Night stalker

	For the wendigo encountered during One Violent Night, see The Nightstalker.

Night stalkers (sometimes spelled "nightstalkers") are creatures living in the Mojave Wasteland and Big MT in 2281.

Background

Night stalkers are the pre-War creations of Dr. Borous at Big MT, being genetic hybrids of rattlesnake and coyote DNA. Dr. Borous created them in order to preserve the DNA of rattlesnakes, which he believed to be on the verge of extinction. However, his memory was unclear, and he also suggested that it may have been because of a dare with Dr. Calis at X-13.^[2]

Due to their creation, the shipping department of the X-8 research center suffered a large number of fatalities, where all but one employee (Skippy) were killed by the night stalkers.^[3] However, Dr. Adam Figgis thought the executives in charge of X-8 could salvage the mishap in shipping and decided to let the night stalkers loose into the X-8 testing area to study their behavior.^[4] Sometime after the bombs dropped, many night stalkers escaped and have spread across the Mojave and beyond, with some even reaching as far as Baja.^[1] Night stalkers occasionally clash with cazadores (which were also created at Big MT) over territory.

Characteristics

Biology

Night stalkers are a genetic hybridization of the coyote and rattlesnake, displaying characteristics of both. They growl, howl and whimper like regular coyotes, but hiss, rattle and inject venom into their prey like rattlesnakes. Their bodies are mostly dog-like, covered in a combination of fur and scales. Their heads and tails, however, are more like that of a rattlesnake, including fangs and a forked tongue. Night stalkers' right eyes are blue with a round pupil, while their left eyes are yellow with an elliptical pupil, like a rattlesnake's. They lay eggs, like a snake, but raise their pups similar to a coyote, nursing their young in cave nests.

Night stalkers nest in caves across the Mojave Wasteland and can be found both inside those caves or in the nearby area. Packs of night stalkers can be frequently seen hunting at night east of Morning Star Cavern near the nest with the radscorpion queen, south of the broc flower cave and northwest of the cap counterfeiting shack. Their original breeding ground is the Z-9 Crotalus DNA preservation lab, located in the Big MT.

Night stalkers would be further refined in the X-13 research facility with the team there administering an invisibility serum that would bond to and give latent cloaking ability to all night stalkers from then on. However, the cloaking ability was passive, under direct observation from another living organism it effectively ends as the night stalker would be under duress. Chief scientist Doctor Calis theorized that the night stalkers were not under thorough enough stress to need to use their cloaking ability.^[5] Thusly, Calis ordered Cattle prods^[6] to successfully induce the use of the serum's cloaking ability by torturing the night stalkers and altering their brain chemistry.^[7][8] However, torture is not the only way that the latent invisibility of night stalkers can be unlocked. Through exposure to stealth radiation,^[9] the night stalker's potential for invisibility can be achieved as well.^[10]

As their name suggests, night stalkers are largely nocturnal,^[11] hunting in packs at night for unaware or sleeping prey. However, it's still possible to encounter night stalker packs during the day.

Night stalker eggs can be used to prepare Mushroom Cloud. Their blood is also used as an ingredient in antivenom, hydra and nightstalker squeezin's.

Gameplay attributes

When they detect the Courier, they may strike with a leaping attack and a venomous bite, or snap at them without leaping. While the venom is not as potent as that of their main competition, the cazador, it can pose a serious problem if multiple bites are received and aren't promptly treated. However, this can be avoided with the Animal Friend perk, as night stalkers will not attack the Courier.

Coping with the poison

• Endurance, antivenom
• Datura antivenom, Blood Shield, Tribal Wisdom
• Heartless, Cardiac Arrest
• Snakebite tourniquet

Night stalkers can pose a particular threat in areas of low visibility, at night (when they are active) or in caverns. They are especially dangerous inside their dens, where packs are usually large in numbers, and twisting corridors make it difficult to detect exactly where they are.

Night stalkers found in the Charleston Cave and the lower level of the X-13 research facility have the preternatural ability to cloak as if using a Stealth Boy. The pack in the Charleston Cave gained this ability from collectively chewing on a Stealth Boy Mark II prototype, while the ones in the X-13 testing facility had the ability granted by an unknown scientist. From all appearances, when a night stalker is exposed to stealth radiation, it effectively turns them permanently invisible.

As with any other cloaked enemy, these night stalkers can only be targeted in V.A.T.S. with the Enhanced Sensors companion perk provided by ED-E. Their invisibility will not prevent them from causing ripples in any body of water they move in, hindering their ability to execute an ambush attack.

Night stalker packs can be found in:

Variants

Night stalker

Night stalkers are the size of coyotes with a canine body and the head and tail of a rattlesnake. Night stalkers nest and hunt in packs and are found in or near their cave nests.

Name (Form ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Night stalker 00156788 0012BD37	15 ? 9 110 0 0%	Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight. Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone. Helps allies: Will help allies.	Melee (70 ) Nightstalker poison (5 /sec, -2 END for 60 seconds)	50% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker egg 50% nightstalker tail
Night stalker (Jacobstown) 00144BC4	16 ? 8 120 0 0%	Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight. Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone. Helps allies: Will help allies.	Melee (70 ) Nightstalker poison (5 /sec, -2 END for 60 seconds)	50% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker egg 50% nightstalker tail
Night stalker (pit fighter) 00144BC4	15 ? 9 120 0 0%	Aggressive: Will attack enemies on sight. Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone. Helps nobody: Will not help anyone.	Melee (70 ) None	75% dog meat 25% dog meat 50% dog hide

Young night stalker

In appearance, young night stalkers are visually identical to fully grown night stalkers, but are smaller in size and have weaker attacks and less Hit Points. Although relatively weak, they are a nuisance when fought in groups of other young night stalkers and their fully grown brethren.

Name (Form ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Young night stalker 0014F476 0015678B 00164A6C 00164EF7 001616EC 00166DFD	9 ? 8 70 0 0%	Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight. Brave: Will avoid/flee from threats only if severely outmatched. Helps allies: Will help allies.	Melee (45 ) Nightstalker poison (5 /sec, -2 END for 60 seconds)	50% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker egg 50% nightstalker tail
Young night stalker 001689D8	9 ? 8 70 0 0%	Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight. Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone. Helps allies: Will help allies.	Melee (45 ) Nightstalker poison (5 /sec, -2 END for 60 seconds)	50% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker egg 50% nightstalker tail

Legendary night stalker

The legendary night stalker is a large and powerful variant found in Bloodborne cave, located west of Bitter Springs. In appearance, it is visually identical to standard night stalkers but differs only in size, being about the size of a bighorner. It is normally encountered in a pack with several regular night stalkers and young night stalkers and can kill a low level player in seconds.

It has the least amount of health out of all of the legendary creatures, but can kill a player under level 20 with about two to three bites. It is also the only legendary creature in the game that can be friendly towards the player if they have chosen the Animal Friend perk.

Name (Form ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Legendary night stalker 00167EFE	15 ? 10 250 0 0%	Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight. Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone. Helps allies: Will help allies.	Melee (100 ) Nightstalker poison (5 /sec, -2 END for 60 seconds)	50% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker egg 50% nightstalker tail

Den mother

In some night stalker nests, such as Morning Star cavern, the pack will be led by a den mother, a slightly larger night stalker who looks after the young, and has a much stronger attack than standard night stalkers. If her young are harmed, she may go into a frenzy similar to that of the deathclaw mother.

Name (Form ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Den mother 001532FF	18 ? 9 170 0 0%	Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight. Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone. Helps allies: Will help allies.	Melee (85 ) Nightstalker poison (5 /sec, -2 END for 60 seconds)	50% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker blood 25% nightstalker egg 50% nightstalker tail

Notable night stalkers

• Shadis

Related quests

• Bleed Me Dry: Red Lucy at the Thorn asks the Courier to collect various eggs from Mojave creatures, including some night stalker eggs.
• Guess Who I Saw Today: The Courier can help Doctor Henry at Jacobstown to study how local night stalkers developed a natural stealth field.
• Fight Night: Up to three night stalkers can be challenged in the arena at the Thorn.

Notes

• All night stalkers, including named ones, are affected by the Animal Friend perk, despite being classified as abominations. With this perk, the player can pickpocket them, but they hold no items.
• Similar to other canine enemies, night stalkers have a stationary bite attack. During this animation, night stalkers will not move, allowing one to easily backpedal and avoid the attack.
• Night stalkers have a tendency for their corpses to violently go flying when headshotted in V.A.T.S. with significantly powerful weapons such as rifles or shotguns. This can be as mild as, for instance, sliding across the floor, or as wild as their bodies flinging across the room.
• Night stalkers share few characteristics with coyotes aside from general body shape and pack hunting (something reptiles, snakes in particular, are not known for).
• Night stalkers lay eggs, even though both coyotes and rattlesnakes bear live young.
• Night stalkers tend to rattle their tails and hiss when nearby, giving away their location.
• Similar to cazadores, night stalkers found in the Big MT are tougher than their Mojave counterparts.
• Night stalkers found in The Thorn's pit do not have any venom.

Appearances

Night stalkers appear in Fallout: New Vegas and its add-on Old World Blues.

Behind the scenes

Night stalkers were concepted by game director Joshua Sawyer.^[12]

Bugs

• PC Playstation 3 Xbox 360 Walking through the Mojave Wasteland, it is possible that the player may see a night stalker with several heads and legs. This is actually a bug in the respawn. It happens when several spawn in the same place, resulting in a number of night stalker models within each other and bound in place. Because they cannot walk they can easily be killed. ^[verified]
• Playstation 3 Xbox 360 Sometimes while encountering a night stalker, they will randomly die. ^[verified]
• PC Playstation 3 Xbox 360 Attempting to aim at a night stalker's head (in realtime or V.A.T.S.) often results in missing shots. Possibly there is something off with the night stalker's collision/hit detection around its head, similar to what happens with evolved centaurs. For best results (and to avoid all shots missing in V.A.T.S.), target the body instead. ^[verified]
• PC Big MT night stalkers in the open air and the X-8 research center will panic if the player has Strength of 8 or higher. They'll be hostile, run to and fro, but not attack. A "normal" fearless variety is found inside Z-9 and X-13. ^[verified]

Sounds

• A conscious night stalker

• Chasing night stalker

• Biting night stalker

Gallery

Night stalkers at the Morning Star Cavern

Same night stalker, notice the different eyes

Two night stalkers defending a nest of eggs inside the Bloodborne cave

Shadis, a unique night stalker

Night stalker X-rays, in the Z-9 Crotalus DNA preservation lab

Night stalker

Night stalker side view

Night stalker crouching to attack

Nightstalker tail

Nightstalker blood

Nightstalker egg

Nightstalker squeezin's

As seen in DNAgent

As seen in Mile in Their Shoes

Texture file

3D render of night stalker

In Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Behind the Bright Lights & Big City

References