Pouncer

Pouncer
Alias	Sadomasochist Paranoiac
Career	Mount Massive patients (formerly) Specialist Ex-Pop
Affiliation	Ex-Pop
Status	Alive
Attributes
Gender	Female
Appearances
The Outlast Trials Mansion Police Station Orphanage Fun Park Courthouse Toy Factory The Docks Downtown
Game Information
Voiced by	TBA
Gallery • Dialogues

 

"Everybody hates me!"

―The Pouncer

 

The Pouncer is one of the antagonists in The Outlast Trials. She is a traumatized Specialist Ex-Pop who lurks in various hiding spots across the Trials. If an unsuspecting Reagent gets too close to her hiding spot, she will ambush them and try to rip them apart with her bare hands. An ambushed Reagent must throw her off, or else she will kill them.

Background

The Pouncers are former Mount Massive patients, shipped to the Sinyala Facility after being selected for their paranoid tendencies.

Characteristics

The Pouncer picks various hiding spots (e.g. closets, barrels, crates, car trunks) throughout the Trials to sulk in. If a Reagent happens to pass by her current hiding spot, she will jump out and tackle the Reagent by surprise. From there, the Pouncer frantically will bludgeon the ambushed Reagent with her bare fists. The Reagent must quickly "button mash" to push the Pouncer off or else she will beat them until their health fully depletes.

There are a variety of ways to counter the Pouncers:

• To avoid getting ambushed altogether, the Pouncer can also be spotted in her hiding spots by using the X-Ray Rig, seeing her briefly peek out of her hiding spot, or by listening to her voice when she is nearby.
• Using the Slide prescription allows the Reagent to slide past the Pouncer's hiding spot without triggering her. However, the slide must not start or end in her ambush range.
• If a tackled Reagent has a brick or a bottle in their inventory and has a Self Defense Technique prescription, they have the option to smash it against the Pouncer's head, which removes that item (even when brick has two charges) at the cost of pushing her off without taking any damage.
• The Reagent's teammate can kick the Pouncer off of them instantly if they are nearby, thereby a Reagent can intentionally trigger a Pouncer and have a group member kick it off, forcing the Pouncer away from the area and allowing them to traverse it without concern of ambush. When the tackled teammate is very far, the other Reagent can throw bottle or brick directly at the Pouncer to push her off instantly.
• Using the Anti-Ambush prescription, a Reagent can throw a heart, brick, or bottle at the Pouncer's hiding spot to make her exit and flee. This prescription is especially useful for bricks as throwing it near her hiding spot will not waste the brick's charges.
• Using a Stun rig can also force her to exit from the hiding spot, with the Restore upgrade that reduces the rig's cooldown drastically as it technically did not stun her.
• Using a smoke radius from the Blind rig placed near her hiding spot and have it triggered from other Ex-Pop. The Reagent could also effectively place the mine in front of her hiding spot so she can get hit before she could start pummeling.
• Activating Heal rig with the Poison upgrade. This strategy does not apply after its activation.
• Using a Jammer rig with the Corrupt Enemies upgrade on the Pouncer forces her to leave the hiding spot.

After tackling the Reagent or exit from the hiding spot, she will hobble away to another hiding spot and reset her behavior. While fleeing, she can attack any Reagents blocking her path until they moved out of her way. When she encounters an incapacitated Reagent while fleeing or within her ambush range, she can perform an execution on them.

Personality

The Pouncer is an aggressive opportunist who will only attack Reagents who get too close to her hiding space. From her dialogue it appears she only attacks out of fear, often yelling at Reagents in an aggressive but defensive manner. She has no interest in actively seeking out Reagents to kill; if a Reagent is successful in getting a Pouncer off them she will sprint away to another hiding spot. If a Reagent tries to hit her with a throwable object she will exclaim that they are being cruel and wants them to stop bothering her. From this it can be gathered that she is not sadistic or out for blood; she simply wants to be left alone and is only willing to hurt others if it means keeping them away from her.

As noted in her document, the Pouncer suffers from extreme paranoid tendencies and is often heard talking about her fears openly, with her case file dubbing her as a Sadomasochist Paranoiac.

Physical description

The Pouncer is an adult woman with sagging pasty white skin stained with dried blood. A surgical scar runs vertically up her torso from her navel to her chest. The Pouncer has pushed nails, wire, and scavenged bits of metal into her skin, primarily around her head, spine, and groin in an attempt to create a personal Faraday Cage. Her eyes appear to be crudely stitched shut, though it is unclear if she also did this to herself.

Player death animation

While near an incapacitated Reagent, the Pouncer can pin them down and strangle them to death.

Patch notes

May 18, 2023 (Early Access Release) Getting caught by Pouncers can no longer alert other nearby Ex-Pop. (Undocumented) June 13, 2023 (Early Access Update # 2 / Program Omega) Increased the sound made by Pouncers in hiding spots. October 26, 2023 (Early Access Update # 3 / Program Geister) Increased attack range hitbox when colliding with the Reagents. (Undocumented) Pouncers can now leave hiding spots when disoriented by Rigs. (Undocumented) Using Self Defense Technique prescription to counter Pouncers can no longer alert other nearby Ex-Pop. (Undocumented) April 16, 2024 (Toxic Shock) Reagents can no longer avoid Pouncers by jumping past their hiding spots. (Undocumented) December 10, 2024 (Project Breach) Throwing Heart with Anti-Ambush prescription acquired can now force Pouncers to leave the hiding spot. (Undocumented)

Trivia

• The Pouncer is the first enemy in the Outlast franchise that can hide in the same spots as players.
• She is also the first enemy that can attack players via these hiding spots.
• It is possible that the Pouncer used to be a mother based on her dialogues.
• The Pouncer can sometimes mention Clyde Perry.
• In certain Trials, if a player tries to rush past the empty hiding spot after completing a task, there is a chance that the Pouncer will instantly spawn and attack them.
• When the Reagent tries to intentionally enter a hiding spot before the fleeing Pouncer could enter, she would either pick another hiding spot or exit the trial through Monster Closet.
• If a player tries to enter one of empty double lockers with a Pouncer inside, the Pouncer can still attack them.
• According to unused dialogues from the game files, the Pouncer was supposed to have 3 voice variations: two females and one male. In the final version, only one female voice is used.
  • Some unused dialogues from the Pouncer suggests that she has schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, based on how she talks about the negative voices in her head and states that they stop when she is stunned by the stun rig.
  • In the Gamescon 2021 gameplay trailer, the male voice for the Pouncer was actually used and equipped with metal equipment that resembles the Berserker.
• Her dialogue "I fell on my keys" could be a reference to the quote from the Producers film.
  • This dialogue was also used by one of the patrolling male Grunts.

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