Scarab Gun

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Scarab Gun
The Scarab Gun, floating above a traffic cone atop a bridge.
Gameplay role
Faction:	Covenant
Weapon tier (?):	Dual wield Easter Egg
Weapon class (?):	Rifle
Firing mode:	Automatic
Effective range:	Medium to long
Weapon stats
Damage:	12
Splash damage:	200 out to 2 wu, down to 150 at 2.5 wu (radius) x0.5 vs shields
Damage type (?):	Impact: plasma_vehicle Detonation: explosion_large
Projectile speed:	100 wu/s
Hitscan range (?):	~3.33 wu
Max range (?):	300 wu
Rate of fire:	8 rounds per second
Spread (?):	0 degrees
Auto aim (?):	6 degrees out to 12 wu
Sticky aim (?):	9 degrees out to 18 wu
Melee damage (?):	strike_melee
Tag name (?):	scarab_main_gun_handheld.weapon

"Think, MASSIVE FIREPOWER! For one level only."

— Frank O'Connor

The Scarab Gun is a hidden Easter egg weapon in Halo 2 found in the level Metropolis. It consists of a regular Plasma Rifle modified to fire a Scarab's focus cannon.

In Halo 2: Anniversary for Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the Scarab skull applies this effect to all weapons used by the player.

Overview

The Scarab Gun appears at several points in the levels Outskirts and Metropolis, with the latter hosting the most famous instance of the weapon. The main Scarab gun on Metropolis can be found by glitching out-of-bounds in Kilindini Park (typically by forcing a Banshee into that area) and then flying up to one of the skyscrapers in the background, atop which the Scarab Gun can be found sitting atop a traffic cone.

The Scarab Gun has similar appearance as a normal Plasma Rifle. However, it fires the same plasma beam as a Scarab. It has unlimited ammunition, continuous rapid fire, and never overheats. Due to its tremendous firepower and immense splash-damage, firing the weapon at close range will normally kill the player. Unlike the regular plasma rifle the weapon emits a small green light from its tip.

The player is able to give the Scarab Gun to Marine allies, though they will never fire it.

Walkthrough

It is recommended for the player to attempt to obtain the Scarab Gun on Easy difficulty. The most popular method is the Banshee method, since it can be done in singleplayer, and the player can fly back down to the level normally after getting the Scarab Gun. However, other methods are also described below.

Banshee method

The Banshee method involves forcing a Banshee to follow the player from the bridge into the tunnel, then glitching it from the tunnel into the park, boarding it so that the player can then fly up to the Scarab Gun. Since the player cannot fly the Banshee into the tunnel due to an invisible barrier, the enemy Banshee non-playable character has to be lured through the tunnel.

1. Proceed normally as you would till the end of the bridge. Kill all allies and enemy ground vehicles, and commandeer a Ghost.
2. To lure a Banshee into the tunnel, simply drive in reverse and fire around at a Banshee to draw its attention. Try to avoid firing directly at the Banshee, as not to damage it. When the Banshee follows you, you can start driving forward. Keep it from getting too close or too far, as either will make the Banshee turn around and try to fly out of the tunnel.
3. Some Marine allies will spawn in a Warthog. The Marines are invincible until they reach the Jackals/ roadblock in the tunnel. Eliminate them to avoid them from damaging/destroying the Banshee you lured. kill all enemy infantry to avoid interruptions. At the same time, repeat step #2 to keep luring the Banshee into the tunnel.
4. Avoid taking your eyes off the Banshee while in the tunnel. It may despawn, especially in co-op.
5. Once you reach the closed section of the roadway and have to detour off into the pipes, you should dismount your Ghost if you have not done so. Lure the Banshee into this detour as you would with a Ghost by firing around it.
6. In the detour hallway, lure the Banshee to the left path that leads to the next section of the campaign level. Try to melee it slowly into tunnel.
7. It will get stuck due to the narrowness of the tunnel. At this point, you should fire off the Banshee's wings.
8. The loading zone is just inside the tunnel. Board the banshee as it flies through it to prevent it from despawning. The barrier will deload, preventing the Banshee from being destroyed.
9. Proceed out of the tunnel and fly off to the suspension bridges. You will see the Scarab Gun will be hovering on a cone.

Tips

• The Sputnik skull and Black Eye skull are recommended for this, but not necessarily required. The Sputnik skull reduces the mass of objects while the Black Eye skull allows players to boost their energy shield by meleeing an enemy.
• if the Banshee is stuck between scenery objects in the tunnel, simply walk behind it and move backwards slowly to get it unstuck.
• Having another player will ease the process.

Banshee Method with AUP

The Banshee method can be extremely simplified by using arbitrary unit possession (AUP). This is because Elites are unaffected by the barrier, meaning you can fly through the tunnel if you possess an Elite. The method is described below.

1. Start Metropolis on co-op on any difficulty except Legendary with the Envy skull and without the Iron skull. Do not shoot or throw grenades except where instructed.
2. Get the Marines in the warthog and park them in the back corner. Make sure they don't run out onto the bridge.
3. Punch one player to death. Have them pick up two out of the four grenades that get dropped.
4. Drive the Scorpion tank into the corner and maneuver it against the wall until it "rides" up on the wall/railing facing the water.
5. Move the tank to the left and lower it so it sits on the edge of some windows above the ground.
6. Have the player who died crawl under the tank. The other player should jump off to their death.
7. If done correctly, the player should not respawn. Restart the mission.
8. Have one player throw two grenades.
9. That same player goes forward a bit until they near the first bus/set of Ghosts. Make sure they don't shoot at you.
10. The other player should jump to their death, while the first player uses active camouflage and moves forward. They should jump and melee when they're about to hit the ground, repeatedly, to delay the other player's respawn.
11. When you see two Ghosts boosting towards you from across the bridge, you can let the player respawn.
12. They should spawn as an Elite.

The Elite can't hijack banshees on their own, so the Spartan player will have to hijack a Banshee and give it to them. However, the Elite can fly the Banshee all the way through the tunnel. When they go through the loadzone in the banshee, the Elite player will "despawn" and the player will respawn normally, but the Banshee will remain.

If the Elite player exits the Banshee at all while it's in the tunnel, the Banshee will explode. This is because the game, at that point, recognizes that a player is piloting the banshee, and applies the "proper" physics.

Box launch method

This method does not require a Banshee and can be done in solo or cooperative play, though multiple players are recommended to make it easier to delay checkpoints.

1. Start Metropolis on Easy. Enable the Sputnik and Black Eye skulls
2. Go through the mission as normal, but make sure you have full (green) overshields and at least one spare rocket when you reach the final section.
3. Rush to the last bridge ahead of the Scarab. You should see three giant "cubes." A small box lays next to one of them.
4. Push that box back to the start of that bridge. You must position it very specifically, or the launch may not work.

To position the box correctly, first orientate it so that the indented middle is in-line with the long way of the bridge. You'll want to move it so that it's most of the way on the "vent" texture between the main walkway and the bridge's "plain" texture. There should be a "tile" like texture on the walkway itself, with little breaks that form small semi-squares (well, closer to octagons, but still square-ish). Position the box so that its indents are in-line and centered with the center of the semi-squares. Finally, ensure that the box is slightly overlapping with the walkway texture, and not entirely on the "vent" texture.

1. At this point, or somewhere around it, you should get a checkpoint from the Scarab. The checkpoint should appear when the Scarab is nearing its final position.
2. Shoot at the first "strip" on the bridge's texture past where you're standing. Aim halfway to the left to also explode the cube closest to you.
3. If done correctly, you should get launched with incredible height. This is because of the cube, combined with the Sputnik skull, giving you the power, while the box determines the angle you launch at.
4. Land on the high-rise bridge above and claim your prize.

Barrier launch method (MCC-only)

This is an alternate version of the box launch method that uses the barriers on the bridge rather than a box. This method relies on the Master Chief Collection-exclusive Feather skull.

1. Start Metropolis on Easy. Enable the Sputnik and Feather skulls.
2. Go through the mission as normal until you reach the final section. Grab a Rocket Launcher.
3. Rush to the last bridge ahead of the Scarab. Jump on the first defensive barrier and position yourself as close to the edge facing the wall as possible.
4. Aim down, jump and fire the rocket. The blast should give you tremendous height. Keep aiming down and pushing forward, and you should land on the high-rise bridge where the gun awaits after a few tries.

Acrophobia Method (MCC-only)

1. In Halo 2: Anniversary for Halo: The Master Chief Collection, simply activate the Acrophobia skull when starting the level, and fly up to the Scarab gun at the high-rise bridge.

Other Scarab Guns

There are actually three Scarab Guns in Halo 2—one on Outskirts and two on Metropolis. The other two Scarab Guns are scripted guns that shoot the scarab beam in place of the Scarab itself. As with most scripted guns, they float in the air and disappear after their scripted firing. However, players can still pick these up. Bungie never expected players to reach these Scarab Guns and never disabled their pickup.

Outskirts Scarab Gun

The Outskirts Scarab Gun normally spawns when driving through the tunnel. It fires a beam through a hole in the ceiling, and hits the Warthog flying by. There are currently a few methods of obtaining this Scarab Gun.

Out-of-bounds launch

1. On Outskirts with the Black eye and Sputnik skulls on, get a Rocket Launcher and grenades.
2. Get in a Ghost and go to the highway tunnel. (This can also be used to escape the map by driving against the wall and out toward the water).
3. Go to the edge of the building and turn left. Now go boost forward until you get a checkpoint.
4. When the checkpoint is activated, get out and aim at the ground. Throw a grenade, shoot the ground with a rocket, and, at the same time, jump.
5. With an Overshield, you should fly up in the air.
6. Hold the pickup button and you should (if in the right place) pick it up and land on the wall.

You can simplify the process in co-op. Having a co-op partner means that you can pickup the Scarab Gun without having to land on the wall, and it should not despawn when you fall to your death.

AUP methods

Possessing either a Pelican or Phantom via AUP will allow the other player to fly into the Scarab Gun when launching up the wall. Additionally, possessing a Phantom can give the player enough speed to fly through the beam while inside the tunnel. Due to its simpler and more consistent setup, the Phantom possession method is described below.

1. At the start of Outskirts on co-op, use debris to block the Marines from exiting the room you start in.
2. Do not fire any weapons or throw any grenades unless instructed. This is very important.
3. Jump over the debris and scare the first Grunt (do not shoot!). Do not progress down the ramp.
4. Have one player grab Johnson's Sniper Rifle and get into the Pelican. They should crouch in the back corner.
5. Kill the other player with exactly 2 shots from the sniper. If crouched in the corner correctly, the other player should not respawn.
6. Restart the mission.
7. Repeat steps 1-4, but don't have the player go into the Pelican.
8. Kill the second player with 2 shots. MeleeMelee repeatedly while advancing down the ramp and behind the trash can. This will delay the player's respawn.
9. Ensure no enemies shoot at you. Stop meleeing when you hear the Phantom.
10. If done correctly, the player should respawn as the Phantom.

Note that when you proceed past the first loadzone, the Phantom will get stuck under the map. Going through the second loadzone may teleport the Phantom correctly, or it will get stuck in the wall again, or it will despawn and the player will appear in a new body. If the Phantom gets stuck in the ceiling, go back through the loadzone while adjusting the Phantom's position to try to teleport it inside the map. Note that going too quickly back and forth through loadzones will usually result in the Phantom despawning. Once you've done this, you can use the launching method described above, or just boost and fly through the scarab beam.

Metropolis Scarab Gun (alternate)

The point where the second Scarab Gun can be acquired.

The second Metropolis Scarab Gun appears just before the Scarab rounds the corner and blows up the Scorpion tank. It fires the initial beam that the player sees before the Scarab. Much like the Outskirts gun, this is a scripted Scarab Gun that despawns after firing, but picking it up will prevent this.

1. On co-op, at Metropolis, fight until you clear the city center.
2. Before you talk to Corporal Perez, use an alternate method to get on top of the building, such as a grenade launch, or by flying the Banshee.
3. Get outside the map on the left side of the top of the building. You should be following where the Scarab goes.
4. Once you can see the last area of the map with the bridges, go back. This will prevent the second player from teleporting.
5. Have one player stand where the Scarab arrives. Have the other go into the building and up to the top flight of stairs.
6. A few steps beyond will load the Scarab Gun. This is where you can adjust your setup as needed.
7. When it loads, have the first player perform an Overshield-, Rocket-, Grenade-, or Sputnik-jump (or any other "boosted" jump) into the Scarab's beam—or into the blue cloud, if there is one—and hold X, and they will pick up yet another Scarab Gun.

The player does not have to live, but the Scarab may knock the gun far away if the player dies.

Achievements

The following achievements can be unlocked by acquiring the Scarab Gun on Metropolis across the Windows Vista and Halo: The Master Chief Collection editions of Halo 2: Anniversary.

Halo 2 (Windows Vista)	Halo: MCC (Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S)	Halo: MCC (Steam)	Title	Unlock requirement	Games
	N/A	N/A	King of the Scarab	Acquire the Scarab gun on the Metropolis level, any difficulty.	Halo 2 (Windows Vista)
N/A			Scarab Lord	Acquire the Scarab Gun.	Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Production notes

The Scarab Gun was originally implemented by Joseph Staten to generate the cinematic effect of the Scarab beam firing. According to him, it ended up in the game because he forgot to take it out. Designer Tyson Green later elaborated that the Scarab Gun was intentionally left in the game as an Easter egg.

Trivia

If you grab the gun and make it to the part when the Scarab shoots the Scorpion tank, you can destroy the Scorpion yourself and the Scarab will refrain from firing.

Gallery

• 

  A single shot from the Scarab Gun

• 

  The result of firing the Scarab Gun when in the passenger seat of the Warthog.

See also

• Handheld scorpion cannon and Scorpion Tail; Easter egg useable tank cannons in Halo Infinite.