Jiralhanae Bodyguard

Bodyguard is a speciality rank for Jiralhanae serving in the Covenant. They serve as bodyguards for Jiralhanae Chieftains and other Covenant political figures.

Description
Bodyguards are responsible for the protection of their pack's Chieftain as well as for the enforcement of tribal law and/or military law. Whenever there is a Chieftain nearby, you will encounter Brute Bodyguards, which look very similar to Captains. During the Great Schism, some Jiralhanae Bodyguards served as the High Prophet of Truth's personal protectors.

Equipment
They wear Jiralhanae power armor that is similar in appearance to the Jiralhanae Captains, but it is colored a pale blue. Their armor comes in two variants: a more common, silver-blue (with red under-armor) variant, and a less common, silver armored (with red under-armor) variant. Jiralhanae Bodyguards seem to favor Covenant weapons such as the Type-25 plasma rifle and Type-51 carbine rather than their own native technology, but they have been seen wielding the powerful and deadly Type-25 Brute Shot and the Type-52 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.

Gameplay
Brute Bodyguards are usually seen wielding Type-25 Spikers, Plasma Rifles, Covenant Carbines, Maulers, and occasionally Brute Shots. Despite its resemblance to a Brute Captain's armor, a Brute Bodyguard's light, pale blue Power Armor is actually only around the same strength as a Brute 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 Brute Bodyguard; 10 shots to drop their shield, and an additional 19 shots to kill them.

Brute 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 Brute pack that is led by a Chieftain, it is standard Brute 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 Grunts and Brutes remain behind to delay the player's advance. Brute Chieftains are typically accompanied by 2 to 4 Brute Bodyguards.

Brute Bodyguards can quickly dispatch the player's shield with plasma rifles, and Maulers, if shields are low. 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 Brute Bodyguard, even on Legendary difficulty.

Trivia

 * The left shoulder pad of the armor is almost identical to the one worn by Tartarus, albeit smaller.
 * An action figure was modeled after a Brute 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 Brute Captains and the typical Brute 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 Brute 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 most likely replace the Brute Honor Guards, from Halo 2.

List of appearances

 * Halo 3