Sure, for the hive huggers can cause general chaos and FF if there’s no smartgunners or turrets in a marine ball, or even get the occasional lucky hug. But as OP asked about ‘safely’ and ‘without outside help’, that generally goes against the controlled hugger design - they’re ghost spawns that feel like they are meant to supplement a lack of carrier more than they are to be a standalone imposing xeno. The 1 second channel time of the leap that only works if you remain directly adjacent to your target by the end makes it super unreliably against marines paying attention and able to retaliate.
That said - huggers hiding under any and every xeno door that is being knifed is a strong contribution to xeno fear rp.
Eh, any jump is risky as huggers do have a leap charge timer, some though can be safer than others but it’s generally risky.
All though one thing I learned is that successful hugs are super satisfying, and if you do get the hug it can basically put a marine out of the planet for a little bit as they have to get processed and brought up to the alamyer for surgery.
But yeah not really asking for them to be standalone just wanted advice on how to better play hugger, I’ve improved though since I last made the post.
Use the ovi map when queen is on ovi to glue yourself to any warriors around chokes, look for any unguarded flanks where you might be able to get a pick on the medic triage backline, and generally be a menace as much all over the place as you can to maximize the opportunities you can spot to capitalize on.
If nothing else, worst case scenario speeding up any caps around the front by staying safe will always be a welcome help.
I have had a lot of success with using broken pipes. When marines grenade pipe networks you can climb out of them without giving away you are exiting it. This means that if a marine is next to the pipe you come out of you can jump on them, since the windup is pretty quick you usually can jump them before they can move away. One time I used a single pipe in the middle of the entire marine push to hug 6 marines in a row before they finally pushed into caves.
If it’s a wounded dude just healed - it’s obvious. Otherwise it’s a lack of situational awareness combined with being engrossed in something (or just temp afk)
If it’s a medic… medics are often engrossed in pulling out the right pill, splint, defib, injector or reading the med scanner window.
Good hugger strats include:
Hiding under resin doors and tables
Just don’t die and wait around near the queen or woyers. Avoid getting too close to the frontline - especially if you are shadowing the queen and she’s screech happy.
Risky but mentally rewarding is run up on downed dudes and medics (generally when an area is darker and has some ability to get to them from behind). Biggest friends here are being able to get super close, super fast, and pure luck that no marine is paying attention and willing to take that possibly FF shot
I hit Baneful but most of mine are definitely when I shadowed cap hungry queens and prime woyers.