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"A Berserker. She can hear us... she can smell us..."
—Cpl. Damon Baird during the Ambush at Tomb of the Unknowns.

Berserkers were female Locust Drones.[1] Known for their highly developed sense of hearing and smell to compensate for their myopic blindness, extremely durable bodies, and being in a near-constant state of extremely aggressive behavior; Berserkers were used for destroying fortifications and hunting the Locust's enemies. Being female Drones, the Berserkers were also used to reproduce for the Locust via rape.

History[]

Creation[]

The first Berserker was created by Dr. Niles Samson during the mid-Pendulum Wars, employed by a fringe syndicate of the Coalition of Ordered Governments to continue his genetic research in curing Rustlung and creating enhanced soldiers to use against the Union of Independent Republics. In a laboratory built in the caverns of Mount Kadar, Samson attempted to create a hybrid species with the Sires, human children of Imulsion miners afflicted with Rustlung and transformed by the DNA of animals from the Hollow in Samson's transgenic experiments.

After many failed experiments, Samson combined Sire DNA with the embryonic stem cells of Myrrah, a human born with a genetic immunity to Imulsion, and managed to create the first successful hybrid - a Berserker named the Matriarch. Following the Matriarch's creation, she birthed the first Drones of the Locust Horde. With the Matriarch, she established a Hivemind that connected Myrrah and all the Locust telepathically, with Myrrah able to control them. Dr. Torres built a containment module to sedate the Matriarch and connect her to Myrrah with a computer-brain interface, by doing so amplified Myrrah's telepathic abilities.

Myrrah used the Matriarch to explore her power's full potential and used them to lead the Locust in a rebellion after her daughter Reyna's supposed death at the hands of Samson. The Locust claimed their independence and traveled deeper into the Hollow to establish their civilization known as Nexus. Berserkers were used to breed more of the Locust. Due to their volatile nature, male Locust would chain them down to rape and impregnate them.

Locust War[]

Berserkers were used to attack human defenses on Emergence Day. Uzil RAAM utilized multiple Berserkers to aid the Bloodied Vanguard during the Emergence in Jannermont. The Locust used Berserkers to hunt surviving humans hiding from them, namely during the Emergence in Ilima to locate Jace Stratton. Berserkers aided the Locust invasion during the Destruction of Halvo Bay, with one Berserker invading Elliott's Mansion to destroy Kilo Squad.

RS Berserker

Zeta-Six being confronted by a Berserker in the school gymnasium.

In 9 A.E., during the Evacuation of Ilima, civilians were brought to Ilima High School when the Locust invaded Ilima with a Kryllstorm. Locust forces, including a Berserker, killed the civilians taking shelter in the high school.

In 14 A.E., several Berserkers were used to kill Delta-One during the Lightmass Offensive to prevent the detonation of the Lightmass Bomb. The first attacked Delta in the Tomb of the Unknowns during the Locust ambush, the second attacked Delta in the R.L. Sterling Conservatory during their mission to East Barricade Academy, the third attacked Delta on the Tyro Pillar in Timgad Valley during the Battle on the Tyro Pillar.

After the Lightmass Offensive, Montevado was sunk by the Riftworm to weaken the Jacinto Plateau. A Berserker was used to kill any surviving humans in the Montevado sinkhole. During the Battle of Port Farrall, a Berserker was in the food center. Cpl. Dominic Santiago engaged the Berserker in a suicidal attack, hoping to hit her in the underbelly. He was stopped by Sgt. Marcus Fenix, while a Centaur tank attacked and killed the Berserker.

Lambent Pandemic[]

Following the Sinking of Jacinto City, the surrounding seawater caused Imulsion to pollute the surface and caused the Lambent Pandemic. Multiple Berserkers became infected and turned into Lambent Berserkers. One of the Lambent Berserkers attacked COG forces during the Battle of Anvil Gate.

Swarm Invasion[]

Cpl. Kait Diaz, the granddaughter of Myrrah, discovered the Matriarch during her mission to disconnect herself from the Swarm. Samson tricked Diaz into entering the Matriarch under the guise of assisting in saving her, but instead used her to transfer Myrrah's consciousness into Reyna's body, becoming the new Queen. Diaz lifted the facility lockdown and inadvertently freed the Matriarch. After the Matriarch killed the Niles Samson robot, she was killed by Diaz - disconnecting her from the Swarm's Hivemind.

Multiplayer[]

Beast Mode[]

In Gears of War 3, the Berserker is playable in Beast Mode, on the last tier and costs $5625 in order to use. Cliff Bleszinski commented that players will enjoy its brute strength, but it will have the drawback of terrible eyesight.

Much like in Horde Mode, Berserkers will take damage from all sources of weapons, although their hard skin ensures that bullets and explosives will deal very little damage. However, as you progress through the waves, enemies will begin to have incendiary weapons, either Scorchers or incendiary sentries which will allow enemies to deal full damage to you.

Berserkers have two attacks; their trademark charge and a stomp attack. The Berserker charges when the player sprints, and will destroy everything in its path. It instantly kills any Stranded or COG Gear that it contacts with while it downs Heroes and the Onyx Guards. The stomp attack is used to finish off incapacitated units near the Berserker.

Given its high cost and the limited money in Beast Mode, Berserkers should only be used to deal with heavy threats such as Silverbacks and destroy fortifications for fellow allies to get through.

Horde 2.0[]

Berserkers appear in the randomized boss waves of Horde 2.0. They usually appear in groups of two, but sometimes three will appear on higher waves.

Like the Lambent Berserker, attacks that are dealt on the Berserker are reduced to 10% of the original damage. The only exception to this is by burning her hard skin with weapons such as Incendiary Grenades, the Hammer of Dawn, or the Scorcher flamethrower, and then attacking her with any weapon you want. Unlike the Berserkers of Gears of War, the Berserkers have a new attack in Gears of War 3; stomping. If they down a player, they will most likely use this attack, killing any downed player in the process.

If Mutators are enabled and Super Reload is turned on, it is possible to gun down a Berserker from range using an assault rifle, a shotgun (at closer range), and even a pistol. It takes about half of a Super Reloaded clip from the Lancer to kill one Berserker on Casual difficulty. The Gnasher Shotgun can do it in about 8 shells (based upon the range at which you are firing from), and the Sawed-off Shotgun can do it in about 2-4.

Regardless, the Instant-Gib mutator is capable of killing a Berserker in one hit regardless of the active poisons that are in effect. However, it is ill-advised to do this alone, as you will most likely get killed despite their large size.

1795995-berserker gears

Berserkers, like their Lambent cousins, provide a rather difficult boss wave because they instantly destroy any fortifications (and down any player) that they hit, providing a sizable distraction from the other enemies in the wave. Like any other boss wave, it's usually best to kill everything else first and save the Berserkers for last. You should also try to stay away from your base as much as possible, unless you have experienced players who have dealt with Berserkers before.

Incendiary sentries help with dealing with Berserkers, as they will ignite the Berserker on fire, stunning it for several seconds for players to quickly rack up damage. However, given the nature of sentries, this should not be relied on constantly.

Behind the scenes[]

  • By killing a Berserker on Hardcore difficulty in Gears of War, you get the achievement "My Love for You Is Like a Truck", which is a reference to the 1994 comedy film, Clerks.
  • On Gears of War's "Top 5 Deadliest Locust", the Berserker scored number two on the list behind General RAAM.[1]
  • In one of Jace Stratton's flashbacks in Gears of War: Hollow Issue Six, a Berserker was shown being killed by small arms fire.[3]
  • For unknown reasons, the Berserkers do not appear in any game mode of Gears of War 2.

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Gears of War: Destroyed Beauty
  2. Gears of War 3 Beast Mode interview
  3. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Hollow
Hollow and Enemy Creatures
Locust Horde
Queen
Berserker (Matriarch) · Boomer (Butcher, Flame Boomer, Grinder, Mauler, Mauler Elite, Savage Boomer, Tremor) · Drone (Beast Rider, Bolter, Cyclops, Disciple, Flame Drone, Grappler, Gunner, Miner, Savage Drone, Savage Hunter, Savage Marauder, Sniper, Spotter) · Grenadier (Flame Grenadier, Grenadier Elite, Hunter, Hunter Elite, Savage Grenadier, Savage Grenadier Elite, Ravager) · Kantus (Armored Kantus, Savage Kantus, Zealot) · Rager · Sire · Theron (Cleaver Theron, Palace Guard, Savage Theron, Theron Elite, Theron Sentinel)
Hollow Creatures
Bloodmount · Brumak · Corpser (Shibboleth) · Digger · Gas Barge · Heart Leech · Kraken · Kryll · Leviathan · Mangler · Nemacyst (Ink Grenade) · Nemacyte · Reaver (Assault Barque, Hydra) · Riftworm · Rockworm · Rock Shrew · Seeder · Serapede · Siegebeast · Tempest (Shrieker) · Ticker · Torture Barge · Wretch
Lambent
Imulsion
Former · Lambent Berserker · Lambent Brumak · Lambent Bull · Lambent Dog · Lambent Drone (Lambent Drudge) · Lambent Grenadier · Lambent Gunker · Lambent Leviathan · Lambent Polyp · Lambent Stalk · Lambent Theron · Lambent Wretch
Swarm
Queen
Canker · Carrier · DeeBees (Bastion, Reject, Stump) · Drone (Elite Drone, Grenadier, Elite Grenadier, Hunter, Elite Hunter, Imago, Sniper, Elite Sniper) · Flock (Leech) · Hive Beast · Juvie (Screamer, Popper) · Kraken · Locust (Drone · Matriarch · Sire) · Scion (Armored Scion, Heavy Scion, Scion Elite, Warden) · Snatcher (Pouncer) · Swarmak
DeeBees
DR-1 · Shepherd (Deadeye) · Tracker (Shock Tracker) · Watcher (Guardian, Sentinel)
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