[Boss Concept] Stalker

[Vargras]

Sure, the Stalker is currently little more than a rare spawn, but all he does is make his entrance, try to shoot, melee, or Slash Dash you a few times, and then he either kills someone and poofs or he falls over dead and you collect your loot. But what if he was something... more?

 

Goals

-Creation of a boss that is not a bullet sponge and actively rewards skillful play

-An actual "end-game" boss. Lephantis is a bit of a joke once you figure it out, and Vay Hek doesn't count

-Would still exist as a rare spawn, and would also be present as an optional boss for players seeking end-game content

 

Boss: The Stalker

AI would be reworked to make the Stalker much more dynamic. Instead of just saying a few lines, showing up, and being foiled because everyone strafed in a circle, you're going to have to work much harder to beat him in this iteration. In order to aid this transition into a boss:

-Health and defenses drastically increased. To compensate (and to prevent him from one-shotting folks, because that's not a fun boss fight at all), his damage has also been lowered to survivable levels.

-Agility increased drastically. The Stalker has been hunting Tenno for a very long time now, and it shows. He will block and dodge every chance he can, and will leap all over the place to keep you from getting a good shot. Act quickly!

-Distinct phases set up, with attacks telegraphed so good players can avoid the damage entirely, and possibly even exploit it.

 

The Setting

A derelict dojo. This is the Stalker's turf -- despite being heavily overgrown with vegetation (and no signs of the Technocyte virus at all), the dojo still remains functional, albeit on emergency power. Red emergency lights, doors that have difficulty opening, elevators that sometimes drop without warning (which would lead to a jumping puzzle to get up). In order to reach it, players would have to (surprise!) craft a key granting entry. The material cost wouldn't be too terrible.

 

The player(s) would eventually reach an old clan hall, with the Stalker meditating in the middle. Upon entering, all doors would lock (opening upon victory), setting the arena for the fight to come. Several pillars would be present to provide line-of-sight breaks.

 

The Fight

So you've decided to fight the Stalker. He's quite surprised you've decided to pay him a visit, but he's not complaining -- after all, it saves him the trouble of having to track you down and murder you. Throughout the fight, Stalker would be surprisingly verbose, taunting you repeatedly as you progress through the phases. Each phase would have its own mechanics to correspond with it, in typical RPG fashion.

 

Phase 1 - "Such arrogance... it will be your undoing."

After a brief opening in which the Stalker thanks (and threatens) the players for showing up, the fight begins. During this first phase, he'll almost exclusively try to use his Dread. Targeted players will briefly be covered in a haze of smoke, showing that they're the intended victim -- after a brief delay in which the targeted player would have a chance to dodge, he would fire, dealing serious damage (likely enough to take out shields completely, or shields + some health). Attempting to close the gap would result in the Stalker disappearing in cloud of smoke and reappearing elsewhere in the room, ready to line up another shot. The pillars throughout the room would also give plenty of cover for dodging arrows.

 

During phase 1, Stalker will often run and occasionally dodge, but never block. Phase 1 ends upon reaching 65% health.

 

Phase 2 - "Let me give you a more... personal demonstration."

Upon reaching the end of phase 1, Stalker would throw out a blinding haze of smoke, stunning all players and slightly obscuring vision. Throughout the entirety of this phase, the smoke would fill the room, making it very difficult to see more than a few feet in front of you -- at this point, your radar is likely your best indication of where your allies are and where the Stalker is. His Dread would be thrown to the side, and Stalker would instead equip his Despair. While using Despair, he will continue to single out targets. Intended victims would be pinned to an object via several knives, unable to break themselves out (unless playing solo). Pinned targets (and the Stalker) would glow bright red through the haze of the smoke, showing allies just where their friend (and the boss) is. Over the next few seconds, allies would need to quickly rush over and melee the pinned ally in order to break the knives and end the stun -- failure to do so results in the Stalker riddling his target with throwing knives, dealing very serious damage. In addition to knife attacks, Stalker would also use Slash Dash, Dispel, and his other usual abilities.

 

During phase 2, Stalker will often run and dodge, and occasionally block. Phase 2 ends upon reaching 35% health.

 

Phase 3 - "Enough! I will not be put down by the likes of you!"

Upon reaching the end of phase 2, the smoke would dissipate, revealing Stalker to be standing in the middle of the room and next to his Hate, buried into the floor. Obviously quite angry at this point, Stalker would throw his own knives aside and rip the scythe from the floor, casting a massive Dispel that dispels all abilities, drains all energy, and prevents all energy regeneration. He would also cast a new ability, causing all player(s) to be honorbound and preventing them from using any weapons except for their melee weapon. If a melee weapon is not equipped at the time. Stalker will instead throw a Skana into the floor for them to use, and wait for them to take it up -- taking too long to do so results in him attacking anyways.

 

The Stalker attacks very often, making frequent use of combos, all of which would be telegraphed to players via red glows and slowed attack animations to give a chance for dodges or blocks. Throughout this last phase, Stalker will sometimes challenge a player to a duel. During the duel, all other players are forced into a meditative pose, and are unable to take any actions. The challenged player will be forced into a brief duel with the Stalker, ending once one or the other is struck once -- player victory leaves the Stalker in a stunned state, causing him to take increased damage and leaving him unable to attack, dodge, or block. Player defeat results in the player becoming critically injured, with health left at 5 hp and shields at 0 for the remainder of the mission. In this last phase, players must make frequent use of dodges and blocks if they wish to survive.

 

During the last phase, Stalker will often dodge and block. Phase 3 ends upon reaching 0% health.

 

The Rewards

The one thing everyone is interested in. In a bit of a twist, the boss variation of the Stalker would drop only cosmetic items. This is included, but not limited to:

-Helmets

-Syandanas

-Warframe Skins

-Weapon Skins

-Sentinel Accessories

-Sentinel Skins

-Smoke Color Palette

 

Why no weapons? Because Dread, Despair, and Hate are already better than many, and almost on-par with several Prime weapons. No Stalker warframe either, because that's a bit silly.

 

Please leave all comments and suggestions below, and thanks for reading.

[Brynslustafir]

Do want. 

[Vargras]

Do want. 

Your avatar threw me off for a moment. I'm too used to the Ember Prime, and I know that wasn't even your most recent one.

[Imaru]

YES PLEASE!!!!! :D 

[ShiningArmor]

You had me at cosmetic items.

[APBladeX]

Good idea, but would the Stalker still continue to seek out the marked Tenno in regular missions for chances at the Dread, Despair, and Hate?

[Vargras]

You had me at cosmetic items.

People always clamor for cosmetics, no matter the game. If it's a little more challenging than usual to get it? They'll still do it.

 

That, and it makes the boss feel a little less "mandatory". He's something you do for fun or for a challenge, not because he has all the best loot.

 

Good idea, but would the Stalker still continue to seek out the marked Tenno in regular missions for chances at the Dread, Despair, and Hate?

I mentioned this in the OP, but yes, he would. The boss variation would exist alongside the current rare spawn variation.

Edited May 7, 2014 by Vargras

[bowiespoon]

you had me at derelict dojo. I love every aspect of the idea, although it would need lore added to it. and maybe as a loot drop he would drop a unique weapon.

 

EX:  Anguish - Shurikan version of despair

[Vargras]

you had me at derelict dojo. I love every aspect of the idea, although it would need lore added to it. and maybe as a loot drop he would drop a unique weapon.

 

EX:  Anguish - Shurikan version of despair

I'm hesitant to add any sort of weapon or warframe to him, as that goes back to the "it feels mandatory" thing that I mentioned.

[bowiespoon]

I really like this, but how would one go about crafting the key?

 

Maybe a rare drop from various bosses?

 

Maybe its only obtainable by killing the RNG gods?

 

Could it be a drop from stalker himself?

 

however obtained, it shouldn't be easy to find, This is stalker after all.

[Vargras]

I really like this, but how would one go about crafting the key?

 

Could it be a drop from stalker himself?

Probably this. It'd be like picking up the keys to his own home!

 

It's kinda mean, once you think about it, but he did try to kill you, so I guess it's fair.

[nintega]

This sounds awesome. Love all of the different weapon mechanics, the Dread sniping, the Despair pinning, and the dueling with the Hate, it all sounds freaking excellent. Plus, Stalker's been on my &#! too much lately, always going after me when I'm solo with low ranked, unpotatoed weapons and squishy frames. I really wanna give him a beating like this.

[OneBulletCurse]

They should add that into the game, and come on, why not have his weapons drop, its annoying waiting for him to attack you to get his weapons 

[OneBulletCurse]

nintega, i should play with you then, i havent seen him once considering getting mark after mark after mark

[SoulDust]

would ruin the concept of a few things. So no.

[OneBulletCurse]

Please explain SoulDust

[OniDax]

Do like. Oh, and Stalker warframe is silly because there is no Stalker warframe model. There's a Stalker helmet, but the warframe body is just plain old Excalibur. You can seriously match the Stalker's colors in-game.

[Noobstein]

+ 1, nice job!

[ukovalian]

some quote ideas for this:

entering "you wish to hunt the hunter"

during fight "you skill has improved since last time" if you have fought him before and "you have no grace" if you have no stance mod equip

upon winning a duel or downing a player "this has gone on long enough"

 

two ideas for his survival:

custom shields: resistant to everything save P.I.S. damage

reinforced armor: resistant to P.I.S. damage

both are resistant to all proc except knockbacks and knockdowns

 

a unique stance and aura mod:

disarm: while using melee has a small chance to grab and throw away currently equipped weapon (can be reacquired)

inferred vision: he can always see you

[Vargras]

would ruin the concept of a few things. So no.

Such as?

[Brynslustafir]

Your avatar threw me off for a moment. I'm too used to the Ember Prime, and I know that wasn't even your most recent one.

I went from Ember Prime to Rhino Prime, and then Zephyr, and then Volt.

Edited May 7, 2014 by Plasmaface

[Vargras]

I went from Ember Prime to Rhino Prime, and then Zephyr, and then Volt.

Volt master race.

[Darktigr]

Imagine having the stalker pop in while you're fighting and you had to fight both. XD or if the Stalker says that you will pay for the death of The Stalker. Just something i thought was funny, but really cool! I didn't really expect it to be very good but it fits into the game very well, going to fight the stalker on his own turf.

[MrPigman]

meh... i dont want to be able to challenge the stalker. that also kind of defeats the purpose of the stalker. the stalker knows no home because the betrayers destroyed it. and the stalker hunts you, hints the name. plus if you could fight him farming for his items would become far too easy. i think he is fine as he is. its like fighting another tenno... which is exactly what youre doing.

[Blackout751]

I like it, but I don't want to be able to farm the Stalker boss at all. A cooldown or restriction after the first kill sounds necessary to me.

 

some quote ideas for this:

entering "you wish to hunt the hunter"

during fight "you skill has improved since last time" if you have fought him before and "you have no grace" if you have no stance mod equip

upon winning a duel or downing a player "this has gone on long enough"

 

He's not Darth Vader, you know.