Free Agent - EU
Have you ever wanted to play a flank?
But with healing potential?
Capable of holding the point?
While also dealing high focused damage?
Then I have just the thing for you, I present: Skye.
I will now explain literally everything i know about her.
(left-click) Wrist Crossbow:
Ammo: 25.
Shoots a fast hitscan bullet, dealing 130 damage every 0.1 second, totaling 1300 damage per sec.
Hitting head-shots deals 195 damage meaning a theoretical max of 1950 damage per sec.
This weapon shoots fast, reloads fast, gives cauterize fast, empties fast but most of all kills fast.
However, it should mostly be used at close range, as the damage drop-off is very harsh.
When using this weapon it should be easy hitting around 50/50 head-shots, especially at close range.
(right-click) Poison Bolts:
Pretty much another primary when using my load-outs, press a button and the enemy loses 30% of their max health over 4 seconds. It sounds too good to be true but it really is so strong.
To give an example, against Yagorath in travel mode, each individual bolt deals 600 damage, meaning 1800 total damage at 450/s.
Debilitate is another talent used often by Skye players. It increases the damage of poison bolts to 37.5% of the max health, and only takes 2 instead of 4 seconds to do it.
I however do not use this talent often, as the damage increase is not a lot, and the main killing weapon is your primary fire anyways. One perk for a 4s duration over 2s is the fact that you can see damage indicators for longer, making it easier to track people like Sha lin, or Strix. Giving you an easier time finishing them off with left-click. Another plus is that even if the enemy gets away, they will have to stay out of combat for two seconds longer before they can start healing back.
In short, i do not see the argument for debilitate when smoke and daggers gives you superior self sustain + the ability to literally becoming a healer!! How cool is that!.
Now, the big one,
(Q) Smoke Screen:
Your saviour, your religion, your one true love the SMOKE SCREEN. I LOVE IT.
Throwing this projectile creates a circle with a 25 unit radius (pretty big) of smoke.
If you decide to stand in this smoke, you instantly become invisible, unless actively shooting.
See this like a little pocket dimension, a little world, where YOU reign supreme.
Everywhere the enemy sees smoke they will fear you, for they know you are inside... or right behind them ready to strike.
Not joking though this shit is good. Try to position it so that if things go tits up you can hide behind walls, and try to place it so your teammates can heal from it too. Good positioning is the difference between winning a 1v1 with Raum and losing it.
For real though without your smoke you are nothing, no self-sustain, no automatic invisibility, no movement boost, no nothing. If you want to do anything at all in this game, besides moving around, do it in a smoke.
(F) Hidden:
An alright situational ability for Skye.
What i mean by this is that never having to use this ability means you will win guaranteed.
It's only use is pushing a lone healer, or getting the fuck out of tough situations where you do not have your Q ready.
When using Hidden, try to either run back to your team, or alternatively, find a quiet spot to smoke, healing yourself up. If you want to do the latter, DO NOT let your hidden run out before activating smoke. It will make a loud noise alarming everyone in the entire world of your position, whether they want it or not. So please, before your F runs out, use Q. And once you DO use Q, press F again to cancel the ability, giving you a shorter cooldown.
(E) Time Bomb:
Skye's Ult.
You toss a bomb projectile, that explodes for 3000 damage 2.5s after hitting the ground in a radius as large as your smoke screen(25 units), damaging up to 75 units away(a second smokescreen), breaking any and all shields in its blast. Sounds simple, but if you time it wrong it won't be useful at all. Try to time it when the enemy team is all together, and before you throw it, maybe bait out 1 or 2 movement abilities from the enemy, for example getting seris to go ethereal, and tossing the bomb at her the moments she comes back, unable to escape.
Don't expect to get many kills with it, but the average is around 1-2 kills, sometimes going all the way up to a penta.
I would view it more as a reverse Seris ult, instead of forcing everyone towards it, it forces everyone to hide.
This can be all you need to win the point, or even push the payload that final distance.
It recharges fairly fast, so don't be afraid to use it.
While it is true Skye is not that viable in higher rankings or in games with lots of reveals or people that buy illuminate, most people in casual won't even think about buying it. This allows you to pretty much have a guaranteed cap, while also being able to easily poke healers and damages alike.
The reason most opponents won't buy illuminate is because you are only really going to be a nuisance to the opposing tank and healer. The flanks and damages on the other side of the field won't notice your presence, and will think illuminate is not needed. Little do they know you are the primary reason their team keeps losing the point.
The strategy when using any of the load-outs mentioned in this guide is as follows:
1). Get to the point in the shortest time.
2). Throw a smoke on point.
3). Poison the arriving opposing tank before any shields can be put up.
From this point just keep poisoning the tank, making ABSOLUTELY sure to hit the shots, as missing will not give you the smoke back. If the opposing tank is not an option, try to maybe aim for easier targets, like the Kinessa standing in the back, or the Grover with a giant hitbox. If you DO miss, either retreat behind a wall and wait for your poison cooldown, which gives you a second chance, or press f and get the hell out of there.
A BIG tip, hitting Luna or Ying's illusions also resets the smoke bomb cooldown. Use this to be even stronger in a fight, taking down the enemy while getting your cooldowns back!
If you feel safe, use your primary fire, aiming for the head. Keep in mind that the damage fall-off on Skye's left click is really harsh, so don't needlessly expose yourself by aiming at far away targets, giving your position away.
This is important, IF your own healer gets attacked, give the attacking flanker a nice surprise by spraying them down in one second, saving your healer in the process. A dead healer is no use, and your position on point gives you an easy time coming to a healers aid.
If their healer is exposed, press F to go invisible for a long time, and try to land the kill.
It is usually good to first throw a bomb down before attempting to take care of a healer, in case things go south.
Your primary goal however, is staying alive, endlessly standing on point blocking an enemy capture, while healing the friendly tank and when possible eliminating the opposing tank or healer + a potential flank or damage that wanders too close to the point. A good Skye is a living one.
Now, your primary enemy, your arch-nemesis, your personal demon, is the item "illuminate".
This item will make you cry, shake, convulse, scream and mess you up.
It's function is making your reveal circle larger to enemy players, effectively nullifying your invisibility. Without that, you ain't nothing. The best solution to a player buying illuminate is avoiding them, unless its the tank or healer on the opposing team. And investing in nimble, as being able to outrun the opposing player is the best option usually. If you know the opposing team has illuminate do NOT go into small enclosed spaces, you can not hide, and you can not run, it won't be fun. Another main issue is Willo. Willo has an ability called "deadzone", which is basically 100% cauterize in an area about the same size as your smoke. Now, Willo mains LOVE shooting this onto your smokes. My best advice, RUN! A dead Skye is no good, and you can get your smoke back faster than they get their deadzone back anyways. Just set up camp somewhere different.
My main load-out theoretically has bombs healing for 400/s the first 5 seconds, and 250/s for two seconds after the smoke has run out. Keep in mind this goes for ANY ally in the smoke.
I also have a second load-out with bombs healing for around 462.5/s for 5 seconds, and 312.5/s for 2s after, totaling 2937.5 hp of unattended aoe healing.
At rejuvenate 3 and no caut this can go up to 3.378.125 hp.
The fact it is an aoe effect and not a single target healing actually makes the output a lot higher however.
Let's say you have two tanks on point, feel free to double the healing you are doing, and don't forget this healing goes directly to you too!
This could mean as much as 9.693.75 hp of healing, making it easy to get over 100k healing in longer games(I know self healing does not count), not to mention both being on point, dealing constant damage AND healing gives absurd amounts of credits, allowing easy chronos and cauterize buys, giving you the edge over your opponent. However this build does halve the movement speed boost, pretty much making nimble a mandatory buy,
To put this into perspective, Mal'Damba's gourd heals 325/s for 4.8 seconds, in ticks of 65hp per 0.2 sec.
Meanwhile Grohk's totem's with his totem talent heal for 390/s per totem for 6 seconds, in ticks of 58.5 per 0.15 sec.
There is no mention of the healing per tick for Skye, however i can say that it also heals in small ticks, instead of bursts. This makes it even nicer to heal while getting rid of cauterize, plus it lasts longer outside of its effective range than both Mal and Grohk. The smoke works through walls too, allowing some interesting plays.
Of course there is also the movement speed boost, and the fact that the smoke is pretty much a constant, meaning you can pretty much always rely on it being there.
However the strongest part of the smoke is the fact it continually and instantly reapplies invisibility the instant you are inside of it without firing a shot from either left or right click. The effect even lasts for another 3 seconds after the smoke has gone. This means if Skye hits her shots and has a bit of chronos, she could theoretically be invis the entire game with a constant 400/s self heal.
Keep in mind that the smokes healing does NOT stack, so if you have one ready, wait a little longer before throwing it, to guarantee a constant uptime.
Now, having said all of this, let's move on to the main dish: load-outs.
First are two variations on my main load-out. I made this completely on my own, purely through trial and error.
The first one i use in situations where uptime on my smoke is very needed.
The second one effectively increases your max ammo by 5, doing a better job than the actual max ammo increase card giving only 2 extra ammo.
Of course, seeing as the difference between both is just one single point card, the real takeaway are the cards that are present in both, providing the real load-out.
A secondary load-out for when you are the only person able to heal is also provided, maximizing healing.
I will briefly explain the main load-out skeleton present in all three builds now.
Healing Vapors(4/5)
The difference between life and death, amazing self sustain, not to mention a good constant healing output.
You might interpret it as being 500/625 healing in total over 2 seconds, but the effect keeps reapplying after ending, meaning you will effectively get a full 7 seconds of this healing. This is why you get that extra 2 seconds of healing even after the smoke has ended. I have both the 4 and 5 load-out version so feel free to use either, i would go for 5 once you get more comfortable with Skye.
Poisoner(4)
An amazing cool-down reduction card for Poison Bolts.
Has amazing synergy with the next card "Confound".
It cuts your cool-down from 8s to 4.8, and potentially 4 if using Poisoner 5.
I however think 4 is perfect, as it is enough to give a constant reset on your smoke, which is its main function.
In long games you can easily get chronos 2 or 3, further cutting down the cool-down, seeing as a good Skye gets a high amount of credits, especially early game when being on point.
Confound(4)
The other half of the duo with Poisoner.
This card removes 2s per Poison Bolt from the Smoke Screen cool-down, effectively halving it from 12s to 6s.
As you might notice 6s is longer than the duration of the smoke at 5s. However the invisibility stays for a second or two, and so does the healing. AND Poison Bolts gets to shoot twice in the time of Smoke Screens cool-down, ensuring a constant uptime. If you HAVE a Poison Bolt ready, use it. Unless you have a smoke and bolt ready, first smoke then immediately bolt. With this card, pretty much anytime you shoot an enemy with Poison, you get your smoke back, especially at higher chronos levels. I have had games where it was possible to have three smokes deployed simultaneously, making both your healing aoe and invisibility range a lot bigger.
Dissipate(1/2)
The best secondary card for Smoke Screen.
It applies to anyone in your team, allowing safer playing for all.
Tanks retreat faster, you flank faster, you flee faster, your tank can start dodging snipers, you can help your team escape better, just all around good.
Running this card at 1 in favour of more healing necessitates nimble however, as Skye has literally no getaway but to get out of visible range. Use this card to your advantage and remember to always be moving around to avoid getting focused down.
Quick Smoker(1)
This card is the crutch of many Skye builds, and is the reason so many people fail at playing her. A build based on this card is doomed to fail, as while it may be a more constant cool-down, it creates downtime on your smokes, leaving you on your own. I see no reason at all to have quick smoker any higher than 1. It is a worse cool-down reduction card in comparison to confound, plus it takes up valuable points from poisoner, which is the card allowing you to be so irritating to play against in the first place, cutting your damage while giving worse uptime.
As a filler card it fits perfectly however.
Decrepify(1)
Another filler card, practically giving you 5 extra ammo right after hitting poison bolts.
Many Debilitate/Preperation Skye's use this loadout, however it sucks.
With enough cauterize anyone dies from your first clip, any extra shots wont be used anyways.
When i duel other Skye's in games they always use this card, sacrificing valuable points on Poisoner and Healing Vapors. you only really need one clip to kill them anyways, and your own healing will provide a buffer for a reload if needed, just aim for the head and beat them at their own game.
My opinion on the other possible 1 point filler cards:
Nimble Fingers: giving you 10% reload speed, making it from 1.3 to 1.17 seconds. Weak.
Victory rush is bad as dissipate is more consistent and it only offers 2% more speed.
Slip away could possibly be used to make better use of the hidden ability. makes the card Ninja irrelevant. however your team won't benefit from it.
Same goes for Cloak.
Shadow affinity, can never go wrong with cool-down reduction, inferior to a simple chronos 1 however, which as a healer is a must have anyways.
Specter, Tactical Reload and Twilight armor are shit cards. If only Specter continued to give back ammo every second.
Smoke and Dagger
Smoke Screen
Benefits from your Smoke Screen cards also benefit allies who enter Smoke Screen and allies are Healed for 100 every 1s while in your Smoke Screen, but Smoke Screen no longer applies Stealth to you.
Level 1
Healing Vapors
Smoke Screen
Heal for 500 over 2s while in Smoke Screen.
Level 4
Poisoner
Poison Bolts
Reduce the Cooldown of Poison Bolts by 3.2s.
Level 4
Confound
Poison Bolts
Reduce the Cooldown of Smoke Screen by 2s for each enemy hit by Poison Bolts.
Level 4
Dissipate
Smoke Screen
Increase your Movement Speed by 16% for 2s after entering Smoke Screen.
Level 2
Quick Smoker
Smoke Screen
Reduce the Cooldown of Smoke Screen by 0.6s.
Level 1
Smoke and Dagger
Smoke Screen
Benefits from your Smoke Screen cards also benefit allies who enter Smoke Screen and allies are Healed for 100 every 1s while in your Smoke Screen, but Smoke Screen no longer applies Stealth to you.
Level 1
Healing Vapors
Smoke Screen
Heal for 500 over 2s while in Smoke Screen.
Level 4
Poisoner
Poison Bolts
Reduce the Cooldown of Poison Bolts by 3.2s.
Level 4
Confound
Poison Bolts
Reduce the Cooldown of Smoke Screen by 2s for each enemy hit by Poison Bolts.
Level 4
Dissipate
Smoke Screen
Increase your Movement Speed by 16% for 2s after entering Smoke Screen.
Level 2
Decrepify
Poison Bolts
You do not consume Ammo for 0.5s after hitting an enemy with Poison Bolts.
Level 1
Smoke and Dagger
Smoke Screen
Benefits from your Smoke Screen cards also benefit allies who enter Smoke Screen and allies are Healed for 100 every 1s while in your Smoke Screen, but Smoke Screen no longer applies Stealth to you.
Level 1
Healing Vapors
Smoke Screen
Heal for 625 over 2s while in Smoke Screen.
Level 5
Poisoner
Poison Bolts
Reduce the Cooldown of Poison Bolts by 3.2s.
Level 4
Confound
Poison Bolts
Reduce the Cooldown of Smoke Screen by 2s for each enemy hit by Poison Bolts.
Level 4
Dissipate
Smoke Screen
Increase your Movement Speed by 8% for 2s after entering Smoke Screen.
Level 1
Quick Smoker
Smoke Screen
Reduce the Cooldown of Smoke Screen by 0.6s.
Level 1
Furia:
Exterminate beam can make anyone cry, avoid the beam, wait for the right moment right after she uses it, then strike.
Grohk:
Has strong self healing early game, the same as you. Id avoid going for him unless he does not have his ghost walk anymore. Just be careful and try to attack from behind.
Jenos:
Jenos can choke you, and if you are not careful it can cost you your life. HOWEVER, if you are getting choked just throw a smoke screen down underneath you, not a single enemy will be able to see you are there, which only leaves Jenos there kinda just standing staring at you, while you out-heal his choke damage. If his teammates are not there, just hit him with all you have and he either runs away or dies.
Ying:
Her illusions are a free cool-down reset, what can i say. And on top of that, you burst her down so easily she barely has time to react, and even if she does, just look for the poison indicators and chase her.
Pip:
Big head, small health pool. If you get the poison off and hold down your left-click while vaguely looking at him, he dies. Just aim for the head, good luck hitting anything else.
Io:
Same story with Ying, free cool-down resets, and really easy to spray down. Just be careful not to get hit with Luna's stun, and if you do, be inside of a smoke screen so that nobody will care.
Grover:
A fairly tough healer for anyone to kill, however his big head and general hitbox makes it easy to spray him down. And the closer you get, the less damage he deals, but the more damage you deal.
Zhin:
obnoxious champ, if you poison him it doesn't matter as billow gets rid of it. Just stay far away unless you know he has cool-downs active. Not too hard to kill but his weapon shots have a very large hitbox, making it difficult to avoid taking damage.
Moji:
Moji easily sprays you with her right-click even if you are invisible, and can get rid of poison with magic barrier. A big pain in the ass to kill, however you deal damage faster than her, so if she does not have her barrier, fuck her up for me.
Vora:
The real danger with Vora is the fact that her attacks deal slow damage. This kind of functions as an improvised illuminate, allowing her to track you, add to that a high damage output and good 1v1 potential and she is a pain to take down. However, add even one ally into the mix and she falls apart. If she attacks your healer, just attack her back. Her abilities will be on cool-down and it will be an easy kill, saving your healer in the process.
Androxus:
Obviously he would be on the list, being the most broken champion in this whole game. Able to pretty much kill you in 3-4 shots plus a punch whenever he sees you, this is one you want to avoid. Nether steps make it easy for him to track you, so if the other Andro buys illuminate, be careful. Otherwise not too difficult to kill as long as you shoot first, just dodge his reversal and win.
Lex:
He can see you if you are his target. Not too difficult of a 1v1, especially with the recent nerf to his life steal.
Just stay in the smoke and aim for the head.
Buck:
Big boie. Just get the poison on him and spray him down. Be careful to not get hit by net-shot and you will be alright. His self heal should be useless so if he decides to use it, smile because you have just won.
Koga:
He likes to be agile and can easily spray people down, however, that is difficult when you are not visible. Whereas burst heal is scary for Skye, small fast shooters are weak. just be careful not to get hit by his skewer and you will be good.
Maeve:
She can't hit you in your smoke, and you heal for 1 dagger every second regardless, making the match-up pretty hopeless for her. Just spray her down and be on your way after like 5 seconds.
Skye:
If there is another Skye player in your game, buy illuminate and fuck her up. You lose the point because you were chasing her? DOESN'T MATTER. Just wait for her to attack your healer, then spray her down, aiming for the head. Most flanking Skye's will have many points in things like decrepify, meaning your own self heal is better than theirs, so fuck em up!
Vatu:
At the time of writing this the newest champion in the game, and not too good against Skye. pretty much the same story as Maeve, just spray him down and be on your way.
Ash:
Knockback is a bitch, and Ash is the Queen of it. being forced out of your smoke is never good, if you play against Ash, buy resilience. The rest of the fight will be really easy.
Atlas:
His shield can nullify your ult, remember that. Furthermore he deals a large amount of burst damage, so stay behind him, get him low, and kill him after he uses second chance. Optionally buy resilience for his setbacks in case he has the aoe variety.
Barik:
A little tricky to neutralize, try to position yourself behind him and be careful of when you time your poison.
If you hit his shield its a wasted reset, so just stay behind him, force him to turn around if he wants to attack you, and pin him in between you and your allied tank. If it takes a long time, get rid of his turrets first, its safer that way.
Fernando:
Big shield, makes your resets hard to do. His damage is not that scary though, so just focus on getting his shield down fast, or get behind him for a reset. The best timing for a poison shot is right as he uses his F, exposing his back. And remember, even if he ults, you can still get a reset, and deal damage after he is done with it.
Khan:
Big shield again. Difficult resets and his ult can be your doom, just be careful of his grab ability and you will be fine. Once his shield is down it takes a while to get up again just like nando, take that time to reset.
Terminus:
A real big nuisance to play against. His shield is unnaturally large and is not able to be broken, best option is get behind him, force him to try to swing you, then run away while your team gets him from the back. Just try to always attack him from two sides, so you can get your resets up.
Inara:
Just spray her down easy. If she has the cripple talent be very careful, and try to ult when you know her walls are down. slow movement speed so easy to get a reset.
Raum:
you can pretty much 1v1 him. Just hit your right-clicks, and aim for the head. Every time you get low just heal back up. I advice high caut against him. No shield so really easy to get resets on.
Ruckus:
Easy to 1v1 as well, just be careful not to overestimate yourself. Ruckus has a shield he can summon at any time regardless of caut giving him a large amount of health suddenly. Just attack him when he is really low or his shield is gone. Even though he has a shield resets still work.
Torvald:
Feels unfair to play against, if he goes head on with you, he dies in 3 seconds easily. Just get your resets on him and stay in the smoke. He can run, but he can't outrun you.
Yagorath:
Big space momma. A lot of health, but poison bolts fucks that up well. Aim for the head, easy resets, and don't be too worried about acid as you out-heal it anyways. For the rest just laugh as she continually misses her ult on you and she dies from you. Also, she can not outrun your ult, so just wait until her hardening is gone and laugh as she foolishly goes into travel mode, only reducing her damage reduction.
Your main enemies really.
Bomb King:
Any aoe damager is a bad matchup, and Bomb King excels at it, his body is big though so its easy to spray him down if he is without a healer.
Cassie:
Her ult reveals everyone and makes me cry, and she has some of the highest burst damage in the game.
Just get close and it will be alright.
Dredge:
Aoe damager, so automatically a counter. He sprays point a lot, making you dead in a second. Try to get him to at least fuck off using his portal so you have a chance at getting the point, and be careful not to overestimate yourself, Dredge has high health and an often used shield fallback.
Drogoz:
Aoe damager, and potentially even with knockback. If he is on the ground he is a piece of cake to kill however. Just be careful because he WILL spam your smoke. Try to be aware of that when you first arrive on point so you do not get sprayed down immediately.
Lian:
High burst, and she can get away from you easily. Honestly just let her be handled by someone else unless she gets close to you or to your healer.
Octavia:
Stupidly high damage, and a self heal. Try to bait the jump, and then go hidden to finish her off.
Sha Lin:
Can two shot you and go invisible, try to keep track of his movement and hit him with poison, so you still know where he went. Absolutely do not attack him without being in smoke first.
Tyra:
Braindead fire throwing on point, making it hard to cap. Not that hard to 1v1 however, just be careful of her nade-launcher. Her hunters mark is shite because it reveals you to her for a long time, just wait it out and strike then.
Vivian:
Really irritating to play against as she has a drone that reveals you. For some reason this drone is barely visible. If she uses it, find the drone and destroy it before you do anything else, unless you have the possibility of killing her. If you do, aim for her legs as her shield will probably come up anyways.
Willo:
Aoe damager, and deadzone cancels your self sustain. Easy to spray down though. Just wait out her abilities.
Strix:
A mix of Sha Lin and Vivian. Can reveal you to everyone on the team with his flare, that happens to be indestructible. And like Sha Lin can go invisible while being able to 2 shot you. Just track the damage again.
You will walk faster than him anyways.
Kinessa:
You can kill her before she teleports away usually, it's weird how long it takes for them to notice your presence. Just walk up to her in hidden, and pop a smoke while you shoot her. If she teleports away, throw a smoke down midway, and chase her. Be careful because a head shot on you means death no matter what your health is.
Viktor:
A weak close range fighter, easy to take him down, i guess you should be careful of his grenade, but the cool-down is so long it won't really affect the 1v1.