Enforcer (Q2)

"Description: Strong, muscle-bound warrior who dishes out chain gun speed damage."

- Quake 2 Manual

In Quake 2, the Enforcer is a gruff, smoke-burnished enemy that resembles a muscular human and is one of the easiest Enemies in the game, it is comparable to a Guard with a bit more health. It is fairly common in the early levels but not so much in the later levels as the player gets closer to the increasingly highly important areas such as the Hangars and the Palace. In the later game they are replaced by Gunners.

Attacks
Chaingun (range) The Enforcer's primary attack is its right-arm mounted Chaingun which delivers lead at a fast pace. The Enforcer is severely limited with its Chaingun by the good second it takes to load its gun with its left hand before firing, giving the player time to prepare for the incoming attack and/or retaliate. The Enforcer fires a pattern of 9 bullets (27 damage), reload, 13 bullets (39 damage), reload and then 9 bullets (27 damage), reload.

In the two official Mission Packs, the animation order for this attack was for some reason reversed. Instead of loading the Chaingun and then firing it, the Enforcer will instead fire the Chaingun immediately and then do the loading animation afterwards. To make matters worse (again, specifically in the Mission Packs) Enforcers are often placed in faraway/high-up areas with little to no cover for the player to take during the fight. This combination of scenarios make the Enforcers a much more formidable foe to take on before the player gets ahold of more effective (not to mention more accurate) long-range weaponry to use on them (such as the Rocket Launcher and Railgun).

Club (melee) The Enforcer will use its Chaingun arm to hit the player if he/she gets too close dealing low damage of about 5 to 9. The Enforcer will run towards the player to either get a better shot with the Chaingun or if the player is close enough to smack him/her in this melee attack.

Strategies

 * The Enforcer is an easy kill when on its own, not much more difficult than a Guard with better health. One close up Super Shotgun blast will easily gib the Enforcer but by constantly moving and circling it where possible to avoid the incoming bullets,any weapon above the Light Blaster will deal with the Enforcer within moments. Be weary of its post-death spasm in its arms that may cause its Chaingun to let off a few rounds before the Enforcer falls to the ground. They are really only a threat in the very first level before the Machine gun and Super Shotgun are available (especially on Hard when you will face 3 - 5 at once).


 * The Enforcer, along with the Gunner, has a ducking animation, where it crouches to avoid enemy fire. This can be used as an advantage to the player. During this animation, the Enforcer is unable to attack, which means the player can go all out without taking damage for a couple seconds. If the light blaster is the only weapon available, repeatedly fire at the Enforcer's legs. He will continue to crouch as if he was ducking shots, so he will not be able to attack. Just keep firing at the legs until he is vanquished. This may take anywhere from 7-13 shots, depending on the difficulty.


 * A group of Enforcers is also easy to take out, treat them as one, circle them if possible or just strafe side to side to avoid getting hit by too much lead and return fire and kill them one by one. Or if they are tightly packed together, an explosive weapon such as the Grenade Launcher or Rocket Launcher works well against these brutes.


 * With other enemies, the Enforcer is nothing more than a nuisance. Because they need to frequently reload, they won't be able to a lot of damage to you, compared to other enemies that might be in the group. Even Machine Gun Guards will be able to do more damage to you than they will. Instead of dedicating an attack to kill it, use explosives near it so that splash damage kills it and wounds other, more important enemies
 * As mentioned before, in the Mission Packs, Enforcers will fire their Chainguns immediately instead of loading them first. They will also typically be found in rooms/environments that highly favor them over the player (high-up/faraway ledges with little cover for the player to take). Before you get ahold of more effective weaponry to use against them from range, the best strategy to use on them in this case is to take your shot and take whatever cover you can find, then rinse and repeat until the Enforcer is dead; the Shotgun is quite effective this way. For stationary ones, you can round the corner just enough so that you can see them but they cannot see you and then dispatch them with either a Shotgun or Machine Gun. If you are able to get up close without needing to cover too much distance (therefore giving the Enforcer some free shots at you), then do so and quickly dispatch of them with a single Super Shotgun blast.

Turrets
The Enforcer can be seen piloting Rocket Turrets in Unit 3, Unit 8 and in Unit 2 and Unit 3 of The Reckoning mission pack. The turrets let the Enforcers shoot rockets, dealing high damage if not dodged. The turret itself is indestructible; in order to neutralize this threat the Enforcer piloting the turret needs to be killed. However, this can't be done outright, since the turret is large and prevents the player from seeing and aiming at the Enforcer, who stands at the end of the turret. In order to kill him, the player needs to strafe around the turret. Since it's very large, it turns around very slowly, so then the turret can be seen from the side and the Enforcer can be freely shot at, until the turret turns itself around to face the player. Once the Enforcer is killed the turret is left inactive and is harmless.

Death Messages

 * Player was pumped full of lead by an Enforcer (Chaingun)
 * Player was bludgeoned by an Enforcer (Melee)

Trivia

 * If an explosive is used on an Enforcer with a direct hit with a Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launcher or, the Enforcer will die showing no blood.
 * The Enforcer's Chaingun replaces its right hand.
 * When there's a fight between an Enforcer and a Guard, and the Guard is close to the Enforcer, the former will likely run away and get cornered, while the latter will punch him to death.
 * When idle, an Enforcer may sometimes bend his hands down and look around such as if he was showing his muscles to other Stroggs.
 * Because Enforcers are often found alongside groups of Guards, it is possible that they play a group leader role.
 * The barrel of an Enforcer's chaingun doesn't rotate while firing, though it may be hard to notice due to particles and smoke present while firing.