Scavenger

Scavengers are hound-like burrowing creatures who fight with ferocity and are quick to attack.

Diablo III Monster

Diablo III Monster [e]
Scavenger
Classification:	Animals
Monster Family:	Scavenger
Role:	Cannonfodder
Monster Stats Norm/Night/Hell/Inferno
Life:	Unknown
Mana:	None
Armor:	Unknown
Resistance:	Unknown
Offence Norm/Night/Hell/Inferno
Armament:	Claws, Fangs
DPS:	Unknown
Low Damage:	Unknown
High Damage:	Unknown
Range:	Melee
Speed:	Fast
Movement:	Fast
Monster Modifiers
None
Spells/Abilities
None
Found In
Borderlands Tardein Wastes

The Scavenger returns from Diablo I, and it's taken on some properties of the Leapers from Diablo II. They look more like animals than demons, and are somewhat badger-like in their furry, striped appearance. But they leap and dart around wildly, and seem quite capable of swarming an unwary hero by sheer numbers.

A great mob of scavengers are seen in the WWI 2008 gameplay movie, and they're tricky beasts. They seem to be burrowers, and as the Witch Doctor runs along, the scavengers wait until he's in their midst before they dig out of the ground and attack all at once, a dozen or more of them leaping in from all different directions.

They're still small and rather weak beasts though, and die quickly once the Witch Doctor fights back.

Witch Doctors also use undead versions of these Scavengers as servants, helping him in his fighting, and it's also possible to imbue them with special attacking effects such as fire or locust by casting the appropriate spells on them. The undead version of the Scavenger that is used by the Witch Doctor is called mongrel.

Spells and Abilities

• Burrow

The Scavengers can burrow in the ground, awaiting the arrival of some sort of pray, and simultaneously emerge from the earth to attack. They usually do this in groups.

Related Monsters

• Mongrel
• Diablo II Leaper
• Diablo I Scavenger

Background

Scavengers are small, burrowing creatures that feed upon carrion. Unlike most animals of this type, however, they are extremely aggressive and will not hesitate to attack those unfortunate enough to encounter them. Scavengers have powerful legs which they use for swift springing attacks, striking at vulnerable faces and throats. Their anatomy bears a striking resemblance to that of the leapers of the Aranoch desert, and thus, many researchers classify the two groups as part of the same family of creatures.

An ensorcelled (some say demonic) variant is known to have plagued adventurers in the Tristram region twenty-odd years ago as well. These were also called Scavengers.

"Yep. Burrowers to catch a burrower," he said. He then took the lengths of rope hanging from the cage and impaled them on the ground using a heavy pike. He also attached what looked like long knives to the sides of his heavy, scarred boots, and drove the blades into the ground.

"You'd better get out of the way." And with that, while holding onto the ropes, he undid the latching mechanism on the side of the cage. He then threw it out onto the sand. The cage exploded outward with the scavengers' frantic attempts to escape their confines. I barely had time to wonder how Burroughs had been able to get the collars (that the ropes were attached to) around the scavengers' necks before the vicious beasts had burrowed into the soft ground.

I was extremely tense by this point. I felt naked and exposed. What insanity had convinced me that coming out here was a good idea?

I looked out over the wastes in the fading light, trying to detect the telltale horned fins of the thresher cutting through the surface of the sand.

With absolutely no warning, the dune thresher violently broke the surface, all three scavengers caught in his horrifying maw. There was a massive explosion of sand as the thresher dove back into the ground with its prize. The ropes immediately snapped taut, and I thought Burroughs would be pulled to his death. I didn't understand how he thought he could reel in a monster that huge, but he wasn't even trying – just holding on.

After several tense seconds that stretched towards eternity, the rope began making weird jerking motions.

"Ah. The little buggers are doing their work." He smiled a ghastly smile. "Shouldn't be long now."

A few more moments of this strangeness passed, and the thrashing of the ropes became less and less. Finally, he began to haul his catch in. When it was partially on the rocks, I could see what had happened. The thresher had swallowed the scavengers whole, and they, in turn, had begun eating their way out of the thresher's stomach before the beast's digestive juices had killed them. One scavenger still clung to life, but barely. It had actually dug itself halfway out of the thresher, clawing at the air as its skin was slowly eaten away. I vomited.

Burroughs, laughing at me once again as he cut off the beast's triangular head, began lecturing me on the amazing dune thresher: the dynamics of its jutting, angular lower jaw, which cuts a path through the soil; the way this jaw design enables the thresher to swim effortlessly beneath the sand with unimaginable swiftness; and much more that I didn't care to hear just then. I nodded my head weakly and wondered how long it would be before I could politely get myself home and crawl into bed.

Trivia

The famous Abd al-Hazir had an "extremely distressing episode" during his youth involving Scavengers. He never got around to tell anyone what this was before he disappeared shortly after writing his 42nd entry about Sanctuary in article series called Writings of Abd al-Hazir.

Media

You can find pictures in the Diablo 3 screenshot and picture gallery:

• Diablo 3 screenshots and pictures

Scavengers are Animals.

Media

See screenshots and concept art of the Scavenger in the Image Gallery.

A pack of Scavengers decloak and begin their assault.