Ing

The Ing Horde are an evil race of beings native to Dark Aether, and are the arch-nemeses of the Luminoth. After having fought the Luminoth for decades of war, they defeated them, leaving them all in stasis tubes at the Great Temple. However, after Samus Aran came to Aether, she eliminated their kind.

The Ing fought in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes are mostly warrior Ing, as pictured. They are fought best from Light Crystal globes, or once the Dark Suit and Light Suit are recovered, simply from anywhere. Ing are very large. Two boss variations called the Jump Guardian and Boost Guardian exist. The Light Beam works very well against them.

When Ing are still larvae, they are constantly in danger and travel in swarms to lessen this threat. As such, they grow to be agressive and hateful of all other living things, making perfect soldiers. Ing Larvae are not common around Dark Aether, and can only be encountered in the Ing Hive, although other swarms probably also exist around other global locations.

The head of the Ing Horde is the Emperor ing, who resides in the Sky Temple. The Emperor Ing has numerous weapons that he can use in self-defense, although powerful creatures and nine keys guard his abode. The Emperor is the keeper of Dark Aether's primary energy source. The Emperor rules a militaristic society that ranks all Ing based on the functions they can perform. Thus, Ing come in all sorts of types.

Warrior Ing are the basic soldiers of the Horde. They are somewhat powerful, exercising fusion attacks, along with various kinetic offensives and dark energy-based laser blasts. The Warrior Ing can also transform into blobs of black goo that can slide across surfaces and up and down walls. Warrior Ing have only one eye, and are quite vulnerable to Light Beams.

The Ing also retain elite to help in destroying specific enemies of the Horde, called Hunter Ing. Hunter Ing are very different in physiology from Warrior Ing, in that they have only four tentacles which intertwine in a mass of wires around a red sphere, which is the body. Hunter Ing cannot use energy-based attacks, but instead whip at enemies with their tentacles and shift in and out of the current timespace, attacking enemies from another dimension. In this form, they can be tracked with the Echo Visor, and are quite difficult to lock on to due to their constant movement and teleportation out of the timespace. Hunter Ing can be found in Torvus Sector, Dark Torvus, and on the Sky Temple Grounds.

When faced with large amounts of enemies, the Horde depends on the Ingstorm, tiny Ing that float in the air as a poisonous gas and kill everything in sight. Luminoth are easily eradicated by Ingstorm, although these small aliens can only be found in the Ing Hive and on the Sky Temple Grounds. The Light Suit can protect Luminoth, and Samus, from Ingstorm, but otherwise, the small creatures cause massive amounts of damage.

Of course, not all Ing are used as soldiers to attack the Luminoth. Some, like the Inglets, are worker drones who labor for the Horde, carrying around vital materials and essentials for the soldiers. When attacked, Inglets can defend themselves, although their attacks are somewhat pathetic, and they can be destroyed easily. Inglets can, like Warrior Ing, shift into a liquid state and flow around areas. They are easy to destroy by Luminoth, and Samus as well.