Shade

The Shade is a Covenant stationary gun turret used against infantry, manned in third person like a vehicle. They consist of a stand and a floating, mobile, turret-like seat with control systems to its gun. In Halo 2, the Shade is replaced with a new Shielded Plasma Cannon, which has energy shields around it, similar to a Jackal's. The gun fires three fairly slow, high powered bolts of energy. The accuracy of a shade is fairly low, as the bolts of energy fired can hit anywhere in the red reticule. It is highly effective against Grunts and Jackals, and can be fairly effective against Elites, but due to their intelligence they can often find cover and escape the bolts. It is not very effective against Hunters, and they can easily knock it over with you still inside. It is also fairly ineffective against the Flood, just like all other plasma weapons.

It is possible to snipe a Shade-user off its turret, but one must aim above the center (which the red reticule usually denotes) and at the user itself, since the Shade protects the user. In Halo: Combat Evolved it is possible to melee attack a foe off of a Shade. If the shade is pushed over, then it is possible to flip it back. It is not possible to move the shade from it's position however, so if it is knocked off of a ledge onto the floor and you flip it over, you have to use it from that position and it can not be returned to it's original position.

Character Compatibility

 * Elites
 * Spartans
 * Grunts
 * Marines (Have animation, but not used in-game. Used in Halo: The Flood)

Related Links

 * Plasma Cannon
 * Shielded Plasma Cannon