Suicide Unggoy

Suicide Unggoy
Covenant Banished
Function:	Performing suicidal explosive attacks on enemy personnel, vehicles, and structures.
Species:	Unggoy
Affiliation:	Covenant Jul 'Mdama's Covenant Merg Vol's Covenant Banished

Sergeant Major Duvall: "Romeo Company, be advised: we have reports of Covenant suicide squads."

Army trooper: "You gotta be kidding me..."

— UNSC personnel encountering suicide Unggoy during the Fall of Reach.

Unggoy infantry sometimes use suicide tactics as their mode of attack, either out of their own volition or due to specific orders to carry out such attacks; units consisting of the latter are commonly known as suicide Grunts or simply suicide squads.

History

Mainline Unggoy infantry in service of the Covenant and its splinter factions occasionally employ suicide attacks as an act of desperation, often upon the death of their leader, running at the enemy carrying a pair of ignited plasma grenades. Specific Unggoy squads, however, were tasked solely with such tactics in mind. Such "suicide squads" either used plasma grenades or were fitted with special plasma-ignited methane tanks on their harnesses for the sole purpose of igniting them near opposing forces and structures.

Examples of suicide Unggoy deployments during the Human-Covenant War include the Harvest campaign, the Battle for Arcadia, the Battle of Trove and the Fall of Reach. According to his UNSC target profile, Ripa 'Moramee frequently used Unggoy in this role.

Simulations of the Battle of Draetheus V in 2554 indicate the use of suicide squads by Merg Vol's remnant of the Covenant. Simulations of the conflicts on Installation 03 and in New Phoenix in July 2557 likewise indicate the use of Unggoy suicide bombers by the reformed Covenant led by Jul 'Mdama.

The suicide Unggoy in service to the Banished are drawn from thrall colonies, where the absence of the environmental hazards of the Unggoy homeworld Balaho, as well as the lack of Covenant oversight, has led to a dramatic increase in the numbers of violently aggressive individuals. The Banished have thus adapted existing indoctrination protocols to turn these Unggoy into legions of suicide bombers. Such squads were used during the Second Ark Conflict in 2559.

Gameplay

"Beware the shiny hiney."

— Jeff Easterling on suicide Grunts.

An Unggoy Minor preparing to suicidally charge the enemy.

FPS games

Occasionally during combat in Halo 3 and all subsequent Halo first-person shooters, Grunts will enter a suicidal stage. If their leader is killed, Unggoy may sometimes activate two plasma grenades and rush to the player in an attempt to suicide-bomb them. Headshots can easily deal with them if spotted quickly, but if in large numbers, or if the player does not notice them until too late, they can be a devastating force. They are seen attacking head-on only at ONI Alpha Site where the Suicide Grunts are used in the initial assault inside the structure. If they are killed close to other Suicide Grunts, their dropped plasma grenades may result in impressive chain explosions. In Halo: Reach, killing a suicide grunt before it pulls out its grenades will allow the players to pick up the two plasma grenades that they carry.

Halo Wars

Suicide Grunts in Halo Wars are a special unit available only if the Arbiter is the chosen leader. They cost 160 resources, 1 population slot, a tech level of 1, and can be built at the Covenant citadel. Although they are only armed with Plasma Pistols, their ability to explode (toggled using the 'Y' button by default) makes them effective against vehicles and structures.

They can receive the following upgrades:

• "Zeal": Speed boost while in suicide mode. 500 resources and a tech level of 2.
• "Defile": Suicide explosion does extra splash damage. 800 resources and a tech level of 3.

Spartan series

Grunts perform suicide attacks during certain scripted sequences in Halo: Spartan Assault and Halo: Spartan Strike, often attacking in large waves. As in the rest of the series, it is preferable to dispatch them from a distance with precision weaponry, particularly the magnum (in both games), the battle rifle (in Spartan Strike), or utilizing Machine Gun emplacement. The explosion effect can also aid the player if nearby enemy infantry, such as Jackals or Elites, are caught off-guard by it, and, if lucky, it may also destroy enemy armor as well. The player can also try to avoid the Suicide Grunts' plasma grenades (or at least one of them) by quickly moving backward after meleeing them. One can attempt to calculate the maximum range of the melee attack in order to avoid damage from the plasma explosion further since sometimes the player has to melee them as part of Weekly Challenge Assault Ops. If the player catches a Suicide Unggoy that has not made its suicide charge yet, it will still result in an explosion due to game mechanics.

Suicide Grunts during Siege of Faraday and Escape From Faraday will mainly ignore the player as their main objective is to breach and destroy the objective that the player was assigned to defend.

Halo Wars 2

• Info: Anti-infantry, Deadly in numbers, Cannot attack air
• Tier: 0
• Cost: Population 2, Supplies 80, Power 40
• Suicide Grunt upgrade: New "Recruits"
  • Info: Increases squad size
  • Tier: 3
  • Cost: Supplies 0, Power 600

Unlike their Halo Wars counterparts, suicide Grunts in Halo Wars 2 have no weapons. They can be built at the Raid Camp by all Banished leaders besides Yapyap. Unupgraded Suicide Grunts do well against infantry, okay against structures, poorly against vehicles, and cannot attack aircraft. Once "New Recruits" has been researched Suicide Grunts will perform well against structures and okay against vehicles. In Blitz, suicide Grunts cost 60 energy and (unlike in other modes) can destroy aircraft. Using Huragok is one of the most lethal combinations since the player can spawn an endless number of Suicide Grunts through constant healing. An exploded Suicide Grunt will not harm its nearby allies.

Trivia

• Depending on how far away they are, the player occasionally doesn't need to kill Suicide Unggoy who charges them. It is only if they get close enough to be a threat does a player has to actively deal with them.
  • Exception is where there were enemies nearby, which can be utilized to lighten the workload.
• In the Halo: Reach level Exodus, at least on lower difficulties, the player will encounter a squad of Suicide Unggoy that activate their grenades and charge from so far away that if the player hangs back, the squad will kill themselves without getting close enough to be a threat.
• If the Mythic and/or Tilt skulls are activated, a Suicide Unggoy in Halo 3 and Reach may survive its own explosion. Having dropped its weapon, it will be unable to attack, with the exception of throwing grenades.
• Catch Skull increases the chance of the Grunts performing a suicide attack once the squad leader is down.
• In Halo Wars, Suicide Unggoy cannot be infected by the Flood, unlike regular Unggoy units.

Gallery

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  Covenant Suicide Unggoy in Halo Wars.

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  Closer look in-game in Halo Wars.

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  Another closer look in-game in Halo Wars.

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  Closeup of a single Suicide Unggoy in Halo Wars.

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  Banished Suicide Unggoy in the Halo Wars 2 Open Beta.

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  Blue Suicide Grunts used in Halo Wars 2 marketing.

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  Model of the Suicide Grunt for Halo Wars 2.

List of appearances

• Halo 3 (First appearance)
• Halo Wars
• Halo 3: ODST
• Halo: Reach
• Halo 4
• Halo: Spartan Assault
• Halo: Spartan Strike
• Halo 5: Guardians
• Halo Wars 2
• Halo: Legacy of Onyx (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Fireteam Raven
• Halo Infinite