Assault Infantry

Assault Infantry
Weapon(s)	StA-52 Assault Rifle Frag Grenade
Affiliation
Games	Killzone 2 Killzone 3 Killzone: Mercenary Killzone Shadow Fall

The Assault Infantry are the standard soldiers of the Helghast Army. They prefer utilizing cover and using grenades to flush their opponents out, as they are more vulnerable without cover. The Assault Infantry prefers to fight at 15 to 25 meters, but is not by any means an easy kill at closer ranges.

Tactics

Assault Infantry are the most basic and plentiful Helghast soldier encountered in the Killzone games and serve as the backbone of the Helghast Army. Their primary battle strategy is to use large numbers and withering firepower to overwhelm their enemies. They are basically trained, lightly armored and lightly equipped yet fiercely loyal to Scolar Visari and Helghan.

In combat they make extensive use of cover, which can make them difficult targets in areas with ample amounts of cover points. They will also often attack from cover by popping up, firing a burst from their Assault Rifle and/or lobbing a grenade then retreating back into cover to reload or dodge incoming fire. If there is no cover available, they will either crouch down or stay standing and fire at their targets. Occasionally, and usually when there are a large number of them, they will break from cover and rush their target's position.

While in crouching cover, they often leave the very tops of their helmets exposed. One well-placed shot from most weapons will knock their helmet off allowing for an easy headshot the next time you take a shot. However, weapons such as the VC32 Sniper Rifle and the StA-14 Rifle can completely bypass the helmet, resulting in a head exploding, one-shot kill. Furthermore, Assault Infantry are slow to get up from crouching cover, meaning that it is possible to rush in and use your knife to eliminate them before they have time to react. This tactic is especially useful while they are reloading, as it leaves them completely vulnerable. Assault Infantry will often announce when they are reloading.

However if they are in standing cover, rushing in for knife strikes is inadvisable as they are much quicker to react and can quickly turn the tables by either popping out of cover to move away and fire at you and/or performing a melee strike of their own when you get close. If you see them going in for a melee strike, simply step back while the animation plays out to avoid taking damage. After the melee strike, they will be vulnerable for a brief moment, use that moment to fire on them or respond with a melee or knife strike of your own.

As mentioned above, they will occasionally lob grenades at your position, particularly if you've been in the same spot for an extended period of time. If this happens, simply move to a new location before the grenade detonates. After the grenade goes off they may rush your old position to search for you and/or finish you off. Once they spot you, they will fall into the closest cover and resume their normal tactics.

Gallery

Killzone 2

Killzone 3

Other Media

Helghast Sackboy costume from LittleBigPlanet.

Helghast Assault Infantry from Uncharted 2's PlayStation Heroes Skin Pack.

The Assault Infantry-inspired "AC-1 Dutiful" from Helldivers 2.

Helghast Assault Infantries in the "Michael" - PS3 Long Live Play advertisement.

Trivia

• Along with the Helghan Sniper, the Assault Infantry is available as a free DLC costume for Lost Planet 2 for the PlayStation 3.
• In a live action PlayStation advertisement, titled "Michael" - PS3 Long Live Play, three Helghast Assault Infantries can be seen.
• The Helghast Sackboy Costume was released on the PSN Store for LittleBigPlanet and included 32 Killzone-themed stickers.
• On January 28, 2010, the multiplayer "PlayStation Heroes Skin Pack" was released for Uncharted 2, containing respective heroes and villains from several PS3 game titles, such as Sev and an Assault Infantry.
• In Killzone Shadow Fall there are two toy Assault Infantries in Lucas Kellan's room in the first chapter.
• The artic versions of the Assault Infantry were added as Steam workshop addons for another first-person shooter game Left 4 Dead 2 by a Steam user as reskins of the survivors in the game on August 10, 2014. Each survivor however, uses the same models, textures, custom view model arms, and VGUI. The addon was added as a request by another Steam user. 
• Along with the Helghast Shiper, the Assault Infantry is available as a cosmetic (known as the AC-1 Dutiful) for Helldivers 2 as part of the Helldivers 2 x Killzone 2 theme set.