Runner

ALIEN - TIER 1
Runner	Evolves From: Larva Evolves To: Lurker Role: Scout for the Hive. Harass and ambush Marines, especially lone wolfs. Flank positions during sieges and stand-offs. Gather hosts. Guides: No External Guides.

General Information

The Runner, as her name entirely implies, is the fastest caste available to the Alien Hive. She is small and nimble, able to effortlessly run under and above most waist-high obstructions, leaping over (unwired) barricades and tables alike, and dragging off Marines faster than most. Her speed, however, is made up for by her extremely low durability; any sustained damage will usually lead to the death of a Runner, forcing her to pick her encounters carefully and making the price for a mistake rather high.

The Runner has sturdy legs and as such can Pounce to cover a relatively large distance in an instant. Such a pounce allows the Runner to increase her mobility even further, and if appropriately aimed will enable her to land on top of a Marine, instantly knocking them down for a brief period of time. The Runner can then use this window to inflict some damage, before quickly escaping or waiting for Pounce cooldown to end, so that they may continue the skirmish.

Due to the Runner's small stature, it is also important to note the Runner's ability to Hide under objects, notably tables which can easily conceal quite well. It increases her ability to perform ambushes even further, making her deadly if not found rapidly. This also allows the Runner to pick the perfect time to strike while hiding plain sight.

The Runner has a relatively weak but fast attack, allowing her to rapidly dish out damage when an ambush is successful. A well-placed pounce and a few slashes ought to put the average Marine in fear of ever wandering towards the darkness alone ever again.

Playing as a Runner

It cannot be emphasized enough that the Runner makes up for her extreme nimbleness by being physically weak. Not only is she not too impressive in direct combat, she will be put down easily by concentrated fire. One burst that hits can instantly end up with you floored, one shotgun blast that solidly connects and you are done, and as such you do not get the luxury of just running around prepared Marines that are ready to fire unless you know exactly what you are doing and are able to do it well. This death can come in a few, well-aimed fatal shots, or in a hail of bullets that even the Runner eventually falls victim to.

While you might be in a hurry to try your mettle in an ambush, it's important to know that as a Runner, you have two primary non-combat tasks. Recovering defenseless hosts and bringing them to the Hive, and scouting Marine positions and relaying that information to the Hive. Your speed means you are at almost no risk if someone spots you lurking around fortifications, and most will think twice before giving chase, knowing your innate strength against isolated targets and the fact you can easily outrun them if in actual danger.

Harassment is another essential tool in your arsenal. Not every attack or ambush has to yield severe wounds or kills, fear and panic can easily damage the humans as much. Don't hesitate to scare groups of Marines that you can't engage head-on, remind them that nowhere is truly safe, perhaps have them waste munitions or even precious time trying to snuff you out.

Should you ever find a position behind enemy lines that are entirely unguarded, your ability to flank with no danger will truly shine. Wreck havoc, leave nothing standing. The punishment for not guarding vital assets is pure and severe.

Never forget that you can Hide if needed, this may allow you to get very daring ambushes. Everyone expects an attack from the darkness, and few expect a Runner to suddenly spring out from under a table in the middle of a well-lit area.

Abilities

Abilities:	Description:
Rest	Used to rest and get up. Aliens heal faster when resting on weeds.
Regurgitate	To devour, grab a host with Ctrl + Click or Grab intent (3 in hotkey mode) then click yourself, standstill. To stop the host from getting up and running away, you can switch to an empty hand (X in hotkey mode) and keep tackling them using Disarm intent (2 in hotkey mode) when you are devouring them. Xenos with devoured humans inside them can not vent crawl but Xenos with devoured monkeys can. Hosts with boot knives can injure the Xenomorph they are inside if they are conscious. (Edit this template)
Hide	Hide under objects. Pouncing will cancel your Hiding.
Pounce	Pounce at a target, forcing the victim to the ground for a very brief period of time, and causing them to drop held items in the process. Can be used without a target for the purpose of enhancing your mobility. Cooldown: 4 seconds.
Bone Spur	Fire a blast of bone chips at your target at a short range; a succesful hit will slow the target for 6 seconds and inflict minor damage on movement until the chips are removed from the target's body with a knife. Costs 30 Plasma, cooldown: 13 seconds.
Toggle Long Range Sight	Use "Stretch to fit" to minimize the hassle of changing icon size when zooming in/out. Increases your view range by 3 tiles all around you. Costs 20 plasma.

Attainable Strains

Strains:
Acider

Strain Abilities

Acider

• Health: 340
• Armor: 15
• Slightly reduced movement speed

Abilities:	Description:
Acid Gland	PASSIVE: Generate acid overtime to fill your acid glands.
Acid Slashes	PASSIVE: When slashing a Marine, apply one stack of acid on them, inflicting damage over time; slashing an acided target fills your acid glands.
Corrosive Acid	Vomit a glob of very strong acid on an item or barricade to dissolve it. Multiple items can be clicked at once as long as you are standing still. This ability can be used on barricades much faster than Corrosive Acid of other castes. Costs 100 Acid.
For the Hive	Prime yourself for detonating in a massive explosion of acid in 20 seconds. The more acid you have stored, the more devastating the explosion will be. Drastically slows down your speed as well as emits a very audible whaling sound when armed. You'll slowly change color as well, signifying how close you are to exploding. Dying to gunfire will prevent detonation. Activating the ability again will cancel the detonation at the cost of 250 acid. Costs 200 acid.

So, you're an acider

You've sacrificed your ability to fire bone spurs, as well as some movement speed, for increased survivability and powerful acidic abilities. For the most part, your playstyle remains much the same: harass targets, get some slashes in, leave if you're in danger. Your acid will make this playstyle all the more annoying, requiring Marines to heal two distinct damage types after every encounter with you. Your incredibly potent Corrosive Acid allows you to very quickly melt barricades, allowing you to open backlines and flanks with ease. Finally, For the Hive is a worthy finisher to your rampage. It will deal extremely high damage to Marines and barricades in a large radius, effectively dooming a push or a defense. Considering that dying preemptively will cancel the explosion, you may want to employ the element of surprise.

Runner Tactics

• As the fastest caste in the Hive, and one of the four starting castes, you will always be on monkey recovery until all are found and brought back. To move them quickly, Eat them by grabbing them and clicking yourself and Regurgitate them later. Just make sure not to take too long, they will automatically Regurgitate out of your stomach after five minutes. Once this it is done, you can release your inner rage on the local colonists, or the local colony in general, until you eventually get a whole lot more foes to fight who come down from above.

• Your speed allows you to quickly drag Marines away without needing to swallow them, meaning you are well suited for pulling stunned enemies into unfavourable positions, or better yet, eggs, egg morphers and hugger traps.

• Runners are fragile. One point blank from a shotgun using buckshot will put you into critical. If you are on weeds and take no further damage, you will live, but if you are off weeds, then you will bleed out. That is, if the marine doesn't just point blank you again.

• If you can begin a fight by succesfully hitting a Marine with Bone Spurs, their mobility will be greatly affected; they will have a hard time evading your attacks and won't be able to pursue you.

• Scouting as a Runner might sound trivial, but it can turn risky fast if you're not careful. Remember to keep your Nigtvision setting on half, and be very careful about moving lights in the distance; lamps rarely move on their own. Likewise, as you make your way around, keep a close eye on any suspicious clutter in small entrances. Humans can lay traps too, and their traps can kill you straight. Better safe than sorry.

• Scouting for your eyes only is virtually useless. If you find out anything useful, say it. You should have no trouble finding a safe place to communicate your information thanks to your Hide ability. Tell them any strongpoints, any apparent flanks, if the Marines are making significant movements, if the metal bird is landing or taking off, the general concentration of Marines across the colony, or if you spot a target of interest.

• You don't need to be a lone wolf. If you spot slower castes trying to flank and hunt as you do, make sure to gravitate around them. You might not be able to take a lot of punishment, but your ambushes can provide a golden opportunity for another caste to mop up immediately. You can also act as a guard for that Drone who is going in dangerous along the flank, and she will reward you with melted defenses and new weed patches to recharge at.

• The power of your Pounce as a disarming attack cannot be understated: your target will immediately be forced to drop their weapon, or any other item they were holding. It means that once they leap back up, they will be disoriented and disarmed, forcing them to stumble around, either abandoning their weapon, pulling a new one out or trying to grab it again as you come in for raw damage. Be warned: a Marine carrying a shotgun with the Magnetic Harness attachment can instantly pull it out, as it will snap back to their armor instead of falling to the floor, and send you to your doom.

• Be aware that you are very fast. You can try dragging Marines right out of under a medic's nose if they aren't paying attention. But make sure that Marine is lying down! A Marine standing up could pose a threat!

• Do not underestimate vent networks. They might give some warnings to nearby Marines, but you will be able to relocate insanely quickly.

• In an Almayer fight, you will usually want to leave the landing zone as fast as possible. Your destination will often be the nearest vent, as the Almayer is a tight, elaborate ship and you will need to travel in the vents to flank in a useful manner while avoiding detection. Do not try to fight stand-offs, you will have a bad time.

• Claymore mines can ruin your day, but you can slash them from behind or to the side to detonate them without getting caught by the shrapnel if they are unattended.

Runner Evolution

Runners can Evolve into the Lurker. While it's certainly a caste focused on ambushes like the Runner and shares its ability to Pounce, this caste loses mobility and nimbleness in favor of having more staying power and being devastating against single targets. The Lurker also gains the ability to turn invisible, thus making her even more of an Ambush class, with a large serving of Stealth.

Runner Stats

You can learn more about alien stats here.