[Halo Reach] A closer look at Firefight waves/squads

An in-depth look at exactly what kinds of Covenant troops you'll get for each wave type when customizing Firefight gamemodes.

Introduction

The in-game descriptions for the squads in Firefight were far too vague for my liking, so I went into the game (playing as an Elite) and documented everything I saw; what troops spawned, what squads they were forming, what weapons they were using, etc.

This was all done on Heroic difficulty, so I wont guarantee that this will apply to other difficulties, but it might at least serve as as basic guide for them. This was also done on Courtyard, but I believe this information is all the same regardless of what map you're on.

The Structure of Firefight

As we all know, Firefight is broken up into different sections. A set is made up of 3 rounds, and rounds are made up of 5 waves. The waves themselves are also broken up into three sections, when making a custom gamemode. The first "initial wave", consisting of three squads of which one is chosen. The second, third, and fourth "main waves", consisting of five squads of which three are chosen. And the "boss wave", consisting of three squads of which one is chosen.

From my testing, I've found that these squads are broken up into 6 teams, each made up of 4 troops, aside from three special troops, the Elite General, Brute Chieftain, and Hunter, which all come in teams of just 1. It appears that each troop in the team is consistent between teams, i.e. an Elite Major will always use the same weapons, whether he's leading 3 grunts in the Elite Patrol team, or acting as a second-in-command under an Elite Ultra in the Elites team.

Therefore, I have split this guide into three sections. The first is a list of all the different types of individual troops you'll see, and what weapons they'll use. The second is a list of all the teams that can spawn in, and what troops form them. The third section will be the actual composition of the squads you can choose in game; which selection of teams will spawn with that squad.

The Soldiers

This is a list of all the soldiers that can spawn, and what weapons they'll use.

Grunts
The grunts, the cannon fodder of the Covenant, come in a few different flavours.

• Grunt Minor, orange armour, spawns with Plasma Pistols and Needlers.
  
• Grunt Major, red armour, spawns with Plasma Pistols and Needlers.
  
• Grunt Heavy, green armour, spawns with Plasma Pistols, Fuel Rod Cannons, and Plasma Launchers.
  
• Grunt Spec Ops, black armour, spawns with Plasma Pistols, Plasma Launchers, and Fuel Rod Cannons.
  
• Grunt Ultra, white armour with a helmet, only spawns with Plasma Pistols.

Jackals
Jackals only come in three varieties.

• Jackal Minor, blue shield, spawns with Plasma Pistols and Neelders.
  
• Jackal Major, red shield, spawns with Plasma Pistols and Needlers.
  
• Jackal Sniper, no shield, spawns with Needle Rifles and Focus Rifles.

Skirmishers
Skirmishers have 5 varieties. Somehow I managed to never see a Major in all my testing, so I don't have full info on those. I will update as I encounter them.

• Skirmisher Minor, grey armour, spawns with Plasma Pistols, Needlers, and Needle Rifles.
  
• Skirmisher Majors, red armour, spawns with Plasma Pistols. I presume they also spawn with Needle Rifles but I haven't seen many of these guys in my testing.
  
• Skirmisher Mumillo, orange armour, spawns with Plasma Pistols only.
  
• Skirmisher Commando, green armour, spawns with Plasma Pistols, Needle Rifles, and Focus Rifles.
  
• Skirmisher Champion, gold armour, spawns with Plasma Pistols and Needle Rifles.

Elites
The commanders of the Covenant military. Not to be underestimated.

• Elite Minor, blue armour, spawns with Plasma Rifles and Needlers.
  
• Elite Major, red armour, spawns with Plasma Rifles, Plasma Repeaters, Concussion Rifles, and Plasma Launchers.
  
• Elite Ultra, white armour, spawns with dual Plasma Rifles, Plasma Repeaters, Concussion Rifles, Plasma Launchers, and Energy Swords.
  
• Elite Ranger, white armour with a jetpack and face mask, spawns with Plasma Repeaters, Needle Rifles, Concussion Rifles, and Focus Rifles.
  
• Elite Spec Ops, brown armour with active camo, spawns with dual Plasma Rifles or Energy Swords.
  
• Elite General, gold armour, spawns with Plasma Cannons, Plasma Launchers, Concussion Rifles, Fuel Rod Cannons, and Energy Swords.

Hunters
Walking tanks, tough to take down, and can deal a lot of damage.
They only come in one variety; blue with a Fuel Rod Cannon and giant metal shield.

Brutes
Used as shock troops by the Covenant, they only have three ranks.

• Brute Minor, blue helmet, spawns with Spikers or Plasma Repeaters.
  
• Brute Major, gold armour, spawns with Spikers, Plasma Repeaters, and Gravity Hammers.
  
• Brute Chieftain, red armour with an energy shield, spawns with Plasma Cannons, Plasma Launchers, Fuel Rod Cannons, and Gravity Hammers.

Heretics
Elites experimenting with Human weapons. I gave them their own section, since they're a little different from Elites proper.

• Heretic Minor, blue armour, spawns with Magnums and Assault Rifles.
  
• Heretic Major, red armour, spawns with Assault Rifles, DMRs, and Shotguns.
  
• Heretic Ultra, white armour, spawns with Magnums, DMRs, Shotguns, and Grenade Launchers.
  
• Heretic Minor (sniper), blue armour, spawns with DMRs.
  
• Heretic Major (sniper), red armour, spawns with Sniper Rifles.
  
• Heretic Minor (heavy), blue armour, spawns with Grenade Launchers.
  
• Heretic Major (heavy), red armour, spawns with Rocket Launchers and Spartan Lasers.

The Teams

These are all the teams in Halo Reach Firefight. Each Squad you can select while editing the gamemode will spawn a mix of 6 of these teams, in various proportions.

Grunt Team

• One Grunt Ultra, leads the team.
  
• One Grunt Heavy or Spec Ops.
  
• Two Grunts, both can be Majors or Minors.

Jackal Team

• One Jackal Sniper, leads the team.
  
• Three Jackals, all can be Majors or Minors.

Jackal Sniper Team

• Four Jackal Snipers.

Skirmisher Team

• One Skirmisher Commando or Skirmisher Champion, leads the team.
  
• One Skirmisher Murmillo.
  
• Two Skirmisher Minors (possibly also Majors?)

Elite Team

• One Elite Ultra, leads the team.
  
• One Elite Major.
  
• Two Elite Minors.

Elite Patrol Team

• One Elite Major, leads the team.
  
• One Grunt Ultra.
  
• One Grunt Spec Ops or Heavy.
  
• One Grunt Minor or Major.

Elite Infantry Team

• One Elite Major, leads the team.
  
• One Jackal Sniper.
  
• Two Jackals, both can be Minors or Majors.

Elite Airborne Team

• Four Elite Rangers

Elite Spec Ops Team

• Four Elite Spec Ops

Brute Team

• One Brute Major, leads the team.
  
• Three Brute Minors.

Brute Patrol Team

• One Brute Major, leads the team.
  
• One Grunt Ultra.
  
• One Grunt Spec Ops or Heavy.
  
• One Grunt Minor or Major.

Brute infantry Team

• One Brute Major, leads the team.
  
• One Jackal Sniper.
  
• Two Jackals, both can be Minors or Majors.

Elite Heretic Team

• One Heretic Elite Ultra, leads the team.
  
• One Heretic Elite Major.
  
• Two Heretic Elite Minors.

Elite Heretic Sniper Team

• One Heretic Major (Sniper), leads the team.
  
• Three Heretic Minors (Sniper).

Elite Heretic Heavy Team

• One Heretic Major (Heavy), leads the team.
  
• Three Heretic Minors (Heavy).

The Squads

Finally, here are all the squads as named in the actual game and in order, but with the exact teams that they will spawn in if you select them.

Grunts

• 6 Grunt Teams

Elites

• 6 Elite Teams

Elite Patrol

• 6 Elite Patrol Teams

Elite Infantry

• 6 Elite Infantry Teams

Elite Tactical

• 1 Elite Team
  
• 5 Skirmisher Teams

Elite Airborne

• 4 Elite Airborne Teams
  
• 2 Elite Teams

Elite Spec Ops

• 4 Elite Spec Ops Teams
  
• 2 Elite Teams

Elite Generals

• 6 Elite Generals

Elite Strike Team

• 4 Elite Generals
  
• 1 Elite Airborne Team
  
• 1 Grunt Team

Brutes

• 6 Brute Teams

Brute Patrol

• 6 Brute Patrol Teams

Brute Infantry

• 6 Brute Infantry Teams

Brute Tactical

• 2 Brute Teams
  
• 4 Skirmisher Teams

Brute Chieftains

• 6 Brute Chieftains

Brute Kill Team

• 4 Brute Chieftains
  
• 2 Brute Patrol Teams

Hunters

• 6 Hunters

Hunter Patrol

• 2 Hunters
  
• 4 Grunt Teams

Hunter Infantry

• 2 Hunters
  
• 4 Jackal Teams

Hunter Tactical

• 2 Hunters
  
• 4 Skirmisher Teams

Hunter Strike Team

• 2 Hunters
  
• 1 Elite Airborne Team
  
• 3 Grunt Squads

Hunter Kill Team

• 2 Hunters
  
• 4 Elite Patrol Teams

Skirmishers

• 6 Skirmisher Teams

Skirmisher Patrol

• 2 Skirmisher Teams
  
• 4 Grunt Teams

Skirmisher Infantry

• 1 Skirmisher Team
  
• 5 Jackal Teams

Jackals

• 6 Jackal Teams

Jackal Patrol

• 3 Jackal Teams
  
• 3 Grunt Teams

Jackal Snipers

• 6 Jackal Sniper Teams

Heretics

• 6 Elite Heretic Teams

Heretic Snipers

• 6 Elite Heretic Sniper Teams

Heretic Heavies

• 6 Elite Heretic Heavy Teams

Last word

That's everything I found. If anyone sees one of the aliens using a weapon not listed at his rank, let me know in the comments and I'll add it in. Hope this can be helpful to someone!

[Tusks The Axew]

-Zealots do indeed never appear in Firefight under any circumstances. Zealots, Field Marshals, and all Drone ranks are the only Covenant units to not make any appearances in Reach Firefight, and the only way you'll see them is in modded Firefight maps. Player-controlled Elites can wear Zealot and Field Marshal armour, but obviously, these aren't AI.

Everything you said is still correct! These are just some quirks i spotted, playing a lot of the same Firefight mode on normal difficulty.

[Tusks The Axew]

-Thunderstorm (accessible via ReachVariantTool) upgrades most ranks to Ultra/Major, but not "special" ones (Spec Ops Grunts, Heavy Grunts, Ranger Elites, Spec Ops Elites, Skirmisher Mumillos and Jackal Snipers can't be upgraded in rank). You can also see high ranking units with lower ranking weapons - like Ultra Grunts with Needlers or Ultra Elites with Needlers - this way.

-Elites can't have dual wield Plasma Rifles if they come out of a dropship and/or on Normal, seemingly? I've never seen any dual wielding Elites on Normal with dropships on, but i have seen dual wielding Elites on Heroic and above, and seemingly more often without dropships.

[Tusks The Axew]

Excellently done and this really helped me make some modes. Thank you! I'd like to say some notes though, and i'll have to post this in multiple parts due to character limit.

-Squad composition does change slightly based on difficulty, and even what round it is (map doesn't matter though). On Normal, Round 1 Jackal squads (Elite Infantry, Brute Infantry, Skirmisher Infantry, Jackal Patrol, Jackals) won't have Jackal Snipers, but Round 2 will include one Jackal Sniper per squad of them, for one example. Ultra Grunts, Spec Ops Grunts, Heavy Grunts, Ultra Elites, and other high ranking Covenant also don't appear until Round 2. What weapons they're allowed to have also seems to change per round, like Elite Rangers gaining Focus Rifles and Needle Rifles, Jackal Snipers gaining Focus Rifles, and Elite Generals gaining Energy Swords past Round 1. I fully understand if this is too hard to research and document however.

[Classified]

I've only seen them once or twice, but I thought they ere in the Elite Strike/Kill teams.

[Classified]

No I mean Zealots

[Test Tube]

I never saw zealots during all my testing. Are you sure you don't mean the Generals? Those are the golden Elites. Zealots are the purple ones.

[Classified]

Great guide, but what about Zealots? I've seen them once or twice in Firefight.

[magazine permafrost]

very in depth. great guide

[Test Tube]

Thanks!

[Authoritarrr]

Cheers for the guide. Fun and useful to read through :)