Shadow Stalker

"I am your reckoning!"

- Stalker

Shadow Stalker is an upgraded form of Stalker who appears during and after The Second Dream quest. Visually, Shadow Stalker takes the form of Excalibur Umbra, though retaining his original Stalker helmet, and wearing the Pakal Stalker Armor.

Spawning & Combat
During The Second Dream, Shadow Stalker will spawn automatically during the mission "Protect the Moon". Afterwards, Shadow Stalker will randomly replace his traditional variant whenever the player's Death Mark activates in a mission.

Instead of his classic weapons, Shadow Stalker wields War, which deals more damage than his old Hate, and is capable of staggering players on hit. He also has two grenade attacks which he uses after performing a meditative stance within a glowing aura; his first grenade is an explosive grenade lobbed to the ground, dealing explosive radial damage to players caught within its range, while the second attack is a floating sphere of light that emits laser beams similar to those of a Battalyst while moving towards the player. Shadow Stalker also retains his classic Slash Dash, and he can cast sword beams similar to those from Exalted Blade, which can push back players if they hit.

In addition, Shadow Stalker gains the Sentient's damage adaptation mechanic: After sustaining a number of hits from a particular damage type, Stalker will gain a large damage resistance against that type.

Strategy

 * If marked, it is recommended to go into missions with at least two weapons with different elemental damage types in case of a surprise appearance, in order to counter Shadow Stalker's damage adaptation defense.
 * Unlike his old incarnation, Shadow Stalker's War is one of the most powerful melee weapons ingame, and is capable of dealing massive damage to players in melee. Coupled with its ability to stagger upon hits, and engaging Shadow Stalker in melee can be difficult at best. If engaging in melee is required in case Shadow Stalker has adapted to the player's ranged attacks, using slide attacks and running slashes is recommended to limit the amount of time that Shadow Stalker can engage in melee.
 * All three of Shadow Stalker's ranged attacks are rather slow and telegraphed. It is thus most advantageous to engage Shadow Stalker at range, while taking cover or evading once he begins to prepare his ranged attacks.

Bugs

 * When attacking a cell with multiple players, Shadow Stalker may not retreat in victory after downing his target.