My favourite thing to do as Xeno is ruining the game of Marines. So I really like Carrier (and Hugger), and have near zero hours on the other castes. I like blocking Talls using Doorways so I like Defender too. Reflective Resin is fun too.
Queen is too much pressure. Drone is dull because I could be Carrier instead. I probably haven’t played the other castes I haven’t mentioned.
Give me your thoughts: https://tiermaker.com/create/cm13-xeno-tierlist-18800282
Ravager is best.
Runner is for caps.
Larva is fun, Lurker is a needed step for ravager.
Praetorian Vanguard is a literal ravager Strain.
Queen is needed.
The rest are self explanatory.
why is larva not on your tier list?
anything other than frontline lurker at top tier for “ruining the game for marines” is straight trolling. theres so much tech that just pisses off marines its gold. invis over dead bodies, pounce quick dragging, invis standing behind retreating marines, invis drag-pushing people into gunfire/real fire, invis ladderclimb-pulling a marine directly into an egg. not to mention more conventional means like stunning marines for other caste followups.
Defender has the biggest variety of things to do to marines other than slashing and it barerly gets some guys B tier smh… Don’t you just giggle when some poor PVT shoots their entire supply of pulse rifle into your fortified posture while on weeds?
The “Things you can play with 150ms ±50jitter ping without it being a wasted slot and not pissing your team off by accident, if you can’t sprite-click to save your life” tierlist:
S
• Drone: Basically never useless, can either build walls or heal xenos, neither very aim/lag dependent.
• Spitter: Z, round a corner, charge forward at a predictable marine, MMB->C->V->MMB. No sprite clicking required, just pick the right time to throw the combo out. Almost always results in solid damage.
• Lesser drone: Nobody will care if you throw. Has a little-realized most powerful role-exclusive passive: being able to move through other xenos without bodyblocking them - enabling you to drag crit xenos back to safety literally through other xenos reliably.
• Facehugger: Similar to above, except for the actually useful part.
• Larva: Easiest role to play perfectly (sit on hive).
A
• Hivelord: Similar to Drone, however, you will be focused more often, and a hiccup at a bad time can throw the round for you when you happen upon a grenade you can’t react to in time. This problem is consistent for most roles; however, hivelords are usually few, so throwing is worse than Drone.
• Boiler: Normally lowest APM role in the game when played passively. Commonly, though, your expectations of normal will often be thrown out of your control by being forced into a short-range brawl due to tunnel vision or a surprise marine push from which you can’t reliably distance fast enough to avoid.
• Carrier: Really easy to play passively, and is effective when done so, often contributes strongly towards xenos winning by assisting with caps, but I just find it somewhat more boring to play passively.
B
Prae: Normally a very sprite-click brawl-heavy role, but you can pick oppressor and just chance for hooks all day long from a relatively safe position, making it fairly playable. This is, however, boring, and is probably left better to someone who can utilize the t3 slot more effectively.
Burrower: Can be taken to make some good tunnels, or to troll unattended fortifications in backline fairly safely. Fully utilizing the role usually involves supporting the front/backline with your powerful headphone-checking AoE trip and getting into frequent melee brawls.
Sentinel: Good support role that is very helpful in setting up marines for other players to work on, but can frequently get into brawls and has slow movement for them. Have to slog through it to get Spitter. Can be A if you have a more teamwork-minded cast around you.
C
Runner: When played offensively - the highest stakes lag-punished role that will straight up die on one miscalculated move. Redeemed by being very helpful in passively capping off a screech or just hauling caps around faster than anyone else can, freeing up more proficient players to get back in the action sooner. Acider strain helps substantially with this playstyle. Not very engaging when played this way.
Lurker: Similar to runner, except uses a more valuable slot, but in turn provides more lenience for mistakes, and a powerful tool for picking your engagements.
Defender: Normally played as a very brawl-heavy bullet sponge, however can still be played passively effectively by either relying on fear rp, being a distraction, or just being a stationary object marines like to waste ammo on (this helps xenos long-term). Played passively is very dull, but can occasionally be funny.
D
Ravager: Try desperately to use the one sprite-click ability one someone, before realizing you’re already low and woefully out of position.
Crusher: I hope you like sprite-click exclusive abilities, because it has a very vital one for you to perform well.
Warrior: Every ability is a sprite-click. If it isn’t yet clear - this would be on the lowest part of this tierlist possible.
?
Queen: Just don’t.
Okay so let me explain. I will explain why Defender is S tier last.
Lesser Drone despite its weakness, I’ve never had more fun or laughter just spawning in and tail stabbing marines in the face; running amok; & being a genuine nuisance. You can always be a Lesser Drone as long as there is a Queen. You can just W key and do as you want. Its truly freeing. S tier xenomorph.
Spitter being S is definitely bias however since the medical overhaul acid damage actually works properly & is a great xeno for many reasons. Why fun? It has “Charged Spit” which means you can take on any marine 1:1. You have the luxury of 7 tile range & the 80% movement speed buff. Incredibly tanky and hard to kill. Find a spare Spitter sister and you have a duo that can make all marines pain crit in less than one second so its just a great time. Getting pain crit wilhelm screams from marines is my drug as Spitter.
Ravager is S tier xenomorph for similar reasons it has variability and easy to learn (honestly). Easy to learn, hard to master. You can be Hedgehog (Bristleback) and just spray marines with your quills. Its a great time. Don’t be afraid to be a bald Ravager it is one of the best tiers and is always useful.
Burrow is S tier xenomorph. Love burrowing. Dig dig dig a tunnel. Another freeing experience similar to the Lesser Drone in that; you are actually a liability in combat so chilling & waiting behind the assault front is not seen as lazy or uncanny. You can lay mines & dig dig dig a tunnel. Stomp is always great fun. You can just spend all day harassing marines in the FOB like some of my evilest sisters have done. Burrow into the FOB, Stomp, Burrow out. Observe the marines sprinting madly in all directions trying to find you. Its great fun.
Defender S tier. I know. I’m actually BOP and I love BOPPING talls on the head with my crest. Aim head; and just envision your tail or crest bashing the ever living daylight out of any confident marine. I don’t know maybe I just like giving people head trauma (XX). All around the most “new to game” friendly xenomorph. Similar to the ravager: Easy to learn, Hard to master.
Praetorian & Crusher get the short end of the stick in A tier. Praetorians are fun but if you aren’t careful you die immediately. Crusher are fun but if you aren’t careful you die immediately. That for me is a fun ender. Praetorians different classes all have different fun tiers of their own, although nothing will be as fun as Warden that xenomorph is S+ tier. Crusher is a personal favorite of mine. Properly hitting your Charge as standard Crusher gets the Wilhelm scream from marines; sends them ragdolling into all barriers; & its just a good time if you are able to hit Charge properly. If not Crusher quickly becomes D tier fun because no offense to the Charger strain: I hate W key charging into marines.
Queen is almost C tier. S tier xenomorph B or C tier fun as a xenomorph. Mainly cause you HAVE to do some amount of building & you HAVE to command the xenos. It would be nice to have strained Queens where instead of getting Acid Spit natively you can strain to have like a little escape leap or headbutt or tail sweep. Thats for ideaguys but know the Queen is limited in fun due to the need to perfect and perform so many important PVP tasks as well as PVE tasks.
Carrier albeit can be incredibly fun however its dependent on others actually bringing you captures/you knowing how to trap a map and capture marines solo. Highest skill ceiling of all xenomorphs is incredibly daunting but once you accept however bald you are and learn to play to your strength its a great time.
Hivelord B tier. You can absolutely have S tier fun with Hivelord given its the faster xenomorph & just an absolute unit of a builder (find a PHONK song pause it, wait from a marine to try to shoot you, press play; turn on Resin Walking; Tokyo Drift to your hearts content). Marines can not touch you on resin without explosives. Plain and simple.
Okay onto our C tier sisters.(As someone above mentioned these are all sprite clickers)
Runner C tier. It’s fun to be the second fastest xeno for about as long as it takes you to be the scout who relays that the Marines have laid claymores down (XX). I think I sneak better with drones and play better as a Lurker. runner is complete utility and if you do that well it’s fun. Good luck sprite clicking.
Lurker C tier. Absolute A tier unit that can singlehandedly make Marines worry about turning corners or entering dark spaces. Being invisible only has a fun playtime of about 100 hours then you learn it’s a complete utility ability and if you use it when you’re not ready you are as good as dead.
Drone C tier. Now don’t get me wrong I love being a drone at times. Now that Drones can strain and be used for everything the Queen does but worse, sometimes you just feel like a little princess. However Drones are absolutely trashed on by other xenomorphs and you will be the first to told to haul captures back if there are no runners. If there is a good spread of xenos and two runners this moves up to B tier fun.
Warrior C tier. I hate to mention playtime but I’ve played SS13 CM for as far back as having our playtime stats set back to zero twice. I have never been able to hit Lunge in a way that makes Warrior fun. Absolute unit of slash damage and life steal. CQC is where the fun is with warriors.
Boiler C tier. Strongest (gassiest) xenomorph in that almost every hive needs one. Which is why Boiler is C tier to me. Globbing then running in to do StarCraft Zerg roleplay to the Marines is great fun. When Neurotic stab was first introduced I never had more fun. Incredibly high skill ceiling.
Sentinel C tier. This xeno is the only sister whose on the edge of D tier fun. Like having a rating of 1 out of 5 on ratemyprofessor dot com : you just get depression being this xenomorph at times. Definitely a useful sister and if you enjoy playing Sentinel it’s a necessary xeno to a strong hive however that’s just how I feel when I can’t evolve into my S tier fun Spitter. Depression.
Okay D tier xenomorphs…. These guys are for memes. Which at times is S tier fun. I remember my evilest burrower sister making a sneaky tunnel in the FOB and me and three other huggers were able to hug 11 Marines before they got smart. I never remember laughing harder while playing this game I actually cried. You just had to be there.
Tl:Dr have fun?
very incomplete since i barely play any T3s because of my ping and not being good at clicking in general
Queen is unfun cause people pull rank or even meta-notlisten to you if they dont like playing you as queen. (why i hated xeno names and xeno rankings in general it just made metagrudge a thing for xenos and more gave more jobs to mods) and no. Hiding your name as queen and rank will literally make people not listen more.
J-Just ahelp them bro. If xenos didnt have names and ranks in the first place there would be no cliques and favorites.
Drone/Hivey is fun cause weed. Theres a lack of drones weeding after queen screeches.
Burrower for memes and causing chaos
Carrier/Facehuggy is awesome with a good woyer or backline team
Lurker - with backline team is fun. Frontline shit.
woyer - whats not fun about stunlocking overextending solo marines
runner - terrible if you are bad at clicking (like me)
senti - who the fuck plays senti? If marines have armor you are useless as hell. Slow people? Sticky resins exist.
Larva - spamming *hiss in hive is funny and calling queen mom
Spitter - just spitting but very useful and i think people ignore that this shit really deals a lot of damage just by standing.
Lesser drone if you are a masochist or a metagamer. Who the fuck plays that shit caste and not to mention you will get staff RNG’ed. (see staff reports/player reports on lesser drones recently which have pretty valid reasons from the punished but still was noted(?)). I dont suggest playing it.
ravs can literally just direction slash and do fine, run in with enrage/bez speed boost power, get some slashes in, dash or run out, shield on the way out if hedgehog
put on clumsy.exe with simulated +50ms with +50 jitter and try dirslashing around moving marines.
For me:
S: Ravager
A: Defender, Carrier
B: Runner, Hivey, Senti
Everything else is C or below.
Every xeno is shit tier when they bodyblock me. Lesser drone supremacy.
Rage bait post. Well done. Xenos have fun?
Xenos only have fun when @JohnBald doesn’t come around the corner with incendiary buckshot to ruin your round.
and then they made it impossible to camp hivecore early game for larva kills they keep finding ways of ruining the game by hiding afk larvas underground
