Drones

Drones are rare, but annoying. These flying buzzards will descend from the skies and attack with plasma pistols more often than not. Individually they're not very difficult to defeat, but since they attack en masse they can dish out a lot of damage in a small amount of time. Their flying capabilities also usually makes them immune to grenades unless you get a lucky stick.

In most cases, it's best to let your teammates deal with the Drones, or just attempt to run past them while they're firing at another target. If you do need to fire on them, use a weapon that fires rapidly, like the plasma rifle or the assault rifle.

Hunters

Hunters are also fairly rare, only appearing perhaps three times throughout the game. Hunters always appear in pairs, and attempt to fire on you with their massive green lasers before they close in for the kill with their melee attacks. Hunters are tough and incredibly well-armored, making them difficult foes to bring down.

Always try to hit a hunter on its rear side.

The best way to kill a hunter is to attack it from the back. If you get close to it, it will start to swing its fists at you. Strafe around it as best you can and unload a shot to its unprotected backside (or stick a grenade on there). Just be careful, though, as they often will attack backwards over their heads in retaliation.

If you find that you truly can't take down a Hunter, you can always run away. This probably won't work on the first encounter, but they don't seem to pursue you if you run from them after you encounter them the second time during the campaign.

Flood

The Flood consists of three basic creatures, although one of these is more complex than you might originally assume.

Parasites

The parasitic form of the Flood is a small, seemingly harmless creature that comes at you in waves of dozens at a time. Individually, they're not tough, and will bounce off your shields for minor damage. En masse, however, their shield damage will accumulate and can quickly overwhelm you. If you shoot one of these guys, they'll explode, which can lead to chain reactions when a bunch of them are clumped together, as they often will be.

Parasites will attempt to find dead bodies in their vicinity and reanimate them as Flood zombies. This isn't always avoidable, as the parasites themselves are tiny, fast-moving targets and difficult to shoot.

Flood Zombies

Zombies are the Flood's way of taking over the universe; the Gravemind never met a corpse it didn't like. When a parasite infects a corpse, it becomes a zombie and shambles about, looking for more corpses to create for the parasites to infest. These zombies are dullards compared to their former selves, but retain their speed and ability to fire weapons, and even the energy shields of their former selves.

Smoosh the bodies of zombies until they can be smooshed no more, and they won't be resurrected by parasites .

Zombies should be approached with caution, but are generally fairly weak. If you can overcome their shields, they'll usually go down quickly; dual plasma rifles are ideal for the purpose of chopping through them. It's very important that you keep firing on the zombie, even after it dies again, until its body disintegrates. That'll rob the parasites of another host to infest. If you only hit a zombie until it falls down, it'll eventually just get regenerated to full health by a parasite. If you want to save ammo, just use melee attacks on the corpses until they explode. If you're using an energy sword, attacking corpses uses no ammo.

Changelings

Some of the higher-level Flood creatures have evolved to a point where they can change shape. These guys have three forms, and can change almost at will. They'll often shift based on your behavior.

Stalker: In stalker form, the changeling will become a spider-like creature that sticks to walls and searches you out. You'll often encounter changelings in this form first, before they're aware of your presence, and that's a good thing, as the only attack is a weak melee attack. Shoot them quickly or use your own melee attacks before they jump away and shift.

Energy swords and needlers are usually the best way to take down changelings.

Hunter: Resembling the Covenent Hunters, the changeling form is even slower and possesses no ranged attacks. They do have a lot of health, though, and can take quite a bit of damage before dying. Use an energy sword on this form if you can.

Ranged: In ranged form, a changeling will attach itself to a wall and shoot numerous spikes at you from a long range. This is by far the most annoying of the forms, as the changelings are often impossible to hit with weaponry at this point, forcing you to switch to a ranged weapon to take them down. Dual plasma rifles will do the job, so long as you aren't too far away, as will a carbine. If you can get close, a sticky grenade will work well.

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