Ruwaa-pattern Shadow

For the flight-capable craft resembling the Shadow in Halo: Escalation, see Covenant cargo tug.

The Type-29 Troop/Vehicle Transport, also known as the Shadow, is a Covenant ground transport vehicle.

Description
The Shadow is a Covenant troop transport vehicle, similar to the UNSC Warthog. It is heavily armored and very slow. However, it possesses a powerful defensive plasma turret above the cabin, which can rotate 360 degrees to provide covering fire. The vehicle itself can be easily outmaneuvered by smaller vehicles such as the Warthog or Ghost.

The vehicle is almost always manned by a Sangheili driver and a gunner. Shadows encountered so far have been observed transporting one unmanned Ghost and therefore had a crew complement of only two. Infantry transport versions are typically able to carry approximately eight passengers, though the exact number varies depending on their species. Because the transport bay is exposed, the passengers can lend their own firepower to the Shadow's defense.

Operation
Shadows are the Covenant's main method of moving large numbers of troops around ground based battlefields. They have one driver, a gunner and up to eight occupants, depending on the species of the passengers.

The Shadow also doubles as a small vehicle transport, and can carry one Ghost in its troop bay. However, their main purpose is to deploy infantry, such as Elites, Brutes, Grunts, and Jackals. For point defense, they are equipped with a single heavy plasma cannon.

The main cannon of the Shadow requires a period of time to 'cycle up' to maximum firing rate (similar to the M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun on the Warthog). This maximum fire rate is superior to that of both the portable Type-42 plasma cannon and the Type-27 Shade turret.

Shadow in combat
The Shadow is a bulky, heavily-armored vehicle and as such is able to take an immense amount of punishment before succumbing to damage. The Shadow may endure multiple internal explosions that rock its entire chassis or lift it from the floor while under intense fire. However, it will continue moving in spite of this.

It is advisable to focus all attention on the driver of the Shadow as this will stop the vehicle in its tracks. Often, the gunner of any vehicle should be dealt with first but due to the exposed nature of his position, the Shadow's gunner poses little problem (the Shadow's gunner will fire at a slow rate. Though if you hop into the gunner seat, the rate of fire is increased dramatically after firing over a period of time). The turret has the capability and comparable power of a Phantom's guns, but has a higher rate of fire and a further effective distance.

Once incapacitated, the Shadow will drop its cargo on the ground. Like most Covenant vehicles, the Shadow, once taken down, will experience a secondary detonation. This is by far the largest of all such critical damage reactions of any Covenant vehicle (excluding the Scarab), resulting in an immense explosion. The explosion has the ability to catapult the vehicle into the air, sometimes even culminating in a roll-over.

In-game limitations
Unlike almost all other land-based vehicles in Halo 2, the Shadow is not a pilot-able (except the turret) vehicle for the player. This makes it only useful as a placed turret, albeit a very powerful one. The Shadow is exclusive to the level Outskirts, where John-117 must destroy a convoy of them. The turret functions similar to the Covenant Shade plasma turret, but with one difference: it "spins up" to an extremely high rate of fire when used continuously, similar to the human turrets.

The Shadows in Halo 2 are always seen transporting Ghosts, never infantry, but the seat bearing Shadows can be unlocked via a modded Xbox. It was discovered to be a drivable vehicle in the Halo 3 Beta code, although Shadows are never encountered in Halo 3.

Character compatibility

 * The Sangheili are the main species to drive the vehicle.
 * Unggoy have an animation, but it is not used in actual gameplay. However, they can be seen in the Halo 2 E3 2003 Demo.
 * Kig-yar (Animation only)
 * Jiralhanae (Animation only)
 * SPARTAN IIs do have the driving animation, but the game disables entry into the seat (without modding the map file). It is able to be boarded in Halo 2 Vista Multiplayer Mode.

Trivia

 * The Spectre featured in the Pre-Release Version of Halo was originally called the Shadow.
 * The Shadow is only seen in the Halo 2 level Outskirts transporting Ghosts in the New Mombasa tunnel.
 * In Halo: Uprising, the Shadows were used to take civilian prisoners to the stadium in Cleveland.
 * It also made an appearance in the Second Sunrise Over Mombasa story from the Halo Graphic Novel.
 * In the level Outskirts, there are a total of 7 Shadows.
 * The Shadow is drivable and hijackable if modded. Additionally there are two versions, one which transports Ghosts (seen in-game) and another which transports infantry.

List of appearances

 * Halo 2
 * Halo Graphic Novel
 * Second Sunrise over New Mombasa
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo: Uprising
 * Halo 2: Anniversary
 * Halo Wars 2