Elite Armor Permutations

I'm glad Bungie made Elites playable in Halo 2 and 3. If you're a fellow Elite player, GOOD FOR YOU! There are too many Spartans running around. Elites are easier to headshot from head-on (since their head is hunched over in front of their chest), but they are often harder to headshot from the side (sometimes the weapon covers up their head) and much harder from the back (where the head is almost invisible). This can be quite valuable in certain gametypes (it can be infuriating to get an Elite from behind in SWAT). But really I just play an Elite because they look cool and I like to be different.

(Want to make your own custom aliens? You can find instructions on this page! And don't forget to visit my decal shop, where you can buy the stickers I use to make mine!)

The basic Elite armor permutation is the Combat armor type, based on the typical Elite look found in all the various Halo games (although significantly updated with many more angles and spikes). It is, hands down, the coolest armor permutation, but suffers from a slight boring factor because it's the default. Also, the head kind of sticks up in the back, making the top of it visible from behind. I don't know if this really is that much of a problem, but there you go. I wish that Bungie had made at least ONE other helmet with the mouth-parts visible...

Assault is the other type available by default. The helmet is low, sleek, and somewhat rounded. I've heard it's supposed to look like the outfits worn by the Heretic Elites in Halo 2, but the resemblance is only slight if you ask me. Also, the heretics did have their mouth-parts open... Yeah, I just like the mouth-parts, okay? They're part of the whole alien look. Oh, one thing unique about the Flight "harness" (as the game description calls Elite armor) is that the chest adds some little magazine pouches along the shoulder area of the upper chest - one of them is just barely visible in the pic above. Most of the Elite chest armors make hardly any noticeable difference... it would have been nice if a few others added cool upper chest modifications (blades, perhaps?).

Flight is the third type of armor, which (if I remember right) should be fully unlocked by the time you beat the whole campaign on Legendary. I've heard it's supposedly based on the flying jetpack Elites also encountered in Halo 2. Again, they don't look exactly the same, but whatever. I don't care much for the helmet, but the Flight chest is probably my favorite. At least the lights make it slightly noticeable.

The Commando is probably my favorite helmet and shoulders to use in multiplayer. The appearance is sleek, stylish, and intimidating, without making your silhouette as big and easy a target as the Combat helmet/shoulders. The chest armor, however, is nothing. It's just... nothing to it at all. Come on, Bungie, couldn't you come up with something better than that? Elites got ripped off on armor sets.

The Ascetic armor is only unlocked by an array of multiplayer-based achievements. It's one of the cooler Elite helmets, entirely because of the blades on either side of the head. In this case I used silver Viking horns, attached via Brickarms monopod pieces. The monopods are inserted into either side of a 1x1 brick with hollow studs on each side, and this (with a 1x1 plate on the bottom) is attached to the back via a 1x1 tile with hook on top. I hope that made sense. I'll try to get some decent instructions for this and the Assault helmet up at some point. Besides the helmet, the shoulders for the Ascetic armor are hideously ugly, and the chest piece basically just closes up that annoying gap in the middle of your harness "vest."

(Want to make your own custom minifigs? Don't forget to visit my decal shop, where you can buy the stickers I use to make mine!)

EDIT: Here are some photos to explain how I made the head...

NOTE: A female 2 x 1 plate clicky joint piece will also support a hook piece like this one, if you don't have the exact piece I used.

The hooks here are Brickarms monopods, but they can be replaced with LEGO 'robot hands' if you prefer... but it may take some cutting.

Just add silver Viking horns and decals, and you're done! Don't forget to visit my decal shop, where you can buy the stickers I use to make my minifigs!)