WAR MASTER-class Mjolnir

WAR MASTER-class Mjolnir is a variant of the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor developed by Lethbridge Industrial.

Design details
The War Master's helmet visor is designed in such a way as to ensure the visor's contours intimidate enemies. The helmet is equipped with an R-42 case-filter rebreather, and the suit's chestplate features a Corsica-102 shield recoupler that works to improve armor resiliency. The cuirass' "shoulders" contain the suit's plane-reactor couplings; a feature which increases mobility through weight distribution. The suit's low-set shoulder pauldrons lend themselves to variability in the operator's usage.

Unlike specifically-combat focused MJOLNIR variants such as the VANGUARD-class, the War Master set is designed to offer the broadest possible array of functionality available in the GEN2 platform. The suit is able to match the resiliency of heavier Mjolnir variants with the speed and dexterity of lighter variants, allowing it an extremely broad range of use cases. To aid in this, War Master also includes a full communication suite, networked sensors, and remote deployment componentry.

Development history
The War Master variant is manufactured by Lethbridge Industrial. It is Lethbridge Industrial's most popular and most exotic armor system. It was tested at the Lethbridge Combat Fields. War Master-class armor is a multi-use, multi-functional configuration, which, when utilized properly, can benefit the user in almost any combat scenario propagated on the battlefield.

The WAR MASTER's neural interface was intentionally throttled after early testing showed inexperienced Spartans would dangerously overextend themselves in combat due to the euphoric side-effects. These states have induced a similar "last stand" side effect to the issues surrounding Project CHRYSANTHEMUM—the augmentation procedures for SPARTAN-III Gamma Company. As such, should mortal wounds be sustained, the neural interface throttling is suspended.

Usage
War Master is one of the most versatile MJOLNIR suits available, and equipped to perform a huge variety of tasks, Due to this, fears around the overextended performance specs have abated since the suit hit the field. In keeping with the wide versatility of the armor, it is the de facto standard worn by Spartan-IV Headhunter units. Followng the Didact's attack on New Phoenix Incident in July 2557, an Unidentified Spartan-IV employed this armor in a series of tactical simulations recreating a number of historic battles. Later in 2558, Spartan To of Fireteam Jackknife employed the War Master armor during peace talks on Ealen IV.

Design details
WAR MASTER was one of the GEN2 MJOLNIR designs selected for upgrade to the GEN3 design specification. This was, in part, due to an ongoing top-priority directive issues by the Office of Naval Intelligence regarding the retrieval of the Conduit—a missing Forerunner artifact considered a potential key asset in evening humanity's odds in fighting the Created. The GEN3 War Master helmet is considered by many veteran Spartans to be the optimal choice for most tactical modalities, despite it's well documented history of inducing minor neurological side-effects.

Halo 4
War Master was first introduced into the Halo games as an armor set in Halo 4. The armor has one available skin: Primal (PRML). As with all Halo 4 armor, the skins were not included in the initial release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, though the release of Halo 4 on PC and the start of Series 4: Reclaimer saw the skins added into the collection as default unlocks.

Halo 5: Guardians
The War Master set returns in Halo 5: Guardians. The helmet and body armor are unlockable as armor permutations through the Requisition system. The body armor is not a fully-original design, and as such includes a number of supplementary Halo 4 pieces - primarily the Contoured forearms and legs. The War Master set has three alternate skins; Tiberian, Augustan and Scipio.

Halo Infinite
The War Master helmet returned in Halo Infinite, during Season 02: Lone Wolves. Unlike Halo 4, or Halo 5: Guardians, only the helmet was carried forward, with it and its attachments being available for multiplayer Spartan armor customization on the Mark VII armor core.

Attachments
The following attachments are not exclusive to War Master, and are compatible with other helmets on the Mark VII core.
 * Calling Card
 * CNM(5)/BNR/FASCINATOR
 * Flower Power
 * HUL-I/RS/FACELIFT
 * Purrfect Audio

Production notes
During the pre-alpha stages of Halo Online, War Master was featured, though renamed to "Iron". The suit was later also given a concept pass by Theo Stylianides during the development of Halo Infinite, wherein explorations were conducted to update the suit to the visual style of MJOLNIR GEN3. The helmet would later appear during Season 02.

Trivia

 * The three alternate skins for the War Master armor in Halo 5: Guardians all bear the names of various Roman leaders and generals.
 * Augustan is named after Gaius Octavianus Augustus, who was nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar and later the first emperor of the Roman Empire.
 * Scipios were part of one of Rome's oldest families, the Cornelia families. They had several generals and politicians in their ranks, including Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus who defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War.
 * The last skin is named after Tiberius, one of Rome's greatest generals who was adopted by Augustus, eventually becoming emperor himself.
 * In Halo Infinite the description of the helmet still contains a grammatical error despite the helmet being added in 2022 during Season 02.

List of appearances

 * Halo 4
 * Halo: Escalation
 * Halo: Spartan Strike
 * Halo 5: Guardians
 * Halo Infinite
 * Season 02: Lone Wolves