Thrallslayer

The Brute Army Commander is a high ranking Jiralhanae Chieftain. Possessing uncanny intelligence that complimented his violent nature, the commander was a dangerous foe despite his (relatively) small stature.

Summary
The Commander served alongside Ripa 'Moramee and Prophet of Regret during the Third Battle of Harvest. Compared to other Jiralhanae, the Chieftain appeared to be somewhat, smaller than normal, but was still a quite capable master tactician, wielding a Gravity Hammer and wearing chieftain's armor never before seen in the Halo series in battle. During his campaign on Earth, he grew to respect humans for their different nature and unfailing courage in the worst of situations, but, he passionately dislikes the Arbiter, which is a trait in most Brutes. He apparently enjoys eating Thorn Beasts, cooked rare, and hearing exaggerated tales of his adventures, told by an overweight Grunt who serves as his official scribe. He drinks GNC Weight Gainer 2200 Gold to build up some Muscles.

Abilities

 * "Inheritance": adds passive stun ability to normal attacks.
 * "Birthright": can pull enemies to him during combat.
 * "Destiny": adds an area of effect (AOE) stun to Gravity Hammer.
 * Additionally, the Brute Army Commander can also summon Brutes (available at the Command Center) and a Brute Chopper (available at the Factory, replacing the Ghost).

Upgrades

 * "Tsunami": increases Vortex damage and AOE.
 * "Hurricane": increases Vortex damage and AOE.
 * "Singularity": increases Vortex damage and AOE.

Leader Ability- Vortex
When activated, a spiraling vortex appears tearing everything apart in range and when canceled, explodes causing additional damage.

Strategies
When using the Brute Army Commander, as soon as you start build a temple and two warehouses then send out your chopper for some supply crates. When you finish to build, build 3 turrets and upgrade them to medium turrets. Your base should have 1 temple, 1-2 energy shields, 3 turrets, a summit and the rest of the sockets should be blessed warehouses. Your army should contain around 7-10 squads of brutes, around 7-12 banshees, 4 engineers and a Scarab for some firepower. Use your Chieftain to gather supplies and for exploring the enemy bases. The beauty of this is that your banshees and brutes will be your fast attack squad (because of brute jump pack and banshees boost) followed up by your Scarab and chieftain for some firepower. Also another advantage is that you only need one building for units leaving your base to gather more supplies very fast. Be careful in using his vortex as you might accidentally kill one of your squads from splash damage.

An alternate Online strategy while playing in 1v1 or 2v2 teamed skirmishes, is to build a temple and two warehouses while gathering supplies with your chopper. If you and your ally both do the same, you can both use your hero units for an early attack on one of your enemy's base. IF you are lucky they will not be prepared for an early attack and can be defeated. IF not, you can still do a lot of damage and halt their advancement. While attacking the base, you can produce brute squads from your citadel and transport them to your Chieftain via the grav lift.

Trivia

 * He is the only playable hero unit in the game to not appear in any of the Halo Wars cinematics, and the only character that so-far remains unnamed.
 * The Brute Chieftain despises Ripa 'Moramee.
 * He is one of the few Brutes (or any Covenant individual) that respects humans.
 * In 2003, the Brute Army Commander killed two Grunts because the food he ordered (Thorn Beast and dipping sauce) was overdone and insufficient. On the Halo Wars main menu, it states that his favorite food is Thorn Beast and it "BETTER BE RARE".
 * He is voiced by Marc Worden.
 * Interesting, he carries a newer model of the gravity hammer even though such models where not seen untill halo 3.