Jiralhanae Minor

"Being promoted requires more than just survival; one must also kill."

- Summary of Jiralhanae Promotion Standards.

Jiralhanae Minor is the lowest and most common Jiralhanae rank. The Jiralhanae who have this rank are the youngest and most inexperienced in the Covenant. They are very weak compared to Brute Majors, but still can be challenging, especially on Heroic and Legendary.

Background
Minors are the least experienced Jiralhanae serving in the military, and as such they rate the weakest armor and shields and typically possess the least endurance. Around the time of the Battle of Reach, some Minors were equipped with blue helmets and minimal, non-powered armor. Another armor configuration that was used by Minors, particularly those serving under the Chieftain Tartarus, was composed of an ammunition bandolier, upper arm braces, and metal held between the toes by leather wrapping.

This configuration was also sporadically equipped with a small helmet which covered the top of the head and extended over the face, but left the sides and back exposed, unlike the wrapparound helmet used by the Jiralhanae Minor contingents at Reach. This unshielded armor set was also distinct from its Reach counterpart in the fact that the user was otherwise naked, while the Minors deployed to Reach wore a set of shorts in addition to their armor. When the Jiralhanae became the dominant military force of the Covenant during the events of the Great Schism, Minors were given heavier cyan Jiralhanae power armor, but still lacked the shoulder pads, knee pads, and ankle armor of the higher ranks.

Halo 2
These Brutes haven't yet earned the right to carry Brute Shots, which makes confronting them somewhat easier than their higher ranking counterparts. Since they don't have helmets, it is best to use headshots from a Sniper Rifle, Magnum, Beam Rifle, Carbine, or a Battle Rifle.

They often make tactical errors, such as standing in one place while firing or rushing forward into enemy fire, which can be used to one's advantage. They fire in shorter bursts and have somewhat less accuracy and lower rate of fire. They usually wield Covenant Carbines or Brute Plasma Rifles.

Halo 3
Much like the Halo 2 Minor Brutes, they are the lowest in rank and therefore do not wield the far more dangerous weapons such as the Gravity Hammer. They often use Spikers, and occasionally Carbines or Plasma Rifles. In addition, they have turquoise armor. Brute Minors are never encountered alone, typically attacking in packs of 4-6 at once under the command of a Brute Captain. On the Heroic difficulty, they can withstand about 24 MA5C Assault Rifle bullets or 13-16 Plasma Rifle bolts; 7 bullets or 4 plasma bolts to drop their shield, and an additional 17 bullets or 9-12 plasma bolts to kill them.

One of the best and quickest ways to kill them is by using the Noob Combo. On lower difficulties, you can melee them to save some ammunition. However, use extreme caution when combating Brutes in hand to hand combat as even Minors have the ability to kill careless players. On lower difficulties if you get one or two Minors wielding a non-vicious weapon in between yourself and a Brute with a Brute Shot, the Brute Shot Brute may fire at you, miss, and kill the Minors. However, this is a risky strategy on higher difficulties. The Brute Minors have the least combat experience and are the easiest Brute warriors to kill. Frag Grenades are an excellent strategy on Legendary, especially when you have U-shaped cover. Attack the Brutes and then run to the other side of your hiding spot, throwing a grenade while the Brutes' attention is directed elsewhere.

Halo Reach


Minors in Halo: Reach are much like in Halo 2 with the addition of a turquoise helmet. It takes 2 DMR rounds to knock off their helmet. They are one of only 3 ranks in Halo: Reach, others Being the Captain Major, and Jiralhanae Chieftain. They only appear wielding concussion rifles in Firefight, and will only wield anything else if you set the wave enemy to Brutes.

Halo Reach's Brute Minors more closely resemble Halo 2's Brute Minor's in terms of gameplay. Like in Halo 2, Brute Minor's do not possess power armor or any form of shielding; they also have a helmet much like Reach's Grunt Ultra's that protects them from two headshots before falling off. Minor Brutes will normally wield Spikers or Plasma Repeaters, and are often found in groups of 3-5 minors led by a Captain.

Much like all past installments featuring Brutes, the are highly resilient to human projectile weapons but are still vulnerable to headshot kills. Since minors no longer possess power armor they are especially vulnerable to Needle type weapons; in Reach a single super-combine from either a Needle Rifle or a regular Needler will kill a Minor on any difficulty including the unofficial Mythic difficulty. Brute Minors will often use Armor Lock if they've been hit a few times, or lose their helmets, this can usually be used to the player's advantage since they will be easy targets once they come out of Armor Lock. Note that they seem to use Armor Lock less when the Tough Luck Skull is turned on and will be vulnerable when they are recovering from evading an attack.

Trivia

 * Although the Brute Shot is reserved for higher ranking Brutes, Minors have been known to use it on The Covenant.
 * When any other Brute rank gets infected by the Flood, its armor turns into the armor of a Minor.
 * This rank has frequently been used erroneously to identify Brutes wearing complete Power Armor in marketing campaigns and videos like Halo: Landfall, Believe, and We Are ODST, which is often gray in coloration. This rank has even been applied to a Jiralhanae wearing Stalker-type Power Armor.
 * The Halo Encyclopedia erroneously replaces an image of a Brute Minor with a Major.

List of Appearances

 * Halo 2
 * Halo 3
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo Wars
 * Halo: Reach