Sentinel Major

Sentinel Majors are artificial levitating constructs designed by the Forerunners and serve on the Halo Installations. They are upgraded versions of regular Sentinels.

Introduction
They are similar to a regular Sentinel, in basic shape and function. Sentinel Majors, however, are gold in color rather than white, have stronger blue beams rather than weaker orange beams, are protected by a light energy shield, and fire more accurately. They were only observed on Installation 05 during the Battle of the Quarantine Zone. In the games, they are seen combating Flood.

Sentinels have been known to have been created long before Installation 04 was ever conceived. They operated automated facilities such as Gas Mines, like the one found on Threshold for untold centuries before the facility was redesigned to research the Flood. Therefore it is possible that they were only outfitted for combat after the Flood was discovered.

In gameplay, they are often seen hovering around Enforcers whenever the Arbiter combats them. In addition, they rarely travel by themselves; instead, they travel in packs of 3-5.

Function
The Sentinels are the "police" of the Halo installations, and are controlled by the Monitor of the Installation. Their primary purpose is to contain small outbreaks of Flood, however they can only manage Flood for a short time. Should an outbreak grow beyond the sentinels' ability to control, Enforcers and Sentinel Majors are activated by the Monitor of the Installation to assist the Sentinels. It is also possible that there must be a massive outbreak, like the one seen on Installation 05, to give reason enough to construct these stronger versions.

In combat, their shields are less powerful than that of an Elite's, and the beam fired is blue instead of red. It is also more powerful, but its battery drains faster as a result. You can pick up this beam and the normal beam as your primary and secondary weapons. One can tell the difference between the weapons simply by noting that the stronger of the two is gold in color, rather than steel.

Tactics
Individually, their relatively low shielding (as compared to an Elite, per say) is made up by their maneuverability. As with Rangers, they can easily slice through the air, evading slow-moving projectiles (such as Rockets) and coerce the combatant to concentrate on one at a time. The best weapon for them is the Covenant Carbine or the Plasma Rifle. First, the Covenant Carbine has a pretty strong punch and can penetrate the shielding in one or two shots. Then, in an additional two shots, the Major will go down. For the Plasma Rifle, you will rely upon it's stead, semi-automatic rate of fire to wear down the shields rather than take it out decisively. When facing these worthy opponents, be certain to have some cover within close proximity-these Sentinels travel in groups, and can take your shielding out in seconds. Behind Cover, use hit-and-run tactics to evade fire. Be sure to take one out at a time, as a wasted effort will be useless-the shielding will still be there, and you will have to take it out all over again. Once you have taken out the Sentinel, however, you can have the extremely powerful laser. This can take out the "legs" of an Enforcer in less than 5 seconds, whilst an ordinary Sentinel beam takes over double the time.

Trivia

 * Sentinel Majors do not appear in Halo: CE or Halo 3, however the Automated Turret somewhat replaces them in Halo 3.
 * When a Sentinel Major's Sentinel Beam, is dropped it takes the color of an average Sentinel Beam. When picked up, however, the color is gold like a Sentinel Major and the beam is blue.
 * It is presently unknown why the Sentinel Majors don't appear in Halo 3, it would've been entailed a weighty and influential combatant against the Flood and also considering that The Ark, is one of the most prominent and important of Installations.
 * in Halo 2 you can pick up two Sentinel Beams, one is a regular and another is a Major.
 * It is possible that the Sentinels that are in Halo 3 with the shielding are Sentinel Majors.
 * A single overcharged Plasma Pistol bolt is sufficient enough to take out a Sentinel Majors shield and severely damage the Sentinel.

Related Links

 * Sentinel
 * Enforcer
 * Constructor
 * Sentinel Launcher
 * Sentinel Production Facility
 * Sentinel Beam