User:Ares.117/Scarab

Scarab



The Scarab is a Covenant ground vehicle.

Introduction
It is very different from most of the Covenant's other ground-based vehicles. Instead of using anti-gravity pods, it walks about on massive legs. It is highly mobile for a vehicle of its size, and sports two turrets that shoot large red plasma bolts similar to the Shade, as well as a large, forward-firing plasma cannon. This cannon is also somewhat reminiscent of the Gravity Cannon that the Prophets have installed on their thrones.

The Scarab is extremely powerful, and is not a practical application for battle, except in battles that involve tight spaces such as cities. Rather, the Scarab is used to melt away miles of rock in order to excavate, no doubt for the structures and artifacts of the Forerunners.

While previously thought of as a mere mining digger, the Scarab's purpose as an assault vehicle has been expanded hugely; at least two Scarabs are seen in Halo 2, while they also appear in the Halo Graphic Novel and will be in Halo Wars. They appear to be major Covenant forward assault platforms, causing mass destruction and chaos in preparation for more ground troops to fight. They also seem to be capable of excavation as well; their main cannon is extremely powerful.

Appearances
During The Battle of Reach, Spartan-104 describes seeing several large "insect like" excavating machines digging up CASTLE Base. He destroys them using Plasma Mortar from a Wraith tank.

When the Covenant first travel to Earth, led by the Prophet of Regret, they believe the Human homeworld was simply an abandoned Forerunner world, and so they do not expect to meet Humanity on it's own homeworld. A Scarab was seen in Old Mombassa, with the intent of searching for an artifact. Caught off guard and forced to fight on the human's terms, the Scarab is repurposed to crush any resistance in its path. It is eventually cornered and destroyed by a group of Marines with the help of the Master Chief. However, the caption of Turf suggests that there may have been several Scarabs present at the battle, and the wreckage of a second Scarab is seen in Mombasa on that level.

Another Scarab was on Installation 05 near the Control Room. It was commandeered by Sergeant Johnson, along with two Marines, and used to break into the Control Room of the Halo.

Scarabs will also apparently make an appearance in Halo Wars.

Primary

 * (1) Front-Mounted Cannon
 * Ammo: Super-Heated Plasma, presumably un-guided.
 * Rate of Fire: 10 second stream; 30 to 40 per second
 * Movement of cannon: Through careful examination, one can see that the inside gun part seems to move forward from a cradle as the flaps open up.
 * Notes: The projectile emitted from the Scarab's main gun emits a neon-green/bluish glow, indicating extremely high temperature. It's force is enough to destroy any combat vehicle in a fraction of a second, and could presumably melt through an interstellar war-ship's armor with the ease of a Covenant's capital ship's plasma bomb.

Secondary

 * (2) Mounted Anti-Aircraft Turrets
 * Ammo: Super-Heated Plasma, (possibly have needler homing technology)
 * Rate of Fire: 400-600 rounds/minute
 * Notes: Presumed Computer Controlled, but a close look indicates that it may be manually controlled additionally.

Easy
To defeat the Scarab's crew on easy difficulty fire at it's crew on the top of the Scarab when they appear with either a Rocket Launcher, Sniper Rifle or Battle Rifle. When you reach the end of the bridge it is recommanded you collect a Shotgun, the second weapon is up to you but Ares.117 usually has his second weapon be a Rocket Launcher. Through a couple grenades at the survivng Grunts, Jackals and Elites to kill some of them and weaken the others shields. Jump onto the Scarab and eliminate surviving Covenant with one of your weapons. When the top deck is clear proceed down to the interior. If you have a Rocket Launcher make sure it is loaded and fire two shots to kill the Ultra. You may eliminate the rest of the interior crew how you want.

Normal
To defeat the Scarab's crew on normal difficulty fire at it's crew on the top of the Scarab when they appear with either a Rocket Launcher, Sniper Rifle or Battle Rifle. When you reach the end of the bridge it is recommanded you collect a Shotgun, the second weapon is up to you but Ares.117 usually has his second weapon be a Rocket Launcher. Through a four grenades at the survivng Grunts, Jackals and Elites to kill some of them and weaken the others shields. Jump onto the Scarab and eliminate surviving Covenant with one of your weapons. When the top deck is clear proceed down to the interior. If you have a Rocket Launcher make sure it is loaded and fire two or three shots to kill the Ultra. You may eliminate the rest of the interior crew how you want.

Heroic
To defeat the Scarab's crew on heroic difficulty fire at it's crew on the top of the Scarab when they appear with either a Rocket Launcher, Sniper Rifle or Battle Rifle. When you reach the end of the bridge it is recommanded you collect a Shotgun, the second weapon is up to you but Ares.117 usually has his second weapon be a Rocket Launcher. Through a most grenades at the survivng Grunts, Jackals and Elites to kill some of them and weaken the others shields. Jump onto the Scarab and eliminate surviving Covenant with one of your weapons. When the top deck is clear proceed down to the interior. If you have a Rocket Launcher make sure it is loaded and fire three or four shots to kill the Ultra. You may eliminate the rest of the interior crew how you want.

Legendary
It’s up to you how you want to end this: the quick way, or the slow but reassuring way. The quick way is to jump down onto the Scarab immediately, rush into the control room, blast all the Covenants in there to hell, and hope you don’t get run down from behind. The slow but reassuring way is to wait for the Scarab to get to the end of the waterway and fill up on rockets at the same time. At the end of the waterway, you can take out all the Covenant that come out, then jump down, go in, and finish off whatever Covenant are still inside. Either way, you win. Keep in mind, once you get inside, to get rid of the Elite Ultra first, toss grenades when needed, and be sure not blow yourself up with the launcher.

Defeat the Scarab crew with a Ghost
WARNING: IF YOU DO THIS YOU WILL KILL MANY ALLY'S

To kill the Scarab's crew with a ghost find a ghost in the level metropolis and use it to reach the Marine base. Enter through the doors with your vehicle and move up the stairs until you reach Sergeant Banks. Once again follow the stairs up and through the warehouse. Once on the Catwalk carefully move towards the end of where the Scarab will stop moving and Cortana says ''it can't go any further this way. We have it trapped.'' I suggest you exit the Ghost and use whatever you can to eliminate the crew topside WITHOUT jumping onto the Scarab. Once all Covenant topside are dead boost onto the Scarab and enter the interior. Once inside shoot and kill the Ultra first. Then deal with the remaining crew as you manuever through the Scarab's interior.

Crew

 * Below deck
 * Single Ultra Elite Commander
 * Elites of various ranks
 * Above deck
 * Elites of various ranks
 * Grunts and Jackals

Trivia

 * The Scarab Gun is a weapon that players can pick up; it can be found on several of the levels where the scarab is encountered.
 * It is presumed that the Scarab uses an Orbital Drop to reach the battlefield.
 * On Legendary Mode there is a single Zealot onboard as well. The Zealot is presumed to be the commander when playing Legendary.
 * The Scarab is somewhat similar to Mörser Karl mortar or railway guns.