This article is about the Scarab model introduced in Halo 2. For other types of Scarab, see Scarab. For real-world uses of the word, see Scarab (disambiguation).

Type-47A Scarab
Production information
Product line:	Excavator tier-four
Model:	Scarab
Technical specifications
Height:	49.6 meters (163 ft)
Armament:	One focus cannon Two heavy plasma repeaters
Usage
In service:	Human-Covenant War
Role(s):	Artifact-retrieval vehicle
Affiliation:	Covenant

"We've all run the simulations. They're tough, but they ain't invincible!"

— Sergeant Major Avery Johnson

The Type-47A 'Protos' Ultra-Heavy Assault Platform is a type of Covenant Scarab quadrupedal mining platform.

Design Details

Design details

On the Protos Scarab, an energy shield can be produced in front of the corridor leading to the cockpit in order to hamper boarding actions.

Mobility

Unlike most vehicles deployed by the Covenant, the Scarab does not employ anti-gravity propulsion to move; it instead uses a quadrupedal "leg" assembly for locomotion. These jointed legs are very powerful, capable of crushing vehicles ranging from civilian cargo trucks to M808B Scorpion tanks.

Armaments

Protos Scarabs are armed with two seperate suspensor-mounted heavy plasma repeaters that are optimized for anti-aerospace use. There is also a fine-tunable focus cannon and specialized sensor arrays.

Development history

The Protos Scarab has unknown origins to even the Covenant who used it.

Operational History

"You may find this hard to believe, but most people find Scarabs to be rather unsettling."

— Cortana to John-117, during the Battle of Mombasa

The Covenant rarely used the Protos Scarab in direct combat, using it more as a specialized artifact-retrieval vehicle during the Human-Covenant War. The features of this Scarab were rarely observed by human forces, as Protos Scarabs quickly burned their way through UNSC defenses.

Unprecedented numbers of the Protos Scarab were deployed during the Fall of Reach and later the Battle for Earth. When the High Prophet of Regret invaded Earth, he deployed at least five Type-47 Scarabs to Mombasa, Africa, where at least two of them were the Protos Scarab. Two Scarabs were placed in New Mombasa, while another three were deployed in Old Mombasa. One of the Scarabs in New Mombasa was apparently charged with destroying the Mombasa Tether, though John-117 managed to board and destroy the walker just minutes before Solemn Penance jumped into slipstream space. Shortly after, the UNSC Brasidas managed to disable another Protos in the city with its MAC. A nearby detachment of UNSC Marines promptly engaged the surviving Covenant forces in an attempt to recover the Scarab for themselves.

During the Battle of Installation 05, a Protos was parked at a Brute encampment close to Installation 05's Control Room. During an attack by Arbiter Thel 'Vadam, several UNSC prisoners escaped and Sergeant Avery Johnson took control of the Scarab. Communicating from its control center, Johnson negotiated a truce with the Arbiter to stop their mutual enemy Tartarus from activating the Halo Array. Johnson proceeded to drive the Scarab to the Control Room, escorted by the Arbiter in a Banshee along with other Covenant separatist forces. Upon reaching the Control Room, Johnson used the Scarab's focus cannon to blow open the sealed doors before parking the machine and disembarking to directly aid in stopping Tartarus within the Control Room.

Gameplay

Halo 2

The Halo 2 Scarab was almost indestructible and immune to damage in the game. Its movement was entirely scripted, and no damageable parts appear to have been coded for it. It was only destroyed in a cutscene. When the T-47A Scarab fires, some molten, green liquid (possibly coolant or excess plasma) will leak out below the main cannon. The forward plasma turret could be destroyed with just a few melee attacks, as could the rear plasma turret. The flaps on the main gun could be destroyed only by using a Scorpion tank. Also, the underside grate could be destroyed.

Trivia

• During an interview, Shi Kai Wang joked that the Protos Scarab looks like a shopping basket.
• In Halo 2, the player can obtain the "Scarab Gun" on the level Outskirts and Metropolis. The weapon uses the Plasma Rifle chassis, though it fires the same plasma stream as the Scarab's main gun, never overheats, and can fire indefinitely. Obtaining the Scarab Gun in Halo 2 Vista rewards the player with an achievement. Obtaining the Scarab Gun in Halo: The Master Chief Collection will grant the player the Scarab Lord achievement for 20 Gamerscore.
• In the game world, the Scarab encountered in Halo 2's Metropolis is the only one that the player cannot directly destroy and must board and take out its crew. In the other games, the Scarabs fought by the players have vulnerable reactor cores located at the back that can be targeted to destroy the vehicle aside from the Super Scarab in Halo Wars.

Gallery

• 

  Halo 2 concept art depicting two Scarabs.

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  A Protos model Scarab in Halo 2.

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  Alternate Scarab model in Halo 2.

• 

  Close up of the Scarab's focus cannon in Halo 2.

• 

  A Scarab destroying a Scorpion tank in New Mombasa.

• 

  The Protos Scarab scaled with other vehicles.

• 

  The highly stylized Protos Scarab featured in Second Sunrise Over New Mombasa.

• 

  A Protos Scarab under fire in an early build of Halo Wars.

• 

  Concept of a Scarab in Halo 2: Anniversary.

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  Model of the Scarab for Halo 2: Anniversary.

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  Model of the Scarab for Halo 2: Anniversary.

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  A Protos Scarab reveals itself on the streets of New Mombasa.

• 

  A Protos Scarab interior.

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  A Protos Scarab focus turret.

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  The back of the Protos Scarab.

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  The Scarab in New Mombasa destroyed.

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  A console in a Protos Scarab.

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  The Protos Scarab focus turret.

List of appearances

• Halo 2 (First appearance)
• Halo Graphic Novel
  • Second Sunrise over New Mombasa
• Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
  • Palace Hotel
• Halo 2: Anniversary