Finding Stalkers

[burningdownrome]

I always hear their sound and never see them until they're right on top of me, but last night I was playing with a Driller who was able to spot them from 20+ yards away, am I missing something obvious?

[Frisky]

they have a very faint outline which can be seen if you look hard enough

also are you playing on lower graphic settings? i've heard that stalkers are nearly impossible to see on lower end settings and i'm not sure if they fixed it

[Suzaku]

You can see a faint blue-ish outline on them as they make their approach. It can be difficult to see but a hyper-vigilant player can spot it from a fair distance away.

[Chris!!]

They also make pebbles wherever they step - so if the shimmer is hard to spot, pebbles might betray their location.

[LT2483]

The outline of stalkers becomes far more visible as they walk past active flares, which I haven't seen anyone else mention. They go from a faint shimmer to full-blown blue outline. If you suspect one is near, make sure you're near a few flares, and you should easily spot them before they reach you.

Note that I don't know if this works with scouts flare gun. I almost never seem to have them spawn when I play scout, and always forget to test when they do. If they are affected though, the reveal power certainly isn't any stronger, despite the flares being stronger.

[Waste_of_skin]

As Frisky (Hi Frisky) mentioned, I think graphics settings or something on individual systems may be a factor. I could almost never see them either. I eventually installed a verified mod called "slightly more visible stalker", which just adds a bit to their "outline" when cloaked, and that made a big difference for me.

[Jorde]

Yeah there's a lot of really useful verified mods you can download. Explosion range indicator for C4 is my favorite.

[Sokaku]

Personally I just want stalkers to be stun-able, no different to a Menace. You cannot stun them or interrupt their attack so unless you spot one early enough or one stalking another player, you may have little hope of doing enough damage to force it to burrow (or die) before it lets off it's attack.

[Jorde]

I've found the only reliable way to avoid a stalker attack is to dash away before it hits you.

[Lord Of War]

Inner voice whispering to you "it's right there!"
Otherwise, how would I know there was one hiding above? Moment at 01:07
https://youtu.be/nIhs_2SQCmo?si=DpjsuUZoV9tlTm2P&t=67

[Tyyne]

There's also a mod that allows you to spot them easier, can't remember what's it called though.

[Blargo]

Originally posted by Sokaku:

Personally I just want stalkers to be stun-able, no different to a Menace. You cannot stun them or interrupt their attack so unless you spot one early enough or one stalking another player, you may have little hope of doing enough damage to force it to burrow (or die) before it lets off it's attack.

They can be feared, however. The coil gun with the T2 Controlled Magnetic Flow mod and the T3 fear mod can pretty much endlessly stun-lock them if you keep spamming shots, preventing them from burrowing.

[baraboolka]

There is a high probability that "stalker visibility" depends on the graphics settings and who the host is. Often the host notices the stalker first.

[TH3V01D]

Why would the host see it first?

[[MadTs] Phyrys]

That's not much, but pinging the sneaky little ♥♥♥♥ uncloaks it, and generally make it flee. If you don't have time to deal with it right now, it's a must to know that.

Edit : I forgot to state the obvious, the stalker will flee if it's too far from you to just bumrush you. If you do it at a short sprint reach, it'll just try to maul you for your troubles.

[Chris!!]

Originally posted by MadTs Phyrys:

That's not much, but pinging the sneaky little ♥♥♥♥ uncloaks it, and generally make it flee. If you don't have time to deal with it right now, it's a must to know that.

They don't flee, they sprint towards you if you don't follow up with fire after pinging them.