Heretic Unggoy

Heretic Unggoy are Unggoy that have rebelled against the Covenant's Prophets and their religion.

Summary
The Heretic Unggoy followed their Sangheili organizers in a rebellion against the Covenant's Prophets. They started as members of an artifact retrieval group led by the Elite Sesa 'Refumee. When he and his Sangheili chose to rebel against the High Council after being informed of Halo's true purpose by 343 Guilty Spark, the Unggoy in his command followed them. They do what they can to stand out from their enemies the Covenant, especially other Unggoy.

Appearance
These Unggoy have different methane tubes than their non-Heretic counterparts. They have just two blue-white glowing round tubes, instead of the pointed-pyramid shape. Another feature of the Heretic Unggoy armor is a small mouth-breather that exposes an Unggoy's teeth.

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

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

Combat
Heretic Unggoy fight differently than the Covenant-loyal Grunts normally encountered by one fact: They never try to escape, even during Easy difficulty. The only exception to this rule is when a Heretic Unggoy is stuck with a Plasma Grenade, needles, or otherwise knows it will soon die; even then, they will run towards you, setting the precedent for Kamikazes in Halo 3.

They are also superior to their average Covenant counterparts (Minor and Major Unggoy) by their equipment and usage thereof (though the Ultra Grunts and Spec Ops are equally skilled if not more). They almost always use Needlers, or occasionally Fuel Rod Guns, but never the weak, inaccurate Plasma Pistol that is so often overused by their counterparts. They also try to set up turrets sometimes like Spec-Ops (or "Heavy") Unggoy. Beware, their skill with the Needler is unchallenged; they fire incredibly quickly, accurately, and reload when taking cover. They are also very good with their plasma grenades, capable of sticking unsuspecting Spec Ops Elites frequently.

Judging by the fact they always wield Needlers or Fuel Rod Guns, it indicates that they are better treated than their Covenant counterparts, and are not used as cannon fodder.

They are also far harder to kill than the average Unggoy. Any Heretic Unggoy can take as much damage as an Unggoy Major. 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 Unggoy. In combat, Covenant Unggoy will usually be encountered in groups of four or more, where as the Heretic Unggoy are normally in smaller groups, of about four or less. Heretic Unggoy are also harder to melee because of the reduced size of their methane tanks. In fact, in Legendary, they can take as many body shots as you can. They are still vulnerable to high-power weapons like the Energy Sword, and rapid-fire weapons like the Needler or Sentinel Beam.

Their intelligence also shows that they are well trained and well educated by their Heretic leaders.

Trivia

 * The Heretic Unggoy are one of the least used Bipeds in the Halo trilogy along with Heretic Sangheili, as they appear only in two levels: The Arbiter and The Oracle, both in Halo 2.
 * Perhaps the superior skills and tenacity of these Unggoy compared to regular Covenant Unggoy are a small example of what Grunts were capable of in the Unggoy Rebellion.
 * This is the first Grunt model to give a glimpse of what an Unggoy's face looked like behind the mask. It wasn't until Halo 3 that the face could be exposed fully in gameplay.
 * Heretic Grunts will never run away. Despite that, they still say things like "Leader dead run away!"

List of appearances

 * Halo 2