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A Controller is a type of mutant featured in all three S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.

Overview

A rare mutant seen near to the center of the Zone. It bears a superficial resemblance of a humanoid with a disproportionately large head. Despite their appearance, they are highly intelligent, possess good perception and an ability to control the behaviors of less developed creatures. Mature specimens are capable of taking control of a human's mind. This is a ferocious enemy, even the most experienced stalkers are afraid of meeting it. According to some stalkers, Controllers can make it seem that you are surrounded by your friends, but actually you are surrounded by zombies; or it might seem that you are walking on a pathway, but actually you are about to fall of a cliff. Fortunately, this is never done by a Controller to the player.

Abilities

The Controller's sole ability is to dominate the unfortunate prey's mind by forcing his will onto him in a form of a bolt. In addition, Controllers seem to generate a small psy-field that affects the player's ability to aim and causes anyone close by to slowly lose their mind. There is an audio cue before the psychic attack actually happens and avoiding visual contact with the Controller can prevent that from happening.

A player may die if struck by a sufficient number of bolts or if they stay around the Controller for too long. For some reason if the player gets too close to the Controller, it will cease to launch bolts and uselessly try to walk away from him, which is the greatest opportunity of attack. On the "Master" difficulty level, the Controller is extremely dangerous as its bolts have a chance of killing the player in one shot. In general, Controllers are extremely dangerous and should be eliminated as soon as possible due to their abilities that can cause instant death.

In Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat, one can reduce the potency of the Controller's Psy attacks by using telepathy protection artifacts like the Moonlight and Stone Flower.

In Call of Pripyat, a Controller demonstrates the ability to communicate with the player through the mind. It also gains a powerful melee attack, and can turn certain NPCs against the player.

Ss aeris 01-19-10 09-31-55 (agroprom underground)

A Controller's psy attack.

Ss aeris 07-24-09 14-58-56 (agroprom underground)

A Controller being viewed while under the prolonged effects of its psy field

Appearances

Shadow of Chernobyl

In Shadow of Chernobyl, Controllers did not damage the player's health with their abilities, but the player's mental strength, which functions similar to health. The level of the player's remaining mental strength can be viewed in the inventory screen, located between the health bar and rad counter. Unlike health, the player cannot quickly recover mental strength through drugs, they must stay away from a controller until their mental strength recovers again. And because telepathy-protection did not exist in Shadow of Chernobyl, there is no real way to defend against or dampen a controller's mental assault, save for ducking behind cover.

The controller will kill the player once their mental strength is depleted.

  • A Controller can be found in the Agroprom Underground, the first time you are there, and will remain there if not killed. One can also be found in the Bloodsucker village in Army Warehouses (in the later stages of the game), and finally players can meet one in X16. There may be a few other places that Controllers might appear, such as Yantar, Pripyat or the Red Forest.In the older unpatched versions of the game, a controller always spawns in the bloodsucker village, each time the player enters the Army Warehouses area.

Clear Sky

  • In S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, a Controller appeared in the Agroprom Underground with extreme psy-powers and because mental strength was removed from CS, the controller's attacks now damaged health like normal attacks. It is upgraded to use his hands at melee range. Although its melee attacks are not very powerful, when coupled with the disorientating effect of his mind aura it can kill even an experienced player. Two more Controllers may be found in the marshes at the Army Warehouses after accepting the mission to find a Meat Chunk artifact. There is also a rare melee attack with their legs. A Controller uses this type of melee attack only when player's head is close to Controller's legs.

Call of Pripyat

Act controller hit

Controller attack frame.

Act controller hit1

Controller attack frame.

Controllers remain much the same in Call of Pripyat as they did in Clear Sky, although they are more resilient and powerful in comparison. Its melee attack is now also more powerful in comparison to Clear Sky. And much like the mutants in CoP, the Controller received an upgrade in its AI. If the player hides behind cover to evade the controller's mind bolts, it will now slowly charge at the player to engage them in close combat rather than running away. This forces players to either gun down the controller quickly or keep falling back behind cover-to-cover to escape a controller.

  • Controllers found wandering around Jupiter only appear after you do the mission Find The Source of The intermittent Psy-Field sometimes glitching their way inside Yanov Station. They can sometimes be found kneeling or crouching over dead stalkers or creatures, apparently eating them. There are four scripted Controller occurrences, the rest are due to the random A-Life placement.
  • The first of the scripted Controller can be found in a Dangerous Cave just north of the Burned Farmstead anomaly field in Zaton. Entering the cave causes the player to hear the Controller warning him. Inside is a dead Loner named Mirone, along with a stash of drugs, including the valuable Anabiotics.
  • The second controller appears at the end of the mission Intermittent psy-emissions after finding the source in the railroad tunnel. It's psy attacks turn the stalkers who came with you against you in a matter of seconds, forcing you to kill them as well as the Controller itself. (Though if you kill the Controller fast enough, you won't have to kill the mercenaries.)
  • The third and fourth scripted Controllers are in Pripyat; one during a mission where you need to find out what happened to a lost Military squad, the other will wait for you at the exit of Lab X-8 when you have collected all of the documents. (It may spawn behind the door leading to the elevator forcing the use of grenades).
  • Controllers have higher health in this game. They can even survive a shot from a Gauss Rifle.
  • Controllers regularly spawn in the tunnel north west of the Yanov station after the Intermittion Psy-Emissions mission, up to three at a time.

Strategy

Shadow of Chernobyl

  • The Controller in the Agroprom Underground can be completely avoided if the player escapes up the ladder. The fight is difficult due to the long mostly-empty hallway the encounter occurs in (an extremely disadvantageous situation to fight a Controller in). It is possible to duck behind some of the sections of the corridor just before the controller attacks. Firing and taking cover is an alternative solution if you have the ammo to spare. An easy way to dispatch of the Controller even on higher difficulties is to hang close to the doorway where the Controller emerges, equip a shotgun and sprint right next to the Controller. This way it will be unable to use its attack and only one or two shotgun blasts are needed to get rid of it.
  • Grenades (handheld or launchers) are an easy way to deal with Controllers. Two well aimed RGD-5 grenades can execute him quickly.
  • In Lab X-16, the Controller by Ghost's body is quite far away and will spot the player immediately, so luring it into range and then tossing several grenades at its feet is a good way to go. Mixing in some accurate assault rifle fire might earn the player a few harmful psy bolts, but it may be necessary unless the player has a large stock of grenades at hand or is very accurate with them.
  • As a last note, it's also very easy to dispatch a Controller with the combat knife. Though sprinting up to it could land you a psi bolt if you aren't close enough.
  • The high-frequency tone that can be heard when a Controller is about to launch a psy bolt is not limited to it's target and can be heard by the player with the same volume and intensity irregardless of distance from the Controller. It can serve as a useful and harmless (albeit EXTREMELY annoying) indicator of a Controllers presence on the map.
  • The Controller will only fire Psy bolts if it has a mutual visual contact with it's target. As such, fights with controllers can often be avoided with minimal damage by simply not looking at the Controller. This also further emphasizes the use of grenades and/or high powered long-range weaponry to deal considerable amounts of damage within a very short timeframe.

Call of Pripyat

  • Controllers are frustrating to fight at mid-range without very good cover, but there still are a variety of options available to stalkers looking to eliminate this beast. In general, if there is time, downing some Psy-block before the battle will help greatly. After the battle, the player should always glance at his or her health bar and apply healing if necessary, lest a wounded player suddenly expire from unnoticed and untreated bleeding.
  • The players ears will ring in a telltale manner just before the Controller attacks with a psi-bolt. The Controller, however, cannot attack if it cannot see you, and will abandon psychic attack and attempt to move to a position where it can see you. Leaning in and out of cover is enough to keep it bemused.
    • One way to deal with the mutant would be to keep a high powered sniper rifle handy, such as the SVDm-2. As soon as your vision starts to tint – the telltale sign of a Controller's presence – try to target the beast and fire as quickly as possible before the first psy bolt hits. An RPG-7u is another way to deal with it, albeit overkill.
    • Another way to deal with the Controller is to take advantage of its lumbering pace. Grenades work well if the player can find suitable cover from its ranged attack. The Controller in the Dangerous Cave in Zaton can be dealt with this way by luring it out slightly and then tossing as much explosive in its direction as possible using the cracked hillside as cover.
    • If such heavy or explosive weaponry is unavailable, the next best choice for a character with decent armor and and psy protection would be close quarters combat. The player will take at least one psy bolt, so it would be wise to pack Medkits, as well as the ability to regain bearings quickly. Simply sprint at the Controller and unload as much automatic fire as possible into its head before it can attack again. With steady aim and a high-end assault rifle, it may drop in one magazine if all bullets find their mark, possibly less. Having to reload will give the enemy a few more precious seconds to lash out again, so beware. The Controller may slash with its claws, but the easiest way to lower potential damage would be to kill it before it can try another psy attack or melee attack. If the player has tough armor but low psy-resistance, the melee attack may be quite easy to take compared to the devastating ranged one. However, on higher difficulties this strategy can be deadly to player since its melee attack does very high damage (more than the psionic attack), so it is best to keep out of point-blank range.
    • If you get close enough so it will not psy attacks and far enough so it will snot melee attack and have it just walk towards you, a shotgun or assault rifle will take it down with ease.

Resources

VIDEO: STALKER: Controller by blucipo91: A controller attacking in Shadow of Chernobyl

Gallery

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