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The stinger, also known as the scorpion or flitter, is an enemy in Jak II and Jak 3. It is one of the most common metal heads, encountered in most places where other species are found. They closely resemble scorpions, with a metallic exoskeleton, eight legs, and an oversized tail ending with a stinger, rendering its name.

History[]

A stinger was first seen directly over the door way in the Hip Hog Heaven Saloon as a trophy mount. Live stingers were first encountered at the strip mine in the mission "Rescue Vin at strip mine", in which they were fought in large number appearing out of the dirt of the mine. They were later encountered at the dig site in the mission "Get seal piece at dig", appearing in a similar en masse manner as in the strip mine. They were also seen at Dead Town in the mission "Get Life Seed in Dead Town" along with grunts and rapid gunners. They, again along with grunts and cloakers, were used as one of the main forces during the Metal Head invasion upon Haven City during the latter parts of Jak II. They were also spawned from eggs produced by Metal Kor at the Metal Head nest in the mission "Defeat Metal Kor at nest".

In Jak 3, they returned in the mission "Find satellite in volcano" near the Great Volcano, and were again used during the War for Haven City as one of the main invasion units.

Characteristics[]

Stinger concept art

Concept art.

The stinger has a small body reminiscent of a pincer-less scorpion. It has four beady eyes, a small skull gem in the center of its head, and eight legs. It has a large cranium but an otherwise small skull. It has a large tail arcing over its back, using many smaller metal "tendon"-like devices, ending in a stinger which it uses to harm its enemies.

Stingers usually burrow underground and re-emerge when an enemy approaches. They sometimes attack in groups but can just as well attack alone. They zig-zag along the ground to avoid sustaining damage. Their behavior seemed to changed around the events of Jak 3, wherein they did not burrow in or out of the ground (with the exception of the Great Volcano ones) and seem to spawn from where normal metal heads spawn. When Jak is near, instead of zig-zagging before attacking like they did in Jak II, they establish a clear line of attack and act on it, only changing direction per Jak's movement.

Appearance-wise, they are neither blue or red as most other metal heads are, but instead are a solid metallic gold-silver color, similar to its close relative the ginsu.

Combat[]

The stinger, with its one attack, will lunge itself forward and a few centimeters off the ground, extending its tail (presumably using the metallic tendons in the middle segment of its tail), where it will strike its enemy with its stinger. They are completely unable to reach elevated areas, making this the best option of avoiding them. On foot they are quite fast and can attack you even if jumping.

They are best taken down using either the Blaster from afar, with its reliable auto-targeting laser sight, or by using the Scatter Gun, with its large radius of fire, making it easy to hit the stingers up close. In Jak 3, the Wave Concussor and Beam Reflexor are recommended weapons-of-choice, since Jak will not need to aim to hit the target. Lastly, try to avoid using melee since they tend to be too mobile to be hit accurately and have a rather small window for effective melee.

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