10 Scariest Halo Enemies (Not Counting the Flood)

Halo is one of the most influential first-person shooter franchises in the world. One thing that sets it apart from rival shooters is that Master Chief’s world is rooted in horror. This is perhaps most clear when you fight the Flood, whose designs look like they could give horror maestro David Cronenberg some serious nightmares. Even when Halo’s enemies don’t look like something out of a body horror film, they still pack some serious scares.

That got me thinking: just which of Chief’s enemies are the scariest? The ones who make you yelp and empty your clip as soon as you know they are near? Well, you don’t have to ask Cortana for the answer. These are the ten most frightening Halo enemies, not counting the Flood, which would clearly rank at the top.

10) Jackal Snipers

I know what you’re thinking: what’s so scary about Jackals? These are some of the most fragile foes in the entire franchise. In fact, they are almost as weak (and as stupid) as the average Grunt. However, Jackals sometimes make themselves more dangerous the same way weak humans do: by picking up sniper rifles!

That’s what makes them scary, of course: you have to find them to beat them. And if you can’t find them, these guys can drop you with a single shot. This is bad enough when they catch you on an open patch of land, and it’s even worse when you’re in the middle of a firefight. Just like that, you have to worry about dodging one-shot bullets from hidden foes while also dodging everything from Plasma Rifles to Gravity Hammers.

Hidden villains who can drop you with a single shot? It doesn’t get much scarier than that!

9) Promethean Knights

As a longtime fan of the franchise, I wasn’t a huge fan of the new enemy types introduced in Halo 4. In some cases, I didn’t love the aesthetics of their design; in other cases, I didn’t love how they kicked my teeth in, especially on the higher difficulties. As for the Promethean Knights, they were the worst of both worlds: ugly and scary!

In Halo 4, these guys are mostly annoying because they eat up your shield faster than you can say “finish the fight.” And they got an annoying upgrade in Halo 5, requiring you to dodge their teleporting attacks and target two tiny spots on their back in order to defeat them. 

Fast, mean, and hard to kill, the Promethean Knights are a real nightmare for players. Almost as much of an annoying nightmare as the Halo 5 campaign!

8) Elite Honor Guards

One of the scariest Halo enemies has been around from the beginning. In Combat Evolved, the Elite foes are already a pesky threat because they are fast, strong, and smart. It’s enough to make first-time players wonder what could make these guys even more frightening. The answer is quite simple: give them an Energy Sword!

The Elite Honor Guards wander around with the same Energy Swords you use to quickly dispatch your human foes during multiplayer. And these Elites are sometimes as pesky as a human because they will run toward you like the T-1000 and start swiping with one of the most powerful weapons in the franchise. Unless you can take them out with your own power weapon, you’ll end up restarting from your last checkpoint, cursing the day these nasty baddies started playing just as dirty as Master Chief.

7) Sesa ‘Refumee

Some players might scoff at seeing Sesa ‘Refumee on this list because he isn’t the physically toughest of villains. However, I’m here to rank these bad guys by scare factors and not just hit points. And this Halo 2 boss battle is quite frightening because the villain brought out one of the most annoying tricks in gaming: creating multiple copies of himself during the fight.

Maybe it’s all the time (and all those quarters) I spent fighting Shredder in the original TMNT Arcade Game, but there are fewer things I hate more than villains making copies of themselves. After all, I came here to shoot and not solve annoying riddles. Plus, the first time I fought Sesa ‘Refumee, I was low on ammo in just about everything. That turned what could have been a quick run-and-gun encounter into a nasty (albeit memorable) fight for my digital life!

6) Brute Chieftains

When they were introduced to players in Halo 2, the Brutes were already pretty scary. They were bigger, meaner, and hairier than the Elites, able to soak up plenty of bullets and dole out serious pain. And the Brute Chieftains took the fright factor to the next level because they were armed with the Gravity Hammer.

If you’ve played much Halo multiplayer, then you know that this hammer, much like the Energy Sword, can kill players in a single blow. It’s always scary to fight enemies that can insta-kill you, and these hammer-wielding apes are spread throughout games like Halo 3. That makes the campaign particularly difficult to complete on Legendary, and those who have done so still have nightmares about these guys..

5) Hunters

Some of the scariest Halo enemies on this list are surprising. For example, you might not expect to see Jackals rubbing shoulders with Warden. Other enemies, though, are no surprise at all. And from the very beginning of the franchise, there have been few foes more terrifying than the Brutes, thanks to the fact that they are nearly indestructible.

That’s their main gimmick: these guys are only really vulnerable from behind. But it’s tough to get an angle on their weak spot because they travel in pairs and lay down deadly plasma bursts that can kill you in a single shot. Many players have an instant fear response to these guys, and for good reason: every single encounter with the Hunters is like an epic boss battle unto itself.

4) Tartarus

Part of why fans loved Halo 2 so much is that it did everything bigger and better than Combat Evolved. That included boss fights, and the game’s final battle did not disappoint. Players had to fight Tartarus, the scariest Brute of them all. And he was wielding a weapon that Master Chief wouldn’t be able to use until the next game: the Gravity Hammer!

This makes for a (ahem) brutal fight, and you’ll need some fancy footwork to stay alive. The battle also feels cinematic, with Johnson helping snipe Tartarus while you look for an opening to attack. Of course, after getting your teeth kicked in enough, you might do what I did and grab a Banshee to rig the game in your favor.

Bringing a plane to a hammer fight? Don’t mind if I do!

3) Escharum

Due to bad word of mouth, many players skipped out on the Halo Infinite campaign. That’s too bad: the campaign is surprisingly good, and the game’s open world was filled with plenty of colorful boss battles. And the greatest of these fights comes when you face Escharum, the game’s nastiest boss.

You’ll quickly discover that Escahrum is tougher than any Brute you’ve ever faced. He’s hard to damage and eventually gets to improve his shield, forcing you to hunt down and destroy the generators he is relying on. And after he gets tired of shooting at you, he’ll whip out a specialized ax with the cheerful name “Dimisher of Hope.” The final phase is the toughest of all, and beating this vexing villain will require all of your skills in the use of the grappling hook and other special items.

2) Harbinger

Halo Infinite is as close as the franchise ever came to a boss battle mode. And waiting for you at the end of all those scary villains is Harbinger, a nasty foe surrounded by Banished henchmen. This alone adds to the intimidation factor because you can’t afford to just focus on the Big Bad; instead, you have to get good (as the kids say) at taking on a small army every time you want to get a shot at Harbinger.

As for the actual Harbinger fight, she quickly proves to be both speedy and slippery, bouncing around and firing off orbs that look and hit like Goku’s Spirit Bomb. These orbs can kill you in one shot, and she just fires more at a time as the fight goes on. The result is a very memorable final fight that challenges all of your skills, forcing you to dodge major bad guys like the Brute Chieftain in between attacking a teleporting foe ready to one-shot you out of existence.

1) Warden

One of the best things (in this old gamer’s opinion) about the Halo franchise is that it knows how to crank up the difficulty in deliciously frustrating ways. For example, Halo 5 introduced us to the Warden, who immediately establishes himself as one of the game’s fiercest foes. He takes far too many bullets to kill and puts out his own scary firepower in the form of a laser. Trust me: this scream beam will make you feel like Gandalf himself is rocking your metal butt.

Just when you get comfortable fighting the Warden, Halo 5 decides to make you face more than one. In fact, you have to fight up to three at once! Your ability to dodge and weave is just as important as your ability to aim and throw, and these tense encounters are sometimes more nail-biting than even the toughest multiplayer battle. 

Which Halo enemy to you fight to be the most terrifying? Let us know in the comments!

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