Ever felt like you’re trying to catch them all but your Pokeball keeps missing? It’s a tough world out there for trainers. That’s why today, we’re going to be bringing you five pro tips that only Gecko mains know. We compiled these five tricks from watching countless hours of the best players in the game to teach you quickly everything you need to know about becoming a Gecko master. So, without wasting any time, let’s get into it right away with our first tip.
Understanding Gecko’s Flash
For starters, let’s cover Gecko’s flash. Did you know that it doesn’t actually give you information until after it’s fired? This can actually be useful when playing against another Gecko. Have you ever had it where it makes the noise like it spots you, but then you get out of range before it fires? When this happens, Gecko doesn’t actually hear anything. Check this out.
Flash Timing and Effectiveness
There’s also a wind-up and wind-down period for the flash where it just won’t tag anyone at all. For example, here’s the flash flying right past someone’s face, and here’s the flash flying right over their head at the end of its path. These are important things to keep in mind when playing Gecko because if you want to get the most value out of it, you want to make sure it’s been in the air for a second before peeking around a corner, and that it has enough distance at the end of its route to still tag players.
Strategic Use of Dizzy
Still on the topic of Dizzy, it’s an amazing information-gathering tool, but too many players just throw this ability away for no reason. For example, instead of throwing Dizzy into a main on Ascent for either information or to swing, throw them high into the sky like so. This makes for an easy retrieval and it’s much harder to shoot. As an added bonus, it forces the enemies’ crosshair into the sky in some instances.
Dizzy’s Directional Flashes
Dizzy is also great at showing direction based off of where it spits its flashes. You can use this when you suspect an enemy is somewhere in order to confirm their location. This is one of the most important things to keep in mind with Gecko.
Advanced Flash Techniques with Dizzy
You can flash for yourself, but using an info flash and picking Dizzy back up is pretty crazy. So, you can use an info flash, retrieve Dizzy, and go for a pop flash if you see fit. Pop flashing with Dizzy is insanely strong because it implements crosshair forcing.
Advanced Use of Dizzy
It’s similar to Raina’s Leer, just a bit better in my opinion. By forcing the enemy to react to the flash, you can swing while the crosshair is adjusted midair. You must be aware that some players at higher ELO will designate one person to shoot the Dizzy, so be careful of that. Another cool piece of tech is bouncing her off the wall in a choke. This will allow you to scan the area and then retrieve her immediately if it’s clear. Using this flash solely for info can be good, just remember that there are a lot of uses.
Utilizing Wingman Effectively
Now, obviously, Wingman can be used to plant and defuse, but he has a lot of different use case scenarios that people tend to sleep on. The best secondary use is for clearing and swinging with Wingman. A good example where you can use Wingman and pick it back up is when you’re clearing out U-Haul. You can throw the Wingman and swing off of it, or swing with them, then proceed to pick your buddy back up. It’s also important to note with the Wingman, you shouldn’t be just sending him into sight alone to plant. If it dies, you’re basically relinquishing control of the spike to the enemy team.
So make sure that if you’re using Wingman to plant the spike, you already have sight control, or at least your team is running up with the Wingman. Using Wingman to add to the chaos can be a great way to get some extra space. If the enemy team sees Wingman before you, chances are they’ll shoot at them, and you can proceed to get a pretty free swing off to trade out Wingman. You can also create pressure and a man advantage through the use of Wingman.
Strategic Uses of Wingman in Retakes
Which is sometimes overlooked in a 2v2 retake: you can throw Wingman at the spike and essentially turn it into a 3v2 in your advantage. Having the pressure of somebody sticking the spike can force the attackers to make some pretty desperate decisions. Keep in mind, Wingman will only stop diffusing if he is shot or if the last player on your team has died. So even if you get taken out in a 2v2, as long as your teammate is still alive, Wingman will keep diffusing the spike.
Baiting with Wingman in Critical Situations
Similarly, in a 1v1, you want to actually bait Wingman a bit more since if they kill you, you will both die. For this reason, in 1v1s, your life is far more valuable. That’s why we’ll see players throwing their Wingman onto the spike from far off, often times in an attempt to locate the last player, since they’ll need to come out of hiding to get him off the spike. You can use Wingman to safely locate whoever is on site and then, off the back of that information, win the round.
Mid-Round Tactics with Wingman
Similarly, when attacking, you can use this same trick to bait enemies out. If you suspect there’s an anchor on site, you can throw Wingman in with the spike to hopefully draw out the anchored player’s position as they attempt to push him. This is best during the mid-round when the numbers have slimmed down and you’re worried there could be someone lurking about on site.
Optimizing the Use of Thrash in Gameplay
It can sometimes be hard to properly land during the lunge. Just know that you can double-click during the lunge animation to detonate early. With that in mind, make sure you’re detaining people with actual purpose when using this character. Thrash is good for detains, but if you can’t capitalize off them, sometimes it’s bad. The detain can be great in retake or post-plant situations to delay, but on a sight hit, detaining somebody in CT when you have other options wouldn’t be a great use of Thrash.
Strategic Deployment of Thrash
Being able to capitalize off Thrash is great, but sometimes you won’t be able to and that’s okay. Just try your best to look for opponents that are easy to capitalize off of or would be impactful if stalled for any amount of time. My favorite use of Thrash is to commit to a site execute with them, proceed onto site, pick up Thrash, fall off site, and then use them for post-plan. This gives two major uses in a single round: one to take site and one to help win post-plan.
Maximizing Thrash’s Effectiveness
Maximizing the use of Thrash is quite important, but don’t feel bad if you’re not able to. If Thrash goes down in a subpar position, it may be wise to ignore going for him. Finally, using your utility together is super effective with Gecko. Here’s a great round from Kanga: he throws Wingman to cover stairs and info flashes high over boat to get info on site. He spots three enemies due to his utility usage: Cipher, Omen, and Jet on stairs.
Integrating Gecko’s Utility for Team Play
All of Gecko’s utility comes together in a neat little package. Dizzy covers the sky, Wingman can cover plants, Moshpit is great for flushing out enemies, and Thrash is good for strong executes. Combine your utility to cover multiple angles for your team as you enter onto site with them. The best and worst part about Gecko is that all of his utility can be shot. This sucks because when thrown alone, it can feel pretty underwhelming, but when thrown together, it’s nearly impossible for enemies to deal with. They either get blinded, or stunned, or detained. It’s actually crazy difficult to deal with.
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