Bestiary

Brutes

1. When you destroy its power armor, a Brute’s head is its principle weak spot – a single shot from a precision weapon guarantees an immediate kill. Accuracy is everything if you are using a Magnum, though – if you hit a Brute’s shoulder (which can happen fairly frequently), the impact will spin it around, making a follow-up shot difficult until it turns to face you again. You can score quicker Brute takedowns with sniper weapons by aiming exclusively for the head.

2. No matter which weapon you use to remove the power armor, it’s prudent to have a Magnum, Battle Rifle or Carbine in reserve to end the exchange with a headshot – Brutes can endure massive damage to their bodies before they fall.

3. If a Brute’s lower body is unprotected (as is the case with some varieties, and with all types when the power armor is destroyed), you can drop them briefly to their knees by shooting one of their legs with certain weapons – particularly the Magnum, Shotgun and Sniper Rifle. A point-blank Shotgun blast can achieve this even when the power armor is still active. While a Brute is stunned, you can finish it off with a headshot or grenade tag. (You should note, however, that this does not work on berserk Brutes.)

4. Rank-and-file Brutes are equipped with a wide variety of weapons. Spike Rifles and Brute Shots are the most common, but you’ll also encounter many Brutes that favor Plasma Rifles, Carbines and, later in the game, Maulers. They throw Spike Grenades frequently, and will intelligently use them to flush you from cover.

5. Brutes use bone-crushing melee attacks at close range, which can disable the Chief’s shields in a single blow on Legendary.

6. Don’t forget that a single melee attack to a Brute’s back is an instant kill.

Brute Chieftains

1. The power armor used by Brute Chieftains is stronger than that used by other Brutes, so you’ll also need to shoot their helmets off before you can end a battle with a headshot.

2. Unlike other Brutes, you cannot stick grenades to the bodies of Chieftains, and they’re quicker to dive when you throw explosives. To kill them in this way, you need to aim specifically for their weapon. A Plasma Grenade stuck to a Chieftain’s Gravity Hammer or Plasma Turret can result in an instant kill – but it’s an art that few players will master. Additionally, the Needler – that usually trusty Brute killer – is practically useless against them.

3. Brute Chieftains don’t become pack leaders via civilized political intrigue and careful canvassing of grassroots support – these are unrelentingly vicious warriors, the physical elite of the Brute race, so you’ll find they are extremely strong, aggressive and agile. You’ll need to backpedal furiously if they charge, and ideally find a suitable hiding spot if you lack weapons capable of stopping them in their tracks quickly.

Brute Minors are similar to the standard blue-armored Brutes, but weaker.

Brute Minors

Extremely strong senior pack members, Brute Captains can even survive being “stuck” with a Plasma Grenade on Legendary.

Jump Pack Brutes are difficult to track while in motion, but they tend to stay in one position when they land – which is their principle weakness.

Don’t fight Brute Stalkers in the open – find a safe hiding spot, and try to pick them off one by one. Shooting them reduces the efficiency of their camouflage.

Any Brute can potentially go berserk at any time. Arms outstretched, they’ll aim to bludgeon all enemies in sight to death, and may fire their weapons wildly as they charge. The quickest (and most advisable) way to stop them is with a headshot.

Chieftains

Chieftains armed with a Gravity Hammer will run inexorably at the Master Chief, swinging their weapon as they draw near; attacks where they strike the ground also cause “area effect” damage. If you’re quick and remarkably accurate, you can stick a grenade (Plasma or Spike) to the Gravity Hammer for an instant kill.

The Plasma Turret’s sheer rate of fire means that it’s often difficult to get a clear shot at the Chieftain wielding it. Battles against these foes tend to be protracted unless you have powerful weaponry at the ready – it’s often patience, rather than remarkable instances of skill or bravery, that enables you to beat them.

The blast radius of shots from the Fuel Rod Gun makes this type of Chieftain extremely dangerous, so being able to take refuge behind solid cover is essential. As with Chieftains armed with Plasma Turrets, beating them is generally a matter of wearing them down without taking any risks.

Grunts

1. A single headshot from a Magnum, Battle Rifle, Carbine or either of the sniping weapons will immediately topple Grunts of all types. Smart Spartans will always have one of these at the ready for this very purpose.

2. Grunts can be surprisingly resilient on Legendary, as you’ll find if you attempt to tackle a group of them with automatic weapons such as the SMG, Spike Rifle or Assault Rifle. Every second spent shooting at a Grunt’s torso is a window of opportunity for one of his Covenant allies to expedite your return to a previous checkpoint.

3. The backpacks worn by Grunts can be destroyed, but there’s no tangible benefit from doing so deliberately (unless, of course, you derive a certain sadistic satisfaction from it).

4. The majority of Grunts carry Plasma Pistols, but some wield Needlers; the latter should generally be your first choice targets. Lest you momentarily forget, Grunts are also prolific in their use of Plasma Grenades. The trick to avoiding these (in addition to being vigilantly watchful, of course) is to listen for audio cues. Chatty Grunts can’t help but foreshadow certain actions, and often thoughtfully provide spoken clues as they pull an arm back to throw. Even if they don’t, the distinctive hissing of a primed Plasma Grenade is your prompt to be elsewhere, quickly.

Rarely encountered on lower difficulty settings, yet fairly common on the Legendary, grey Grunt Ultras are a hardier breed than their cousins clas in other colors.

Jackals

1. The shields carried by certain Jackals are impervious to many weapon types, particularly those used by Marines, though the Plasma Rifle and charged Plasma Pistol shots can temporarily disable them. Shield-bearing Jackals are not individually very dangerous (unless holding a charged Plasma Pistol shot at the ready – look out for the distinctive green glow), but dealing with them safely can often slow your progress to a crawl.

2. The firing embrasure on a Jackal’s shield is a small yet significant weak point. If you don’t have a Plasma Pistol or Plasma Rifle, firing a Battle Rifle or Magnum at this gap can cause sufficient damage to send a Jackal reeling backwards, creating a brief opportunity for a headshot.

3. A single shot to the head with a precision weapon (such as the Magnum, Carbine or Battle Rifle) is the quickest way to kill a Jackal, but it’s a challengingly small target to aim for. As Jackals can withstand a surprising number of direct hits on Legendary, we suggest you perfect the art of Jackal-felling headshots as soon as you can.

4. Jackals move extremely quickly. When they start sprinting, it’s better to focus your attention on another target, rather than wasting ammunition on an unlikely headshot.

Armed with Carbines or Beam Rifles, Jackal snipers will become the bane of your life in certain Legendary battles unless you first methodically pick them off from a safe position. Aim for the head – ideally before they have noticed your arrival.

Drones

1. Drones are, in terms of physical endurance, probably the weakest members of the Covenant military ranks, but their sheer weight of numbers and maneuverability make them deadly when encountered in swarms.
2. Drones use Plasma Pistols and Needlers, with the latter variety being particularly dangerous. Surviving a Drone swarm is generally a matter of finding the best possible cover, then darting out to pick off targets of opportunity before retreating once again.

Drones are vulnerable to melee attacks at close quarters, even when flying.

Hunters

1. When a Hunter lunges at you, dodge to the left. As they always lead with their left arm (from your view, on the right-hand side of the body; the one bearing the fearsomely solid shield), this is the easiest way to avoid harm.
2. While the small patch of writhing pink flesh is a sufficiently large target for expert marksmen to hit, you should note that you can destroy the armor on the upper portion of a Hunter’s back more quickly by sticking grenades to it.
3. As well as an eerie glow, you’ll notice that there’s a distinct sound effect that can be heard as a Hunter’s weapon is powering up. This warning will often save your life when you are fighting two Hunters at once. If you’re supremely confident, you could try to repeatedly engineer situations where one Hunter will inadvertently shoot his partner while aiming for you, in order to achieve an impressive no-shots kill.

Infection Forms & Carrier Forms

1. Individually, Infection Forms are barely worth the effort it takes to shoot them (as long as there are no bodies, dead or alive, that they can take control of, that is). As a swarm, though, they can strip your shield in the blink of an eye on Legendary, and make it very hard to find effective cover. Automatic weapons and the Flamethrower are the best way to destroy them.

2. There’s a degree of strategy to how you deal with Carrier Forms. Knocking them over is easy; dealing with the Infection Forms that emerge after the blast, less so. When you’re given the opportunity to safely avoid Carrier Forms and move on before you’re forced to destroy them, do just that – dispatching the tenacious Infection Forms is a big drain on your ammo supply. On other occasions, you can use their explosive nature to your advantage to disrupt the charge of massed hordes of Combat Forms.

Combat Forms

1. Forget headshots: the torso is the weak spot on a Combat Form. You should aim specifically for the regions marked here on the three different types, as killing the Infection Form located inside the chest cavity will stop them immediately. Quantity, not quality, is the true danger posed by this variety of Flood.
2. Combat Forms are not truly “dead” until their body has been destroyed, as they can otherwise be reanimated by a nearby Infection Form. Make sure you destroy prone Combat Form bodies with melee attacks whenever the opportunity arises. (Carrying a Flamethrower around purely for this purpose works well too.)
3. Combat Forms may carry many different weapon types, with those that wield Brute Shots, Shotguns and Magnums often being the most dangerous. You can actually destroy their arms to cause them to drop carried weapons, but it’s generally advisable to just knock them down in the most direct way possible. As Combat Forms use fierce melee attacks at close range, you should keep moving at all times when you face them.

Pure Forms

1. The “Stalker” uses melee attacks when close to the Master Chief, but is rarely a threat unless faced in large numbers. This is the weakest and least dangerous variety of Pure Form – kill them in this guise every time you have a chance to do so, as they’ll be swift to move away and transform into other, far more annoying forms if you don’t.
2. The “Ranged” type is deeply irritating, and thoroughly deadly when left unchecked. You can force it to stop firing temporarily by making a few shots at its “mouth” area with a ranged weapon. This will usually give you sufficient time to get closer to use a Flamethrower, Shotgun or melee attack. If you’re having difficulty telling when they’re dead, here’s a tip – they generally topple over to one side when fatally injured.
3. The “Tank” spits out Infection Forms as it lumbers forwards, and can be astonishingly robust unless you have the right weapons to deal with it. If you don’t have a Gravity Hammer, Energy Sword or Flamethrower, aim for its face – this is its weak spot. As a fringe benefit, shots that hit that area also tend to stun it momentarily.

Sentinels

Sentinels only briefly feature as adversaries in Halo 3. As in previous episodes, they’re vulnerable to plasma-based firearms, and their broken shells can be collected and used as the Sentinel Beam weapon – something they’re also weak against.