Rating: 5

[This is in effort to teach more Tremulous regulars the proper ways of using the Basilisk to the fullest effect.]

The Basilisk can be one of the most effective and powerful classes for the alien race but, can also result in a complete waste of an evolution point(s) if used incorrectly. This is only because many Tremulous regulars do not understand how, when, where and why to use the Basilisk. The regular Basilisk costs only one evolution point and attacks by using the primary attack button, but it’s special feature is what really makes the Basilisk an unbelievably flexible alien class. The ability to grab human players when making contact with them at a close range, stopping the human from moving, and not allowing the human to turn (false for battlesuits). At stage two, the Advanced Basilisk is available for use, costing two evolution points. Similar to the regular stage one Basilisk, the Advanced Basilisk has all the same attributes and more. Equipped with Noxious Gas (secondary attack) that disorients and poisons affected humans (works against unarmored or “naked” humans only), and 100 hit points (compared to the regular Basilisks’ 75). Basilisks are a great tool for the Alien race, and can be the most useful Alien class when learned and properly used. This requires a lot of practice, patience, and willingness to learn.

A good way to start using the Basilisk is to first key bind some evolutions, I personally have all the Alien classes bound among the number row at the top, as well as specific human buy binds which are based on personal preference.

Basilisk

   bind <key> class level1

Advanced Basilisk

   bind <key> class level1upg

Where <key> is found you would enter the specific key that you want the evolution bound to.

(More information about binding evolutions and human upgrades can be found here.)

[Discussion of various attacking strategies which can and should be used by the Basilisk when in different situations.]

The Basilisk attacks by swiping humans, using the primary attack button. It’s secondary attack, the Noxious gas cloud it can spray, only becomes available at stage two and is only a feature of the Advanced Basilisk. Both, the Basilisk and Advanced Basilisk also have the ability to wallwalk, which seems almost unused by many Basilisk users when attacking, but can throw off humans greatly and cause much confusion and team damage between them. The most common way of attacking with the Basilisk is by first, grabbing a hold of a single human, jumping onto his head, looking down and swiping. Although effective, this is only one of many ways to attack with the Basilisk, but before learning the basic and advanced tactics of attacking with the Basilisk, you should first learn about what not to do as a beginner Basilisk.

An elite Basilisk will be able to overcome most of the following situations but, if you are new to the Basilisk, these situations should be avoided. For newer Basilisks, the chances of you getting away from these encounters is very low.

When you first start using the Basilisk...

• Attacking a group of mediocre humans exceeding three, with a regular Basilisk will result in failure, maybe even before you get one kill.

This is because, especially with friendly fire off, humans will have an easy time ganging up on you, even if you sneak up on them from behind. Basilisk kills do take some patience and time at first, of course as you learn kills will come faster, but for now, it would be in your best interest to stay away from large groups of humans in general, be it stage one, two or three.

• Attacking a battlesuit will most likely result in a death.

Battlesuits are immune to the Basilisk grab, although still slowed down its grip, battlesuits can turn when in a Basilisks grasp. This means that Basilisks are very ineffective against battlesuits, even the Advanced Basilisk’s Noxious gas is ineffective against battlesuits. Yes, it is possible to kill battlesuits with the Basilisk when mastered, but this takes a very long time, loads of practice, and patience.

• Trying to kill experienced Lucifer Cannon wielders will almost always end up with you dying.

To Basilisk Lucifer Cannon’s, you must first be able to hold your own against any other single helmed human, one on one. The reason for this is because Lucifer Cannon’s can easily Luci-jump out of the Basilisk hold, and can kill the Basilisk quite easily, since it has such a big splash range. However, there are ways to kill Cannon’s, which are explained later on in this tutorial, but it isn’t easy, at all. Until you can hold your own confidently against almost any other upgraded human, one on one, trying to attack Lucifer Cannon’s isn’t a good idea unless you have help.

Probably the most basic of all strategies, the “Sneak” is simply grabbing the human without them seeing you. Most effective while the humans are stage one, the keys to not being detected are:

• Stay out of sight.
• Keep quiet (using walk, default SHIFT).
• Patience (wait for your time to strike).

The second part of the strategy is the actual attack. The key to this strategy is to make sure you’re targeting one human (so he doesn’t have any of his buddies to save him). There are two general ways of grabbing humans using this strategy:

• If you’re hiding up high, simply land on their head.
• If you’re attacking from the ground, grab their legs from behind, and jump up to their head.

Once you have them in your grasp, simply swipe away and watch them squirm. It takes two head swipes to kill an non-helmeted human, six against helmed humans, and nine for a battlesuit. If you’re gonna jump on their head, stay to the back of the head or they might crouch and be able to hit you.

This strategy is for straight out killing your enemy, because you can’t always hide. The “Swing” strategy is also (like the “Sneak”) more effective when facing only one or two humans. This strategy should only be attempted when at full/near full hit points, because the humans will see you coming and you can expect to take a few shots before you are able to securely hold them. There are a few different ways (everyone has their own preference here) to grab the human players when using this tactic:

• As you approach the human, just grab them from wherever possible (usually front or side). Once they are grappled, swing around to the backside of the human and jump up onto their head.
• Approach and grab the humans legs from the front side. Then in one smooth motion, jump and spin around onto the back of their head.
• Approach a human from an angle and touch them so that they slow down, while they’re slowed, circle onto the back of their head.
• As you approach the human, do a juke fake to a side of your choice (the human will start shooting to that side), then at the last second, swing around to the opposite side and grab them from behind/side and reposition onto the back of their head.

As always, once you are on the top of their head, swipe away for the kill. Another good tip, when facing multiple humans with this strategy is to use the human you currently have grabbed as a shield, to take shots from any other firing humans (while also swiping of course).

This strategy is mostly only effective versus a large group of humans (5-6). Basically, with this strategy, you just try your best to act like a Marauder and in a group humans, jump from head to head while randomly swiping. It is important to keep moving and not stay still. Gas is extremely useful because it disorients humans and makes it even harder to hit you. What makes this strategy effective is that the humans will mostly shooting each other, which will eventually end up in easy one or two swipe kills for you. With this style of play, your goal is plain and simple, get as many kills as you can because you most likely will not make it out alive. Although this type of play is hard to master, it can prove to be quite effective in small areas where team friendly fire is common.

When trying to grab a hold of a jet pack be aware because they have the ability to jet out of your grip. So, when going about trying to kill a jet packer, keep in mind:

• When trying to grab them while they are on the ground, get onto their head as soon as possible (the jet packer cannot fly out of your hold if you are on his head).
• If the jet packer is already in the air, get as close as possible to him and try to gas the human. This will cause the human to slowly drop to the ground, where you or your teammates can kill him.

When attacking a Lucifer Cannon, try to get on to their head and jump as much as you can, while looking straight down and swiping the humans head. Be careful of the Lucifer’s splash and the ability to “Luci-jump”.

Although great for attacking single humans, the Basilisk shouldn’t be primarily used to attack the enemy’s base. This is because of it’s low hit points and weak attack strength. The most useful form of base attacking is reactor hopping. This can be accomplished fairly easily on maps, ATCS, Karith, Transit and Tremor. Be careful of the time it takes to fully destroy the reactor because of the weak attack strength of the Basilisk and the high hit points of the reactor. Before going for the reactor, be sure to survey the human base to check which way the turrets are facing because, depending on the way they are facing, they may be able to gun you down before you are able to reach the reactor (because of the low hit points on a Basilisk). Most other structures are fairly difficult to destroy (depending on base configuration), although turrets can be somewhat easily handled, as the grab does affect them greatly, causing them to turn at a very slow rate.

The first thing about retreating with a Basilisk is to know if it’s really worth it. Especially when there is only one human chasing, you need to make a decision whether or not to try and grab him or to continue fleeing. If you do decide to run, do it and do it fast, you only have 75-100 hit points and that isn’t much. While running away, make sure you use your wallwalk ability to the fullest. Wallwalking makes hitting you much harder for the humans, and lets you hide up high and get out of human sight. You can change your wallwalk speed preference in options, again everyone has their own personal preference as to what this should be set to. Wallwalk can and should be used to avoid being team killed by bigger aliens and to stay clear of their path. Dretches are often major blockers, but Basilisk’s can be an equally big pain if they don’t use their wallwalking ability.

In conclusion, the Basilisk can be a very neat and useful class especially since it only costs one to two evolution points. It’s important to keep practicing your Basilisk every now and then. Also keep an eye out for tjw’s new changes to the Basilisk, such as increased grab, healing aura, increased gas dizziness and silent movement.

Here are a few thoughts from some of top Basilisk’s in the game today:

• “Be careful of the moment right after a lisks first grab because it wears off and a human can move and shoot you. I’m better at lisk on non unlagged/no knockback servers. Frankly lisking at 50 ping is pretty easy.” -CU|The Reverend
• “So a good strategy i like to use is to run at them at an angle towards one side then as you get close to them juke fast around to the other jump on their head if theres no other humans around. If you have full health you can sometimes jump straight up their face onto their head then reposition yourself.” - {SGA}Ender
• “I decline to be interviewed for this guide.” - ExistentialRisk
• “The basilisk alone is a bit poor for attacking the front of a human group. Team play is essential for a good basi. Two Marauders with a basi is the perfect group. The maras attack in first and jump around the human team and embarrass them (because it’s hard to kill mara’s jumping around) and the basi can easily attack at the back or the side of the human team. Also, basi with goon is a bad team, because most noob goons will pounce to the side. So, if you are a basi escape the goon and join a marauder or dretch. :)” - (CY)Ezra
• “lisk gud” - Iabz

Thanks to everyone that provided input and ideas to help create this document. - K-otic