The "How (not) to Predator" Guide

#1

After playing Fireteam for weeks with - at maximum - one loss a day. I feel like I have to write a thing or two on a tactical aspect almost 85% of all Predator players don’t understand. If you don’t understand these points, a team like ours will 100% wreck your game.

These are the moments when we can finish the entire match in one encounter, making 90% ragequit by pressing Alt-F4. Currently we adopted a new playstyle in which we “simply” farm money until the last 7 minutes of the game, before engaging the first objective.

These are the moments when we “sigh” because you should have known better. If you do this and lost? It’s on you.

  1. Never, ever engage a full health 4 player squad in melee.
  2. Cloaking isn’t invisibility. Assume every half-trained team will know exactly where you are, while cloaked.
  3. Second Wind for the Beserker class is a 50-50% chance to lose. Avoid getting into Second Wind.
  4. Beserkers sacrifice health for trophy claims, not to (see point 1)
  5. If you make 1 sound, we know where you are and we will keep track of you until you run away. Being cloaked will not help you.
  6. Always get players below 50% of their HP before even considering to get close. Great fireteam members will trade their health, for yours. I’ve gotten close to ‘solo’ beserkers because they thought it was a good idea to solo me head on with an LMG. Don’t.
  7. I can see you when you cloak and crouch-move.
  8. Youtubers can be good Predators, but they are far from the best (Bloodthirsty…). Playing against randoms is 100% different from a pre-made team. Don’t listen to their advice, unless it’s inspiration for builds.
  9. The Scout class isn’t meant for melee. Don’t melee.
  10. The second the FT starts shooting you, relocate. They CANNOT have the drop on you, it should be the other way around. (If you stay put while getting attacked? Don’t press Alt-F4, you still need the experience.)
  11. Going into a 1vs1 with a FT-member who has his knife out? Don’t attack head-on. Dash, and weave. Get close, away, and close again. A good FT-knife player will eat 40% of a Beserkers HP with good parrying and some actual hits. (See point 6 again).
  12. NEVER escape in a straight line, take sharp corners, learn to “juke” the FT (lose them by making unexpected turns and corners).
  13. The spear can be thrown, and you can easily finish a damaged player with your claws
  14. ALWAYS kill people by combo’s. Spear throw into slam. Plasma blast into melee. (read 6 again)
  15. Trees aren’t the best places to hide, unless you have to heal. They are the easiest way to be found.
  16. Don’t eat pigs close to the FT, also don’t heal close to the FT.
  17. Use your entire kit, Plasma Cannon, Slam, gadgets. People don’t expect a ranged Beserker…
  18. Don’t sprint unless you are running into cover. For actual travel: leap. Let me say again, don’t sprint unless you are running into cover. You need the stamina.
  19. Never trade outgoing damage for HP. Only trade HP for actual kills + claim. This is your first and last skillroof. This is what it means to Predator. Learning how to trade your HP for kills.
  20. Start to see your HP as a “risk” calculation. Second Wind is great, but avoid it while engaging. Once we know you lost it, we will make sure you lose. Second Wind - to us - is our indication of how good your Pred-play is.

Always expect the fireteam to know where you are, since the Predator makes sounds 24/7 Cloak is only useful as an opener, or a great way to confuse the FT mid-fight (for engaging or escaping). You are only invisible if you stand 100% still. And even then, you make noise, + they might have “some” idea of where you are. I take an LMG for that reason, to “spot” you by shooting all area’s I believe you might be. I will find you…

Good luck, and never engage a full fireteam when they have full HP.

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How to be good
how to play berserker predator (predator in general)
Why do Fireteam members Quit so Early?
Patch Notes 1.06
#2

Yup, said the same things all over the forum but never had the bright idea to actually make a post about it.
I too have everything at maximum with the FT and only played FT and 100% agree with what you said mate.

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#3

I got sick of winning. It had to be done.

#4

I know right?
It’s a competitive game that’s not actually truly competitive. Anyone with a good FT basically wins because of coordination.

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#5

And why is such a long sheet of text needed? You could just write “You can’t win as Predator!”

Really I loved it

You can’t even fart from now!

Who is a Predator now hmm?

Try to find unexpected corners at these maps first, then use it.

Suddenly. And bow can shoot!

But

and

So to summarize. Use weapons at a distance, then finish melee with a Berserker. But anyway we will chase listening you farts and kill you.

#6

“So to summarize. Use weapons at a distance, then finish melee with a Berserker. But anyway we will chase listening you farts and kill you.”

This is the puzzle you gotta solve if you wanna call yourself a good predator. Don’t get me wrong, we meet them. But it’s a very small percentage <3

Also no, you can absolutely win as Predator. When I play Predator against randoms, I win more than 90% of my matches. So, I believe most players are doing something wrong. Hence my guide ;)

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#7

Errr…yeah thanks for quoting what op said.
That was really. Useful…

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#8

Hey man, I like your initiative. The problem is that there are alot of stubborn adults and even more 12-16 year olds that got the game from their parents, so they dont bother them during the lockdown. Many players here have tried to inform them about the do’s and don’ts, but they do not learn. They would rather have game mechanics changed and curse at people who point out what they do wrong.

So get ready for pointless arguments.

Hope you dont take this the wrong way and that you keep enjoying the game with people you like.

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#9

All he wrote about - it’s nearly impossible to win as predator. This is his speach is about. And it’s a pity that you don’t understand this and that it’s the wrong balance of power. 1 little mistake and you dead. Don’t jump trees, don’t cloak, don’t that and this or you will be killed. May be just… wait some patches for balance 1 vs 4 ? or easiest way play as FT. Nobody wants some Goddamn Hard LVL playing alone against 4 men. Sentence of the Predator is HARD lvl for this 4 men and the sense of this - if they cooperate the would survive, but not become invincible armada which is better not to meet at all.

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#10

I mean its incredibly easy to win as ft.
I think the main thing is getting ppl into the mindset that pred is not the hulk or juggernaut.

You’re squishy as fk.
While I feel the stuff you said is common sense, I also feel this would only work on randoms or ft’s that ain’t too aware. I feel ft is fkn broken atm, and that comes from night of playing in a full ft.

Anyway man, sadly the ppl that this would help are the ones who dont ever join or read anything on forums.

#11

I think a skilled Predator and a coordinated FT can lead to competitive matches 100% of the time but it doesn’t happen often lol

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#12

In my opinion in this case, the Predator would do well to get a claim or two and hopefully not die.

#13

This is a great post with a lot of useful info!

I only have an issue with #7. From what I gather this is not intended and cloaking and standing perfectly still for a few seconds or crouching for a second is supposed to make the Predator 100% invisible to the FT.

If this is not happening, I would report the bug.

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#14

Sure, but like I said in my first point:

“Never, ever engage a full health 4 player squad in melee.”

This is what 85% of the players do. They just jump in and expect to win. Every FT team is expecting a predator to just leap in and kill themselves, because that is what the majority does. And then they ragequit straight after, leaning nothing.

And the real problem is, skilled teams get bored because there isn’t a ranked mode yet. But there can’t be a ranked mode yet because of the game-breaking bugs.

I generally don’t play Predator against good teams because 2/3 times I’ll lose because of a bug. These same bugs don’t matter ‘as-much’ against randoms, because they lack coordination and generally don’t stay close.

But to give you a more clear example.

Me and a buddy generally 2vs1 the average predator, I’ve “solo’d” a predator more than 6 times already. And trust me, if I was playing Predator against myself, I would never be able to get solo’d by a player like myself.

Which kinda means, that most Predator players still don’t know how to play. If you play scout and you jump into a group of 4 with a spear? I mean… cmon man, you should have known.

#15

Can I ask you where you got that information? Because I’ve seen a few youtubers claim this, but it has never worked like that. If it did, it hasn’t worked from the start.

If his name is Bloodthirsty, again, that man ego is a bit bigger than his actual knowledge about this game. He will tell you more than actually is true. He will claim OP, where it’s mediocre.

#16

Never trust the word of a big streamer or Youtuber if their ego is in the stratosphere. Just not good to take your knowledge from that source lol

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#17

I saw it at one stream. One streamer with his friends was testing the game, and they was prooved that when he stands still they couldn’t see him. And sometimes it works perfect, I was playing FT and knew where the Pred are (track from the arrow), but he was fully invisible and continue shooting. And when i was pred i stand still and they couldn’t see me. But sometimes it ain’t works and they spot me in any range and any stance.

#18

Hey I never said I disagree. Its just the way I see this game marketed is pred being super strong and bad ass. Sure preds powerful, but squishy.

So most ppl come in expecting to be stronger.
That’s why I said I think the first step is getting ppl to understand they arent a walking tank, more of a powerful soldier.

If I had to explain it in a better way, I’m pretty sure people expect to be like the predator in ghost recon wildlands. That boss fight?

So ya man, I dont disagree that what you said would help ppl, I just dont think it will reach the ppl it needs to here on the forums.

There needs to be a general tip video on youtube or even better in the game.

#19

I saw that one also, and unless they edited the video or the YouTube quality was not there, seeing it for myself was proof enough. I would think that reducing the quality of the video would make the affect easier to see, but I am not a video expert by a long shot.

Maybe we should science this ourselves?

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#20

that as far as i know has to do with graphics settings when pc players reduce their settings it makes it easier to see the predator cloaked or not making cloak useless against them if they do so

albeit i should also say for YT video proof YT naturally has an encoding process which causes videos to look worse than when they are recorded so if it’s not live i personally don’t believe it unless the user is recording their audio reaction

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