works against more than two at once), and you're bound to mess up eventually. Just make sure your aim+loadout is good enough to send them into crit before they have the chance to get a third or fourth try in.

If you're using an M39+light armour keeping your distance is often a good strategy too. Just be aware that the odds of getting a kill quickly diminish, compared to your risk of guaranteed death if you make one mistake.

[Dreven]

Keep an alpha PFC infront of you, NEVER let them behind you

[Boersgard]

A critical mass is five marines.

Five marines can deal with a good neuro spit Elder Spitter, and easily counter a Sentinel even at Ancient.

This is assuming the Spitter / Sentinel is completely alone.

The more xenos you add to the equation, the more marines you have to add to this equation.

This is assuming every marine is healthy as well.

You can't just add more marines, because there's positioning/space restrictions. If 1 xeno is worth 3-5 marines, but the gamespace only allows ~5 entitites to fight reasonably, then the aliens have a massive advantage.

To put this another way: 4 marines in a 2-tile wide corridor is barely better than 2 marines in a 2-tile wide corridor. If an alien shows up and starts slashing one of the marines up front, that xeno is fully effective, while 1/2 of the marines can't do anything at all to help. So what should be a xeno outnumbered and quickly dispatched by 4 marines is actually 1 xeno vs 2 marines at a time and not a struggle for it at all. This is part of the reason why PB buckshot reigns supreme right now (And has for ages).

And this is a long-standing problem I have with the balance on marine damage output. Damage output feels """Balanced""" around 3-6+ marines shooting weaksauce M41's/L42's at a single xeno. In reality you get 1-2 marines engaging a xeno 90% of the time - especially bad when it comes to T3's which are unkillable by your average marine; there just isn't enough space and view range for marines to threaten xenos with "teamwork". (not to mention that as the quantity of marines increases, the spacing required to help each other increases which subsequently increases the distances involved which lowers marine damage further thanks to misses and damage fall-off - NEVERMIND the increase in FF)

Marine damage needs to be balanced with the assumption that only 1-2 (and sometimes 3) marines can effectively engage a xeno, instead of being balanced around entire squads. (Or rather, xeno HP needs to be balanced around this. Instead of them all being the walking tanks; lower shotgun damage, lower xeno HP, let the other marine weapons start being effective)

[BeardedWall]

Why doesn't the gas mask work against it. It would be fair in that I would be immune to neuro.. but the spitter is also outside my sight range.

[Cimo]

best advice against T2s is dont be alone and hope for the best.