So, the new cloak...

For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to use this thing in a manner worth a damn. As an experiment, I cloaked and crouched down, moving slowly toward an enemy emplacement. It was out in the open, but that doesn't really matter. This was a test. I got within 50m of a deployed enemy sunderer, at night, and a TR sniper airs out my dome with a precision shot. Really didn't expect that. I figured they'd shoot at my general area once they knew I was there and I'd go down in a tide of bullets.

Next, I try the whole base infiltration thing, ambush some guy with my crossbow. The first shot hits, but he turns out to be a heavy. He hits his shield and dances around so much that the next shot misses and he ventilates me.

Point of my little anecdote is.....how the heck do I use this cloak to accomplish....ANYTHING?! It seems just as worthless as the original cloak was within a certain range since the shimmer is pretty obvious, and the crossbow is obnoxiously hard to aim, has a rechambering animation, and you're usually going to be toast by the time you can get a second shot off. Furthermore, when I'm closing the distance to make the kill, I'm often killed by other infiltrators I never saw who hit me in the back.

This also doesn't strike me as being overly useful in the giant battles that Planetside is prone to engage in either. You sneak around to the side, take out one guy and then his friends get mad at you and tear you to pieces. And you accomplished what exactly? Infils also don't have any anti-armor capabilities. If they could sneak up on enemy armor and plant some C4 on it, that would be kind of funny, but they can't. What, does SOE want me to sneak up on someone and toss a proxy grenade on his calf?

So, help me out here, internet. Did I just waste 250 CERTs?

Yes, you did.

Hi Pondera.

Firstly, why did you spend 250 Certs?! The first tier of the cloak is only 50 Certs, so why would you buy anything beyond that before being sure that you wanted it? The idea I assume is that the cloak is used with the crossbow. This essentially gives players a bad sniper, whilst also having an infinite cloak. But I can see your point when you ask what the purpose of it is, because the inevitable result of you ever uncloaking is that you will get spotted and killed. You also cannot capture checkpoints (A, B, C, etc...) whilst cloaked (at least I seem to struggle to), so the only conclusion I can draw for the purpose of the cloak is that you can stay cloaked in one spot and heal yourself while still cloaked, while trying to make one kill (but remember, the night-vision sight can detect infiltrators when they are cloaked!). As you said the crossbow is pretty bad, so it would require a lot of vr training to practice the bullet drop. If you can: 1. have an extra 1000 Certs lying about for the crossbow and 2. have really good skill to know the bullet drop (since the bolt flies vaguely straight then suddenly drops to the ground), then the new cloak might well be an advantage for you. But it requires a lot of unnecessary hassle. In terms of practicality, I would just stick with the standard cloak, and better your ability to find safe places to recharge it.

I hope this helps.

You can capture points while cloaked
You cannot see cloaked infils in night vision sights.

The Stalker cloaks allows for a Hit 'n Run kind of playstyle. As long as you don't charge enemies head-on, you should be fine. Learn to bail when people notice you. There is no shame in running away. You're still the class with the least HP and you've only got a sidearm. With the Stalker cloak, you definitely need to pick your battles and fight on your terms.

The crossbow is definitely not garbage. Maybe it just doesn't fit your playstyle?

So the op hasnt discovered camping vterms then...

i have been having fun camping the lower section of biolabs
use gsd to get in and wait for vehicles to retreat into them for repair and kill the repairer while he doesnt even have a gun out
there is even an infantry terminal in there so u can swap to engineer and blow parked vehicles up with mines / pull a vehicle to camp the teleporter / change to medic to heal yourself, loads of fun can be had

It is incredibly strong is pissing off some people, getting a kill, retreating around a corner while being chased by a couple of hostiles and then duck into a corner or running on. When sitting still they are almost impossible to detect without standing on top of one or using a flash light.

Where do you people get this idea from? This has been changed a long time ago.
Only darklight illuminates cloaked infiltrators in the current game.


To the OP: Observant players can still see you while cloaked, especially if you are moving in the open.
It's nowhere near invisible while sprinting/walking around. Use trees, bushes and rocks for cover.

I haven't tried the crossbow yet, it just doesn't appear to be a good choice for me.
But I've had great success with the Commissioner, for example in towers:

Time your approach so you can get from the stairs to the top level without decloaking (the decloak sound would alert observant players).
Maybe crouch in some corner on the way up to let your cloak recharge.


Once you're in, lurk around below the top floor / on the arms that hold the airpads.

Look for people on the first floor, one headshot + bodyshot usually does the trick at this distance.

Relocate after every kill, use your cloak while crouching and not moving (almost invisible) to observe and wait for the perfect opportunity.


If somebody spams darts, you can wait them out, or if you feel confident, use them to lure people in.
They don't reveal your elevation, use this to your advantage. Change floors and directions often to get rid of unwanted followers.
Try to only jump down near grav lifts that can take you up again if a quick escape is needed.

If you see a bunch of distracted people you may try to ambush them and get some quick Commissioner + knife kills in before disappearing again.


Snipers and turret engineers usually hang out at the top level and the airpads.
Tread carefully around here, you'll be very exposed and have a spawnshield in your back.
If you want to get them too, try to keep one of those outer protective wall panels between you and the spawnshields while taking your shots.


You may also try to hack some turrets, but be aware that there's a bug around that makes the people you hack out of turrets render with a delay.
This bug usually appears when there's a large fight going on around the tower.
For example, you hack a turret, turn around while hacking to aim for the occupants head, you get the hack xp, but nobody appears.
Half a second later you die by his bullets, and while you fall over backwards he appears on your screen.


Sure, you can do most of those things with an SMG and the Hunter cloak.
But the Stalker cloak gives you much more room to choose your engagements and wait out dire situations until all those determined infiltrator hunters lose focus again.

The fastest way to learn how trash cloaking is is to use stalker.

Put simply, if you cloak while sprinting, you wont fade into full cloak, if you cloak while moving there'll be a delay, if you cloak while completely still you'll have immediate full cloak.

Keep in mind while full cloaked, if you so much as crouch walk an inch you'll lose full cloak and get the weak and obvious to see cloak for a duration based on how long you moved. So basically if you're moving you're not cloaked, don't act like no one will see you.

The stalker cloak needs a little more support to put it into awesome territory.
When your cert pool allows: rank it to about rank 4, get a heavy secondary (comissioner / crossbow is perfect), adrenalin pump suit slot, emp grenades.

Approach a pack, toss emp 'nade.
All of the opponents hit now have 500hp. (emp knocks out shields)
That's a one shot per person for a crossbow bolt, or your knife. (commissioner still needs a headshot)
Benefit to the crossbow here; they have no HUD and can't radar you. The only tell is your gun sound, and spoiler: the crossbow is silent.

The adrenaline pump lets you close distances faster. Meaning more ground traversed before stalker needs to recharge.
Learn a little about deep cloak. If you walk a little before crouching (not sprinting) and do not have a cosmetic helm on (it's bugged atm) you will turn 100% invisible, even on high settings while in crouched "deep cloak". Sprinting before crouching seems to delay it quite a bit.

I believe Mustarde has more insight on this matter.

Best to use Stalker on lone soldiers; people just standing around (perhaps afk). Don't try to take on HAs unless you are very good, or know exactly what you are doing.

Hit and run. Hit and run. Play very cautiously.

The cloak ability is still too weak for the stalker cloak....or any Cloaker setup really...... Now more than ever the previous Cloaker setups are way better since everyone is trying out new stuff. lots of easy kills there

The crossbow is just not something you want on your cloaker.......i use it combined with my shotgun and its a good deal then for the range.
Only really use on a cloaker is for a stalker sniper setup and on paper atleast that should be alright.

The Cloaker isn't completely useless, but in general you will have a bad time in close quarter battles.
But the small rock terrain with lots of cover and such where there are lots of "break" spots you can easy do get 10-20 kills in a run.
But the Cloaker updates haven't changed anything really.

And no snipers or cloakers are not suppose to have anti armor abilities. they are suppose to have bit of an edge vs engis and medics.
But about equal to a HA or a LA since thouse are attack classes like the cloaker.

maybe with a slight bonus vs HA since they have so many advantages already

There are many playing on low settings and many more with poor awareness, but skilled, observant opponents make penetrating as a CQB inf much more difficult. Larger battles tend to increase the number skilled players and the odds of there being those using ESP and the like. You must play with the knowledge good players will see you when you're close and that some "players" will spot you, cloaked while still at 100+ meters and kill you. Keep changing your approach, use cover and don't be afraid to die and you will eventually start to get a feel for penetrating. In short, there are few situations where perma cloak while still is worth sacrificing mobility, recharge speed and your primary weapon if you are playing in large battles.

It's definitely not good enough to be your only weapon. On it's own, it'll get you killed more often than not.

Allot of good ideas here. Hadn't thought about the EMP nade, will have to try that. I tend to favor the ammo belt for my infiltrator as I almost always outlive my field supply.

To the OP:

• Learn tree parkour. I have had great success by climbing a flanking tree within 50m of an outdoor choke and picking off wounded or AFK enemies.
• Practice the key combination for a decloak, hipfire shot with the crossbow, knife slash, re-cloak. There is virtually no delay needed from firing the crossbow to slashing with the knife, it's essentially an instant kill (cheesy mechanic if you ask me, but whatever).
• At short range, the crossbow is a 1 bolt headshot on infiltrators.
• Don't shoot at enemy infiltrators unless they can be downed in 1 shot.
• Enemy scout radar = death. There is nothing you can do to hide from a radar flash ATV. If you notice an ATV / ESF circling your hiding spot accompanied by lots of random fire in your general direction, it's usually time to redeploy.
• Don't be scared of enemy radar darts. They only detect you during WASD motion, not looking around AFAIK. Keep an eye out for them on the mini-map and just cease motion until they expire.
• A few of the more organized squads will put up radar dart perimeters religiously. Be aware of this and avoid them.
• If possible, shoot everybody in the back. Never shoot when anybody is looking your direction, if you do, re-position or redeploy ASAP.

Stalker Cloak works best in cover and behind the enemy. make your way to a enemy camping area with cover (bushes, grass, rocks, etc etc), while stationary, stay cloaked, and pick your target. quickly uncloak, pop off your shots, and IMMEDIATELY cloak back up. Kill or no kill. Sounds simple on paper, but does take practice.

Stalker cloak only works some of the time, often your head and/or weapon will be in this highest state of cloaked visibility, leading to some cheap deaths. Its pretty much gamebreaking.

Kindly disagree =)

Wow deep bucketry much..