Flood Carrier Form

The Flood Carrier Form is a type of Flood primarily used to create and transport Infection Forms thus spreading the Flood.

Overview
Carrier forms are formed by the Flood from species with insufficient calcium reserves for transformation to Combat Forms or from Combat Forms. Carrier Forms perpetuate the Flood species by acting as incubators for newly created Infection Forms and keeping them safe until they're fully developed. Once the Infection Forms are ready, the carrier simply explodes spontaneously, sending the new Infection Forms flying into the air. This number may vary depending on the game. In Halo and Halo 2, this number was around 6. In Halo 3, however, it may be at least four times that much. Also unique to Halo 3 is the ability to use Plasma Grenades to eliminate the form along with it's offspring. In Halo 1 and 2, the Carriers will be shot through the air, but will only explode and release the Infection Forms when coming into contact with the ground again, thus letting the smaller creatures survive. As soon as the Infection Forms are released, they begin searching for new hosts. It should be noted that Carrier Forms will not wait until full maturation has occurred. If potential hosts are nearby it will simply get close and explode, sending the Infection Forms flying at the unsuspecting and often damaged enemies. The explosion of a Carrier Form is like the explosion of a grenade, and deals damage to any players nearby. The Carrier form has a simple mindset, which is to release the Infection Forms it carries to a suitable host. While they make no noise, they can somehow communicate with other Carriers, to inform them of a potential sentient being.

Creation
When an Infection Form takes over a body that is unsuitable for combat, has insufficient calcium reserves for transformation to a Combat Form(such as a Grunt or a Jackal as shown in Halo: the Flood), or once a Combat Form has been damaged beyond usefulness, it becomes a Carrier Form. Eventually when a Combat Form has lived long enough, it too will evolve into a carrier, regardless of damage taken.

Combat
Carrier Forms are usually considered slow and of little threat unless they are close to the player. However, one particularly dangerous trait of exploding Carrier Forms is the explosive chain reactions they can cause. A Carrier explosion will cause any other Carrier Forms close enough to explode also. They also cause any nearby grenades to explode. This means a single Carrier can cause a massive explosion filling much of a room. This can be used to a soldier's advantage if there are Combat or Infection Forms surrounding the Carrier(s).

The quick and clean way to kill a Carrier Form is to stick it with a plasma grenade or spike grenade. The grenade vaporizes the Carrier as well as the Infection Forms inside it, so you don't have to worry about releasing a swarm of Infection Forms.

Trivia

 * In Halo 2, If you run very quickly past a carrier form, occasionally it will not detonate.
 * In Halo 3, throwing a plasma grenade, incendiary grenade or spike grenade would normally blow up a Carrier Form. However, in Halo:CE and Halo 2, throwing a the mentioned grenades on a Carrier form would instead send the Carrier form flying in random direction.
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved they could gain speed for a short time.
 * In Halo 2, Carrier forms are noticeably slower, but can jump.
 * In Halo 3, they carry far more Infection Forms than in the previous two games.
 * In Halo 3, carriers are less common but come in groups of 2-4 which are even deadly on easy.
 * In Halo 3, they can jump rather high compared to Halo: Combat Evolved (in which they couldn't even jump) and Halo 2 where they could jump about 2-3 feet.
 * In Halo 3, they are noticeably more resistant to firearms.
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved, carriers are noticeably less resistant than their Halo 2 and 3 counterparts.
 * Curiously, in Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 3, you can let a carrier walk up to you and fall over, then if you shoot it with a shotgun, it will stand back up and fall over backwards and explode.
 * In Halo: The Flood Sergeant Lister is "knocked on his ass" by the explosion of a Carrier Form, according to McKay.

Related Links

 * Shielded Flood Carriers