Nightstalker

Nightstalkers or night stalkers are creatures living in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281.

Biology
Nightstalkers are the result of splicing together coyote and rattlesnake DNA, by Dr. Borous. They howl (and growl) like regular coyotes, but with a rattlesnake's distinct rattle. They appear to have a canine body, but with scales covering certain areas, and a rattlesnake-like head and tail. They also have fangs and forked tongues. A nightstalker's right eye is blue with a round pupil, while the left eye is yellow and has an elliptical pupil, like a rattlesnake's. They lay eggs like reptiles, and the Night stalker blood is prized as a key ingredient in antivenom and hydra, while nightstalker eggs are used in the making of mushroom clouds.

Nightstalkers nest in caves across the Mojave Wasteland and can be found both inside the cave or in the nearby area, very similar to coyote habitats. Packs of nightstalkers 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 north-west of the cap counterfeiting shack. Nightstalkers' original breeding ground in Big MT is Z-9 Crotalus DNA Preservation Lab.

Gameplay attributes
Unlike all other creatures in the Wasteland, nightstalkers will often charge towards the player in packs once "within their range", even if the player is hidden and out of line-of-sight. Despite this charge, they cannot attack unless they have detected the player.

Once they do detect their target, they have a leaping attack and a venomous bite. They can pose a particular threat in low visibility, at night or in caverns. Carrying Cateye, Ghost Sight or Nuka-Cola Quartz is a good idea when fighting them in low visibility conditions. They are especially dangerous inside their dens, as packs are usually large in numbers and the ability to detect threats on your compass is hindered while inside, so nightstalkers can more easily sneak up on you.

Nightstalkers found in Charleston cave have the ability to cloak, making them especially dangerous. They gained this ability from chewing on a Stealth Boy from a dead nightkin corpse at the end of the cave. When cloaked, these nightstalkers can only be targeted in V.A.T.S. with the Enhanced Sensors companion perk provided by ED-E. Fighting without ED-E can be done by free-aiming at the light distortion around the cloaked nightstalker, similar to the appearance of a cloaked nightkin.

Nightstalker packs can be found in:
 * Bloodborne cave
 * Charleston cave
 * Morning Star cavern
 * Walking Box Cavern
 * Great Khan supply cave
 * Z-9 Crotalus DNA Preservation Lab

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

Legendary night stalker
The legendary night stalker is a very strong and very large nightstalker found in Bloodborne cave, west of Bitter Springs. In appearance it is visually identical to standard nightstalkers and differs only in size, being about the size of a bighorner. It is normally encountered in a pack with several regular nightstalkers and can kill low level characters in seconds.

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

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. Although relatively weak, they are a nuisance when fought in groups with other young night stalkers and their fully grown brethren.

Den mother
In some nightstalker nests, such as Morning Star cavern, the pack will be led by a den mother, a slightly larger female nightstalker with a stronger attack who looks after the young.

Related quests

 * Bleed Me Dry
 * Guess Who I Saw Today
 * Fight Night - Up to three nightstalkers can be challenged in the arena at The Thorn.

Appearances
Nightstalker appear only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Bugs

 * Walking through the Mojave Wasteland, it is possible that the player may see a nightstalker 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 nightstalker models within each other and bound in place. Because they cannot walk they can easily be killed.
 * The legendary nightstalker may become stuck in the floor of the cave near the egg pile, this makes it very easy to kill as it can not attack.
 * Sometimes while encountering a nightstalker, they will randomly die.
 * with the Animal Friend perk you can pickpocket nightstalkers

Gallery
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