Seeker (EU2012)

The Seeker is a biomechanical hover unit with a squidlike design, somewhat visually similar to TFTD's Tentaculat (reinforcing this, the Autopsy's project name is "Lovecraft", whose writings were a primary inspiration for TFTD). Its specialty is the ability to become invisible to your soldier's eyes. It was introduced in the Enemy Within DLC.

Seekers operate as hit and run units that will use their stealth (a.k.a. Cloak) to approach lone soldiers (such as Snipers with Squad Sight) and then use their special grappling attack. The victim will not die immediately, but cannot undertake any actions and will take damage each turn until the Seeker is killed or releases its victim. After a soldier is released from strangulation they will have to catch their breath, taking heavy penalties for the next two turns. Seekers also have a weapon similar to a Plasma Pistol that they will use on any target they cannot effectively isolate or grapple.

Seekers are immune to the Flamethrower. They can be detected through the Battle Scanner and the Bioelectric Skin. The Cloak depletes during movement, behaving rather like the flight mode of Archangel Armor than the cloak of Ghost Armor.

This last characteristic can also favor mobile squad tactics rather than fighting from a fixed position since it forces Seekers to spend more of their Cloaking ability to approach a soldier and risk running out of cloak upon open sight of your troops. That is, assuming soldiers are running away from the hidden Seeker rather than towards it.

The Seeker's Strangle ability cannot be used when the Seeker is visible, and it is the only enemy that can occupy the same space as another unit. It cannot grapple the heavier late-game armours, and MEC Troopers are also immune.

Info

1st Appearance	April
HP	4/5/5/6
Aim	65/65/75/75
Defense	10/10/20/20
Will	0
Movement	12/14/14/14
Easy/Normal/Classic/Impossible

Seeker Armaments

Weapon	Base Damage	Critical Damage	Critical Chance	Abilities
Seeker Plasma Pistol	3-5	4 or 6	0	Unlimited ammo

Seeker Abilities

Ability	Description
Stealth	The Seeker becomes invisible to enemies. It can use its tentacles to attack from stealth mode but it must deactivated stealth mode to use its ranged attack.
Strangle	Strangle can be used against adjacent humans unprotected by strangle-resistant armor, items or abilities.
Flight	Flying units can bypass ground obstacles. They can remain in flight if they have sufficient fuel.
Evasion	Enemies targeting this unit when it is airborne suffer a -20% Aim penalty.

Notes

• Strangle will cause the targeted soldier to lose 2 HP per turn. The attacked soldier will not be able to take an Overwatch shot when the Seeker uncloaks itself to perform this attack. Soldiers with 2 HP or less will be immediately killed upon strangulation. The attack can be broken by hitting the Seeker with a weapon shot, even if it doesn't kill it.
• If killed during a successful mission a Seeker Wreck will be recovered.
  • Completing its research will unlock the Mimetic Skin gene mod and the Ghost Grenade.
• Although Seekers do not show Robotic in the Unit Analysis View, they have this passive ability, making them immune to stun, poison and most psionic attacks. They are also immune to fire, including the MEC Flamethrower.
  • However, they do not have the Hardened property, and can easily receive critical hits when exposed.
• Seekers have +10 Critical Chance on Impossible difficulty.
• They have a brand new AI that makes them have hit and run tactics, only attack one at a time and normally disappear before you can kill them.
• The only way to prevent a Seeker from beginning Strangulation after decloaking is to kill it with Overwatch shots. Merely damaging it will not be enough. Inflicting sufficient damage after the Strangulation has been initiated may cause it to break, however.
• The new Respirator Implant item provides immunity to strangulation, as does Chitin Plating.
• Soldiers with Bioelectric Skin can reveal Seekers; range is similar to radius of grenades.
• Titan Armor, Ghost Armor, and Archangel Armor all grant immunity to poison, fire, and strangulation as of Enemy Within.
  • Thusly, Seekers become rare and ineffectual late-game, by which point the Respirator Implant is already near-useless. By then you should have had most important soldiers upgraded with Chitin Plating anyway.
• Soldiers 'catching breath' still have two moves, but with -50% penalty to aim and -75% penalty to movement. They can still reload so use those occasions to bring your weapon to full ammo, or hunker down if they're in a risky position.
• Upon being activated Seekers cloak and immediately move away from their initial position, so it's a waste to fire a Rocket at their starting position to try to catch them.

Tactics

• Protect any isolated unit such as a Sniper, they will loop back around and attack them when you least expect it. Another favorite victim of them is an isolated Assault who just completed a Run & Gun dash.
• For your early encounters, your best means of protection is to have your soldiers within line of sight of one another (possibly retreating, if you think you know what direction they're approaching from), and have everyone on Overwatch. With luck, when they try to attack, enough hits will land that you can destroy them before they cause damage.
• If you're save-scumming, and lost track of a Seeker: consider tossing out AoE attacks (like grenades) to try to see where it is, going by process of elimination to "Battleship" it out.
• If the Seeker can't strangulate it will fire its plasma weapon instead. This can easily be worse than strangulation, since their high movement means it's easy for them to flank and crit for up to 6 damage. When decloaking Seekers with a Battle Scanner, ensure you have soldiers with actions left to kill them, or they'll probably move and take a flanking shot.
  • Don't underestimate the firepower needed to take down a Seeker even when decloaked. Their innate defense, plus 20 defense for flying means a low level squad can easily flail at it for a round and not land a hit.
    • The good news is, Seekers that are about to or are strangling a soldier will likely be at ground level, so won't get the defense benefit of flying.
• The Assault's Close Combat Specialist ability reacts to them, so a soldier can be put forward to be the bait, close to the Assault, but between the Assault & the Seeker will draw it out. Most effective if the assault is carrying a shotgun-type gun for the close-range bonus.
• As long as they're on the ground, the MEC's Kinetic Strike can target them even while cloaked.
• If they're in a soldier's movement range, they'll still block movement to that square like any other enemy, even while in Stealth mode.
  • So, if there's an active one hunting you, check to see if there's any squares nearby that should be accessible, but you cannot have the soldier occupy. Using any Area Of Effect attack (except MEC Trooper flamethrowers) will damage it, and force it to drop it's stealth, leaving it open to attack!
    • It will often be right next to you, not unlike a Chryssalid that's used both Actions on approach.
    • Also, keep an eye out for any 'disturbances' to help you find them (an alien computer console's "holoscreen" flickering, animals being disturbed, doors & windows being opened).
    • However, they can fly, so they might sometimes do so to avoid revealing themselves in these manners.
    • Lasty: when using grenades, you may have noticed an "auto-lock" when you want to drop it right at an enemy's feet (or, if you're skilled, even flying enemies): this works on them too, even in Stealth Mode.