So ... you finally made it out of Silver T1 huh?
Good, now you're more powerful.
T2's make up the bulk of the hive's power, and synergize well with T3's (Guide coming later).
Let's get started.
Lurker:
Spoiler:
Ah, the upgraded runner caste. Good.
Lurkers basically do the EXACT, SAME, THING as runners do. The only exception is that they have cloak / stealth, and they can get away with front-lining. Their pounce stuns for longer, and they deal more damage.
Back-lining:
Follow the runner guide with a few modifications, that being the mind-set steps you should constantly be running through your mind:
1: do I have an escape route / plan? If not, go to the last step.
2: Is this marine alone within at LEAST 5 tiles of another marine? If so, go to step #4
3: Is there more than 1 marine? If so, go to the last step.
4: Does the other marine have a shotgun? If so, go to the last step.
5: Engage by pouncing, slashing THREE times instead of once or twice, and then go to the next step. If you miss your pounce, don't bother slashing (yet again).
6: Reposition and STAY AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS!
Side-lining or "anti-flank":
Same mind-set, except you stick more or less near the SIDES of the main battle instead of the backline.
You usually should have a ranged caste with you like a spitter or a sentinel, that will make your life easier. You can also engage groups of 2 or 3 if you have sisters with you.
Make sure you keep your escape options open.
Spitter:
Spoiler:
The Spitter is a flexible, ranged xeno. Your weed and egg ... err ... bread and butter, is your ability to spit acid. DO NOT BOTHER WITH NEURO AS A SPITTER, YOUR COOLDOWN IS TOO LONG!
Your spit 'tags' marines with acid, and deals Damage Over Time.
Your second ability is to spray acid. This combos REALLY well with 'tagged' marines, as acid-spraying a 'tagged' marine will remove the tag, but also deal LOADS more damage. Good to use if you can hit your combo's in other games like MOBAs like LOL or Dota. Spray-acid also stuns, briefly downing a marine.
Your third ability is acid. You use this ability to melt things like walls, 'cades, doors, and FLARES ... MELT THOSE FLARES, it's MUCH harder to hit what you can't see.
Warrior:
Spoiler:
Ah, the warrior. A very useful, and somewhat flexible, caste.
There are (In my opinion) 2 'ways' to play warrior.
Default:
Spoiler:
Your main ability is 'Lunge'. You MUST click DIRECTLY on a target in order for it to proc. Once you lunge towards the target, you put them into a choke-hold. This briefly stuns them for about 1.5 seconds. After this, they can resist out of it, but it typically takes around 3-4 resists for this to happen.
Your other abilities are 'Punch' and 'Fling', and each should be used for certain situations typically after you have lunge-grabbed.
Fling ... well ... FLINGS, your target pretty far directly away from you.
Punch, on the other hand, flings the target ONE tile away from you ... but goes through armor and has a VERY high chance to deal debilitating damage like breaking bones or Internal Bleeding.
You should typically follow this mind-set:
1: Engage WITH your sisters.
2: Lunge-Grab someone, and asses the situation.
3: If there's a LOT of marines, OR there are 2-3 or more marines that are NOT stunned by queen's screech (likely charging the queen and you), do step 4b, otherwise, do step 4a.
4a: If #3 is NOT true, DON'T slash them. Instead, walk onto the same tile that the marine is on, put the marine behind you (simply click on the tile to drag them there), and fling them towards your sisters that are MORE than willing to capture or slash the SHIT out of that marine.
4b: Slash ONCE, then use the 'Punch' Ability.
6: Dis-engage / Retreat / Re-position, heal up, and get ready to repeat.
Boxer, A.K.A C-C-C-C-COMBOOOOO:
Spoiler:
Take the 'Boxer' strain. You lose your Lunge ability in turn for a 'Jab' Ability, and be able to 'Toggle Agility'.
Toggle Agility makes you faster, but unable to use 'Punch' while it's toggled.
Jab does damage, and confuses the target. This gives them a slow, and a MAJOR accuracy de-buff. Using 'Jab' resets the cooldown of 'punch'. You can also use 'Jab' with your agility on, it will bring you out of it when doing so.
Obviously, you see the combo potential here.
You punch, jab, punch again, toggle agility, and GTFO with the marine taking LOADS of damage and even MORE likely to have debilitating damage.
As a boxer, you will typically want your agility on most of the time, and use Jab to initiate combat after matrix-dodging half a magazine followed up by a punch.
You will typically be on the side-line / anti-flank team, and you synergize VERY well with lurkers.
Hivelord:
Spoiler:
Congrats, you are now an INFINITELY better drone.
Your resin structures are reinforced and have more health. You also have an ability called 'resin-walker' that basically increases your speed by around 50-60% on weeds. It's a great escape tool if you get ganked or caught alone or off guard.
Build 2x2 wall forts near the beach, leave the sticky to the drones, and make sure your sisters ALWAYS have a fortified / covered position to run to in case of trouble.
Burrower:
Spoiler:
Ah, a mis-understood caste.
You are basically the trap-master of the hive. You can also construct tunnels. You also get free meson vision in addition to your thermal.
Make traps where they are hidden by objects so it's harder / impossible for marines to spot without right-clicking. You can fill these traps with acid by clicking on them with HELP intent. (any other intent will clear / destroy them)
Make mine-fields until the end of time.
Make tunnels where and when they are requested of you. Make one near the hive at round-start, and near front-lines when your sisters push the marines back.
The 'Burrow' ability allows you to basically 'teleport' to a location that isn't a wall or obstructed. You first dig in after about a 4-5 second delay, then activate it again on the tile you want to travel to. After about another 5 seconds, PA-BAM, you're there.
I'm not gonna lie, the burrow ability is hardly EVER used, and marines can kill you in the time it takes to dig into the ground, so it's not that great of an escape tool, but it's all you've got if you're cornered in a room.
Carrier:
Spoiler:
Ah, the good ol' capture master.
The carrier has the ability to store eggs and huggers on them and retrieve them at will.
There is a carrier strain, so there are 2 'ways' to play carrier.
Default:
Spoiler:
You also have the ability to lay traps like burrower, but you fill them with huggers. The trap activates with them stepping on it, stunning the marine, and after about .5 seconds, the hugger latches onto them.
Whenever someone screams 'CARRIER!', and is dragging a marine while tackling them, that's your queue to take a hugger from storage, and apply it to their face.
You will do that after a short delay (Because insta-hugging is ... removed), so make sure you're not ganked or interrupted while doing so.
Whenever the Queen screeches, push with her, you'll get a free capture on any marine within 2-3 tiles of her as her stun lasts long enough for you to apply it.
Just make sure to get outta dodge when shit hits the fan or you start getting shot.
Shaman, A.K.A Lucio "TURN IT UUUP!" "OH LET'S BREAK IT DOWN":
Spoiler:
You lose the ability to lay traps and carry huggers.
You gain the ability to sacrifice eggs for 3 abilities, which gain power the more xenos are within a radius of 3 to you, as well as affecting them. You cannot be affected by your own abilities, or by another Shaman carrier's abilities. You also cannot benefit from pheromones.
If you use an ability with no other xenos within 3 tiles of you ... congrats ... you just wasted plasma, an egg, and did NOTHING with it.
Remember Pain:
Basically this is an ability that 'stores' the amount of xenos near you to the next ability that you use.
Frenzied Scream:
You basically use the crying pain of the crushed egg / child to stun marines in a radius and for a time proportional to the amount of sisters around you.
Adrenal Healing:
This ability basically over-heals / shields your sisters, and restores armor as well.
Adrenal Pheromones:
You gain ALL pheromones that scale in strength with the amount of sisters near you.
Remember pain is good if you want to use Frenzied Scream.
Use Adrenal Healing to basically 'buff' everyone's health before a push with the queen.
Adrenal Pheromones ... guh ... it's so ... meh ... it's just ... you have BETTER abilities to waste eggs on.
... and ... that about sums it up.
It may take some time for me to come out with the T3 guide, as there are still strains of the T3's I have not tried out.