Great Knarloc
The Great Knarloc (Krootis magnus) is a Kroot beast native to the jungles of Pech. They are larger than the more common Knarlocs. Despite appearing and often called as chicken-T rexes, it is actually quite inaccurate. While they may have similar posture, a T rex is far, FAR larger than the Great Knarloc. Whereas the Great Knarloc stands roughly the size of a Indian Elephant, a T rex towers over it and weighs several tons (Sue, the largest and most complete T-rex skeleton found, was studied and estimated to have weighed nine tonnes when she was alive and at peak size). Furthermore, Great Knarlocs are often docile and scavenging in nature, on the other hand a T rex is a hyper aggressive, relatively intelligent (As smart as a monkey), tough-as-a-motherfucker, filled with a highly infectious bite and are all round opportunistic assholes. Tl;dr the Great Knarlocs are This Guy while the T rex are That Guy.
Great Knarlocs are an evolutionary dead end, much like the Krootox and Kroot Hound. It is a solitary hunter in the jungles, suited by its muscular legs and hinge ankles for long distance tracking. Its lower legs and claws are developed for occasional bursts of speed, enhanced by the Hyperactive Nymune Organ, and it can use its toes to launch itself from cover whilst stalking its prey. All of its developments put it firmly in the hunter/scavenger category, aided by its omnivorous nature.
While Great Knarlocs are usually docile, but the addition of sufficient goads can enrage the Knarloc to the point that they will attack anything nearby. Usually other Kroot are relatively safe due to the pheromones they excrete, but they are not immune to the animal instincts that Knarlocs show. Like other Kroot, they are subject to the Hyperactive Nymune Organ, which enhances their already superior ability to chase prey for long distances to cover large amounts of ground quickly.
They have smaller frontal limbs, which they use to grasp food and to scavenge in undergrowth or soft earth. They have poor eyesight. It's large mass makes them mostly invulnerable to small arms fire and they are tremendously resilient to wounds that would cripple most other beasts. Targeting the handlers is a risky tactic, for without them the beasts become even more enraged and often attacks the nearest prey, friend or foe, with renewed savagery.
Great Knarloc Herds[edit]
Great Knarlocs which are young to middle aged are herded in groups of one to three and used as assault troops alongside the Carnivore squads. They are enraged by a group of up to 8 goads and a shaper and proceed to use their vicious beaks to break apart armour and crush their prey.
They are used as living battering rams and are selected for their speed and aggression, which is moderated by pheromone excretions produced by the handlers. A fully-grown and suitably goaded Greater Knarloc is capable of tearing armour panels with its huge beak and smashing an armoured vehicle apart.
Mounted Great Knarloc[edit]
Great Knarlocs which are older and more used to being controlled by the Kroot can be used to carry a heavy weapons (similar to the Krootox). This is often a Kroot Bolt Thrower or a Kroot Gun manned by two Kroot. They also form herds between one and three Knarlocs.
Imperial forces facing Great Knarlocs have found it necessary to treat them as enemy vehicle targets and bring anti-armour weaponry.
Baggage Great Knarloc[edit]
The Baggage Great Knarloc is a Kroot beast of burden, used to carry heavy equipment and supplies. Great Knarlocs are strong with great stamina but are lacking intelligence, which makes them easy to lead once they are domesticated. They suffer from bouts of aggression however, leading them to be muzzled at all times and chained when not in use. Each Great Knarloc has one or two goads to guide it in the right direction and form herds of between one and three Great Knarlocs. Should they be required to fight, the Handlers will goad them to their enemies to vent their anger.
Dawn of War[edit]
Great Knarlocs are considered as relic units in Dawn of War. For some reason, Great Knarlocs are able to chow down almost every other races relic units save for the Imperial Baneblade (Which will blast the Great Knarlocs into a crater), Necron C'tan Gods and the Daemon Prince. Not even Bloodthirsters can fight off a giant turkey, but only if you buy an upgrade that boosts the Knarloc's health, otherwise the Bloodthrister will beat it. Some players often bring a Squiggoth to battle the Great Knarloc to reenact some sort of Jurassic Park scene. Suffice to say, the Great Knarloc wins most of the time despite the fact that in actuality, the Great Knarloc should lose against the rampaging overgrown fungus and should run back screaming, due to you know, the bigger they are in nature the more intimidating. Seriously a Squiggoth, even a lesser one, outweighs the Great Knarloc by several orders of magnitude, combine that with ridiculous toughness, more aggressive temperament and tougher muscles and you get a beaten and half-eaten KFC. *sigh* More case of GW Relic's Fail in simple biology balancing.
That said, the Great Knarloc is still regarded as one of the least useful Relic units in the game. It might have the highest melee damage, but it's lacking health compared to other melee Relic units. While one of the Tau structures does give access to upgrade to bring its help up to the level of the Squiggoth, that building competes with one that allows the player to built the much more useful Hammerhead Gunships. To top it all off, the Great Knarloc is rather slow and fighting units in melee is all it can do. The Bloodthirster can fly and get to a fight more quickly, or be summoned right into a battle, the Squiggoth can shoot and transport units, and the Avatar increases Eldar population. The latter two also have far more health than the Greater Knarloc can ever have.
