Getting to know: Killian LE, the Ultimate Paintball Wildcard
If you have played scenario paintball in the Mid-Atlantic area, at some point you may have run into Killian Le. Or you may have been booped with a dinosaur and eliminated. Or surrendered from behind. Or been on the receiving end of a tank. Or shot him with and entire hopper, reloaded, then shot him again as he played zombie rules or Iron Man.
Killian Le, aka SavethePaint, is a well-known and decorated scenario player that I've known for the past few years. He's on my team, so I can't pretend to be unbiased in my opinion regarding him. But I say that he is one of the most unique players and one of most effective players that I've ever had the chance to play with, and stands out in the sea of players that make up most scenarios. And I'm not the only one that will say that. He's been awarded multiple MVPs (including at one event where he not only won MVP for his own team, but for a third party team that he helped beat the final team there) including at a Legends event, MOFOs, and helped his team win multiple MVTs. Dude's a certified beast.
Killian Le, aka SavethePaint, is a well-known and decorated scenario player that I've known for the past few years. He's on my team, so I can't pretend to be unbiased in my opinion regarding him. But I say that he is one of the most unique players and one of most effective players that I've ever had the chance to play with, and stands out in the sea of players that make up most scenarios. And I'm not the only one that will say that. He's been awarded multiple MVPs (including at one event where he not only won MVP for his own team, but for a third party team that he helped beat the final team there) including at a Legends event, MOFOs, and helped his team win multiple MVTs. Dude's a certified beast.
Getting MVP at OXCC's Annual Red, White, and Blue game
So, I spoke with his time in the game and how he approaches the game. A few things to know if you don't know Killian or haven't watched his Youtube Channel, SavethePaint. Killian is well known to be extremely aggressive, and for getting behind enemy lines and surrendering copious amounts of players. Anyway, here we go!
Another MVP for Killian
How long have you played, and how did you get into the game?
I have been playing for three years now. So my story of how I got introduced to paintball was because of my job. I used to be in Door-to-Door sales and our manager took the company to Hogback Mountain for a day. It was a blast from start to finish. From my first game all the way to the second to last game, when the ref started the match I would only survive for 20 seconds at best. I never could hit the breaks but the adrenaline you feel during that short time attempting to take a few people at was worth it.
Now the icing on the cake was the final match. The ref informed us we had one last match and we asked "If there was an event to dump the rest of our paint?" The ref replied "Ironman" and proceeded to explain the rules. Now I had a grudge against my boss so I made sure he was on the other side. Before we hit the field, everyone was trash talking getting psyched for the rain of paint we were going to throw down, I kept to myself because I did not want to lose at all. I knew what I was about to do was extremely dumb and painful (I was wearing a white tee shirt and Jeans). Just before the game was about to begin, I asked one teammate for his marker and I ran down the center towards the enemy coworkers. One by one I eliminated each one while never taking cover, leaving my boss for last. He sprayed my goggles with paintballs making it hard to see. Once he ran out I hosed him down until he raised his hand. After he called out, I didn't stop grinning for weeks during every team meeting we had.
You have a really uniquely aggressive playing style, often getting behind enemy lines and attacking from behind. How would you describe the way that you play? How did you develop that playing style? Was it a conscious thing to develop your game that way or was it a natural way for you to play?
The way I play......... it's 2 ways. Either A) I am running at you full speed taking very little breaks in between to keep applying pressure, or B) I am avoiding all fights and seeing if I can sneak in for an epic play. These play-styles have always been something I have done.
When I am being hyper aggressive and just respawning over and over again, I have accepted I am going to get hit. In fact I expect to get hit a lot. If they are shooting me over and over again that means they will run out of air and to me that means they will have to get off the field. That's one less player for when I am able to make a move. Also, when I am being aggressive, I know others see it and will look for opportunities or join me in the fun.
When it comes to the second option, getting behind enemy lines, is nothing special in my opinion. For most fields you have bushes, woodland areas, and structures you can hide and wait for the enemy to pass by. When it comes to hiding and letting the enemy pass by there are a lot of fail attempts before I am successful. After several deaths (and 10-20 deaths in 10bminutes), I generally will figure out where the blindspot for the enemy is (respawn abuse is your friend). Once I'm behind enemy lines, for the most part I will avoid all major hot spots on the field to avoid as many people as possible to set up for a future spot (activating multiple spawn locations behind the enemy) so I can run back to as a fall back if I fail initially. After that, I just find groups of enemies that are engaging with my team. For the most part because they are engaging with my team, they are not looking around themselves and leaving it up to my discretion on whether to quietly surrender players or to one ball them out.
For the most part, this play-style has always been with me. I just do it. There's not much thought put into it. When I overthink, I stay still in a bunker for too long and normally get shot out. So every time I go out to play, I just go where it seems to be the most fun. If I see action, you bet I am going to find my way there. If there is a wall and I cannot pass, I find my way around.
I have been playing for three years now. So my story of how I got introduced to paintball was because of my job. I used to be in Door-to-Door sales and our manager took the company to Hogback Mountain for a day. It was a blast from start to finish. From my first game all the way to the second to last game, when the ref started the match I would only survive for 20 seconds at best. I never could hit the breaks but the adrenaline you feel during that short time attempting to take a few people at was worth it.
Now the icing on the cake was the final match. The ref informed us we had one last match and we asked "If there was an event to dump the rest of our paint?" The ref replied "Ironman" and proceeded to explain the rules. Now I had a grudge against my boss so I made sure he was on the other side. Before we hit the field, everyone was trash talking getting psyched for the rain of paint we were going to throw down, I kept to myself because I did not want to lose at all. I knew what I was about to do was extremely dumb and painful (I was wearing a white tee shirt and Jeans). Just before the game was about to begin, I asked one teammate for his marker and I ran down the center towards the enemy coworkers. One by one I eliminated each one while never taking cover, leaving my boss for last. He sprayed my goggles with paintballs making it hard to see. Once he ran out I hosed him down until he raised his hand. After he called out, I didn't stop grinning for weeks during every team meeting we had.
You have a really uniquely aggressive playing style, often getting behind enemy lines and attacking from behind. How would you describe the way that you play? How did you develop that playing style? Was it a conscious thing to develop your game that way or was it a natural way for you to play?
The way I play......... it's 2 ways. Either A) I am running at you full speed taking very little breaks in between to keep applying pressure, or B) I am avoiding all fights and seeing if I can sneak in for an epic play. These play-styles have always been something I have done.
When I am being hyper aggressive and just respawning over and over again, I have accepted I am going to get hit. In fact I expect to get hit a lot. If they are shooting me over and over again that means they will run out of air and to me that means they will have to get off the field. That's one less player for when I am able to make a move. Also, when I am being aggressive, I know others see it and will look for opportunities or join me in the fun.
When it comes to the second option, getting behind enemy lines, is nothing special in my opinion. For most fields you have bushes, woodland areas, and structures you can hide and wait for the enemy to pass by. When it comes to hiding and letting the enemy pass by there are a lot of fail attempts before I am successful. After several deaths (and 10-20 deaths in 10bminutes), I generally will figure out where the blindspot for the enemy is (respawn abuse is your friend). Once I'm behind enemy lines, for the most part I will avoid all major hot spots on the field to avoid as many people as possible to set up for a future spot (activating multiple spawn locations behind the enemy) so I can run back to as a fall back if I fail initially. After that, I just find groups of enemies that are engaging with my team. For the most part because they are engaging with my team, they are not looking around themselves and leaving it up to my discretion on whether to quietly surrender players or to one ball them out.
For the most part, this play-style has always been with me. I just do it. There's not much thought put into it. When I overthink, I stay still in a bunker for too long and normally get shot out. So every time I go out to play, I just go where it seems to be the most fun. If I see action, you bet I am going to find my way there. If there is a wall and I cannot pass, I find my way around.
Reloading and refueling
What are the positives and negatives of playing this way?
The positives for me is I have fun in my own way, and I can make huge plays or laughs. The negatives with my play-style is that I tend to forget about the original goal I had. For example, my team would send me on a mission to help someone...... I will never get there because I got distracted with an enemy group about to collapse on us. Another negative with my playstyle is that I will always have bruises to take home, but some will say that is a sign of a true 'baller. I know my style is not for everyone. But for the ones that do take up this style, you will always have a story to tell.
What reactions do people have to the melee weapons? Have they been more positive or negative ways?
As long as it is part of the event, most people do not mind. There are some that believe I am Larping (Live action role playing) and should not bring it into the sport. Others think it's amusing to watch this 6'3 Fully blue geared guy running around with lightsabers or Dino heads tagging people out (Editor's note: They rawr and they're hilarious).
The positives for me is I have fun in my own way, and I can make huge plays or laughs. The negatives with my play-style is that I tend to forget about the original goal I had. For example, my team would send me on a mission to help someone...... I will never get there because I got distracted with an enemy group about to collapse on us. Another negative with my playstyle is that I will always have bruises to take home, but some will say that is a sign of a true 'baller. I know my style is not for everyone. But for the ones that do take up this style, you will always have a story to tell.
What reactions do people have to the melee weapons? Have they been more positive or negative ways?
As long as it is part of the event, most people do not mind. There are some that believe I am Larping (Live action role playing) and should not bring it into the sport. Others think it's amusing to watch this 6'3 Fully blue geared guy running around with lightsabers or Dino heads tagging people out (Editor's note: They rawr and they're hilarious).
Death by Dino
You have videos in which you’ve been hit literally thousands of times in a short period of time. What are your thoughts on getting hit? How do you deal with the pain of getting hit that often? Do you feel most of the hits anymore or has it become more or less numb for you?
I feel all the hits, they still hurt. Most of the time for those events I truly did not want to do it, but I knew I could handle it and it would help the team. During the time where I was at OXCC getting hit with over 1000 paintballs, I was just singing to distract myself and rotating the shots around my body so that way I was not just giviging too much exposure to one spot.
You also are known for playing either with your marker or with melee weapons. How do you decide on what you use in an event? What do you use (both marker and whacking stick of choice)?
If it is a Magfed only event. Whacking stick of choice is always the go-to. They have to reload often. I do not.
Why did you initially try melee weapons? What do you like about playing with them? What are the downsides? What advice would you give to those looking to try melee?
You are going to fail a lot. You are going to get shot a lot. A lot of those shots will be within a foot. It's going to suck but laugh it off and get back to spawn. Also, the last advice I can give when playing with melee is to make sure you're using a soft melee weapon (plushies), because you can swing full throttle and not hurt anyone (don't aim for the mask at full throttle). If you are using a harder weapon, you will not be able to swing as fast without injuring someone.
I started melee because I was frustrated with my Tipx. Balls were breaking all the time and there was so much down time because I had to refill 10 mags. Those 10 mags would only take a few minutes, but to me a few minutes is a couple hours of not playing at the end of the day.
I feel all the hits, they still hurt. Most of the time for those events I truly did not want to do it, but I knew I could handle it and it would help the team. During the time where I was at OXCC getting hit with over 1000 paintballs, I was just singing to distract myself and rotating the shots around my body so that way I was not just giviging too much exposure to one spot.
You also are known for playing either with your marker or with melee weapons. How do you decide on what you use in an event? What do you use (both marker and whacking stick of choice)?
If it is a Magfed only event. Whacking stick of choice is always the go-to. They have to reload often. I do not.
Why did you initially try melee weapons? What do you like about playing with them? What are the downsides? What advice would you give to those looking to try melee?
You are going to fail a lot. You are going to get shot a lot. A lot of those shots will be within a foot. It's going to suck but laugh it off and get back to spawn. Also, the last advice I can give when playing with melee is to make sure you're using a soft melee weapon (plushies), because you can swing full throttle and not hurt anyone (don't aim for the mask at full throttle). If you are using a harder weapon, you will not be able to swing as fast without injuring someone.
I started melee because I was frustrated with my Tipx. Balls were breaking all the time and there was so much down time because I had to refill 10 mags. Those 10 mags would only take a few minutes, but to me a few minutes is a couple hours of not playing at the end of the day.
One thing can't shoot paint very well and is only useful in getting people out by tagging them with it, and the other is a dinosaur-on-a-stick
You also get a lot of surrenders when getting behind players and asking for the surrender. Do you have a consistent strategy for it, or is it just a byproduct of you playing aggressively? What advice would you have for players in order to get them more surrenders? Do you have any favorite surrender stories, or memorable ones?
Before I say anything on this I will say this, only do it if you're comfortable with the style of play. You will always be more successful with what you're comfortable with.
My play-style has naturally provided an ample amount of opportunities for surrenders. but I am always prepared for them to turn my direction. With going for surrenders I always run the risk of getting caught and getting shot before making a play. So my advice to you is always quickly assess your risks, make sure to follow the field rules of surrenders (optional? Mandatory?) and act quickly.
My favorite Surrender story was when I was at SMP. I got behind enemy lines in the woods and proceeded down hill to the tree line where most of the team was. There was this ravine separating myself and the enemy, so I waited for a fire fight to break out. Once the fire fight started, I did a full sprint down the hill and jumped over the ravine. The enemy still did not notice me, so I proceeded to get close to the closest enemy. I put my hand on his shoulder and my barrel of my marker to his pack and quietly asked "Surrender PLZ?" He quietly raised his hand. I proceeded to do the same thing to the following 10 other players.
You’re into the events that you play in and take them to heart, including playing with a lightsaber in the Jedi game at SMP and going full zombie mode at Living Dead. How early do you check out the special rules before an event? Is it a driving factor for deciding games to go to? What is your favorite special rule that you’ve taken advantage of or used in a game? What theme has been your favorite?
Proximity to where I live has always played a huge role in where I go. When it comes to checking special rules, I only check them when I know I am going to an event. To me, I don't like to hype myself up if I know I cannot make it.
My favorite special rule was definitely during OTP Living Dead. Zombies in the game were engineered to help each team. Now, Zombies could only get shot in the head to call out. So after I was out of energy from sprinting down enemies, I convinced other zombies to create a "Zombie Barricade". This is where the Zombies get shoulder to shoulder/hold on to one another, this way we can just walk backwards while tucking our heads down. This made it so our team had a moving bunker to shoot from.
Before I say anything on this I will say this, only do it if you're comfortable with the style of play. You will always be more successful with what you're comfortable with.
My play-style has naturally provided an ample amount of opportunities for surrenders. but I am always prepared for them to turn my direction. With going for surrenders I always run the risk of getting caught and getting shot before making a play. So my advice to you is always quickly assess your risks, make sure to follow the field rules of surrenders (optional? Mandatory?) and act quickly.
My favorite Surrender story was when I was at SMP. I got behind enemy lines in the woods and proceeded down hill to the tree line where most of the team was. There was this ravine separating myself and the enemy, so I waited for a fire fight to break out. Once the fire fight started, I did a full sprint down the hill and jumped over the ravine. The enemy still did not notice me, so I proceeded to get close to the closest enemy. I put my hand on his shoulder and my barrel of my marker to his pack and quietly asked "Surrender PLZ?" He quietly raised his hand. I proceeded to do the same thing to the following 10 other players.
You’re into the events that you play in and take them to heart, including playing with a lightsaber in the Jedi game at SMP and going full zombie mode at Living Dead. How early do you check out the special rules before an event? Is it a driving factor for deciding games to go to? What is your favorite special rule that you’ve taken advantage of or used in a game? What theme has been your favorite?
Proximity to where I live has always played a huge role in where I go. When it comes to checking special rules, I only check them when I know I am going to an event. To me, I don't like to hype myself up if I know I cannot make it.
My favorite special rule was definitely during OTP Living Dead. Zombies in the game were engineered to help each team. Now, Zombies could only get shot in the head to call out. So after I was out of energy from sprinting down enemies, I convinced other zombies to create a "Zombie Barricade". This is where the Zombies get shoulder to shoulder/hold on to one another, this way we can just walk backwards while tucking our heads down. This made it so our team had a moving bunker to shoot from.
Time to hunt
You were the first person to bring a walking tank into a Living Legends game. It paid off with a MOFO for your team, and you an MVP. When did you decide to build the tank? Where did you get the design? What was the experience like for you? What was your favorite moment with the tank? When did you know, “Yeah, this thing is kicking ass.” What surprised you with it?
I designed it and created it from head-to-toe, with some advice from Joe (Team Defiance engineer). The netting was provided by Tom the owner of SMP. The planning and building of the tank happened within a week of the event. After work, I would stay at the shop working on the "short bus".
The experience was a mix of emotions. Since I created it, I was always wondering what else could I improve on it. Could I make it faster, smaller, more maneuverable? But all my worries ended on the second day.
For our 'Yeah, this thing is kicking ass moment,' on the second day, the guys and I all felt that the tank was under-performing. To make it go faster, we placed the front axle to the very front of the bus (as opposed to slightly further back into the body of the bus) so that the driver could steer from behind. With that small change we were now able move at a jogging pace while the driver simply raised the back end of the bus to change directions. Now with us feeling like we had a point to prove, and with the small adjustment with the axle complete, we were ready. At 10AM, we got orders to push the enemy as far back as possible as the enemy had control of 80% of the map. We jumped into the Short Bus and started running. I took the driver/call out position, while one teammate was using the Metadyne launcher (destroys buildings) and one was letting it rip with a paintball marker. We saw our first group of enemies and proceeded to barrel down the road towards them. We all agreed that we were out to make a statement so without hesitation we fired off 2 rockets from the metadyne destroying 2 buildings with 15 people and shot out the other 5. Without stopping, we proceeded to the next town destroying 5 more buildings and took out more players. We ended up getting blown up at the bridge and had to go back to respawn, but with that one push we eliminated over 40 players and allowed our team to regain over 50% of the field!
The most surprising part of the tank was having 4 paintballers get out of the tank scream yaba daba dooo and carrying it through the woods to invade the enemy spawn.
What are your favorite parts of a scenario? Do you normally try to be as effective as possible in eliminating opponents, figuring out puzzles, doing missions, or do you just take it as it comes to you?
For me, I avoid puzzles but will do almost anything that is asked of me. My favorite aspect is just being part of the large fire fights with my spawn being really close. That way I can run in, die, and do it again and again and again.
I designed it and created it from head-to-toe, with some advice from Joe (Team Defiance engineer). The netting was provided by Tom the owner of SMP. The planning and building of the tank happened within a week of the event. After work, I would stay at the shop working on the "short bus".
The experience was a mix of emotions. Since I created it, I was always wondering what else could I improve on it. Could I make it faster, smaller, more maneuverable? But all my worries ended on the second day.
For our 'Yeah, this thing is kicking ass moment,' on the second day, the guys and I all felt that the tank was under-performing. To make it go faster, we placed the front axle to the very front of the bus (as opposed to slightly further back into the body of the bus) so that the driver could steer from behind. With that small change we were now able move at a jogging pace while the driver simply raised the back end of the bus to change directions. Now with us feeling like we had a point to prove, and with the small adjustment with the axle complete, we were ready. At 10AM, we got orders to push the enemy as far back as possible as the enemy had control of 80% of the map. We jumped into the Short Bus and started running. I took the driver/call out position, while one teammate was using the Metadyne launcher (destroys buildings) and one was letting it rip with a paintball marker. We saw our first group of enemies and proceeded to barrel down the road towards them. We all agreed that we were out to make a statement so without hesitation we fired off 2 rockets from the metadyne destroying 2 buildings with 15 people and shot out the other 5. Without stopping, we proceeded to the next town destroying 5 more buildings and took out more players. We ended up getting blown up at the bridge and had to go back to respawn, but with that one push we eliminated over 40 players and allowed our team to regain over 50% of the field!
The most surprising part of the tank was having 4 paintballers get out of the tank scream yaba daba dooo and carrying it through the woods to invade the enemy spawn.
What are your favorite parts of a scenario? Do you normally try to be as effective as possible in eliminating opponents, figuring out puzzles, doing missions, or do you just take it as it comes to you?
For me, I avoid puzzles but will do almost anything that is asked of me. My favorite aspect is just being part of the large fire fights with my spawn being really close. That way I can run in, die, and do it again and again and again.
The Walking Tank, aka the Short Bus
You’ve been a General for the Jedi game, but often play as a bit of a lone wolf as a result of your playing style. How did you like being in command of an entire team? What did you think of the juxtaposition?
It has its ups and downs. I love playing and when I am the General I had to take a step back from running and gunning to make sure everyone is doing missions or taking up key points to set up the next location.
I believe my play-style and Generaling worked well. I was able to work with everyone well and get players involved, even rental players were doing some crazy stuff. Now at times I felt that I did not explain things the best of ways, which could be a correlation to my lone wolf play style.
You have your own youtube channel. How has that affected you as a player? Has it changed anything that you’ve done on a field, in good or bad ways? How much time and effort goes into video creation? What videos do you think are the most indicative of who you are as a paintball player? Are there any other youtubers that you watch and admire, and why?
Having a Youtube channel has had a crazy change in how I have had to play. A lot of people are able to see my play-style and try to counter it all the time, which makes it more of a challenge to make a crazy play. At times players like PANDA will order multiple players to always face the opposite direction of the actual firefight, to make sure I do not get behind them. This forced me to wait a longer period of time or to just throw caution to the wind and go markers blazing.
When it comes to video creating. If it is a short 5 minute video it can take 3 hours because of the 3 different camera angles I provide, and it just multiples if the video gets longer. When it comes to the most indicative video of me as a paintball player that's a tough one. If i HAD to pick it would be So many fails in one day of Southern Maryland paintball. It shows failures, laughs, and honor in the sport.
Now when it comes to favorite paintball youtubers out there my top 10 would be AlabastaSlim and Aartwood for their narration styles and gameplay.
It has its ups and downs. I love playing and when I am the General I had to take a step back from running and gunning to make sure everyone is doing missions or taking up key points to set up the next location.
I believe my play-style and Generaling worked well. I was able to work with everyone well and get players involved, even rental players were doing some crazy stuff. Now at times I felt that I did not explain things the best of ways, which could be a correlation to my lone wolf play style.
You have your own youtube channel. How has that affected you as a player? Has it changed anything that you’ve done on a field, in good or bad ways? How much time and effort goes into video creation? What videos do you think are the most indicative of who you are as a paintball player? Are there any other youtubers that you watch and admire, and why?
Having a Youtube channel has had a crazy change in how I have had to play. A lot of people are able to see my play-style and try to counter it all the time, which makes it more of a challenge to make a crazy play. At times players like PANDA will order multiple players to always face the opposite direction of the actual firefight, to make sure I do not get behind them. This forced me to wait a longer period of time or to just throw caution to the wind and go markers blazing.
When it comes to video creating. If it is a short 5 minute video it can take 3 hours because of the 3 different camera angles I provide, and it just multiples if the video gets longer. When it comes to the most indicative video of me as a paintball player that's a tough one. If i HAD to pick it would be So many fails in one day of Southern Maryland paintball. It shows failures, laughs, and honor in the sport.
Now when it comes to favorite paintball youtubers out there my top 10 would be AlabastaSlim and Aartwood for their narration styles and gameplay.
Rocking at Bones and Ashes
Do you have any advice for young players out there trying to develop their own playing style?
Just go out there and have fun. If you're not having fun, it's not worth it.
When you’re playing over a weekend in a big game, what do you see out there that makes you think, “This is my time to shine.” or “If I pull this off, it’ll make my weekend?” What out there gives you the biggest smile?
What gives me the biggest smile is making that play I thought I never could pull off. That insane run down middle taking out a few guys. That feeling is the best.
I never truly focus on finding my time to shine. If it happens, it happens. I am there to play and play till I collapse. If a moment arises then that is a memory to share and keep. A lot of times milliseconds before I make any play I just say "do something stupid" and then start running, because we might as well do something to remember. Whether it's good or bad, we will figure it out as we go.
Just go out there and have fun. If you're not having fun, it's not worth it.
When you’re playing over a weekend in a big game, what do you see out there that makes you think, “This is my time to shine.” or “If I pull this off, it’ll make my weekend?” What out there gives you the biggest smile?
What gives me the biggest smile is making that play I thought I never could pull off. That insane run down middle taking out a few guys. That feeling is the best.
I never truly focus on finding my time to shine. If it happens, it happens. I am there to play and play till I collapse. If a moment arises then that is a memory to share and keep. A lot of times milliseconds before I make any play I just say "do something stupid" and then start running, because we might as well do something to remember. Whether it's good or bad, we will figure it out as we go.
Legends: Bones and Ashes MVP
If you get a chance to play with Killian and run with him for a little bit, definitely make an effort to try and do so. Most players out there play in very similar ways, and can kind of cancel each other out. That's not saying good or bad, just that a lot are on the same level and play in similar fashions. Killian's attitude of pushing forward hard, all the time, can be rarity, and has been highly effective for him. Thanks for the time!
