Halo Wars: Definitive Edition: UNSC Field Manual for Skirmish Mode

To play Halo Wars, you must know what your adversary is doing and what you can do to counter what the enemy is going to do:
-Scouting is important. Scout often to know what your adversaries are up to (build orders, expanding, etc..)
-If your enemy is building a lot of infantry, build anti-infantry or vehicles to counter their infantry. Upgrade your turrets with the anti-vehicle upgrade as its the most versitile against the anti infantry turret upgraades.
-If the enemy has a lot of vehicles coming towards your base, build anti-vehicle units and air units to limit their damage. Also upgrade your turrets with the anti-vehicle upgrade.
-If air units are gonna give you troubles, build anti-air to stop them. Upgrade your turrets with the anti-air upgrade.
-If an Uber Unit or two are coming to beat you to death, focus fire on it until it either retreats or is destroyed (as it can melt through any base really quickly).
-The UNSC is professional and regimented. Overall each UNSC unit is slightly stronger than their Covenant counterparts. The UNSC is a vehicle powerhouse while the Covenant dominates the skies.
-Another thing you need to do to play effectively is to manage your economy. You should know how many supply buildings you need at the moment and how much defense you’ll need so that you don’t get taken out by an early rush.
-Map knowledge is also important because knowing where the resources are and where the map structures are (Forerunner Supply Pad, Forerunner Reactor, Sniper towers, Energy Walls, Garrisonaeble buildings, free expo bases, neutral faction bases, etc…) and seizing them before your enemy has a chance to take them will give you an upper hand above the enemy.
-Even though some main units aren’t specifically anti-whatever, they can still do some damage to a different class of units.
-Infantry actually have an advantage (a small one, but one nonetheless) over air units, unless of course you’re building things like Hunters or Flamers, which can’t target air units.
-Both Covies and UNSC get upgrades designed to fight air units better (Needler and RPG respectively) and their lower cost/lower recruit time/increased model numbers mean that air will lose in an evenly matched fight.
-Vehicles have a massive advantage over infantry, exception is the anti-vehicle specialists (Cobras) and building killers (Locusts).
-However, air units have far superior movement, meaning that if you run up on infantry, just ignore them and take another objective. Logistically, air units are superior, but they’ll lose on even footing, especially against garrisoned troops.
-Lastly, air units have an advantage over vehicles (the exception are the anti-air units). Because most vehicles can shoot their secondary weapons upwards or outright can not shoot air units this makes them a great counter for massive armies of vehicles. The notable exceptions include Wolverines and fully upgraded Gauss Warthogs.

We have different combinations of leaders and game modes in Halo Wars.
Game Modes:
-Standard (I will be focusing on Standard game mode in this guide)
-Deathmatch (full techs, gain population from building more bases)
-Reinforcements (same rules as Standard but there is a timer between waves where you get reinforcements and depleted resources each wave based on your upgrades. You can only build Spartans in this mode as the UNSC and the rest of the units you can only upgrade them)
-Keep Away (Standard rules, capture the flag to win mode)
-Tug of War (Standard rules, win by pushing your bar all the way to the enemy side)

Game Types:
-Tradicional match ups (1v1, 2v2 or 3v3: UNSC vs Covenant, which will be the focus of my guide for the UNSC side)
-Mirror match ups (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, same faction matchups)
-Mixed match ups (teams randomized)

“[Captain Jacob Keyes’] bravery in the face of impossible odds reflects great credit upon himself and the UNSC. The Navy has lost one of its best.”
– Lord Hood, Halo 2

The United Nations Space Command (UNSC) is playable in skirmish and the campaign. But just because you’re forced to play as the UNSC in the campaign doesn’t mean they’re bad, quite the contrary!

The typical UNSC unit is stronger than the typical Covenant unit but the UNSC can have fewer units in total and require more tech to get started; think of them like something made in any country with quality standards. As I was saying, Scorpions and Hornets need at least a tech level of 2 while the Covenant can start building Wraiths and Banshees at a tech level of 1 (they effectively start at that tech level by just building their temple). But as proven in Halo Wars mythbusters, UNSC vehicles beat Covenant vehicles.

The UNSC are different from the Covenant because they have leader abilities that can be deployed anywhere on the map that you have line of sight:
-Pelican(200 Resources)-Transports Units to another location.
-Heal&Repair(300 Resources)-Heals friendly units and repairs buildings, gets less effective the more units that have to be healed.
-Disruption Bomb(450 Resources)-Prevents other leaders from using their leader abilities and stops Covenant heroes from using their hero abilities.

The UNSC is professional and regimented and are organized as follows, regardless of the selected leader (see next sections of this guide).

As the UNSC, you’ll typically have to play more casually than the average Covenant player. But that’s not to say that the UNSC can’t do an early game rush; putting 3 Spartans in 3 Scorpions is a pretty deadly rush in the early game considering how strong Spartaned Scorpions are.

The 3 available leaders to play as the UNSC in multiplayer are:
-Sergeant Forge
-Professor Anders
-Captain Cutter

Legend (unit upgrades):
T1-Starting unit
T2-1st upgrade
T3-2nd upgrade
T4-3rd upgrade
T5-4th upgrade
*Because of the difference between upgrade costs depending on the selected leader those will not be published as to not confuse the player. Only the unique leaders unit costs will be presented in their respective sections of this guide.

(Build from any of your main base structures):
-Warthog
Cost: 150 Resources
Damage: Medium
Population: 1
Speed: Fast
Armor: Light/Medium
Shields: None
The primary scout unit for any UNSC and the best scouting unit in the game imo. Its very fast and reliable and a lot of them can absolutely be devastating in the early parts of the game. The Warthog is given to you at the start of the game. It’s good for scouting because of its speed. While it starts with the ram ability, it needs upgrades to allow it to attack from a range. It’s best used to scout and collect resources or against light infantry.
Upgrades:
T1-Scout with active Ram ability
T2-Gunner (Tech Level 1)- Adds a Machine Gun attack to the Warthog. Adds attack capabilities.
T3-Grenadier (Tech Level 2)- Adds a Marine with grenade launcher. Improves attack.
T4-Gauss Cannon (Tech Level 3)-Replaces Machine Gun with a Gauss Cannon for greatly improved attack.

(Requires a Barracks to upgrade amd train the soldiers):
-Marines
Cost: 100
Damage: Low
Population: 1
Speed: Medium
Armor: Very Light
Shields: None
The Marine is a cost-effective unit that can be massed quite easily. It’s a cheap unit that can be stationed on towers, supply elevators, garrisons or bonus reactors giving them a survivability boost, and work great against air units on equal footing.
Upgrades:
T1-Standard 4 men squad with Grenade Ability
T2-New Blood (Tech Level 1)-Adds 1 more marine to the squad, improving effectiveness .
T3-RPG (Tech Level 2)-Replaces Special Attack Grenade with Rocket Propelled Launchers that improve attack and range and can also target air units.
T4-Medic (Tech Level 3)-Adds a Medic unit to the squad, improving effectiveness and allows healing after battles. Cannot heal during battle and cannot revive fallen marines. Fallen marines can only be replaced with the Heal&Repair leader ability.

-Flamethrowers (Flamers)
Cost: 100
Damage: Low
Population: 1
Speed: Medium
Armour: Very Light
Shields: None
The Flamethrower is an anti-infantry unit. It will do great against packs of infantry units. However, it can not attack air units and its attacks are considerably less useful against vehicles. Mass this if your enemy is massing infantry.
Upgrades:
T1-Standard Flamethrower
T2-Flash Bang (Tech Level 1)- Flamethrowers gain the Flash Bang Grenade Special Attack that can stun infantry (besides Heros).
T3-Napalm Adherent (Tech Level 2)-Improves attack and adds after burn damage.
T4-Oxide Tank (Tech Level 3)-Greatly improves damage against infantry. Turns their flames from orange to blue.

(Is included in the Barracks as well, required to upgrade amd train the soldiers from this branch):
-Spartans
Cost: 300
Damage: Medium (High with Spartan Laser)
Population: 0 (max of 3 that do not count towards the total population of your army)
Speed: Medium
Amor: Medium/Heavy
Shields: Light/Medium
The Spartan is a strong unit that can handle small groups of units easily. They can be outfitted with chain guns that make their damage increase quite significantly, and can also be upgraded with Spartan Lasers. Their initial starting ability is the vehicle hijack, which steals an enemy vehicle and gives it to you. You can only have three of them at any given time, but they don’t use regular population slots. They can also control your vehicles to improve their strength.
Upgrades:
T1-Standard Spartan with Hijack Vehicle Special Attack and Dual wielding SMGs
T2-Chain Gun (Tech Level 2)-Replaces the Spartan’s SMG with Chain Gun, improving damage.
T3-Neural Implant (Tech Level 3)-Allows for fast hijacking of enemy vehicles.
T4-Spartan Laser (Tech Level 4)-Replaces Chain gun with a Spartan Laser, greatly improving damage.

(Requires a Vehicle Depot to upgrade and build the vehicles):
-Scorpion
Cost: 500
Damage: High
Population: 3
Speed: Slow/Medium
Armor: Heavy
Shields: None
Scorpions are the main vehicle unit, adept against infantry and against buildings as well. Their special ability launches a powerful attack against any ground target. They are slow however.
Upgrades:
T1-Standard Scorpion (Tech Level 2)
T2-Canister Shell (Tech Level 3)-Adds a special Y ability to the tank, allowing a secondary cannon attack, devastating to buildings and other vehicles.
T3-Power Turret (Tech Level 4)-Improves the main turret’s turning speed.

-Cobra
Cost: 350
Damage: Low (High when locked down)
Population: 2
Speed: Very Slow
Armor: Medium (High when locked down)
Shields: None
The Cobra is the UNSC’s anti-vehicle unit. It does mild damage normally, but when locked down, it’s damage improves massively. In addition to dealing great damage against vehicles, it can tear buildings apart.
Upgrades:
T1-Standard Cobra with Unpack Special Attack (Tech Level 3)
T2-Deflection Plating (Tech Level 3)-Adds extra protection while locked down and may reflect projectiles.
T3-Piercing Shot (Tech Level 4)-Improves rail gun damage to damage multiple targets.

-Wolverine
Cost: 300
Damage: Medium
Population: 2
Speed: Medium
Armor: Light/Medium
Shields: None
The Wolverine is the UNSC’s anti-air unit. It does good damage against anything that flies but low damage to other units. It’s volley attack can help damage against vehicles and buildings.
Upgrades:
T1-Standard Wolverine (Tech Level 3)
T2-Volley (Tech Level 3)-Adds a Special Attack to the Wolverine. Allows a large missile barrage attack on ground units and builds, but cannot Volley air units.
T3-Dual Launchers (Tech Level 4)- Adds another set of missile pads to the Wolverine, greatly improving the damage.

(Requires an Air Pad to upgrade and build the aircraft):
-Hornet
Cost: 250
Damage: Medium
Population: 2
Speed: Fast (Flight)
Armor: Light
Shields: None
The UNSC’s main flight unit is fast and agile, but is very easy to be taken down. However, it can be upgraded with two marines on the side plates and chaff pods, which reduce the chance of missiles hitting it. These aircraft are good against enemy vehicles and lone infantry. Either use these in groups or have them go with ground units, otherwise enemy fire will concentrate on the hornets and you will lose them.
Upgrades:
T1-Standard Hornet (Tech Level 2)
T2-Wingmen (Tech Level 3)-Wingmen adds two marines carrying rocket launchers to the Hornet, improves attack power.
T3-Chaff Pods (Tech Level 4)-Chaff Pod adds the passive flare system ability to dodge rockets and missiles.

-Vulture
Cost: 900
Damage: High
Population: 6
Speed: Very Slow (Flight)
Armor: Medium
Shields: None
This is the UNSC’s Uber unit, which can be upgraded with 2× missile silos, which doubles the damage for the secondary attack. Its primary attack uses two dual-cannons at the front of the ship, and the secondary attack fires lots of missiles at your target. Just one of these can take down a base!
Upgrades:
T1-Vulture can fire 4 missiles in the Special Attack at once (Tech Level 4)
T2-Doubles the number of missiles in the Special Attack ability to 8 at once (Tech Level 4)

(Referred to by UNSC leaders as simply the Field Armory):
Available upgrades:
Tech level 1 upgrades:
Adrenaline boost-Boosts the speed of all Infantry Units (Marines, ODSTs, Cyclopses, Flamethrowers and Spartans).

Tech Level 2 upgrades:
Reserves-Allows you to train units faster.
Turret upgrades (T2) Medium Turret-Boosts the damage and HP of every single turret constructed.
Leader Power (T2)-Boosts Special Leader Power Effectiveness in battle.

Tech Level 3 upgrades:
Turret upgrades (T3) Large Turret-Boosts the damage and HP of every single turret constructed.
Leader Power (T3)-Boosts Special Leader Power Effectiveness in battle.
Reinforcements-Boosts your population cap by 10 (from 30 to 40).

Tech Level 4 upgrades:
Leader Power (T4)-Boosts Special Leader Power Effectiveness in battle.

Turret upgrades (available at Tech Level 1 from each individual turret radial menu):
-Flame Mortar (anti-infantry)-Frankly this is more useful in the Campaign, especially on Flood missions. In Skirmish is pretty much useless as there are better options that do a similar role.
-Rail Gun (anti-vehicle)-A must have in both Campaign and Skirmish when dealing with massive armies of ground targets.
-Missile Launcher (anti-air): A must have in Campaign and Skirmish when dealing with massive air armies.

“Keep the coffee hot, I’ll be back before you know it!”
– Sergeant John Forge, 2531

Leader Power: Carpet Bomb (600 Resources) – Launches a volley of bombs in a straight line to devastate enemy armor and infantry; can be upgraded for a longer line and more damage.
Unique Unit: Cyclops (125 Resources) – Melee infantry unit that can Heal&Repair any friendly mechanized units or buildings.
Special Unit: Grizzly (500 Resources) – Upgrades the Scorpion Tank.
Bonus ability: Can build Heavy Supply Pads right away (bonus abilities do not apply on Deathmatch mode).

Sergeant John Forge is the first leader of the UNSC and is the easiest to pick up. Forge has Cyclopses, Grizzlies, Carpet Bombs, and instant access to heavy supply pads. With those heavy supply pads, Forge can build his economy quicker. and delay the need for the first reactor or alternatively you could rush two reactors and make Scorpions as soon as possible and beat your enemy to death quickly with 3 Spartans in 3 Scorpions. If you plan on going late, Forge’s Grizzlies are still a very powerful asset to have!

Grizzlies are more on the costly side but they are very potent once you make them!
Grizzly Cost:
Production Cost: 500 Resources
Grizzly Upgrade: 1800 Resources
Grizzly Upgrade + Prerequisite upgrades (Canister Shell, Power Turret): 3100 Resources
Grizzly Upgrade + Prerequisite upgrades + Buildings (Reactors, Vehicle Depot): 5750-6400 Resources
Tech Level 4

Cyclops Cost:
T1-Standard Cyclops (Tech Level 2)
T2-Repair Kit (Tech Level 2)-Gives the ability to repair friendly mechanized units and buildings
T3-High Torque Joints (Tech Level 3)-Improves movement speed

The only major downside about Forge is that you don’t get to personally deploy Forge from the campaign neither do you get to hear the famous line “Forge is down.” I know, he’s literally unplayable.

Most effective strategies with this leader:

As mentioned earlier, Forge’s heavy supply pads allow him to build an economy faster than any other UNSC leader. The extra resources from Forge’s heavy supply pads allow him to get a group of marines or 3 Spartaned Tanks really quickly; complied with his Carpet Bomb ability that excels at severely damaging enemy infantry and armor, Sergeant Forge is the deadliest rusher that the UNSC has to offer.

But what if your precious Grizzlies get damaged and your heal and repair ability is on cooldown? Here’s where the Cyclopses come in handy. At their base level without upgrades, they can only destroy buildings but as soon as you get the repair kit upgrade, they can repair your vehicles and buildings free of charge!

The tank rush defense/offense: Once you start the game do the usual stuff (gather crates, scout, etc…). Your build order might change depending on the enemy AI strategy (AI advisor should spell it out for you at the beginning of the match). But the basics are build a supply pad right away and 2 turrets (if you get rushed right away those will come in handy for early defense because you are massing supplies for other things). After you get enough resources build the remaining 2 supply pads, next upgrade the starter base to Fortress so you can start building the first reactor and field armory (you will need it, especially for the reserves upgrade). Build the 2nd reactor, for tech 2 and a vehicle depot and the last 2 turrets. Try to research reserves as soon as possible and building up an army of Scorpion tanks. This is really devastating because T1 tanks can melt T1 Covenant vehicles because UNSC is more of a vehicle power house while the Covenant dominates the skies. You will also need to build a Barracks once you get more spots to build/another base to get Marines out to take the Garrisionable buildings on the maps to deny enemy acess to them and train and upgrade both your Marines and Spartans (that will commandeer your tanks).

Pros:
-You get fast access to Scorpions, which are the best late game unit for UNSC players.
-Very good rush defense strategy against infantry (average against Hunters, very good against everything else). This is for teams mostly.
-Same thing for vehicles. Very good for maps where your friendly base spawns right next to yours.
-Very good early on damage and attack power.
Cons:
-You will cripple your economy if you loose all those tanks.
-It takes a while to get a decent army size of tanks to make it so they are good enough to rush defend an ally in need that gets Covenant rushed.
-It does perform worse on maps where your ally spawns far from you.
-You are sacrificing Warthog upgrades using this strategy which means you will start upgrading your scout much later than usual with this strategy.

“Serina, get out of my lab.”
– Professor Ellen Anders, 2531

Leader Power: Cryo Bomb (600 Resources) – Freezes enemies for a short time and instantly kills air units; can be upgraded for a longer freeze duration and more instantly killed air units.
Unique Unit: Gremlin (200 Resources) – Combat Support unit that stuns enemy vehicles.
Special Unit: Hawk (250 Resources) – Upgrades the Hornet.
Bonus ability: Cheap research and research is done in half the time. (bonus abilities do not apply on Deathmatch mode).

Professor Ellen Anders is the second leader in the UNSC and is the most overpowered of the bunch and the 2nd most easy to pick up (after Sargeant John Forge). She has Gremlins, Hawks, Cryo Bombs, and Cheap Research in half the time! These give her the strongest late game and most reliable method to destroy Scarabs. Her cheap and fast research allows her to gain access to advanced units before anyone else has the chance to acquire such units. In addition her Hawks make Anders the Queen of the Air as long as the enemy doesn’t build any anti-air to stop you.

Because of Anders’ unique ability to research upgrades in half the time and cost. Researching Hawks don’t take that long at all!
Hawk Cost:
Production Cost: 250 Resources
Hawk Upgrade: 1350 Resources
Hawk Upgrade + Prerequisite upgrades (Wingmen, Chaff Pod, Anders’ Discount): 2000 Resources
Hawk Upgrade + Prerequisite upgrades + Buildings (Reactors, Air Pad): 4650-5250 Resources
Tech Level 4

Gremlin Cost:
T1-Standard Gremlin (Tech Level 2)
T2-Focusing Lens (Tech Level 3)-Extends the Gremlin laser range.
T3-Chain Amplifier (Tech Level 4)-Allows the laser to stun multiple vehicles that are clustered together.

Most effective strategies with this leader:

The Hawks are incredibly effective at shredding enemy bases, armor, and air units; because of Ander’s Research Fire Sale, getting Hawks are almost as cheap as researching ODST’s!

But what if you need something that isn’t quite a Cobra to take care of enemy vehicles? Your answer is the Gremlin. It’s effective against ground vehicles and can EMP enemy vehicles to make them sitting ducks. Plus, they can be upgraded fire stronger lasers and EMP more enemy vehicles.

But all of these other attributes pale in comparison to the Cryo Bomb. The Cryo Bomb completely halts enemy armies in their paths allowing you to unleash hell without resistance for a small period of time. And if someone was foolish enough to challenge your air supremacy, your Cryo Bomb can send those enemy air units to their icy demise. And the most important thing about the Cryo Bomb is that it freezes Scarabs in place and prevents them from doing anything so you can beat it to death before it becomes a problem.

The Warthog Rush: Because of the cheap and half the times upgrades, Professor Anders is by far the most effective leader with the Warthog rush. All you have to do is mass Warthogs and get to Gauss Cannon as soon as possible. Then you are a force to be reckoned with because of how fast and annoying all those Gaus Warthogs are (even to air units, invantry and the slower armored units). Build order again may vary depending on the enemy AI behaviour but you want to get 2 supply pads and 2 turrets first on your first base and do the usual (gather crates, scout, etc…). Once you have more supplies build the other supply pad and upgrade your base to a Fortress. Start by building a reactor and a Field armory (you will need 1 for the Reserves upgrade mainly again) and build the 2nd reactor. Dont forget to upgrade your 3 supply pads and build the last 2 turrets. Lastly we will build the Barracks to train and upgrade Marines (to take the garrisionable structures and deny access to the enemy of those ones).

Pros:
-Very annoying to deal with strategy because of how fast all those fully upgraded warthogs are. The enemy really needs decently upgraded armor to counter all of them. Units like Locusts will absolutely get melted by mass Gauss Cannon Warthog armies, for example. As well as T1 Wraiths.
-Can melt T1 Air Units like Vampires, Banshees or Engineers with the Gauss Cannon Warthog upgrade.
-Good rush defense strategy in early game.
Cons:
-Once the game drags out to later stages theiy are pretty much taken out of the fight when upgraded armor starts coming in (because in this case they have no support of any other units).
-Its a single unit strategy so therefore weak past early game.
-Weak against Covenant Leaders (Arbiter specially and Brute Chieftain). Not so much against the Chair of Regret).

Remembering Reach (Air Force): As the name implies the build order will be exactly the same as the Warthog rush. However, we will be building less warthogs and replacing them with Hornets (and later Hawks). Unlike the previous strategy this one is pure devastation in the later parts of the game, as it can even go toe to toe with the mighty Scarab. We will need a complemenary Barracks here once we get a free building spot/take a 2nd base to train and upgrade Spartans (to commandeer your Air Units) as well as Marines (the latter to take the garrisionable structures and deny access to the enemy of those ones). Gauss Warthogs+Hawks is among the deadliest combinations in this game against Covenant (The Warthogs serve as AA while the Hawks are the primary source of damage here).

Pros:
-Very annoying to deal with strategy because of how fast all those fully upgraded warthogs are. The enemy really needs decently upgraded armor to counter all of them. Units like Locusts will absolutely get melted by mass Gauss Cannon Warthog armies, for example. As well as T1 Wraiths.
-Can melt T1 Air Units like Vampires, Banshees or Engineers with the Gauss Cannon Warthog upgrade.
-Good rush defense strategy in early game.
-Can melt almost any unit it the late game.

Cons:
-Less Warthogs means more chances for Vampires to stasis your Hawks but even then if the Vampires lack the numbers/upgrades they will still be melted by the Hawks.
-Weaker AA than a full Warthog rush strategy.
-Weak against Covenant Leaders (Arbiter specially and Brute Chieftain). Not so much against the Chair of Regret).

Super Turtle: This strategy takes a while to pull off so the build I recommend is the same as The Warthog Rush but imo Anders is the best to do it with. You will definitely need a 2nd base because you only unlock Cobras at Tech Level 3 (the T1 ones). So you will want to mass Gauss Warthogs in the meantime while you secure a safe choke point spot. From there you can get to Tech Level 3, build your Vehicle Depot and start upgrading the Cobras right away to T2. Then make 3 of them and use your Spartans to commandeer them. You will need an army of equal size Wolverines (at least) to protect your Cobras from the enemy Air Units. Keep upgrading both Spartans, your Cobras and Wolverines to the max because when they are maxed out they can pretty much 1 shot most Covenant units and kill the mighty Scarab with a few well placed shots (because the Scarab is so big it struggles with choke points so it basically becomes a huge target for Cobras with Spartans). You can use Cryo Bomb too to stop it from fighting back while your Cobras slowly finish it off.

Pros:
-Most annoying defense strategy for ground units to go through, because they are choked into a certain point in the map so they get pretty much 1 shot killed (especially vehicles like Locusts or Wraiths falter to Spartaned Cobras that are fully upgraded).
-Lots of kill potential (specially in some maps that have less pathways for ground units to move through).

Cons:
-Weaker against anti-infantry units (Hunters mainly)
-Weak against Covenant Leaders (Arbiter specially and Brute Chieftain). Not so much against the Chair of Regret).
-It forces you to dedicate x population cap to this strategy, meaning your total offensive population cap will be reduced.

“…made what was going to be a quick and decisive win — into five years of hell.”
– Captain James Gregory Cutter; February 4th, 2531

Leader Power: MAC Blast (600 Resources) – Fires a high damage projectile at a location; can be upgraded for more shots.
Unique Unit: Elephant (400 Resources) – Mobile Mini Base.
Special Unit: ODST (100 Resources) – Not as good as Alpha 9 but they can be deployed anywhere as far as you can see. Upgrades the Marines.
Bonus ability: Newly constructed bases start at 1 level higher (bonus abilities do not apply on Deathmatch mode).

Captain James Gregory Cutter is the last UNSC leader of the bunch and can build some quality bases early on and can create Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) with Barracks or Elephants. And if a Scarab comes his way, he can send it to hell with 4 consecutive MAC Blasts (He is, however, the hardest UNSC leader to pick up).

ODST’s are the cheapest UNSC super unit that the UNSC can create.
ODST Costs:
Production Cost: 100 Resources
Population Size: 1 Population
ODST Upgrade: 1800 Resources
ODST Upgrade + Upgrade prerequisites (New Blood, RPG, Medic): 3100 Resources
ODST Upgrade + Upgrade prerequisites + Building costs (Reactors, Barracks): 4750-5200 Resources
Tech Level 3 (Maintain Tech Level 3 necessary to use ODST Drop Leader Power)

Elephant Cost:
T1-Standard Elephant (Tech Level 1)
T2-Twin Engine (Tech Level 2)-Increases the Elephant movement speed
T3-Defense Turrets (Tech Level 3)-Adds an additional turret and upgrades the damage on all of the Elephants turrets. This additional turret only appears when the Elephant is locked down.
T4-Ceramic Armor (Tech Level 4)-Improves the HP of the Elephant.

Most effective strategies with this leader:

Along with how cheap ODST’s are, Captain Cutter gains the ability to hot drop 10 Consecutive ODST’s wherever he has line of sight. You can probably imagine the things you could do with an insta-army.

Need reinforcements when you’re attacking an enemy base? ODST inbound!
Is the enemy attacking your base and your main army is somewhere else? Hell jumpers inbound!
Need to flank the enemy but can’t walk past them? ODST inbound!

But what if you need ODST’s (or Flamethrowers or Spartans) in an active war zone and the ODST drop ability is on cool down? Here’s where Elephants come in handy.
Elephants are mobile mini bases that can make infantry where you need it most! Just keep in mind that you can’t upgrade infantry with an Elephant, you’re gonna need a proper barracks for upgrades. Elephants can be upgraded to be faster and more resilient, much like an actual base.

If you plan on mass producing infantry as Cutter, remember to make some fully upgraded Spartened Scorpions or fully upgraded Scorpions to supplement your ODST’s because your ODST army will be completely wiped out if your enemy knows how to counter a mass infantry attack.

The Hellbringers Strategy: A very good early game strategy. Very strong for dealing with most neutral expos and early rush defense. Because you start as Cutter and the build order is always reliant on the enemy AI you want to build 2 turrets, the 3 supply pads, do your usual things (gather crates, scout, etc..) and as soon as you have enough supplies build the first reactor and field armory (again you will need this mainly for the Reserves upgrade). Then you can upgrade all of your 3 supply pads advance to tech 2 by building a 2nd reactor and build the last 2 turrets and a Barracks lastly. Note that its not advisable to build Flamers before you get at least the Flashbang upgrade, they will die easily without it. Its recommended to get them the Napalm Adherent upgrade if possible. Build about 9 or 10 of them in a hurry though if your ally iis getting rushed right away and then start upgrading them.

Pros:
-Very good anti-infantry rush defense strategy, even taking out weak leaders with ease.
-Very easy to train because Flamers are cheap and are quickly trained (even without the Reserves upgrade).
-Good if your ally starter base is right next to yours.

Cons:
-Useless strategy against Air Units and weak against vehicles.
-Not very good if the allied base is far away from yours when you start the match.
-Useless as garrison units (Marines are better in this role).

ODST/Hell Jumpers Spam Strategy: A late game strategy that is extremely annoying to deal with. However, you will need to have ODSTs researched and maintain Tech Level 3 minimum to be able to drop them. You also need some fully upgraded Spartened Scorpions/fully upgraded Scorpions to deal with massive clusters of Anti-Infantry units (like Jackals) and some fully upgraded Wolverines to kill all those pesky Banshees faster. There is not much to say here as the name speaks for itself.

Pros:
-The best garrisonable infantry in the game by far. If one is lost drop another one in and take the spot again. Really annoying to deal with those garrisons,
-Those infamous 10 drops anywhere on the map means you basically have an insta-army as long as you have the technology and supplies to maintain it.
-You can do all kinds of crazy strategies with them, even including sorrounding and quad MAC Blast the mighty Scarab.
-ODST damage is superior to the Marines so they can hold their own much longer if they are Garrisoned. Making complete armies stop to a crawl when your ally comes to help you finish them off. Has great map control.

Cons:
-You need to maintain a high technology and a good economy to drop them consistenly.
-It is by far the worst combat effective strategy (this is a game metric that basically evaluates at the end of the match how effective you were at killing enemy units compared to your produced/lost units). Because infantry units have less HP they can be lost quickly compared to other units.
-It takes a while to get to this strategy and so it will only usually happen mostly if you are playing teams.

I really enjoyed delving into this project. I would consider making a Covenant guide if I had enough play time with any of their leaders (I do not).
Keep in mind this guide is only useful for traditional standard skirmish match ups (otherwise some units would be more or less useful depending on the other types of match ups).
This game AI is dynamic so you must always adapt and every match plays differently than the last, even if it is on the same map.
I hope this guide helps you, UNSC Field Commander to achieve victory against our Covenant foes. Happy Halo Wars and comment if I missed something out. Thanks for reading 🙂