Cloaking is a talent which renders someone temporarily immune to direct attack. It is not invisibility, though some will call it that. The cloaked character is still vulnerable to many effects but cannot be directly targeted by a weapon. Both members of the Squad and Enemies can have cloaking ability.
Merc Cloaking[edit | edit source]
A mercenary can use a Talent to cloak themselves. At this time, the only cloaking talents are in the Vanguard Talent Tree. The first Talent is Blend. Blend makes the user undetectable to sight and sound while stationary. It is canceled by any movement or attack. Many Talents can be used without canceling Blend, including many which cause debuffs but are not attacks. Throwing anything cancels the Blend. The Talent has no duration - it will remain in effect until the mercenary does something to cancel the cloak.
The second Talent is Projection. This Talent will render the merc undetectable to sight and sound while moving a certain distance. Note that it will not protect against Laser Wires, Pressure Plates, Motion Detectors, or Shock Fields. The cloaking effect is canceled at the end of the movement.
This effect is not true invisibility. If the merc is already Spotted, every Enemy who is Alerted will know just where the cloaked merc is. However, since they cannot target the merc, they will not attack or even turn to follow them. If there are any other Spotted mercs, the Alerted Enemies will go after the ones who are not cloaked. If there are no other Spotted mercs, the Enemies will begin investigating the area. A merc is also immune to Overwatch while cloaked. A Hidden or Hunted merc cannot be Spotted by any Enemy while cloaked. An Unaware or Suspicious Enemy will not become Alerted if a cloaked merc passes through their vision cone. But if the merc is in a vision cone when cloaking is cancelled, they may become Spotted.
Note one important difference between merc cloaking and Enemy cloaking. If the cloaked merc is hit with a debuff or Area of Effect damage, the cloak is not canceled.
Enemy Cloaking[edit | edit source]
Some enemies can cloak; fortunately, it is a very rare talent. At this time, only high-level officers in Matsumoto Global Technologies can cloak; their Talent is called Red Shift. An officer that is cloaked cannot be directly targeted for attack. This includes targeting with any Weapon and any Talent which requires the use of a Weapon. However, the mercs can tell where the Enemy is; Red Shift is not true invisibility. A cloaked officer is subject to any Area of Effect damage and debuffs. They can also be targeted with several debuffing Talents and items. If the Enemy attacks, the cloak is cancelled.
There are many possible counters to Enemy cloaking. Any effect which would cancel Enemy Overwatch will also cancel Enemy cloaking. Practically any debuff is sufficient to cancel cloak. Dazzlers, Stun Mines, and Concussion Grenades will stun the Enemy and cancel cloak. Grenades and other Area of Effect damage will work. Damage Over Time effects such as poison will cancel cloak at the end of the Turn. Talents such as Marker Sights, Interference Spike, and Atomic Stutter can target a cloaked enemy with a debuff and render them visible. And many Area of Effect Talents can debuff the officer and remove the cloak.
Another tactic is to make a merc immune to damage, such as with Aegis, and tempt the Enemy to attack that merc. Attacking will make the Enemy visible.