Unggoy Heavy

Heavy
Function:	Combat support, defense, heavy weapons experts
Species:	Unggoy
Affiliation:	Covenant ; Jul 'Mdama's Covenant; Vata 'Gajat's mercenary group; Banished

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Heavy is a specialist combat role for Unggoy within the Covenant and its remnants.^[1]

Description

Covenant

Heavies are designated for the use of heavy weapons, turrets, and some vehicles.^[2]

Jul 'Mdama's Covenant

These Unggoy are used to engage high-tier enemies through the use of augmented armor, explosives such as the Type-33 fuel rod gun. This class is composed of experienced and formidable Unggoy warriors, who are often fully capable of engaging light armed vehicles effectively. Unggoy of this role are rarely encountered on the battlefield though.^[3]

Banished

Banished Unggoy Heavies were heavily augmented by machinery on Installation 00. Like their Covenant counterparts they focus on heavy weapon use. The Banished Unggoy Heavies are led by the Shadow Master of Buwan.^[4]

Equipment

Covenant harnesses

The original Unggoy Heavies wore distinctive sage-green armor, typically with a full-face methane breather and a cylindrical methane tank on their back, similar to the Unggoy Ultra. Their armor provided significantly more protection that that of an Unggoy Minor or Major but it wasn't nearly as strong as an Ultra's or a Special Operations Unggoys in terms of durability.^[5]

An Unggoy Heavy wearing the harness.

Slim-stock tank harness

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.^[3] 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.^[6]^[7]

An Unggoy Heavy wearing the Slim-stock tank harness.

Gameplay

File:1218481089 Heavygrunt.jpg

Stationed on a Phantom's side, this particular Unggoy Heavy shows one of the many duties of its rank: operating plasma turrets or heavy weaponry.

Unggoy Heavies are usually seen in conjunction with other Covenant infantry, operating as heavy support units and are usually operating heavy weapon systems such as T-42 or T-52 plasma turrets, Shade turret and fuel rod guns with deadly effect.

They will usually not flee from their position unless the player is too close or out of range of their weapon, in which case they will pull out a plasma pistol and attack like a normal Unggoy. They are easily dispatched using most tactics. Their armor seems to be slightly tougher than the average Unggoy, most likely to protect them from explosives and the possible backfiring of their powerful weapons. Unlike most Unggoy, it is strangely rare for Heavies to throw plasma grenades.

Note that the cannon is free for a player to use after taking out its operator. In Halo 2 an Unggoy Heavy must first deploy its plasma cannon before it can be used. If the Heavy carrying the plasma cannon is killed before it can deploy it then it cannot be used. This is not the case in Halo 3, since most of the plasma cannons encountered are already deployed, with the exception of a few. They can still be used even if they are detached from their tripod mount.

In Halo 3, Unggoy Heavies are seen utilizing many different heavy weapons and vehicles. They are commonly seen driving Ghosts and seem to be skillful drivers, especially on higher difficulties. Due to their low target profile, they are also much harder to kill in a Ghost from head on. Unggoy will attempt to ram enemies and will keep their distance from advancing foes. Unggoy Heavies may also work in teams on higher difficulties, in which case one rams a foe and another shoots the foe out of what they are driving. Usually, if they are not piloting a Ghost, they are manning plasma turrets or carrying a fuel rod gun. Like Special Operations and Unggoy Ultras, they are some of the most dangerous and tactical Unggoy. When not manning a vehicle or turret or carrying a fuel rod gun, Unggoy Heavies will usually use plasma pistols, but on higher difficulties they may use Needlers.

Trivia

The only time a non-Heavy Unggoy is seen deploying a plasma turret is in Halo 2 at the beginning of the level The Arbiter where a Special Operations Unggoy is carrying one. This is because the only Unggoy allies encountered in the level are Special Operations units.
In Halo 3, if a Heavy panics while carrying an undeployed plasma turret, it will wave the turret around in the air with only one hand. This is because Unggoy usually use small single-handed weapons, and no separate animation was created for Unggoy Heavies using turrets.
Unggoy Heavies are classified as Special Operations Unggoy in Firefight, whereas Unggoy Ultras are simply classed as regular Unggoy. Actual Special Operations Unggoy are only seen manning the side-mounted plasma turrets on the Phantoms. Something similar happens in Halo 4, where Unggoy Heavies are classified as Ultras by the Commendations along with some other enemies who have also been mislabeled.
In Halo: Reach campaign level ONI: Sword Base, Unggoy Heavies are seen with plasma rifles on higher difficulties.
On Halo Wars 2, Heavy Grunts are the opposites of UNSC's ODST where both are the elite units of their respective basic infantry unit.

Gallery

An Unggoy Heavy with a Type-42 plasma cannon in Halo 2.
Detailed view of an Unggoy Heavy from Halo 2.
An Unggoy Heavy firing a Type-25 Spiker on the mission The Ark in Halo 3.
An Unggoy Heavy in Halo 3.
An Unggoy Heavy operating the Type-52 plasma cannon on a Type-26 Wraith in Halo: Reach.
Two variants of the Unggoy Heavy in Halo 4.
A blue-armored Unggoy Heavy aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn.
An Unggoy Heavy, with a Sangheili Warrior and Sangheili Ranger on Requiem.
An Unggoy Heavy in Halo 5: Guardians.
An Unggoy Heavy and Unggoy Storm aboard a Type-57 Phantom.
A green-armored Unggoy Heavy.
The many colored-armors for Unggoy Heavies in Halo 5: Guardians.
Blitz card of Unggoy Heavies in Halo Wars 2.