Miros Vulture

Miros Vultures are large flying creatures added in the Downpour DLC that resemble a combination between s and s.

Appearance
Miros Vultures have the head shape, glowing eyes and long, scissor-like beak of a Miros Bird, and the overdeveloped wings, prominent humps and frequent gas expulsion of a Vulture. They have two pairs of wings, each bearing many sharp blade-like 'feathers' as opposed to the Vulture's tubular 'feathers'.

Abilities & Behavior
In addition to the existing abilities of Vultures, they possess the snipping beak of a Miros Bird, and also a hitscan explosive laser blast, which they use in retaliation when injured. When used, a telegraphing laser shines out of their eye, emitting a sound similar to a laser. The laser slowly turns from yellow to red, and the light on the ground where the laser hits also shrinks. Eventually, an explosion occurs at the point the laser touches.

Apart from flying, they are also capable of moving swiftly on land, similar to ordinary and king vultures. Unlike regular Vultures, they pursue Slugcat even through narrow spaces. This means that actions like hiding inside a tunnel are generally not sufficient for a Miros Vulture to give up on its prey, similar to how s often exploit the length of their neck and beak to fish Slugcats out of the shorter creature tunnels.

Combat
Given by the large health pool they possess, are highly recommended to deal significant damage when attempting to fight a Miros Vulture. Evading the consistent, deadly snapping is suboptimal when fighting on open ground; access to tunnels or cover narrow enough to hide in are crucial when the miros vulture swoops close to the ground. When injured, it pauses the continuous snipping and opens its mouth wide to retaliate by emitting a laser beam from its mouth that slowly charges up a powerful explosion, shooting where the laser beam is directed. Miros Vultures are wholly immune to this explosion. To avoid the explosion quickly, move away and hide in a space where it cannot follow or out of the explosion radius; after using this ability it resumes its default attack. The explosion attack has a long wind-up, allowing for a few quick hits before taking cover. It takes about 4 s to the head to kill a Miros Vulture. In areas such as, Miros Vultures can be baited to enter small pipes headfirst, allowing Slugcat to spear them in the head and retrieve the Spears relatively safely.

Evasion
Evading Miros Vultures is difficult due to multiple factors. They always have maximum aggression towards Slugcat, while a -90% multiplier is applied to relationships with other creatures, meaning the Slugcat is prioritized over everything else. The only effective distraction is use of a, which temporarily blinds them; however, Flashbangs are rare in most areas that Miros Vultures frequent.

When spotted, escaping to the nearest pipes or tunnels and making use of Sliding and Explosive Jumping is advised. Miros Vultures are very persistent, often remaining at the spot they last saw Slugcat.

Trivia

 * Miros Vultures can be summoned by a Vulture Grub.
 * Miros Vultures may accidentally snip each other, causing the one attacked to start charging a laser blast, though this doesn't cause any further confrontation.
 * In the rooms leading to the -exclusive in Bitter Aerie, the Echo's aura causes Miros Vultures to fall from the sky, asleep, much like regular Vultures near the  Echo. This makes it possible to farm points from them after completing Saint's pilgrimage.