The Ultimate "How to Play" for FADE [T3 Arena]

"To be a great Fade, you must think about probability and likelihoods - A Fade Main

CHARGE ACTIVE ABILIY TIPS

1. Place Yourself on the "Path of Importance" - "The Path of Importance" is where the enemy team is going or going to be. Placing yourself in this path opens up a lot of easy plays, and tons of pinning potential. What I consider the "Path of Importance" is either the direction the whole enemy team is heading, the enemy teams tank/support combo flank, and at the very least a solo support.
2. Be in the Blind Spot -To initiate the first engagement (usually as a second tank), I flank to try and hit the "play makers" in the backline (snipers/support). To hit those roles off of the initial engagement usually secures the objective to start the round. Being in the blind spots requires for the enemy team to focus on audio cues, and with much chaos happening, its hard at times. With tons happening I know that Hua Lings passive has a fan-shaped view and Ossas's passive can be much to register with tons of enemies in a space, and he is scoped in. I take advantage and apply pressure quickly.
3. Cancel too Ambitious of a Charge - I've made the mistake of thinking I can charge my way through any DPS fire...that's not the case. Gatlynn, Damion, Gloria, are just a few hero's that can shred you for your engagement. Even if you do secure the kill, you are now a weak tank that probably wont have support to recover you. Be mindful, and cancel charges that are out of your range. You are here to secure kills and objectives, not to trade a tank for a DPS.
4. You're Wider than You think -  Don't be fearful to take a chance at a play making charge. Your charge hitbox is actually decently larger than your character model. Good rule of thumb is to think about tapping their shoulder. If you can hit that shoulder, the game will pull them into you for a successful pin.
5. Enemy Ult Watching - You have a fantastic ability with Fade to stop grounded ults from popping, simply by watching and waiting and timing a good pin. I have stopped numerous ults from going off by keeping an eye and ear out for specific ults. The ones you really want to watch out for are any ult that takes away abilities or stuns (Judex, Skadi, Victor, Tigris). If you can secure that pin, you can put the odds on your side.

SHIELD ACTIVE ABILITY TIPS

1. Your Shield is Technically Two Walls -  Your shield is a dome, and with it being a dome you have two points of protection (if they are outside the dome they cant shoot through and if they walk into it, they cant shoot out). Use that to your benefit to disengage and regroup or secure a health pack. This shield will be a great way to handle and work around small spaces with a enemy DPS hero. Work in and out of the shield.
2. Extend the Range of DPS Safely - DPS hero's sometimes need the extra assistance to faceoff against snipers (justified). Drop the Shield just a little bit out of cover to extended DPS hero's position and angle safely. Once the shield is weak, they have natural cover to fall back behind if need be. Doing this will make DPS hero's play with more confidence.
3. Create Safe Passage for Support -  I think of it as putting a bird in a cage. I will end an engage and see that support is having a problem, I make sure to walk away from what I'm doing and pop a shield over the support. Just give them time to come up with a game plan either to run to a health pack or just give them time to collect themselves and self heal.
4. Sometimes the shield is what's needed - Drop shield for teammates that are stuck in a position they cant shot their way out of. From support that needs more time to heal to DPS that need to reach a health pack, good shield placement can make those things happen. Read the room and understand what is needed. That popped shield can turn around engagements.
5. Use Natural Cover Instead of Popping Shield - A Fades shield is its saving grace. Popping it after every stray bullet is not the most effective way to play. Try to hide behind the payload, the pillars, or the walls around you. Your shield is a multitool that can be used to make a lot of plays, be mindful of that. The more you pop it when you don't need it, the more you don't have it when you do need it.

PRIMARY FIRE TIPS

1. Fire Where They are Heading - Fades primary weapon operates like Chemist and Cristina's weapons as in its shoots lobbed projectiles. With this in mind you have to place shots where they need to be, not always where an enemy is (if that makes sense). Because of lack of hit scan, you need to be placing Fades projectiles where the enemy is heading (slightly placing the projectile in front or behind them). Keep in mind that manual fire is the best option to perform this successfully. REMEMBER: Auto-fire in Fades case will shoot where the enemy was last, and not where their heading.
2. Participate from A Far - Being with a payload is not a good enough reason not to try and participate in your teammates engagements. Try and hold objective and shoot shots into rooms or off corners where engagements are happening. Try to stay objective focused, but also try to assist where and when you can. Those few hits from you can make a huge difference.
3. Take Up space - Unlike any other projectile in the game, Fades projectiles have a delay of about 2 seconds. You can make some interesting plays, and get great chip damage if you utilize this fact. Shooting consistently into a room (specifically aiming at an entrance to occupy that space) can deny potential flanks from a side lane.
4. Get Comfortable Hitting Angles - You don't always have to disengage but you have to hit your shots. Go into training mode and take out the time to work on shooting off walls and different angles. This maybe a little bit of a boring task, but it will help you calculate distance and how far you need to fire to secure distance kills.

DEFAULT ULTIMATE TIPS

1. Shoot the support into your backline - Use the default ult to secure the enemy support kill. By shooting the support into your backline you allow your teammates to secure an easy kill, and you can focus on the fight ahead. IF YOU DON'T HAVE FAITH IN YOUR DPS TO PAY ATTENTION...pop the ult on the enemy support for them to be stunned in front of you and secure the kill yourself.
2. displace the tank - Get the enemy tank off the payload. If things are close to that 99/99% type situation, keep this ult in your back pocket for when the tank is the last thing standing on the control objective.
3. Use it for a Tank Focused Combo - One of the best combinations to do on tanks is to pop the ult on them, shoot them semi- straight up, time a first shot on them when they first land, charge them and secure the pin, and land the second shot. That should be enough to either kill or almost kill a tank. I used this combo pretty regularly (before I got the 2nd ult of course).
4. Shoot them off the Board - I can't stress enough how fun it is to ult a group of people off the map. Because of the AOE of the ult you can do it from cover and launch a decent amount of people off the map. What I've noticed (I could be wrong) is that control maps allow this. I've tired to shot people off of payload maps and the invisible walls were too close to shoot an enemy completely out. SIDE NOTE: think about throwing them into already initiated ults. That could be a really solid play as well.

2ND ULTIMATE TIPS

1. Your Potential Death is Not Always Ult Worthy - I can't stress this enough, your death is not always worth popping an ult, especially when no one is in reasonable distance of you. I know that it's a panic play that does get performed (I've done it myself), but try to accept some deaths and let the ult pop be used for a more important situation. Basically think "If I die, does the DPS have this push covered?" and if the answer is yes, don't pop it. Even if they don't, gauge to see if it is still worth it time or percentage wise.
2. Notify When the Ult is Ready - Because of Fades 2nd ults impact, make it common practice to tell your team when it will be popped, or at least when you have it available. With this information they can cover you for you to get into a good position to pop the ult, and or they can pop ults that compliment yours ult at the same time. Communication and audio queues are key.
3. Its Worth A Least Three Kills - Fades ult is too good of an ult to be wasted on 1 person (even though I've done it, to be petty, we were already winning). Make sure that it can take down at least 75% of the enemy team to be considered a successful ult. You want to maximize this ult as much as possible.
4. Pin First Pop Second - To secure a "for sure" kill from your ult, pop the ult after a successful pin of a hero in a enemy dense area. Doing this will stun them and allow them to get hit by atleast 1-2 of the falling projectiles. Being in a enemy dense area layers the projectiles AOE damage, and them running away in a group keeps this punish consistent.