Shua'ee-pattern Locust

Locust

The Locust is a Covenant ground combat vehicle which will be featured in Halo Wars. It is described as a "building killer" and Spartans were described as being able to hijack it, like many other vehicles.

Appearance
The Locust is a smaller version of the Scarab walker, with only one rotating turret which hosts a single large cannon. Its four legs may allow it to kneel down or climb over obstacles, like its larger cousin. Its central turret looks similar to a Banshee cockpit. It fires a straight purple-pink beam, useful against ground and air targets. The vehicle itself is roughly similar to the Scorpion in size.

Combat
The Locust is, like the Scarab, another mining unit refitted for combat, probably the top-long-range Covenant ground unit, and, for this reason, a quite slow one. Specifically designed to take down static targets, it can be upgraded to have better movement speed (Overdrive enhancement), and to have a shield amplifier which can give it a greater resilience to enemy fire. Another upgrade allows the Locust to divert energy from its generator to the main cannon, which allows it to deal massive damage.

A very good combo when fighting as the Covenant is two Scarabs and three Locusts. The three Locusts will move ahead of the two Scarabs, and use their weapons to destroy anything, whether it be buildings, infantry, or vehicles. The two Scarabs will move in from behind, effectively obliterating anything the Locusts left behind. The only downside to this formation is that the Scarabs and Locusts aren't super effective against aircraft, and may be vulnerable.

Trivia

 * The Locust follows the naming scheme used on Covenant walkers, starting with the Scarab, where the vehicle is named after an insect.
 * The Locust is the Covenant's equivalent to the Cyclops vehicle.
 * It resembles its larger counterpart, the Scarab, especially the Scarabs from the Halo Graphic Novel.
 * It seems a cross between a Banshee and a small Scarab.
 * It also resembles the Anti-Aircraft Batteries from Halo 2 and Halo 3.
 * When the Locust shield is depleted and its still suffering damage it will bleed orange blood like the Hunter. This shows how the Scarab, the Hunters and the Locust could be familiarized.
 * It is one of the most popular units to be hijacked by Spartans in the Halo Wars demo because of its power.