Wikia

This article (Waster), has one or more disputed facts. Please visit the Talk Page for more info, and clean this page so it meets wiki standards.

Waster

Description:	Looks like a regular human until sufficient damage is inflicted upon it, at which point it reveals new appendages.
Attack(s):	Uses ice tools, hatchets, crowbars, police batons, surgical saws, or pipe wrenches as weapons. Upon losing upper body, uses pronged tendrils. If the legs are cut off first, projectile shooting appendages take their place.

The Waster^[1]is a Necromorph form encountered during the outbreaks on Luna and Tau Volantis. They are introduced during the events of Dead Space 3.

Overview Edit

The Waster uses a rather insidious disguise; they retain their hosts' clothing and overall silhouette, presumably allowing them to fool potential victims. The most immediately obvious change to their appearance is the foam in their eyes and mouth that emanates a ghostly yellow light. When it is dead, the foam stops glowing. They attack hosts using melee weapons they might have wielded in life, including ice tools, axes, saws, wrenches, crowbars, or batons. The Waster's body is heavily modified, and dismembering certain parts of their bodies can trigger horrifying transformations: When the upper body receives significant damage, the torso falls off, revealing three pronged tentacles growing out of the lower body. Upon dismembering their legs, projectile shooting appendages will sprout from the abdominal area for defense and also help with locomotion. Should the lower half of the body be destroyed, tentacles will spawn from the abdominal area from the upper body, though the existing arms will be used for movement, resorting to a crawl.

StrategyEdit

Due to the Waster's ability to split in half, it's recommended to aim for the legs first when equipped with a heavy damaging weapon since this will kill the Waster within one or two shots.
A single Waster shouldn't really be an issue for the player, even with a mutation, but when there are 2 or 3, do not underestimate them as when they all start to mutate, you can go from a simple situation to a rather sticky one with them attacking you from close and distant ranges. Wasters can be very ruthless and brutal when attacking in numbers so stasis could be recommended when dealing with groups of them.
It is advised that if there are more than 2 Wasters (with the torso cut decapitated) you should keep moving, as these little buggers can easily corner you
If there are multiple Necromorphs in an area, a weapon can be picked off a Waster and thrown at them.
Stasis and melee go well when facing a weakened one.
The Force Gun and Military Engine are great for mowing down large groups of them.
Weapons with Acid or Fire installed 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 Military Engine with a Directed Suspension Field (a.k.a. Sub-Machine Gun tip) will make short work of any Waster 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 Wasters 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.
Wasters are highly resiliant to every type of damage on higher difficulties, and should be treated as bigger threats than Slashers when encountered in groups.

TriviaEdit

Wasters are highly resilient to TK impales from any source, so using their own tools against themselves are ill-advised.
The Waster is the first Necromorph encountered in Dead Space 3.
A Waster is similar to a Divider in the sense that when damaged to a certain point, its body drastically changes to fit the situation.
Necromorphs have never been seen using human tools before. This indicates that either they are evolving and becoming more intelligent, due to their ability to arm themselves or holster their weapons at any moment of need, or the ice tools froze in their hands when they died during rigor mortis. The latter might not be the case, however, as when they are introduced in Dead Space 3, one of them picks up a hatchet after it tosses the weapon into one of its victims.
The sounds produced by Wasters are similar to spoken out words.
Wasters use a variety of weapons along with ice axes, including hatchets, crowbars, and large pipe wrenches, as seen in Chapter 1 of Dead Space 3.
Earlier during production, developers referred to this Necromorph as "Fodder". They are still called so in the "Axes High" achievement description.
- While explicitly stated in the description, kills with ANY Fodder/Waster weapon (crowbar, wrenches, pick-axes, etc.) will count toward achievement progress.
The Waster 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 Waster is inhumanly resistant to damage. Additionally, its winter gear and clothing is very similar to the scientists from the film and its arctic setting.
The Waster is the Necromorph that has the greatest resemblance to a human.
Fighting a Waster does not guarantee a transformation into its half-body form. Many will die without changing form.
Wasters seem to also be one of the only Necromorphs who can mumble something close to human speech, though the Exploders noises are unique as well.
The Wasters encountered in the Prologue do not sprout tentacles from their abdomen or their legs when dismembered.
Like the Slasher and some other Necromorphs, the Waster also has an enhanced form which looks more muscular, has a green pus oozing out of its body and onto its clothes and is more resistant to damage than the regular form.
The Waster's RIG has a small red bar at the bottom which is odd given all other infected RIGs are dead (same applies to some corpses).
When Isaac descends the cliffs of Tau Volantis, a Waster can be heard then seen using its ice axe to smash into the ice in a snow cavern in an effort to free itself after a boulder landed on its foot.
This is the only Necromorph Isaac turns into should he fail the button sequence with a Swarm.
The Waster will make an odd grunting sound that sounds closely to "You die!"
Interesting enough the Waster is the only first person view when the player should die by failing the button sequence.
When Wasters lose their upper bodies, their legs walk backwards.
The Waster is a very common enemy in Dead Space 3, even nearly outranking the Slasher.
The Enhanced Waster wears an altered Legionary RIG, the most notible difference is they wear a gas mask as opposed to the helmet.

Death SceneEdit

The Waster will grab onto Isaac, at which point if he doesn't escape the Waster will slice off his arm and proceed to disembowel him.
- If Isaac succeeds, he will push the Waster down and decapitate it with his foot. This does not guarantee a kill, however.
If Isaac is low on health, the Waster will sever Isaac's arm.
If Isaac is low on health and is hit by the tentacles of the Waster, it will split him apart.