File (unit)

"Grunt Reporting!"

— Grunt being recruited in Halo Wars

The Grunt File (also known as the Grunt Squad) is the main backbone of the Covenant Army in 2531. The Grunt Squad is only seen in Halo Wars and costs 100 Supplies. The Squad Contains 3 methane breathing, minor Grunts and one Elite or Brute. Grunts will almost always be Grunt Minors under command of a Elite Minor or a Brute Minor. They are the counterpart to the Marines of the UNSC. Jackals are also in the File and are the couterpart to the UNSC Flamethrowers.

File:Grunt Squad.jpg

Upgradeable Content

"Peons Researched."

— Halo Wars Announcer.

A member of the Squad

The Grunt Squad is the main backbone of the army and can be upgraded three times as follows

Peons - Upgrades the Squad with one additional grunt. Cost: 200 Supplies, 1 tech level.

Needler - Upgrades the Grunts with Needlers rather than Plasma Pistol. Cost: 400 supplies, 2 tech level.

Deacon - Adds a Grunt Deacon to the Squad. Deacons will outlive their Elite/Brute leader and the entire squad. They guide the squad with battle cries and promises of the Great Journey. Cost: 700 supplies, 3 tech level.

Note: Deacon Grunts always carry Plasma Pistols, and not Needlers even when upgraded. However, the Deacon will charge his plasma pistol when needed.

If the Elite/Brute dies in battle it may be hard to find the surviving Deacon as he is so small. It may help to send Engineers to random places if you can't find him. The engineer will automatically heal the Deacon and the Elite/Brute and grunts will return. Although a general better idea would be to select all units with the left bumper, use the triggers to select the grunt squad icon, and tell them all to move to a location, preferably a safe one, the Deacon should be there by the time they have arrived, if not, the Deacon has been killed.

Jackal Upgrade:

Defence Gauntlet- adds a shield to the Jackal which can be broke when taking damage. 200 Supplies, 1 Tech level.

Beam Rifle - adds a Beam Rifle to the Jackal, replacing the Covenant Carbine. Cost 400 supplies, 2 Tech level.

Supreme Gauntlet - increases the shields strength so it will never break. Cost 700 supplies, 3 Tech level.

Quotes

Note: All of the grunt saying are said by Kamikaze Grunts as well.

• "Wort!Wort!Wort!"-rare saying
• "Grunt Ready" - after buying a Grunt squad.
• "Grunt Reporting" - after buying a Grunt squad.
• "It tickles" - rare saying.
• "Me move fast. Me not get shot!" - rare saying after telling squad to move.
• "Go here. Go there" - common saying when told to move somewhere.
• "Grunt moving" - common saying when told to move somewhere.
• "Grunt. Go,go,go!"- after buying Grunt squad.
• "AAA!" - After Grunt is killed and shot up into the air.

Quotes about the Grunts in Halo Wars:

• "Ewww! We got Grunt bits all over the hull" - Warthog Driver after running over Grunt(s) on Alpha Base.
• The Enemey is preparing Grunts - Serina or the Prophet of Regret after the enemy is creating grunts.
• The Enemey sends his Grunts - Serina or the Prophet of Regret after the enemy send grunts to attack you.

A Jackal in Charge of its File after the Leader died.

== The Jackals ==

Jackals are also part of the File on some occasions. They will normally wield a Point Defence Gauntlet and a Plasma Pistol. In Halo Wars, Jackals wield carbines and Beam Rifles and can be used to take out marine/Rebel Infantry. Jackals are round about the same rank as the grunts in a File. However, if the leader dies the Jackal is in charge.

Special Operations

Some grunts are in squads known as the SpecOps (Special Operations) team. These squads are far more organized than regular squads. The Grunts will be given better weapons to lure the enemy to the Elites approaching. You see SpecOps Grunt squads on the level Two Betrayals, The Maw, Keyes, The Arbiter, The Oracle and Gravemind. The Special Operations Division was disbanded when the Elites began the Covenant Civil War although it may still exist within the Covenant Seperatists with the Grunts and Elites.

Compared to Marines

"Grunts ain't no Slouches either."

- Marines talking on Sierra 117.

Grunts are slightly weaker than the Marine counterpart. This is because the Squad consists of 3-4 Grunt, 1 Brute or Elite and 1 Deacon. While the marine squad contains 4-5 marines. Making a slight damage diffrence. It is recommended that you use two grunt squads against a marine squad or use the grenade attack straight away and shoot them to death. Grunt Squads are better with jackals staying back and shooting the marines from a distance. This has proven well when facing scout marines or Rebel Infantry. In Halo 3 a grunt squad would rip apart a marine squad if carrying Needlers or Fuel Rod Guns. In Halo 2, grunts squads and marines are quite equal as long as the player doesn't give the Marines diffrent weapons. In Halo:CE, the Grunt squad is slightly stronger than the marines as you can see that marines always run to the warthogs/cover from the grunts. This makes the marines quite pathetic as help against the squads and their mighty Elite leaders.

• A good way of taking down grunt squads is to kill their leader and assassinate them in Halo 3. You will recieve extra points for assassination and extra points depending on how you kill the leaders. Grunt squads, however will eventually reunite if finding eachover again and attack you again.
• If the grunts with Fuel Rod Guns on the level The Covenant while your fighting someone else, always look out for them and the enemies your focused on.

Other Appearances

The Grunt Squad is only usable in Halo Wars however, Grunts Squads appear in Halo:Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST.In Halo:CE, a grunt squad is lead by two elites on average. In Halo 2, they are led by Brutes and Elites. Eventually, the most of the grunts are led by the Elites after the Great Schism. In Halo 3, grunt squads are led by Brutes and Elites (although you do not see the Separatists squads as Bungie found it confusing to put Loyalists and separatist grunts in Halo 3).Grunt squads also make two other appearances in Halo Wars. Special Forces grunt who have metal pieces of scrap in their hand and charge towards the enemies. They are much like the suicide grunts who have enhanced Methane tanks on their backs so the arbiter can cause a lot of splash damage and explosions. Suicide grunts are only available when the player chooses the Arbiter, Ripa 'Moramee, as their leader. The special forces grunt appear only on the level Relic Interior, trying to prevent Professor Anders and Sergeant Forge from escaping the relic and escaping Harvest itself. The Special Forces grunts are not seen again in the games until 2552 in the events of Halo:CE.

Infected Grunt Squad

On some levels, a grunt squad might become infected by The Flood. Even though the whole squad is infected, the Elite/Brute will be seperate as they are called infected Elites, infected Brutes and infected Grunts. The grunts go through changes in the event.

• The skin turns yellow.
• There armor automatically turns red.
• Stay silent rather than speak.
• Use Plasma pistols instead of needlers if bought.

Other than that, the only thing known about it is that the grunts, like the Jackals, had more calcium in 2531 than in 2552 in the events of Halo:CE. It is strange how the grunts could of lost a lot calcium in their bodies over the course of 21 years. The same is asked about the Jackals. It also seems that an infected grunt squad has the same strength as Infected Jackals.

Heretic Squad

Trivia

• When a Brute is a leader of the grunt squad, he will throw a Plasma Grenade instead of a Spike Grenade. This maybe due to the Spike Grenade not being built in 2531 or for unknown reasons.
• Grunts only have one voice in Grunt Squads but say rather humorous quotes such as "Go here, go there".
• Occasionally, when you tell a grunt squad to move somewhere, one will rarely say "Me move fast, me not get shot!" which is a reference to the simple orders given to grunts by elites, which are "Run away, Live another day".
• Grunt Squads existed ever since the grunts joined the Covenant and until its deformation in 2553 when the Covenant Loyalists where defeated when the Prophet of Truth was killed by the Arbiter.
• Marines are slightly stronger than the Grunt Squad, like most UNSC units are stronger. This is why the Covenant have more available spaces. 40 without a Forerunner Lifesupport Pod. 50 without one for the Covenant.
• Grunt Squads are effective when partnered with Scarabs. While the Scarab destroys the vehicles and buildings, the grunts will destroy rebelling or retreating infantry.
• It is advised when facing a grunt squad with Marines, is to use grenades before they use their plasma grenades.
• Unlike their counterparts, Halo Wars Grunt Squads do not run away if an elite/brute is killed.
• On the Last mission on Halo Wars, Many grunt squads will attempt to stop the player. They are a big annoyance when trying to unlock the shields.
• There are Methane Refineries in Halo Wars that are protected by grunts so that they will have gas to breathe in the oncoming days. Destroying all of them will grant the player 2000 points.
• It is unknown if any grunts in a grunt squad can talk to the engineers as only one has been spoken to (Lighter than Some).
• The Thirsty grunt and the Cowardly Grunts squad was killed by the Flood and the Brutes.
• Grunt Squads fight have a formation called the 'Lance' where the Grunts or the marine calls 'little bastards' up front while the elite/brute leaders stay behind.
• In Halo Wars, if all of the Grunts in a File are killed and only the Elite is left. the Elite will speak a quote every time he is selected or given an order, due to there being no grunts left in the squad, this also applies if the leader is the Brute Army Commander, where all elites are replaced with Brutes.
• Infected Grunt Squads do not include the Elite/Brute
• Infected Grunts squads share the strength of Flood Jackal Forms.
• Infected Jackals are not part of the Infected Grunt File ever even they may have been told to attack in their group.