Unggoy combat harness

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This article is about Unggoy armor. For other uses, see Combat harness (disambiguation).

An Unggoy Minor in his combat harness.

The Unggoy combat harness is a type of body armor and environmental suit issued to the Covenant's Unggoy warriors.^[1] It provides basic protection from hostile fire and the elements and is also equipped with a breathing apparatus for the Unggoy.

Description[edit]

Breathing apparatus[edit]

The gas is stored in extremely cold tanks inside the suit, and is provided to the user through a breathing mask that covers over half of the alien's head. The backpack attached to a Grunt's back contains a methane tank. Attached to every Grunt's wrist is a readout (measured in Covenant units) of the amount of methane left in the Grunt's pack.^[2] When the tank gets low, a resupply of methane must be found quickly or the Grunt will suffocate. The suit also displays the color of the Grunt's rank. The breathing mask of the Unggoy also makes speech difficult for them, as it muffles their words.^[3]

Jul 'Mdama's Covenant has altered the Unggoy combat harness. Unggoy Storms have had the standard rebreather replaced with a nose-placed rebreather resembling the diving apparatuses used on Balaho.^[4]

Unggoy employed by the Banished make use of a variety of armors, some inspired by suits from the Harvest campaign, some from the time of the Fall of Reach, as well as new designs necessary for their unique troops.^[5]^[6]

Defense[edit]

In addition to its life support role, it is equipped with armor. This armor can withstand limited amounts of fire, especially from energy weapons. The M6D magnum is capable of easily cracking through the armor and is considered by some to be the standard weapon for such actions.^[7] The armor piercing rounds of the MA5 series are also potent weapons against the harness. As well as defending against projectiles and plasma, it prevents a limited amount of fall damage to its user, like its Sangheili counterpart. Despite this, most variants are vastly inferior to the other types of armor adorned and used by the Covenant, no doubt due to the costs required to produce the suits for the extremely large population of Unggoy soldiers. Some variants are also equipped with helmets, active camouflage, a methane-filled breathing apparatus, methane fueled thrusters, and even energy shielding.^[8]^[9]

Types[edit]

Note: Most of the labels in the following list are descriptive rather than official.

Point tank: This variant of harness is used by Unggoy of nearly all ranks and roles. Notable ranks and roles to use this harness are Unggoy Minor, Unggoy Major, Unggoy Ultra, Unggoy Heavy, and Special Operations Unggoy.

One type of point tank harness.
Another type of harness with a pointed tank.

Curl tank: This variant of harness was used by Unggoy Minors, Unggoy Majors, and Special Operations Unggoys.

Curl tank.

Two-pronged tank: This variant of harness is used by Unggoy Majors and Unggoy Ultras. Special Operations Unggoy use this variant also but opt to use full face protection.

Two-pronged tank.
Two-pronged tank with breathing mask.

Cylinder tank: This variant of harness is used by Heavies and Ultras. Heavies opt to wear a rebreather that covers the face, and Ultras use helmets.

Cylinder tank with breathing mask.
cylinder tank with helmet.

Imperial harness: The harness used by Imperials in Jul 'Mdama's Covenant was also issued to some troops during the Human-Covenant War,^[10] and is more resilient than the Unggoy Storm version. The helmet is a heavy armor faceplate which protects the whole face. The methane tank resembles Balahoan octopoda.^[11] The harnesses have been seen in orange, red, green, silver, and blue.^[8]

Imperial harness.

Slim-stock tank: The Heavies of Jul 'Mdama's Covenant wear a helmet with full-face protective rebreathers, enhanced optical sensors with optics articulators, and ultra-dense battle harnesses that has a slim-stock tank with analog eye sockets of Unggoy predators. The harness is issued in orange, blue, silver, green, and magenta.^[12] The combat harness also allows for the Heavies to use the methane tank as a makeshift thruster pack, allowing for easy access in various terrains.^[8]^[9]

Slim-stock tank.

Wide-stack methane supply harness: The Unggoy Ranger harness has a wide-stack methane supply tank with an EVA thruster pack on it, this allows the user to freely navigate low-to-zero gravity environments. The helmet has a twin-filter rebreather so the wearer does not suffocate in the harsh environments.^[11]

There are two versions of the Unggoy ranger suit, both of which cover the entire Unggoy body and have hock-mitigators on the feet. The version with a more smooth surface is designed to withstand extreme temperatures, low-to-zero gravity, and other rigors found in the vacuum of space. The second version has more layers.^[11]

The smooth surface EVA-rated suit.
The version with more layers.

Unggoy Storm harness: In a effort to increase field of view, the Unggoy Storm helmet includes a nose-placed rebreather somewhat resembling the diving apparatuses used on the Unggoy homeworld of Balaho. The harness has a pressurized methane tank, with a filter actuator to help keep the tank working.^[11]

The harness is issued in orange, blue, violet, green, yellow, and red. The harness also allows for the Unggoy to use the methane tank as a makeshift thruster pack, allowing for easy access in various terrains.^[8]^[9]

Unggoy Storm harness.

Deacon outfit: Deacons wear tunics and pointed helmets mixed with the standard point tank harness.

Deacon outfit.

Artifact retrieval harness: Unggoy attached to artifact retrieval groups are given a harness with two tubes on their back. Heretic Unggoy in Sesa 'Refumee's heretic faction wore these when they rebelled against the Covenant.

Harness used by artifact retrieval teams.

Plasma-ignited methane tank harness: This harness is specially made for Suicide Unggoy.

Plasma-ignited methane tank harness.

Mule harness: This harness employed by the Banished Unggoy Mule features full head protection, as well as a weapon rack attached to the backpack to allow quick retrieval of the weapons transported by the wearer.

Mule Harness

Trivia[edit]

In Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST the methane mask can be knocked off. However the Grunt will continue fighting despite its sudden lack of a methane source.
There appears to be no visible way for the methane to reach the Grunt's mouth, since the mask and the air tank are completely unconnected. It has been theorized that the methane is transported to the mask through slipspace, which has been hinted to be used in smaller Covenant devices such as in their weaponry.^[13]

Gallery[edit]

'Curl-back' Unggoy at the ready in Halo: Combat Evolved.
A Heretic Unggoy's suit in Halo 2.
An Unggoy Minor in its combat harness in Halo 3.
The standard methane breathing face mask in Halo 3.
An Unggoy combat harness in Halo Wars.
The Suicide Grunt combat harness in Halo Wars.
The Halo: Reach variant of the standard methane breathing mask.
The Special Operations Unggoy combat harness in Halo: Reach.
An Unggoy Storm's combat harness in Halo 4.
Two variants of the Unggoy Heavy combat harness in Halo 4.
Red and Blue variants of the Unggoy Imperial combat harness in Halo 4.
Combat harness for Special Operation Unggoy Ultras in Halo 2: Anniversary.
An Unggoy Bodyguard's shields flaring in Halo 5: Guardians.
Unggoy Storm, Heavy, and Imperial in their respective combat harnesses aboard a Mikpramu-pattern Phantom.
An Unggoy Ranger combat harness in Halo 5: Guardians.
An Unggoy Imperial using its methane thrusters on Attack on Sanctum.
Unggoy Conscripts, an Unggoy Assault, and an Unggoy Mule wearing different harnesses in Halo Infinite.
A Banished Unggoy Bouncer and Unggoy Conscript wearing combat harnesses in Halo Infinite.
Unggoy Bouncers shields flaring in Halo Infinite.
A Heavy/Special Operations helmet as the Low Profile Target emblem.
The DOKKAEBI-class helmet with the AweSpex attachment is made to resemble an Unggoy Heavy/Special Operations helmet.
An Unggoy combat harness in Fall Guys.