| “ | Reports indicate the Illuminate have deployed larger, more powerful enemies within their fleet, among them are the Stingray: jetfighters that provide Illuminate support from the sky, targeting Helldivers and lining up devastating strafing runs. | „ |
| ~ PlayStation Blog page |
The Stingray jetfighter, alternatively known as the Interloper, is the primary aerospace craft used by the 
Illuminate for ground attack missions. It is considered to be the Illuminate counterpart to the 
Automaton Gunship, as well as a counter to the Eagle Fighter used by the 
Super Earth Armed Forces.
Behavior
Interlopers will typically patrol the skies of a mission zone, scanning the surface for targets. Once a 
Helldiver is spotted, it will perform an evasive maneuver, then prepare for a strafing run. During this short preparation, one can see a mass of blue-white lasers emanating from the aircraft. After this, the Interloper will commence its strafing run, saturating the floor in front of it with heavy plasma fire in a long, straight line. This will kill almost everything in its path, including other Illuminate, Voteless, and its target: Helldivers. If the right precautions are taken, a Helldiver can survive this with a small sliver of health. However, it is not advised to tempt fate in such a reckless way. Interloper attacks are especially dangerous in colony maps, due to their long, thin roads and urban architecture.
After completing the strafing run, the Interloper will take off at high speeds before looping back around to repeat the attack pattern from a different angle.
Whilst lacking the shields seen on Warp Ships, the Interloper is still armored enough to resist small arms fire. Heavier weapons such as rocket launchers and heavy machine guns will be able to neutralize the threat. Even after the Interloper is destroyed, it is still a threat to Helldivers: the wreckage of the craft will glide to the ground in the direction it was going, killing anyone near the crash zone.
If they are not properly prioritized, Interlopers can cause untold devastation, wiping closely packed teams in an instant.
Tips
- Interlopers do not have much health, and only have medium armor. They rely heavily on surprise and speed for survivability.
- The aircraft is armed with a pair of rapid-firing plasma repeaters that saturate a strip in a lethal barrage of white-hot plasma. It is deadly-effective against infantry and can easily destroy vehicles.
- Interlopers leave large streaks across the sky whenever they approach for attack, as well as playing a sound cue.
- The area which the Interloper will strafe is shown in a teal, flowing pattern on the ground. Remember to not stand in it.
- Interlopers will perform the strafing run slower as it gets damaged, indicated by the smoke.
- Interlopers cannot be destroyed while they are zooming about. Their only moment of vulnerability is the brief moment they line up an attack vector where they will slow down enough to be hit by small-arms fire.
- While the FAF-14 Spear is effective at taking one down, this requires one predict where the Interloper will attack from, as they still need a brief second for the launcher to get a lock-on. The Spear's missile cannot hit a Interloper once it starts speeding up, but it will follow it until it slows down for another barrage.
- The StA-X3 W.A.S.P. Launcher can destroy Interlopers in a similar fashion, but are better at it due to the launcher's faster lock-on speed. In optimal conditions, it can be taken down within a single barrage.
- The E/MG-101 HMG Emplacement deployed in the right position, can easily clip the wings of a Interloper, if one can gun it down at the start of an attack run.
- If relying on unguided anti-tank single-shot launchers one has to compensate well for projectile travel time for the shot to properly connect. All anti-tank launchers will ground an Interloper with one direct hit.
- All fast firing, medium armour penetrating support weapons are mostly effective at destroying the Interloper. This includes the MG-43 Machine Gun, the MG-206 Heavy Machine Gun, and the more time-consuming-but-easier-to-aim LAS-98 Laser Cannon. The AC-8 Autocannon loaded with APHET rounds is also a good candidate, but requires a modicum of precision due to it's lower ammunition count.
- Even without support weapons, weapons capable of medium armor penetration can shoot down a Interloper with enough patience and aim. It is however, recommended to have a weapon with a fast projectile speed and decent mid-range capability.
- Interloper attack runs will deal damage to everything, even other Illuminate units. If one is feeling rather devious, Interlopers can be turned into an unwitting asset by baiting them to do attack runs on fellow illuminate patrols.
- Although unconventional, the Eagle Strafing Run can easily dispatch of a Interloper if it is currently firing in your direction, due to it slowing down before firing. It is not recommended to do this if it is perpendicular to your position.
- If caught in the firing zone, you can pre-stim to prevent instantaneous death while wearing light/medium armour. It is easier to do this with the "Med-kit" armour passive, as the time window is 2 seconds longer [From 1 second to 3 seconds].
- Heavy armour does not get killed in 1 strafing run, and armour with the "Fortified" passive can significantly reduce the explosive damage taken by 50%.
- Interloper wrecks will deal heavy damage if they should ever collide into an unfortunate helldiver or enemy during their forced descent. It will also explode shortly upon being grounded, which deals damage around it. For these reasons, stay clear of crash-landing aircraft.
Trivia
- While officially called "Stingray" in the Playstation reveal trailer and the official Deep Dive trailer, in-game they are named as the "Interloper" when pinged.
- This has since been changed in the subsequent updates.
- Being killed while in the middle of an Interloper's attack path will outright vaporize helldivers, rather than leave gibs or a corpse. However, they will still drop their weapons and equipment like normal.
