Devourer

This article is about the Shadowlands race. For other similarly-named creatures, see devourer of souls and Devourer (RPG).

Devourers are aberrations that hail from the farthest reaches of the Shadowlands^[1] and feed on the energies they find.^[2] They crawl forth from the cracks between the realms, usually through glowing blue rifts, and have a voracious appetite for anima.^[3]^[4]

Background

“The insatiable devourers scale the cliffs in search of sustenance. Soon they will swarm the plateau. They seek to consume all they encounter. The vessel. Its power. Us.”

— Saezurah^[5]

No one knows where the devourers came from,^[3]^[6] but it is theorized that they have their origins in the In-Between^[7] and that they flourish on several lost land masses there.^[6] According to Saezurah, an oracle of Zereth Mortis, the devourers once "had purpose" and were "made for balance", but they have since become "altered" and now instead pose a threat to the design of the First Ones.^[8] It's unclear if she's referring to all devourers or only the mutated ones in Zereth Mortis.

In recent times, the anima drought has fueled the devourers' relentless hunger, driving them to seek new sources,^[1] and all denizens of the Shadowlands see their recent boldness as a sign of the end times.^[3]

Devourers are attracted to the scent of anima like moths to a flame.^[9]^[10] Anima they consume gains some strange properties,^[11] such as the ability to open rifts to the In-Between^[12] and "infest" objects, causing them to glow with energy.^[13]^[14] Devourer bodies contain a liquid that resembles blood but is heavily infused with anima.^[15]

Devourers exist in various types and levels of power throughout the In-Between.^[16] So far, six variants have been seen: giant-like worldeaters or goliaths,^[17] who can drain anima from an entire region within a matter of moments;^[18] a slightly smaller, hunched version referred to as gorgers; small, flying insect-like creatures called mites or animites; two-legged, bestial scavengers or maulers; levitating, humanoid controllers, who are often seen maintaining rifts for other devourers; and giant, burrowing sandworms.

Devourers can be found infesting most of the main afterlives of the Shadowlands, most prominently Revendreth. Some even broke into Castle Nathria, drawn to Denathrius's abundant store of anima.^[19] When the Primus opened a portal to Zereth Mortis, devourers found their way into that realm as well and began consuming the magic of the First Ones, causing them to begin mutating and falling apart.^[20]

Devourer-infested locations

Ardenweald
- Elder Stand
Bastion
- Everdawn Commons
Maldraxxus
- Sepulcher of Knowledge
Revendreth
- The Banewood
- Catacombs of Regret
- Destroyer's Breach in Castle Nathria
- The Endmire
- Sanguine Depths
Korthia
Zereth Mortis
- Devouring Pit in the Sepulcher of the First Ones
- Genesis Fields
- Provis Esper
- Resonant Peaks
- Terrace of Formation
- Zovaal's Grasp
Other
- Shattered Grove

Notable

As a mount

Main article: Devourer mounts

As a companion pet

Animite Broodlings and Devourlings can be captured in pet battles in Korthia.
[Devouring Animite] is a reward from the mission Campaign: Charthox the Indomitable.
[Gnashtooth] has a chance to drop from [Supplies of the Archivists' Codex].

Notes and trivia

Inhabitants of the Shadowlands seem to generally view devourers as little more than animals; the Fearstalker calls them "vermin",^[4] Ta'eran calls them "mindless monstrosities",^[1] Xandria refers to them as "monsters" and "beasts",^[12] and they are considered "wildlife" for the purposes of the world quest [50-60WQ] A Curious Cache. However, at least one devourer, the Worldedge Gorger, is capable of speech (albeit only a single word).
Most devourers have the passive "Consuming Strikes" ability: Consuming Strikes — Consumes a portion of the target's essence causing melee attacks to heal the caster for 25% of the damage inflicted.
- For mutated devourers in Zereth Mortis, Consuming Strikes is replaced by "Unstable Infusion": Unstable Infusion — Attacks have a chance to apply additional Cosmic damage over time. Once weakened they may erupt, inflicting Cosmic damage to nearby enemies.
Prior to the addition of Korthia in patch 9.1, the only devourer found in the Maw was the Torghast boss Goxul the Devourer.
In a Game Informer article published just after BlizzCon 2019, the devourer-infested Endmire in Revendreth was described as a place "where creatures end up that have moved from realm to realm in the Shadowlands, twisted and misshapen as a result of the anima ending up in the wrong place".^[21] This seems to describe an alternate origin for the devourers that was scrapped during development.
Worldeaters use ettin animations, gorgers use gronnling animations, mites use nerubian flyer animations, scavengers use crawg animations, and controllers use matron animations.
The controller type strongly resembles the Collectors from the Mass Effect universe.
The sandworm variant has only been seen in mutated form in-game, though concept art exists of them in normal form.