Scribes have three main abilities; they can fire spherical energy blasts, they can generate protective barriers using the Veil power Shield, and they can move around almost instanteously using the Veil power Mire. The energy blasts are fast moving (far faster than the energy balls of a Heavy Trooper) but are not hitscan, and can be dodged at long range. Their damage appears to fall off at range; close up, even one blast can critically damage the player on normal difficulty. The Shield ability does not fully protect from a Scribe's projectiles and should not be relied on in combat with them, and the Reflective Crystal cannot reflect their projectiles. Typically a Scribe will try to move close to the player before firing to maximise damage. Scribes have 60 health points.Generating a shield requires the Scribe to stand still, and they will usually make a groaning sound as they generate it; the shields themselves make a humming sound. Scribes can shield large numbers of enemies or themselves, but not both, and once the shield is generated they will usually stand still to maintain it, rendering them vulnerable. If shielding only themselves, however, they may react to being approached by suddenly dropping the shield and attacking with a quick volley of energy blasts. While their Shield appears to be oval, collision detection treats it as rectangular. This makes it harder to shoot around it as the shield's corners are invisible. The shield is completely useless against Empowered attacks and does not protect them against melee attacks, so it is very easy to kill a Scribe generating shields using the Kar98's bayonet. If the Scribe is killed, all Shields will immediately vanish. Their Mire ability manifests as running from place to place almost instantly, leaving a blurry trail behind them. The speed of this ability makes it difficult to react to by triggering the player's own Mire ability; if this is done, however, the Scribe will run at normal speed. Scribes will use Mire to escape if they take a lot of damage from bullet-based weapons in a short space of time or need to dodge a grenade, and this can override their normal need to stand still while generating a Shield. After the mission Farm, especially in Downtown, Scribes are frequently encountered leading packs of Sniffers; their usual tactic is to Shield the Sniffers and hang back, then rush the player when all the Sniffers are dead in an attempt to finish them off. This tactic is easily exploited if the player can evade the Sniffers and reach the Scribe beyond them, since he can generally be killed easily with the bayonet before he can react. See: Wolfenstein (2009)