Seeker (EU2012)

The Seeker is a biomechanic floating squid, somewhat visually similar to TFTD's Tentaculat (reinforcing this, the Autopsy's project name is "Lovecraft", whose writings were a primary inspiration for TFTD), that can become invisible to your soldier's eyes that is introduced in the Enemy Within DLC.

Seekers have an AI designed 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 attack them through a melee attack of strangulation. The victim will not die immediately but will take damage each turn until the Seeker is killed or releases its victim. After a soldier is released from strangulation it will have to catch its breath. Seekers also have a weapon similar to a Plasma Pistol.

Seekers are immune to the Flamethrower and arrive during April. They can be detected through the Battle Scanner and the Bioelectric Skin Gene Mod. 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.

Stats

1st Appearance	{{{appears}}}
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	Damage	Critical Chance	Abilities
Seeker Plasma Pistol	3	0	Suppression
Tentacles	2 per turn	0	Strangle

Notes

• Arc Thrower does not affect this alien. Do not attempt to capture.
• 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.
  • 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.
• Soldiers with 2 HP or less will be immediately killed upon strangulation.
• When Seekers decloak to strangle a soldier, any soldiers on overwatch will take a shot at them, except the soldier they're about to strangle.
• 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.
• You only need to damage a Seeker to dislodge it from a soldier its strangling, it's not necessary to kill it. You do need to kill it to prevent it from beginning the strangle immediately after decloaking, damage is not enough.
• 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 this trick.
    • 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.
• Although Seekers do not show Robotic in the Unit Analysis View, they are immune to stun!
  • However, they do not have the "Hardened" property, and can easily receive critical hits when exposed.
• The new item, Respirator Implant provides immunity to strangulation. Chitin Plating does too.
• Soldiers with Bioelectric Skin can reveal Seekers; range is similar to radius of grenades.
• 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.
• Not just Titan Armor, but also Ghost and Archangel armors are listed as having sealed systems in Enemy Within, providing immunity to poison, fire, and strangulation.
  • Thusly, Seekers become rare late-game, and the Respirator Implant is then near-useless, but by then you should have aimed to upgrade to Chitin Plating anyway.
• Soldiers 'catching breath' 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.
• 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.