Jiralhanae Chieftain

Were you looking for the rank War Chieftain or Chieftain of the Jiralhanae, the rulers of the Jiralhanae?

"The Pack will feast on you!"

- Brute Chieftain to the Master Chief

The Brute Chieftain, also known as the Alpha Jiralhanae, is a Covenant Chieftain rank for the Jiralhanae race. It is the highest in the Jiralhanae hierarchy in social aspects and military rank.

Background
In Halo 2, there were no known Brute Chieftains. There was only the Chieftain of the Jiralhanae, Tartarus, who was killed by Thel 'Vadamee and his Sangheili allies on Installation 05. He used a powerful and unique Gravity Hammer, called the "Fist of Rukt", in this battle. The only known Chieftain before Tartarus was his uncle, Maccabeus, who was also the previous wielder of Fist of Rukt.

In Halo 3, they command a "pack" of lesser Brutes and enforce the pack-like mentality. In the Halo 3 video documentary "Et Tu, Brute?", there were multiple Brute Chieftains seen, although not as high as Tartarus or Maccabeus, who were believed to be the highest of the Jiralhanae. They wear very elaborate gold or red Power Armor (which is stronger than usual and impervious to Plasma Grenades or Spike Grenades and Needler needles), breast-plates, and an even more intricate headdress.  The Brute Chieftain, may hold a rank similar to the Elite Zealot. In Halo Wars, Chieftains appear in crimson red attire.

Chieftain - Weapon
These Brute Chieftains are clad in ornate red and black armour. Whilst it cannot take as much damage as the bronze,gold coloured armor worn by War Chieftains, it allows greater speed and mobility. Their Power Armor cannot be stuck by Plasma Grenades, Spike Grenades, or Needler projectiles. However, their armour can be stuck by Incendiary Grenades. On Easy and Normal difficulties it is possible to stick their feet, hands and weapon with spike or plasma grenades. Their primary armament is the Gravity Hammer. Brute Chieftains are the only enemy, aside from the occasional Flood, who uses the weapon. On all level modes they carry and almost always use the Invincibility power-up. It is also possible for them to carry a Regenerator, Flare, or Power Drain. On their left arm, the armour is thicker to deliver bone-crushing melee attacks. Weapon Chieftains will be closely guarded by two or more Brutes, only leaving the security of the pack when they feel it is tactically sound or simply when they thirst for blood. Then they will run at the Master Chief (or Arbiter if co-op). If they run for you, turn and run as fast as you can. More often than not, unless you've managed to kill them within the first few seconds, they will activate their Invincibility if they are carrying one and you will not be able to kill them until it wears off. Chieftains can close distances quickly, and will not hesitate to smack anything out of their path. In the novel Contact Harvest, Tartarus likely wore this or a similar armour before he killed Maccabeus and obtained the same armour as War Chieftains wear.

Counter-Chieftain Tactics
Kill the Chieftain first. If the others die, the Chieftain will go berserk and attack you. Kill him quickly so that he does not have time to activate his Invincibility; if he does, don't engage him, but simply evade his attacks until it wears off.

Trivia

 * In the level "The Storm", the Chieftain with the Plasma Turret has two sets of equipment: a Flare and a Power Drain.
 * During the early development of Halo 3, the Brute Chieftain was seen wielding an Energy Sword. This was probably taken out due to the fact that Brutes prefer Gravity Hammers over Energy Swords. And that it is the weapon of the Elites.
 * On Legendary difficulty, with the Mythic skull on, Chieftains can take sustain Scorpion rounds without dying.
 * Chieftains are arguably stronger than Hunters due to their special armour, Gravity Hammers, and extreme durability. They do, however, have two weakness that the Hunters do not have - the first would be a melee hit at the back would be an instant kill and the second would be the vulnerability once their headpiece is removed as they are susceptible to head shots.
 * Their Power Armor will not fall off when you shoot them or melee them, unlike other Brute ranks.
 * If you kill a Chieftain and take their Gravity Hammer and attack a pack of Brutes, they will say things like: "Who gave him a hammer?", "Recover the hammer!", "Retrieve that damned hammer!". If you fight a Grunt with it, they might say, "Oh no! He's got a hammer!" and will try to run away. Also, if the IWHBYD skull is on, they sometimes say "What fool gave that man a hammer?" or "Who do you think you are, Thor?" This is a reference to the Norse god Thor, who used a powerful hammer. Coincidentally, the Master Chief's armour is named MJOLNIR, which is the name of Thor's hammer.
 * If a Chieftain is transformed into a Flood Combat Form, its armour will become that of a Brute Minor. This can be easily observed in the latter half of The Covenant, where Flood join you and attack the Covenant.
 * In "Halo 3: The Strategy Guide", there is a mistake in that there is a War Chieftain wielding a Gravity Hammer. There are also images of a Weapons Chieftain wielding a Plasma Cannon and a Fuel Rod Gun.
 * In the Halo 3 level Sierra 117, a Chieftain is seen hanging onto the side of a Phantom, in the clearing with a crashed pelican down the cliff. Oddly, this Chieftain can be stuck with Plasma Grenades, but shows no reaction to it, and is immune to the blast.
 * Chieftains are feared by Marines, Elites, and even the Arbiter, as they occasionally give you verbal warnings when you engage a Chieftain.
 * An interesting occurrence that happens to Brute Chieftains is when they go berserk, while one with a Gravity Hammer will usually charge at the player normally, sometimes they actually put the Gravity Hammer on their backs and intend to beat the player down with their bare hands. One with a Plasma Cannon that goes berserk ends up with the Plasma Cannon disappearing on them and charge at the player. When killed, the plasma cannon comes out of their corpse. It was supposed to be put on their backs, but there is no animation of putting it on their back, so it just disappears.
 * A Brute Chieftain appears in Halo Wars, alongside the Prophet of Regret and Ripa 'Moramee, the Arbiter at the time.
 * Even though you can kill a Chieftain with five hits from a energy sword, it takes the Arbiter a considerable amount of time to kill a Chieftain with said energy sword.
 * In The Covenant, after entering the Citadel, it will show a Brute Chieftain beating Johnson, but on the screen as SPARTAN-117 watches, in the background it shows a Red armored minor Jiralhanae holding him by the neck.
 * Only Gravity Hammer wielding Chieftans will carry invincibility, as only War chieftains can use the power drain
 * If you kill the War Chieftain on The Covenant guarding the 3rd tower before he uses any equipment he will only drop one, though he can use multiple equipment pieces.
 * If you throw a spike grenade at the spot where it slams its hammer the grenade will instantly kill it.
 * On legendary, they will sometimes survive a hit from a rocket launcher.