"What's that? Some criminals are robbing a bank exactly 60 seconds away from here? I've trained my whole life for this. Load the mags and toss in the flashbangs... and somebody go get my mask."
― The Enforcer's Gear Description
Special Weapon and Tactics (SWAT), Tactics and Rescue Unit (TRU), and Emergency Task Force (ETF) are enemies encountered in multiple missions. They are special branches of law enforcement that the Freelancer fights throughout the story. Every SWAT/TRU/ETF except snipers can throw flashbangs on Professional+.
SWAT wear a black tactical uniform, black gloves, a balaclava, and a black helmet. TRU wear a green tactical uniform, gloves, a green armored vest, and a green helmet. ETF wear beige tactical clothing and a black cap. Unlike the SWAT or TRU, the ETF spawn in immediately once the alarm sounds.
These units are equipped with armor and generally don't go down as easily as police officers or guards.
Regular Unit[]
Regular units are the most common units. They come equipped with a CBR-C, 480 MCS, F57 or S97.
SWAT wear II-A Scout armor, which provides significant protection against low penetration weapons but is very vulnerable to the high penetration shots of the CH-A. TRU and ETF wear III-A Frontline armor, providing significantly more protection from damage. SWAT armor is not visible unlike that of TRU and ETF.
Shield Unit[]
Shield units are regular units equipped with a ballistic shield and a K45 on Professional-Operative or S97 on Elite and above.
Shield units will spawn on Professional and above, the higher the difficulty, the higher the frequency of shield units to be deployed.
Aegis Unit[]
Aegis units are armored units equipped with a ballistic shield, a ballistic mask, and an S97. They wear Aegis armor, as their name suggests, as well as a ballistic mask. Shooting the mask will act the same as shooting the body, but you can still deal headshot damage by shooting their eyes, the back of their head, or next to their head and even just parts of the mask due to bad hitboxes.
Aegis units will spawn on Professional and only one will spawn at a time, and only on certain waves. On Legend difficulty, their frequency will increase and they will spawn in pairs.
Sniper[]
Snipers will spawn on rooftops or on elevated locations in the distance and share the same model as their assaulting counterparts. They use a CH-A equipped with an LS6X sight and a red laser. When a player enters the line of sight of a sniper, the first shot that sniper fires will be fired after a short delay. Every shot fired after that will have a much longer delay. Snipers fire a shot after a short delay every time the player re-enters their line of sight, not just for their first shot. Snipers do not have damage falloff. The damage snipers deal can be seen in the table below.
| Rookie | Professional | Operative | Elite | Legend | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage | 2.65* | 5.25 | 14 | 44** | 114 |
* Snipers do not spawn in The Financier on Rookie difficulty.
** For an unknown reason, snipers in The Financier deal 35 damage on Elite difficulty instead of 44.
On Legend difficulty they will not have a laser attached (with the exception of The Financier), with only glare from their scopes. Additionally, they will take more positions on higher difficulties.
SWAT Van[]
SWAT vans are armored vehicles encountered in Part 1 of The Score. They have an automatic turret that will shoot rapid bursts of bullets, dealing immense damage.
After each burst, it will stop for a few seconds to reload. The turret can be disabled permanently by shooting its gun and it will start smoking once it has been disabled.
Halcyon has an extensive arsenal including operatives and helicopters, and the powerful Onyx unit. Most of their enemies are only encountered in Black Dusk.
Halcyon Gunship[]
The Halcyon Gunship is encountered in The SCRS loud and is similar to the Steel Cove Gunship. It's an attack helicopter with a turret and missile pods. Upon reaching 50% and 0% health it will shoot a missile each time, which can kill the player instantly if they're too close to it without cover. The gunship cannot be destroyed as it will retreat after its health reaches zero.
Like the Steel Cove gunship, it takes increased damage from explosives.
Halcyon Operative[]
Halcyon Operatives are combatants equipped with a 480 MCS, CBR-C, F57, or S97. They are the most common Halcyon unit.
Halcyon Operatives wear II-A Scout armor, which, combined with their health, makes them tougher opponents overall however they will still be vulnerable to high penetration shots. They can spawn with shields on Shield Swarm daily challenges.
Like SWAT, their armor is not visible.
Juggernaut[]
Juggernauts are special units similar to the Steel Cove Shredder unit. They come equipped with a Sawblade, Aegis armor, and a black ballistic mask. Shooting the mask will act the same as shooting the body, but you can still deal headshot damage by shooting their eyes, the back of their head, or next to their head and even just parts of the mask due to bad hitboxes.
Upon death, they will drop a first aid kit. Juggernauts wear III-Aegis armor and have more health than Aegis units.
Onyx Unit[]
The Onyx Unit is a unique enemy encountered at the end of Black Dusk loud. They are stationary and come equipped with a powerful minigun that can quickly kill any player that goes near them. However, the weapon has a lot of spread, so engaging them from a distance is safer.
The Onyx Unit takes 90% less damage from explosives, but does not have armor and can take headshot damage.
Steel Cove is a paramilitary organization working for the US government and are encountered in multiple missions. They are more armed than SWAT and Police and do not have any shield units.
Steel Cove units wear black tactical uniforms and gloves, and the soldiers wear black ballistic mandibles and light armor.
Steel Cove Soldier[]
Steel Cove soldiers are the most common unit. They come equipped with a 480 MCS, CBR-C, F57, or S97. They wear II-A Scout armor, which, combined with their health, makes them tougher opponents overall. They can spawn with shields on Shield Swarm daily challenges.
Like SWAT, their armor is not visible.
Steel Cove Shredder[]
Steel Cove Shredders are special units similar to the Aegis Unit and the Halcyon Juggernaut. They come equipped a Sawblade, Aegis armor, and a black ballistic mask. Shooting the mask will act the same as shooting the body, but you can still deal headshot damage by shooting their eyes, the back of their head, or next to their head and even just parts of the mask due to bad hitboxes.
Steel Cove Gunship[]
The Steel Cove Gunship is a unique enemy only encountered in The Lakehouse loud. It spawns when 1 to 5 bags are loaded into the boat during loud. It's an attack helicopter with a turret that moves around the harbor and will shoot the player from far away.
It has massive amounts of health, however it takes increased damage from explosives. The helicopter will start smoking when it’s at 50% health and will catch fire and fall into the lake at 0% health.
Police Officer[]
Officially known as First Responders, Police Officers are the first enemy you encounter in The Withdrawal loud and in the downtown bank robbery in The Freelancer. In The Withdrawal, the police spawn in a single wave with 2 squads of 2 each. The police in The Freelancer only spawn in a single police vehicle with 2 Police Officers. Police Officers in both missions are equipped with either a K45 or a 480 MCS. Police Officers are not to be confused with the guards in the stealth portion of The Freelancer and in The Lockup.
Police Officers used to spawn in The Killhouse and The Deposit but were removed for an unknown reason.Enemy AI[]
Unlike guards, enemies will charge or flank players, coming in squads of 3 for assault teams and 4 for Steel Cove and Halcyon squads, and often breaching through locked doors in their way. If a door they come into has been unlocked, they will instead open the door, allowing the door to close afterward.
If a player enters a room without windows or with bulletproof windows, then 1-2 enemies will charge the player while others wait outside. Enemies that are too close to a player will retreat to the next cover available to them.
When an enemy is sent to disable an objective, tougher enemies will have a higher priority. An aegis unit will be sent if one is currently spawned in, if not then a shield will be sent, and if neither aegis units nor shields are currently spawned in, a regular unit will be sent to disable the objective. Once the objective has been disabled, the unit that disabled it no longer counts towards the enemy spawn limit of 8 (8-12 on The Withdrawal, 9 on The Score). The spawn limit also does not count snipers or guards.
Assault Waves[]
There are 3 stages of an Assault:
- Breach - In this stage, the assault team will proceed to find the closest cover available to them and will move away from enemies if in close range.
- Shootout - In this stage, assault teams will start to shoot enemy players or other enemy NPCs (Non-Player Characters). They will skip this stage if there are no players in the area.
- Exit - This final stage is when the assault team goes to the next area, often one which has or is close to players or objectives. When moving to an area, enemies will not stop shooting at a player but will keep walking.
They can interact with the environment by breaking doors, opening doors, freeing hostages, blowing up walls, and disabling certain objectives.
A wave will last until all but 3 enemies in a wave have been eliminated, with Aegis units and Snipers not being counted. A wave will consist of 6 squads of enemies on Rookie and Professional, 6 squads in the first wave and then 10 squads every wave after that on Operative, and 10 squads every wave on Elite and Legend. A squad consists of 3 units for SWAT, TRU, and ETF units, and 4 units for Steel Cove and Halcyon Operatives. After a wave finishes a wave break will start, where no enemies other than snipers will be able to spawn for a certain time. This time is about 30 seconds on missions with SWAT, TRU, or ETF units, and about 15 seconds on missions with Steel Cove or Halcyon Operatives.
Flashbangs[]
SWAT Units, TRU Units and ETF Units are the only NPCs that can throw flashbang grenades at the player (Professional+ difficulty only). The flashbang will beep three times before exploding, or four times if is an explosive flashbang from daily challenge mod "Explosive flashbangs". If a player is near a flashbang, it will blind the player for 10 seconds. Shooting a flashbang will destroy it. Players can also look away from it to avoid being blinded if the player is far enough.
Aggressive AI[]
As the difficulty increases, the enemy AI becomes more aggressive and accurate. Units will react and switch between targets faster. More squads will spawn and their health and damage will be increased. More flashbangs will be thrown and special units like Aegis units will spawn more commonly.
Enemy Damage Table[]
Below is a table that shows the damage dealt by each weapon when used by enemies. A ? indicates that a value has not been confirmed, but is instead predicted based off of other data. A ??? indicates that a value is currently unknown, and cannot be predicted with existing data. All values are rounded to the nearest hundredth if greater than 1, and to the nearest thousandth if less than 1.
| S97 (Normal Unit/Guard) | S97 (Shield/Aegis Unit) | F57 | K45 | Raven | Sawblade | CBR-C | 480 MCS | Gunship Turret | Gunship Missile | Minigun | Swat Van Turret | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rookie | 0.112? | 0.295? | 0.167? | 0.259? | 0.259? | 0.259? | 0.336 | 0.149x8? | 1.01? | >240 | 0.280? | ??? |
| Professional | 0.227 | 0.596 | 0.377 | 0.524? | 0.524? | 0.524? | 0.680 | 0.300x8? | 2.05? | >240 | 0.566? | ??? |
| Operative | 0.60 | 1.59 | 1.00 | 1.40 | 1.40? | 1.40 | 1.81 | 0.802x8? | 5.47? | >240 | 1.51? | ??? |
| Elite | 1.88 | 5.01 | 3.14 | 4.40 | 4.40? | 4.40 | 5.63 | 2.51x8 | 17.13? | >240 | 4.72? | ??? |
| Legend* | 4.90 | 13.06 | 8.14 | 11.43 | 11.43 | 11.43 | 14.69 | 6.52x8 | 46.25 | >240 | 12.75 | ??? |
* Be aware that player armor is bugged on Legend difficulty, granting a significant additional damage reduction.
Enemy Health Table[]
Below is a table that shows the health of each unique enemies encountered in different missions based on the mission difficulty. N/A means not available since that specific enemy does not spawn on the corresponding difficulty.
| Enemies | Regular SWAT Unit | Regular ETF/TRU Unit | Aegis Unit | SWAT Van | Police Officer* | Steel Cove Soldier/Halcyon Operative | Steel Cove Shredder/Halcyon Juggernaut | Steel Cove Gunship | Halcyon Gunship | Onyx Unit* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rookie | 110 | 72.5 | N/A | 1500 | 101 | 145 | N/A | 10500 | 3150 | 9150 |
| Professional | 135 | 95 | ? | 1500 | 101 | 180 | N/A | 14000 | 4200 | 15400 |
| Operative | 165 | 120 | ? | 1500 | 101 | 215 | ? | 17500 | 5250 | 21500 |
| Elite | 200 | 150 | ? | 1500 | 101 | 265 | ? | 21000 | 6300 | 27400 |
| Legend | 240 | 200 | 400 | 1500 | 101 | 320 | 1000 | 24500 | 7350 | 33500 |
* Be aware that due to a bug related to not having armor, these enemies will take extra damage from bullets based on the current difficulty. Specifically, they will take 1.15x, 1.3x, 1.45x, 1.6x, and 1.75x damage on Rookie, Professional, Operative, Elite, and Legend difficulties respectively. This damage multiplier will also be applied to NPCs that take damage from bullets with fully broken armor. Additionally, "Police Officer" specifically refers to the Police Officers in The Withdrawal. Police in The Lockup are considered guards, and have 50 health and no armor on all difficulties.
Gallery[]
Regular Enemies
Aegis Type Enemies
Special Enemies
Trivia[]
- The Aegis Units in the TRU and ETF are shown to have the SWAT outfit, which is an oversight by Cishshato.
- Even though Police Officers were removed from The Deposit, one of their cars is visible on the 2nd floor of the parking lot at the corner.