Fodder

Fodder/Waster
Description:	Resembles an unmolested human corpse until sufficient damage is inflicted upon it, at which point it reveals new appendages.
Attack(s):	Uses ice axes, hatchets, crowbars, police batons, bone saws, or pipe wrenches as weapons. Upon losing upper body, pronged tendrils will sprout from the lower abdominal area and proceed to slash at the player with them. If the legs are cut off, projectile shooting appendages take their place.

"You might see this thing swaying in the distance, look at it and go 'What the hell is going on?' And then you realize too late that there's actually a creature inside of it."

—Necromorph designer Ben Wanat

Fodders, also referred to as Wasters, are a Necromorph form encountered in Dead Space 3 which uses a human-like façade to hide its alien interior.

Fodders are encountered during the outbreak on the New Horizons Lunar Colony as well as on Tau Volantis, both during the original S.C.A.F. expedition and at the time of the planet's rediscovery in the 26th century.

Overview

Fodder Necromorph Sound Effects HD

Fodders use a previously unseen method of disguise: fully retaining their hosts' silhouette, outfit and equipment, allowing them to pass off as living people, tricking an unsuspecting victim into lowering their guard long enough for the Necromorph to close in. The most obvious and identifying change to their appearance is their eyes and mouths, which are overflowing with slime that emits a ghastly yellow light.

Unlike the other Necromorphs, which rely on mutated limbs and appendages to assault and murder their prey with, Fodders attack their victims using a variety of melee weapons previously possessed by their host, including ice axes, hatchets, bone saws, pipe wrenches, crowbars, and police batons.

A Fodder on the surface of Tau Volantis.

Fodders emit sounds and vocalizations that closely resemble distorted human speech, these murmurs turning into angered roars when attacking a target. When injured by an opponent, they tend to let out near-normal pained exclamations, or even something akin to a plea to stop. While splitting into either a melee or ranged form, they emit a horrified or anguished scream, which ultimately gets quickly cut off by or fades into the hisses of the emerging tentacles.

The mutations of a Fodder.

While a Fodder's form has practically little to no physical alterations compared to a standard Necromorph, it possesses the unique ability to split apart into two different forms, depending on what part of the body received the most damage. When the upper body receives significant damage, three pronged tentacles rupture out of the host's pelvis, destroying the torso. Upon damaging the legs, three projectile-shooting appendages will sprout from the torso for ranged combat and also to help with locomotion instead, destroying the remainder of hosts' legs and pelvis in the process.

Variants

Fodders have various appearances based on who the host was. The tools they wield also differ accordingly.

S.C.A.F. Legionary

These Fodders are made out of deceased S.C.A.F. Legionaries. Their hosts were equipped with green combat uniforms that covered most of their bodies, leaving only their arms open to the elbows. They are coated in blood and slime and they lack some skin on their faces, exposing face muscles. They wield a pair of crowbars or hatchets.

New Horizons Security Officer

This Fodder variant is a mutated version of a New Horizons security officer. They carry two retractable batons as well as retaining their host's armor, albeit covered in slime and lacking a visor. The head looks almost hollowed-out, with nothing but a patch of soggy skin that used to cover the host's face now holding a flood of viscous slime inside.

S.C.A.F. Navy Enlisted

These Fodders are mummified corpses of the crew pertaining to the fleet orbiting Tau Volantis. They retain their host's faded green uniform with the S.C.A.F. Navy logo on the left breast and shoulder area. Parts of the uniform are covered in dried blood and the right arm has an exposed area with fleshy bone. They carry a pair of hatchets. This variant also appears in certain parts of Tau Volantis.

S.C.A.F. Snow Scout

These Fodders are mummified S.C.A.F. snow scouts who perished either due to the conditions of the extreme environment or the purge. Their hosts were once wearing black-and-yellow thermal outfits with pouches, complete with crampons equipped on their footwear. This variant is by far the cleanest, being matted only with snow and with slime in their faces. They carry a pair of ice axes with brown handles and are found at S.C.A.F. camps and outposts on the surface of Tau Volantis.

Unitologist Soldier

These Fodders are reanimated, mutilated corpses of Circle soldiers. Just like with S.C.A.F. snow scouts, the only distinguishing element between this variant and non-infected corpses is the oozing facial features. Their kits give them a modestly bulky appearance, but otherwise do not provide any sort of meaningful protection. They carry with them a pair of ice axes with red handles. They do not use their rifles and are encountered only in places with a large amount of slaughtered Unitologist Soldiers.

S.C.A.F. Research Team

The S.C.A.F. research team variant is encountered only in the labs of the S.C.A.F. Science Division's mountain peak base. Their hosts once wore uniforms identical to those of snow scouts; however, their coloration is different, being of blue and white colours. A distinguishing Science Division emblem is located on the left shoulder. The kits also had hazmat masks that consisted of a simple glass visor and air filters. After reanimation, the visor part of their masks becomes broken, complete with bits of glass still lacing the bottom. Due to the insulated environment, the overflow of slime is allowed to set onto the clothing, unimpeded by the harsh weather, polluting it from top to bottom. They wield a pair of saws that were used to slice through alien specimens.

Enhanced Fodder

S.C.A.F. military personnel that were once issued with bulky Legionary Suits. Due to the highly insulated and enclosed condition the bodies were left in, advanced decomposition set in. Besides that, due to the aforementioned factors, the characteristic slime is forced to seep and burst through various bits and parts of the armor, notably concentrating at the top part their gas masks. Said masks are seen holding off the slime, although it is visible that the interior is most likely completely flooded, with the ooze partially protruding through the eye pieces. Besides being more resilient to damage in their enhanced reanimated forms, the suits also add further protection. This variant wields a pair of pipe wrenches which were most likely standard issue, in case machinery or pipes of sorts needed a quick repair.

Strategy

• Fodders do have a "blind" spot on their bodies, which is their pelvic area. Shooting it there won't allow it to split into either forms, killing it while also causing it to drop its weapons for TK attacks. One should note that this method is more ammo-consuming, however.
• Because of balancing reasons, Fodders are given invincibility frames when in the process of splitting, also locking them in whatever animation they were playing at the moment. With this in mind, one should be mindful of not wasting ammo and having to wait to fight the split form.
• It is recommended to aim for the legs when equipped with a heavy damaging weapon, since its ranged form is arguably the least threatening one.
• Blowing off a Fodder's arm and then severing a leg will kill it in most cases, albeit the chance of success is quite random.
• Fodders are extremely resilient to TK impalements from their own tools, so it's not recommended to throw a tool at one as it leaves the player open to other attackers while not being able to neutralize the Fodder and may even cause it to split.
• If there are other types of Necromorphs in an area, a weapon can be picked off a Fodder and used as a TK projectile.
• Stasis and melee attacks are an effective combination when facing a weakened Fodder, although there is a present risk of causing it to split into its melee form.
• Use a Force Gun (Heavy frame + Plasma core + default tip/ Mk 2 conic dispersal) while they are sprinting at you to launch them backwards, and while they recover from their fall, shoot them with a chain lightning gun (Heavy Frame + Tesla core + diffraction torus) upgraded with damage circuits. Normal Fodders die in one hit, even to the body, and enhanced Fodders die in one hit to the limbs or two hits to the body at impossible difficulty.
• The Force Gun and Military Engine are great for mowing down large groups of them.
• A decently upgraded Chain Lightning Gun (Heavy Frame + Tesla Core + Diffraction Torus) will instantly kill any Fodder type, even Enhanced ones, in a single hit to the body on all but the highest difficulty settings. The Fodder will break apart at the waist but will not transform, simply dropping dead on the spot while the chain lightning effect already deals damage to other nearby hostiles.
• Weapons with Acid or Fire attachments can dismember one in seconds.
• Line Gun-type weapons will quickly finish them off if their tentacles are exposed.
• A Rip-Core, especially an upgraded one, usually defeats them with little difficulty.
• Slasher blades will cut them in half instantly on Normal difficulty.
• A single Shotgun blast will kill a Fodder instantly without allowing it to mutate. Enhanced Fodders are much tougher and can withstand multiple Shotgun blasts even if the weapon has full damage, regardless of the difficulty level.
• If the player crouches and sits still, a Fodder's ranged form is unable to land a hit with its projectiles. One should be wary regardless, as it creeps ever so closer into melee range with each shot.
• A Military Engine with a Directed Suspension Field (a.k.a. Sub-Machine Gun tip) will make short work of any Fodder coming your way (tested on Hard difficulty, 2-5 bursts with no upgraded parts and circuits). Add a Flame Glaze or Acid Bath attachment to amplify the effectiveness.
• The Anchored Bolas (Tesla Core + Directed Suspension Field) or the shock from an Electrocution Module will kill Fodders without causing them to transform. Similarly, any weapon that can remove both legs at the same time (e.g. Shotgun, Line Gun/Bolas Gun variants, Plasma Cutter variants) can also kill them without triggering their transformation.
• A Seeker Rifle (military engine with sniper rifle barrel) that is upgraded to max damage can easily kill most Fodders with a single torso shot. Note: you should attach a secondary weapon to the Seeker rifle due to its low ammo capacity and fire rate.
• The most effective way for killing Enhanced Fodders (or any other Necromorph) is a MK V Seeker Rifle on top with a MK V Force Gun at the bottom on a S.C.A.F. Frame and MK V Stasis coating with MK V Stasis Amplifier as attachments. While the Force gun pushes back groups of them, it takes 2 shots to the body to take them down. Being fast is critical because after one high damaging shot, Fodders can quickly mutate themselves into horrific forms.

Trivia

Ben Wanat's early idea for the Necromorphs in the original Dead Space, which later inspired the Fodder.

Official Dead Space 3 Dev Team Edition flipbook, which refers to the Necromorph as Waster.

• The Fodder is based on a very early concept of Necromorphs by Ben Wanat, wherein an octopus-like parasite would wear a corpse like a suit. Upon being dismembered, the parasite would emerge as a mass of flailing tendrils in search of its lost limb. While this concept for Necromorphs was completely scrapped, it was eventually reintroduced as the Fodder.
• The Fodder can be compared to the alien creature from John Carpenter's The Thing, due to the fact that it somewhat resembles a still living human until it manifests inhuman appendages for offensive or defensive purposes, and the Fodder is also inhumanly resistant to damage.
  • Additionally, the Fodder's winter gear and clothing is very similar to the scientists from the film and its arctic setting. The ghastly light emitted from its face is also reminiscent of The Thing's famous poster.
• The glowing eyes and mouth of a Fodder are also similar to the hallucination of Nicole Brennan encountered throughout Dead Space 2 as well as the hallucinations of monstrous miners encountered in Dead Space: Extraction.
• Fodders are the only Necromorphs seen to use human weapons and tools along with the Shambler. The only other Necromorph form seen to attack using items from its surroundings as weapons was the Slug in the original game, which grabbed objects off of the USG Ishimura's hull and hurled them at Isaac.
• When Isaac ascends the cliffs of Tau Volantis, a Fodder can be heard and then seen using its own ice axes to smash into the ice in a snow cavern in an attempt to free itself after a boulder landed on its foot.
• When the corpse of a Circle member is reanimated into a Fodder, it discards its former firearm and proceeds to pull out a pair of ice axes.
• Should the player character fail the button sequence with a Swarm Infector, he will turn into a Fodder.
• The Fodders encountered in the Prologue do not sprout tentacles from their abdomen or their legs when dismembered. The Enhanced Fodders in the Disposal Services bonus mission also never split.
• When Fodders lose their upper bodies, their legs walk backwards, most likely to keep it from tumbling over while retreating.

Death Scene

Dead Space 3 - Waster Death

Waster - Fodder Death Animation (Different View) - Dead Space 3 (HD, 60 FPS)

• The Fodder will grab onto the player character, and if he doesn't fight off the creature, it will slice off his arm, knock him to the ground and proceed to beat him repeatedly with its tools.
  • If the player character succeeds, he will push the Fodder down and decapitate it with his foot. This does not guarantee a kill, however.
• If the player character is low on health, the Fodder will punch him over to the ground.
• If the player character is low on health and is hit by the tentacles of the Fodder, it will split him apart.

Gallery

Concept Art

Animations

A Swarm Infector converting a mummified S.C.A.F. scientist into a Fodder.

Melee form split.

Ranged form split.

Ditto, Legionary Fodder.

A ranged form unable to hit crouched Isaac.

Fodder death animation.

Screenshots