Scroll of Jutsus (part1)

Thought i might share a few tips about dretching, since like you guys, the dretch is my favourite alien. It’s actually those small wallcrawlers, who can pack a mighty bite, that got me hooked to this game

This scroll is divided into different small theme and techniques and i’ve added much pictures and small videos, for an easier comprehension and more pleasant read. The videos are small and soundless for space and upload purposes.

So i hope you’ll enjoy it : )

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The basics for wielding the dretch are quite simple, wallwalk and headbites!

They are simple to point out, but they require a lot of practice to master.
And for each map, it’s a new challenge, some are easier and some are a total b*tch to dretch on.

So the key word here is Practice, Practice and Practice. You’ll eventually find routes and hiding spots for ambush on each maps and also acquire experience in fighting humans with different gear.

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Wallwalking is what sets the dretch apart in this game. I know, I know, the basilisk can wallwalk! but the feeling is not the same as the dretch.

The first thing you should do regarding the wallwalk, is to find the settings you’re the most comfortable with while wallwalking.

You can do this in the ingame menu by pressing escape, then options and game. There are 3 settings you can modify to adjust the wallwalk to your liking;



* Auto Wallwalk Pitching

(desc)This setting changes the view, it centre your view automatically, when moving from a surface to another, in wallwalking mode.

* Wallwalking Speed

(desc)This setting, sets the speed of the transition between moving from a surface to another. You have several choices for this one, from slow to instant.

If you actually want to fine-tune this setting, you can write directly in your autoexec.cfg file, a value for this transition.

For example, mine is; seta cg_wwSmoothTime "125"

it’s faster then the “Fast” choice in the ingame menu and it still gives me a smooth enough transition.

Here’s a little chart that might give you an idea of the values;

(cg_wwSmoothTime Values)
Slow……. = 600
Medium… = 300 (this is the Default)
Fast……...= 150
Instant…... = 0

* Wallwalk Control Toggle

(desc)This setting is pretty much like the “always run” for humans. It lets you decide if you rather hold a key for wallwalking or if a toggle will “stick” and “unstock” the wallwalk for you.

Personally, before i’ve found my favorite settings, dretching was pretty much a pain in the ass. I was always
lost with the instant transition and the auto-pitching, or my movements and attacks where never “fluids” like i wanted with the fast ingame option.

So it is quite worth it to take a few minutes to test and tweak your wallwalk.

There’s not much more to say about this, other then for the wallwalk, the more you do it the better you become at it, and the less of a nuisance you become to the more evolved aliens in your team, by not blocking them.

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Quick note on the human soldiers and the damages the Dretch can cause to them. This is important to mention, because humans are made of different zones, which register the damages differently.

Specifically, humans have 3 zones; the legs, the torso and the head.
The Chart below, illustrate the values of the damage, cause by one bite to the different zones and with the different defensive gear of the humans;

The first one is a “Naked Rifleman”, the second is a “Helmet and Light Armour Rifleman” and the third is a “BattleSuit Rifleman”.

Note that the chart, doesn’t take in account the “Crouching effect”, this is when the values for the damage changes because the human is crouching.



You’ll notice, that the blue chart for the BattleSuit, is not going as high as the model, this is not a mistake… Even if the model and the skin are bigger and taller, the hitbox for the humans remains the same, whatever the equipment.



Keep this in mind when you’ll attack a Battlesuit from the walls, their head is a bit lower then the one you see But for the groundheadbite, this doesn’t apply, always aim high!!!

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The bite,
it’s the only attack of the Dretch and it’s a fairly fast attack. And well used, it can inflict lots damage quickly. Also it’s an automatic attack, meaning theirs no button to push to trigger the attack.

You simply have to look at what you want to attack, in order to inflict the damage.

One important thing to know about the dretch bite, is the great length of it. And the best way to describe the length of the bite, is to imagine that the dretch is actually holding a sword with is teeth, and he can use it to slash the humans.



But has seen above in the damage chart, the weak spot of the humans, is the HEAD. And this is what you should ALWAYS aim at, whatever the gear they have.

And lucky for us, the length of the bite, or the sword to continue with this image, is long enough for the dretch to hit the humans head without leaving the ground. This explain the name of it “Ground headbite” or “Ground headshot”. For this, you have to aim high at the top of the head. In other words, from the floor, try to scalp the humans with the sword by simply looking way up!!!



Here’s a little video, to give you an idea of it an action.



Another great example of the length of the bite, is when you’re facing a human with a painsaw… You see, the dretch bite is longer then the length of the painsaw attack. So if you’re not throwing yourself
at the painsawers, you can actually bite them out of their reach.



Also, on some maps, there’s places where you can do “Ceiling headbite”, and you don’t want to pass on that



It would be a mistake to rely only on the groundheadbite, especially that humans are more used to shoot at the dretches on the ground.

Also, humans tend to move like squad members by following the walls and waiting in corners to reduce their sides to exposure and to have a greater view of a room. This actually makes the job easier for any dretches who wants to attack from the walls. And , imo, biting the heads from the walls and ceilings is as much efficient and at some point is easier and safer for the dretch.

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Remember, the earlier image of the human hitbox? Well, there’s something interesting you should know about that, in order to become deadlier with your dretch.

Keeping in mind that the HEAD is ALWAYS what we aim at and the hitbox is what register the hits, look carefully at the image below…



Found the illusion yet???
Yep, the actual size of the humans head is not what you’re seeing ingame…

This is, roughly, the real size of the humans head;


The best image to remember this ingame, is to imagine that all the humans are wearing a big squarish sombrero.

Now, how can this help you to be more deadly?? Easy, when attacking the humans, you don’t always have the opportunity to land perfect headbites!!

This is why sometimes, again with the sword analogy, you need to “swing” your bites around the humans head to increase the size of the attacked zone and to hopefully hit the sombrero.

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The dretch is the fastest alien on foot, you have to capitalize on that, by always being on the move when facing humans. Don’t run at them in a straight line and don’t just stand at their feet looking up!!! You have to circle them, move to the left, move to the right, move to the walls, aim for the head and be quick on your six little feet!!!

Also, use your speed and movements to disorient your prey and make him waste munitions. At one point, he’s gonna stop shooting at you… That’s the reload and the time to chew on is head

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Like stated by ghost in is sage animal Jutsus, patience is an important part in dretching. It is quite easy to become a zealous feeder with the dretch, when one doesn’t show wisdom and patience.

This is especially true when humans have not reach stage 2 or 3, where every feed with a dretch, is one step closer for the humans to get helmet, lucicannon and bsuit.

So it is wise to simply stay back and prepare an ambush, then to continually feed a flamer or a human sitting on a turret. The same goes for a leet MD’er, change your route or stand aside and let a dragoon or a marauder take care of him.

They have a better chance of making the kill without feeding and if they do die, they most likely have bleed the MD’er enough to give you an opening to finish the job.

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This goes along with patience, but to put it in harsher words;

Know your F’ing place in the food chain !!!

When fighting along side dragoons or tyrants, you need to show self-control and let them go first and
keep your distance. You need to give them room to fight and to retreat quickly when they are badly hurt.

For example, you’re not helping that goon when you try to groundheadbite that human or when your jumping all over the place to get the kill and you constantly block the goon’s pounces.

The best places for the dretch in those situations, is on the ceiling or high on the walls. Being alert that the goon might try to retreat if in difficulties, giving you an opportunity to move in to fight the human, once the goon has past you…

Also be aware if an other human try to join the fight, because if the goon haven’t finish the first one,that second is yours.

But try to attack him from the walls as much as you can, nibbling on is head,because the goon might jump in at any moment. If he does, move to the ceiling, chances are that the human will still take you as a target, so make him look up!!! it’s gonna give a great opening for the goon to make the kill.

If the goon doesn’t manage to kill the first one and try to retreat, leave the second human and quickly start attacking the first human. That way, at best, both humans will concentrate their firepower on you and it will give the goon a better chance to escape.

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This is very similar to the situation describe above, but in different circumstances. This takes place, mostly, at the entrances of the humans base, when aliens have an edge over the humans, or the humans have decided to just camp.

The role of your dretch here, is purely sacrificial…
There’s no finesse or tricks, you are there to try to save your teammates ass.

First, always be aware of who’s your teammates around you, at the entrance of the human base. Look at their names and keep them in mind.

On second, position yourself on the ceiling or high on the wall, in order to not block your teammates attacks and retreats.

On third, look at witch teammate has entered to attack the humans base and keep a close look at the game info in the upper right of your screen. If you didn’t saw your teammate getting killed in is base rush, chances are is gonna appear soon at the entrance, really badly hurt and running, pouncing or charging like a madman. DON'T STAND IN IS WAY!!!

Fourth, be ready…
Once your teammate have passed you, you jump on any humans that follow him!!! And when i say jump, I mean draw as much attention to yourself as you can. Be a f’ing pain in the ass to that human.

It’s gonna cost you your life, but you might be able to save a dragoon or a tyrant.

The alien who need the most a body guard or tiny dretch to sacrifice himself, is the advanced dragoon when sniping the humans base. They often have to stand still in the enemy base in order to snipe, exposing themselves to heavy fire.

Note that when two dragoons or tyrants have team up, one attack while the other assure the safe retreat, you are not needed there.

You can move to an other role like; Scout, Kamikaze and Chaos (see part2).

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To use the language of ghost’s tips on this one, i’d say;

“Be venomous like the mamba and always strike with poison”

I’ve seen many peoples on different forums asking for an advanced dretch; that could fly or snipe or explode like a grenade or be bigger with more hp. Imo, that’s all B’sh*t, the only true advanced dretch is already in the game and it’s the poisonous dretch.

THE BOOSTER IS YOUR BEST FRIEND!!!

Note, that this doesn’t give you the right to yell at a granger to build one right away. When aliens reach stage 2, the grangers have alot of work to do with the trappers and the eggs. Also any good builder will build a booster within minutes of acquiring stage 2.

Poison is what enables you to face humans Stage 2 and 3 more easily.
Also, the poison set the dretch in the “1 hit kill” category with the dragoon and the tyrant, when attacking a naked rifleman.

And faced with several attacks from a poisonous dretch, a human with an helmet+armor sees is health points draining quite quickly.

Other advantages of the poison is when used in a defensive mode.
The poison have a great psychological effect on less experienced humans, it generally breaks their attacks or rush toward the alien’s base.

For the more experienced players, it usually force them to use their medpack and gives a better a chance for the tubes or the base’s defenders to kill them before they do too much damages.

When facing a rush from a human group, you want to poisoned ALL of them.
And continually… if they use their medpack, you re-poisoned them.
Your objective is to bleed, disband, disorganize and stop their rush…

Again, the psychological effect of the poison will work for you by creating a state of panic among the humans. Like stated before, the less experienced, will most likely leave the rushing group to head for the security of their base.

The rest, will try to shoot you all over the place. And yes!! eventually get you... If there is friendly fire on the server, you have most likely bleed them and cause them to bleed their teammates enough to reduce their big attack.

One last note, on the situation where aliens are stage 2 and humans stage 3, on rushes as describe above, it is wise to think of the big picture.

The best way to stop those humans from rushing and being f*cked, is to gain stage 3 and face them with tyrant!

So after poisoning the front group of humans, always look for the limpy gazelle. Behind all those battlesuits rushing, there’s ALWAYS a naked rifleman who follows them to join the alien’s base bashing.

He’s the one who’ll gave your team stage 3

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Ambushes, are the bread and butter of the dretch.

The two main principles about them, are to make yourself as much Invisible and Unpredictable as you can. Because as long as humans are in stage 1, you have an edge over them by having the element of surprise to attack.

The best way, is to work with the terrain to hide and set your trap.
Over a door, around a corner, behind a ceiling light and every bumps and crevasses in the walls and ceilings.

Hiding in shadows/dark seems like a good idea, but remember that some players uses high brightness and what looks like a dark spot to you, is not so dark to them…

And also the dretch being light brown, he can actually be more visible in a dark spot…



Also, keep in mind that humans don’t have the same field of view has our dretches. This means that they have bigger blind spots.

And you can take advantage of that by setting some pretty nice ambushes, just by waiting near the ceiling in their blind spot.



Until the humans have reached stage 2, you can set your ambush closer to the enemy’s base.

But when they have reached stage 2 and have access to helmets with radar, you’ll need to work differently by setting your ambush further and by trying to work with the other aliens in your team.

One of the ways you can work with others to set a trap, is by doing what i call “Hiding the goon”.

This is simply trying to “trick” the human who’s looking at is radar for aliens. By positioning yourself above, on the wall or ceiling, an other alien, you can camouflage partially is signature on the human radar…



Now notice on the next picture, how the dragoon’s signature on the radar is less obvious because of the dretch above him…



To finish on this one,
Against stage 2&3 humans, the more distance there is between them and their base, the better are your chances of bleeding and killing them before they have reached the safety of their turrets and medi station.

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Part two still under work
Sunburn.