new praetorian discussion

[Reuben Owen]

thoughts on our buffed gal?

to me its great now, finally got that spit range
I have no clue how much damage it does, but it's enough that marines don't wanna get close and it will make them drop unlike spitters

the speed boost is nice to get into position quickly to spray acid up close/spit up close too... oh yeah and not get chased down and shot like a dog

she reliably can damage marines behind cades is her biggest sell to me atm

[Pulse Demon]

She is quite kewl, I don't play marine so idk how does it "feel" as in terms of fairness and "unfun" to get sprayed but imo feels balanced

[Pshy]

Prae is definitely strong, i would say too strong but prae isnt one of those "essential" t3's(boiler and crusher) that provide invaluable abilities to the xeno's. Prae is just a super spitter and it does that exceptionally well. I feel like some of the power from its base acid spit should be moved to the acid spray to incentivize the prae coordinating with the queen or to boost its duration so it functions like an area denial flamer. Praetorians are a guard after all and while theyre durable enough for the job(being virtually impossible to kill without sadar or a flank) their super spit s pretty disgusting for marines, getting hit twice will paincrit you

[DefinitelyAlone0309]

Honestly, the acid spit buff just adds on to what's basically a xeno miniboss. With Prae being the 3rd fastest xeno (after Runner and Lurker), and the 3rd tankiest xeno (after Elder+ Crusher and Empress), and slash damage similar to Warrior; and it having neuro spam+sticky spam+good pheromones+semi decent acid spray (can still meme quite a lot if marines don't learn to immediately dump damage on you)+good acid spit; we're looking at the scariest xeno in the entire line up aside from the queen. Like if I have to rate T3s for their level of necessity, I would rate Prae being 2nd only to Boiler.

[Nimiety]

If you're not capturing at least a dozen people per round as praetorian you either got RPGd early or you're doing it wrong. Or you're roleplaying and sctually defending the ovi queen.

Love praetorian, always ask for two on highpop.

[kastion]

If you're not capturing at least a dozen people per round as praetorian you either got RPGd early or you're doing it wrong. Or you're roleplaying and sctually defending the ovi queen.

Love praetorian, always ask for two on highpop.

I capture way over a dozen people a round as praetorian. I just kill them like 3 seconds after capturing them.

[Madventurer]

I capture way over a dozen people a round as praetorian. I just kill them like 3 seconds after capturing them.

Are you, by any chance, runner-lurker main...?

[kastion]

Are you, by any chance, runner-lurker main...?

I dont main anything I play every caste (the only one i regret playing afterwards is hivelord cause its so lame)

[Nimiety]

You do you my dude. Oh also you have to watch out for predators as a prae who love targeting your shit because you are (with crusher) the slowest valid T3 for them to try to assassinate. Queen has meta protection and boiler is too helpless to be honourable. If you are good with spit you might be able to deal with it, otherwise don't wander off alone.

[Simo94]

cool, its the buckshot counter xenos badly needed.

[Kineem]

Praetorian is the best xeno on the field, not because of a few specific things that make it good, but because it has just about everything. Sticky resin, high damage acid spit, shotgun acid spray, neurotoxin, Queen-tier pheromones, melting acid, cannot be stunned by slugs/buckshot and the anti-bodyblock mechanic all make for one useful and combat efficient xeno on top of their good slash, okay tackle, good movement speed, good armor, good health, good max plasma, and fast ability cooldown.

A good Praetorian is undefeatable by anything short of a SADAR rocket- but if they're actually good they'll probably notice it coming and manage to stay one step ahead of the SADAR spec barring some extremely unfortunate circumstances like xeno bodyblocking. A good Ravager can get a lot of kills but a good Praetorian can easily carry a round by themselves as they capture humans with their long lasting and low cooldown neurotoxin, emit two Queen-tier pheromones by themselves to boost the entire frontline (if leadered; which they very much should be), kill just as many marines with stunlocks and their powerful Frenzy slash, spit acid at a distance to pressure Engineers/Medics trying to build/heal, and even more.

and the cherry on top is that if they do get injured and need to heal they'll recover faster since they can swap out Frenzy for Recovery.

They didn't actually need the spit buff that they got (2 spit instant crit from the edge of your screen) but it's not a major change. It's a fun caste to play as, annoying to play against as a marine since they can reliably tank non-AP pulse rifle even at Young, usually requiring concentrated fire by three accurate marines or some really ballsy PBs to put down. given that it takes two PBs to crit a Young Prae, they have more than enough time to tackle/spit you into stun and then drag you away from your allies while slashing you to death; it requires some damn good finesse to close the gap and put one down with pointblanks while evading tackles and neurospam.

I don't think Prae is particularly overpowered but it's definitely the strongest xeno the hive has now. I would much rather see Praetorian spam than Ravager spam as a xeno since they can just get more shit done than a Ravager ever could.

[GenericUsername]

I've been playing prae almost every time I go xeno... it is really strong. The neuro counters any targets, sometimes even two of them, and allows you to stunlock while slashing, plus the tankiness allows you to neuro and drag a marine away even under fire. It's a really good xeno for both 1v1 and 2v1.
I don't use the acid spray too much though, but it has it's uses.

[Bancrose]

Bro I'm hitting these consistent PB acid spatters and at Elder and Ancient. 4 PB Acid Spatters will kill any human, and it seriously fucks preds up BAD.

This shit was needed badly. Thank god devs did this.

[digitalattack]

New prae is amazingly fun to play, just hoping some sort of similar change is ported over to spitter in terms of acid spit damage.(more damage closer/ less further style)

[xXen0zS1ay3rXx]

New prae is amazingly fun to play, just hoping some sort of similar change is ported over to spitter in terms of acid spit damage.(more damage closer/ less further style)

Yeah spitter needs some love, it is currently just a worse sentinal. I'd love for it to be an acid 'sniper' though, would make sense since boili bois are long ranged bombards.

[Ketrai]

Yeah spitter needs some love, it is currently just a worse sentinal. I'd love for it to be an acid 'sniper' though, would make sense since boili bois are long ranged bombards.

Spitter can't be stunned as hard and has a nice long stun themselves. Spitter has more staying power, sentinel more hit n run. The main weakness of the spitty boy is slow speed and slow ass maturation. If anything, I hate how much copy paste was used to make their abilities. There's little unique about a sent or a spitter.

[TheMaskedMan2]

Spit range is longer but if your firing it from across the screen it's probably doing less than a normal spitter. Either way it gives them some nice versatility, and as a Xeno AND Marine I would much rather be spit at by normal damaging acid spit over neuro memes.

Neurotoxin is frustrating for Xenos and Marines. Marines is self-explanatory, and for Xenos it's the damn accuracy of the thing.

So i'm glad that now Acid is generally more useful than Neuro most of the time.

[kastion]

Spit range is longer but if your firing it from across the screen it's probably doing less than a normal spitter. Either way it gives them some nice versatility, and as a Xeno AND Marine I would much rather be spit at by normal damaging acid spit over neuro memes.

Neurotoxin is frustrating for Xenos and Marines. Marines is self-explanatory, and for Xenos it's the damn accuracy of the thing.

So i'm glad that now Acid is generally more useful than Neuro most of the time.

lol you keep your acid spit while im dabbing 1v3 on marines with neuro.

[FGRSentinel]

Personally I feel like the Prae's decent abilities in most areas makes it a good command caste and that's mostly how I try to play it when I have time to play it well: I assist on the front but also try to coordinate the other benos in the Queen's absence. Praes have the durability and combat abilities to be a frontline fighter or hold back a bit and snipe Marines with acid spit, which gives them a decent level of flexibility as well.