Fade


Fade
Personal Resources 37 (+5 per Evolution)
Health 250 (+5 per Biomass)	Armor 80 (93 / 107 / 120)
Energy 100 (110 / 120 / 130)
Respawns In:	10 seconds
Air Speed:	14 (Blink)
Ground Speed:	6.2 (7.7 / 9.2 / 10.7)
Crouch Speed:	3.1
Abilities and Upgrades
Abilities: Alien Vision, Evolve Menu, Hive Sight, Blink, Swipe
Evolutions: Carapace, Regeneration, Vampirism, Adrenaline, Celerity, Crush, Camouflage, Aura, Focus
Upgrades: Metabolize at Biomass 3, Advance Metabolize at Biomass 6, Stab at Biomass 7
Miscellaneous
Buy From:	Evolve Menu
Purchase By:	Player
Gestation Time:	25 seconds

Introduction

The Fade is Anti-Infantry Assassin-class Alien. It is Bipedal and Humanoid-like in appearance and uses its Blink ability to teleport short distances across the map.

Background

The Fade is a tough and versatile lifeform that has the unique ability to regenerate its health and energy at an increased rate in the field, thanks to its Metabolize and Advanced Metabolize abilities. Skilled Fades can severely punish a Marine team and will win the majority of 1v1 engagements however, similar to the Lerk, a Fade can be stopped quickly by a few well placed Shotgun rounds.

Tactics

Moving with Blink

Fades rely on Blink to traverse the map they cannot run and are very vulnerable when not moving. The first thing a prospective Fade player must learn is how to use Blink to move effectively. Using Blink depletes energy very quickly, even with the Metabolize ability available. Rather keeping Blink activated, a Fade player should alternate between Blinking and Jumping, usually jumping twice for each short burst of Blink. Correctly timing this will result in a very high speed and maneuverability across the Map.

Additional information about movement techniques can be found in Movement techniques.

Attacking with Blink

The primary attack of the Fade is the very effective Swipe. This attack can make short work of a Marine, especially at lower Armour levels. A Fade can blink in any direction, even up toward the ceiling, this makes you a far more difficult target than if you were to stay at ground level. When attacking as a Fade, a player should know 3 things. When to fight, when not to fight and when to run. As a general rule, You should fight when your enemy is a lone marine, you should not fight when outnumbered or not at full health and you should run as soon as your armour is depleted, if you are uncertain that your enemy is one swipe away from death. When striking a Marine with Swipe, try not to stand still. Constant movement will make you a hard target to hit.

Attacking structures

The primary attack of the fade does a limited amount of damages to armored buildings. It is however fully effective against building who only have health remaining. Use it to finish off low phase gates, powernodes and extractors.

Tactical Summary - Fade

Master moving early on, alternate a short burst of blink with jumping.
Know when to fight, when not to fight and when to run.
Don't stay still in combat, constantly blink around and change direction often. Use the ceiling space to make Marines shoot up at you, while other lifeforms attack from the ground.

Controls

Main article: Options.

Fade Player Controls
Movement		Abilities		Contextual
W	Forward	Mouse 1	Attack	E	Use
A	Left	Mouse 2	Blink	F	Alien Vision
S	Backward	1	Swipe	B	Evolve Menu
D	Right	2	Metabolize	C	Map
Space	Jump	3	Stab	X	Voice Overs Menu
Shift	Metabolize	V	Last Weapon
Ctrl	Crouch

Movement

Main article: Movement techniques.

Fade Movement
Counter-Strafe Mechanics	Video
The speed you gain by using blink will almost instantly be lost if you change direction in the air without using Counter-Strafing. With the use of these techniques you can use Celerity without draining your energy pool to quickly.
Tapping blink
If you tap Blink your speed will increase quite a bit. In order to maintain this speed without wasting energy you can queue your Jump by holding Space after you blink.
Holding blink (not recommended!!)
While holding the blink button your speed will constantly increase slightly. This is generally very rarely useful. Only when there is no room to evade anyway or to prevent Mines from detonating. This method is not recommended due to it's high energy consumption.
Metabolize
Using Metabolize ( Shift ) might put you in danger because during the cooldown phase you cannot Swipe and it stops your current Blink. Try to use Metabolize carefully during battle and use a blink instantly after using Metabolize
Crouching
It is often helpful that you press the crouch button CTRL : ~~You do not get stuck in the air or ceiling - especially while queue jumping~~ (B327 helps with this one) You are smaller than a Marine if you land in front of him making it harder to track You can more easily Swipe a Marines while flying over him or jumping off his head

Abilities

Swipe

Slashes a target with razor-sharp blades that deal extra damage to players.

Swipe


Hotkey	1 (Slot), Mouse 1 (Attack)
Energy	7
Damage	(75 vs Players) 37.5 vs Structures
Type	Puncture
Range	Melee
Fire Rate	0.65 seconds
Targets	Marines, Robots, Structures

Blink

Enters hyperspace to travel forward quickly.

Blink

Appears as a shadowy mist. Collision does not change. Continues to receive damage. Mines don't detonate by a blinking Fade Accelerates the Fade's move speed. Hold to increase move speed continuously. Tap to increase move speed temporarily. Player perspective gradually changes to violet color scheme.
Hotkey	Mouse2
Energy	14 (start), 32 (channel)
Speed	Base speed + 9.6
Cooldown	0.4 seconds

Blink Jump

How to Blink Jump: Tap Blink once, then release button. Continue to jump after touching the ground to retain momentum. (Hold jump button before touching the ground)
Hotkey	Mouse 2 (Blink) + Space (Jump)
Energy	14
Speed	Base speed + 9.6

Additional information about movement techniques can be found in Movement.

Metabolize

The Fade recovers some energy. When Advance Metabolize is researched, the Fade also recovers some health.

(Advanced) Metabolize

Stimulates adrenal glands in the Fade's armpits to recover some energy. Advance Metabolize replaces Metabolize when researched. Advance Metabolize recovers some health as well as energy.
Hotkey	Shift
TRes	20 (research 40, 45 (Adv.M.) seconds)
Energy	25
Cooldown	0.73 seconds
Targets	Self
Requires	Biomass level 3, Research Metabolize then Biomass level 5, Research Advance Metabolize

Tip: You can instantly Blink after Metabolizing, but there is a delay before you can Swipe.

Stab

After a short delay, the Fade uses both scythes to stab a target for high damage.

Stab

The Fade cannot Blink or Jump during the attack delay. The Fade can move during the attack delay.
Hotkey	3 (Slot), Mouse 1 (Attack)
TRes	25 (research 60 seconds)
Energy	30
Damage	160 (is affected by Focus)
Type	Normal
Range	Melee (0.3m longer than Swipe)
Delay	2 seconds
Targets	Marines, Robots, Structures
Requires	Biomass level 7, Research Stab

Tip: Stab is useful to kill structures, however a Fade is not intended to be an anti-structure class, so leave it to another Lifeform if possible.

Warning! During the Stab animation, the Fade is unable to move and is therefore very vulnerable!

Variants

The following images show all the variations of Fade camouflage (skins) that you may see in the game.

Please note:

Not all variants are available for purchase.
Skins are purely cosmetic and offer no augmented or additional stats in-game.

Fade Skin Variants
Normal
Reaper
Shadow

Camouflage variants & availability
Variant	Description	Acquisition	Notes
Normal	Default Camouflage.	Provided with game.	N/A
Reaper	Red eyes, White skin, Black exo-skeletal features.	Requires Reaper DLC.	Released with the Reaper update.
Shadow	Red eyes, Dark blue/purple skin, Extrusions on exo-skeletal features.	Requires Shadow Fade DLC.	Also granted to Reinforcement Program donors of Shadow Tier and above.