Using the lictor?

[Infernoblaze]

I'd be very interested to know what people's strategies or tactics are when using the lictor. Before the Flesh hook nerf he used to provide a high threat early in the game and T2 with the ability to tkae out any individual unit or screw over the commander if they made a mistake.

With the (much needed) nerf to that ability I've been having trouble making use of him inc comparison to the other two heroes. He simply cannot stand against any other hero at the start of the game with low health and no ranged ability. Whats the general idea when playing with him? he can't handle melee squads on his own and can't beat ranged squads.

Is he an upgrade heavy hero or just used to stay away from everything (including your troops) to sneak round and decap points whilst occaisionally making a shot with the hooks. Anyone advice on this hero would be much appreciated. He's cool but I just can't get the hang of him.

[ViS]

His melee damage sucks arse early game so get the suppression talons ASAP and use that with his cloak. The AOE for that ability is absolutely HUGE and can force a retreat every time you pull it off. I normally get the energy upgrade come T2 so I can still Fhook after cloaking for a while.

[GrimDark]

A little known fact: After you use it and get detected, it stops working.
Grab first offensive upgrade and prey on his troops.

Lictor is a great sniper, ninja capper AND mobile reinforcement point. His favorite meal are heavy weapons platforms.

[ViS]

Which one's the fist upgrade again?

[Engine]

I tried the Lictor for a night back in beta, and just couldn't deal with his lack of damage compared to the HT or Ravener (my personal favorite). I tried all the different claws and couldn't find one

The Lictor may shine with his suppression tricks and instant-fallback abilities, but I prefer to actually kill my enemy. It seems like a lot more work when I could unburrow in the middle of an army and actually kill half of them with Ravener acid claws, rather than just forcing them to retreat.

On the plus side, he can flesh hook dev squads out of buildings, which can otherwise be a problem for nids in T1 :)

[Chris]

suppression claws are ownage. Also the tier 1 ability that gives an AoE heal aura and reinforces gaunts FOR FREE. He is probably the most heavily dependant tyranid hero in regard to war gear upgrades but that doesn't make him the weakest. Typically he is used to hunt down and butcher units that are capping in the early game and he is very good at it.

[ViS]

The healing is an AOE? I thought it only applied to the Lictor.

[GrimDark]

First offensive one was... Feeding tendrils I think. Gives you health for any unit killed.

Great for a rampage, not so good when encountering commanders though.

[Chris]

The healing is an AOE? I thought it only applied to the Lictor.

Could've sworn I saw some health-regen symbols above my gaunts when I activated it, could be mistaken though.

[Engine]

There is no health regen symbol that appears over a unit's head, that I know of. Perhaps you are thinking of the "green plus sign" reinforcement symbol.

Units that are being healed have a green hexagon-type base glow, that's it.

[Chris]

Yeah I might have confused that for a healing symbol now that I think about it. ANYWAY, the reinforcement aura in tier 1 is amazing and has a massive impact at such an early stage of the game.

[ViS]

I really should have played the Lictor some more in the beta. I was using the ChargeTyrant, most of the time.

How many members does the aura reinforce?

[Latias418]

It doesn't actually provide an aura; it is sort of like placing a Brood Nest. For free. Once you have the upgrade, you get the ability to target the ground in a huge AoE around the Lictor for 50e. I'm not sure how long it lasts, or if it lasts forever like Brood Nests, but it's not a structure that can be fired on like the BN, auto-reinforces the 3 swarm nid inf for free, and gives a pretty big reinforcement aura like the nest. It does last a while at least, easily enough for all your reinforce needs. This combined with flesh hook has made me start using the Lictor almost exclusively. The flesh hook has excellent potential - it still owns retreating units and weapon teams, and in addition really owns retreating commanders if you have gaunts nearby. You can yank a commander into 1-3 gaunt squads, who will shred him with the 1.3x melee damage bonus to retreating units+ slowing the retreat by blocking with sheer body count.

[dtitov]

It lasts about long enough for a deciding outcome. That is either you get slaughtered (not too common in t1). Or you make enemy army retreat/slaughter it. But it won't last you longer then 1 fight so i'd think 15-20 seconds ? Units are reinforced for free and rippers in that cloud are ridiculous (or at least were in beta...then again they were a bit op in beta) becuase those buggers reinforce instantly. So unless you are facing an AOE hero an opponent would be wise not to fight around feromone cloud.

[c4dillon]

Lictor is nasty to hunt with ALL game, not just the early part. In fact, I feel he is at his weakest before the suppression attack from stealth. It's cool to see other people using the reinforcement cloud, where I usually stick him with loner and send him to hold down one far victory point and harass by himself.

He's great for spotting for zoanthropes long-range as well. The biggest key to using him, though, is harassing CONSTANTLY, and keeping shooty armies completely messed up and off their rhythm.

Flesh hooks pull units out of buildings? I feel like it's doing a little damage but I don't see any bodies coming out :( buildings are really the only thing I'm having any major issues with at all, since none of my units seem to be effectively killing units that are hunkered down in there.

[Alpha_1]

Pheromones is a life saver and in fights where you might be slightly out numbered it can even the field. Later on in T2 with synapses from warriors your whole army can stay in the field longer and save you res on repair. Sure you don't heal any faster but getting those free gaunts means you can get the warriors back up to max faster and still afford to tech.

Start a fight and toss in some pheromones after a second or 2 and you gain troops as the enemy loses them, nice bonus for an allied tyranid in the same fight.

I love setting them on a dread and hitting pheromones as soon as the dread uses his AoE skill, I get all my dead gaunts right back while the dread dies a quick trapped death.

[Diviator]

Yes, Pheromones are just funny. Rush a group of enemies and use it. You will loose Ripper and Gaunts that will be reinforced as soon as they fall. Very effective versus Bolter/Platforms and Orks melee carnage. You also get the ability to reinforce the Warriors (not for free), which can be really annoying for you enemies.

The Corrosive Claws are also useful, if you have some time and are hunting the energy economy of your enemies.
Loner ... hm, never really used it, but I'm also not playing 1on1. I play 3on3 and here he was most times not alone ... ;-)

[Manhammer]

The pheromone cloud also tooltips as being a debuff for enemy units. Has anyone probed into the data files to find out exactly what it does to them?