Ceph Ticks are the smallest Ceph and pose no threat to the player.
Description[]
Ceph Ticks are small aliens roughly the size of a house cat. They resemble a combination of scarabs and mosquitoes. Ticks have the standard grey with red visor color scheme as Ceph Stalkers. They use a small proboscis to gather samples of biomass from dead civilians and store it in a large sack located at their tail and transfer those to a "meeting" point for other Ceph to collect human biomass to create more Ceph.
A fearful yet effective tactic employed by the Ceph, to create cheap Ceph units from native species that required a low yet reasonable amount of biomass to create mass-produce units that can easily outclass an entire squad of highly-trained soldiers, from weapon to skill and possesses superhuman abilities.
When killed they drop 20 Nano Catalysts. They are also known to attack live targets, provided the target is either outnumbered or weak enough to kill. This can be seen when a C.E.L.L Operative stumbles into a nest in the underground station, and three ticks jump on top of the operative, and quickly dispatch him by injecting him with their virus.
Combat Strategy[]
Ticks are completely harmless to the player, and will flee if the player attacks them. A single bullet is usually enough to destroy them, although their speed and small size make them difficult targets to hit. They can be killed with an uncharged melee (or by sliding into them) so it is not advised to shoot them. Interestingly, the player possess a unique Stealth Kill against Ticks, labeled on the visor as "Squash" instead of "Stealth Kill". Alcatraz then squashes the Tick under his foot.
Trivia[]
- Ceph Ticks do not return in Crysis 3 probably because the Ceph do not need anymore biomass from humans.