Infested 2.0: New Units And Improvements To Old Ones [Wip]

[Paradoxbomb]

Because the infested have been in need of some good old fashion TLC for a long time, I felt it was time I threw in my two cents as to how the current array of infested could be spiced up a bit, and some possible new units that will make the player think twice before thinking "I can kill this if I just keep shooting it in the face", or possibly just make the player more miserable when fighting the infested, hard to say.

Get ready for a long read if you plan to go through this in one go folks, cause there's no TL;DR here, just some mediocre illustrations and some horribly skewed enemy stats (but no seriously don't get too mad if I suggested some ludicrous numbers, I mainly just wanted to get my ideas on virtual paper and am open to feedback).

Some things are still blank for now, I'll fill them later on, ol' PB is exhausted for now...
Everything more or less has a completed entry, though keep an eye out for new units and concept art.

 

Most Recent Update: 9/1/14

 

And we're back! After a long hiatus I decided to finally start tending to this thread. The Infested have receive a decent handful of changes since I started this thread, and while they could still use a lot more work, it is great to see the Devs finally tending to their "easy mode" faction and turning them into a formidable threat. Keep up the good work guys!

 

Currently, I'm adjusting a few things based on the recent changes and planned additions. I place asterisks next to concepts that the Devs have already added to the game (not sure if this particular thread was there inspiration, but that would be a pleasant surprise) and moved a few outdated ideas to the bottom of the list. I also intend to add some suggestions for the infamous Mutalist Osprey, and I may or may not touch up on my suggestions for the Ancients (given their recent buffs).

 

 

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Suggestions For Unit Improvements

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Leaper 2.0: Spider-like units, highly erratic movements and can walk/jump on walls and ceilings

 

Appearance: Infested formed from Grineer Scorpions (and possibly female Corpus variants) they share the feature of Leapers 1.0 of having a bloated torso and having their right arm infused to their face and body. They crawl with their host's back facing the floor, and the host's left arm is mutated into a spindly insect-like appendage. two smaller legs jut out of the where the host's original arm used to be, and provide support for the Leaper. The the host's right leg has been severely shifted out of place and moved to the side of the body, and the mutation has grown new joints at the end of the legs in order to replace the Scorpion's augmentations (only one of which is still attached and dangles at the end of the right knee). A new "face" similar to a Charger's has formed on the left side of the host's body.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 100/ [1]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Melee attacks: Will jump up to the player and deliver a series of very fast jabs at the player with it's legs, jump out of melee range, and repeat. May even jump onto the player and take 3 quick jabs at them before jumping off and out of melee range.
-Pounce: Similar to the current pounce ability of Leapers, however with increased range (20-25m) and with more vertical movement if far away enough. Their "preparing to jump" animation is also significantly shorter; the Leaper will briefly crouch down in preparation for a powerful jump.
-Movement/Jumping: Even when not pouncing, Leapers have incredible jumping capabilities, making them nearly impossible to escape even when going up levels. Also one of the fastest and most erratic of the infested in terms of movement
-Wall latch: Much like the Corpus Hyenas and Zanuka, the Leaper can freely jump between the floor, walls, and even the ceiling
-Barb attack: Ranged attack in which the Leaper launches a barrage of barbs at the player in a shotgun pellet-fashion that deal moderate damage. Generally only does this when hanging from the wall or ceiling.
Strategy/Trivia:
-Leapers make up for the handicap of being light infested by being one of the most opportunistic and unpredictable of their ranks. They will rarely attempt to attack the player head on like chargers, but instead try to approach the player from an angle where they are not focused, pouncing at them from the side or back while they are too busy fighting Chargers or Ancients. Even if they can't sneak up on the player, they are still extremely hard to hit, as they will run in zig-zags and try to strafe around the player, or even pounce at them from the wall or ceiling.
-->During non-defense missions, Leapers may employ another cunning strategy as the player blindly runs from room to room. They may hide on the walls or ceilings and simply wait for an inattentive player to run past them entirely before jumping down to launch a sneak attack. This makes paying close attention to your surroundings important, especially during a firefight with other infested (enemy sense can also reveal them to you)
-As with their current iteration, Leapers still take 10x damage mid-pounce, or even when jumping around in general.
Variants:
-Phase Leaper: This Corpus variant of the Leaper was utilizing a prototype cloaking system prior to it's infection, unfortunately for the Tenno this device still functions properly for it's former host. Phase Leapers have less health than their standard counterparts, but have a unique shield that turns them invisible until they attack or the players punches through it. While invisible, Phase Leapers take potshots at the player, jumping at them before retreating and allowing the invisibility to kick back in before repeating the process. Once their shield is down, they will resort to standard Leaper behavior.

 

Burster (Volatile Runner 2.0): Reduced spawn frequency but increased threat level, to both their enemies and allies.

 

Appearance: Renamed Bursters, they remain fairly similar to their current iteration, with the key difference being their heads are dislodged to the side of their body, and with a massive yellow-orange spore pustule consuming their upper body. Smaller bulbs are growing on their right leg as well, and can be shot to knock the Burster down without outright popping it. Variants come in colors matching their respective elemental abilities.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 160 / [1]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Detonation: as with their current iteration, their only attack is to detonate themselves, dealing radial damage. However, Bursters do not tickle the player with their ability; Even at base level a Burster explosion can do an excess of 100+ blast damage (as well as a 100% knockdown chance), and is now capable of dealing friendly-fire damage to other infested as well as the player. Explosions have a 6m radius, meaning their range is somewhat larger than their 1.0 predecessor.
Strategy/Trivia:
-To counter the Burster's generous damage boost, they would have to be demoted from a fairly common unit to semi-common.
-->Bursters won't always be around, but players will actually have to acknowledge their presence and worry about them when one does spawn
-->In order prevent "cheap deaths" the Burster will emit a loud, unique scream when they're within a certain range of the player (even if they don't have a line of sight) in order to que the player onto their presence.
-It goes without saying that the fastest way to kill a Burster is to shoot it's spore pod, which takes 400% damage. Just be sure that you're out of range of it's explosive radius.
-->Can also be shot in the host's head for 200% damage.
-->Unlike Runners 1.0, if a Burster is killed without shooting it's pustule, it will not pop, and it's corpse will remain on the floor for a brief period of time, until it is detonated or simply decays
-Bursters now deal friendly-fire damage to their infested allies as well as the player, which actually provides the player a tactical advantage against swarms. A smart player will prioritize them in the middle of a tight pack, killing or sending any nearby units flying.
-->An even more tactical player will shoot the bulbs on their leg instead, which will sever the leg without killing them, and reduce them to crawler speed. this will make it easier to time when the player detonates them.
-Bursters are somewhat slow and imbalanced, and will only charge the player if they have a direct line of sight with them. This means they can be slowed down by making them traverse obstacles or corners.
-For the sake of lore, Bursters could be considered environment changers, accelerating the production of infested spores with their own bodies, and simultaneously releasing a massive payload of them at once while killing or infecting intruders by sacrificing themselves.
Variants:
Noxious: Deals less direct damage and no knockback, but has a 100% chance to trigger a gas AoE on all enemies caught in the initial blast, meaning it can create a lingering environmental hazard.
Cyro: Deals minor damage but has a 100% cold proc that slows down everything caught in the explosion, friend of foe.

 

Crawlers 1.1: Made slightly.... better

 

Ideally, crawlers should be phased out as a standalone enemy (or at least only appear in very early levels), and will instead only appear after severing a Golem in two with a slash status effect (more on that below). A few minor improvements can also be made to them to make them slightly more threatening, even in this form:
-Range of Nauseous Crawler attack boosted to 10m. As with the Nauseous Golem it no longer paralyzes but does reduce movement speed and gun accuracy
-Range of Electric Crawler attack boosted to 15m.
-Lobber crawlers spit bio-grenades more frequently.
-Assuming Leaper 2.0 replaces the current model, the standard Golem/Crawler should inherit this model to differentiate them from Nauseous Golems/Crawlers.
-Given the Electric Crawler's relationship to the Electric Golem, it still moves insanely fast even without it's legs.
-They will always have at max 1/3 of their legged form's original health. If the Golem had less than 1/3 of it's health when it was severed, the Crawler will have the same amount of health.

 

Mutalist Osprey 2.0: Coming soon

 

Ancient Disruptor 3.0: Coming soon

 

Ancient Healer 3.0: Coming soon

 

Toxic Ancient 3.0: Coming soon

 

 

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Suggestions For New Units

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Brutal Charger: Charger variant; armored carapace and charges its prey from a distance

 

Appearance: Essentially the same as standard chargers, but with the yellow armor and helmet of Troopers, and more decayed, greyer looking flesh. Rather than fragments of bone jutting from their back like their standard counterparts, Brutal Chargers have these bone fragments puncturing through their carapace as sharpened horns.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 120 / [1]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Claw swipe: same as standard chargers, albeit stronger but slower attacks
-Charge: If the Brutal Charger has a direct line of sight with the player, and is at a medium distance away (20-25m) they will break into a very fast charge, similar to that of Shield Lancers, although they have an extremely poor turning speed when charging, making it significantly easy to avoid by strafing to the side. They also move very fast in general, so long as they are able to travel linearly and not have to make sharp turns.
-Armored Shell: in addition to being slightly stronger than standard chargers, it is important to note that the armor that forms their carapace actually does function as armor; their armor has a flat 25% damage mitigation against all incoming attacks.
Strategy/Trivia:
-Due to their slightly higher health rating and armored front, Brutal Chargers are arguably a higher threat than their standard counterparts; however, they are less common and you are only likely to encounter a few in a hoard of Chargers
-Brutal chargers are actually slightly slower than their standard counterparts when they are forced to manuever around obstacles and tight corners. Take advantage of this by putting debris between you and them to slow them down, and engage them in close quarters where they don't have to space to pick up momentum.
-As their level increases, shooting them directly may become less viable due to the damage mitigation caused by their armor, so try to dodge their charge attack and then shoot them in their unarmored flanks instead
-->They will also become dazed if they happen to charge into a wall, giving you a larger opening to hit them from behind
-Their tendency to charge means they will often vanguard the swarms of other infested, taking advantage of their armor to absorb some of your damage and protecting the weaker units. Keep this in mind and prioritize accordingly.

Asilid: Charger variant; slow-moving ranged infested with a dense frontal shell

 

Appearance: Slightly larger than your standard charger (think infested Heavy Grineer) and with a red carapace similar in color to Napalm armor. Instead of having a row of spines protruding from their back, the Asilid has evolved a pair of bio-luminescent tentacles with barbs at the end. Also unlike smaller chargers, their back legs have infused into one large leg, making them tripodal. Considered a "larval" form of a Phorid manifestation.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 160 / [1]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Psychic bolts: Much like the Phorid they resemble, Asilids will launch a barrage of 6-8 psychic bolts from their tentacles, with considerably long range but slow travel speed. These bolts have a slight home-in curve and deal significant damage, thankfully they do not ignore shields and are not nearly as deadly accurate as the Phorid's attack.
-Claw swipe: If in close quarters, the Asilid will resort to melee; however, their attacks are neither strong nor fast compared to their melee oriented brethren.
-Heavy Armored Shell: Extremely high damage mitigation when shot in the armored portions of their body; carapace absorbs a hefty 75% of all incoming damage.
Strategy/Trivia:
-Asilids are the primary ranged units of the infested, tending to stay a far distance from their target and using their psychic powers to launch energy bolts at their prey while melee units keep their attention
-With double the health of standard chargers and their heavy armor absorbing substantial amounts of damage, it is incredibly impractical to try and mow them down from the front, especially at higher levels. It is strongly recommended that you find a way to stun or distract them in order to shoot them in their unarmored flanks.
-Asilids also have a unique reaction to Impact damage. When they receive a stagger status effect, they will become dazed and sway to the side, briefly exposing their unarmored sides to the player. This makes impact weaponry somewhat viable to have on hand.
-Alternatively, you can shoot their tentacles, which take 200% damage and can be severed. If both tentacles are destroyed, the Asilid will die. The only downside to this strategy is that the tentacles can be hard to hit.
-If all else fails, engage the Asilid in melee, their melee attacks are significantly weaker than their psychic bolts, and it will be much easier to bypass their armor.
-Certain infested units, such as Ancients, may actually take advantage of the Asilid's armor and hide behind them like a living barricade.

 

Fliers: Highly-evolved though frail airborne infested

 

Appearance: Vaguely bat-like flying infested. A small, slender infested with a tail and two fleshy wings, as well as the majority of it body having a bone-like carapace covering it. It's head resembles an Ancient's, and it has two tentacles with barbs at the end. Despite being a small and weak infested, it is a highly evolved "pure" form of infestation, and notably one of the most symmetrical (due to it's aerodynamic nature).
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 100 / [6]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Swoop attack: Behaves very similarly to the Rakks from Borderlands, in that their main form of attack in swooping in from above and puncturing their prey with the large barbs at the ends of their tentacles before retreating and repeating the process again. Attacks deal low to moderate damage, but Fliers tend to come in packs and have a small chance to poison the player with their attacks.
-Quick jabs: Sometimes, instead of immediately flying off after a swoop attack, Fliers will instead swarm around the player and persistently sting at them with their barbed tentacles. Although they deal minor damage, they can be disorienting and hard to shake due to constantly being in your face, not to mention deal significant damage collectively.
Strategy/Trivia:
-A single Flier is a minor threat to the player since they deal low damage and you will generally have plenty of time to shoot them down or deal with bigger threats first. They do, however, pose a threat when in large swarms or when other infested are around.They are particularly good at preventing your shields from recharging and dealing significant damage over time by attacking relentlessly, softening you up for stronger infested. They are also difficult to outrun or evade due to their speed and mobility.
-Can be tricky to shoot down due to their small size and high maneuverability, thankfully they don't have much health. It's recommended to have a shotgun or automatic rifle on hand to deal with them.
-When they haven't spotted a player they will hang from the ceiling like bats.
-Wings take 200% damage
Variants:
-Lobber Flier: A slightly faster Flier that "bombs" the player by dropping a line of spore pods as they pass by. Spore pods explode after a few seconds and deal moderate damage, with a high chance to poison the player. Does not perform melee attacks and can be harder to shoot down since they move faster.
-Alpha Flier: A slightly slower but much bigger and tankier Flier. Instead of performing standard swoop attacks, will fly overhead and perform a Divebomb much like Zephyr's, dealing surprisingly heavy damage and staggering/knocking over any players caught in it's rather generous AoE.

 

Golems: Sluggish but more resilient infested Runners, the true "zombie" units of the infested

 

Appearance: Use the current Leaper/Runner model. Standard Golems have the same color scheme as the current Leapers, while the variants are the same color as their crawler counterparts (more on that in a bit)
Base Health/Spawn Level: 350 / [10]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Melee: Slow but strong melee attacks that can stagger the player
Strategy/Trivia:
-Golems are the official "zombies" of the infested: they move at the same pace as crawlers until they get within 20-25m of their target, at which point they will break into a slow sprint (not much faster than a sprinting Rhino). However, they make up for their slow speed by being both tanky and numerous: they have nearly as much health as Ancients of the same level, but in some missions can be equally as common as Chargers or even replace them entirely as the mission's "fodder" enemy. If the player is not careful, they can easily be cornered and overwhelmed by a horde of Golems.
-Golems have a unique reaction to slash damage. If they receive a slash status effect, they will not bleed out but instead be severed at the waist, and become a crawler (an ode to closed beta infested). Considering crawlers have significantly less health and are much less of a threat, a weapon with a high slash rating/status chance is strongly recommended to (literally) cut your way through a swarm of Golems.
-Because of their generally slow movement speed, they tend to fall between the light infested and heavier units such as ancients.
-Their high base health makes them a high priority target for Cordyceps, so be careful to keep the two units separate.
-As a crawler they have at max 1/3 of their original health. So severing a Golem at full health will essentially remove 2/3 of their health instantly. If the Golem is already below 1/3 and is severed, the crawler will have the same amount of health as it's full form at the time of severing.
-As zombies tend to do, Golems can frequently be heard moaning and mumbling in their "original" Corpus voices. Death moan is relatively the same.
Variants:
-Nauseous Golem: Has less health than the standard Golem but runs much faster (on par with light infested) and has a corrosive vomit attack with considerable range (15m). This attack won't completely immobilize the player, but will reduce movement speed briefly, as well as "blind" your Tenno, substantially decreasing their gun accuracy temporarily. Becomes a Nauseous crawler if severed
-Lobber Golem: Exhibits the same attack strategy as Lobber Crawlers, throwing toxic grenades at the player from a safe distance, however they have a much longer range, attack speed, and explosive radius in this state.
-Electric Golem: The rarest but most dangerous of the Golems, Electric Golems move extremely fast (think Twitchers from Dead Space) and are nearly impossible to outrun. They have two attacks: charging the player and delivering a series of extremely fast melee swipes, or sniping the player with a powerful and accurate electric bolt (similar to the Railgun MOA's attack). They will only use their lightning attack if the player is extremely far away or simply out of reach.
-Infested Tech: A slightly larger and tougher Golem wearing the classic red Corpus Tech uniform, as well as a metal holster that contains a Shield Osprey. When reduced to 50% health, the Osprey will automatically deploy and provide the Tech, as well as any other nearby Golem variants, a shield equal to 100% of their max health. A swarm of Infested Techs can be incredibly difficult to kill due to their Ospreys being able to buff one another, so always prioritize taking any active Ospreys down first. Note that malfunctioning Ospreys do not have their own shields and will not shield any infested units except for Golems and Techs. Infested Techs cannot be severed with slash damage.

Chromas: Deceptive medium-tier infested; capable of cloaking and lobbing electrified barbs

 

Appearance: The Chroma very vaguely resembles a Charger with a very thin waist and large carapace formed from it's host's armor. However, like the Ancient infested their flesh is very sleek and there are very few remaining features from their original host. They are also more "bipedal" than Chargers, although they still do use their front arms for movement and balancing themselves. Their arms are long and gangly, and the forearms can split open to reveal barb launchers. Their head is similar to an Ancient's, but with no tentacles hanging off the end and covered in a large number of glowing nodes. Their flesh is dark grey, and they are covered in blue, bio-luminescent streaks and nodes.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 450 / [10]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Barb launch: The Chroma's main form of attack, it will open up it's forearms and fire a barrage of glowing blue barbs at the player. These barbs deal electrical damage and have a limited amount of punch-through, allowing them to go through small obstacles and even hit multiple Tenno.
-Invisibility: The Chroma has a natural ability to camouflage itself, it's bio-luminescence remaining visible for a second before completely vanishing from view. The Chroma will regularly throw several barrages of barbs at the player before going invisible and retreating to another positions and reappearing to repeat the process. It will also turn invisible to retreat from the player if they attempt to get withing melee range or just damage it significantly.
-High mobility: Although they are not quite as agile as Leapers, Chromas are still capable of moving incredibly fast across the area, and can jump significantly high. Combined with their invisibility, this can make it incredibly difficult to determine where a Chroma will reappear next.
-Melee attacks: Although they are primarily ranged units, Chromas can still deal moderate damage with melee attacks if the player is persistent in going toe-to-toe with them.
Strategy/Trivia:
-The Chroma is a mid-tier unit like the Ancients, and is about as common as them, generally attacking in small packs. They are also a very potent support unit for the lesser infested, but are still dangerous on their own.
-As you would imagine, it is important to stay vigilant in order to kill the Chroma, they can be hard to trace due their ability to go invisible and move swiftly across the battlefield, so make sure to concentrate as much firepower on them as you can once they reveal themselves.
-Because they have a significant amount of health compared to light infested can are quick to retreat when until fire, having a weapon with a powerful punch to it is strongly recommended.
-Although they can be tricky targets, their arms take a massive amount of damage (400%) when open.
-Certain items and abilities, such as the Codex scanner or Banshee's Sonar, will reveal their location to you when they're invisible.
-->Their various glowing blue streaks and nodes also remain visible for a second before becoming completely invisible, so it possible to track them before they completely disappear.
-It is believed that the Chroma is one of the earliest forms of advanced Infestation to ever develop, some records even stating that it's first appearances may have predated even the Orokin Empire. It was thought that this strain of the infestation had simply gone extinct, but it has recently resurfaced in regions that have been long afflicted by the Technocyte Virus.

 

Ancient Phalanx: Defensive Ancient with a nigh-impervious frontal shell; defends and redirects projectiles from it's allies

 

Appearance: One of the most evolved and outlandish appearing of the Ancients, the Phalanx is a hovering ancient that stays afloat via a bulbous gas bladder on it's back side. The Phalanx vaguely resembles a shield, which is appropriate since it is completely armored in the front with a layer of fossilized flesh. Four tentacles protrude from it's sides, two that are reminiscent of other Ancients' mismatched arms, and the other two longer, barbed tentacles. Additional bio-luminescent tentacle hang from it's face and bottom of it's body. The "halo" that all ancients have serves to segment it's frontal shell.
Base Health/Spawn Level: 450 / [10]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Impenetrable Armor: The Phalanx's armored front is immune to all incoming damage; shooting it directly, even in the head, will deal no damage.
-Telekinetic Beam: If the player gets too close (5m), the Phalanx will generate a continuous stream of energy that deals moderate damage and continuously pushes it's target away with significant force. Makes getting close to the Phalanx fairly difficult.
-Barb throw: The Phalanx's only true offensive ability. Throws two barbs at it's target in quick succession. Slow attack rate and moderate damage make it a minor threat at best.
-Absorb/Psychic Javelins: A two stage attack: the Phalanx will first generate a small singularity field, which functions as a conal version of Nyx's Absorb, drawing in all bullets that pass within it's area of effect. After 5 seconds, the Phalanx will convert all damage absorbed into psychic javelins, that will puncture all players standing in it's area of effect, dealing damage directly proportional to damage absorbed. Range is also determined by the damage absorbed (initial range of 20m, increase by 1m for every 500 points of damage absorbed).
Strategy/Trivia:
-Because the Phalanx is impenetrable from the front and can even reflect your attacks back you, the best strategy is to get behind the Phalanx and shoot it's armorless back, preferably it's gas bladder which takes an impressive 400% damage.
-The player can shoot it's various tentacles since they are not armored, but these will only take 50% damage and may prompt the Phalanx to absorb your attacks.
-Punch Through will allow you outright ignore it's armor, although again, you will have to be careful as attacking it from the front may still trigger it's absorption ability
-Once the Phalanx begins it's absorb attack, it's turning speed will be reduced immensely; take advantage of this opportunity to get out of range of it's attack or even shoot it from behind.
-->In Solo mode, this will likely be the most efficient way to bypass the Phalanx's defenses, even if it's facing you.
-The Javelins will hit all targets within it's conal AoE, unless there is a solid object between you and the Phalanx. If a player did pump a lot of damage into it's attack, then seek cover or get out of range immediately or risk taking immense damage.
-The Phalanx's absorb attack is prompted by projectiles simply passing near it. This makes shooting infested next to it extremely difficult since it will attempt to redirect your damage away from them while using it against you.
-->Slower infested will take advantage of this by allowing the Phalanx to vanguard them, literally using it as a shield to get close enough to your position to swarm you.
-Fortunately the Phalanx isn't a terribly aggressive unit and is more focused on standing (or floating) between you and incoming infested, preventing you getting a good line of fire on them until they're close enough to swarm you. They may still harass you if no other units are around and can launch barbs at you, but they're more of a nuisance than a major threat by themselves.

 

Golem Guardians: A true Heavy Infested; goes berserk when it's prey gets too close, and launches deadly mortars from afar

 

 

Appearance: Golem Guardians are walking masses of Infested matter that have festered and multiplied over extensive periods of time. Unlike Ancients and other evolved Infested that have grown sleek and streamlined in their natural design, Golem Guardians are almost like an evolutionary step backwards (at least by the virus's standards), being completely consumed by tumorous growths and lumpy, decayed flesh. Spindly legs support the Guardian, the kneecaps of which have large clusters of bio-luminescent tumors. Their arms are long and almost branch-like, and the ends of which almost form a hook shape. Finally, they have a large maw, very much like the Ancient Corpus, within their center-mass that occasionally opens up to fire spores at the player
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 1200 / [15]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Pseudo-Armor: The Golem Guardian's center-mass may not be armored, but it has grown so tumorous that it is naturally durable against incoming attacks. Expect 25% damage reduction when shooting at a large portion of it's body (more on it's weakpoints in a bit).
-Melee Attacks: Although the Guardian normally moves at Crawler speed, once it comes within 20m of a target, it will begin to move much faster and become an extremely aggressive melee combatant. It will either perform a large sweeping-motion attack or slam both it's arms down on the ground, generating a small AoE. Although their attacks are slow and easy to dodge, they deal very high damage and will almost always stagger the player.
-Pounce Attack: Much like Leapers 1.0, the Guardian has a pounce/charge attack. There will be a brief delay before it lunges itself incredibly fast in the direction of the player. It has much greater range and damage than a Leaper, though it will stumble after performing this move, leaving itself momentarily vulnerable.
-Mortar Pods: The guardian will stop moving and open it's maw, launching two to three spore pods high into the air before they come raining down on the nearest target. Although they have very slow movement speed, these mortars home-in on the player with high accuracy and create a large explosion on impact, making them nearly impossible to dodge. They also deal very high blast damage, so getting bombarded by multiple mortars can be lethal. Fortunately, they can easily be shot out of air thanks to their slow movement speed and large size, or you can simply put cover between you and the mortars.
Strategy/Trivia:
-Although they are not as evolved as their Ancient brethren they are by far one of the most durable and dangerous infested you will encounter. High base health and their organic armor make them extremely difficult to take down with raw damage, and they are highly capable opponents both at range and in close quarter combat. Thankfully, they are also one of the slowest of the infested: Like Ancients, they tend to tread along slowly, only picking up movement speed once a player is about 20m away (even in Defense they will move slowly while Ancients charge the pod). This means if you're fast enough, you should be able to deal with the lighter units long before the Guardian gets into attack range.
-Although the Guardian is an armored meat sponge for the most part, their are multiple ways for the player to take them down and hinder their movement.
-->There is a generously large patch of swollen, bio-luminescent flesh on their backs that is unarmored and takes 150% damage. Allow the Guardian to initiate a charge attack and dodge it, giving you time to pour damage into it's exposed back while it is stumbled.

-->Although it's legs are technically armored, pumping a certain amount of damage into the tumors on their knees will cause the Guardian to fall on it's knee, temporarily immobilizing it and prompting it initiate a mortar attack.

-->Note that if you recently stunned the Guardian by shooting it's knee, the Guardian will become immune to being stunned by this tactic again temporarily (the normally red bio-luminescence will turn yellow for several seconds to indicate it can't be knocked down again just yet)
-->Right before launching mortar pods at the player, they can shoot the inside of it's maw to deal 400% damage to the Guardian, as well as preventing it from launching it's deadly spore pods. The Guardian will open it's maw on it's own periodically if the player is far away, although you can force them to do it via the aforementioned leg shooting strategy.
-Their spawn frequency is about is par with that of Grineer heavies, so with the exception of some survival missions or high level invasions, it's unlikely to encounter large amounts of them at once.
-If their mortars are truly causing you issues, try engaging them in an area with a low ceiling. Because their mortars travel a high distance into the air, they will general end up smashing against the ceiling, both keeping you safe and giving you a free potshot at their maw.
-Is undoubtedly considered a heavy unit, and as such is one of the only non-Grineer heavy units the Lotus will warn you is on approach.

Ravagers: A vicious Heavy unit that moves much faster than it's appearance would imply; extremely dangerous melee attacks

 

Appearance: A large and bulky heavy infested formed from a male and female Grineer, each of which is somewhat distinguishable from one another. The Ballista half of it's body is essential a miniature version of the Ancient Grineer, it's weapon being a massive scythe arm and a new head growing at the top of the body in the form of a giant pair of mouth parts. As with Lephantis, the host's original face is situated underneath the new head. The Lancer half of the body is still recognizable due to the remain of it's armor, and the host's rib cage has been split open to form a large maw. A few vestigial arms hang off the side of this half of the Ravager. The two bodies are completely mangled together from the waist down, and the creature stands on three heavily mutated legs.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 1000 / [15]
Abilities/Attributes:

-Melee attacks: Despite it's large size, the Ravager is a very fast Infested that will quickly close the distance between itself and you, and attempt to melee you with it's massive scythe arm. These attacks have significant range and can easily thrash the player around, on top of dealing heavy damage. Thankfully it's attacks leave a brief opening to dive out of the way.

-Bullet deflecting scythe: Although the Ravager isn't actually armored, it is important to note that it's scythe arm is not only immune to damage, but will deflect any bullets shot at it, these bullets having a chance to hit you. The Ravager will partially conceal itself with it's scythe when approaching you, so aim steadily.

-Swarmer barbs: If the player is a significant distance away or is out of melee range, the Ravager will face the player with the Lancer half of it's body, and fire a barrage of organic swarmer projectiles from it's maw. The attack pattern of these projectile is nearly identical to Grineer Hellion's swarmer rockets, except they do not create an explosive AoE on impact. They do however have a very high chance to proc Toxic DoT, making them a direct threat to your health.
-Scythe Slam: The Ravager will turn to face the player with the Ballista half of it's body and raise it's scythe up for several seconds before impaling it into the ground. Not only is being hit by the scythe itself dangerous, but after impaling itself into the ground a channel of barbs will burst out from the ground in a line that extends as far as 30m away, damaging any players that were aligned with the initial attack. These barbs will linger for several seconds before they decay, making them a temporary environmental hazard.
Strategy/Trivia:
-Compared to the Golem Guardian, the Ravager has less health and no form of damage mitigation other than it's scythe. However, they are faster, much more aggressive melee combatants, and are more likely to spawn in greater numbers, making them an equally threatening heavy infested.
-The Ravager does have a number of weakspots. It's new mouthpart head is the most apparent, and will take 150% damage. Shooting inside the Lancer's maw will deal 200% damage, although it only exposes this when using it's ranged attack, so only try to hit this weakspot if you are prepared to dodge the swarmer projectiles immediately afterward. Finally, the Ballista face under the scythe arm, as with Lephantis, also counts as a weakspot and will take a hefty 300% damage. However, it's one of the harder weakspots to hit since the Ravager is constantly swaying around.
-->The best time to shoot the Ballista's face is when the Ravager is preparing it's scythe slam attack, as it will most likely be facing you and leave it's face completely exposed when it raises the scythe into the air. In addition to heavily damaging it, pumping enough damage into this weakspot will interrupt the attack as well.
-As a Grineer-based infested, Ravagers are more likely to spawn on Grinner maps or invasions, whereas Golem Guardians are more commonly associated with Corpus missions.

Ancient Warrior: A mini-boss that is capable of temporarily inhibiting the abilities of anyone caught in it's shockwave attack

 

Appearance:Very large, highly evolved form of Ancient infested, is almost completely covered in impenetrable fossilized armor save for small portions of it's legs, chest, and back. The ends of it's halo have evolved into bio-luminescent tentacles, capable of unleashing psychic attacks. The underside of it's tentacle arm, one of it's few weakspots, also emits a natrual glow, and portrudes slightly from underneath it's shoulder.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 7500 (+100% for each additional player) / [10]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Basic Melee: Very powerful melee attacks, will either swipe at the player with it's tentacle arm, sending them flying back, or pound them into the ground with it's smaller arm.
-Charge attack: will break into a sprint and charge the player, and slam it's tentacle arm down on the player, generating a small AoE
-Psychic darts: Will launch a barrage of energy darts from it's halo, which rain down around the player and impale themselves into ground, exploding seconds later and dealing moderate damage over a very large area.
-Dispel Shockwave: Essentially the same as the Ancient Disruptor's disarm shockwave, but on a much larger scale. The Warrior will raise it's tentacle arm up for several seconds before pounding a ground, generating a massive shockwave (20m radius) that dispels all active abilities in range, as well as scrambles the systems of any player caught in range, preventing them from reusing their abilities for a few seconds. Also drains 50% of your max energy and hits the ground with so much force that it staggers everything in range, even other infested.
-->This attack also hits with enough force to stagger anything in the AoE, including the player and other infested
Strategy/Trivia:
-Very rare enemy, especially on earlier maps. However, they become more and more common the deeper you go into higher level missions, particularly defense and survival
-->Potential final enemy during exterminate missions as well
-Trying to defeat the Warrior by mowing it down is possible but extremely impractical, since it is nearly covered from head to toe in armor and it's health is extremely high. The best way to defeat the Warrior is to shoot the bio-luminescent portions of it's body, namely the underside of it's tentacle arm, which takes 400% damage, and the tendrils on the ends of it's back halo, which take 200% damage.
--> To get the best shot at the underside of it's tentacle arm, try to trick it into preparing it's Dispel shockwave, then get out of range and pour damage into it while it's exposed.
-->Alternatively, you can simply aim for the bulbous flesh protruding from under it's shoulder.
-->The tentacles can be tricky to hit, but each one accounts for 15% of it's total health, after which they will be severed. Destroying all of them removes it's ability to launch psychic darts.
-The Warriors tentacle arm will be severed after taking 60% of the Warrior's total health in damage, after which it will no longer be able to perform it's Dispel shockwave and will generally become a lesser threat.
-Because it's tentacle arm and halo tendrils both account for 60% of it's total health each, obviously you don't have to completely destroy ALL it's weakpoints before it dies.
-The Ancient Warrior's Dispel Shockwave is both it's greatest strength and weakness. It has the ability to prematurely terminate any ability caught in it's AoE, from Iron Skin to Decoy to Bastille, making it extremely devastating in Defense missions, where it can easily bypass your defenses and allow other units through as well. As mentioned before, it will also temporarily drain your energy: it will regenerate back to the amount you had just like your shields do, but you will be left energy-less momentarily, which can leave you or a cryopod vulnerable to attack. This abilities weakness comes from the fact that the Warrior is tempted to go out of it's way to disrupt any active abilities near it, meaning it's literally possible to kite the Warrior by running around with Iron Skin active or deploying traps and decoys to distract it.
-Due to its sheer size, the Warrior is immune to a number of CC abilities, such as Sonic Boom or Switch Teleport. Even Rhino Stomp and Bastille will be unable to freeze the Warrior in place (he will however suffer a slow down effect from both). Many slowdown/debuff abilities, such as M Prime, will still effect the Warrior but suffer a reduced duration (50%).
-The Warrior will always be shown on the radar with a unique icon, even if you don't have Enemy Sense/Radar. The Lotus will also alert you when one is approaching.

Cariplete: Gigantic, floating jellyfish-like infested; bombards prey with corrosive mortars and explosive blasts

 

Appearance: Like the Ancient Warrior, the Cariplete is a highly evolved form of Ancient Infested, and can only be described as a living, breathing(?), Infested flying fortress. Like the Phalanx, the Cariplete stays aloft via a massive gas bladder, only this one is situated on it's underside. The top of it's body is protected by an impenetrable carapace, which segments into three sections towards the back of it's body. Five large, armored tentacles, which strongly resemble the mandibles of Anomalocaris:

curl around and protect it's gas bladder from attackers in front of it or to it's sides. It also has a flat abdomen that is generally concealed underneath it's body, at the end of which there is a vaguely "Phage" shaped tip.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 7000 (+100% for each player) / [15]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Mortars: The Cariplete's tentacles will individually and frequently begin to glow with green bio-luminescence before curling upward and opening up at the end, launching a cluster of 3-5 corrosive mortars into the air. Although they are slow traveling and only deal mild damage, they have a slight home-in curve and each create a generous AoE, making it imperative that you stay on the move to avoid it's continuous bombardment.
-Phage Cannon: The Cariplete's most devastating attack, it will cease all movement and rear all it's tentacles upward at once to reveal it's abdomen, which will begin to fire a Phage-esque continuous stream of energy that takes a second to converge on it's target. The Phage beam only deals moderate damage and actually has difficulty tracking the player, so it seems like an innocent enough attack. However, after several seconds, the attack will end by launching a fast, explosive projectile that generates a very large radial AoE and deals massive damage to anything caught within the blast (similar to the Jackal's grenade attack, this explosion is essentially instant death if your caught at the epicenter, even at low levels). It's strongly recommended you get far away from the beam as physically, and if playing Defense, make sure to lure it away from the Cryopod.
-Bombardment: The Cariplete's defense against those who would be foolish enough to run underneath it, it will essentially launch an "instant" version of the Phage Cannon's explosive projectile directly at the ground, most likely leading to instant death for anything standing beneath it. So don't stand underneath it. Ever.
Strategy/Trivia:
-Like the Ancient Warrior and Lephantis, the majority of it's body is protected by a layer of armor that protects it from all incoming damage, making bodyshots useless against the beast. Fortunately, it's not invincible:
-->Your main form of offense against the Cariplete is shooting it's tentacles. While they are generally immune to damage, they will begin to grow bright green whenever they are preparing to launch a mortar, and they will take 100% damage in this state, as well as prevent the tentacle from launching it's mortar if it takes enough damage.
-->After damaging it's tentacles enough to enrage it, the Cariplete will prepare to use it's Phage Cannon. Don't worry, this is actually a good thing; since the Cariplete has to rear up it's tentacles to get a clear shot at you, it leaves it's gas bladder completely exposed. The gas bladder takes 400% damage and after sinking a decent amount of damage into it, the Cariplete will cease using it's Phage attack and conceal it's gas bladder again.
-->Rinse and repeat until the Cariplete finally keels over.
-Although the above strategy is the most effective way to defeat the Cariplete, it's defenses aren't 100% perfect. It is possible to find angles where you can shoot it's gas bladder without having to prompt it's Phage Cannon attack, and it briefly leaves an opening (albeit a slim one) every time it's rears up a tentacle to launch a mortar.
-As you damage the Cariplete more and more, the rate at which it's tentacles light up and launch mortars gets faster and faster. While this gives you more chances to shoot at multiple tentacles, they become slightly harder to hit since they fire and curl back faster, not to mention the mortars become more and more suppressing as their rate of fire increases.
-It's worth mentioning that while the Cariplete is a flying infested, it's actually one of the slowest, if not THE slowest of the infested, only drifting at a very slow rate across the map. Combined with the fact that they can't follow you between tilesets, they're really only a major threat during missions where your required to kill them or you need to stay in an area for an extended period of time (Defense, Exterminate, Survival, etc.). Although keep in mind that their attacks are still fairly accurate, even at extremely long range, so don't underestimate their offensive capability if you're simply trying to rush past one.
-Has slightly less health and doesn't spawn until higher level missions compared to the Ancient Warrior, but it's attacks have the potential to be much more devastating than anything the Warrior can dish out, so don't underestimate this miniboss.
-During defense, it will not use it's normal attacks against the Cyropod, but instead slowly hover towards it until it's directly above it and using it's Bombardment attack. Also be warned that the Phage Cannon won't target it directly but can still damage it if it's caught in the blast radius. Both attacks will heavily damage if not outright destroy the Cryopod, so keep the Cariplete from reaching it at all costs.
-Due to the nature of the Cariplete as a massive flying infested, it will only ever be encountered on outdoor tilesets (Corpus Outpost, Phobos, Earth, etc.)

 

 

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Implemented Changes/Concepts

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Chargers

Standard Chargers are in a good spot for the most part: they're a fairly solid fodder enemy and as such don't need any major overhaul. However, they really should live up to the prompt "fast with weak claw attacks" because right now they're quite the opposite: slow and kinda clumsy feeling, but deal ridiculously high damage. Chargers need to have their damage significantly reduced and instead have their attacks and animations streamlined (no more wasting time with their pounce animation) and immediately take swipes at the player the second they're in range. A slight boost to movement speed may help to, as they're fairly easy to outrun and should be capable of at least keeping pace with faster frames such as Ash, Loki, and Nova. As the fodder of the infested, Chargers need to be more about using their sheer numbers to wear the player away instead of being slow and clumsy yet able to kill you in one hit.

 

Update: It would seem that the Chargers have finally received some much needed improvements, their speed has been increased, and their pounce attack does a bit of damage now, meaning they can easily wear you down if you don't stay out of their way.

 

Infestlings

 

Update: This enemy concept is currently being incorporated into the game! The Diseased Ancient previewed in Devstream 30 will have the ability to lob these little guys at you, after which they will latch onto you and reduce your movement speed

 

Appearance: Resemble the plant-like growths that are exhibited on infested ships, with a number of spidery legs that allow them to crawl on any surface, including the walls and ceiling. They are fairly small as well, about so:

Despite their insignificant looking appearance, they are one of the smallest and earliest stages of pure infested.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 10 / [1]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Bite/Debuff: Infestlings' only attack is latching onto the player and biting them, dealing extremely insignificant damage over 5 seconds. However, their main threat comes from their numbers and ability to debuff the player. Each Infestling that latches onto the player reduces their attack and movement speed by 5%. Up to 12 infestings can latch on to the player, resulting in a 60% reduction to attack and movement speed. The player will also be unable to dive roll if three or more Infestlings have attached to them; instead their Tenno will frantically try to shake them off.
Strategy/Trivia:
-Infestlings should not be underestimated, especially in the heat of battle. Despite being kill-able with virtually one hit from any weapon, they are small, fast, and can crawl along the walls and ceilings, making it extremely difficult to kill multiple Infestlings converging on the player. Their ability to slow the player down, not to mention prevent their shields from regenerating, can leave you highly susceptible to attack from more powerful infested.
-Weapons with a high fire rate are better suited for clearing swarms of Infestlings, or even an AoE ability if you are willing to sacrifice the energy.
-If three or more Infestlings are attached to you, spamming the roll button will cause your character to shake them off faster. If only one or two are attached to you, your character will be able to roll as normal, and the Infestlings will immediately pop off and die.
-Infestlings will sometimes pop out of the plant-like growths on the floor if the player walks through them. Fortunately only 1-4 tend to spawn this way, making them more of a minor annoyance than a threat.
-->This could also be there means of spawning when the infested are already on the offensive; they will pop out in slightly bigger swarms even if you haven't walked through the infested growth.
-Infestlings can also spawn from small, fleshy "hives" that randomly spawn on the walls and ceilings. These can contain a much larger number of Infestlings (10-20) and will pop when the player gets too close, so be wary of your surroundings and destroy them at range.
-Similar to the Nervos of yesteryear, it's possible for benevolent allies to shoot Infestlings off you.
-Like Latchers, Infestlings don't count as exterminate/defense enemies, so you won't have to hunt them down if any remain on the map. They still can spawn during these missions though.

Variants:

-Burstlings: Slightly larger than their standard counterparts and with a large spore pod consuming the majority of their body, these walking bombs with legs are essentially a fusion of Bursters and Infestlings; they will run up to the player before creating a surprisingly big explosion for their size (3m). Although their explosions are significantly less powerful than Bursters' and only have a small chance to stagger you, Burstlings tend to attack in large swarms, and they are just as agile as other Infestlings, making them tricky targets. Like Bursters, their explosions are harmful to their allies, making it a good idea to shoot them first to clear other nearby Infestlings.

Cordyceps

Update: While it is not directly being added to the game, the upcoming Nanite MOA will be able to unleash spore clouds that buff infested by providing armor rather than health, as well as impairing the players vision.

 

Appearance: Similar in appearance to Infestlings, except bigger (about knee high), have greenish-brown flesh, and are seed-shaped. When attached to another infested, they open up like a fly trap, and a large, bio-luminescent tendril protrudes from their body.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 100 / [6]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Enemy Buff: Cordyceps are a most unusual support unit for the infested; they will not attack the player directly but instead make a beeline for and latch onto the most powerful infested unit that is closest to them, adding +100% to their health as well as increasing their movement speed and damage by 10%. Additionally, the tentacle that protrudes from their body will provide ranged support, throwing barbs at the player. Up to four Cordyceps can attach to a single unit, providing a substantial +400% health boost and 40% damage/movement speed increase to their host!
-->In addition to having a tentacle jutting off the side of them, enemies under the influence of a Cordycep have an aura around them similar to that of Valkyr's Warcry, as well as an prefix added to the front of their name, based on the number attached to them (Resilient, Reinforced, Heavy, and Ultimate, in that order)
Strategy/Trivia:
-Cordyceps are not to be underestimated. While a single one doesn't make an infested that much stronger, they almost always come in packs, and the fact that four can latch onto a single target means that even a lowly Charger can be turned into a walking tank of meat and anger, let alone a stronger unit such as an ancient.
-It is possible (and recommended) to undo the Cordycep's effects by killing it while it is attached to another infested. The only way to kill it while it is attached is to shoot it's tentacle, which should kill it in one hit (400% damage multiplier) but it can be tricky to do since the tentacle will constantly be swaying.
-Despite their small size Cordyceps are hardier than they look, having almost as much health as a Charger of the same level.
-If you manage to kill an infested unit with Cordyceps still attached to it, they WILL survive, and detach from their host in order to seek out the next strongest unit.
-Cordyceps tend to go for the strongest unit that is closest to them, so expect them to prioritize units such as Ancients. They will also outright ignore certain units, including Runners, Infestlings, Ancient Hive Minds, and other Cordyceps.
-Cordyceps are harmless to the player if no other infested are around; they will simply flee from the player upon approach.
-Despite resembling Infestlings, they do not share their ability to navigate along the walls and ceiling.
-A cookie if you can figure out what their name references

 

Ancient Hive Pod

Update: It would appear that the two newest Ancients announced in Devstream 30 (the Puss and Diseased Ancients) will fulfill a role very similar to that of the Ancient Hive Pod. Both are able to spawn lesser Infested, and the Diseased Ancient even spawns "Infestlings" like the ones generated by the Hive Pod.



Appearance: Similar in appearance to the other Ancients, with the exception of being slouched over and having a massive infested spawn pod (similar to the ones generated by Lephantis) growing out their back. Two bio-luminescent tentacles hang off the end of their spawner and drag along the floor. Their flesh is a bluish-grey, and their tentacles and nodes glow pale yellow.
Base Health/Spawn Level: 350 / [10]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Infestling pods: The Hive Pod will launch three pods from it's spawner in the direction of the player, which will explode after 3 seconds or if the player wanders to close to them, dealing minor blast damage and unleashing 3-4 Infestlings per pod.
-Cordyceps: The Hive Mind will launch three Cordyceps from it's spawner in the direction of the nearest infested, which will promptly attempt to cling onto said unit
-Melee Attacks: The Hive Pod will use melee if the player gets too close, but they are less aggressive than other Ancients and will not charge the player.
Strategy/Trivia:
-On their own, Hive Pods are of little threat to the player, as they can only spawn Infestlings to deal damage to the player and lack any major offensive capability of their own. They are, however, an extremely dangerous support unit, as they will seek out and follow the offensive units and continuously spawn Cordyceps to buff them. Since there is no limit to how many Cordyceps they can spawn, if left unchecked multiple Hive Pods can turn a wave of even light infested into a serious threat.
-Unlike other enemies where there is little consequence to spray and pray, with Hive Pods you must be EXTREMELY careful not to shoot their spawner. If you do it will pop, unleashing a massive swarm of Infestlings (as many as 30-40) in all directions, as well as a few Cordyceps. The only benefit to this is that the Hive Pod can no longer spawn new units, and will instead revert to regular Ancient melee behavior.
-->Always aim low when fighting Hive Pods, shooting their head or limbs instead of the spawner pod. Hive Pods also lean back briefly before launching a payload of pods or Cordyceps, allowing you shoot their chest area.
-The Infestling pods the Hive Pods launch at the player can be shot prematurely in order to prevent them from popping into Infestlings.

 

Infested Spawners

Update: Will be generated by the upcoming Puss Ancient as you attack it. Still no word if they will occur naturally, without a Puss Ancient around.

 

More or less the same as the ones generated by Lephantis, these spawners should have a chance to randomly appear on any tileset. They will continuously spawn lesser infested until destroyed, albeit at a faster rate than than the ones from the Lephantis boss fight. Infested generated by a spawner will not yield any experience or item drops, so there is no incentive to keep spawners around to farm enemies for experience. Spawners can be attached to the walls and ceiling as well as the floor.

 

 

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Scrapped Concepts

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Ancient Disruptor 1.1

Alt. Design (by Rustynaps):



Appearance: The two center-most stalks of it's back halo are significantly longer than the other two, and form a sort of organic Jacob's ladder through which electromagnetic energy can occasionally be seen traveling through. Bio-luminescence changed from red to light blue.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 400 / [10]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Altered Charge attack: Charge attack is much better telegraphed and easier to avoid. The Ancient will make a distinct roar before breaking into an incredibly fast sprint. Like the Brutal Charger, there have very little turning capability when sprinting at you, but it is faster than even the Brutal Charger. Deals heavy Impact damage.
-Radial Disruption: Successor to the Disruptors' trademark ability. The Ancient will charge it's tentacle arm with magnetic energy for a few seconds before performing a ground pound that creates a magnetic shockwave, dealing heavy magnetic damage to players caught in the AoE (5m radius). However, this attack will no longer drain you completely of energy. Instead, any abilities within the radius of the attack will be deactivated. This includes everything from Decoys to M-Prime, even players under the effect of Iron Skin or Blessing will lose their immunities. Additionally, players hit by the shockwave will have their HUD scrambled, and will unable to recast their abilities for several seconds. Finally, this attack will still drain 25% of your max energy, so it can still siphon some of your reserve if you persistently get hit.
-->It's worth noting that, like the Shockwave MOA, the Disruptor will telegraph the fact that he's about to use this ability, meaning you should have ample time to get out of range. It also has a long delay between recasts of the disruption field as well.
-Melee attacks: The Disruptor's basic melee attacks no longer drain your energy, but they still deal Magnetic damage and come with a high proc chance, making them a hazard to your shields.
Strategy/Trivia:
-No major changes, just adjustments to the Disruptors attacks to provide some much needed counterability.
-Still a high priority target due to their high aggressiveness and ability to rob you of much needed shields and energy.
-Changes to energy drain mechanics make the Disruptor still an immediate threat that can intercept a much needed ultimate and even make them a threat to Trinity and Rhino, but makes them less punishing in the long run, particularly with melee combat.
-Because the Ancient has poor maneuverability when charging, the player should be able to dodge it with a well-timed roll to the side.

Toxic Ancient 1.1

Appearance: Very heavily mutated and tumorous, to indicate how decayed and diseased their flesh is compared to the other ancients. Stalks of back halo emit a constant stream of toxic fumes. Flesh is dark green and nodes glow a vibrant yellow-green.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 400 / [10]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Altered Charge attack: Same as the Disruptor, much faster charge, but telegraphed and cannot make tight turns when charging anymore. Deals heavy Impact damage on top of the high Toxic damage caused by touching the ancient.
-Organic grapple: The Toxic now has a new ability: when standing about 15m away from the player, the Toxic will lurch back briefly before spitting an organic grappling tentacle (the Scoliac perhaps?) from it's mouth. Like the Scorpion, if the grapple hits the player, they will be knocked down and dragged into melee range. Considering the Toxic is a walking body of pestilence and death, this is considerably dangerous to the player's health.
-Miasma: Similar to Saryn's ability, the Toxic will lurch down for a second before generating a blast of caustic fluid that deals heavy DoT as well as degrades armor. The Toxic Ancient will generally use this ability as a follow up to grappling and pulling in a player, thankfully it only has a 5m radius, so it is avoidable so long as you keep your distance.
-Torid Grenades: Like the Lobber Cralwer, the Toxic Ancient can throw toxic grenades at the player. These grenades leave behind a larger gas cloud than those created by Lobber Crawlers, however the Ancient uses this attack less frequently, and with a longer delay between grenades.
-Melee attacks: Melee attacks deal gas damage, meaning there is a chance to generate a gas cloud every time it hits the player
Strategy/Trivia:
-Like the Disruptor, the Toxic Ancient is still highly aggressive and should be a high priority for the player.
-Because the Ancient has poor maneuverability when charging, the player should be able to dodge it with a well-timed roll to the side.
-The Toxic's grapple tentacle is also well telegraphed, giving the player time to dodge or retaliate. Can also possibly be blocked or severed (only Melee 2.0 will tell)
-Many of it's new attacks are reminiscent of the J3 Golem

Ancient Healer 2.0

Appearance: The two center-most stalks of the Healer are sickle-shaped and generate an energy orb whenever a fellow infested gets close. This orb generates a beam of healing energy similar in aesthetics to the Shield Osprey's aura. Flesh is red-violet and bio-luminescence is a vibrant orange.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 400 / [10]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Improved healing mechanic: The Healer no longer offers minor health regen in pulses; instead, it now generates a beam of energy (similar to that of Link or Shield Ospreys) that continuously heals any infested within range. The rate at which it can restore health is determined by how far the unit being healed is from the ancient. At base level and at 5 or less meters away, the Ancient Healer can restore a substantial 50 hp per second (healing rate increases with level). Max range of 15m, and multiple healing auras stack, making multiple Healers all the more dangerous.
-Reduced aggression: Healers are no longer as aggressive as other ancients: they will not initiate a charge attack, and prefer to stay out of direct combat and linger behind more offensive units (will still melee you if provoked)
-Increased movement speed: Healers no longer "shamble" and walk at crawler speed, fast enough to keep up with slower infested units. Will "charge" to catch up with units if they're substantially far away.
-Well of Life: The Healer will launch an energy bolt at the player which, if it successfully hits them, will stagger them and mark them as a Well of Life. Infested will be able to heal themselves by hitting you, and more importantly, will prioritize a marked player over their allies.
Strategy/Trivia:
-Due to their significantly improved ability to heal their allies, Healers are now to be considered a serious threat, especially when multiple Healers are present, as even a single one can restore Ancients back to full health in a matter of seconds.
-Fortunately, because of the tendency of light infested units to leave slower infested in the dust, faster units like chargers or runners will rarely benefit from the Healer's abilities. It is, however, the slower units with which they synergize well with: Asilids, Golems, and other Ancients can be lethal in tandem with one or more healer, so be sure to prioritize the Healers before engaging the other units.
-Healers tend to stay away from the heat of battle when possible and will instead seek out the strongest units that are closest to them (they will still advance on your position if the majority of enemies are there).
-Healers are no longer capable of healing each other.
-Their ability to cast Well of Life can be particularly nasty: it will not lift you into the air like Trinity's, but infested will be drawn to you if you are under the effect, and since each successful hit on you will heal them, they can become much harder to kill.
-If there is a Healer nearby and you injure an infested without completely killing it, they may actually fall back momentarily to regenerate their health.

 

Drifters

Update: Rendered obsolete due to the addition of the Mutalist Osprey, but I'll still leave it up

Appearance: Drifters are Oxium Ospreys that have Infested matter similar to that which grows on the walls attached to them like a big, ugly, mutant barnacle. While they are not "true" infested seeing as they aren't organic lifeforms, the adaptive matter seems to have overridden their movement systems, giving the biomass limited control of the Osprey and literally using it as a mobile spore factory. The organic matter is visibly weighing the Osprey down, and is nothing more than a mass of infested flesh and several tentacles.
Base Health/Spawn Level: 200 / [6]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Organic Mines: Drifters will periodically launch two to three Latcher-sized pods at the player, which will attach to whatever surface they hit and quickly expand to the size of a Roller. Once fully expanded, these mines become active and detonate once a player enters their range, causing high blast damage and knocking the player down.
-Self Detonation: Once the player reduces them to 1/3 health, or simply gets too close to them, the Oxium Osprey's original programming will kick in, and the Osprey will attempt to charge into the player and explode, against the will of the infestation manipulating it.
Strategy/Trivia:
-While there aren't AS tanky as Oxium Ospreys, Drifters are still fairly durable when compared to other infested, and on top of this they tend to come in large swarms instead of one at a time, making them a rather high threat
-Their mines will last an incredibly long period of time, meaning that if left uncontrolled, a large swarm of Drifters can quite literally turn the area into a mine field. Thankfully they can be popped by shooting them, just be sure to stay out of range.
-If a mine hits you directly, it will stick to you, giving you only a few seconds to perform a roll and shake it off before it expands and pops.
-Drifters are arguably one the fastest and most mobile infested since they have the advantage of flight; thankfully they slow down significantly when launching mines at the player, making them much easier to hit
-Drifters have bulbs hidden underneath their wings which, when shot, will deal double damage to it. Unfortunately they're not the easiest to hit since they are only vulnerable when the Drifter opens it's wings while attacking.
-Behave differently when attacking a defense target, they will not launch mines at it but instead drift toward it and immediately detonate themselves. This does not mean they won't stop to engage the player.
-Mines will not detonate if an infested runs past them, but they will deal friendly-fire damage to them if you intentionally (or accidentally) pop one and they happen to get caught in the explosion.
-When the Osprey prepares to charge, it will make their signature chirping noise. Humorously, the infested mass can briefly be seen "panicking" before the Osprey begins it's charge, as if it's desperately trying to unlatch itself from the robot.
-Drops Oxium just like it's uninfested counterpart.

 

Infested Nest (Sabotage Target)

Update: With the addition of the Nest mission, this concept for an Infested Nest is rendered somewhat redundant.

Appearance: A massive conglomeration of Infested material, the only notable features of the Nests are the multiple orifices that cover it, from which it breeds lesser infested as well as extends tentacles from in order to defend itself. A few consumed bodies can also be vaguely recognized within the mass of flesh and metal. Can either be situated to the floor or the wall.
Base Health/[spawn Level]: 1000 / [5]
Abilities/Attributes:
-Spawner: Perpetually spawns lesser infested units, such as Chargers, Golems, Crawlers, etc. to attack the player and defend itself
-Tentacles: 6-8 gangly tentacles will protrude from the Nest once the player approaches the Nest. These tentacles can deal hefty melee damage if you get to close to the Nest, and can lob spore pods similar to those used by Lephantis. These pods do heavy damage on direct impact, and will remain on any surface they hit for some time as proximity mines.
-Highly durable: The center-mass of the Nest is nearly impervious to attack, and all damage dealt to it will be reduced to a pitiful 10%!
Strategy/Trivia:
-Because the center-mass of the Nest absorbs a massive amount of damage, you will have to concentrate you fire on it's tentacles and the orifices from which it spawns Infested units. Shooting the Nest in it's tentacles will deal 100% damage, shooting into the spawning orifices will deal 200% damage.
-Their are two effective strategies to destroying Nests, either prioritizing it's tentacles or forcing it to spawn more infested, leaving it's weakspot vulnerable
-->It's tentacles will only take a certain threshold of damage before they become severed, you will have to sever most or all of the tentacles in order to kill the Nest.
-->Tentacles can be tricky to hit since they are twitchy, and can even retract and pop out on another part of the Nest
-->The Nest only opens up to spawn more Infested, so if by continuously killing the enemies it generates, it will keep exposing itself in order to spawn more.
-->Nests have multiple holes from which they can spawn Infested, and they only open briefly, so aim quickly.
-->For the best results, damage both of these weakspots in order to destroy the Nest quickly
-A miniboss of sorts, Nests will only spawn during Infested Sabotage Missions (which would have to be brought back as a mission type of course), where they will replace the reactor core and mining machines as the target(s)to be destroyed.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Player Suggestions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The Jaeger (Phoenix86): https://forums.warfr...ept-the-jaeger/
- Heavy tank infested that can empower nearby infested and absorb gunfire at a cost of a small portion of it's own health.

Madotsuki's Infested 2.0: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/180923-mados-concept-diary-faction-overhaul-infested-20wip/
-Madotsuki's own thread on new/overhauled infested (some probably better than my own). Be sure to give this a look as well.

Arachne Boss (NeverEatTheLemonsAlone): https://forums.warfr...-infested-boss/
-Random event boss that occurs in the derelicts. Large yet agile spider-like infested that can crawl along the walls and ceiling, and has several phases involving different attack patterns.

Infested Heavies/Leaders (Amistyrja): https://forums.warfr...fested-leaders/
-Various concepts for new leader/heavy units for the infested. Operate differently from their lesser counterparts in order to keep the player on their toes.

Infested Warrior (RustyNaps): https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/178662-infested-20-new-units-and-improvements-to-old-ones-wip/?p=2223338
-Fast moving mid-tier infested unit. Not to be confused with the Ancient Warrior :)

Early Ancient Redesigns (RustyNaps): https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/178662-infested-20-new-units-and-improvements-to-old-ones-wip/?p=2152075
-The earlier artwork used for new Ancients drawn by RustyNaps.

Infested Concepts/Designs (shared by GratuitousLurking):
ValhaHazred: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/44748-some-rough-infested-concepts-return-of-the-infected-centipede/
Ruelle: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/62390-infested-enemy-concept-doodle-things/
-Two threads with various infested design concepts and potential new units. A few interesting enemies that I would like to see myself, and as much as I'd like to add them here I'd feel too much like I'm ripping them off, so better that I leave the links for you guys to follow instead.

Edited October 2, 2014 by Paradoxbomb

[immolator1001]

Didn't go all the way through but I love their designs! please de!

[Darkfreack]

ALL OF THIS, WANT, NOW!!!!!!

[SuperAga]

You referred to yourself in the third person, which means I automatically hate you. However, there's a lot of nice work which most people would like to see in the game, shame the chance of any of these coming into fruition are pretty much zero. 

[Teitoku_Yukka]

Zergs... zergs everywhere! And a bit sanctum 2. =_='' :D 
P.S. But it's very cool idea. Nice!
P.S.S. I apologize for my bad English. He is not my native language.

Edited February 13, 2014 by Konpaku_Youmu

[Cyrionn]

A bump and a cookie for you. :3

[Aimop95]

I like the idea of more variety with the infested units though. GOOD JOB.

[Paradoxbomb]

You referred to yourself in the third person, which means I automatically hate you. However, there's a lot of nice work which most people would like to see in the game, shame the chance of any of these coming into fruition are pretty much zero. 

 

I swear it'll never happen again, extensive periods of typing tend to drive Para- I mean, me, slightly insane.

[(PSN)Ivillious]

I like the idea of units with various roles and strengths/weaknesses. It would really add more thought to the shooting which is currently: Soma... Fire...Repeat as necessary.

 

I do have to admit that while I was reading a few of those I was having conflicted feelings of "oh man that's awesome" and "...I don't know if I really want to actually fight something like that..."  But I think that is how it should be right?  The enemies shouldn't just be cannon fodder, you should dread seeing specific enemies or pairs of certain enemies together because they are going to be challenging to beat.

 

All in all: great ideas. I hope this gets enough attention so that maybe even one of these is implemented or DE at least notices that we want more enemy variety and more challenging enemy types.

[zoboso]

the brutal charger you describe are cool and are how some chargers should be while the rest should be like charger 2.0. 

 

I think that instead of the asilid that infested should have the psychic leader type that allows them to shoot a psychic bolt once every 10 seconds.

 

Infestlings should become environmental hazards instead mobs to emphasize the infestation's ability to take over environments.

 

cordycepts should be able to convert their health to their host to give it an additional health buffer and a damage boost, the health transfer should have a fixed rate of up to 10 hp per second and the damage boost should equal the cordycept's health remaining. this in total would allow weaker players to weaken the cordycepts but force the better players to fight through multiple enemies using the same cordycept because their damage will be so high that the health giving ability will never trigger fast enough to force the cordycept to give all of it's health to it's ally.

 

golems hold no nostalgia for me and your idea in this regard, prevents infestation from being a cohesive faction here.

 

Infestation spawners (hivemind) are cool, i think that having it's signature ability should resemble shadows of the dead  but instead of fallen enemies it would be fallen allies are recycled into new threats.

 

Phlenax should be created from a shield lancer.

[Morec0]

LOVE ALL OF THESE!

 

The Infested are definitely the race with the least variety, which makes NO sense given their nature, and NEED a MASSIVE racial overhaul. The Infested Ancients were good, but they were just the start of what should have been something MUCH bigger! DE! I beg you to take note of these!!!

[Phoenix86]

So Zerg :)

 

I like it.

 

May i leave my creation here as well? The Jaeger.

 

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/177523-a-new-infested-heavy-unit-concept-the-jaeger/

 

Feel free to add it in your first post (with credits! :p )

[RadiantProxy]

Dat Ancient Warrior. All of my want.

[Paradoxbomb]

the brutal charger you describe are cool and are how some chargers should be while the rest should be like charger 2.0. 

 

I think that instead of the asilid that infested should have the psychic leader type that allows them to shoot a psychic bolt once every 10 seconds.

 

Infestlings should become environmental hazards instead mobs to emphasize the infestation's ability to take over environments.

 

cordycepts should be able to convert their health to their host to give it an additional health buffer and a damage boost, the health transfer should have a fixed rate of up to 10 hp per second and the damage boost should equal the cordycept's health remaining. this in total would allow weaker players to weaken the cordycepts but force the better players to fight through multiple enemies using the same cordycept because their damage will be so high that the health giving ability will never trigger fast enough to force the cordycept to give all of it's health to it's ally.

 

golems hold no nostalgia for me and your idea in this regard, prevents infestation from being a cohesive faction here.

 

Infestation spawners (hivemind) are cool, i think that having it's signature ability should resemble shadows of the dead  but instead of fallen enemies it would be fallen allies are recycled into new threats.

 

Phlenax should be created from a shield lancer.

 

1) Yes, Chargers definitely need a variant that, you know, charges.

 

2) The idea of psychic leaders for the infested is something DE should do as well, but given how infrequent leaders are I still think they should give the infested a "common" unit with ranged ability so players can't always stand on a box and win.

 

3) Infestling are "somewhat" of an environmental hazard, as I said, they can pop out of plant growth if you walk through it (though this is minor threat) or they can spawn from small hives/proximity mines if you get too close. But I'm open to suggestions on other creative ways you can encounter them.

 

4) While the idea of the Cordycep providing health regen and a damage boost is good, I still prefer the Cordyceps having the ability to instantaneously add an additional 100% of the unit's max health to it, since the point of these things is that you don't want players simply mowing down their hosts as they do any other infested. If they can potentially give a unit 500% health on top of a heavy armor rating, you're going to prioritize killing them rather than trying to gun through the infested tank.

 

Plus the damage boost is already covered by Drifters, and Healing should be left to Healers (which I will get around to soon).

 

5) I was never in Closed Beta either but I thought the ability to sever infested sounded very clever and Dead Space-y, so I guess I wanted to fit that in somewhere. Personally I think they would have a lot synergy with the support infested I suggested, since they would fall behind the defensive capabilities of Asilids and Phalanxes, not to mention Cordyceps would have plenty of time to latch onto them while the faster infested distract the player, and healers will almost always travel at a similar pace and protect them.

 

6) At first I was thinking Healers should've been able to revive recently killed light infested instead of just healing them, but maybe that could be the special power of an entirely new unit, called the Ancient Shaman or something. I'll be sure to add that later :)

 

7) It could be, but keep in mind that the Phalanx is an Ancient, and a highly evolved one at that, so it's so far along in it's mutation that there's simply no evidence of being human anymore. Their could be some Shield Lancer meat mixed in their though :/

 

Zergs... zergs everywhere! And a bit sanctum 2. =_='' :D 

 

 

So Zerg :)

 

I like it.

 

How offended would everyone be if I mentioned that I've never actually played Starcraft ? <:)

Edited February 13, 2014 by Paradoxbomb

[Phoenix86]

 

How offended would everyone be if I mentioned that I've never actually played Starcraft ? <:)

 

Nothing at all, but than i would suggest you to absolutely try it if you like, even a little bit, RTS games!

 

PS: you've written my name wrong xD

Edited February 13, 2014 by Phoenix86

[Paradoxbomb]

PS: you've written my name wrong xD

 

Whoops. Fixed ;)

[zoboso]

1) Yes, Chargers definitely need a variant that, you know, charges.

 

2) The idea of psychic leaders for the infested is something DE should do as well, but given how infrequent leaders are I still think they should give the infested a "common" unit with ranged ability so players can't always stand on a box and win.

 

3) Infestling are "somewhat" of an environmental hazard, as I said, they can pop out of plant growth if you walk through it (though this is minor threat) or they can spawn from small hives/proximity mines if you get too close. But I'm open to suggestions on other creative ways you can encounter them.

 

4) While the idea of the Cordycep providing health regen and a damage boost is good, I still prefer the Cordyceps having the ability to instantaneously add an additional 100% of the unit's max health to it, since the point of these things is that you don't want players simply mowing down their hosts as they do any other infested. If they can potentially give a unit 500% health on top of a heavy armor rating, you're going to prioritize killing them rather than trying to gun through the infested tank.

 

Plus the damage boost is already covered by Drifters, and Healing should be left to Healers (which I will get around to soon).

 

5) I was never in Closed Beta either but I thought the ability to sever infested sounded very clever and Dead Space-y, so I guess I wanted to fit that in somewhere. Personally I think they would have a lot synergy with the support infested I suggested, since they would fall behind the defensive capabilities of Asilids and Phalanxes, not to mention Cordyceps would have plenty of time to latch onto them while the faster infested distract the player, and healers will almost always travel at a similar pace and protect them.

 

6) At first I was thinking Healers should've been able to revive recently killed light infested instead of just healing them, but maybe that could be the special power of an entirely new unit, called the Ancient Shaman or something. I'll be sure to add that later :)

 

7) It could be, but keep in mind that the Phalanx is an Ancient, and a highly evolved one at that, so it's so far along in it's mutation that there's simply no evidence of being human anymore. Their could be some Shield Lancer meat mixed in their though :/

 

1) new charger idea: charger with slash dash...Rhino charge. Slash dash is already being done by the stalker.

 

2) I have never had much luck standing on top of boxes between the ancient's stretch attack and leapers jump attack. the times I discovered that charger's path-finding can sometimes bring them on top of boxes made me suspicious of the long term viability of this tactic. However even though this tactic is not successful for me does not mean that it isn't currently effective

 

3) agree

 

4) trying to slow down the players attempt to mow down infested to create a challenge is all well and good, but it is important that the enemy is not impossible for newbies to kill. 

 

Zoboso's cordycepts 2.0

 

60 hp

 

attaches to infested mob (the host)

 

whenever the host would be dealt damage, the host instead takes (1 / (1 + the number of cordycepts on the host)), and the cordycepts take half of that reduced damage.

 

for each cordecept on the host it's animations have their speed increased (replacing damage boost)

 

7) as charger from shield lancer

[Paradoxbomb]

4) trying to slow down the players attempt to mow down infested to create a challenge is all well and good, but it is important that the enemy is not impossible for newbies to kill. 

 

Zoboso's cordycepts 2.0

 

60 hp

 

attaches to infested mob (the host)

 

whenever the host would be dealt damage, the host instead takes (1 / (1 + the number of cordycepts on the host)), and the cordycepts take half of that reduced damage.

 

for each cordecept on the host it's animations have their speed increased (replacing damage boost)

 

The way I see it, the Cordyceps significant buff to enemies would be balanced by the fact that:

- There will only be so many in a crowd, so only one or two infested will have a significant amount latched onto them

- They are less common on lower levels, so by the time you do encounter large amounts you should have the firepower to cope with them.

- They can be killed by shooting their tentacle, which ends their effect on a host completely, and this only requires a focused shot. Or they can simply be killed before they even get the chance to buff another unit.

 

That being said, I still do like this concept you came up with, and am strongly considering it.

[Acegikmo]

     The infested definitely need a facelift. They are the weakest and easiest faction to fight and it needs to change. The infested are all about speed and wearing you down, as such, they shouldn't really do much damage in general. But there shouldn't be any possibility of cover, they should hunt you down, push you back, and force you to give ground( at least that's what I think infested should excel at). The sad truth is, they have none of these. They should be the most organized of the factions with actual combat tactics and hive mind cohesion. Think giant brain unit, sitting in back, telling phalanx units to go in with boomers( runners?) behind them to give protection until within range to break away so we have to deal with the various explosion types in our faces.

     All those units you explained sound awesome, but can you imagine them all doing their thing in one room. Computers would crash left and right. It's too much to be going on at once. The only way it would work was if you reduced the offensive enemy types to 1 or 2 in order to have so much support. Which is no good since the infested are the swarm faction and having so many of them sitting back defensively feels like it breaks the class. Maybe merging some enemy types could work, like: chargers and leapers being one unit could work, they 'leap' into the fight slowing you if they land near you and then start a flurry of attacks. Runners should be the exclusive element unit so we can get rid of 2 of the ancients and just have the healer since the runner would have toxic and magnetic and what-have-you. The ancients all look the same anyways( seems kind of sloppy).

     I don't mean to criticize all your ideas, ( since I like just about all of them) and other than the ridiculously high numbers on some stuff, it was all good. But yeah, it took me 2 paragraphs to basically say that infested need a lot more work and should have that Dead Space feel to them. Like, right before you even go into a room, you should hear what's on the other side of the door and be all:" OH S#&amp;&#036;".

[Paradoxbomb]

-snip-

 

AFAIK only so many unit types seem to spawn on the same map (engine limitations I guess) so having ALL these units running around one tile isn't be likely to begin with, at most you'd probably only get 2 or 3 "support" units on a map.

 

Runners and Ancients using enemies like the Phalanx for cover was the idea, though they may not necessarily need a commander to coordinate them (since that's yet another enemy to program), DE would simply have to fine-tune the AI so enemies recognize that particular units can offer them protection if they stand next to them.

 

I will admit that a lot of units I suggested are supportive rather than offensive, but that mainly because the infested have no support at all right now save for Healers, which IMO shouldn't be as aggressive Disruptors or Toxics. Infested already have offense and charging your position down decently, the lighter just need to be swifter and occupy the player long enough for the heavier enemies to close the distance, while the support both helps to further distract you or make the heavies even heavier.

 

 

P.S. I'm sure a few ideas could be streamlined, I just wanted to get as many concepts out as I can since the likelihood of all of them being taken into consideration is small anyway.

[-Berserk-]

Wow! I loved everything I read about this, and Kudos on the art especially the Runners(great idea btw) and the ancient warrior. My only suggestion is that Cordyceps and infestling loose wall and ceiling crawl, enemies have a hard enough time pathing as it is, speed buff will have to do. Other than that this is really cool, well thought out idea.

[Paradoxbomb]

Wow! I loved everything I read about this, and Kudos on the art especially the Runners(great idea btw) and the ancient warrior. My only suggestion is that Cordyceps and infestling loose wall and ceiling crawl, enemies have a hard enough time pathing as it is, speed buff will have to do. Other than that this is really cool, well thought out idea.

 

Yeah, the ability for Infestlings to be able to run on walls and such would probably be determined by whether or not the game could handle such a thing, but it would be a nice touch if DE was capable of implementing it (since a lot of folks want infested units that can scale walls).

[Morec0]

Yeah, the ability for Infestlings to be able to run on walls and such would probably be determined by whether or not the game could handle such a thing, but it would be a nice touch if DE was capable of implementing it (since a lot of folks want infested units that can scale walls).

 

Well, the Hyena pack can jump onto the wall and attack from there. It would take just a little further work, but it would be doable I think.

[Madotsuki]

Oh it's been so long since there's been a good enemy concept thread, with IMAGES no less! Bravo!

 

I really like some of these enemy concepts as well as overhauls, though I'd like to make additional changes (as I always do with enemy/boss concept ideas). However this time there's just so much to say that simply writing a reply won't be enough :/ That's why I'm planning to write my own Infested overhaul thread, and hope it gets some attention like yours :0 I'll post the link for you when it's ready.

 

I will give some simple feedback on a few of the enemies though.

 

I would prefer if instead of a ground unit like Asilid, the basic Infested ranged unit would be flying bat-like creatures with barbed tails that fling thorns at the player. Good mobility, and better attack angles. They'd also be less outright irritating for players as things like Asilid would repeatedly have walls of meatshields due to other ground Infested. Plus it adds a little visual variety, Asilids would just look like yet another Charger to the player.

 

I don't like the Cordyceps, mostly because I have my own plan for an Infested buff unit (It's related to my own Phorid overhaul concept). Plus, Cordycepped enemies become nothing more but spongier, which...isn't that engaging.

 

The way Regulators work is that they "motivate" Grineers with messages from their leaders. How would that work for the Infested? They're zombies, they can't be motivated by ideologies or something. It'd be better if the whole "buff aura" thing was added to the Ancient Healer instead of having the Drifters.

[RustyNaps]

Infestlings are unnecessary as the Technocyte are actually caused by those orange nanites.

 

Maybe DE could make them a threat. Other than that I like these concepts.