Abomination

The Abomination is a large and powerful Flood key mind war-form.

Background
A mobile key mind form below the level of a Proto-Gravemind, the Abomination is an evolution of the Juggernaut command form. The Abomination's role is to direct lesser Flood in combat, greatly increasing their effectiveness with its coordinating intelligence. Abominations are created when normal Flood hives cannot be formed and the Flood must remain mobile. As the Flood gathers strength, it will assemble attack waves of lesser Flood forms around Abominations for protection.

Gameplay
The Abomination is the super unit for the Flood faction in Halo Wars 2 ' s expansion Awakening the Nightmare. The Abomination has the ability to strengthen the Flood's firepower and defenses, allowing the packs surrounding the Abominations to become more durable and lethal to the enemies. It possess a powerful slam for attack, utilizing its tentacle arm to whip the ground, dealing considerate damage to infantry, and in close range, it can whip the air units with less effort. It is best to eliminate Abominations quickly before the other Flood Forms rally around them. Abominations generally perform well against infantry, vehicles, structures, and air units. The best unit to deal with Abominations is long-range units like the Kodiak, Blisterback, Snipers, or any unit that can dodge its attack. Super Units, such as Retriever Sentinels, Condors, and Scarabs are recommended to take an Abomination head-on. UNSC Snipers is also effective to deal with Abomination, especially when Stanchion Sniper System was researched, allowing each shot to slow it down. Air units must stay away from Abomination as its attack can deal considerable damage to the air units in close range, and it may kill a Tier three upgrade Banshees or Hornets in one hit.

Abomination's main advantage is its damage when fighting on close combat, which also serves as its drawback. As the only melee Super Unit, Abomination cannot perform any attack from distances. Additionally, it has the aura to buff firepower and armor of any flood forms that were inside its aura radius.

Production notes

 * The Abomination was introduced as the Flood super unit in Halo Wars 2 ' s Awakening the Nightmare expansion. Its design is derived from the Flood Juggernaut, a Flood form that was originally created for Halo 2 but was ultimately cut from the game, though the Abomination is significantly larger than its forebear in-game.
 * A Flood form that bears heavy resemblance to the Abomination and can be found in the cutscenes of Awakening the Nightmare, though it behaves very differently. Where the in-game unit is slow and tank-like, the form seen in the cutscene is much more agile, rolling around in a ball and using its tendrils to grapple the limbs of Jiralhanae warriors and pin them down, as opposed to using them in a manner seen in-game. Renders of this unit from the cutscenes are referred to as the "Flood Commander" on Artstation, a name which seems to better describe the Abomination. The Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition) confirmed that these two forms are indeed separate, with the form featured in the cutscenes being called the Gaunt. Despite this notation, the Encyclopedia utilizes Gaunt concept art for the Gaunt's entry in the book and a Gaunt render for the Abomination (both featured in the gallery below).

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars 2