Gnaar

SS3
SS:TRE
SS:TGE
IHRB

Gnaar

General information

Type

Trained war animal

Affiliation

Mental's Horde

Individual information

Health

30 (SS:T male)
40 (IHRB normal variant)
50 (IHRB tier 1 variant)
60 ((SS1, SS:XB, SSHD, SSVR & SSCR male & IHRB tier 2 variant)
75 (SS3)
90 (SS1, SS:XB, SSHD, SSVR & SSCR female)
180 (SS:T female)

Attacks / weapons

Bite/punch (3.5) (other games except for SS:DD & SS:DD:XXL), (10) (SSBD), (20) (SSBD elite variant)
Rocket (IHRB tier 2 variant)

Size

8 ft (2.4 m) standing

Game information

Point value

40 (IHRB normal variant)
60 (IHRB tier 1 variant)
80 (IHRB tier 2 variant)
200 (male, other games except for SS:DD & SS:DD:XXL)
300 (female, other games except for SS:DD & SS:DD:XXL)

Experience

6

Designed by

Admir Elezović (all games except for SS:DD, SS:TRE, SS:TGE, SS:DD:XXL, SSBD, IHRB & SS:T)

"You ought to be more careful, you'll put an eye out!"

―Sam after ripping out a Gnaar's eyeball.^[src]

The Gnaar is a common enemy that has appeared in every Serious Sam game except for Serious Sam Advance.

Overview

Gnaars are a race of bipedal omnivorous mammals from the planet Sirius. They are not very intelligent or organized, but were trained by Mental to attack opposing forces. Like Kleer Skeletons, they are one of the commonly occurring enemies in Mental's Horde.

Appearance

Gnaar in-game — The Gnaar in *Serious Sam 3: BFE*, showing a much different appearance than its *Serious Sam 1* counterpart.

The Gnaar's appearance varies greatly throughout the series:

In Serious Sam 1, there are two types of Gnaars, male and female; females are larger and stronger than the males and are a more greyish-brown color; males are smaller and much weaker in comparison. Both genders have a single large eye in the center of their body, just above the large gaping mouth. In this installment and the Xbox, HD and VR remakes, Gnaars move around on two legs just like humanoids.
In Serious Sam 3: BFE, the Gnaar's design is a lot different than their classic counterparts, and move around on all fours in a similar manner to an ape by using their large upper arms and hands as a second set of legs, giving them a very good speed, even if it appears clumsy.
In the Serious Sam Fusion version of Serious Sam HD, Gnaars have been given updated running animations, as well as a slight change in appearance.
In Serious Sam: Double D: XXL, armored variants of Gnaars exist. Their armor will bounce off bullets and projectiles such as lasers. However, they still can be damaged with things like flames from the 0-4377 Flamethrower or attacks from behind.
In Serious Sam's Bogus Detour, two other Gnaar varieties exist; the Elite Gnaar and Infected Gnaar. These variants are much tougher than normal Gnaars, and often require different tactics to be able to defeat them.
In I Hate Running Backwards, Gnaars use the same design as the Serious Sam 3 version, though the tier 2 Gnaar has a more purple coloration which is similar to that of the Serious Sam 1 male Gnaar.
In Serious Sam: Tormental, three variants of Gnaar exist, the regular Gnaar, female Gnaar and Gnaar Baby. They are green creatures with a single eye in the center. They don't have arms and also have two horns coming from their head. The Gnaar Baby is much weaker in comparision.
In Serious Sam 4, Gnaars resemble their Serious Sam 1 versions, though this time they have a more realistic design and a slightly muscular build. Unlike the previous games, they can either stand upright or run on all fours. They also have different coloring for males and females; females are more of a greenish color, while males are greyish-pink.

Occurrence

In most games, Gnaars are usually the first enemy the player encounters, and often appear on the first level of every game they are in.

In Serious Sam: The First Encounter, Gnaars are common enemies, with males appearing more frequently in the early levels than females. Nearly-invisible Gnaars occur quite frequently as well. In Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, females appear more often, though males are very rare, only appearing in the Tower of Babel, along with levitating Gnaars. Nearly-invisible Gnaars are completely absent in The Second Encounter, though they do appear on Serious difficulty.

In Serious Sam 3: BFE and Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE, Gnaars are seen in the first level of the game. Sam first encounters one on a rooftop of a building after falling out of his helicopter, and proceeds to rip its eye out. Throughout the level, more Gnaars appear, either as individuals or in small groups. Later on during the campaign, Gnaars appear more frequently, where they are usually accompanied by tougher enemies, though they are absent in The Guardian of Time, the final level of the game, and instead are replaced by stronger forces.

In Serious Sam: Tormental, Gnaars first appear in Mental's Forest, along with Gnaar Babies. Female Gnaars have a much rarer chance to appear.

Behavior and skills

Gnaars are not very intelligent creatures, and will charge straight towards the target when they notice them. They will continue charging, even when shot. A Gnaar's primary (and only) attack consists only of throwing punches at its target. This attack is slow, easy to avoid, and one of the weakest attacks in the games. Some Gnaars have the ability to retract their limbs and float around, using bites to attack instead of punches. In rare cases, Gnaars can turn almost invisible.

In most Serious Sam games, the Gnaar will flinch for a brief moment after taking sufficient damage, then continue pursuing the player afterwards.

In I Hate Running Backwards, while regular Gnaars and their tier 1 variants use melee attacks, the tier 2 Gnaar has a chance to spawn with a rocket on its back. These Gnaars will fly in a straight line at the player from the bottom of the screen. They are relatively easy to avoid, provided that the player strafes in the opposite direction before the rocket Gnaar hits.

As Gnaars are omnivorous in nature, they will feed on pretty much any organic matter they can get to, from rotting garbage to human corpses.

Tactics

Serious Sam 1

While an individual Gnaar is relatively easy to dispatch, they often attack in groups.
The Gnaar can be easily dispatched with the Double Barrel Coach Gun, Military Knife and P-LAH Chainsaw at close range. The male Gnaar can be killed with one shotgun blast from the 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun, but two shells are required for females.
Levitating Gnaars are more dangerous in the HD and Fusion versions as their attacks can damage the player even if they are simply backing away.
Care should be taken with levitating Gnaars as they can appear from any direction and attack without warning. Their telltale grunts and growls are a sign of their presence.
With other enemies, Gnaars are a low-priority target. Their attacks do not do much damage and can be easily dodged.

Serious Sam 3: BFE

The Gnaar can be killed with a Melee Grab when it is not throwing a punch. Sam will grab the Gnaar and rip out its eyeball. The eyeball can then be thrown as a weapon to inflict minor damage, or dropped on the ground. The melee grab requires a couple of seconds, making it impractical for groups.
To save ammunition, groups of Gnaars can be taken out with the Sirian Mutilator.
Against groups, the Sledgehammer is an ideal weapon, as it can kill multiple of them in one hit. Normally moving back and forth while swinging the Sledgehammer suffices and is faster than the coach gun.
With other enemies, Gnaars are rather low-priority targets as they don't do much damage and can be dodged fairly easily. The exception is if they block more dangerous enemies like Beheaded Kamikazes and Kleer Skeletons, in which case they can become medium or even high-priority targets.
Gnaars cannot hit a constantly retreating player.
Both types of shotguns or the M29 Infantry Assault Rifle can dispatch several Gnaars with ease.

Serious Sam: Double D

The Gnaar's swat attack can be avoided by simply either jumping over them or running away from them. They need to be right next to the player before they use their melee attack, and as long as the player is constantly moving, it will be unable to attack the player.
Gnaars are handy for being used as bases for the Jump Pad or for escaping or jumping over pits.
Pretty much any type of weapon and gunstack combination will work against the Gnaar because of its low health. The only weapon that can be risky are explosive weapons such as the LM32 Rocket Launcher or MadDog Grenade Launcher, as the Gnaar can get close enough that the explosion from an explosive weapon can harm the player when it kills the Gnaar.
The Insane-brand Chainsaw is not a good idea to use against Gnaars if the player wants to use them as platforms, as the Chainsaw will gib them.
Multiple Gnaars can be dealt with just like a single Gnaar can. The same weapons can also be used because of their low health.
Gnaars are a low-priority threat when paired with other enemies. It is harmless as long as the player is walking and/or jumping, which happens very often as the player needs to be constantly moving in order to dodge other enemy attacks. In addition, the Gnaar's health is low enough that it can be killed in the crossfire between the player and other enemies.

Serious Sam's Bogus Detour

The Pistols are effective against lone and small groups of Gnaars, as their health is very low.
The shotgun and Thompson submachine gun are effective weapons against medium-sized groups of Gnaars. The shotgun can hit multiple of them at medium range, while the Thompson's high rate of fire and decent damage allows it to quickly kill the Gnaars.
The XL2 Lasergun and XM214-A Minigun work well against large groups of Gnaars.
The sledghammer is also effective against Gnaars, as it can hit several of them at once.
Explosive weapons are recommended to use when encountering a very large group of Gnaars. The lasergun is also effective if it has the Overcharged Laser upgrade.
Elite Gnaars are more dangerous than their normal counterparts. As such, stronger weapons are recommended for killing them.
When encountered with other enemies, Gnaars are low-priority targets, as their attacks can be easily avoided.
While Gnaars are easy to avoid, the player should make sure that they don't surround him/her, as their attacks deal a good amount of damage and can kill the player if they are not careful.

I Hate Running Backwards

As Gnaars have moderate health, their health is just high enough to be able to barely leave it alive from most heavy-hitting secondary weapons. The best ways to deal with Gnaars is to try and get them caught up in the chain reaction explosions of Kamikazes, then finish them off with a primary weapon.
It is not recommended to use secondary weapons against Gnaars, as this can be considered a waste of ammunition.
Use the hammer against lone Gnaars to knock them back if there are too many of them. It won't kill them outright, but can knock them back far enough to finish them off the next time they come too close.

Serious Sam: Tormental

Regular Gnaars are easy to kill; it only takes a few Pistol shots to kill one. Serious weapons such as the Boomerang, Electric Shotgun, Mini Cannon and Shotgun are very effective against groups.
Female Gnaars are much more dangerous due to their larger size and higher health. As such, bombs and serious weapons are needed to quickly take them out.

Behind the scenes

Gnaars were very different in the beta. They were supposed to have one "finger" just for stabbing smaller creatures in nature. They were also supposed to fire some kind of acid slime. They even had different eyes and teeth. There is an extremely rare texture from early 1998 in red color that might be a leftover from In the Flesh or an earlier version of the male Gnaar.

Related achievements

Serious Sam 3: BFE

File:Ophthalmologist.jpg

Ophthalmologist

Remove 10 Gnaar eyes.

Serious Sam: Double D: XXL

File:Ceiling Slaughter.jpg

Ceiling Slaughter

Kill 10 Gnaar on ceiling spikes in Amethystine Depths

File:Gnaar-body's Fool.jpg

Gnaar-body's Fool	10

Kill over 50 Gnaar in a single level

Serious Sam Fusion

File:Ophthalmologist SSF2017.jpg

Ophthalmologist

Remove 10 Gnaar eyes.

Trivia

Several Gnaars appear as NPCs or Easter eggs in the series. There are two Gnaars in Serious Sam 2; George B. Gnaar and Johnny Lee Gnaar. George works as a news reporter for GNN Live, while Johnny is a street perfomer. In Serious Sam's Bogus Detour, there is a Gnaar called Mr. Buttersworth, who can be found as a secret in Path of Feast / Fear.
Gnaars appear in a cutscene near the end of Valley of the Kings in Serious Sam: Xbox. Here, they can be seen filming Sam multiple times to mess around with him. He eventually kills them and destroys their recording equipment.
Serious Sam: Next Encounter and Serious Sam 2 are the only games in the franchise that Gnaars appear in where they are not encountered as enemies.

Gallery