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Rakks are flying creatures native to Pandora. They have a flat, fleshy head ending with a pointed snout, with a brightly colored and bony plate on the top. They have hooked, rasping barbs lining a soft, slit-like mouth on the bottom. Rakks do not have grasping claws or lower limbs, and instead have a set of curved and razor-sharp talons upon a flexible tail that they use to adhere to rocky surfaces.
Quick Answers
What are the physical characteristics of a Rakk?
How do Rakks adhere to rocky surfaces?
What is the social structure of Rakks like?
Are Rakks native to Pandora?
What is the role of scouts and hive in Rakk's hierarchy?
Background
Rakks appear to be highly social creatures with a task-based hierarchy that includes scouts, hive defenders, food processing, and perhaps even long-term food storage. This is similar to honeypot ants on Earth. They are known to be vocal, howling or screeching to rally a flock when a target presents itself or proves itself to be a threat. They also emit a screech at the moment of their slashing attack.
While some rakk live in caves or roost underneath natural stone arches, other rakk live in a hive. These hives are massive creatures that often slumbers below ground with its top exposed to the surface.
General Strategy
Rakks can swoop down and use their tail to lacerate their targets without losing speed, letting them quickly gain altitude and set up another attack run. Like all creatures, there are badass variants which have elemental properties and will often try to bomb enemies with ranged elemental attacks rather than employ the usual diving slash.
Rakks have a large target profile and no critical spot to exploit, however they are extremely fragile and almost any weapon can be used to dispatch an individual rakk fairly quickly.
Vault Hunters would do well to be wary of rakks patrolling the sky. If an attacking flock of rakks isn't promptly detected it can be deadly at lower levels, and devastating at higher levels. However, it should be noted that not every flock of rakks will attack without provocation and that it is occasionally best to leave them alone.
Rakk Types
Borderlands
Borderlands 2
Borderlands 3
- Rakk
- Scorpion Rakk
- Needler Rakk
- Corrosive Rakk
- Shock Rakk
- Bloated Rakk
- Irradiated Rakklesnake
- Badass Chromatic Rakk
Notable Rakks
Notes
- While Borderlands presents the word "rakk" as both the plural and singular form, certain NPCs can be heard saying, "Didja hear? We lost Jess to the rakks." Borderlands 3 consistently uses "rakks" as the plural.
- Despite their aggressive behavior, it is inferred that rakk are scavengers as well as predators. For example, Baron Flynt tells the Vault Hunters in an ECHO communication that their rotted bodies "will be nothing more than food for rakk" when the Salt Flats are entered for the first time.
- Rakk often spawn from dormant rakk hives half buried in the ground, but are also known to inhabit burrows well above ground level.
- Bloated and Feeder Rakk drop sniper rifles more commonly than any other type of gun.
- When a rakk is Phaselocked by Maya in Borderlands 2, it will fall to the ground when released.
- In True Vault Hunter Mode, their names change to "Sky Hunter".
Trivia
- According to the Borderlands manual, rakks are called the "Pigeons of Pandora" because they’re everywhere, don’t taste very good, and any place they stay for a length of time becomes covered in droppings. But unlike pigeons, rakks are not afraid of humans and have been known to kill adults and carry off small children. A popular children’s movie on Pandora tells the story of a child kidnapped by rakk and raised as their own. In the movie, the child eventually returns to human society where he rejects people with all of their ridiculous folly and triumphantly flies off into the sunset with his rakk friends by his side. Contrary to fiction, all of the children carried off by rakk have been killed and eaten, and none has ever been taught how to fly.
- Rakks have a symbiotic relationship with rakk hives. They roost within the porous hide of the rakk hive, while the Rakk Hive gains protection from other predators, even when hibernating.
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