Kez'katu-pattern Phantom

Overview

The Covenant Phantom is a much more formidable dropship than the previously seen Spirit. It boasts three plasma cannons, and can literally drop its occupants to the ground without having to land, with the aid of a miniature gravity lift. It also ferries vehicles such as the Wraith, Spectre and Ghost to their intended dropzones. The Phantom is far sturdier and more heavily armed than the Spirit dropship. It made its debut in Halo 2.

Operation

Phantoms can be considered the Covenant's equivalent of a Pelican class human dropship, more so than the Spirit. Each Phantom boasts superior firepower and the capability of reaching greater speeds and maneuverability than its sister vessel. The Phantom class dropship appears to have replaced the original Spirit dropship which was seen in Halo: Combat Evolved, a dropship of tuning fork-shaped design which contained 4-6 troops in each of its two "prongs".

The Phantom is a substantial improvement from the original dropship, a much sleeker and more robust design and has much higher offensive capabilities. Equipped with three Plasma Cannon positions formed in a triangular shape along the underside of the dropship, it poses a formidable firebase against ground troops and is reasonably capable of engaging aircraft.

The Phantom crew consists of a pilot, co-pilot, a navigator, and an operations officer who is in charge of the three devensive plasma turrets. It deploys troops through a hole on its underbelly. This is a grav lift similar to that seen on the Truth an Reconcilliation only on a much smaller scale. It is capable of dropping off and picking up via this lift.)

In the E3 Preview, the Phantom does not have a gravity lift and the troops are instead dropped off from the back. The Phantom is also capable of carrying a Spectre or a Wraith by using hooks located under its "belly".

File:Phant.jpg

Two Phantoms at the Heretic base

However, it is fairly vulnerable to fire from Marines carrying the new lock-on Rocket Launcher, and a single blast from a Scorpion Tank to the underside of the Phantom can easily neutralize its offensive abilities, reducing it to little more than an aerial APC. Fortunately, its hull is heavily reinforced making it almost invulnerable to infantry fire.

Phantom seen leaving a Covenant fleet around High Charity.

In Halo 2, the role of the Phantom is to transport units of Covenant troops to a combat zone with speed and efficiency. It is capable of carrying up to 14 Covenant troops, which are usually Grunts, Jackals, or Elites, it can also carry a couple of Hunters, or carrying two manned Ghosts or a single Wraith tank into the battlefield for deployment. Phantoms were seen transporting units throughout the Covenant's invasion of Earth, and became an increasing hindrance to the UNSC Special Forces as they tried to repel the Covenant from New Mombasa. Their use across Delta Halo were also particularly devastating, especially to units which were not equipped with anti-vehicle weapons.

It was also noticeable that the Brute Chieftain Tartarus spent most of his time pursuing the Arbiter in a Phantom, the ship's capability of traveling through space making it invaluable to the Covenant's strike teams when engaging the Heretics and Flood as they sought to uncover the mysteries of Halo.

If you want to see a good view of the back of a phantom, then go to the level High Charity after everything is dead. Go to the far end. There is 1 docked Phantom. But there is an invisible wall so you cant hop on it. You can also get a good look at a Phantom during the level Great Journey. When you get to the bridge which has Jackals and Drones, simply use your active camo and run through them without fighting. Later in the level, when you're in a Banshee, heads toward the door which Johnson blows open, then head to the left, circling around to the bridge you skipped. There you will see a Phantom facing the bridge, it will attack you, but you should be able to disable its guns easily. The Phantom will not move other than to look at you, and will not fly away, giving you a good chance to examine it up close.

Appearances

List of the Phantom's appearances.

Phantom dropping a Spectre

• Outskirts
• Metropolis
• The Arbiter
• Oracle
• Delta Halo
• Regret
• Sacred Icon
• Quarantine Zone
• Gravemind (Cutscene)
• Uprising (Cutscene)
• High Charity
• The Great Journey

Halo 3

The Phantom is a vehicle from Halo 2 and is featured in Halo 3. It was seen in the Halo 3 Announcement Trailer and the Halo 3 E3 2007 Trailer. The Covenant Phantom is shown in the E3 2007 campaign trailer. This version seems to show very similar dimensions to that of Halo 2. However, Covenant troops are now dispatched via exits on either side of the vehicle, which have platforms with plasma cannons for support. There are also several major graphical improvements to this version.

The Halo 3 Phantom is also now destructable.

Character Compatibility

• Elites
• Grunts
• Jackals
• Brutes
• Hunters