In light of the recent changes to modding capacity in Hotfix 18.13.2, Tenno have been reporting decreased activity from the infamous Shadow Stalker. Rumored for years to have an increased spawn chance when players have low level or otherwise limited loadouts, the increase to base modding capacity relative to Mastery Rank has seemingly resulted in the Stalker taking greater care of picking his targets. Though far less active, the rogue warframe hell-bent on assassinating the Tenno one by one has reportedly been having trouble striking down his foes. A local system Tenno shares their experiences with a recent encounter against Hunhow’s shadowy agent.

Chief_Jac, MR22, is a local system Tenno that frequents settlements across Mercury and volunteers at the local Guides of the Lotus Foundation on the Larunda Relay. Chief_Jac spends his free time educating and empowering new Tenno as they become acquainted with the universe they have awakened to. As a seasoned veteran, it comes as no surprise that under normal conditions Chief_Jac would overcome the Stalker’s attempts to assassinate anyone in his squad. With a full arsenal of weaponry and advanced library of upgrade modules to support them, this system Tenno is a formidable foe for the Shadow Stalker. However, even a seasoned veteran knows better than to underestimate the seemingly immortal Stalker’s tactics.

“He usually doesn’t show up when I’m helping out newbies.” said Chief_Jac, recounting all of his previous experiences with the Stalker. “He would mostly show up when I was trying out new weapons or installing Forma on my equipment. Usually I keep one of the stronger weapons from my arsenal handy as insurance, but every now and again he would show up when I was at my weakest. It was as if he was watching, waiting, or even shadowing me.” As many other players have reported, the Stalker’s meager 2% spawn chance skyrocketed upwards of 60% whenever low rank, unmodified equipment was used. His attacks would bring about dread for his targets. Some of his assassinations would even leave his targets with hate and despair as he vanished off into the abyss from whence he came. The datamined formula reflected these assertions regarding his spawn chance:

1.5% + (0.5% * P) * (30 - M)^(1/G) * (30 - R)

Where P=Number of Cell members, M=Average Mastery Rank level, G=Number of equipped weapons on target, and R=Average equipment rank of target.

In light of the recent changes, the Stalker seems to have taken a much more cautious approach to his targets. Carefully inspecting his victims via the /profile command, the Stalker gathers as much information as possible before setting out to kill. “I felt kind of bad for him the last time he showed up.” laughed Chief_Jac. “I know his process and it’s just kind of sad to see he didn’t bother reading the patch notes. His whole world has changed and he doesn’t know or understand why.”

At press time, sources report the Stalker was furiously going over his spawning algorithm to improve his chances of taking down a high priority target while frantically trying to figure out how unranked weapons were somehow getting mod capacity.