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.

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.
 * Level Two: Unknown
 * Level Three: User can hack devices while in Scout form.

Combat Strategy
First of all, 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 in Scout form, lay traps around the user's body. This will take care of any unwanted Splicers, should one appear.

One of the best plasmids to use in conjunction with Scout is Hypnotize. Simply find a crowded area while in Scout form, cast the plasmid on the strongest enemy (or even a Big Daddy, if the user has upgraded their plasmid to a sufficiently high level) and let the enemies fight among themselves. Since the user is invisible, even if they are closest to the Hypnotized enemy they won't get attacked.

Using Security Command will achieve effects similar to using Hypnotize. If the player has upgraded Scout to level Three, they can instead hack the machinery and let it fight the target.

Yet another strategy involves setting several Cyclone Traps in the room while in Scout form, returning to the user's body, entering the room and attracting attention. If correctly orchestrated, this will cause the enemies in the room to run into the Traps.

It is possible for the user to combat an enemy directly while in Scout form: by equipping offensive plasmids such as Electro Bolt, Incinerate!, Telekinesis and Insect Swarm the user can attack and even 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, Big Daddies and Big Sisters.

Remember that the user can only use their plasmids a limited amount of times before being able to return to their body, so avoid spam and plan wisely.

Scout, as its name suggest, can also be used for scouting: if the player wishes to check a passage for enemies, clear traps or (if they have upgraded the plasmid) hack a machine safely, they can use Scout to do so.

While in Scout form, the user's ghost (but not the body) is invulnerable to damage and cannot be attacked, so it is possible to perform feats not recommendable outside of Scout form, such as jumping from very high ledges or passing through enemy-filled rooms.

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