The Cabal

Brutally efficient and unrelenting, the Cabal are the greatest known military force in the system. 

Their origin is as much a mystery as their end game, but it is said they have conquered more planets than the Guardians have charted, and they are preparing for annihilation. 

While they are massive in size and well-protected by heavy armor, they can be made to bleed.

Cabal Detachments: Sand Eaters, Dust Giants, Siege Dancers, Bone Crushers, Sky Burners, Ice Reapers.

The Fallen are a broken race of scavengers, the Vex are unfathomable, and the Hive are pure darkness.

The Cabal are none of these things. They are a sophisticated military culture, armed, armored, and organized for conquest.

Though they are physically imposing, do not mistake them for unintelligent or slow giants. They are a calculating and dangerous fighting force.

It is fortunate for humanity that they are mired in a conflict with the Vex on Mars, for they view the solar system as simply one more in a long line of victories, one that you must stand against.

The Cabal respect nothing but pure strength on the battlefield. Show them yours.

Cabal Weapons

Cabal deal pure Solar damage with a single exception: the Psion’s psi blast attack inflicts Arc damage.

Weak Points

All Cabal units are weak to precision headshots.

Legionaries are the most commonly encountered Cabal troop type. Equipped with the Cabal’s standard-issue Slug Rifle, Legionaries tend to stick to a medium distance, hammering you with fire from range.

Legionaries do make use of cover, but because they are so physically large, they are often easier to target (particularly with headshots) unless the available cover is large enough to fit their increased bulk.

While Legionaries move fairly slowly, they are equipped with jump packs that allow them to cover long distances very quickly.

They often use these jumps to escape an unfavorable situation or (more threateningly) to jump over your cover and flank you.

Be wary of Legionaries armed with the Projection Rifle. This rapid-fire explosive weapon makes any Legionary wielding it a serious threat that you should deal with swiftly.

Tactics

Legionaries are easy targets, so aim for headshots as often as possible to dispatch them swiftly.

Be wary of their jump jet movement. As long as you maintain sufficient distance from a group of them, they cannot easily flank you, but if you are fighting in an open environment, they can and will use their jump packs to bypass your cover and surround you.

Avoid getting pinned into a firefight with other Cabal units while jump jet-capable troops are present. If you stay in place while Legionaries leapfrog to your flanks or rear, you can quickly find yourself in a losing battle.

One quirk compared to the other races’ basic units: because of their larger size and tendency to use their jump jets, it is somewhat more difficult to land a devastating grenade, rocket, or super move on a cluster of Legionaries. They are rarely clumped together in large groups, unlike the lesser minions of other races.

Behavior

Phalanx units are basic Legionaries trained in the use of a heavy combat shield. This shield gives them full frontal protection while deployed, and it cannot be destroyed with conventional weapon fire.

If you shoot a Phalanx and miss, or hit its shield, it raises its shield and defends while blindfiring over it in your general direction. While blindfiring, Phalanx units are less accurate, but shoot more quickly.

Phalanx units do trade out their jump jets to make use of their shields, so they are a less mobile threat than Legionaries or Centurions.

Tactics

You can damage Phalanx units from the front. If you aim carefully at an exposed limb blindfiring at you, or move to flank them even slightly, you can often hit their sides.

Working with your Fireteam makes Phalanx units much easier targets. Have one player draw their attention, then flank and finish them off with rapid headshots.

You can also damage them from the side with explosives, or simply use a super and smash through their defenses.

Behavior

Armed with the lethal Projection Rifle, protected by a Solar shield, and equipped with jump jets, Centurions are a serious threat.

Centurions are tougher, more dangerous Legionaries. Their shields make them a tougher nut to crack, and when combined with jump jets, they are aggravatingly durable at long range, where they can continuously jump behind cover.

Besides their shields, Centurions are most often armed with a Projection Rifle, and the continuous bombardment of explosive Solar energy from a Centurion is a serious threat.

Be aware that Centurions can also come equipped with a Slug Rifle. When armed in this manner, they are faster and more accurate than their Legionary underlings.

Tactics

While the general behavior of Centurions is similar to Legionnaries, their improved durability and increased weapon lethality make them considerably more dangerous.

Bring Solar-powered weaponry or spammable abilities to knock down their shields. If you give them any time to recover, they will quickly use their jump jets to get behind cover, regenerate their shields, and resume pounding you from a distance.

If you can keep your distance, picking off the ready headshot-friendly targets in the area and leaving Centurions for last is possible. However, in combat situations where you cannot disengage, you must eliminate them quickly. Don’t hesitate to burn a super or Heavy Weapon shots on Centurions if the opportunity presents itself.

Behavior

The Colossus is a seriously dangerous enemy. Armed with a heavy rapid-fire weapon, the Colossus can tear an unprepared Guardian apart in seconds if you get caught in the open.

Besides their primary weapon, Colossi can also launch seeking rockets at distant targets in cover, forcing you to relocate or get hammered by the explosive barrage.

Finally, if you find yourself at close range with a Colossus for some reason (not a great place to be!), they have a 360-degree ground slam that can deal heavy damage.

Tactics

Despite their strengths and their danger, they do have one major weakness: mobility.

Colossi are slow and lumbering, even for Cabal troops. If you can manage to stay at long range and hammer their heads with pinpoint shots, you can take them down before they have a chance to make their presence felt.

However, in any situation where other Cabal forces are engaging you and a Colossus is allowed to roam freely, you must constantly be aware of its location.

Even if the Colossus doesn’t have a direct line of sight for its Heavy Slug Thrower, it can still bombard you with rockets from a distance. If you have poor cover, these can easily force you to relocate.

Using your supers and Heavy Weapons on a Colossus the moment it shows up is a very good idea. On higher difficulty levels, get your entire Fireteam to focus fire and down these adversaries as quickly as possible.

Behavior

Psions are rapidly moving, sneaky combatants, preferring to remain at a distance and hide behind cover, where they fire with greater accuracy and speed once bunkered down.

This alone would only make them a minor threat, but they also have the power to launch a massive wave of psychokinetic Arc energy toward you. This wave deals heavy damage, and getting blasted by it is very easy if you ignore a Psion while you are occupied with other Cabal forces.

Psions are nimble fighters, and they provide a marked contrast to the giant and easily hit Cabal forces. You must pay a bit more attention to spot and pick off Psions with headshots at range.

On Mythic difficulty, Psions gain a Void shield. This seriously increases their threat level, since now they are durable and have their psi blast to inflict serious damage. Bring a good source of Void damage to deal with them, as letting the nimble Psions retreat repeatedly to recover their shields can make them a nightmare to fight.

Tactics

Psions are more difficult to spot and hit than the other Cabal, but they make very distinctive sounds. Keep your ears open to avoid getting smashed by an unexpected psi blast.

Because of their psionic shockwave, Psions are a dangerous target to melee. You can get in close and pummel them, but if there are multiple Psions present, it isn’t uncommon to engage one at point-blank range and have a second nearby Psion blast you.

You can, however, evade the psionic blast. It shoots across the ground, crawling over low cover, but if you jump in time, you can avoid the damage entirely.

Behavior

Anywhere on the surface of Mars, you can expect to encounter these Cabal troop transports. Arriving with a barrage of Solar fire from their turrets, they quickly deploy combat-ready Cabal forces onto the battlefield.

Harvesters typically only bombard you with turret fire while they are deploying troops, but they may remain on the battlefield during certain encounters, continuing to pound your Fireteam with supporting fire.

Tactics

It’s possible to destroy the Harvester’s turrets. If a Harvester has deployed its troops and remains on the battlefield, you must eliminate its firepower to engage the Cabal safely.

Because the Cabal are packed together and vulnerable for a moment as they deploy, this is an ideal time to hit them with an explosive weapon or super move. Just don’t expose yourself to too much turret fire, and be aware that an overly aggressive play can leave you in a very bad situation if you don’t eliminate all of the deployed forces.