Heretic Unggoy

Heretic Grunts are Covenant Unggoy that have rebelled against the Covenant's High Council.

Summary
The Heretic Grunts followed their Elite organizers in the rebellion and upheaval against the Covenant's High Council. They started as members of an artifact retrieval group led by the Elite Sesa 'Refumee. When he and his Elites chose to rebel against the High Council, the Grunts followed them. They do what they can to stand out from the rest of the Covenant, especially other Grunts. It is possible they have much higher morale because they don't run during combat.

Appearance
These Grunts have different methane tubes than their non-heretic counterparts. They have just two round tubes, instead of the pointed-pyramid shape (and the occasional curved-Pyramid shaped ones, only seen in Halo 1). Another feature of the Heretic Grunt armor is a small mouthbreather that exposes a Grunt's teeth.

Unlike the armor of the Heretic Elites, there is only one uniform colour for a Grunt's armor, which is a shining, golden-brown. Because of this, there is no hierarchy or ranking system, and Heretic Grunts are inferior only to Heretic Elites.

They're seen only in the levels The Arbiter and Oracle, both in Halo 2.

Combat
Heretic Grunts fight differently than the Covenant-loyal Grunts normally encountered by one fact: They never try to escape, even during Easy difficulty. Though they may say "They got our Elite, run!" or "Run Away!", a Heretic Grunt will stand its ground. The only exception to this rule is when a Heretic Grunt is stuck with a Plasma Grenade, needles, or otherwise knows it will soon die.

Heretic Grunts are also superior to their Loyalist counterparts by their equipment. Heretic Grunts always wield Needlers or Fuel Rod Guns and never the weak, inaccurate Plasma Pistol that is so often overused by their counterparts. They also try to set up turrets sometimes like the loyal gunners. They do this mainly to show that they are different from all loyal members of the Covenant.

Judging by the fact they always wield Needlers or Fuel Rod Guns, It would indicate that they are better treated than their Loyalist counterparts, and are not used as Cannon Fodder.

They are also far harder to kill than the average Unggoy. Any Heretic Grunt can take as much damage as a Major Grunt. They do not come in ranks, and all have the same life and intelligence as each other. The only difference in difficulty facing them is the weapons they carry. Depending on what weapon you are better against will usually depend on how hard it is to beat the Grunt. In combat, loyalist grunts will usually be encountered in groups of four or more, where as the Heretic grunts are normally in smaller groups, of about four or less. Heretic grunts are also harder to melee because of the reduced size of their methane tanks.

Trivia

 * The Heretic Grunt is one of the least used Bipeds in the Halo trilogy, as it appears only on two levels.
 * When their leader is dead, Heretic Grunts do not flee, in fact they will charge whom ever killed their leader.
 * Even though Heretic Grunts don't run away they still will yell what normal Grunts say before they run.

Related Links

 * Heretic Leader
 * Heretic Elite
 * Heretic Banshee
 * Grunts
 * Heretics