Do I lose out on loot if I let Shell Walkers reattach their cargo?

Solution 1:

From experience, no. It might seem like a crate on the ground, left behind by the Shell Walkers is apparently more valuable than the ones that are carried, but I believe that's just random chance. I have not found anything about the loot spawned in the crates.

However, what I do know, and what I can verify is that if the crates are actually destroyed, (either by attacking the crate itself, or meleeing the Walker to 0HP) the loot is then lost.

If the crate is destroyed, nothing can be recovered from it. Meleeing the machine with the crate on top will almost certainly yield no additional rewards.

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