How to Play As Strix

Strix Tips

Written By: Mossy-Dirt

Edited By: Kolby

Index

i. Forward

ii. Legendaries

iii. Flare and Stealth Usage

iv. Weapon Advice

v. Flash Bang Usage

vi. Positioning

vii. Notable Cards and Items

viii. Balancing Ramble

i. Forward

Ready, Aim, Fire!

Strix is my favourite damage character in Paladins, being just a tim of a tick above Sha Lin and Kinessa. He is the epitome of playing Metal Gear and CS:GO at the same time. Sniping, quickscoping, stealth, a Flash Bang, a pistol that has no right being that cool or doing that much damage, and on top of that all is a voice actor trying his damn well hardest to imitate Snake. And on top of all that, he’s broken.

It sounds too good to be true right?

Well it is, because most players are trash at him, and I’m here to remedy that.

ii. Legendaries & Talents

Before anything else, it's important to point out that Strix only has two useful legendaries, Unauthorized Use, and Ambush.

Nocturnal doesn’t give enough of a bonus to warrant picking it, as the only time it’d be useful is in my patented ‘Solid Snake’ deck that I’ll show later. If you aren’t making a meme, don’t use nocturnal, as your stealth still consumes the same amount of resources, draining its usability.

Crack Shot is outperformed by Unauthorised Use, as landing a shot with your Talon Rifle, then firing a flare, and then shooting with your pistol is much more consistent and a greater failsafe with AU. While Crack Shot does kill flankers deader than AU, the fact that you need to LAND a shot reduces this legendary’s little usability to nothing if you miss.

Ambush is only recommended because it can one-shot. One shots are very scarce in Paladins and only ever reserved for ultimates, and seeing that the two snipers in the game can do that with basic attacks is terrifying. An added 50% damage to headshots for Kinessa is no laughing matter, and so a 15% increase for Strix shouldn’t be either. This does have the unspoken requirement of being able to land a headshot after stealth but if you’re going against a Kinessa or a mirror matchup, then it will see use to you.

Unauthorized Use should be picked most of the time you play Strix. It is a ridiculous bonus to Flare, giving it a 5 second CD, more speed, a massive speed boost, and 300% more damage. This thing can allow you to 1v1 most other characters in the game, and instantly makes your map awareness near limitless. With the fact that you can see where most players on the map are AND go invisible AND land sniper shots, it isn’t difficult to see why people are mad about him.

iii. Flare and Stealth Usage

Detecting hidden enemies

Flare has an almost self explanatory use;

When you see a team/enemy, press Q, then R1. Occasionally throw it into a room if you suspect a flanker to be there.

With the 5 second CD, this ability can be spammed quite reliably, and the arc makes it convenient to bounce off of walls and into buildings. If anyone dies within the radius of it, you will also get the elimination. Just remember: your flare will be deleted if it hits a shield.

Strix’s stealth is probably my favourite in the game, and that's because it's very balanced. It runs on a resource metre, and consumes a third of it going into and out of stealth, if you take 500 damage or more you will be unstealthed, you play a distinct whistling noise while in stealth that gets louder as your resources deplete, and on top of that your footsteps are designed by a team of MIT students to be the loudest sound the human ear can endure without suffering hearing loss or death. Overall, Hi-Rez wants flank snipers to die, and I’m not really against it.

Stealth Mode

Stealth has a conglomerate of uses, but you will mostly be doing three of them: changing position, lining up a shot, or confusing flankers.

While the first two are self explanatory, it is worth noting that flankers will be expecting you to stealth while they chase you. You shouldn’t let flankers get behind you, as your flare provides a boost to map awareness, but if you know you’re about to be flanked, then remember that stealthing in this situation is proactive. You’ll want to be able to prepare for enemies rather than having to react to them.

In other words: It isn’t hard to hit a Strix going into stealth. It is if you didn’t see them do it.

iv. Weapon Advice

Painful Damage

Most players coming from CS:GO might instinctively think “AWP,” when they first load Strix in the practice map and then start playing them, and more credit to them. If you have a friend that plays Counter Strike, give them a crash course to Strix and then stick with them, they’ll carry you out of Aluminum Placements.

Handgun Tutorial

For his weapons, there isn’t much to say about them except to just practice aiming and quickscoping. There are tons of sites that let you practice your aim such as this one that I use (http://www.aimbooster.com/). Practicing for a few minutes can instantly help your aim, but practicing consistently can consistently improve your aim. If you still find it hard to hit targets in game, I’d recommend then changing your DPI and sensitivity for your mouse, or trying bot matches. Most pros go for very low sensitivity and very high DPI, and a few bot matches can get you in the feel of a character. Quickscoping in Paladins may feel a bit awkward due to the scope ‘wind up’ but it can be gotten used to fairly quickly.

If you want to land shots consistently then I’d also recommend changing your reticle to a dot. It may mess up your pistol aim for a bit but it is worth it in the long run. On that, most new players have the problem that the pistol’s recoil is too severe, and I’d recommend that you do not succumb to the card ‘White Knuckle’ as we all have at one point. Learning to deal with the kick frees up a card slot, and those are of divine importance as I will show.

v. Flash Bang Usage

Blinded

Flash Bang should be treated almost as another ability rather than an ultimate, as it has the same applications as one and charges about as quickly.

While it would make sense to throw it at whoever is flanking you, keep in mind that it has a severe fall off and a slow projectile speed. So throwing it at your feet can turn out the best for you as it hits all close ranged targets. Often your panic combo will be to Flash Bang, Swap, Flare, and then shoot until the game tells you to stop.

It is worthy to note that with some coordination, Flash Bang can be used to wedge a team off of the point, or even break a choke. If you see the opportunity, make sure everyone is ready to jump on the point on the press of a button.

vi. Positioning

Sniper positioning is a very simple concept to grasp: you find a suitable spot, empty your weapon into the opposing team and then pick a new spot. It can get pretty boring, and while flank snipers are fun cursed, the recent nerfs to scope zoom makes them near unusable. Unless you decide to sell your eternal soul to the 3rd person scope glitch, being offensive can be very tricky. Much of the time I find my strategy is to snipe in the backlines, flare every 5 seconds to see the enemy team, and using my pistol to execute flankers. But playing that passively can’t hard carry the game. You need to know exactly when to switch weapons and either accompany your fellow dps or replace him if he dies. Strix’s pistol damage makes him a great close ranged asset, and failing to abuse this to backup your tank and cap point will cost you games. Sometimes even playing as a flanker with the Pistol is a good idea, comboed with Flash Bang you can play the role fairly reliably.

Not every game will be summed up with who can get the most headshots, and sometimes you’ll need to be ready swallow your pride in long distance deletion, and charge into the fray.

vii. Notable Cards and Item Build

I’m only going to be posting my decks as a bit of a formality, and I advise that you find your own deck that suits your needs.

My Main

For Fighting Kinessa

Solid Snake (Don’t Use This)

That being said, here are the most notable cards in Strix’s kit in no particular order:

・ Infused Crystals: There is almost no reason to not have this card. An added 2 bullets in your sniper rifle and pistol already has immense value, but having 15 Rifle bullets (18,000 damage total) and 20 Pistol shots (4,400 damage total)   in a single clip each with the same reload time is extremely overpowered. The amount of value you can get from more bullets is so insane that you should only ever get this card at 1 as a support or at 5 as an asset.

・ Flare XL: Simply enough, having permanent reveal is too powerful an ability, but having a permanent Cassie ult is banworthy.

・ Guerrilla Tactics: Having your stealth resources replenish with every ELIMINATION is no joke. Especially with Ambush.

・ Dexterous: This card is purely anti-flank. It can help with quality of life, but the main reason to have this card is that it cuts the time you have between pressing Q and having your pistol. This can especially help in Crack Shot builds.

・ Relentless: Being able to line up a shot while also avoiding shots is vital. No one likes playing turret in a fast paced FPS (Unless you’re an insane Bastion main like myself). This card is a very good anti-Kinessa pick as well.

・ Cooled Mags: This card serves as a quality of life card in most situations, but what really draws me to this is the ability to avoid long reload animations. Those few seconds cut can drastically affect your playstyle, though I may remove it from my deck as I play him more, as it requires 2 or more points to become particularly effective. It’s simply a QOL that I can sacrifice.

・ Roost: Anti-Kinessa, need I say more? It lets you NOT get one shotted. Now you’ll only get 1.3 shotted.

・ Tactical Retreat: While this card is made moot to me due to the fact that Nimble exists, you might find some use in this.

・ Escape Plan/Bushwhack : A panic button can help against flankers, but keep in mind that both of these cards have a 10 second CD and are tethered to your abilities.

・ Overburn: While having more reveal time is good and all, you should only really have about 5 seconds of reveal time maximum, as any more becomes moot.

・ Grizzled: This lets you die less. It isn’t suitable for my playstyle as in the only situation it seems to help in (V Snipers) it is outclassed by roost. It also lets you survive a single Kinessa shot, but can’t really combo with Roost due to the fact that you still get 2 shotted by a Kinessa.

Item Build for Strix

In the way of Items: Get Nimble;

You have NO mobility and NO escape. Stealth may pretend to be an escape and an excuse for mobility, but it is a fools gamble to try to flee using it. 30%+ Movement speed is what it is, and is vital to Strix and any other character with low mobility. This item should be the first pick almost every game.

In the way of Weapons: Caut, and Wrecker serve their purpose but if you're feeling confidant, Deft Hands isn't a bad idea.

And that's the end of the guide.

You can go now, there’s really nothing down below, that's the end.

viii. Balance Ramble

Alright, Strix is OP. That is easily said, but why is it? Maybe because he has a 5 second Cassie ult that can deal massive damage with a high speed and the ability to reveal the entire map and then some and the ability to 1v1 a tank using a pistol and the ability to gain 10 more ammunition on both weapons for some reason and the ability to go invisible AND snipe, et cetera et cetera.

I think after my time with Strix, I need to stand on the soapbox a bit and preach some balance.

This is just what I think would be good for Strix, and probably doesn’t do much but kick him into C rank.

Patch Notes by u/mossy-dirt

Sidearm

・ 220 Damage per shot → 200 Damage per shot.

Flare

・ Cooldown 15s → 7s

Unauthorized Use

・ Cooldown is reduced by 10s.

CARDS

・ Infused Crystals {2|2} → {1|1}

・ Flare XL {10%|10%} → {5%|5%}

FIXED 3P Scope Glitch

SO BASICALLY now your pistol deals a total of 2000 - 3000 damage which is plenty to deal with flankers and apply pressure to the front line, AND flare is more balanced, but is still such a prominent force it keeps him viable.