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Citadel Defense

Overwatch Elite forming defense line in response of Citadel breach

The Overwatch Elite or Combine Elite are specialized, highly ranked Overwatch Soldiers. With their augmented equipment and exceptional skills, Elites are able to neutralize any potential threat to the Combine, making them the deadliest forces of Combine Overwatch.

Overview[]

D3 breen 010000

Overwatch Elite scanning the Gravity Gun outside Breen's office.

Overwatch Elites visually differ from other Overwatch units, as they are equipped with a white modified level IV armor, featuring a thicker plating and a larger neck guard which increases protection. They wear black jackboots instead of combat boots, and an elite insignia on their chest to signify their rank. Their helmets features a special visor with a single-eyed red ocular lens for visual and navigation, as well as two miniature domes for audio receptors. They are always armed with the Overwatch Standard Issue Pulse Rifle, and have access to alternative ammunition for the OSIPR's Energy Ball alt-fire that they use effectively to destroy heavy fortifications or groups of enemies. Elites are quick witted, achieve perfect accuracy, and are a lot more tougher than Overwatch soldiers.

Overwatch Elites act as commanders to the Overwatch forces, and are generally reserved for more critical missions such as defending the Citadel and the Overwatch Nexus, operating the Citadel Core, protecting important Combine personnel like Wallace Breen and the Advisors, and exterminating high priority targets like Gordon Freeman.

Overwatch Elites are first seen at Nova Prospekt on a security monitor, where three of them are deployed in response to Gordon's assault on the complex, by the time Gordon and Alyx got into the portal, the Elites were only a second late when they assaulted the teleport chamber. Later on, two Elites make their presence at one of the Combine Generators section located in City 17 in response to Alyx tampering with the energy generator, and five Elites rappel down from the celling to ambush Gordon at the catwalk of the warehouse section.

Behind the scenes[]

Combine Super Soldier

The Combine Super Soldier image associated with the Overwatch Elite in the SDK model viewer.

  • The Overwatch Elite has had several predecessors during the development of Half-Life 2, such as the Combine Synth Elite Soldier and the Combine Super Soldier, both early elite Combine units were dropped in favor of a more humanoid model. It also inherited its helmet from the Combine Assassin.[1] When viewing the Overwatch Elite model in the Source SDK model viewer, its preview image is an image of the Combine Super Soldier. The model and its related files are also named "Combine_Super_Soldier".
    • Another early variant, the Combine Elite, found as Combine_Elite.mdl in the Half-Life 2 leak, was originally to use a special camouflage suit and yellow lenses that would allow it to blend in with its surroundings by the use of procedural textures consisting in taking a sample of the textures behind and putting them onto the camouflage pattern. Opening its file in the Model Viewer will show the model with a mottled camouflage texture. Upon viewing the model in-game however, it would blend with the environment, though the NPC still remains visible as its weapon, belt, mask and boots do not blend.
  • The insignia featured on the Elite's left arm, chest (in a grey variant, with a campaign ribbon under it) and neck guard (inside it) is the only Combine imagery that indicates hostility or threat, displaying a cracked human skull within a straightened up standard Combine "claw" symbol, as well as a "C17", probably different for each Combine-controlled city. While the original symbol does not portray the Combine as horrific, the Elite symbol is a deliberate attempt to show the Elites as brutal and deadly. It was possibly influenced by the Totenkopf symbol used most prominently by the Schutzstaffel (or SS), an organization in Nazi Germany which served as both political police and an elite military formation.
    • This insignia is also featured on the Shotgun Soldier's (including their Nova Prospekt Prison Guard variants) left arm, suggesting that it may be a branch of the Overwatch Elite or possibly a higher ranked soldier variant.

Related achievements[]

Half-Life 2: Episode One[]

Hlx kill elitesoldier withhisenergyball
Think Fast! 10 Gscore
Kill an Elite Soldier with his own Energy Ball.

Trivia[]

  • The encounters with Overwatch Elites are typically fewer than those with Overwatch Soldiers, whether it's due to their less production, or that they're mostly used by the Combine on various off-world assignments in other territories where their deadly skills and efficiency are required.
  • Unlike the player's Pulse Rifle, an Overwatch Elite's secondary attack doesn't instantly kill NPCs, as it only deals 15 damage points (However it can kill NPCs instantly in the Episodes).
  • Overwatch Elites are the only soldiers that do not carry nor use MK3A2 Grenades.
  • The Overwatch Elite cannot normally be spawned through console commands, as they share the same entity as normal Combine soldiers. However, they can be spawned by typing "ent_create npc_combine_s model models/combine_super_soldier.mdl additionalequipment weapon_ar2" (they can be given other weapons in place of AR2). This also applies for the Antlion Worker in Episode Two.
  • At the end of the Half-Life 2 chapter "Follow Freeman!", an Overwatch Elite equipped with an MP7 can be seen. It is a developer's oversight, since the Elite will occasionally attempt to use the OSIPR's secondary attack.
  • During Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the Overwatch Soldiers' and the Overwatch Elite's armor and boots are flecked with mud and dirt, indicating they have been traveling by foot for long periods of time. But, due to a developer oversight, the Overwatch Elite does not sport this "dirty" version, as the game calls for the texture "combine_elite_noalpha.vtf", but the "dirty" texture is named "combine_elite.vtf", therefore, using a “clean” texture from the Half-Life 2 files.
  • During the ambush at White Forest Inn, if an Elite soldier is killed, it will drop a Battery instead of an Energy Ball. This is most likely to balance the fight, as Energy Balls are very efficient against Hunters and would not provide a challenge to the player.
  • Based on the early version of Episode Two, Overwatch Elites were originally present in the White Forest final battle. Their role was to shutdown the supplies outposts around the field, and aiding the Hunters in securing the Striders route to the White Forest's missile base. This was cut from the retail version.

Gallery[]

Citadel Defense

Overwatch Elite forming defense line with Overwatch Soldiers in the Citadel

List of appearances[]

References[]

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