Stalker

 

Stalker
Health	250
Will gib when health is	-65
Attack Damage	Blaster: 15 (original game) 5 (2023 remaster) Melee: 5-9
Drops	Cells
Found in	Ground Zero Call of the Machine
[Source]

“	These little buggers are vicious. They can cling to ceilings, pounce down on top of you to attack, then re-attach to the ceilings to evade your retaliation.	”
—Ground Zero Manual

The Stalker is a new enemy introduced in Ground Zero - it's a fairly common foe, being encountered in all five Units. The Stalker appears somewhat like a cybernetic spider with a human head. It is fairly small, yet has good durability - its health is slightly more than that of a Berserker. It's equipped with a laser blaster and can attack in melee with its claws. Besides this, the Stalker has some rather unique abilities - see below.

Behaviour and attacks

Blaster: The Stalker fires green blaster bolts, dealing 15 damage per hit in the original game, or 5 per hit in the 2023 remaster. Unlike most Strogg ranged weaponry, the Stalker does not need to stop moving in order to fire it, and it fires with very little delay. It can be dodged by strafing.

Claws: In melee range, the Stalker will repeatedly claw its foe, dealing 5-9 damage per strike.

The Stalker can crawl on the ceilings as easily as on the floor, and it can quickly leap from the floor and to the ceiling, and back again. It can jump vertically to dodge projectiles fired by some of your weapons, especially the Hyperblaster, ETF Rifle and Rocket Launcher, potentially jumping between floor and ceiling in the process. The Stalker can also suddenly leap a great distance towards its target and into melee range.

A Stalker that is near death will sometimes "play dead". If you see a Stalker fall onto its back, then either it is truly dead or it is only playing dead. If it's truly dead, it will make a distinctive "death sound" as it falls, and then lie still. If it's only playing dead, it won't make the death sound and its legs will occasionally twitch as it lays on the ground. When "playing dead", a Stalker will gradually heal itself, and soon spring back into action - unless the player quickly finishes the job.

The final boss of Ground Zero, the Black Widow Guardian, will summon a seemingly endless number of Stalkers to assist her in battle against you.

Strategies

• Hitscan weapons are much more effective against Stalkers than projectile weapons. Stalkers will effortlessly dodge the projectiles fired by the Hyperblaster, ETF Rifle or Rocket Launcher by jumping vertically, to and from the ceiling, whereas it cannot dodge hitscan weapons this way. It's also wise to engage Stalkers at longer range, since it can fire its blaster or perform its leap attack without warning, offering little time for you to dodge. With these two things in mind, the best weapons for dealing with Stalkers in the original game are the Railgun or the Plasma Beam, both of which have pinpoint accuracy, and strike the target instantly at any range. The Railgun requires only two shots to kill a Stalker, and you can make use of cover to avoid its return fire between your first and second shot. Alternatively, the Plasma Beam can kill a Stalker in a fairly brief burst (17 hits, to be precise - taking less than two seconds). However, in the 2023 remaster, Stalkers tend to use their jump ability to try to evade the Plasma Beam as well, making it a less attractive choice than it was in the original game.
• However, you will first encounter Stalkers in the Tectonic Stabilizer in Unit 1, but you won't find a Railgun or Plasma Beam until Unit 2. For those Stalkers you face before you acquire the Railgun and Plasma Beam, then the Chain Gun and the Super Shotgun are your next best options. With careful trigger timing it's possible to deliver a consistent burst of 38 bullets from the Chain Gun, dealing around 300 damage - enough to kill a Stalker. The Super Shotgun would require at least three hits, and is only effective at closer ranges. Which of these two weapons to use really depends on the scenario - how close the Stalker is, and whether you're going to fight it head-on or use cover. In either case, consider throwing a Tesla Mine near a Stalker before you attack. A Tesla isn't likely to defeat a Stalker on its own in the original game, but it can distract it for a moment, buying you enough time to line up your shot. With the 2023 remaster, a Tesla has much better odds against a Stalker than before, due to the Tesla's increased health and the reduced damage of the Stalker's blaster. Furthermore, a Tesla is not fooled by a Stalker playing dead and will continue to shoot the Stalker until it is truly dead.
• It's wise to keep your distance as much as possible when encountering a Stalker, and keep strafing. The Stalker can fire its blaster at you or perform its leap attack, and both of these attacks happen very quickly with no warning - your chances of avoiding damage are better if you are further away and are already strafing.
• If you have a safe direction to retreat, then the Prox Launcher can be a good option to kill a Stalker relatively safely. Once you have its attention, you can gradually retreat in a safe direction, laying prox mines as you go - with luck, the Stalker will keep blundering into your mines and you don't necessarily need to expose yourself to its return fire.
• Learn to recognize the sound an idle Stalker makes - a metallic scraping sound, similar to the sound made by Berserkers. When you hear this sound, proceed with caution and check the ceilings as well as ground level - Stalkers are often found initially clinging to the ceiling (IR goggles can be helpful to make the Stalker more distinct to the eye). With sufficient care, you can often approach a Stalker unawares and line up a shot with the Railgun before it sees you, and if so, a single shot will dispose of the Stalker due to the Railgun's ability to deal double damage to an idle target.
• When a Stalker falls on its back, be sure it's really dead - if you see its leg twitching, or if you aren't certain you heard its death sound, blast it again to make sure - and do it quickly, because a "playing dead" Stalker will gradually heal itself.

Appearance statistics

Campaign	Easy	Medium	Hard/Nightmare
Quake II	-	-	-
The Reckoning	-	-	-
Ground Zero*	57	70	86
Quake II 64	-	-	-
Quake II PSX	-	-	-
Call of the Machine*	26	26	29

*Not including Stalkers spawned by the Black Widow Guardian or the Garbage Carrier.

Gallery

Stalker in full detail.

Stalker in-game.

Stalker leaping at the player.

Stalker's texture map

Stalker's texture map when injured