Power Drain

The power drain is a very powerful piece of equipment in halo 3 that I like to use quite often. It emits a big blue orb of light that almost instantly drains enemies shields and puts a stop to vehicles. It is an amazingly effective fight stopper, if you turn the corner, throw one of these down and your enemy walks through it the battle rifle will make short work of him. The power drains also have the ability to pass through bubble shields and door barriers.

Do you have an enemy just chilling in the bubble shield with the shotgun or sword? Throw one of these in there with him and you've got the kill for sure. He has one of two options from this point: Wait inside the bubble shield until it expires with the power drain and not bring his health back up, or coming out without any health and getting 1 shotted.

The power drain disables enemy vehicles for around 6 seconds. During this time the warthog gunner and the banshee pilot can still fire are you, however. Duck around a corner and take cover and throw one down just as the warthog comes speeding by looking for the kill. From here you can simply toss a grenade or two into the mix and that's an easy double kill for you. Banshee flying too low? Surprise him by throwing one of these at him! It will not only take down his shields completely but also bound the pilot to the ground for the period of 6 seconds. If he's dumb enough to stay inside, throw a grenade at him. If he isn't, the battle rifle will take care of him.

The power drain will completely consume a players shields - even if he has the overshield. This makes it extremely effective in social games like VIP and Juggernaut.

Another good use of the power drainer is putting up a barrier between you and your opponent, especially on maps with narrow hallways. The enemy probably wont be retarded enough to run right through it, and then you can go duck for cover, recharge your shields and get ready for the encounter.

Although the power drainer is handy in many situations, its most effective use is in neutral assault. Arm the bomb, throw a power drainer on top of the bomb, and stand back with a BR. They can either run up and try to disarm it and then get one shotted, or waste like 7-8 seconds killing you at which time they wont have enough time left to disarm the bomb.