I've been wondering what to use for implant as a stalker since a while. At first, my idea was to use the EMP shield, as I run with both EMP grenade and bandolier... however after many tries I do think this is someone that would rather be suited to Hunters than Stalkers, so I'm wondering about what to use instead now. My views about the implants are currently : Useless implants for a stalker: - Awarness - Battle Hardened - Enhance Targetting (unless riding my AV Flash) - Hold Breath - Range finder Too situational: - Clear vision: Quite rare to get hit by that kind of grenades, and most of time, we're cloaked when it happen so... - Counterintelligence: We're just not spotted often enough without being able to hear the shout to make it matter - EMP Shield: You need find a good reason to throw own your own EMP grenade close to you. - Marker: Unless in a huge battle (what I do in it?) when throwing EMP grenade for support, I do not see the use - Regeneration: We very rarely get "just wounded". Most of time, if we got shot at, we're dead. - Safe Landing: Just useful sometimes in towers and near cliffs to prepare escape routes. Not more. Others: - EOD HUD: I never had a lot of trouble seeing the mines before walking on them as a Stalker. I move carefuly after all, so I'm not convainced. - Sensor Shield: Really, most of my moves are made cloaked, which prevents most form of detection. I an deal with motion detectors by moving crouched in their vicinity. As you see I can't find something really convaincing... so, what do you, other Stalkers, use and why?
I use safe landing I primarily. Paired with adrenaline pump it helps to keep you moving and you can jump from above right behind your targets. I hate even the minor damage you get from short falls down mountain, rocks, rooftops and such. I use EMP sheild and sensor shield occasionally. As a tier I implant it enable me to gain enough chargers from gameplay for net positive energy.
Regen. It lets me run mines without losing much survivability. I do take damage (and live) often enough for it to be worthwhile. I guess I'm fairly aggressive for a stalker.
I use Regen 1 the most because I'm good at getting away and keeping myself alive. I ran Regen 3 at first but it's a huge waste of energy since you aren't constantly regenerating. Since I often find myself far from friendly medics I do like the ability to bring myself to full health, so Regen 1 it is. As a player who likes the role of Stalker I'm supremely patient, so the difference in healing speed between level 1 and 3 isn't worth the energy drain to me. I don't know why I'm so stingy with the energy, I have 249 mini-chargers and 8 ultra-chargers and I keep my current energy pool in the 90k's at all times. I do run Sensor Shield from time to time depending on the situation. Because of the distance from friendlies I usually find myself at I used to run with a full ammo belt in the suit slot.. however I now run with full grenade bandolier with EMP's... and an Immortal pistol. I really wish they'd add the heat mechanic to the Immortal.
Regen 1 works for any situation, saves you finding a terminal or friendly medic (also allows you to use claymores without penalty) Enhanced targeting is actually very useful, if you can see that an enemy has less health, then he is the target you should be hunting. Ill throw sensor shield on if I notice that enemy infiltrators are throwing down motion spotters, no real point otherwise.
Enhanced targeting is actually very useful if your running something like a COMMY for rapid kills at range. Its also useful for any weapon on days when your spamming abilities, or confidence level is questionable. (Arthritis and Beamer is not fun.) You can take advantage of picking out targets which are lower HP and killing them before anyone notices. However I run mines most of the time with the xbow, which is primarily what I use with Stalker. Regeneration is too good to pass up. If mines were not an option and I were using medkits (say with a COMMY) I would opt for safe landing just as a matter of convenience. About a month ago i used this website to track my suicides. It was at 42 last month which put me on par with a light assault i knew. I am happy to report being more careful this month brought that down considerably (26) but its not like I'm going to stop climbing things. Either way you have to consider the implant will shave anywhere from 3-5% of your overall deaths depending on how many pancakes you make. I don't really care much for sensor shield since EMP takes out enemy spotters and I run with 4 at all times. We can avoid detection by not moving or crouch walking. Having been used to playing prior to radar having any limits (scout radar) you learn to use misdirection and just sprint in order to take advantage of mutli-layered environments to throw people off. So long as i can disappear for a moment thats all i really needed. I tried battle hardened but gave up trying to head shot when there was explosive spam. My solution is to just body shot instead under these poor conditions. The crossbow doesn't really reward headshots unless its an infiltrator your shooting. So I don't feel like I am missing out. I only use Battle Hardened with the ghost... Knife and EMP sheilding is nice but again I probably wont care to use it over re-gen for my typical loadout.
