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General elite zed/zed variants ideas

imnrk

Grizzled Veteran
Jul 9, 2015
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Hi, this thread is just for fun ideas for elite zeds and zed variants, not necessarily a serious ideas/suggestions thread. I think it would be nice if every zed had a variant or elite version, and I'm giving my ideas for the zeds that don't already have one (so not crawlers, gorefasts, alpha clots bloats, or fleshpounds). I'm also excluding cysts because I couldn't think of any good variants for them. Feel free to disagree or post ideas of your own.

Slasher
I was thinking that there could be some elite slasher version where he has a little more health (like a gorefast maybe), and has the same general attack patterns. Only difference would be that it would have vastly increased grab dps, and would decide to grab more often than the regular slashers. It would have barbed hooks or spikes on its forearms, so the grab would be more of a frenzy kind of a thing, where it's mauling the player so badly that they can't move. For all intents and purposes though, it would function as a damaging grab attack. The biggest counter to this would be berserker, survivalist, and SWAT with heavy armor training, because they wouldn't need to worry about getting grabbed.

Stalker
For the stalker I thought there could be some kind of spectre/shade variant, where it was faster and can pass through zeds in order to catch up to the player quicker. Damage would be similar to the regular stalker. Health is increased to that of a siren while it is cloaked, because it is not entirely grounded to the world, but while uncloaked the health is the same as a regular stalker. It will be easy to see them coming for the attentive player, because they will have a brighter, almost glowing shimmering effect, and they uncloak entirely to attack. They have paler skin than a regular stalker, and have glowing blood veins.

Husk
People often ask for a chaingun husk, and I think it would be a nice addition as well. This would have a rarer chance of spawning than the other elite zeds. It is taller and able to stand out in a crowd, so you see it coming. It has armored plates on its limbs and body, so the only way to do real damage to it is by shooting the head-the ammo pack on its back is armored as well. Health is the same as regular husk. It will start firing as soon as it sees the player, and will stop shooting pretty soon when its not doing any damage, like the patriarch's minigun. It will need to reload every once in a while, but that doesn't take long. If the player is caught unprepared in an open area with no cover, they can shoot the gun to knock it back, stumbling the elite husk. It will do devastating damage to both players and zeds. It has no flamethrower or suicide attacks, but it has a sword it its other arm to attack with at close range.

Siren
I was thinking the siren variant could be like the versus siren. Instead of screaming, it would have a vortex attack that pulls players towards it, but this can be easily stopped by shooting it at all while its attacking, as any distraction causes it to lose focus. Also, it will stop if any zed gets in the way. It will pretty much be like a clot grab, but with an increased range and it pulls you towards the elite siren. It has sharper claws and teeth, as well as a bigger mouth, so it does more damage in melee.

Scrake
I was inspired by the goliaths from Borderlands 2 for this one. The elite scrake is wearing a metal mask on its face to prevent headshots, and if it takes enough body damage it will tear off the mask and charge at incredible speeds. It is leaner than the normal scrake, but same height. Lighter colored clothes, but still keeps the butcher theme. It carries a buzzsaw in each hand, attacking the player with both at once, for terrifying dps. An unprepared player can die in seconds from it. The flaw in this one's design was that it has a weaker bone structure than the regular scrake for increased speed, and it has a lower head health. Body health is about the same because there is muscle padding on its limbs.
 
I really like the idea of spectral Stalkers walking through enemy hordes (and maybe even doors?). Also I think elite sirens should really gain that vortex attack to promote teamwork. Btw, bloats dont have an elite variant yet.


Still, thinking about elite crawlers there is something i really would like to see a change:

Bloats:
In my eyes they should really gain the gas cloud ability from elite crawlers. Make it so the gas cloud always spawns if the bloat is fatally wounded (head being shot of or Body explodes) but NOT if killed by fire as the Body is still intact then. Would make firebug an great asset to dispatching elite bloats.

Crawlers:
Just give elite crawlers the ability to walk on walls/ceilings and remove that stupid gas cloud. I dont care about visuals not being aligned perfectly.
 
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More Elite Zeds could make things really interesting, but depending on the Zed, can really add a nasty element to any mob already closing in. I'll try some examples -

Cyst:
LOL, no. Cysts are literally incomplete and are intended wastes of space. An Elite Cyst would be one with eyes, and that's just a Clot.

Slasher:
A little beefier. Really extend their claws visually to drive the point home. 10% faster, 10% more damage, 25% faster attack speed.

Crawlers:
I'm also not too keen on these things being full of gas. But I too would like to see these things use the walls or ceilings. If the animations don't quite look satisfactory for walking along them, then make Elite Crawlers hoppers. Remove their gas, but give them the ability to hop and parkour off of walls and ceilings into players with a spinning flailing attack.

Bloats:
I've seen a makeshift version of Elite Bloats on a custom server or two. They resemble bloats with the Alpha Clot color scheme and markings. They waddle along faster towards the player, but instead of wasting time with bile, they simply blow up for high damage at close range. Not unlike the Husk suicide attack, and not as damaging, but far faster to execute. But that's a bad idea, so I'm not even sure why I wasted time describing that. Anyways, like MisterM suggested, give the gas from the Elite Crawlers to Elite Bloats, but make them detonate into a gaseous cloud upon death even if their head is taken off. Their health shouldn't be much higher if any, only 20% higher at best. But for real change, Bloats should be given more range. Make their bile attacks truely projectile based and fired at an upward arc from a distance, with minor splash AoE damage upon impact beyond a direct hit. Turn them into living acidic mortar launchers.

Husks:
A good candidate already exists from the RPGmod -"The Shotgun Husk". Ditching its flamethrower attack and suicide attempt, this one simply fires not one fireball directly at you, but 6-7 smaller fireballs in your general direction with a randomized spread. None are guaranteed to hit you if you stand still, but it's still not the best option, and now even moving a bit to the left or right leaves you at risk. Since close range is now where their real threat lies, increase their walk/running speed by 20%. Trouble at range, absolutely lethal up close.

Sirens:
I didn't know Sirens had that Vortex attack that drew players closer, but I can see why they took that out of general gameplay. Probably led to one too many cheap kills on players already somewhat surrounded. I propose an Elite Siren that does exactly the opposite - violently repel. Her scream should be focused forward, tightened into a frontal cone AoE. Instead of an extended scream, it's a sharp, bone-shaking shriek from longer range with a minor shockwave that knocks around players & Zeds alike. Furthermore, explosives hurled at her and caught in her scream aren't merely extinguished, but instead repelled back at you.

Stalkers:
With Stalkers, subterfuge is key. When it's not enough to hide in plain sight, its time to make one think you're there when you're not. Give Elite Stalkers the illusion of not one, but several incoming Stalkers not necessarily moving in unison. She should be faster than normal Stalkers, but also smart enough not to keep pressing her luck up close - increase her attack speed 25%, but make her stop after one attack animation. After this she phases out momentarily, shifting between the visibly distorted illusions for about a second before choosing one at random to attack again. She can be moved through during this phase shift, but she cannot be hurt. Furthermore, Commandos will retain the ability to reveal their visibility all the same, but not which is the real one before she attacks.

Fleshpounds:
Unnecessary. They're already as strong as they'll ever be needed. They had to develop Mini-Me to give FP some variety.

Scrakes:
Hey, Resident Evil 4 fans! Remember this guy? (skip to 3:35)

Yeah, basically these guys, minus the weak spot in the back. Let them lumber onwards like usual, for a while. But after a while, or getting hit, they completely friggin' lose it and charge at you 50% faster than usual. Upon getting into melee range they go completely berserk, unleashing a moderately forward-moving large flurry of swipes in one prolonged attack. Since he's madly spinning and flailing his arms in all directions, the attacks hit not just in a forward cone, but slash whatever's beside or even right behind him. While moderately doable to dodge to the side with enough advance warning, anything attempting to face him down the front will be torn to ribbons. Do not attempt to parry, you WILL die.

And yes, add something to his free hand, but he doesn't even have to use chainsaws this time. Something fast and sharp that suits a lot of quick swipes.
 
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Buzzkillinton;n2313370 said:
no more gas...HOE is already gas floor 2.

F9B81F6B19473875EEAD6D4A0FAB8698660FB6B0
 
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Servalion;n2313428 said:
Man, that image just reminds of how deadly his gas USED to be. Seriously, it might be time to buff it back to some extent.

no fuk that, it already disrups aiming with the gas overlay on screen, and his general agro with him going berserk multiple times....
tho lately we've been killing him quite easily... maybe just the team comp and weapons we used.

I just wish twi would remove boss healthbar entirely, as imo it makes the fight less exciting and everyone just dive bombing on boss... not like in the early days where you had no idea how much health boss has, and with that everyone was more aware about the incoming attack or any zeds coming in.
 
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On the topic of siren variants, why hasn't anyone mentioned the idea of having something like a projectile scream? (i.e: actually firing a ball of energy from her mouth similar to a husk fireball)

Said energy ball won't affect grenades, but will pierce zeds (the scream will deal 80% less damage to them) and will still ignore armor
 
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