Template:Covenant Character Infobox Heretic Elites are Covenant Sangheili that have rebelled against the Covenant's High Council.
Summary
Heretic Elites are the Elites of the artifact retrieval group led by Sesa 'Refumee. When 'Refumee discovered the truth about the Halos, his Elites followed him in the rebellion against the High Prophets. They used the Gas Mine above Threshold as a base, and placed Banshees and at least one Seraph starfighter as air forces to defend the mine. They also set up a makeshift camp on Basis, Threshold's moon.
Appearance
The Heretic Elites have no helmet as normal Elites have. Instead, they have breathing apparatuses, to help them breathe on the mine. They also have eyeflaps. Most Heretic Elites also have four ridges on the back of their armor, which presumably contain oxygen (The only exception being the Heretic Leader, whose flaps are replaced with a jetpack).
Heretic Elites are found in three colors: Brown, Gold and Red. The gold Heretics have better shielding and more health then the brown ones. The red color is only worn by the Heretic leader. He also has a jetpack, as is worn by Ranger Elites. Elites who wear gold armor are the equivalent of a Elite Major, while those with brown armor seem similar to Elite Minors.
They are only seen in two levels: The Arbiter and Oracle.
Combat
They mostly use Carbines, Sentinel Beams, and also Energy Swords. Plasma Rifles are only used by Banshee pilots and the Heretic leader.
The energy shields of the gold Heretics are as strong as a Major Domo's while the energy shields of the brown ones are as strong as a Minor Domo's. Note that their shields glow purple instead of the blue that Covenant-loyal Elites use.