Overwatch Elite

The Overwatch Elite is a specialized, higher-ranking Overwatch Soldier. Sporting a distinctive white uniform and helmet with a single red ocular lens, the Elite is the deadliest of the Combine Overwatch infantry.

Overview


Overwatch Elites are equipped with improved body armor, made apparent by the larger neck guard and the increased protection it offers. Their helmets are also drastically different from those of regular soldiers, which possibly improve senses, indicated by the two miniature domes located where the ears of the soldier would be.

Elites are tougher, achieve better accuracy with their weapons, and inflict more overall damage than regular soldiers do. They typically carry Overwatch Standard Issue Pulse Rifles, and are able to use the weapon's secondary fire Energy Orb. They use this advantage without hesitation and with deadly accuracy.

Elites typically fight in squads of their own kind, but will occasionally operate with regular Overwatch Soldiers or, in rare cases, Hunters. They are generally reserved for more critical combat missions, where their deadly skills and efficiency are required. They also serve as Wallace Breen's personal guards in the Citadel. One of them takes the Gravity Gun from Freeman when the latter arrives at Breen's office in the Citadel.

Elites are first seen in the ninth chapter of Half-Life 2 at Nova Prospekt on a security monitor. They are encountered for the first time in person in the following chapter, Entanglement, assaulting the teleport chamber only seconds before Gordon and Alyx teleport out.

Behind the scenes

 * 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 dropped in favor to a more humanoid model. It also inherited its helmet from the Combine Assassin.


 * The insignia featured on the Elite's left arm, chest (in a grey variant, with a campaign ribbon under it) and neck guard (inside) is the only Combine imagery that indicates hostility or threat, displaying a cracked human skull within a straightened up standard Combine logo. It is possibly influenced by the Totenkopf symbol used most prominently by the Schutzstaffel, 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 left arm, suggesting that it may be a branch of the Overwatch Elite or possibly a higher ranked soldier variant, or a squad leader. On their left arm, standard Overwatch Soldiers have two black triangles in a yellow circle (originally featured in the Combine Super Soldier), while Nova Prospekt prison guards have the standard Combine logo, yellow in a black circle.

Trivia

 * When viewing the Overwatch Elite model in the Source SDK model viewer, its preview is an image of the Combine Super Soldier, one of its predecessors.
 * While all Overwatch units have been transfigured by Combine technology, it is possible that Overwatch Elites have been altered even further than standard soldiers.
 * On Hard mode, Overwatch Elites can withstand a direct hit from an SMG grenade.

List of appearances

 * Half-Life 2
 * Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
 * Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
 * Half-Life 2: Episode One
 * Half-Life 2: Episode Two