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The Nightwatch Corps is an elite special forces branch of the IconGrineerOn Grineer military. They are outfitted with non-standardized equipment that contrasts them against their less-lethal counterparts. With aggressive and more brutal attacks, they can easily catch an unprepared Tenno off guard.

The Nightwatch were first introduced in the Project Undermine Tactical Alert, which so far consists of ten different types of Grineer infantry units.

History[]

Project Undermine[]

The thief Maroo started a skirmish between the Corpus and Grineer near Mars, hoping she would be free to take what she pleased. However, the Nightwatch Corps arrived and captured her. Maroo then sends an outgoing signal trading her rescue for treasure.

While captured on Ceres, the Nightwatch member Gorth would attempt to torture Maroo for the location of the missing blueprints. The Tenno would ultimately rescue Maroo and exterminate a contingent of Nightwatch troops.

Long Shadow[]

The Nightwatch Corps would soon return, and massacre a group of people on Ceres. A lone survivor would then report to the Lotus, saying that the Corps has made their base there. The Lotus then sends the Tenno to intercept their comm signal, hoping to learn what the Corps is up to.

The Tenno would finally be sent on a Surivival mission aboard a Grineer Galleon to exterminate a large contingent of Nightwatch soldiers.

Gift from The Lotus[]

Occasionally, the Nightwatch Corps may attempt to execute any nearby Grineer defectors. The Tenno must then intercept them and protect the Bailiff Defector until extraction.

Units[]

Light[]

NightwatchBruntLancer
Nightwatch variant of the Shield Lancer which is armed with a Brakk Brakk and a Brunt shield which isn't to be confused with the Ack&Brunt Ack & Brunt. These units often try to be both defensive and offensive with their attacks, either going head-on or taking shots from the sideline.

NightwatchPowerclaw
Nightwatch variant of Powerfist with doubled health. These are true front-lining units, as they quickly find the fastest way to directly attack. Being purely offensive, they are predictable and able to be taken down from a distance.

Medium[]

NightwatchLancer

The Nightwatch Lancer is the most common unit in the Nightwatch Corps. Unlike the standard Grineer Lancers, their damage output is far more lethal due to using more advanced weapons. Early appearances used the KarakWraith Karak Wraith, while the most recent versions use the Grinlok Grinlok.

They tend to seek cover as soon as possible and fire upon any Tenno in sight. The damage output is incredibly dangerous, and can shred through shields, armor, and even defensive powers such as IronSkin130xWhite Iron Skin far faster than one might expect.

NightwatchSeeker
The Nightwatch Seeker is much the same as the standard Grineer Seeker, sporting a Nukor Nukor pistol (or later - Marelok Marelok) and tossing out Latchers. The Nightwatch Seeker is a trivial threat compared to other Nightwatch units, due to their tendency to stay back.

NightwatchFlameblade
Nightwatch variant of Flameblade. Instead of teleportation, they have the ability to dash forward at the target, which puts them into the full offensive category. Flameblades can be predictable and also are vulnerable to ranged attacks.

Heavy[]

NightwatchBombard

The Nightwatch Gunner is comparably more rare than the Nightwatch Lancer, but much more common than a standard Grineer Bombard. A Tenno squad may encounter several of these units in addition to a large group of Nightwatch Lancers. The Nightwatch Gunner features improved armor over its counterpart, although not as much as the Lancer.

The most drastic difference between this unit and the standard Grineer Bombard is that the Nightwatch Gunner are re-armed Grineer Heavy Gunners (they have the same Ferrite Armor instead of Alloy Armor), providing a slightly smaller target profile as well as increased mobility. They are armed with an Ogris Ogris and if encountered in groups, the combination of rockets, Tonkor Tonkor grenades, and gunfire will be problematic for an unprepared squad.

NightwatchCharger
The Nightwatch Bailiff is the Nightwatch version of the Bailiff, sporting a red and white color scheme typical of the Corps, along with heavy armor in comparison to its counterpart. This unit can be stubborn to attack for its damage-resistant outfit.

NightwatchReaver

Occupying what appears to be a command role over field deployments of the Nightwatch Corps is the Nightwatch Reaver. Though these are the rarest of the Nightwatch Corps units, they are by far the most dangerous for their sudden and sometimes unpredictable attacks.

They are essentially a Bailiff unit, with a Hellion-style jetpack allowing for a large degree of mobility and the ability to fire miniature seeking rockets. Like Seekers, they are also able to toss out Latchers on the ground. But, the most dangerous aspect of these upgraded Bailiffs, however is the replacement of the JatKittag Jat Kittag with a highly damaging Tonkor Tonkor grenade launcher. The Nightwatch Reaver will utilize the other, lesser Nightwatch units as a distraction and while any Tenno are distracted in such fashion, proceed to rapidly fire grenades into the Tenno positions. These grenades are far more lethal than Ogris rockets due to their tendency to bounce about before exploding. In confined spaces, only very durable Warframes will be able to withstand the detonation of the Reavers grenades. Warframes that are less durable will more than likely be downed/killed immediately upon detonation.

Adding to the danger of the Nightwatch Reaver is the fact that it can also spawn in as Blitz or Energy Leech Eximus.

NightwatchCatMaster
In addition to standard Hyekka Master tactics, the Nightwatch variant also places Arc Traps.

NightwatchManic
Nightwatch variant of Manic. They are slightly weaker in health, albeit more numerous and frequent, and do not announce themselves with laughter.

Known Members[]

GrineerTank

Tactics[]

Engaging with the Nightwatch Corps can vary with experience, timing, and available weapons or Warframes. In stealth, frames such as LokiIcon272 Loki, AshIcon272 Ash, or IvaraIcon272 Ivara can be used, even without suppressed weaponry, to attack from behind or remain invisible. When cloaked, these enemies will not know where to attack.

Ultimately, attacking quickly and / or at a distance is ideal, along with being ready to move if a Bombard or Reaver is spotted and attacking. These two units are infamous for their sudden damage.

  • The Nightwatch Bombard's Ogris fires noticeably slow, target tracking missiles, but the Reaver's Tonkor launches a sudden and often fast hitting grenade that is able to be unnoticed if standing too close or completely still, both dealing Blast damage that can sometimes cause an instant knockdown if the attack can't be avoided or the Tenno being targeted has vulnerable Health and Shields.

The other special enemies that make up the Nightwatch Corps can pose a threat on their own depending on the situation. The Nightwatch Bailiffs and Manics are an example, with the Bailiff being a more heavily armored target that resists overall damage, and the Manic being a sudden attacker that teleports and disappears often, which can be situationally hard to take down. The Manics are weaker comparatively to all of the other units however.

Both of these units are melee based, therefore, attacking with melee quickly is one way to eliminate them. The Nightwatch Flameblade also fits into this category. The distance tactic still applies and may be more appealing, as it will be one-sided to you for being ranged with your attacks while they are unable to do the same to you.

Media[]

Trivia[]


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