Bodyguard (Covenant)

A Jiralhanae Bodyguard with a leader power armor.

Bodyguard is a specialty role in the Covenant. They serve as bodyguards for high-ranking leaders and other Covenant political figures.

Overview

Bodyguards are responsible for the protection and defense of high-ranking officials in the Covenant as well as for the enforcement of tribal law and/or military law.

By species

Jiralhanae

Bodyguards are responsible for the protection of their pack's Chieftain and other Covenant political figures as well as for the enforcement of tribal law and/or military law. Whenever there is a Chieftain nearby, one can expect to encounter Jiralhanae Bodyguards, which look very similar to Captains.

Jiralhanae Bodyguards wear leader power armor colored a pale silver-blue with a red-colored undersuit. They to favor Covenant weapons such as the plasma rifle and carbine rather than their own native technology, but they have been seen wielding the powerful and deadly brute shot and the mauler. Bodyguards are equipped with a bubble shield for additional protection and regenerators to heal themselves in combat, on the battlefield. Jiralhanae Bodyguards utilize power drains to interfere with all electronic equipment and the energy shields that belong to hostile forces.

During the Battle of Installation 00, some Jiralhanae Bodyguards served as the High Prophet of Truth's personal protectors, presumably replacing Jiralhanae Honor Guardsmen whom most were killed by John-117 while attempting to repel the Spartan from Anodyne Spirit during the Scramble onboard Forerunner Dreadnought.

Unggoy

The Bodyguard role can be also held by the Unggoy within the Covenant. Most notably, Bipbap, one of most dangerous Unggoy known by the United Nations Space Command, was once a a bodyguard for high-ranking officials within the Covenant, such as the Chieftain of the Jiralhanae, before joining the Banished.

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  Bipbap the Vinqusher, a former Covenant Unggoy Bodyguard.

Main article: Unggoy Bouncer

Unggoy bodyguards serving within the Banished are also known as Unggoy Bouncers, to which this role is available only by special appointment. Banished leaders can make use of them to protect the clan's leaders and assets, making both the greatest risk and holds the greatest prestige of any Unggoy role within the Banished and requiring only those willing to lay down their lives and guaranteeing sacrifices with ample remunerations for those in the bouncer's family. Those Unggoy wear the same ultra-class combat harnesses as standard Unggoy Ultras, albeit equipped with personal energy shields.

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  An Unggoy Bouncer.

Gameplay

Brute Bodyguard

Jiralhanae Bodyguards are usually seen wielding Paegaas Workshop Spikers, plasma rifles, Covenant carbines, maulers, and occasionally Brute shots for greater range. Despite its resemblance to a Jiralhanae Captain's armor, a Bodyguard's light, pale blue Power Armor is actually only around the same strength as a Jiralhanae Major's. On Heroic and Legendary, it only takes 1 beam rifle or sniper rifle shot to destroy their power armor, while 2 shots are required to destroy the power armor of a Jiralhanae Captain of any rank. On Heroic difficulty, it takes roughly 29 MA5C assault rifle bullets to kill a Jiralhanae Bodyguard; 10 shots to drop their shield, and an additional 19 shots to kill them.

Jiralhanae Bodyguards almost always carry one piece of equipment; a power drain, bubble shield, or regenerator. They seem to overwhelmingly favor the regenerator, often using it to support their Chieftain by helping to rapidly recharge his shields.

When encountering a Jiralhanae pack that is led by a Chieftain, it is standard Jiralhanae tactics for the Jiralhanae Minors/Majors to advance on the player while the Bodyguards hang back to protect the Chieftain, even going so far as to move into the player's line of fire to shield the Chieftain with their bodies if he starts taking gunfire from long range. If the Chieftain retreats (such as during the final encounter in The Storm), the Bodyguards will also fall back with him while the remaining Unggoy and Jiralhanae remain behind to delay the player's advance. Jiralhanae Chieftains are typically accompanied by 2 to 4 Bodyguards.

Jiralhanae Bodyguards can quickly dispatch the player's shield with plasma rifles and maulers. Their power armor is highly susceptible to plasma-based weaponry, with the plasma rifle and the plasma pistol's overcharge shot greatly exemplifying this. As with other power armor, once disabled, its shielding will not recharge. With their helmets removed, any head shot will then quickly eliminate the Bodyguard. A single headshot from the beam rifle or sniper rifle will kill a fully armored Jiralhanae Bodyguard, even on Legendary difficulty.

Grunt Bodyguard

In Halo 5: Guardians, Unggoy Bodyguards are Unggoy units faced by Spartan-IVs in Warzone simulations. They are outfitted with white Unggoy Heavy armor and possess weapons such as the Gespu-pattern fuel rod gun, Type-56D needler, and T-54D Void's Tears. They are the only Grunt unit to have a personal energy shield, making them the hardest regular Grunt to kill. They appear when a Covenant boss, such as a Sangheili Pathfinder or a Pnap-pattern Goblin, is on the map.

Trivia

• An action figure was modeled after a Jiralhanae Bodyguard by McFarlane Toys, the creators and manufacturers of the popular Halo action figures. It was released alongside the other figures in the sixth series. It comes with a spike grenade and a Brute Shot.
• The regular Jiralhanae Captains and the typical Jiralhanae Bodyguard, look almost exactly the same (especially in dim lighting), but there are in fact slight differences in their power armor color and power. The Captain regulars have a violet tinge to the armor, but the Bodyguards have a more indigo color and their under-armor and garments are light crimson; however, in the heat of combat it's extremely difficult to differentiate between the two ranks. They replace the Jiralhanae Honor Guardsmen from Halo 2.

Gallery

Jiralhanae

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  A pair of Jiralhanae Bodyguards.

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  A pair of Jiralhanae Bodyguards.

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  A Jiralhanae Chieftain and his Bodyguards.

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  A pair of Jiralhanae Bodyguards flanking a Chieftain.

Unggoy

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  An Unggoy Bodyguard with a Void's Tear in Halo 5: Guardians.

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  An Unggoy Bodyguard with a T-58 fuel rod cannon.

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  An Unggoy Bodyguard jumping on Attack on Sanctum.

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  An Unggoy Bodyguard's shield flaring on March on Stormbreak.

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  An Unggoy Bodyguard driving a Sword Karo'wark-pattern Ghost.

List of appearances

• Halo 3 (First appearance)
• Halo Legends
  • The Babysitter (Possible appearance)
• Halo: Escalation
• Halo 5: Guardians (First appearance)
• Halo Infinite (Mentioned only)