That's one of those weird bugs! a Luminary!  |
Luminaries are the highest echelon of Scars. They are usually the scar leaders that control the entire hive. Luminary, Scar Tank, and Escari are sometimes interchangeably used. But they are different in their own aspects.
Etymology and Anatomy
Luminary gets its name from Luminary (A person who inspires or influences others). In this case Luminaries are the highest echelon on Scars, a transcended Escari. They are the ones to control and influence other scars to enter fights, usually on behalf of them.
Not all Escari are Luminaries, but all Luminaries are Escari. A Luminary is not the ochre colored tank seen during combat, instead, it is the scar inside the tank. This tank is usually a mech, simply referred to as a Scar tank.
No one knows how an Escari or a Luminary look like as when the scar tank is defeated, the scar inside it disperses into the tiny insects and return to their hives or nests.
There are 9 glowing lights on the front of their “heads” and a machine gun attached to it. 4 red spikes protrude on either side. This is balanced by two counterweights on the back of the “head”. The he dans the counterweights have a spacing of 120 degrees of angle.
A Scar Tank has four pneumatic jointed legs that provide support to it and move it around. The joints are covered by a metallic plate. Destroying these plates will reveal the weak points of the tank. The head is attached to the legs by a spine in the middle. They also have several spikes all over the tank, giving that distinct Scar-look to the tank.
Although Scar Tank and Luminary (or even Escari) are interchangeably used in this article, they are not all the same. An Escari or a Luminary uses a Scar Tank and controls it during a combat by placing itself inside the “head” of the tank as its pilot.
Narrative Involvement
Escari and Luminaries are formed when a scar “colony” reaches a certain critical mass. At this point, they become intelligent, and rather than taking orders, begin to give orders to other scars.
Several Luminaries appear throughout the game. The first Luminary ever to appear is thought by Arcanists to be Junkhead, found during the battle at Junkhead Basin. After that there was a war of the seven Luminaries. The fort had to be heavily defended against them during this time. It is known that they used Scar Tanks during the fight.
Sometime in 468 LV, several Escari Elders began surfacing. Voraxes the Swarming tried making deals with Outlaws to get intel on Fort Tarsis. Damaris the Escari wanted to get a relic called the Doomsday Relic to summon a creature that would destroy the walls of the Fort. Both were defeated by the Freelancer.
During the Season of Skulls, Scars had built an aerial base at Scar Fortress. This base was held high in the air by special balloons. When the Freelancer that contained the Heart of Rage was tasked with retrieving one balloon for the Sentinels, they encountered Occixus the Countless, who had to be defeated to capture the balloon.
Encountered Expeditions
At least one Luminary can show up in the below list.
The Temple of Scar Stronghold- Crafting the Dawn Shield (Mission)
- Research and Rescue (Mission)
- Overdue (Mission)
- Legendary: Lost Arcanist (Mission)
- Echoes of Reality (Conjunctions)
- Up, Up, and Away
- Great Falls Anomaly (Conjunction)
- Ring of Magnus Event (Skulls Version)
- Britaheim Event (Skulls Version)
- Crucible of Astrid Event (Skulls Version)
- Casja's Forge Event (Skulls Version)
- Diana's Landing Event (Skulls Version)
- Castle Kelrik Event (Skulls Version)
- Sea of Takaro Event (Skulls Version)
Encounter Locations
The following places are all the locations where Luminary can be found, either physically or in the lore. They may not be always found there, but have a high chance of being found in these locations.
Behavior and Abilities
Scar Tanks can be used to do several attacks by Luminaries:
- Machine Gun: Scar Tank’s main weapon is a Machine Gun with a high rate of fire.
- Missile Projectiles Cannon: Scar Tank’s cannon can send out high-explosives of missile rounds.
- Seeking Rockets Salvo: Scar Tanks can send out Seeking Rockets at all javelins inside the arena.
- Flame Jet: Scar Tanks can send out a burst of flame if javelins get too close to them.
- Stomp: Scar Tanks can stomp on nearby javelins using her pneumatic legs.
Hidden Attributes
Scar Tanks have one hidden attribute:
- Laser Sight: Luminaries points a laser at one javelin in the arena and sends out high-explosive missiles.
- Multi-Laser Sight: Luminaries can target every enemy when their health is low and launch missiles at them.
Strategy
A Luminary spawns through gates towards the end of a battle. It is always a high-priority 
target enemy.
- Special Weakness to Armor: Armor Buster, Fire, Acid
- Special Resistance to Armor: Shield Breaker, Lightning
Overview
A newly spawned Luminary always begins with an unintelligible noise before beginning the fight.
A Luminary fires at its Foes
The most important thing to remember is that a Scar Tank’s weak points are covered by a metal plate of. They become visible only when this plate is destroyed. In total, there are 4 weak points on the joints of each of the pneumatic legs and one on the tank’s “head”. When these weak points are severely damaged, fire gushes out of them.
When each plate is exposed and weak point damaged, the Luminary will collapse for a short duration, giving opportunity to do more damage to it without receiving any.
At regular intervals of depleting their health, Luminaries drop ammo and repair packs. Use these resupplies to replenish your javelin.
Combat
Luminaries can lock onto their targets using Laser Sight and launch missiles. These missiles are launched through pods that can be damaged. The more damage done to these pods, the fewer missiles they release.
Because of their machine gun, they can strike their enemies with sustained damage. They can also stomp on nearby foes to stagger them, then release a burst of fire on them or lock onto them using laser sight. This would be a cue to escape to a safer location.
Taking cover while fighting a Luminary is a good strategy, especially the ones that can be used to avoid the line of sight. Targeting the plates on the weak points will open them to dish out more damage to the Luminary.
Damaging the Luminary with anti-armor weapons or gears will shorten the duration of the fight.
At low health (about 25%), Luminaries can enter a new mode where they can lock on and target multiple foes simultaneously. In this case, the best strategy is to use a javelin’s ultimate and finish it off.
Every Named Luminary
There are several named Luminaries that appear throughout the game. Most of them are called Elder Escari:
- Scelos in the Stronghold The Temple of Scar
- Damaris the Escari in Research and Rescue
- Voraxes the Swarming in Overdue
- Occixus the Countless in Up Up and Away
- Rust Reaver in Legendary: Lost Arcanist
- Riftmaster in Diana’s Landing event of Echoes of Reality during Season of Skulls
- Junkhead
Trivia (May Contain Spoilers)
- Luminaries and Escari like to collect Corium inside scar tanks.
- A Scar tank is usually named as “Luminary” during fights.
- The ability names are taken from the Anthem Prima Guide and datamined files. They may have been slightly modified to avoid confusion with other in-game names.
Gallery
