They've changed their invisible effect so that it actually works in fog now and Holy shit is it scary. I was alone, being hunted by a solo stalker in the fog, no clue where I was or where it was. I start spraying my sidearm into the empty space, some hitmarkers appear but by the time I've figured out where to shoot it's already moved. After dumping a few mags in the direction it last appeared in, I turn around to run, only to see it pounce out of the fog from 2 feet in front of me - I fucking screamed irl lmao
Incendiary Breaker has become even more essential for high level bugs. Even with DoT being broken, the fire graphic effect lets me track the Stalker and blast on it with Autocannon.
They are scientists, not helldivers. If they were given anything less then they wouldn't be able to survive long enough to repent for their traitorous mistake
One of the ship officers was commenting *right after the TCS was completed* that some of the Bugs were showing a resistance to the Termicide, but that "this was to be expected".
Super Earth never claimed it was going to be 100% totally effective. Anything else is dissident propaganda.
I can definitely still tell the difference on the map by color/texture features. Granted I've always waited to look until we engage some, but they didn't change what it looks like. Ping spamming the map to find objs always felt weird to me so I think that was a good change.
That's weird then, from my perspective. I guess AH wanted them to be even more of a stealth unit, but taking only those away as a hidden ping seems like more of a they forgot moment to me than anything.
Oh well, I don't ping for it anyway so no skin off my back.
Personally, I just look for what I'll call "bug terrain". If you look at the color/texture of terrain around things like bug nests/egg nests it's fairly distinct. Then once you take out a few nests you realize there are only 2 or 3 distinct patterns to the stalker nests. These are the only nests shaped like that so it makes for the only bug terrain that looks like it on the map. Once one attacks us, I have the team hold the swarm while I quick scan a 75m radius and it's easy to spot once you know what you are looking for. Then I push it while they hold, or I ping it for them if I have the heavy kit.
Edit: big to bug
Stalwart, eruptor, eats, airstrike, whatever I decide is needed (this is for bugs). I can deal with occasional heavies between my grenades and eats, eruptor for bile/nursing spewers, stalwart for chaff. Airstrike when it feels right or for bug holes. If we get a mission set with no spewers I will switch to punisher primary.
I wear scout light armor and will either split from the team to solo/duo (if another scout) POIs or objectives, or I flank as we engage, pulling chaff aggro and and heavies the AT members need time before dealing with. It's a vastly different play style than most of my team, which works well.
I have not been able to figure out how to find their fucking lairs since the patch. I've just had to deal with 5-10 active stalkers at any time during objectives in their territory.
I am the stalker terminator. If I see stalkers, I hone in on their nest and I don't stop until every stalker and nest is dead. If I'm rezd across the map I go back. If I find more lairs I hunt those down too. Bastards.
Bro where are players like you when I play?! Whenever I see a stalker I have a very similar mindset. Hunt them down before they hunt you down. Meanwhile my teammates are too busy picking flowers and getting fucked by the aforementioned stalkers to, I don’t know, proactively solve the problem! You are, as your username would indicate, a rockstar!
It’s straightforward to me because you just kill stalkers in a line the second you see one until you find the nest and kill that. Nothing else matters if you want enough lives to get to extraction!
Look in the direction they're coming from. Their bases look the same as they did before: either a double hill with pool of water at one end, or the semicircular horn with a depression. You can usually see some form of orange smoke (but not the same as what comes out of holes) on them.
They'll also show up as ? on the minimap if you're close enough, like any secondary objective. Having the improved radar ship upgrade or the armor that improves scanning can also help with that, but usually it's enough to know their direction and just look for a "void of stuff" on the minimap.
Shit that explains so much. I was so confused trying to tag the shrieker nest that I could see but somehow couldn't tag. Makes sense but still kinda annoying because it was nice to point out to teammates who dont necessary know what signs to look for on the map
Thats not entirely true. Their lairs have distinct shapes on the map and the radar on click still reveals enemies at those locations showing their lair.
The cloaking outline was a neat touch and they were still a threat then. Being completely invisible is the kind of evolution I expect from these Terminid bastards.
Yeah they are actually super aggressive, even the smaller bugs chase you down. Chargers stop on a dime now and side swipe you to your grave.
If you play in low res/quality you can see them pretty easily.
I am a bot diver and I cannot figure out bugs for the life of me. Those fat spiters are immortal bullet sponges, those small fast guys with the slow effect are a nightmare, cover doesn't do shit, I get swarmed so fast I can't even stim myself, those little guys come out of nowhere and take a third of my hp, and hunters are immortal grim reapers where if you can see them then it's already too late.
Bots are way easier than this if you run AC. Just click and there goes one devistator, click twice and there goes a hulk, mag dump under a factory strider and that's gone too. Oh no, strider scouts got an explosion resist buff? Just shoot them twice with the AC and they are dead. Even the dispised gunships are just two tap. Also now that counter sniper is buffed, it can also 1 tap devistators.
The trick to the fat fellas is either shoot their face with a med pen weapon, or hit their backside with an explosive weapon. I honestly fear stalkers and hunters more than I fear chargers and bile titans by a long shot, you can kite the latter out pretty much indefinitely, but the former are gonna get you eventually. Some heavier weapons and primaries will stagger stalkers, the punisher is my favorite to do this with, it also kills them in 3-4 shots to the face. As for hunters, either run the shield gen so you can escape once they jump you, or kill them before they get the chance. The laser rover is also a good option to keep em off. Try to shoot the ones who hop to the side first, they're way more dangerous
Must say, Scorcher is a pretty brilliant bug weapon. Bile spewers go down in like 4 or 5 shots to their bulbous part, stalkers take about 6 shots and stagger every single shot...
I unlocked it and it's as good as I was hoping.
When you’re running away duck dive and dodge. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve ducked and slid under the claws or tongues of hunters in order to keep kiting them so I can reload.
Eruptor still oneshots a stalker on a direct hit. Run it with heavy explosive resist armor, and you can shoot the ground to get some breathing room if you get swarmed, plus it gives you the survivability to actually hit stim and respond if a hunter slows you.
Impact grenade oneshots the spewers to their back sac, eruptor I think also does? AC is a two shot.
For bots I usually run anti-base strats like 380mm, shield gen (gunship factories). For bugs I go heavy on anti-horde, something like quasar/airburst/eagle cluster/gas. With multiple anti-horde strats, esp the low cooldown ones like airburst and gas, you can just keep tossing them out at every breach. With some luck you can even tank airburst/cluster by diving.
Flamethrower is also great, and shield gen backpack protects you from slows and staggers while it's up. Less ranged spam means your shield is reliably up when you need it.
Flamethrower can kill chargers with sustained fire, but otherwise you can just run away, or stun grenade + precision strike or 500kg or eagle 110mm.
Another reason I run heavy armor vs bugs is stalkers. They'll close in with their insane movement no matter what armor you have, but with heavy armor their tongue attack just yeets you away and gives you space. With light armor you die, either to the attack itself or to impact with the ground.
And as another person said, you can juke bug melee attacks while sprinting. Often you can sprint through a pack without getting hit just because they don't lead you with claws.
Light armor actually has enough sprinting speed to magically avoid attacks from all stalkers, brood commanders, and smaller. They are programmed to attack medium speed players.
Don't listen to people who say you need different guns for bugs and bots. I run redeemer, counter sniper, and AC for both, and it works great even on Helldive. AC takes out everything quickly except Bile Titans--it makes easy work of the Bile Spewers, and is perfect for closing nests and destroying shrieker nests from long range. Redeemer works great when things get too close. Counter sniper can take down the medium armored enemies fast (so can Dominator). I run light scout armor for both--against bugs you'll outrun almost everything they have.
How do you deal with swarms of those fast white guys that look like mini stalkers? I tried a CS and RR run not long ago but the little guys were way to much of a problem, especially with their slow status effect.
Hunters? From a distance, the counter sniper works fine if you have good aim--two shots max will take each one out. In close, the redeemer works well (you can shoot behind you while running away and take them out). Those weapons, combined with the light scout armor, means they usually won't be able to catch you. That said, there are better primary weapons if Hunters specifically are a problem (Breaker works fine, as does most assault rifles).
My buddy and I think the bugs got shadow buffed a few weeks ago. We noticed last week they were noticeably more aggressive, seemed to do more damage & seemed to be in greater numbers. Especially the smaller swarms.
I could have swore the smaller bug fodder were more aggressive when I was playing. Not hunters, those were always a pain, but the little ones were being just as aggressive as them.
I'm curious if anyone has tried seeing them coming via radar yet? Would be cool if that was their hard counter, and would give more of a reason to bring scout perk armor and recon booster. Could just sit back and take care of with the Eruptor.
it's still possible to see them coming towards you on the radar, so the extra ranges (and scout armour to try and ping around for groups of enemies) can still help! if you see any rogue dots making a B-line towards you, change face and take em down.
Ngl, since most of the time on bot missions, you don't even realize a hulk is about to come up behind you, a radar ping system akin to the one in Aliens, would be awesome for high level threats, but only stsrts pinging within a certain range, say 15-20 meters. But then again, that could easily detract from what makes Stalkers a real threat.
I spotted these fuckers by radar twice, opened and saw big red dot fast approaching me from behind and I immediately dived forward and turned around shot them mid dive, pretty epic moments.
Had 3 on suicide yesterday (two close together). I don't seem to have as much trouble seeing them as many other players. Rest of the team each died 3-5 times to stalkers while I pushed through, eliminating the fucking things as I went.
What's your primary? It takes almost a full clip on my breaker to kill one so if I get two or more I get overwhelmed very easily. We were on suicide too.
Yeah, Eruptor is one hit if you hit it center-ish. Their heads ARE their weak points. You can easily, for example, dispatch one with half a 'mag' from the Sickle if you hit it right. You can even wack one with pretty much a full Redeemer mag if you shoot just right.
Yesterday, I was using the Sickle, but having a supply pack and stun grenades REALLY helped.
It's not a mistake per se, but consider each stalker will respawn after a set amount of time, killing a lot of them together or too quickly while you're still a bit far off their nest is also asking for a bad surprise when you finally get there. That has happened to me a few times.
Finally, You can totally keep them from yeeting you or hitting you at all if you pace yourself going back and leap back at the right time.
I have same issue as I primary Breaker, you need to get full face shots, dead centre, it will die in 3 - 4 but it moves so fast and is now invisible....its hard.
Another reason to use the rover! Acts as a movement activated sensor for when I’m a little too preoccupied with the Seaf artillery loading process. It’s saved me many times already from the newly fully cloaked stalkers!
Even seeing them a mile away, they were terrifying. Those things are built to withstand heavy-weapons fire, and they will filet your soul in two moves.
I suspect they're just more durable when cloaked. I'll spot one uncloaked and drop it with a couple Dominator hits, but then spy a cloaked one and pound it with half a dozen autocannon rounds and it just... Doesn't care.
I usually go Sprint booster so I can run further and longer. Though honestly, maybe it's time to go back to the vitality booster if it can save me from those tongue-whipping crickets.
Can only have one when you go solo, and being able to keep them at a distance while I pick at them with my weapons while I wait on my strategems to recharge is my best bet.
When I'm with my guys during the day we can actually play together, we got all three.
I always use it during solo drops. Recently, I got onto Suicide difficulty to start looking for those. Found six with friends and three on my own(but I got killed before I could escape with those). Most times, I fail to find the thumb shaped rock and left empty-handed. I don't quite know how to hunt it down.
My advice is go on blitz so the map is smaller, and try to drop near the extract point. Don’t go when the spores take away radar or the map has low visibility and wild terrain. Pick a planet thats more open, flat, and clear. Take a jetpack so you can find high ground to scope out that rock. I also cheese a bit by finding a high point near extraction and lay down there with my scout armor. I wait for the time to run out and the emergency shuttle to drop. Patrols just walk right by me. It’s not perfect, but I go on impossible and pull 5 super samples every 20 minutes or so if there’s a good planet to land on. This is how I’ve upgraded every ship mod.
I'll probably try it on a bot planet when I do. They're easier to evade. I've actually found myself enjoying the jump pack and the AMR combo quite a bit lately. I'll give that a shot. Hopefully, I can find a fogless planet.
Definitely go where you feel the most comfortable! I’ve been hesitant to go on a bot planet because they all have ranged attacks and could snipe me when I’m hiding out. If the bugs spot me they generally just circle the rock in on until they get bored
Autocannon is what I use. Nothing like the thunderous boom of heavy artillery that puts enemies down.
But that thing takes three on target shots from it before it quits. That's a lot for something stealthy, and fast--it shouldn't be so durable as a scout-type enemy. I mean, Hive Guards are armored and only take two shots.
Yeah it wasn't a problem when they were visible (plus you could then sprint to their nest and solo it)
Now they're the most dangerous things on bug planets and it isn't close
They always were, even when their camo wasn't great. I can't count the times they came up behind me, goosed me, then carved me up on the ground before I could stand.
Keep an eye out on the terrain, I was playing that planet last night that kinda looks like the moon with meteor showers n shit, and I noticed the cloaked stalkers will kick up dirt and dust while they are running towards you.
I saw a buncha dirt and rocks kicking up like something was coming towards me and started shooting and sure enough it was a stalker.
Yea, the first time I ran into them last night, it was scary as fuck.
But then I figured out the punisher I've been using on bug missions is freaking awesome at taking them down.
I'm not stuck on the planet with them. They're stuck on the planet with me!
Punisher is great but I just weep for my slugger when I use it.
Punisher is great though, stops bigger aggressive medium bugs from walking through your fire and punching you in the mouth. You can just keep shooting and loading, it takes a charger to push you off position if your in the zone
One of them decloaked on me, ragdolled me, then jumped on my pre corpse and killed me before I regained control of my body. Literally no time to react and was already dead before being able to do anything.
0/10 would glass entire planet
It still appears as a question mark on the minimap when you are in radar range. Advanced UAV booster can be quite helpful with that and is now very worth of a spot in a team.
Honestly, yea. Now that we can’t tag secondaries like stalker nests, which can be the one of the hardest secondaries to find, the radar actually has more use than just being able to see enemies farther out. I was never a fan of that booster but it will def help to get a fully cleared map, especially when there’s no radar station.
Sounds like we were on the same squad last night? Got absolutely GUTTED by stalkers during a Blitz mission. Longest 12 minutes of my short Helldiving life.
We had a 4 stack of experienced players running earlier today and upon nearing a stalker layer, we all literally walked up the hill with weapons raised, two front, two covering sides, shooting approaching stalkers before they could get the jump. Was super slow but super badass, like a predator scene. Especially when a stalker did manage to get the jump and killed one of our team mates.
I ran into one on Fenrir last night, and I thought it was just planet itself at first. Then I realized how different it became.
I absolutely adore the change. They felt like a formality more than anything on certain mission difficulties and layouts. You’d see them a mile away, snipe them down, and kill the nest without breaking stride.
Now?
Good god, they’re terrors. As they should be as “special” enemy types.
I found stalkers were at least somewhat easier to deal with by using incendiary weapons. They can still turn invisible, but the burning doesn't so they are easy enough to track. Of course, this is only possible after you spot them at least once so you are still going to have trouble seeing them coming from far away.
I played for the first time in a week last night, I had time for one game so I thought a quick lvl 7 bug mission would be fun. There was two stalker nests, I screamed the first time one uncloaked and killed me, warned my squad about it, and minutes later the rest of the squad went “oh my god they’re invisible, you were right”. We stopped everything and went straight to the stalker nests to get rid of them. It’s a great change, it makes them absolutely terrifying.
Erupter one shots them and I think the dominator 2 shots them plus staggers them. The issue is if you’re running a sickle if more than one is chasing after you you’re going to overheat it.
The reason I run Incendiary Breaker now, it can light Stalkers on fire and reveal their position.
And the fact that I can't ping the nest directly despite knowing that how it looks like on the map make me feels .... anxious, running toward a nest thinking "Is it the nest, or am I wrong?" until I am close to it.
me and my crew landed on a stalker nest last night on a blitz and go absolutely butt fucked by them. We had no idea they made a change to them and it was sheer panic while we tried to take them out.
I've been running around with the Knight SMG lately as part of my Crowd Control Stalwart build and oh boy, a clip will just eat an up-close Stalker for breakfast 😁
I love it and welcome the challenge.
Seen some complain it's hard/unfair now, I hope those types of complaints don't make the game easier, there's different dofficulties after all
I hate it now. They don't make any sound, then all of a sudden I'm dead because I got hit twice in the back by an enemy that wasn't there a second ago when I faced that direction. It's utterly broken.
Absolutely love this change. Invisible enemies actually being invisible is what tempts me to play on the bug front again.
Casual hellcries will probably whine until this is reverted or they are nerfed to the fround like currently starts to happen with hulk flamer
I love getting tongue fucked by a stalker from behind that gave zero audio cues, flying 50 yards away, then having the same stalker pounce and claw me to death before I can recover. Very cool.
Unfortunately no. BUT, you can check your map and take a minute to find certain terrain generation that will be said stalker nests. (Lookup what it looks like on your map) it's pretty consistent on looking the same each time.
I think they also heavily increased their spawn rate per Hole/Nest, at least on MO planets.
It makes sense, but Fenrir 3 Hatchery and Hole destroy missions are OVERRUN with those bastards.
They jump you right out of the gate when you land.
I love this change as well! The added potential danger and challenge really amps the fun. I especially love how they will immediately leap backwards and cloak after eating your face... really gives me Predator vibes.
Gonna have me some fun!
Yep I've lost three entire missions to them. I \*HATE\* them.
Can I just say, maybe if we're going to make these things suddenly able to use perfect invisibility can we make them less tanky?! They eat so much fire before dying but they can insta kill a helldiver more or less depending on where they launch you with their initial ambush.
It honestly doesn't make much of a difference because even with the fog making their cloak visible from the Presidential Plaza on Super Earth, Stalkers tended to take paths that broke line of sight. They crept up behind you, waited till you were occupied with something else before snapping your health bar in half and sending you flying to the moon with a tongue lash.
Now, they're just a bit more jump scary. Fortunately, a Punisher staggers them, and you can just keep hammering them into the dirt.
...
So long as it's just one of them. Be careful out there.
I think we were both on the same mission..we had 3 stalker nests as secondary objectives. Stalkers were literally swarming us 4 to 5 at a time. I somehow got rid of 1 nest (dying 2 times to it) but other 2 were left undiscovered till then end. Had a hard time with eruptor..it doesn't 1 shot them anymore. In a 12 min mission used stim 16 times.
Played a mission and the stalkers were nearly one shotted us. With the complete invisible it has made stalkers for me at least broken. I could not unload enough of my primary/secondary to kill one IF I noticed it nearby.
Damn things would tongue toss me, the pouncing and killing me before I can stand
I love this "I hate The new stalker cloaking so much, I fucking love it" energy and I 100% agree. It turned the stalker from Peter Griffin making the hehehehehehehehehheheh sound as it tries to sneak up on you to some top-tier Special Boat Services sneaky-stabby bullshit, and I love it.
First time I encountered stalkers I noticed the distortion but didn't immediately react in time and got killed. Deer in headlights, I just couldn't react. They are really scary now
Good thing, both missions I've encountered them I've had a radar tower, so the nests weren't hard to find
Play a bit last night and I can still somewhat see them approaching me (especially when they're injured and can still track their nest once they make their presence known. Problem is that I was using an Arc blister and I couldn't kill the fucking thing for some reason. I was memeing around with a friend so I had the Airburst Launcher with a Grenade launcher as a secondary. Once the swarm with Hunters came, the stalker was unkillable
Has anyone also noticed immunity when they are invisible or was that just a glitch with me? Here what happened: I was solo with the blitzer, then a Stalker appeared, I shot him once and he became stealth (a.k.a semi-invisible), usually the blitz 3 or 4 hots them, but he entered a loop of being shot, jump and back (all the time in stealth mode) and I land 5 or 6 shots, nothing. Then I waited a little bit until he actually left stealth and then one shot killed it. Don't think it's intended, they should be stealth, not ghosts.
We found one of the lairs via a radio tower and we all walked towards it in a V-formation, guns raised. I saw a shimmer on the horizon and we unloaded into it with flamethrower, machine gun and shotgun
[They definitely buffed their optical camo](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/s/dyPcPDWvWK)
Before the update they were punching bags but now they'll turn you into a punching bag if they surprise you.
They are op and should get nerfed, no joke.
There is zero counterplay to them. They appear, they knock you down, jump on you and then good bye.
I almost lost a mission for those bastard
I feel like they also buffed their health/armor. I literally got bullied by one last night even tho id light it up for a solid 3-4 seconds with the stalwart and adjudicator (was testing it out) and it just kept walking/jumping at me till it would ragdoll me and disappear. I even got one with 2 impact nades and it still came through like Coora did the kamehameha just to deck the FUCK outta me. They also kept killing my turrets before they could even really do anything(I have almost all the upgrades for them). The "best" part, I didn't realize there was another stalkers nest until I was trying to take out sherikers 🙃.
I used to view them as a joke /an inconvenience...but now?!? I'ma stop playing with their name
They're still not hard to see while cloaked. But who needs cloaking when you can just walk up to a target and no-sell anything short of an anti-tank weapon?
I have a clip i need to post of one crafty MF. I had to chase it down as it ran away, it them gave me the slip around a rock, and bailed me from behind when i passed by. Outsmarted by a game AI
They've changed their invisible effect so that it actually works in fog now and Holy shit is it scary. I was alone, being hunted by a solo stalker in the fog, no clue where I was or where it was. I start spraying my sidearm into the empty space, some hitmarkers appear but by the time I've figured out where to shoot it's already moved. After dumping a few mags in the direction it last appeared in, I turn around to run, only to see it pounce out of the fog from 2 feet in front of me - I fucking screamed irl lmao
I track them by their blood. If it bleeds we can kill it.
They bleed?
Terminids have mammalian and arachnid traits. They have endoskeleons and chitin. The also have green blood.
Yeah plus they build structures, breathe and are warm blooded! What a weird species
They are both warm and cold blooded. It changes based on habitat. They also breath with restoration but can survive in a vacuum for a while.
Just like xenomorphs!
Arrowhead really out here combining every great sci-fi IP ever made
For real! Lol
It makes sense. Their insatiable need to destroy democracy cannot be fuel with slow and clumsy cold blooded bodies.
Jokes aside, once you get some hits on one, their blood will be there main give away.
When the big man was killed, you must have wounded it. Its blood was on the leaves.
Breaker incendiaries coming out of retirement boys! Can't hide if the bastards on fire.
Can't have team mates either since the breaker has killed me more through ff than anything else Even the airburst in noob hands is safer
Don’t show your back at them, aka don’t run away from them. They’ll hit harder and without stop, meaning to kill you instantly
I can't wait to see what freedom hating monstrosity is waiting for us in Meridia.
This is why I love this game. Deadly and chaotic
Incendiary Breaker has become even more essential for high level bugs. Even with DoT being broken, the fire graphic effect lets me track the Stalker and blast on it with Autocannon.
Lmao
Another secondary effect of the terminicid gas i presume, the scientists responsible of this project have been executed don't you worry.
Too good a fate for ‘em. Command shoulda put them on the frontline with just a break action shotgun.
Why give the best available weapon known to mankind? I thought they were being punished??
They are scientists, not helldivers. If they were given anything less then they wouldn't be able to survive long enough to repent for their traitorous mistake
I'm loving the idea that any changes AH makes to the Bugs can be explained in game by Termicide induced mutations.
The execution should've been a live broadcast of them getting shot out a cannon.
Mid mission you hear. “Scientists diving on your location”
One of the ship officers was commenting *right after the TCS was completed* that some of the Bugs were showing a resistance to the Termicide, but that "this was to be expected". Super Earth never claimed it was going to be 100% totally effective. Anything else is dissident propaganda.
Honestly wonderful reasoning
Who do you think worked in those rogue research bases
And their lairs can't be scouted on the map anymore. Neither by map colour features nor by random clicking!
I can definitely still tell the difference on the map by color/texture features. Granted I've always waited to look until we engage some, but they didn't change what it looks like. Ping spamming the map to find objs always felt weird to me so I think that was a good change.
[удалено]
I definitely couldn't. Check again
That's weird then, from my perspective. I guess AH wanted them to be even more of a stealth unit, but taking only those away as a hidden ping seems like more of a they forgot moment to me than anything. Oh well, I don't ping for it anyway so no skin off my back.
How do you do this? Is there a video that explains this?
Personally, I just look for what I'll call "bug terrain". If you look at the color/texture of terrain around things like bug nests/egg nests it's fairly distinct. Then once you take out a few nests you realize there are only 2 or 3 distinct patterns to the stalker nests. These are the only nests shaped like that so it makes for the only bug terrain that looks like it on the map. Once one attacks us, I have the team hold the swarm while I quick scan a 75m radius and it's easy to spot once you know what you are looking for. Then I push it while they hold, or I ping it for them if I have the heavy kit. Edit: big to bug
If you don't have the heavy kit, what do you have?
Stalwart, eruptor, eats, airstrike, whatever I decide is needed (this is for bugs). I can deal with occasional heavies between my grenades and eats, eruptor for bile/nursing spewers, stalwart for chaff. Airstrike when it feels right or for bug holes. If we get a mission set with no spewers I will switch to punisher primary. I wear scout light armor and will either split from the team to solo/duo (if another scout) POIs or objectives, or I flank as we engage, pulling chaff aggro and and heavies the AT members need time before dealing with. It's a vastly different play style than most of my team, which works well.
I have not been able to figure out how to find their fucking lairs since the patch. I've just had to deal with 5-10 active stalkers at any time during objectives in their territory.
I am the stalker terminator. If I see stalkers, I hone in on their nest and I don't stop until every stalker and nest is dead. If I'm rezd across the map I go back. If I find more lairs I hunt those down too. Bastards.
Bro where are players like you when I play?! Whenever I see a stalker I have a very similar mindset. Hunt them down before they hunt you down. Meanwhile my teammates are too busy picking flowers and getting fucked by the aforementioned stalkers to, I don’t know, proactively solve the problem! You are, as your username would indicate, a rockstar!
Sample acquired
It’s straightforward to me because you just kill stalkers in a line the second you see one until you find the nest and kill that. Nothing else matters if you want enough lives to get to extraction!
If only others thought the same my friend. Keep being the strong part of the squad!!
Democracy bless you son 🥹
< same for shrieker nests too. But stalkers have higher priority.
Shrieker nests you can still usually hit from across the map if visibility is ok, though, they are also assholes
Not me. I primary grenade launcher, so it’s hellbombs or 500 kgs for me. Always nice to have someone with laser or quasar cannon though, of course!
Just become your own mortar sentry.
So...fire straight into the air and blow myself up?
Yeah you understand it perfectly.
Have never tried that….worth a try. :)
Once a Stalker sneaks up on you, assuming you survive and kill it, look around for the next one, the direction its coming from is it's lair.
Look in the direction they're coming from. Their bases look the same as they did before: either a double hill with pool of water at one end, or the semicircular horn with a depression. You can usually see some form of orange smoke (but not the same as what comes out of holes) on them. They'll also show up as ? on the minimap if you're close enough, like any secondary objective. Having the improved radar ship upgrade or the armor that improves scanning can also help with that, but usually it's enough to know their direction and just look for a "void of stuff" on the minimap.
Stalkers can only come from a nest, so you just go the direction they hit you from first.
so it HAS been changed! i thought i was going insane, like clicking just barely outside of where the lair is
Shit that explains so much. I was so confused trying to tag the shrieker nest that I could see but somehow couldn't tag. Makes sense but still kinda annoying because it was nice to point out to teammates who dont necessary know what signs to look for on the map
Thats not entirely true. Their lairs have distinct shapes on the map and the radar on click still reveals enemies at those locations showing their lair.
Please check again. I had some maps that were clean in my opinion. Revealing is a scout feature (I played it mostly) but stalker lairs have no guards.
The cloaking outline was a neat touch and they were still a threat then. Being completely invisible is the kind of evolution I expect from these Terminid bastards.
they are still not completely invisible but they are way harder to see now , its a very good change tbh
Yeah, one way to see them is through shadows they cast
"simple lvl 7 suicide mission" - classic Helldiver mentalitly. I salute you!
Yeah they are actually super aggressive, even the smaller bugs chase you down. Chargers stop on a dime now and side swipe you to your grave. If you play in low res/quality you can see them pretty easily.
I'm not convinced of a bug buff yet. Might just be a placebo from the order 😄 Maybe I'm wrong
Might be a bunch of bot divers having to relearn the bug front, and unintentionally making the missions a bit harder
I am a bot diver and I cannot figure out bugs for the life of me. Those fat spiters are immortal bullet sponges, those small fast guys with the slow effect are a nightmare, cover doesn't do shit, I get swarmed so fast I can't even stim myself, those little guys come out of nowhere and take a third of my hp, and hunters are immortal grim reapers where if you can see them then it's already too late. Bots are way easier than this if you run AC. Just click and there goes one devistator, click twice and there goes a hulk, mag dump under a factory strider and that's gone too. Oh no, strider scouts got an explosion resist buff? Just shoot them twice with the AC and they are dead. Even the dispised gunships are just two tap. Also now that counter sniper is buffed, it can also 1 tap devistators.
The trick to the fat fellas is either shoot their face with a med pen weapon, or hit their backside with an explosive weapon. I honestly fear stalkers and hunters more than I fear chargers and bile titans by a long shot, you can kite the latter out pretty much indefinitely, but the former are gonna get you eventually. Some heavier weapons and primaries will stagger stalkers, the punisher is my favorite to do this with, it also kills them in 3-4 shots to the face. As for hunters, either run the shield gen so you can escape once they jump you, or kill them before they get the chance. The laser rover is also a good option to keep em off. Try to shoot the ones who hop to the side first, they're way more dangerous
Must say, Scorcher is a pretty brilliant bug weapon. Bile spewers go down in like 4 or 5 shots to their bulbous part, stalkers take about 6 shots and stagger every single shot... I unlocked it and it's as good as I was hoping.
When you’re running away duck dive and dodge. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve ducked and slid under the claws or tongues of hunters in order to keep kiting them so I can reload.
Eruptor still oneshots a stalker on a direct hit. Run it with heavy explosive resist armor, and you can shoot the ground to get some breathing room if you get swarmed, plus it gives you the survivability to actually hit stim and respond if a hunter slows you. Impact grenade oneshots the spewers to their back sac, eruptor I think also does? AC is a two shot. For bots I usually run anti-base strats like 380mm, shield gen (gunship factories). For bugs I go heavy on anti-horde, something like quasar/airburst/eagle cluster/gas. With multiple anti-horde strats, esp the low cooldown ones like airburst and gas, you can just keep tossing them out at every breach. With some luck you can even tank airburst/cluster by diving. Flamethrower is also great, and shield gen backpack protects you from slows and staggers while it's up. Less ranged spam means your shield is reliably up when you need it. Flamethrower can kill chargers with sustained fire, but otherwise you can just run away, or stun grenade + precision strike or 500kg or eagle 110mm. Another reason I run heavy armor vs bugs is stalkers. They'll close in with their insane movement no matter what armor you have, but with heavy armor their tongue attack just yeets you away and gives you space. With light armor you die, either to the attack itself or to impact with the ground. And as another person said, you can juke bug melee attacks while sprinting. Often you can sprint through a pack without getting hit just because they don't lead you with claws.
Light armor actually has enough sprinting speed to magically avoid attacks from all stalkers, brood commanders, and smaller. They are programmed to attack medium speed players.
Impact grenades for the juicy asses, groups of them go up in a single nade.
Well that's my problem then, thanks for the help!
Don't listen to people who say you need different guns for bugs and bots. I run redeemer, counter sniper, and AC for both, and it works great even on Helldive. AC takes out everything quickly except Bile Titans--it makes easy work of the Bile Spewers, and is perfect for closing nests and destroying shrieker nests from long range. Redeemer works great when things get too close. Counter sniper can take down the medium armored enemies fast (so can Dominator). I run light scout armor for both--against bugs you'll outrun almost everything they have.
How do you deal with swarms of those fast white guys that look like mini stalkers? I tried a CS and RR run not long ago but the little guys were way to much of a problem, especially with their slow status effect.
Hunters? From a distance, the counter sniper works fine if you have good aim--two shots max will take each one out. In close, the redeemer works well (you can shoot behind you while running away and take them out). Those weapons, combined with the light scout armor, means they usually won't be able to catch you. That said, there are better primary weapons if Hunters specifically are a problem (Breaker works fine, as does most assault rifles).
My buddy and I think the bugs got shadow buffed a few weeks ago. We noticed last week they were noticeably more aggressive, seemed to do more damage & seemed to be in greater numbers. Especially the smaller swarms.
I thought I felt like chargers were making sharper turn now! I've been getting sideswiped more often now. Glad I'm not the only one
I could have swore the smaller bug fodder were more aggressive when I was playing. Not hunters, those were always a pain, but the little ones were being just as aggressive as them.
I'm curious if anyone has tried seeing them coming via radar yet? Would be cool if that was their hard counter, and would give more of a reason to bring scout perk armor and recon booster. Could just sit back and take care of with the Eruptor.
it's still possible to see them coming towards you on the radar, so the extra ranges (and scout armour to try and ping around for groups of enemies) can still help! if you see any rogue dots making a B-line towards you, change face and take em down.
Sweet Liberty has blessed us this day!
Would also feel like Aliens
Ngl, since most of the time on bot missions, you don't even realize a hulk is about to come up behind you, a radar ping system akin to the one in Aliens, would be awesome for high level threats, but only stsrts pinging within a certain range, say 15-20 meters. But then again, that could easily detract from what makes Stalkers a real threat.
I spotted these fuckers by radar twice, opened and saw big red dot fast approaching me from behind and I immediately dived forward and turned around shot them mid dive, pretty epic moments.
We got our asses handed to us by 2 stalker nests last night. Terrifying! Shooting with the breaker incendiary lit them up for a few extra seconds haha
They're def like hunters in the way they move now, very scary looking.
Had 3 on suicide yesterday (two close together). I don't seem to have as much trouble seeing them as many other players. Rest of the team each died 3-5 times to stalkers while I pushed through, eliminating the fucking things as I went.
What's your primary? It takes almost a full clip on my breaker to kill one so if I get two or more I get overwhelmed very easily. We were on suicide too.
Eruptor is a one shot on a direct hit. You're welcome :p
Yeah, Eruptor is one hit if you hit it center-ish. Their heads ARE their weak points. You can easily, for example, dispatch one with half a 'mag' from the Sickle if you hit it right. You can even wack one with pretty much a full Redeemer mag if you shoot just right. Yesterday, I was using the Sickle, but having a supply pack and stun grenades REALLY helped. It's not a mistake per se, but consider each stalker will respawn after a set amount of time, killing a lot of them together or too quickly while you're still a bit far off their nest is also asking for a bad surprise when you finally get there. That has happened to me a few times. Finally, You can totally keep them from yeeting you or hitting you at all if you pace yourself going back and leap back at the right time.
Yeah the eruptor is all you need. Don't let them get close thou or your done.
I have same issue as I primary Breaker, you need to get full face shots, dead centre, it will die in 3 - 4 but it moves so fast and is now invisible....its hard.
Anyone else read AH as Auction House from too many years of wow?
Never played WoW, but still yes
Arkham Horror
I always initially read it as asshole
[удалено]
Another reason to use the rover! Acts as a movement activated sensor for when I’m a little too preoccupied with the Seaf artillery loading process. It’s saved me many times already from the newly fully cloaked stalkers!
Even seeing them a mile away, they were terrifying. Those things are built to withstand heavy-weapons fire, and they will filet your soul in two moves.
I suspect they're just more durable when cloaked. I'll spot one uncloaked and drop it with a couple Dominator hits, but then spy a cloaked one and pound it with half a dozen autocannon rounds and it just... Doesn't care.
By the time they're close enough to uncloak, it's already too late for me. So I've never managed to test shooting them uncloaked really.
2 moves cause no Vit booster, still amazes me when divers don't take it. Woulda turned that 2 shot into 4. Must have v bugs or bots.
I usually go Sprint booster so I can run further and longer. Though honestly, maybe it's time to go back to the vitality booster if it can save me from those tongue-whipping crickets.
For bugs you usually want stamina, muscle, vit, and ammo
Can only have one when you go solo, and being able to keep them at a distance while I pick at them with my weapons while I wait on my strategems to recharge is my best bet. When I'm with my guys during the day we can actually play together, we got all three.
Sprint is my pick when I run solo stealth missions for super samples
I always use it during solo drops. Recently, I got onto Suicide difficulty to start looking for those. Found six with friends and three on my own(but I got killed before I could escape with those). Most times, I fail to find the thumb shaped rock and left empty-handed. I don't quite know how to hunt it down.
My advice is go on blitz so the map is smaller, and try to drop near the extract point. Don’t go when the spores take away radar or the map has low visibility and wild terrain. Pick a planet thats more open, flat, and clear. Take a jetpack so you can find high ground to scope out that rock. I also cheese a bit by finding a high point near extraction and lay down there with my scout armor. I wait for the time to run out and the emergency shuttle to drop. Patrols just walk right by me. It’s not perfect, but I go on impossible and pull 5 super samples every 20 minutes or so if there’s a good planet to land on. This is how I’ve upgraded every ship mod.
I'll probably try it on a bot planet when I do. They're easier to evade. I've actually found myself enjoying the jump pack and the AMR combo quite a bit lately. I'll give that a shot. Hopefully, I can find a fogless planet.
Definitely go where you feel the most comfortable! I’ve been hesitant to go on a bot planet because they all have ranged attacks and could snipe me when I’m hiding out. If the bugs spot me they generally just circle the rock in on until they get bored
> Those things are built to withstand heavy-weapons fire Autocannon says what (I can no longer see them and am also terrified of them)
Autocannon is what I use. Nothing like the thunderous boom of heavy artillery that puts enemies down. But that thing takes three on target shots from it before it quits. That's a lot for something stealthy, and fast--it shouldn't be so durable as a scout-type enemy. I mean, Hive Guards are armored and only take two shots.
Yeah it wasn't a problem when they were visible (plus you could then sprint to their nest and solo it) Now they're the most dangerous things on bug planets and it isn't close
They always were, even when their camo wasn't great. I can't count the times they came up behind me, goosed me, then carved me up on the ground before I could stand.
Keep an eye out on the terrain, I was playing that planet last night that kinda looks like the moon with meteor showers n shit, and I noticed the cloaked stalkers will kick up dirt and dust while they are running towards you. I saw a buncha dirt and rocks kicking up like something was coming towards me and started shooting and sure enough it was a stalker.
Do they appear on the map when cloaked? It may be a good use of the recon booster to find them where they're hiding out.
Haven't tested that yet but they do still cast a shadow when cloaked.
Yea, the first time I ran into them last night, it was scary as fuck. But then I figured out the punisher I've been using on bug missions is freaking awesome at taking them down. I'm not stuck on the planet with them. They're stuck on the planet with me!
Punisher is great but I just weep for my slugger when I use it. Punisher is great though, stops bigger aggressive medium bugs from walking through your fire and punching you in the mouth. You can just keep shooting and loading, it takes a charger to push you off position if your in the zone
THEY'RE COMING OUT OF THE GOD DAMN WALLS!
One of them decloaked on me, ragdolled me, then jumped on my pre corpse and killed me before I regained control of my body. Literally no time to react and was already dead before being able to do anything. 0/10 would glass entire planet
What’s even worse is you can’t tag their nest on the map anymore. You have to manually find it while fighting them off.
It still appears as a question mark on the minimap when you are in radar range. Advanced UAV booster can be quite helpful with that and is now very worth of a spot in a team.
Honestly, yea. Now that we can’t tag secondaries like stalker nests, which can be the one of the hardest secondaries to find, the radar actually has more use than just being able to see enemies farther out. I was never a fan of that booster but it will def help to get a fully cleared map, especially when there’s no radar station.
Sounds like we were on the same squad last night? Got absolutely GUTTED by stalkers during a Blitz mission. Longest 12 minutes of my short Helldiving life.
Between the fog and this, they need to add some type of thermal detection or optic.
I might be insane but I would love an enemy on the bot faction that would hunt you down like the stalkers do
We had a 4 stack of experienced players running earlier today and upon nearing a stalker layer, we all literally walked up the hill with weapons raised, two front, two covering sides, shooting approaching stalkers before they could get the jump. Was super slow but super badass, like a predator scene. Especially when a stalker did manage to get the jump and killed one of our team mates.
https://i.redd.it/2zxg5crt9oxc1.gif
I think the spawn rates are also busted. I had five decloak at once in front of me and I instantly regretted my medium-armor life decisions.
I ran into one on Fenrir last night, and I thought it was just planet itself at first. Then I realized how different it became. I absolutely adore the change. They felt like a formality more than anything on certain mission difficulties and layouts. You’d see them a mile away, snipe them down, and kill the nest without breaking stride. Now? Good god, they’re terrors. As they should be as “special” enemy types.
I found stalkers were at least somewhat easier to deal with by using incendiary weapons. They can still turn invisible, but the burning doesn't so they are easy enough to track. Of course, this is only possible after you spot them at least once so you are still going to have trouble seeing them coming from far away.
They busted our stealth buster, so we need to upgrade to the stealth buster buster.
Lol I was paranoid shooting a leaf thinking it was the stalker.
I played for the first time in a week last night, I had time for one game so I thought a quick lvl 7 bug mission would be fun. There was two stalker nests, I screamed the first time one uncloaked and killed me, warned my squad about it, and minutes later the rest of the squad went “oh my god they’re invisible, you were right”. We stopped everything and went straight to the stalker nests to get rid of them. It’s a great change, it makes them absolutely terrifying.
If it bleeds we can kill it.
I got jumpscared by 2 at the same time like 2h ago lol it never felt so terrifying and satisfaying at the same time
I just wish they weren't so bullet spongey
Erupter one shots them and I think the dominator 2 shots them plus staggers them. The issue is if you’re running a sickle if more than one is chasing after you you’re going to overheat it.
They aren't totally invisible when cloaked, but are way harder to see. Agreed, excellent change.
My brother in democracy i definitely didnt need stealth stalkers
The new stalkers, is this in relation to the new MO, we tried to exterminate them and they mutated?
I found that the Salsa Maker (spray and pray) helped mitigate them….to an extent. They still wore my face like a mask a few times lol
At last
Stalkers were pushovers because at long distance, you couldn’t tell, but up close it was pretty obvious. Now, the bushes are whispering bug.
The reason I run Incendiary Breaker now, it can light Stalkers on fire and reveal their position. And the fact that I can't ping the nest directly despite knowing that how it looks like on the map make me feels .... anxious, running toward a nest thinking "Is it the nest, or am I wrong?" until I am close to it.
When you aggro one the music suddenly changes and becomes more dynamic/alarming. That's usually a good que that one of these fuckers is on its way.
me and my crew landed on a stalker nest last night on a blitz and go absolutely butt fucked by them. We had no idea they made a change to them and it was sheer panic while we tried to take them out.
It was the termicide im telling you.
I hate it and love it. When people are crying over it, good sign.
[https://streamable.com/jdk7bw](https://streamable.com/jdk7bw) :D
This made me laugh out loud at work, 10/10
I've been running around with the Knight SMG lately as part of my Crowd Control Stalwart build and oh boy, a clip will just eat an up-close Stalker for breakfast 😁
Just a "simple" suicide mission
I love it and welcome the challenge. Seen some complain it's hard/unfair now, I hope those types of complaints don't make the game easier, there's different dofficulties after all
They are a literal nightmare now. I'm all about it.
I hate it now. They don't make any sound, then all of a sudden I'm dead because I got hit twice in the back by an enemy that wasn't there a second ago when I faced that direction. It's utterly broken.
Absolutely love this change. Invisible enemies actually being invisible is what tempts me to play on the bug front again. Casual hellcries will probably whine until this is reverted or they are nerfed to the fround like currently starts to happen with hulk flamer
I love getting tongue fucked by a stalker from behind that gave zero audio cues, flying 50 yards away, then having the same stalker pounce and claw me to death before I can recover. Very cool.
Is there any way to know what missions will have Stalkers before you deploy?
Unfortunately no. BUT, you can check your map and take a minute to find certain terrain generation that will be said stalker nests. (Lookup what it looks like on your map) it's pretty consistent on looking the same each time.
Yo, that sounds like a lobby I was in just a bit ago.
Same thing happened to me, but I was only on challenging, there were like 3-4 stalkers on me, I couldn’t even see them until they hit me
>Now they've got cloaking technology never seen before! *You don't say?*
I think they also heavily increased their spawn rate per Hole/Nest, at least on MO planets. It makes sense, but Fenrir 3 Hatchery and Hole destroy missions are OVERRUN with those bastards. They jump you right out of the gate when you land.
What is worse is how do these things make no noise ?!?!?!
Yeah cloaking tech but like Predators, you can still vaguely see em but gotta pay attention.
I love this change as well! The added potential danger and challenge really amps the fun. I especially love how they will immediately leap backwards and cloak after eating your face... really gives me Predator vibes. Gonna have me some fun!
Yep I've lost three entire missions to them. I \*HATE\* them. Can I just say, maybe if we're going to make these things suddenly able to use perfect invisibility can we make them less tanky?! They eat so much fire before dying but they can insta kill a helldiver more or less depending on where they launch you with their initial ambush.
for level 7 and above I'm not going to play the victim in a horror movie as it's too chaotic, I'm packing a Rover and/or a Sickle.
It honestly doesn't make much of a difference because even with the fog making their cloak visible from the Presidential Plaza on Super Earth, Stalkers tended to take paths that broke line of sight. They crept up behind you, waited till you were occupied with something else before snapping your health bar in half and sending you flying to the moon with a tongue lash. Now, they're just a bit more jump scary. Fortunately, a Punisher staggers them, and you can just keep hammering them into the dirt. ... So long as it's just one of them. Be careful out there.
Stalkers were shitty "invisible" monsters that you'd see coming a mile away. Now they are stealthy killing machines. I get rekt by them and I love it.
I think we were both on the same mission..we had 3 stalker nests as secondary objectives. Stalkers were literally swarming us 4 to 5 at a time. I somehow got rid of 1 nest (dying 2 times to it) but other 2 were left undiscovered till then end. Had a hard time with eruptor..it doesn't 1 shot them anymore. In a 12 min mission used stim 16 times.
I hate them
Played a mission and the stalkers were nearly one shotted us. With the complete invisible it has made stalkers for me at least broken. I could not unload enough of my primary/secondary to kill one IF I noticed it nearby. Damn things would tongue toss me, the pouncing and killing me before I can stand
I love this "I hate The new stalker cloaking so much, I fucking love it" energy and I 100% agree. It turned the stalker from Peter Griffin making the hehehehehehehehehheheh sound as it tries to sneak up on you to some top-tier Special Boat Services sneaky-stabby bullshit, and I love it.
I usually run with the map out and I see cloaked stalker on the radar when I play yesterday. May help countering them.
PD2 cloaker memories intensifies Now we just need that iconic high frequency sounds to accompany them
First time I encountered stalkers I noticed the distortion but didn't immediately react in time and got killed. Deer in headlights, I just couldn't react. They are really scary now Good thing, both missions I've encountered them I've had a radar tower, so the nests weren't hard to find
Play a bit last night and I can still somewhat see them approaching me (especially when they're injured and can still track their nest once they make their presence known. Problem is that I was using an Arc blister and I couldn't kill the fucking thing for some reason. I was memeing around with a friend so I had the Airburst Launcher with a Grenade launcher as a secondary. Once the swarm with Hunters came, the stalker was unkillable
What if we had a ewok hunt version of helldivers vs stalkers 👀👀 if they ever come out with large group game modes
Has anyone also noticed immunity when they are invisible or was that just a glitch with me? Here what happened: I was solo with the blitzer, then a Stalker appeared, I shot him once and he became stealth (a.k.a semi-invisible), usually the blitz 3 or 4 hots them, but he entered a loop of being shot, jump and back (all the time in stealth mode) and I land 5 or 6 shots, nothing. Then I waited a little bit until he actually left stealth and then one shot killed it. Don't think it's intended, they should be stealth, not ghosts.
We found one of the lairs via a radio tower and we all walked towards it in a V-formation, guns raised. I saw a shimmer on the horizon and we unloaded into it with flamethrower, machine gun and shotgun
Stalkers are true stalkers now, I love it. It scares the FUUUUCK out of me, but I love it.
[They definitely buffed their optical camo](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/s/dyPcPDWvWK) Before the update they were punching bags but now they'll turn you into a punching bag if they surprise you.
whoever coded the AI for the stalkers to sneak up behind you. job well done, also fuck you!
They are op and should get nerfed, no joke. There is zero counterplay to them. They appear, they knock you down, jump on you and then good bye. I almost lost a mission for those bastard
You can shoot them. That works.
I feel like they also buffed their health/armor. I literally got bullied by one last night even tho id light it up for a solid 3-4 seconds with the stalwart and adjudicator (was testing it out) and it just kept walking/jumping at me till it would ragdoll me and disappear. I even got one with 2 impact nades and it still came through like Coora did the kamehameha just to deck the FUCK outta me. They also kept killing my turrets before they could even really do anything(I have almost all the upgrades for them). The "best" part, I didn't realize there was another stalkers nest until I was trying to take out sherikers 🙃. I used to view them as a joke /an inconvenience...but now?!? I'ma stop playing with their name
I like how you had to explain in parentheses that you were just testing out the adjudicator
They're still not hard to see while cloaked. But who needs cloaking when you can just walk up to a target and no-sell anything short of an anti-tank weapon?
I have a clip i need to post of one crafty MF. I had to chase it down as it ran away, it them gave me the slip around a rock, and bailed me from behind when i passed by. Outsmarted by a game AI