Covenant¶

Grunt¶

Grunts are the cannon fodder of the covenant forces. Small, weak and without any kind of protection, you can head shot them right away for an instant kill. As they are weak, their strength comes with their numbers and you’ll rarely encuounter one in a group of less than four. They often will run away if you kill an elite in the same general area or you thin their numbers out enough. They normally are armed with plasma pistols and freely throw plasma grenades however on the odd occassion they can also be in possession of needlers or the covenant Fuel Rod Cannon.

Suicide Grunt¶

Like the above grunts, the suicide grunts can be easily put down with a single head shot. They will however charge at you with a pair of activated plasma grenades in their hands and explode when they near you. Simply shoot them before they arrive to nullify the threat. They don’t make a lot of noise and can sneak up on you at times, so remain vigilant and use that radar to avoid any unwelcome surprises.

Shield Jackal¶

The Jackals, similar to grunts are fairly weak and can be killed instantly with a head-shot. The problem with the shield jackals is that they have that big blue shield for protection. These guys often will advance towards you whilst providing enemies behind them such as grunts and elites with moving cover from which they can shoot you. To kill them we need to take the shield down, to do this quickly and effectively, shoot their gun hand on the left hand side of the shield. This will stun them temporarily and they will drop their shield for a moment.

Alternatively, hitting them with a plasma overcharge from the plasma pistol will destroy the shield. Grenades will also have them diving out of the way, dropping the shield for a few moments as well. Whilst they are distracted, use that opportunity to give their noggin a floggin’! They are usually equipped with plasma pistols and unlike the grunts, they will use the overcharge feature which will instantly strip your shield if it hits you.

Sniper Jackal¶

As mentioned previously Jackals, similar to grunts are fairly weak and can be killed instantly with a head-shot. The sniper variety do not have shields at all but will sit on ledges and target you with beam rifles and covenant carbines with a great deal of accuracy and will subsequently cause a great deal of damage. A single shot to the head will kill these guys, but the real challenge is to spot and kill them before they are able do too much damage to you.

Elite¶

The elites are the Covenant equivalent of Spartans. They have an energy shields that protect their bodies which will recharge after a few moments. To kill them you will need to strip their energy shields before shooting their exposed body to kill them. As the top tier of the covenant forces that you will come across they have access to all kinds of weapons. Their most common weapon is the Storm Rifle, however they can also wield the Concussion Rifle, Needlers, Fuel Rod Cannons and do enjoy a bit of plasma grenade tossing.

Elite Commander¶

As with the standard elites, the commanders have a bigger, more bad-ass looking set of armor and a much more resilient energy shield that will absorb more hits before being removed. Additionally, when angry, or just because they feel the need, they will pull out an energy sword and charge at you. if they hit you, it will kill you instantly, so either take them down in a hurry or sprint in the other direction until you can get enough distance between them to be able to take them out.

Hunter¶

Hunters are the largest of the enemies that you will come across in the game and you will always encounter them in pairs. They are heavily armored and are equipped with a giant shield in one hand and a Fuel Rod Cannon in the other. If you get too close, they will attempt to lunge and shield bash you. Additionally if you stay too far from them, they will fire off their explosive and deadly Fuel Rod Cannon.

To kill them, you will need to shoot their weak spots which happen to be located in the center of their backs. To reach it, either uses something like a sticky detonator or grenades to cause an explosion behind them, or alternatively (and much easier) lure them into lunging at you, dodge their attack and unload on their weak spot with any weapon you have (a shotgun would be the weapon of choice though!).

Prometheans¶

Crawler¶

Crawlers are probably the most common enemy you will encounter in the entire game and are small, dog-like creatures that hunt in packs. Crawlers can climb walls, hang from ceilings and are very fast moving. They can attack you from a distance with its equipped boltshot or will come in close to lay down a melee attack or two. Crawlers can be killed by a single shot to the head and can also be summoned into the battlefield by Watchers.

Crawler Snipe¶

The Crawler snipers are essentially the same as the regular crawlers. How they differ is that they are equipped with the Binary Rifle, the Promethean sniper rifle so instead of moving up to attack you, they will remain at a distance. They can be distinguished from the regular crawlers by the color of their heads.

Whereas the regular crawler has an orange glow, the snipes have a red glow. If you notice the red glow increasing in size, that means it is charging a shot, so try to quickly get into cover before it can let it loose on you. like the regular flavor, the snipes can be dispatched with a single head shot.

Crawler Prime¶

This variation of the crawler is slightly more armored and can be identified by the presence of spikes on its back. It is also equipped with a Promethean suppressor.

Knight¶

Knights are the elites of the Promethean forces and can be very intimidating at first. During battle, they can open their armor and release watchers which are subsequently able to summon crawlers. The knights can use a short range teleport to escape from immediate danger or to move to a more advantageous position. They are usually equipped with the Suppressor or the Light Rifle.

Knight Commander¶

Knight Commanders are essentially the same as the regular knights although they don more durable armor and equip more powerful weapons such as the Promethean incineration cannon. This variety of knight is also able to summon auto-turrets which will keep you on the ropes and running for cover.

Knight Battlewagon¶

Perhaps the silliest named of any of the enemies in the game, the Battlewagons are recognizable from other knights by the set of glowing orange crystals emanating out from above their heads. They act in an almost identical fashion to normal knights in that they can teleport and summon Watchers. They however have slightly more armor than their standard counterparts and are almost always in possession of the Promethean shotgun - the scatter shot.

Watcher¶

Watchers are flying Prometheans that act primarily as support units. In addition to being able to shoot at you with their bolt shots, Watchers can summon crawlers, revive fallen knights and create blue hardlight shields on enemies to prevent you from damaging them. If you are fighting Prometheans and you see watchers flying around, it is a good idea to try and take them out before focusing on the other enemies in the area.