<Besides the game blatantly labeling the enemies and their ranks, there are quite a few differences between red-bar, orange-bar, and yellow-bar enemies in D1 (only red and yellow) and D2. Or rather just D2. Here they are and possible lore explanations.
[b]Destiny[/b]
For every enemy the only true difference between a minor and major enemy is the amount of health. Yeah that's it.
[u][b]Destiny 2[/b][/u]
[b]Fallen (House of Dusk)[/b]
The standard Fallen soldier is clad in beige armor with purple cloth. The purple represents their house banners, the House of Dusk that is. According to the lore tab of Estival Excursion, this house is actually one of the original Fallen houses, as the remnant House of Winter were wearing those banners. Quick reminder, the Kings, Devils, Winter, Exile, and small amounts of Wolves joined this mega-house.
Orange-bar Fallen, AKA "Resilient" Fallen wear silver armor, but keep the purple cloth. Once again the cloth represents the House. However, the silver armor is an unknown besides being stronger.
Yellow-bar Fallen, AKA "Despoiler", "Ransack", and other titled Fallen wear black and gold armor, this goes for their cloth, too. While not having direct confirmation for why any of these choices were made, it's possible that the black and gold represents the old House of Kings. After all, the Dusk use modified King's communication codes and systems and many of their comm arrays are lined with gold patterns.
Servitors and Shanks do not carry any color changes no matter the rankings.
[b]Cabal (Red Legion)[/b]
Common Cabal foot soldiers and commanders use a wide arrange of red and black armor, obviously representing the Red Legion that they are apart of.
Elite Cabal, AKA "Honored" Cabal wear silver armor. Sometimes the suit underneath will change to red instead of black, such as the Centurion. Other members will gain a Red Legion sigil across their chest plating, in black or red.
Major Cabal, AKA "Impact" or other various titled Cabal wear gold armor. The under-suit will sometimes change back to black, while others stay red. The Red Legion symbols they wear will all change to red, no matter what. The Red Legion seem to have taken the Covenant way of designing their armor, using brighter colors to higher they level up. Normally this would be a tactical disadvantage, but I don't think conquered worlds have a say in the matter.
Bloodguard Cabal are not affect by any changes as they are the creme de la crop. However, their armor is more red than black. In fact, Legionaries and Centurions wear the same armor but with different ornamental configurations. The Incendior gets a larger tank. The only classes besides Legionaries, Centurions, and Incendiors to get the Bloodguard rank are Phalanxes, but Grask is the only one so far.
Psions are an exception to certain rules on the list, such as the Red Legion sigils, as they never bear them.
War Beasts also have exceptions. Their scale color stays the same between common and Elite. The only difference being their armor being all silver as an Elite. Major War Beasts, however, have black scales and gold armor. Whether the scales are painted or if that's just an "Alpha War Beast" is unknown.
[b]Cabal (Loyalist)[/b]
Common Loyalists have black undersuits and grey/gold armor. They wear no pants, instead using their torso suit as a sort of one-piece bathing suit. They are decorated in purple and black garments. They do not bear any symbols but do wear a strange amulet on their right arms.
Elite Loyalists are only slightly different. Their under-suits are beige instead of black.
There are only a few Major Loyalists. From what I can tell, there's no difference between a Common Centurion and a Standard Bearer, the major version. Of course, that's the only Major variant so I have nothing else to base this on.
Imperial Loyalists are the Bloodguards of the Leviathan. Their armor is similar to the Red Legion but purple and gold with a beige undersuit. Oh and the amulet.
Common Loyalist War Beasts are gray in color with purple armor. No other rank has been found besides the Royal Beasts, who may not even be the same species. The Royal Beasts are spiky and Psionic in nature.
Common Psions are still fully armored with the exception of the Councilors, who are more ornamented and have their heads exposed. No other ranks have been found.
[b]Vex[/b]
Common Vex are bronze with a black mechanical frame. Their chassis shines when looking at them in the right light, a "patina" look.
Elite Vex keep their bronze armor but have chrome frames.
Major Vex have an extreme patina effect and have black frames. The Minotaur also gains odd protrusions from its back. The descriptions of the Vex armor as being "bronze" or "copper" suggest that Major Vex are older. The patina effect backs up this theory.
Precursor Vex have no differences between Common and Elite. No Major Precursors have been found outside of Dendron, the Shielded Minotaur and the Hydra in the Saint-14 Quest. The Hydra has many parts of it switched around. What is white on a normal Hydra would be gold on this Hydra. Also, in certain graphics engines, the back half of this particular Hydra is jet black with gold designs.
Descendant Vex share no differences no matter which way you slice it. The only variation being the boss Minotaurs, which share the back protrusions.
Shielded Minotaurs have a Precursor model but with glass armor and more spiked back protrusions. The use of glass armor in important Vex like Khartion and Atheon suggest glass armor is either the strongest armor or is used to store data.
[b]Hive (Savathun's Brood)[/b]
Common Hive have light brown armor and certain classes have reddish-black cloth strung across their bodies.
Elite Hive change their cloth color to light gray and also add gray markings to their armor.
Major Hive are odd. Their armor from the waist up is black. Their skin from the waist up is also that color. If you get up close, it almost looks like the armor is charred. No further information...
Thrall do not change features with ranks.
Shriekers do not change.
Wizards have gray armor, but follow the Elite/Major changes.
[b]Hive (Grasp of Nokris)[/b]
These Hive are odd as it seems that no rank changes their features. Even major Hive do not change. Maybe it's the ice...
[b]Taken[/b]
Common Taken are greenish blue, and change to purple at night.
Elite Taken are straight up black-white. However, at night they have a slight purple tint, not as strong as the Common Taken. Another difference are the spider-like spikes that grow from their backs. Given that these can even appear on Taken Vex suggest that these are Darkness-based.
Major Taken are mixed, let's go over them.
Variant one is gold but with a blue eye.
Variant two is gold, with a gold eye, and has a fine gold mist surrounding their bodies. Both variants have the spikes that Elite Taken have.
Any thoughts on these besides "who gives a flying -blam!-"?>
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They turned psions into cheap Jackal knockoffs.