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"I am here in the shadows."

- Protoss stalker(src)

The stalker is a Nerazim cybernetic war machine.

Overview[]

MarineStalker SC2 Art1

A marine faces down a stalker

The fall of Aiur demonstrated to the Dark Templar that more than just stealth and guile were required to defeat the zerg. Hence, the Dark Templar developed the stalker, a war machine inspired by the Khalai dragoon. While dragoons were piloted by crippled protoss warriors, the stalker is controlled by the shadow-essence of a Dark Templar warrior fused into a metal body.[2] Nerazim who control stalkers undergo this process voluntarily,[3] said process involving a Void-powered ritual[1] which fuses their shadow essence to the machine. This gives them a preternatural degree of control over their new bodies. The process cannot be reversed.[3]

Stalkers were in use by the Daelaam as early as 2502,[4][5] and were in use by the Tal'darim by 2504.[6] Some voluntarily chose to become stalkers in order to better hunt and kill their foes because they only wished to sharpen their combat skills and serve their Highlord, as not all Tal'darim seek ascension.[7]

Stalkers are often used to support zealots on the battlefield.[8]

Design[]

"I hope it hurts every time they get their oil changed."
Stalker SC-FM Art1

Stalker schematics

Stalkers stand roughly twice as tall as a terran wearing CMC armor. They draw their psionic power from their host Nerazim's connection to the Void,[1] and are armed with carapace-mounted particle disruptors adept against both ground and aerial targets.[2] These weapons draw upon the power of the Dark Templar's training and technology to fire lethal blasts of entropic Void energy. Each shot destabilizes matter at a fundamental level, and ultimately tears it apart by disintegrating its atomic composition. The particle disruptors are especially effective against materials with high hardness indexes—like chitinous carapaces or heavy armor plating.[3]

Stalker SC2 Art1

A Nerazim stalker

Stalkers have been credited with many fantastic powers since their battlefield début. However, only one is witnessed consistently: an ability to instantly teleport, or "blink," from one spot to another.[2] This ability requires augmentation to a stalker,[9] through the implementation of a device called a Void displacer. When enabled, the displacer grants stalkers the ability to fade and materialize instantly at a different location, affording them an unprecedented degree of mobility, perfect for quick strikes against the enemy.[3] The improved mobility allows stalkers to conduct ambushes, catch fleeing foes, and generally engage on their own terms,[2] making the stalker the perfect warrior for raiding enemy supply lines and teleporting away before reinforcements can arrive.[1] However, each "blink" generates a flux that taxes the stalker's systems. It must go through a brief recharge period before initiating another displacement.[3] When the Daelaam retrieved the Spear of Adun, stalkers were outfitted with reactors technology linked to the solar core, allowing rapid shield regeneration upon using its displacement abilities.[10]

Stalker SC-ShadowWars Comic1

A stalker enhanced with the dragoon chassis

Years after its conception, Nerazim stalker technology benefited from Khalai engineering, and attempts were made to integrate dragoon chassis reinforcement into the battle strider's frame.[11] At least some of these stalkers utilized the telltale golden Khalai color scheme, as opposed to the stalker's standard platinum.[12] Purifier stalkers were fully automated, and were able to draw from a complex log of battle interactions. Ihan-rii stalkers were inscribed with sacred runes, meant to safeguard the animated armor.

After the End War, a movement back to the artistic style of the Golden Age of Expansion lead Khalai phase-smiths to redesign several stalkers in the style of the ancient Templar. This elicited offense from many Nerazim.[11]

Game Unit[]

StarCraft II[]

In-game, stalkers function like fragile, but more agile dragoons. They serve as excellent economy raiders.[13]

Stalkers can dance like a dragoon.[14] This may be enhanced by Blinking, especially in multilevel terrain.

Stalker SC2 Game1

Stalker's blinking ability

Stalkers are effective against units with low damage per second, especially with Blink micro.[15] The reverse is true for offensive units, especially those with attack bonuses against armored units.[16] zerglings are cost effective counters to stalkers; the Blink cooldown is too slow to ensure escape.[15]

Stalker/sentry combinations are common in mid-game scenarios.[17]

Massed stalkers will defeat most air units in the game including Banshees, mutalisks and void rays.

Stalkers should also not be used against marauders, siege tanks in siege mode, massed burrowed lurkers and immortals due to their bonus damage towards armored units.

Versus[]

Upgrades and Abilities
Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey G
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 121.6seconds
Level 2
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 144.6seconds
Required Twilight council
Level 3
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 167.9seconds
Required Twilight council
ve

Increases the armor of protoss ground units.

Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey A
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 121.6seconds
Level 2
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 144.6seconds
Required Twilight council
Level 3
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 167.9seconds
Required Twilight council
ve
  • +1 armor to shields per level.
Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey S
Level 1
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 121.6seconds
Level 2
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 144.6seconds
Required Twilight council
Level 3
Cost 250 Minerals 250 Vespene gas 167.9seconds
Required Twilight council
ve

Stalkers instantly teleport over short distances. This allows stalkers to strike from unexpected quarters, catch fleeing foes, or escape unfavorable encounters.

Usage
Hotkey B
Range 8
Cooldown 7 seconds
Notes

Blink requires line-of-sight. Distance is not reduced when bypassing terrain obstacles, including cliffs from both directions. The effects of Fungal Growth prevents Blinking.

Acquisition
Purchased from Twilight council
Hotkey B
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 121seconds
ve

Legacy of the Void[]

In the campaign of Legacy of the Void, stalkers have an additional passive ability once selected at the War Council, their Blinking causes them to rapidly regenerate shields for a brief period, in addition selecting the stalker also changes its voice lines to have a deeper pitch. The stalker is one of three ranged attacker role available to the player in the campaign, the other two being dragoon and adept. The stalker is the most flexible of the three options in terms of mobility, as its Blink allows for critical mobility when moving up and down cliffs and finding hidden resource pallets, and the shield regeneration and mobility allows them to focus fire key targets while maintaining situational durability. Given their bonus damage to Armored targets they compare more to the dragoon than the Light-enhanced adept. Their damage per shot is lower than the dragoon's but they have a faster firing rate that makes up for it, and as long as they don't get hit by overwhelming damage quickly so they can do one or two Blinks their shield regeneration can be comparable to the enhanced health of the dragoon.

Co-op Missions[]

Vorazun can build stalkers in Co-op Missions. Once she reaches level 4, stalker upgrades become available at the twilight council. Stalkers are used by Amon's forces in Co-op Missions. The slayer, a variant of the stalker, can be used by Alarak. Zeratul gains access to a stalker variant named the xel'naga ambusher.

Upgrades and Abilities
Blink SC2 UseAble1
Blink

Teleports the Stalker to a nearby target location.

Usage
Hotkey B
Range 8
Cooldown 8 seconds
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Initially available.
Acquisition
Purchased from Twilight council
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 60seconds
ve
PhaseReactor SC2 Icon
Phase Reactor

After using Blink, the stalker rapidly regenerates 80 shields over five seconds. Cloaks the stalker for five seconds.

Usage
Passive
Duration 5 seconds
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Vorazun Level 4
Acquisition
Purchased from Twilight council
Hotkey C
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 90seconds
Required Research Blink
ve
SC2 ProGrndWeap
Protoss Ground Weapons

Increases the attack damage of protoss ground units.

Usage
Passive
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Initially available.
Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey G
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 160seconds
Effect Damage

Basic: 14 (+6 vs Armored)

With Withering Siphon: 10.5 (+4.5 vs Armored)
Level 2
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 190seconds
Required Twilight council
Effect Damage

Basic: 15 (+7 vs Armored)

With Withering Siphon: 11.25 (+5.25 vs Armored)
Level 3
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 220seconds
Required Twilight council
Effect Damage

Basic: 16 (+8 vs Armored)

With Withering Siphon: 12 (+6 vs Armored)
ve
SC2 ProGrndArm
Protoss Ground Armor

Increases the armor of protoss ground units.

Usage
Passive
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Initially available.
Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey A
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 160seconds
Effect Armor: 2
Level 2
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 190seconds
Required Twilight council
Effect Armor: 3
Level 3
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 220seconds
Required Twilight council
Effect Armor: 4
ve
SC2 ProShields
Protoss Plasma Shields

Increases the shield armor of all protoss units and structures.

Usage
Passive
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Initially available.
Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey A
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 160seconds
Effect Shield armor: 1
Level 2
Cost 175 Minerals 175 Vespene gas 190seconds
Required Twilight council
Effect Shield armor: 2
Level 3
Cost 250 Minerals 250 Vespene gas 220seconds
Required Twilight council
Effect Shield armor: 3
ve

Quotations[]

See: StarCraft II Stalker Quotations

Development[]

"Good ideas don’t die. They just go into the sequel done ten years later."

- Samwise Didier on the stalker's origins(src)

DarkDragoon Concept Game2

Concept art for a "dark dragoon."

The idea for a "dark dragoon" stems back to the original game. When planning for StarCraft: Brood War and StarCraft 64, Samwise Didier pitched the idea of a Nerazim dragoon, but every time he would create concept art for it the art was scrapped. This concept would later become the basis for the stalker.[18]

For StarCraft II, the idea for the stalker came after the conception of the immortal. While the immortal was the thematic successor to the dragoon, gameplay-wise, there was room on the protoss tech tree for a less expensive, more dynamic unit. The developers asked, "why don't we make a 'dark dragoon'?" By this point, the developers had already made "dark" versions of protoss units. Samwise Didier came up with a concept of what a "dark dragoon" would look like.[19] It took awhile for the specifics to be nailed down.[20] One issue for the dragoon in StarCraft II was that the developers wanted to add "micro mechanics" for protoss gameplay, while the dragoon was "a sort of all-purpose menace that just walked up and fired at enemies." The protoss, being a high-tech race, would be the ones to possess teleportation abilities. Expanding on this idea, the developers tried to make the dragoon faster, smaller, and more agile, and gave it a short-range blink ability. Thus, the stalker was born. Not only did this make protoss gameplay more micro intensive, but it gave the race a higher skill ceiling, which was a priority for the team. This became apparent in League matches, as a Bronze-level player would use stalkers far differently than in Diamond-level.[19]

The design was finessed several times as its asymmetrical shield and legs gave it a zerg-like appearance. This dictated that platinum be made the dominant color in order to distinguish it (which led to platinum being the dominant color for Dark Templar as a whole). However, the shield made the stalker look heavier and more imposing from some angles, while weak and frail from other views. It was eventually settled that the stalker should have a medium-sized shield to interfere the least with visual communication.[21]

Eventually, Samwise Didier called for an overhaul, wanting the stalker to be based more on his original concept art. The stalker was thus redesigned,[21] and the new model was revealed at BlizzCon 2008.[22]

Stalker SC2 Rend1

The stalker (early render)

An idea that was conceptualized but never implemented for the stalker was that it would have a light that would visually indicate when its blink was available.[23]

The stalker had a different voice actor in 2007.[24] It had 120 HP and 60 shields[25] and dealt 8 (+8 vs. Armored) damage; its weapon was originally called Chronal Web.[26] Blink had a 15-second cooldown.[27] By late-2008, it had 100 HP, 40 shields, and dealt 10 (+4 vs. Armored) damage with its weapon renamed.[26] By late-2009, it had 80 shields and dealt 11 damage flat, which was decreased to 10 damage just before the StarCraft II beta,[26] where it lost 20 HP and dealt 8 (+6 vs. Armored) damage. Patch 6 changed this back to 10 (+4 vs. Armored) and decreased its weapon upgrade damage from +1 (+1 vs. Armored) to +1. Patch 1.4 increased Blink research time from 110 seconds to 140, and Balance Update #10 in the Heart of the Swarm beta increased it again to 170 seconds. Patch 4.0 in Legacy of the Void increased the stalker's damage to 15 (+6 vs. Armored) and +2 damage per upgrade, also changing its weapon speed from 1 to 1.54. The patch 4.1.4 Balance Update reduced these to 13 (+5 vs. Armored), 1 (+1 vs. Armored) per upgrade, and 1.34.

Achievements[]

ToTheShadowsIRun SC2 Icon1 To the Shadows I Run
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Use Blink to save a Stalker in a Melee game.

Notes

The stalker must dodge a killing blow, and blink away from the projectile while it is traveling in midair

Edit

Heroes of the Storm[]

Heroes DevLog2
The following section contains information from Heroes of the Storm and is not canon to StarCraft continuity
StalkerMarine Heroes DevGame1

Blizzard DotA stalkers

Stalkers appeared in early builds of Heroes of the Storm.[28]

Known Stalkers[]

Variants[]

Images[]

Skins
Portraits

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Barba, Rick. StarCraft Field Manual (hardcover). Insight Editions, November 17, 2015.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2007-05-19. Stalker. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2007-09-06.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 2014-10-30, Stalker Science. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2014-11-04
  4. Elder, Josh (w), Ramanda Kamarga (p). "Why We Fight." In StarCraft: Frontline: Volume 1 (paperback binding), pp. 6–47. Tokyopop, August 1, 2008. ISBN 978-1427-80721-2.
  5. April 6, 2010. "Timeline." StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). pp. 311 - 323. ISBN 978-1416-55084-6.
  6. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Smash and Grab (in English). 2010-07-27.
  7. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. Collections Tab: Skins. July 19, 2017
  8. Races: Protoss. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2010-08-07.
  9. Unit: Stalker, Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed on 2010-12-14
  10. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. (Activision Blizzard). PC. War Council interface (in English). 2015-11-10.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. Collections Tab: Skins. October 17, 2016 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Collections" defined multiple times with different content
  12. Watrous, Valerie (w), Manual, Garcia (i) and Sandra Molina (c). (September 13th, 2017). StarCraft II: Shadow Wars: Part 3. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Shadow Wars: Part 3 Accessed 2017-08-13.
  13. Zetaras Xal'Kurat. 2008-03-16. StarCraft 2 Korean and Chinese Build Summary. SC2 Blog. Accessed 2008-03-18.
  14. Karune. 2008-07-16. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 41. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-07-16.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Stalkers still fall to large groups of Zerglings in terms of cost, even with Blink micro. Although, with the additional micro, especially while also using terrain to your advantage, a Protoss player will definitely be able to at least fight a group of Zerglings, rather than being forced to retreat. In the Sonkie/Yellow game 1, the Blinking micro definitely kept his Stalkers alive longer, though force firing would have ended that battle in the Protoss favor as well, since the Stalker has bonus damage towards armored units like the Roach. Zerglings are still definitely the best counter against Stalkers from the Zerg side, especially since the improved pathing system allows them to get to their ordered locations faster and are able to surround more efficiently. The cooldown for Blink is perfect in saving Stalkers from death against Roaches which have a much lower rate of dps than Zerglings. Against Zerglings, the cooldown is not fast enough, similar to the announcement video of the Protoss race when the Stalkers were first introduced. Karune. 2008-10-14. Re: Stalkers seem imba (page 3). Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-10-14.
  16. Stalker. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2012-05-28
  17. 2012-06-08, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm - Battle Report (Protoss vs Zerg). Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2012-06-21.
  18. IGN. 2016-03-30. Celebrating 20 Years of Starcraft: An Interview with Starcraft's Creators IGN.com. Accessed 2016-03-30.
  19. 19.0 19.1 2018-04-03, EVOLUTION COMPLETE: REIMAGINING CLASSIC STARCRAFT UNITS FOR STARCRAFT II. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2018-03-07
  20. 2011-05-31, May 2011 HoTS Fansite Interview. StarCraft Legacy, accessed on 2011-05-31
  21. 21.0 21.1 2010, Starcraft 2: Protoss Stalker' Deviantart, accessed on 2011-07-20
  22. Karune. 2008-07-16. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 43. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-07-16.
  23. 2023-06-16, Visual Upgrades. Reddit, accessed on 2023-06-16
  24. StarCraft 2 - Beta Stalker Quotes
  25. StarCraft II: Protoss Gameplay
  26. 26.0 26.1 26.2 Stalker. StarCraft II Armory.
  27. Zetaras Xal'Kurat. 2008-02-04. Q&A 28: Marauders Explained, AntiGrav, Thor Changed Again. SC2 Blog.
  28. 2014-05-21, Blizzard set out to make a StarCraft mod, and instead reinvented gaming's most popular genre. Polygon, accessed on 2014-05-22
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