Spores are easy for me to use, but umbra is trickier since it lasts shorter.

Do I want to shoot my teammate or the enemy with it? Or should I shoot between both people? Do I want to use all 3 shots of umbra at once, or wait until one expires, before using the next one? Though umbra is a powerful ability, I don't seem to see the effectiveness of umbra when I play, oddly enough.

Umbra does not stack; do not fire more than 1 burst in the same location before the other clears. If you have the energy or need to fire multiple umbras, spread them out..

Umbra where your teammates are going to be. If it is a fade or a skulk, fire at least one burst at the enemy target. If there are multiple marines against the fade, fire a burst at the expected entrance/exit.


Lead onos' path with umbra clouds as needed.

If you're a combat lerk (meaning on the offensive all the time), like me, then you'd want to fire the umbra where you want to be in the next few seconds; that would be near the marine that you're planning to bite. If a marine is running and you're chasing him, shoot the umbra where the marine will likely be when you meet him, several meters after him probably.
Also, use umbra to cover your escape route. Fire a shot or two, depending on how much energy you have, at your planned escape route, and that'll let you take twice as many shots while escaping. Might save your life.

i personaly shoot the umbra around my teammates, tought it was the only way.Can you umbra a marine with a effect or does it just obstruct the view of the marine?

If you umbra the marine, it won't block his bullets unless he's firing on something that's inside that umbra. That's quite likely to happen, as aliens will probably be attacking him at the time.

Yep, just keep in mind... it's not the cloud, it's the things IN the cloud that get the benefits of Umbra, hence the "In Umbra" notification.

Don't try to use it as a barrier or shield, doesn't workz0r.

DO:
Umbra a marine if he is being attacked (or will be in roughly .5 seconds) by your teammates or yourself
Umbra your teammates / structures / hive if they are taking gunfire
Lead your troops with Umbra if they need to close distance
Cover retreating teammates by umbraing doorways and corners.

DON'T:
Umbra a Marine if whatever can kill him is on the other side of the room and he's patting an HMG.
Sit on the floor in a doorway shooting Umbra at the Onos charging out of a room. Get out of the way first.
Umbra anything being exploded by GLs
Umbra marines or a path if anything going in there is gaurenteed to die to begin with.

I can't stress that last point enough. If you have fives Marines with HMGs on an elevated position or on the other side of a room, Umbra is not going to save an Onos or Fade. You are better off sporing those Marines to break them up and weaken them, then umbraing.

-I umbra gorges and onos, because they are easy to hit and need umbra.
-I umbra the marines, because you'll be covered while you or your teammates are attacking.
-I umbra the exits, so that lerks, fades, and onos will be covered on their retreat.
-I umbra where I am going to be in the next couple of seconds.
-I umbra buildings.

Most of the time, it is too hard to cover skulks effectively, so I will just umbra the marines, because they will close the distance fast with leap.

It's difficult to see umbra being effective, but I know that it has been very effective for me at times. It makes it easy to take out a lone HMGer.

try to get a group of skulks and umbra them as they xeno.

Firing umbra at your feet and then sporing is good for pesky pistols.

Otherwise, fire where you think the onos/fade/skulks are going to attack whatever it is they are attacking. With skulks/fades you might want to umbra their escape path (shoot two or three clouds in a line.)

Also, make sure to get the gas on the marines, gas lasts a long time and has a large radius and makes armor1 useless. WHich is good considering focus, cloak from SC, and negating armor1 = one hit wonders.