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Stalker Feedback - My Personal Experience With Our Favorite Recolour


Lukap99
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Since I recently had an encounter with our favorite 3edgy5u Black Excalibur, and it's very fresh in my mind, I feel as if it's time for some feedback.
 
Fear factor
 
I think the most important thing about the Stalker is the feeling of dread you feel when you encounter him. This is why he is my favorite boss in the game.
 
The way he just sort of "appears" is frightening. Not because it's a jump scare, but because he can kill you legit if you're not careful.
 
It's the same with the Zanuka hunter and G3. Well, the first time you encounter them anyway. After that they're just like any other boss. A walking pinata filled with loot.
 
But stalker on the other hand, you have to fight him with your actual weapons, not powers.
 
G3: "Ash is the scrawniest of th*POOF*. Smoke?! Where did he" *dies*
 
Salad V: "I shall keel you and sell your guts for profit!... Why are you holding up your swo- ARGH, FLASHBANG, MY EYES!" *Harvester is kill* "NOO, ZANUKA! But m-muh profit!"
 
Stalker: "Oh, what's that? You've activated iron skin? That's cute. Your Tenno powers are useless."
 
What's not scary about him.
 
I've noticed that in Solo missions he can appear even if you don't kill any bosses.
 
While this may seems scary, the fact that he says that I killed Krill just sort of reminds me that he's an in-game boss and there's nothing to be afraid of really.
 
But if he actually said something related to the lore like "Your betrayal will not go unpunished." or "You've spoiled your hands with the blood of those who sheltered you." then I would probably have goosebumps even after I die/win.
 
It would also be nice if he said something about us using his equipment, since according to my testing that may increase the chance of him spawning. So something like
 
Dread - "I see you're using my bow. Let's test your mastery of it."
Despair - "You've stolen my despair. For that, you will die."
Hate - "Ironic, isn't it? You're using the scythe that spilled the blood of your brother. Have you betrayed even them?"
All weapons - "You may have all my weapons, but that will not stop me from erasing you from this world."
All weapons painted pink - "You mock me by recolouring my weapons pink? You will pay dearly for that."
 
The way he marks you for death also isn't very scary.

I've made an entire thread about this issue, so check it out (shameless self advertisement)
He's 2sooky4us. GJ DE
On solo missions he says you kill krill even though you didn't. You might as well give him dialogue for no bosses killed.
The entire point of putting your name as ??? falls short if we can see your icon ya git.
Since he doesn't have a voice adding like maybe, 15 more lines of dialogue isn't that hard.
 
The actual fight itself.

Dread and Despair are easy enough to avoid if you keep moving. This is fine, because for lower level frames it's usually a one shot weapon. I find that blocking is quite useless here because it drains your stamina reeeeally quickly.

But the thing that usually kills me most of the time is his teleport melee attack. This is because after the teleport he can instantly swing hate at me. If this slash doesn't kill you, then the stun-lock combined with his constant weapon switching will.
 
In fact, most of the difficulty from fighting him though comes from his constant weapon switching. And when I say constant I mean constant. One second it's Dread, the next it's desp- he's back to dread ag- tele scythe *dead*.
 
I find that hitscan weapons are the go-to way for dealing with him, as I had no problem finishing him off with a Snipe V even before the buff.
 
To improve this, either adjust the frequency of his weapon switches to uncommon or split the fight into three phases a la Vor.

Also it would be nice if the lights actually did flash instead of our helmets if there are any lights.
 
Suggestions to improve fight to make it fun but still tense.
 
His health and damage should scale separately. His health scales nicely as of now, but the damage he deals could be improved. Improved not in the sense of "buff", but changed so it's fun.
 
I'm basing this list on how many shots he would need to kill you. Keep in mind that solo is based on your frame, while squad is on a frame that has average shields and armor.

Something like this.


Starting planets - solo
1. Dread - 1.5
2. Despair - 10
3. Hate - 6 hit combo
 
Starting planets - full squad
1. Dread - 1
2. Despair - 5
3. Hate - 4 hit combo

Mid-game - solo
1. Dread - 1.5
2. Despair - 7
3. Hate - 5 hit combo

Mid-game - full squad
1. Dread - 1
2. Despair - 5
3. Hate - 3 hit combo
 
Final planets of origin system - solo
1. Dread - 1
2. Despair - 4
3. Hate - 4 hit combo

Final planets of origin system - Full squad
1. Dread - 1
2. Despair - 3
3. Hate - 2
 
Note: list is going to change upon further encounters and feedback from community. This is only my current opinion.
 

 
When entering a mission he will have a preset "order" of weapons he will use when he has full HP, mid HP, and low HP. He may still change his weapons if he isn't doing any damage for about 10 seconds.

His tactic for each weapon is now more distinct.
 
When switching weapons his helmet flashed dark blue.
If he is taking heavy ranged damage he will use absorb.

Dread
 
20m / 30m away.
If you try to get close he has a chance of changing weapons or teleporting away to optimal sniping distance.
Going out of his sniping range causes him to use shuriken followed by teleporting into optimal sniping range.
Shuriken can be blocked to avoid damage completely.
Before each shot his helmet will flash red. This signals when he will release his arrow.
Arrow trail is much longer.
Blocking takes up a lot of stamina. Easier to dodge.

Despair
 
10m / 20m away.
Getting within melee range may either cause him to backflip away, or change into melee.
Before each clip of despair, his helmet will flash red.
Getting out of his optimal range will either cause him to use pull or teleport into optimal range.
Melee blocking despair costs less stamina because kunai are easier to parry than bullets.
 
Hate
 
Melee combat range.
When switching into Hate, his helmet flashed dark blue, teleports behind you and uses a charge attack from melee 1.0. This is usually a one hit kill if it makes contact. He will begin to charge only a split second after teleporting. Channel blocking this causes him to stagger, allowing for a counter attack.
He can block bullets, but not melee attacks.
Uses both reaping spiral and stalking fan combos.
Charge blocking may cause him to stagger, from which point you can do a counter attack.
You can lock him into a melee combo, however upon taking heavy damage he will block your last attack and teleport 10m away, panting for 2 seconds.
If you try running away, he will either teleport in front of you and use his charge attack or try to slash dash.
Slash dash can be parried with your melee.

TL;DR A lot of melee 2.0 action.

I encourage you to share your personal experience with the stalker. Was he too weak? Was he too strong? Did you s%!t your warframe when you saw him? Was he not scary enough? All opinions are welcome in this thread.
Edited by Lukap99
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I gotta be honest, I haven't been able to defeat him solo or when i'm in a really tight tileset (mostly because of the hate stunt, you just can't avoid it), but when I'm with at least 1 friend he goes down not easily but its possible. Now, the reason why I haven't been able to tackle him alone its because he always attacks me when I'm leveling forma'd weaponry or a really squishy frame; do you think he has ever went after me when I'm packing a boltor prime, marelok, dragon nikana, dual ichors, paris prime? No, just no.

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Why are you constantly wanting his helmet to flash? Personally I think that would take away from the immersion. Otherwise, I agree, he does need some better AI.

 

Ultimatly it would be good if his AI would be able to... roughly, predict what we might do depending on our equipment type and mods. 

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Why are you constantly wanting his helmet to flash? Personally I think that would take away from the immersion. 

The idea came from playing Metal Gear Rising. When enemies are about to attack you their eyes flash red.

http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/metal-gear-rising-revengeance/thumb/0/08/Lefty-r-05-020-2.jpg/468px-Lefty-r-05-020-2.jpg

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