If you get instantly detected as soon as you go back, there’s not much you can do. Some ideas that come to mind are using Morphine or Irongut BEFORE transitioning areas to tank the hit, throwing a flashbang/molotov and running, can even cheese it by transitioning back and forth to fully heal and running past the Stalker, the rathound will come towards the noise and distract it for some time, or spamming reloads if you have any Dodge to try and dodge the attack.

You could take the easy way out and download a cheat table for God Mode, or try using the console, though I can’t help with that since I’ve never messed with it.

By the way, spending two hours in the labyrinth? Did you kill the Rathound King, or was it just falling into traps over and over?

Styg disabled the console ages ago, because Styg hates fun.

As for the issue at hand, yeah, that cave sucks if you aren't aware that there's a deathstalker lurking in there. As with most things in this game, foreknowledge really helps to deal with problem enemies like this.

You say it didn't start combat, right? Have you tried activating combat mode first, THEN transitioning to the other screen? If you do that you might be able to bump the stalker out of stealth before it can get an attack in. In that case, it might do its regular attacks instead of the poison one, at which point you can heal and then move towards the rathounds as distraction. Just remember to put on the king's armour so the rathounds see you as a friend.

If the deathstalker is hanging around right near the exit, it shouldn't be difficult to find it simply by moving while in combat mode once you get into that screen. You could also drop a molotov and try and get it to burn so it runs away towards the rathounds.

Also remember that if you are in combat and try running away through a zone transition, you'll automatically be back in combat when you return, with -1000 initiative, so you'll never, ever go first in that case. Make a hard save before experimenting :)

Originally posted by Radiosity:

Styg disabled the console ages ago, because Styg hates fun.

How to reenable developers console on 1.2.0.20:
https://github.com/klowd92/underrail_developers_console/tree/v1.2.0.20

Transitioning between zones while in turn-based mode doesn’t change anything afaik unless it’s a blue transition, which doesn’t require a loading screen. As soon as the game loads the other area, it will either switch you to real-time or turn-based mode if you’re already in combat. The game even discourages this tactic by adding a cooldown to entering turn-based mode after transitioning or loading saves, likely to make cheesing mechanics harder, reducing the window to react to enemies near transitions.

The rest of your tips are solid, though, completely forgot about the rathound regalia.

Thank you both for advice

So I managed to beat it

If anybody is curious

Pure luck
I ate Canned Mushrooms, Aegis and Adrenaline Shot, wore the Rathound Regalia
Then I entered the area, tanked the hits and the poison, I thought I could maybe burst down the Death Stalker with an SMG, which was a hilariously stupid idea
But the noise attracted 4 rathounds, and by sheer luck, as I sprinted away they surrounded the Death Stalker, so he couldn't pursue me

I got away to the other side in a few turns (had to use an antidote and advanced hypo all the damage from the debuff)

After I saved I went back out of curiosity, since the combat stopped, I thought maybe the rathounds managed to kill the Death Stalker... yeah right, there were remains of all of them and he was hidden in stealth and attacked. Luckily I don't need to come here ever again

Originally posted by Boreal:

Originally posted by Radiosity:

Styg disabled the console ages ago, because Styg hates fun.

How to reenable developers console on 1.2.0.20:
https://github.com/klowd92/underrail_developers_console/tree/v1.2.0.20

Transitioning between zones while in turn-based mode doesn’t change anything afaik unless it’s a blue transition, which doesn’t require a loading screen. As soon as the game loads the other area, it will either switch you to real-time or turn-based mode if you’re already in combat. The game even discourages this tactic by adding a cooldown to entering turn-based mode after transitioning or loading saves, likely to make cheesing mechanics harder, reducing the window to react to enemies near transitions.

The rest of your tips are solid, though, completely forgot about the rathound regalia.

I already re-enabled it, but it's since been disabled again by updates and I don't feel like messing around with it again when CE does the job for the few things I mess with (shop refresh primarily).

Originally posted by Pan Filuta:

Thank you both for advice

So I managed to beat it

If anybody is curious

Pure luck
I ate Canned Mushrooms, Aegis and Adrenaline Shot, wore the Rathound Regalia
Then I entered the area, tanked the hits and the poison, I thought I could maybe burst down the Death Stalker with an SMG, which was a hilariously stupid idea
But the noise attracted 4 rathounds, and by sheer luck, as I sprinted away they surrounded the Death Stalker, so he couldn't pursue me

I got away to the other side in a few turns (had to use an antidote and advanced hypo all the damage from the debuff)

After I saved I went back out of curiosity, since the combat stopped, I thought maybe the rathounds managed to kill the Death Stalker... yeah right, there were remains of all of them and he was hidden in stealth and attacked. Luckily I don't need to come here ever again

Glad you got past it :)

There are times when you'll come across deathstalkers that have been utterly wrecked by something else (giant slugs are really good at tanking their attacks and killing them dead, you'll probably see that in one particular area later in the game), and the only thing you'll likely think is 'hah, serves you right' :D

heheh. looking forward to that!