Stalkers and Crawlers

[JtDarth]

Most dangerous thing in the game on SUI and up. I think they actually do too much damage per hit considering their individual attack rate + their ability to swarm. Not to mention the matrix dodge BS the stalkers pull off and the weirdness on hitboxes on the crawlers.

It's somewhat annoying to have 10 plus of these guys spawn behind you/within 5 feet around a corner and be dead pretty mch instantly.

I don't remember them being quite as rage inducing in KF1, even on the higher difficulties.

[LK_Gin]

yes, agree, its most dangerous zeds and of course not need nerf

[[NeW]hunted]

Originally posted by Spit_Roaster_69:

Also, another important factor is knockback. Stalkers and Crawlers have some of the lowest knockback on players, so players do not go flying after being hit like it's an attack from Pat. This means almost every attack will connect. If fleshpounds could do this, you would expect a lot more players to die from them on their de-raging attack.

This is probably the main thing. Any zed is dangerous if you get pinned and they keep hitting, but stalkers/crawlers can repeatedly hit you even if you're running away (Either through speed during an attack, or just by spawning in a big group so they take turns hitting you as you run past).

With a large number of hits per animation when they do their cartwheels/breakdance of death, a couple of these can indeed shred you faster than the slower swinging fleshpound.

The main things to counter this (Aside from perk specifics like heatwave and airborne agent) are a combination of self-awareness/keeping moving (The instant you bump into something unexpected, you need to react) and team awareness (It's much easier to hit a crawler nibbling at a teammate than to hit one point blank that dances across your camera).

With everyone carefully watching their lanes or listening for vent spawns, stalker/crawler packs should only reach you if chaos has ensued and the team is falling back.

Remember to try jumping over crawlers if you can't outright kill them - Landing ontop of them stuns them and lets you get past.

Stalkers can't grab you, so kill or bash an opening to get free (Jumping next to stalkers helps to let medic darts hit you, but won't get you past without higher terrain or a boomstick/fleshpound hit). Interrupt/kill as many as you can on your way out or they'll continue to damage you fast.

If you're a medic/swat/sharpshooter, or a demo with a fair bit of health still/firebug without heatwave: consider throwing a grenade down the moment you get trapped by stalkers.

[SD.Laeley-EN-]

Stalkers and crawlers are perfect tools for eating up lone wolfs or squads who pay no attention towards trash when big buy is slowly walking towards them. And then there's commandos, zerkers, firebugs...and grenades. And bashing.

Conclusion - git gud.

[☠Pirate Speedguy20☠✨]

So what you do when you are having this problem is either
A. Go Flamebug, look at the ground, hold m1 and fling your mouse across your mat or
B. Go Swat and aim at their body while hipfiring
If you are getting surrounded by trash while you are in a random pub, then that is an indicator that either your trash cleanup guy is AFK or your team comp doesn't have any trash cleanup.

If it happens in solo then that means you are getting overrun by common zeds and either need to run to a new camping grounds, or git gud and start killing ♥♥♥♥.

Remember this game is called killing floor, not dying floor.

[BROLY 32]

I remember crawlers one shotting me on the moonbase map of KF1.
I'd say they're a lot nicer now :)

[@theweedfather]

It's really annoying when they ignore your entire team and walk past them straight to attack you.

[randomselect]

Originally posted by Dr Alberts:

Because in kf the zed movement was very limited because of the engine.

They are as dangerous as squishy. Perfectly balanced

feels more like it was by choice, i used to play a slightly modded server in KF1 where stalkers would attack while moving, and crawlers jump further, that simple difference made them deadlier than they are in KF2.

in KF2 while they do a lot of dmg in combos, you can still move away from taking all the hits as long as you don't lag. they have a moderate attack startup time and don't advance much with each attack. and they are also very noisy.

all in all i'd preffer if crawlers had back the scary speed, but the stalker matrix dodge feels a bit off.

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

Originally posted by Abel:

It's really annoying when they ignore your entire team and walk past them straight to attack you.

that's why they're deadly af
especially for standalone perks like demo and sharp
whilst your zerker and firebug buddies are in front they go past them and aim for you
it's almost like they can smell fear and weakness and go for the people they know can't defend against a group of at least 3 at most 6

[Rokk]

I don't mind these enemies too much, but they become a tad ridiculous on Suicidal and HoE. Often too fast to keep up with, and they have these weird spin/combo attacks that do 50 HP damage for no good reason. Small mistakes are punished too harshly.

[GnomeDompski]

Originally posted by Bad Harmony:

As annoying as they are, they go down in 1-2 bodyshot. Maybe wake up and check your back and sides every once in a while. Never got killed by those.

Yup. You just have to get in the mindset to not let them blindside you. Checking around, listening, and becoming suspicious of "delayed" spawns can help you spot them out. What I mean about "delayed" spawns is where a spawn you keep fighting suddenly goes too long without any zeds. Chances are that crawlers or stalkers spawned there and you haven't seen them yet.

[PATENT]

I hate stalkers so much I started maining commando so I could see them easily before they get close to me. They're quiet, fast and do dodges straight from Kung Fu movies. Stalkers are rather more annoying than broken or anything like that. You know there's always that one type of enemies in the games that's so frustrating you just wanna blow up their bodies into space, stalkers are one them. 90% of the time they're destroying my kevlar the same wave I bought it by sneaking behind me and doing full combo on my backs. I would reduce their attack rate and spawn rate a bit because I had situations where 5-6 sirens jumped on me from behind and instantly melted my kevlar. They usually block me to death when I'm being chased by fleshpound or scrake. Crawlers are OK IMO. They're very easy to kill and they atleast don't dodge your bullets like stalkers...

[Evilsod]

Its almost like the STEALTH ASSASSIN type zed is doing its role perfectly, unlike the trash killer perks who are supposed to be dealing with them.

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

Originally posted by Rokk:

I don't mind these enemies too much, but they become a tad ridiculous on Suicidal and HoE. Often too fast to keep up with, and they have these weird spin/combo attacks that do 50 HP damage for no good reason. Small mistakes are punished too harshly.

that's also why trash perks lile firebug and commando and swat come in handy. to an extent zerker. They can afford to spray and pray on them unlike single shot perks or perks with low magazine size like sharps, demos, and gunslingers who need to save their ammo for the bigger zeds

[randomselect]

Originally posted by Deval:

I hate stalkers so much I started maining commando so I could see them easily before they get close to me. They're quiet, fast and do dodges straight from Kung Fu movies. Stalkers are rather more annoying than broken or anything like that. You know there's always that one type of enemies in the games that's so frustrating you just wanna blow up their bodies into space, stalkers are one them. 90% of the time they're destroying my kevlar the same wave I bought it by sneaking behind me and doing full combo on my backs. I would reduce their attack rate and spawn rate a bit because I had situations where 5-6 sirens jumped on me from behind and instantly melted my kevlar. They usually block me to death when I'm being chased by fleshpound or scrake. Crawlers are OK IMO. They're very easy to kill and they atleast don't dodge your bullets like stalkers...

odd, i find them very noisy, the hum they make while moving is very distinctive to the point i hear them almost as soon as they spawn.

another good practice is getting into the habit of shooting them preemptively in the head while they are moving and not let them attack, which a lot of time is achieved by spoting them beforehand by sound. and then by the distortion of image.

[TGG Gosling]

I disagree, but it is more they have the potential to be the thing that finishes you off or gets you to the point of being finished off.

For example, you might have a bunch of crawlers just land on you from above, or stalkers come around the corner. Sure you might gun them down in mere seconds, but they get in enough attacks to sufficiently weaken you for when the fleshpound spam comes, you can't tank the hits.

Flipside, you HAVE tanked the fleshpound spam, running off to heal only to get jumped by a pack of the stalker/crawler ilk.

I guess that's the balance of the game: every Zed has a purpose.