Target: Taken Vandal Race: Taken Special: Ward and healing Everyone has a monster that just get on their nerves and comes close to being a bane of your existence. Taken Vandals are this to me. Personally very few other monsters give me problems, but Vandals are in my top five. Always a sniper, the Taken Vandal is a true support unit using a Taken version of the wire rifle, can lift a Taken Ward to protect itself and it's buddies, and is able to heal from damage. Taken Vandals come in groups of two to four when spawning into a fight. They look for a good high ground spot, or find a heavily protected low spot. Judging from how they act though, I will say they hang around areas that need protecting or near mobs they are covering. For example during the Taken invasions on patrols, these guys hide by the boss/champion and pick off would be attackers. Their weapons can drop shields in one hit, they are relentless and in groups are capable in killing targets with a one-two-three punch. Deadly accurate and should be handled carefully. Their Taken powers are annoying too. When threatened or taking damage, they will lift a Taken Ward, much like the Titans Defender Ward. This allows other buddies of his to take a breather and step inside or allows them to use LoS to their advantage by stepping out and shoot in cover. While inside the ward, the Vandal can heal a good portion of any hit points they have lost. They always work to support, cover, and over come with their Taken Brethren. How to Handle: With all the tactical and special advantages these guys have, there is actually a good few methods to handling their annoying support. First if you are far enough away to sniper them down, do so, but if they feel threatened or know you are there they will drop the ward. This ward drop has one slight flaw, it seems to put all Taken Vandals on an universal cooldown from using it rapidly. So once one ward goes up, then comes down, it can be two to five seconds before the next one raises up. I only notice this in vandal groups that are close. If the groups or individuals are spread out enough they can raise wards without question. If you are mid range or closer, make a move to get into the ward. You can't shoot in and they can't shoot out. Please remember rockets are not your friends in these. Get inside the ward and melee or shotgun them out. Be mindful of any of his buddies that are in there too. If you are close enough and move in they may move out, but gives you protection. The face and glowing eye are the weak spots. Snipers, scouts, pulse, hand cannons, and shotguns work wonders. If a ward has a Taken Party taking place, then use your rocket launcher and/or grenades for maximum impact once ward is down. But these Taken Vandals need to be a priority in any fight. Very few other mobs come before a Taken Vandal in my book, blight, because it probably spawned the SoB in, a boss or champ blocking my path to the vandal, or a Taken Captain within 30 meters of my position. Do not get caught in a Vandal gang bang. This is where three Vandals just pick you out of the sky. Stay low and move in quick, using LoS to your advantage. No grimoire points exist for this mob.