Klavrig Workshop Skitterer

"These small mechanical units are considered “little brothers” of the Locust and what they lack in toughness they more than make up for in sheer numbers and symbiotic impact."

- Brian Jarrard on Skitterers.

The Skitterer is a fast scout walker used by the Banished. They are cheap, expendable vehicles, though their twin-linked beam cannons are surprisingly lethal given their size. Their most notable feature is that they can use a defend ability to set up a protective overwatch on other friendly units and act as a weapon turret and defense shield.

Operational history
Harsh restrictions on AI research in the Covenant limited the development of autonomous weapon systems, though clever San'Shyuum technicians did find that carefully selected and pruned Lekgolo colonies could substitute for artificial minds in some applications. Though never widely used, combat machines such as the Skitterer proved this approach had merit, though the risk of aberrant gestalts in small colonies meant it never saw widespread use. "Colony" later adapted and perfected this technique, which allowed for the integration of Lekgolo with the Banished Locust and mass production of Skitterers without the behavioral issues that plagued earlier work. Skitterers were deployed by "Colony" against the crew of the in 2559 during the Second Ark Conflict.

Halo Wars 2
Skitterer upgrade: Focused Beam In Halo Wars 2 Skitterers are exclusive units for "Colony" and can be made at Banished outposts once the leader power has unlocked them. Like other scout units the Skitterer can be used to gather resources. The number of Skitterers able to attach to a unit depends on the unit's size. For example a Scarab is able to have three Skitterers, a Mgalekgolo pair two Skitterers, and a Huragok one Skitterer. Once attached to the unit the Skitterer will only be destroyed if the host unit is destroyed. In addition to providing more health to the host unit the Skitterers will continue to attack enemies. Without a host unit Skitterers perform okay against infantry, vehicles, and structures, but poorly against aircraft. Once the Focused Beam upgrade has been purchased the Skitterer will perform well against infantry. In Blitz a Skitterer Mob, consisting of five Skitterers, costs 90 energy.
 * Info: Mech Scout, Light beam attack, Can attach to other units as a turret
 * Tier: 1
 * Cost: Population 2, Supplies 150, Power 20
 * Info: Weapon Upgrade, Increases Beam output, Increases damage and range
 * Tier: 2
 * Cost: Supplies 0, Power 400

Core

 * Grunt Squad:1 Skitterer
 * Chopper:1 Skitterer

Infantry

 * Goliath:2 Skitterers
 * Suicide Grunts:1 Skitterer
 * Elite Rangers:1 Skitterer
 * Hunters:2 Skitterers

Air

 * Engineer:1 Skitterer
 * Banshee:1 Skitterer
 * Shroud:1 Skitterer
 * Blisterback:2 Skitterers

Vehicles

 * Marauder:1 Skitterer
 * Locust:1 Skitterer
 * Reaver:1 Skitterer
 * Wraith:2 Skitterers

War Council

 * Hunter Captain:2 Skitterers
 * Scarab:3 Skitterers

Trivia

 * Isabel could have Skitterers (or any vehicle or aircraft) if she Combat Salveged a hijacked unit that contained any Skitterer in it.
 * The Skitterer is the only unit that will still try to kill any Spartans hijacking any unit they attached themselves with.
 * In Blitz the Suicide Grunts is the only unit the Skitterer won't attach themselves to.
 * In Terminus Firefight, it is possible to receive units Colony can't build normally, such as Ghosts, from Reinforcement waves. Skitterers can attach to them regardless in the same numbers the normal equivalent supports.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars 2