Stalker

"These little buggers are vicious. They can cling to ceilings, pounce down on top of you to attack, then re-atach to the ceilings to evade your retaliation."

- Ground Zero Manual

The Stalker is an enemy introduced in Ground Zero. It is one of most common enemies in the expansion pack. It is also one of most annoying enemies, as it has two annoying abilities: Fake Death and walking on the ceiling.

Details
The Stalker appears to be a robot spider with a human head. The Stalker has the same speed and size as the Parasite, and can fire lasers that are on its body. The Stalker also has two types of melee attacks: Jump and Claw, it can use its claw pretty quickly. Sometimes the Stalker can ambush the player, because the Stalkers can jump and walk on the ceiling, and then come back down on the floor again if it wants, so be careful with these buggers. Also, the Stalker is seen in every unit in Ground Zero, and can be spawned by the Black Widow Guardian that is seen near the end of the game.

Stalkers have the unique ability to recover from their wounds. Sometimes when the player attacks them, the Stalkers will fake their death by lying on their back. This condition is easy to recognize by the fact that the Stalker's limbs will twitch slightly, whereas a truly dead Stalker will lie still. If left alone, the Stalker will gain back its health, healing any visible wounds and then jump back to its feet and attack, fully refreshed. Whilst a veteran player will be able to tell whether he has killed the Stalker or not, it is recommend to just gib it to be assured of its death. The Stalkers are a tough foe and one fight per stalker is more than enough.

Blaster
The Stalker uses an upgraded blaster at long range targets while it's charging at the enemy. If the Stalker has a blaster, then that means it'll drop cells for your weapons that require them. The Stalkers normally use their blaster in long range, or on the ceiling. Remember, that Stalker's Blaster is upgraded, so it does more damage.

Claw
With an enemy like this, it should have a melee attack, like the claw attack. The Stalker has a pretty quick claw attack, once it attacks with one claw, it quickly claws the enemy with the same claw or the other one. Be sure to stand back while it's doing the attack.

Jump
The Stalker has a great jump tactic. From about 7 feet, it can jump right towards the enemy, and start its claw attack. The Stalker can also use its great jump to get to the ceiling.

Strategies

 * The Stalker is one of the most common and yet difficult monsters in the game. They will almost always be stationed on the ceiling. This makes them difficult to see and thus the Stalker will usually get the first attack. The ideal range to fight the Stalker is up close and personal with the Super Shotgun, as three direct blasts will gib this thing. It is also good to fight the Stalker from range if the player has the Railgun, although be aware of its upgraded laser blaster. Projectile weapons such as the Hyperblaster, ETF Rifle and rocket launcher must NOT be used against the Stalker as it will dodge these attacks effortlessly by jumping to and from the ceiling. The BFG can also work although it should only be used if there are multiple stalkers or other enemies in the same room.

As noted above, once the Stalker falls on its back, gib it without delay as the only thing even worse than fighting the Stalker is have one attacking the player from behind whilst he/she is engaged in a battle with other Strogg.

Trivia

 * When idle, a Stalker may scratch their head with their claws from time to time, making the same sound that a Berserker makes when rubbing his spike on his club when idle.