The Ring of Shadows makes your quake marine invisible, less the eyes. It respawns
every five minutes, and lasts only 30 seconds. A person with "eyes" (a.k.a.
invisibility a.k.a. Ring of Shadows,) makes for a formidable opponent -
invisibility gives him the element of surprise and also makes him a lot harder
to see.
Advantages of Invisibility
Being almost totally invisible has its obvious advantages. Most players have a very
difficult time seeing the eyes - It becomes an even more difficult task to see eyes
when people use extreme gamma correction settings, such as really dark or really
bright. The eyes tend to blend into walls sometimes and are especially hard to see
if you aren't moving or are hiding halfway around a corner. The mistake almost
everyone makes when they are invisible is that they get too reckless. However,
even when spotted, the eyes are very difficult to track.
See the eyes? Look closely.
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Top Five Ring Do's
You are harder to see.. but you aren't invisible
The most common misconception is that the Ring of Shadows makes you entirely invisible. If that were the case,
then you could just walk up to any of your opponents without them noticing. However, the fact is, the eyes are
visible. Never overestimate how much of an advantage the invisibility gives you. If you manage to get close
enough to your opponent for a rocket battle, though, this is where the eyes give you a huge edge. The eyes are
incredibly difficult to see when you are in the air. If your opponent shoots ground, most of the time you will
be bounced, depending on where his rocket hit. This will work to your advantage -- once he bounces you into the
air, he will lose track of you. When he has no idea where you are, rain down your rockets on him.
Sneaking up on your opponent:
Sneaking up on your opponent can be pretty easy against the average player. You could almost walk right up next to him and give him a kick in the butt without him noticing you're there. However, against the experienced player, it can be walking into a deathtrap. When you have eyes, you need to take paths that aren't normally taken. You need to change your pattern in order to sneak up to a good opponent.
We all fall into that trap every so often where we think our opponent can't see us, but we suddenly get obliterated by a rocket in the face. When trying to sneak up to your opponent, hug the walls. Be patient. The eyes give you the element of surprise and sometimes, if you can get close enough for a rocket battle, it will give you an additional advantage of being harder to see.
Sit around a corner:
You'll be surprised how often you'll be able to catch someone off guard when they don't see you around the corner. If you know your opponent is around the corner, place your body sticking halfway out of the corner (so that you have a view of your opponent.) When he comes closer, you'll be able to see his every move, but he won't have any clue that you're standing there. When he's close enough, pummel him with rockets or the shaft. Surprise is definitely the key to success here. If you have the patience and are gutsy enough, you could try waiting for him to pass by you, then attack him when his back is to you. This is a risky tactic though, since he may notice you or bump into you when rounding the corner.
Hide in a hole:
Hiding in a hole and waiting for your opponent to walk by works really well, especially when you have eyes. Normally, sitting in a hole may get you into trouble, since the quake marine is pretty easy to see, even in the dark. However, with the eyes, an enemy could walk by without noticing you're peeking out from inside. When they walk by, jump out and attack. If you have a shaft, you should be able to finish him off quickly, as it'll take some time before he realizes where you are. If you have rockets, you will definitely get the first shot on him, but be ready to shoot a rocket ahead of them, because once you shoot him in the back the first time, he will be propelled forward. (With his forward momentum and the rocket blast it will push him pretty far forward.)
Rocket jump with eyes:
It can be very easy to track your opponent once you see the eyes. Since the run speed in quake isn't very fast to begin with, once you are spotted, it'll be very hard to sneak up on your opponent. It also becomes pretty easy for your opponent to predict where you are going, because people with eyes almost always come at you, meaning they become very aggressive. One way to get around this problem is to rocket jump. Though the eyes are relatively easy to see when on the ground, once you get airborne, your opponent will lose you. Rocket jumping will work because of several reasons. One, you can rocket jump in any direction -- It becomes close to impossible to predict exactly where you are going or where you will land. Two, the tactic is so unpredictable. People don't expect you to rocket jump when you have eyes, because a lot of people feel it will give away your position. The easiest way to lose your opponent when doing this is to do a backward rocket jump, because it will propel you further horizontally and will bring you out of his line of sight. Three, depending on the angle at which you rocket jump, you will be propelled faster and higher. The eyes are incredibly hard to track if they are moving quickly.
