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.
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.