Skulk | |
Cosmetic Variants: | |
Kharaa | |
Personal Resources 0 (+0 per Evolution) |
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Health 75 (+3 per Biomass) |
Armor 10 (15 + 1.00 per Biomass) |
Energy 100 |
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Respawns In: | 10 seconds |
Respawns From: | Egg |
Base Field of View: | 105° |
Air Speed: | 11 (Leap) |
Ground Speed: | 7.25 (7.75 / 8.25 / 8.75) |
Crouch Speed: | 4.3 (4.6 / 4.9 / 5.2) |
Wall Speed: | 7.25 (run), 8.0 to 14 (jump) |
Abilities and Upgrades | |
Abilities: Alien Vision, Evolve Menu, Hive Sight, Sneak, Wall Walking (Wall Jumping), Bite, Parasite, Leap, Xenocide |
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Evolutions: Carapace, Regeneration, Vampirism, Adrenaline, Celerity, Crush, Camouflage, Aura, Focus |
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Upgrades: Leap at biomass 4, Xenocide at biomass 9 |
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Miscellaneous | |
Buy From: | Evolve Menu |
Purchase By: | Player |
Gestation Time: | 3 seconds |
“Can attack with bite and track enemies with parasite. Can ambush enemies by climbing on walls and ceilings. Can evolve leap and xenocide.”
In-game description. |
Introduction
The Skulk is the default Alien lifeform that all Alien players will initially spawn as and respawn as after each death.
Background
The Skulk is a very agile yet delicate quadruped. It has the unique ability to walk on walls and ceilings, making it very effective for ambushing lone/unaware Marines.
Tactics
Though Skulks are considered expendable, they are a very versatile lifeform and can perform a myriad of roles.
An Early-game skulk should focus on tagging Marines with its Parasite ability and killing them wherever possible. Skulks should generally work as a pack of 2 or more and should always favour stealthy attacks over direct engagements.
Due to its speed and low-profile, the Skulk is able to traverse the map very quickly and should use this to its advantage to harass the Marine economy, by constantly destroying Extractors and this becomes its primary objective in the mid-to-late game, though a Skulk is more than capable of killing Marines throughout the full length of the game, even being able to engage a Marine with a Jetpack with Leap and being able to kill or damage large groups of Marines with Xenocide.
Tactical Summary - Skulk
- Parasite Everything
- Ambush Marines, don't fight them head-on.
- Move erratically, use the walls and ceilings and avoid the floor!
- If you struggle to kill Marines, kill Extractors instead.
Controls
- Main article: Key Bindings
Skulk Player Controls | |||||
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Movement | Abilities | Contextual | |||
W
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Forward | Mouse 1
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Attack | E
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Use |
A
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Left | Mouse 2
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Leap | F
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Alien Vision |
S
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Backward | 1
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Bite | B
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Evolve Menu |
D
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Right | 2
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Parasite | C
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Map |
Space
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Jump | 3
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Xenocide | X
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Voice Overs Menu |
Shift
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Sneak | V
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Last Weapon | ||
Ctrl
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Detach |
Movement
- Main article: Movement Techniques
Skulk Movement | |
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Prevent slowing down | Video |
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Strafing on the Ground | |
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Upwards Jump | |
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Ceiling Jump | |
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Leap Jump | |
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Abilities
Player Abilities
Alien Player Abilities | |||||||||||||
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Alien Vision | |||||||||||||
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All Kharaa lifeforms possess hypersensitive retinas that allow Alien Vision (or Dark Vision), which changes the lifeform's perspective in order to distinguish between organisms, structures, and the terrain. | ||||||||||||
Evolve Menu | |||||||||||||
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The Evolve Menu allows Kharaa players to select different lifeforms and unlocked Traits to evolve using Personal Resources. It contains information about each lifeform, such as name, cost, Health, Armor, abilities, effects of each Trait, and more. | ||||||||||||
Hive Sight | |||||||||||||
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Hive Sight is an innate passive ability for all Kharaa lifeforms. All nearby visible players, units and structures will be highlighted in an orange glow at all times. Friendly players will also be visible through walls, allowing players to coordinate and position themselves against incoming Frontiersmen forces. |
Wall Walk
All Alien units have a movement mechanic that is unique to their class. The Skulk possesses the unique ability to Wall Walk.
- When you are close to a Wall you can press Jump Spacein order to gain speed.
- If you touch the wall too closely you will attach yourself and lose some speed even if you press Forward W. It is recommended to hold the detach buttonCTRLin order to maintain your speed better
- If you look upwards while jumping from a wall you will trade some horizontal momentum in favor of more vertical momentum.
- If you touch the wall too closely you will attach yourself and lose some speed even if you press Forward
You can Improve your Wall Walking skill in the Skulk Challenge and get a Skulk Challenge Badge based on how well you do.
Sneak | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Moving silently as a Skulk. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bite | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Skulk's powerful Bite can rip through both flesh and metal with frightening speed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Parasite | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Infects an enemy target with small Parasites, allowing all Kharaa players to track the target's position through walls using Hive Sight. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Leap | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leaps toward the Skulk's current direction while on the ground or in mid-air. While leaping, the Skulk gains a move speed bonus. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Xenocide | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Explodes the Skulk after a short delay to damage all nearby Frontiersmen units and structures. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Variants
The following images show all the variations of Skulk camouflage (skins) that you may see in the game.
Info: • Not all variants are available for purchase.
• Skins are purely cosmetic and offer no augmented or additional stats in-game. |
Camouflage variants & availability | |||
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Variant | Description | Acquisition | Notes |
Normal | Default camouflage. | Provided with game. | N/A |
Shadow | Red eyes, dark blue/purple skin, extrusions on exo-skeletal features. | Can be bought in the Customization Screen in-game. | Originally part of the Reinforcement Program for Shadow Tier & above, and completed with the Merry Gorgemas! update (Build 336). |
Kodiak | Green eyes, jungle effect skin. | Can be bought in the Customization Screen in-game. | Released with the Kodiak update, and completed with the Merry Gorgemas! update (Build 336). |
Reaper | Red eyes, white skin, black exo-skeletal features. | Can be bought in the Customization Screen in-game. | Released with the Reaper update, and completed with the Merry Gorgemas! update (Build 336). |
Abyss | Blue eyes, blue skin. | Can be bought in the Customization Screen in-game. | Was originally awarded for playing on Caged at its release. The set was completed with the Merry Gorgemas! update (Build 336). |
Nocturne | Purple eyes and tails. | Can be bought in the Customization Screen in-game. | Release with the Nocturne DLC as part of the NS2 5 year anniversary update (Build 319). |
Toxin | Green glowing eyes, green patches of skin and green belly. | Can be bought in the Customization Screen in-game. | Released with the Catalyst update (Build 324). |
Base Abilities
Skulk - (Sneak • Wall Walking • Bite • Parasite) • Gorge - (Belly Slide • Spit • Heal Spray • Build Menu) • Lerk - (Flight • Roost • Poison Bite • Spikes) •
Fade - (Swipe • Blink) • Onos - (Gore)
Skulk - (Leap • Xenocide) • Gorge - (Bile Bomb) • Lerk - (Spores • Umbra) • Fade - (Metabolize • Advanced Metabolize • Stab) • Onos - (Charge • Bone Shield • Stomp)
Shift Hive - (Adrenaline • Celerity • Crush)
Shade Hive - (Aura • Camouflage • Focus)
Crag Hive - (Carapace • Regeneration • Vampirism)
Mechanics - Alien Commander • Biomass • Infestation • Maturation • Consume • Resource Model
Gorge - Babbler • Hydra • Clog • Webs
Build - Cyst • Harvester • Drifter • Tunnel • Hive (Egg) • Pheromones
Game Information - Options • Maps • Console Commands • Patches
In Game - Damage Types • Status Icons • Ranking System • Badges