Lurker

XENOMORPH - TIER 2
Hunter	Evolves From: Runner Evolves To: Crusher, Ravager Role: Disable and capture lone prey. Use your natural cloak to stalk around and spy on Marine positions. Act as one of the Hive's main line combatants. Guides: N/A

General Information

The Hunter is a large step up from the Runner that precedes it. What it loses in speed and agility is largely gained in becoming a fearsome and destructive force, capable of effortlessly slaughtering any single tallhost that it finds wandering alone, where a Runner might have needed to go for a long, sloppy brawl to secure a kill.

The Hunter is not as fast as the Runner and its Pounce is more cumbersome, having him pin down his target instead of simply flooring him. However, its attack quickly becomes devastating, capable of tearing a tallhost apart once subdued, meaning that they will usually stand no chance if caught with their pants down. Its health and armor is nothing to laugh at, although it will still go down quickly if focus fired by a group.

The Hunter loses its ability to hide under objects, being a caste of much greater stature, but it gains a very interesting ability to Cloak when on Stalk mode, essentially Walking for Xenomorphs. While the Cloak is far from perfect and will easily be spotted when moving or hiding on a bright background, it will allow the Hunter to hide in far more spots, and to spring ambushes even in the open if it finds a good spot.

Playing as a Hunter

As a Hunter, you lose your ability to easily dodge attacks in exchange for a more solid health and a greater attack. As such, you become more of an ambush caste, with an ability to skirmish and seriously wound tallhosts using hit and run attacks. Your Cloak helps you to set up ambushes, meaning you can wait for the perfect moment to strike instead of making a risky sprint into a potential target, that could reveal an off-screen group accompanying them, a turret, anything that could ruin your day.

While you keep your ability to Pounce, it is important to note that its purpose shifted from a disarming pounce that you and the tallhost will recover from quickly, to a disabling pin that will cause both you and your target to be floored for a significant duration, allowing you to tear them apart while they lay defenseless on the floor. This does mean however that pouncing on someone in the middle of a ground will almost certainly get you killed, so avoid it at all costs.

Your Cloak is a fantastic tool. While it is not as reliable as the Runner's Hiding to conceal you for long periods of time, it can allow you to blend into the environment in a pinch to find and subdue a target. The less tallhosts expect you, the less they will think to carefully scan their surroundings for that one shimmer in the distance. Just remember that cloaking will make you much slower and drain your plasma, so only use it when it is needed. If tallhosts are tracking you down, they will probably see through your cloak unless you find an excellent spot.

Should you find yourself in direct combat, you are still a formidable foe, although you will not take as many shots as your bigger sisters to knock down. It is important that you try and run on the flanks as much as possible, using your Cloak wisely to close the distance without being sprayed down by gunfire from alert and ready Marines.

Hunter Tactics

• It cannot be stated enough that the Hunter's Pounce is vastly different to the Runner's. Attempting to use it as the old disarming Pounce of a Runner and pouncing straight into a group to harass them will lead to your quick and painful demise, as the Marines will have more than enough time to fill you with lead while you lay there in a ground pin on one of their teammates.

• Your Cloak is best used when static and on a dark background. Moving will not make you any more visible, but humans will have a far easier time spotting your shimmer if it's moving across tiles. Darkness also works fairly well in concealing you, although it is not necessary. Since the tiling used in colonies is often bright outside of bathrooms, maintenance areas and high-security areas, you might have trouble finding spots to hide in buildings.

• Isolated targets are in essence free kills for you. A single Pounce will disarm them and floor them for long enough for you to start the fight with a handful of slashes. At this point they might have a window to fight back, but they will certainly be wounded. Make a simple evasive maneuver to avoid CQC weapons like buckshot shotguns and pounce again, and you should have them in the bag.

• If you do need to brawl against a group, or partake in a large fight, only use your Pounce for evasive maneuvers, and simply use your normal speed to get close to Marines and slash them. Of course, it is heavily recommended to approach from the rear or sides. Your Cloak can help on the approach, but if you start getting shot, drop it, it's not helping you if the tallhosts spot you.

Hunter Evolution and Upgrades

Hunter Upgrades focus on making him a devastating force in ambushes. Your Pounce becomes more powerful, and your attacks will do more and more damage. You will also gain a modest speed boost and a significant health and armor boost. An Ancient Hunter is a force to be reckoned with, capable of easily fighting head to head with two or three Marines if he makes his moves smartly.

Hunters can Evolve into two possible castes:

• The Ravager is the ultimate combat form of the Runner's evolution tree. While it loses some more speed, it grows into a large and powerful Xenomorph, capable of utterly destroying humans even under fire. Your Pounce will no longer pin tallhosts, instead knocking them off their feet, allowing you to immediately come in for a devastating blow. Your attacks also gain an increased chance to disable hosts by slicing limbs right off. You also gain an immunity to explosive stuns and burns, allowing you to engage into fights that would be ill-advised to even the most seasoned Hunters.

• The Crusher takes an unique path, foregoing mobility and direct offensive power in exchange for becoming a literal tank caste, gaining an armored crest capable of easily deflecting large amounts of punishment, and a massive health and armor pool. It also gains the ability to Charge, replacing the Pounce with a slow-winding but eventually fast and unstoppable assault, knocking aside and wounding anyone in your path. You will also gain the ability to Stomp, allowing you to smash into the ground to viciously wound any downed tallhost under you.