Scout



"Worried about your future? Scout the situation before going ahead. Get the jump on your enemies with a plasmid surprise!"

- Ryan Industries

Scout is a Plasmid in BioShock 2. It allows the player to turn into a type of "ghost" at will. Ghost form grants invisibility while moving, hacking, and using plasmids, but weapons are unusable. The player's physical body will remain in the same place of the initial casting, and is vulnerable to attack. The player's ghost must return to the physical body in order to proceed with normal action. It is essentially a form of astral projection.

Only a limited amount of plasmids can be cast before the user has to return to their body. If the user's body is attacked, the user will automatically break from Scout form and return to it. The horizontal range of Scout is what might be, at most, a few hundred feet in the real world, at which point vision becomes blurred. Continuing further will cause a return to the body.

Upgrade Path

 * Level One: Allows the user to deploy a ghost-like projection of themselves, remaining invisible while being able to use plasmids. Body remains vulnerable during use. - 40 ADAM at a Gatherer's Garden, first available in Siren Alley.
 * Level Two: User can hack devices while in Scout form. - 60 ADAM at a Gatherer's Garden, first available in Fontaine Futuristics.

Combat Strategy

 * Never use Scout in the middle of a fight or if the user's body is easily visible, since being attacked will interrupt the plasmid. The best way to deploy Scout form is to find a secluded and/or hard to reach area for the user's body to stay. Before going into Scout form, lay traps around the user's body. This will take care of any unwanted Splicers, should one appear.


 * When Scouting (with Scout 2) a room that has both enemies and a Health Station, it is suggested that the player hacks the station. Then, the player should focus their plasmid attacks on a single enemy for maximum effect. If done correctly, they will run to the hacked station and die from the poisoning.


 * Use Hypnotize while in a crowded room in Scout form to get all the enemies to fight among themselves. If there are only two or three enemies, use Hypnotize to befriend one of them, return to the body, and come back to finish them off.


 * Using Scout at level 2, hack the Turrets and Security Cameras (starting with the latter) in the area, and let them attack the Splicers inside.


 * Set several Cyclone Traps in the room while in Scout form, return to the user's body, enter the room and attract attention. If correctly orchestrated, this will cause the enemies in the room to run into the Traps.


 * Repeated use of Electro Bolt, Incinerate!, Telekinesis or Insect Swarm can potentially kill an enemy without ever running the risk of retribution. This strategy works especially well in crowded rooms or against powerful enemies such as Brute Splicers and Big Daddies.


 * It is best to note how much EVE each plasmid consumes before planning a plasmid attack, so as to avoid running short at the wrong moment. Buying EVE Upgrades at the Gatherer's Garden and researching Big Sisters will extend the amount of plasmids one can fire before being forced back into Delta's body.


 * Be aware that it is common for the appearance of enemies to be triggered only by the appearance of Delta's body, so just because a room is empty when entered in Scout form does not mean it will be that way when Delta enters it in body.

Recommended Tonics

 * Natural Camouflage is an extremely useful tonic when using Scout, as it completely hides the body, thus preventing any splicers from discovering the player's body. It's still recommended to stay away from exposed areas, as the player will still be vulnerable to stray fire and Splicers bumping into Delta.
 * The EVE Saver line of tonics will slightly reduce the EVE cost when casting this plasmid, allowing the user to fire more plasmids in the long run.
 * Fire Storm, Electrical Storm, Ice Storm and Elemental Storm will all give any splicers that discover the player's body a nasty surprise.
 * Fountain of Youth will allow the player to gain health and EVE by standing in water, even while in Scout mode, thus allowing the player to cast plasmids even if without any EVE. The regenerating effect only occurs if Delta's astral form is standing in water; no EVE is gained if Delta's body is standing in water while his astral form is on dry land.

Video
300px|Scout Plasmid Presentation

Bugs/Glitches

 * This plasmid may cause glitches if it is used to kill enemies that are important for certain scripted scenes before they occur. For example, killing the Spider Splicer in the Little Sister's Orphanage will cause an unkillable dummy of it to appear, which will then disappear once the actual scene occurs.

Trivia

 * When in Scout form, looking at where the player's body will show a Decoy of the player instead of the player's real body. As such, it will always be holding a drill regardless of what the player's actual equipped weapon is.
 * The developers originally intended for a Scout 3 plasmid to appear in BioShock 2, but it was cut. It still exists in the ingame manual file, bearing the following description: "Scout3 has been cut! No one should ever see this."