Lambent Wretch

Lambent Wretches (also known as Dark Wretches) are a Lambent variant of the Wretch from the Gears of War series. They can easily be told apart from ordinary Wretches by their jet-black carapace and the visible yellow glow of Imulsion seen when their mouths are open. Wretches are also the only Lambent creatures to appear in every GoW game preceding Gears of War 4.

Overview
Lambent Wretches are Wretches that have been mutated by prolonged exposure to Imulsion. They behave in a similar manner to their non-Lambent cousins, but they are tougher and sneakier than the former, striking from the shadows rather than just the mindless rush of typical Wretches. The key difference between Lambent and standard Wretches is that the Lambent variety are prone to explode violently when fatally injured, as all Lambent do. Close-range combat against these creatures is foolhardy as doing so will likely result in the death or severe injury of human combatants.

Lambent Wretches were the first Lambent life-forms to be encountered by the COG, having been seen in battle during the earliest days of the Locust War. It has not been confirmed, but it has been speculated that the Locust have been able to train and rear Lambent Wretches as well as the standard types, but have had no such success with other Lambent creatures. The basis for this hypothesis is that Lambent Wretches have never been witnessed attacking Locust like other Lambent have.