You’re crouched in a basement. It’s damp. The only sound is the wet thwack of your own boots on a flooded floor, until suddenly, it isn't. You don't hear a click. You don't hear a roar. You just see a pale, fungal head peek around a corner and immediately vanish. That's the Last of Us stalker for you. It’s the stage of the Cordyceps Brain Infection that genuinely messes with your head because it plays by a completely different set of rules than the rest of the infected gallery.
Most players hate them. They aren't "fun" in the traditional power-fantasy sense. While Clickers are iconic and Bloaters are the heavy hitters, the stalker represents a specific kind of psychological horror that Naughty Dog perfected across two games and an HBO adaptation. They’re smart. Well, "fungal-intelligence" smart. They don't just run at you screaming; they wait.
The Science of the Second Stage
Between the fresh aggression of a Runner and the armored blindness of a Clicker lies a transition period that usually hits between two weeks and a year after infection. This is the stalker phase. It's a weird middle ground. The host still has some vision—unlike the Clicker—but the fungal growths are starting to erupt from the skull, often bursting through the eye sockets or the side of the head.
They still have the speed of a Runner. They have the burgeoning echolocation of a Clicker.
But what makes the Last of Us stalker a nightmare is their behavior. In the first game, they were somewhat rare, mostly appearing in the infamous Pittsburgh hotel basement. By the time The Last of Us Part II rolled around, Naughty Dog leaned heavily into their "ambush predator" niche. They don't just wander aimlessly. They take cover. They flank. If you aim your gun at one, it will duck behind a crate. It’s unnerving because it feels like there is still a human brain in there calculating your demise, even though we know the Cordyceps has long since taken the wheel.
Why You Can't Find Them on Listen Mode
Here is the biggest mechanical "screw you" the developers threw at us: stalkers are often invisible to Listen Mode. In The Last of Us Part II, if a stalker is standing perfectly still against a wall—which they love to do—Ellie or Abby won't see their silhouette. They blend into the fungal "flesh" growing on the walls.
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You’ll be scanning a room, thinking you’re safe, and then a piece of the wall literally detaches itself and sprints at your throat. It breaks the player's reliance on the game's primary safety mechanic.
It’s a brilliant bit of game design. It forces you to use your actual eyes and ears instead of a glowing x-ray vision. You have to look for the slight twitch of a shoulder or listen for the distinct, wet "huffing" sound they make. It’s not the sharp "click-click-click" of the third stage; it’s a croaking, desperate breath that sounds like someone trying to speak through a throat full of wet sawdust.
The Office Building and the Horror of Silence
If you’ve played through Abby’s Day 2 in Seattle, you know the "stalker office." It’s arguably the most stressful encounter in the entire franchise. The floor is covered in thick fungal growth that muffles your footsteps, but it also muffles theirs.
One of the most terrifying details about the Last of Us stalker in this sequence is how they use the environment. They don't just hide; they reposition constantly. You might see one dart across a doorway to your left, but while you're aiming there, another is crawling over the cubicle walls behind you.
They also have this horrible habit of "peeking." You’ll see a head pop up over an obstacle, stare at you for a split second, and duck back down. It’s a level of predatory behavior that feels personal. Unlike the Bloater, which is just a tank you need to outmaneuver, or the Runner, which is a frantic brawler, the stalker feels like it's hunting you specifically.
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Combat Tactics: How Not to Die
Honestly, the best way to deal with them is to be more aggressive than they are. If you try to play the "wait and see" game, you're going to lose. They have more patience than you do.
- The Shotgun is your best friend. Since they like to close the distance fast and jump out from corners, a spread weapon is essential for catching them mid-lunge.
- Bricks and Bottles. Classic TLOU. If you see one peeking, toss a bottle. It stuns them long enough for a melee kill, saving your precious ammo.
- Check the "Wall Dwellers." In the second game, some stalkers are literally fused into the walls. They look like corpses. Always whack a suspicious-looking body on the wall with a pipe or shoot it in the leg. If it doesn't move, it's dead. If it screams, well, at least you got the first hit in.
- Trap Mines. If you're being hunted in a large room, plant a mine behind you. Stalkers love to loop around and hit you from the rear.
The Last of Us stalker is also remarkably weak to fire. Like all infected, the fungus is flammable. A Molotov cocktail can clear a small group if you manage to corner them, but since they spread out, fire is often better used as a "get off me" tool rather than a primary clearing method.
The Evolution of the Stalker in the HBO Series
We saw a glimpse of this behavior in the first season of the HBO show, though the series tended to focus more on the "hive mind" aspect of the cordyceps. The way the infected moved in the show—the twitchy, spasmodic shifts—perfectly captured the stalker's essence. Fans are expecting a much deeper dive into this stage in Season 2, especially during the Seattle arcs where the stalkers really shine.
The show has the advantage of showing us the "why" behind the behavior. In the game, it’s a mechanic. In the show, we can see the tragedy of a person who is still mobile and fast but losing their humanity to the bloom on their face. It’s the stage where the host is most "alive" yet most monstrously changed.
A Masterclass in Tension
What Naughty Dog realized is that jump scares are cheap. Anyone can have a monster jump out of a closet. But having a monster not jump out? That’s where the real horror lives.
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The Last of Us stalker creates a permanent state of "yellow alert" for the player. You aren't in combat yet, but you know you aren't alone. You see the movement in the periphery. You hear the floorboard creak in the room you just left. It turns the game from an action-survival title into a pure stealth-horror experience.
They represent the perfect bridge in the infection lifecycle. They have the intelligence to hide and the physical capability to ruin your day if they catch you off guard. They are the reason you'll find yourself standing in a corner of a virtual room for five minutes, staring at a doorway, heart hammering, waiting for a pale face to peek around the edge.
Essential Steps for Surviving Your Next Encounter
To actually get through a stalker-heavy area without burning through all your medkits, you need to change your mindset.
- Stop moving. Sometimes the best way to find a stalker is to stand still and wait for them to make the first move. They are programmed to react to your movement. If you stay put, they often get "impatient" and reveal their position.
- Use the environment. Put your back to a solid wall. Stalkers thrive on flanking. If you eliminate 180 degrees of their approach, you've doubled your chances of spotting them.
- Listen for the "Wet" Sounds. Turn your volume up or wear headphones. The sound of a stalker moving is distinct from a Runner. It's heavier, squelchier, and more deliberate.
- Melee is Risky. Only use melee if you have a high-durability weapon like a machete or a hatchet. Stalkers are fast and can often stun-lock you if you miss your first swing.
The Last of Us stalker remains one of the most effective enemy designs in modern gaming because it targets the player's own paranoia. It doesn't need to be the biggest or the strongest; it just needs to be the one you didn't see coming. Next time you're in a dark hallway in Seattle or Pittsburgh, look at the walls very, very closely. One of those fungal growths might just be looking back.