I get what you’re saying, but I think it’s simply missing direct hits or the body armor blocking the shots, or in the case of the “mowing down the jungle” the predator was simply long gone.
Another way of doing the armor thing could be a totally separate bar for armor and health.
The armor would be non replenishable and would reduce all damage taken to health by 25%. Scout would have the least amount of armor points, like 2000 🤷♂️, and berserker would have the most, like 5000. This might seem like a lot of armor, but because it can’t be replenished, it would still result in the same squishy predators we have currently by the end of a good match.
They could even add damage textures for the armor, similar to how the mask gets damaged.