Ticker Biographical information Homeland The Hollow Physical description and equipment Species Ticker Gender Unknown Height 2' Eye color None Equipment Imulsion filled explosive on their backs Chronological and political information Era(s) Locust War Lambent Pandemic Affiliation Locust Horde

"What are those things?"

— Ben Carmine

"Tickers, Locust use them like landmines, so keep your distance"

— Tai Kaliso and Benjamin Carmine discussing tickers

Tickers were creatures found in the Hollow that the Locust used as a mobile land mine by strapping Imulsion tanks to them.^[1] They were named after the ticking sound they make while scurrying across the battlefield. They are small creatures that somewhat resemble a cross between a rodent and a reptile. Tickers are always seen in large numbers, and are used mainly as mines against COG vehicles. However, the Locust use them against COG ground troops as well; an example of this being the Kantus, which summon them two at a time and use them as a last defense when under direct threat by COG units. They are quick moving and relatively difficult to detect despite the sounds they emit, making them dangerous and unpredictable adversaries, especially in large groups. Due to the gas released by tickers when about to explode, and the tanks mounted on their backs, it would seem that Imulsion is used to cause the explosions.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Evacuation of Ilima 1.2 Four months after the Lightmass Offensive 1.3 Hollow Storm 1.4 Inner Hollows 1.5 Jacinto’s fall 1.6 Lambent Pandemic 2 Behind the Scenes 2.1 Combat Strategy 2.2 Achievement Unlocked 2.3 Multiplayer 2.4 Xbox Live Marketplace 3 Trivia 4 References

HistoryEdit

Evacuation of IlimaEdit

While Zeta-Six was moving through the abandoned high school's cafeteria, they were ambushed by a swarm of Tickers. They cleared all of the "Ticking Bastards", as referred to by Michael Barrick, and proceeded to the locker rooms.

Four months after the Lightmass OffensiveEdit

During an urban battle between the Locust Horde and the COG, several tickers were defending a sniper nest but their Imulsion pack explosives were used against them by a single Gear named Alex Brand.^[2]

Hollow StormEdit

During Operation: Hollow Storm, packs of Tickers were used against the COG’s Assault Derricks. During the Assault on Landown, at least one Rig was destroyed by Tickers. Rig D77 only had one survivor, Tai Kaliso.^[3] Dozens of Tickers were inside the old buildings inside Landown and tunnels, but Delta-One was able to escort their Rig to safety.

Inner HollowsEdit

Delta-One was able to breach the Palace and engage in a duel with Skorge who summoned packs of Tickers, all of which were destroyed.

Jacinto’s fallEdit

During the Siege of Jacinto, packs of Tickers were located on rooftops on Jacinto, which like the numerous Kantus and Drones were killed by elements of Delta-One.^[4]

Lambent PandemicEdit

"Woah, those are different, no explosives!"

— Baird encountering a wild Ticker for the First time.

Tickers are encountered by Cole and his small unit of the Centennial Bridge as they are crossing to help the CNV Sovereign. They tip a crate of them over the edge of the bridge onto the Lambent Leviathan attacking their ship.

After the bridge collapses they wash up on the Hanover coast and come across Wild Tickers that eat the wreckage of the ship, ammunition, weapons, and rummage through anything useful. Baird hates them for this even though, as said by Dom, he does the same thing. They live in small caves and appear to be shy creatures.

Later, the re-grouped Delta infiltrate the Locust stronghold in the Deadlands and discover a Ticker assembly line where Drones are applying the imulsion tanks to Tickers that are chained to a moving rail.

Behind the ScenesEdit

Combat StrategyEdit

Nearby tickers can be identified by the distinct ticking/clicking sound they emit. It is advisable to eliminate tickers before they close in, as their explosions are harmless at long range. Tickers move quickly and zig-zag towards targets; long bursts of gunfire should be avoided as recoil makes targeting even more difficult.

One strategy for dealing with extremely nearby tickers is to melee them when they approach, throwing them several meters away, temporarily knocking them on their backs and stunning them. However if you melee the same ticker twice it will blow up as if having been shot and will down you from which state you'll have to be revived by a squadmate. Hitting Tickers will provide time to escape their blast radius and attack them from greater range. However, if a Ticker is already emitting fire, the best course of action is to roll away, as it is about to explode. Oddly, if a ticker has already lit its tanks, and is struck and knocked away, it won't detonate, as it seems to be able to extinguish its tanks at will.

Be sure to check the Ticker corpses after attacking them: if a body is still intact, it is still alive and will attack again.

A good use of tickers is to turn their power against the Locust themselves, they are bombs after all. An experienced player can smack a ticker into the centre of a group of Locust and then shoot it; an even more experienced player can shoot it in mid-air, causing head/upper-body damage. This is an especially useful tactic when fighting the later rounds of Horde mode: the Locust often bunch up together and Tickers run rampant.

Newly introduced in Horde 2.0, wild tickers appear in larger groups, eat weapons that lie on the floor, deal a lot of damage to barriers and melee attack players. A melee attack instantly kills them and they aren`t more resistant to bullets than the "normal" tickers. You can tell by their glowing belly that they carry something in them. Sometimes they hop out of a green box (bonus wave reward), revealing an ammo clip upon kill.

Achievement UnlockedEdit

Buffing a Ticker with a melee attack 30 times unlocks the "Takes a Licking" Achievement. Lancer melee attacks do not count towards this achievement. The name of the achievement is a reference to the phrase: "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.", because Tickers can survive one melee and still attack you. They keep on ticking.

MultiplayerEdit

In Beast mode, two kinds of Tickers are available to play as: Wild Tickers, which do not have Imulsion packs strapped to them that can eat grenades and melee attack with their claws. However, after having eaten a tagged on grenade, the wild tickers melee abilities are reduced to one explosion, just like a normal ticker that can be used in Beast mode as well.

Xbox Live MarketplaceEdit

You can get a pet ticker as a prop for your avatar through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

TriviaEdit

• In Gears of War 3, Act 2, Chapter 4 there is an Easter-Egg of fighting Tickers. The player must clear the room of enemies, after this a yellow box will appear on the wall where there's a painted Ticker, then press X when prompted. The player will peer through the yellow box into a room where Drones and Boomers appear to be watching a betting on two unarmed Tickers fighting, in the end both kill each other.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Gears of War 2 Bio
2. ↑ Gears of War:Barren part 1
3. ↑ Gears of War 2
4. ↑ Gears of War 2

The Locust Horde
Boomer · Drone · Berserker · Kantus The Lambent
Hollow Creatures
Bloodmount · Brumak · Corpser · Digger · Gas Barge · Heart Leeches · Hydra · Leviathan · Nemacyst · Reaver · Rock Worm · Riftworm · Seeder · Serapede · Shrieker · Siegebeast · Tempest · Ticker · Mangler · Kryll · Torture Barge · Wretch