MJ12 Commando

MJ12 Commandos are elite, mechanically augmented troops equipped with bio-electrically powered combat armours. The armour, codenamed "Obsidian", was invented in MJ12 laboratories in Hong Kong and Zürich. Its equipment includes:


 * integrated rebreather, making them invulnerable to poisonous gas
 * heat-dispersing microcore foam, protecting from fire and plasma
 * ballistic shielding
 * two 7.62mm machine guns and short range rocket launchers
 * various scanning devices

All of this is powered by standard bioelectric cells. Detachments of the Commandos have been assigned to guard important Majestic 12 facilities and to support major assaults on bases of organizations opposing MJ12.

Tactics
Commandos are the most dangerous humanoid enemies in Deus Ex. Up close they use twin machineguns which do significantly more damage than the assault rifle carried by most human enemies, and at range they switch to rocket launchers. While the rockets have small damage radius and do not do nearly as much damage as a normal LAW or GEP gun rocket, they fire much faster.

Furthermore, true to their armor's description, they are almost completely resistant to knock-out attempts with the Baton and the Riot Prod. They can only be knocked out with a riot prod by hitting a sweet spot on the small of their back. They are completely immune to tear gases (but not poison gases, although a large dose of green poison gas would be needed to kill them) and take only half damage from fire-based weapons (this includes the Plasma rifle) as well as tranquilizer darts. The Obsidian also greatly increases their survivability and they have 250 HP in all body locations, meaning JC will need to be at least Advanced in Rifle/Pistol weapons skill to take them out with a single headshot from a sniper rifle/mini-crossbow. Commandos never retreat from combat.

As such it is best to dispose of Commandos without entering an actual fight with them. Sneaking behind them and attacking with the Dragon's Tooth Sword will kill them instantly. They can also be killed with a knife from the back if hit in the head from the back by an agent with a Low-Tech skill at the Advanced or Master level. Assault shotgun is effective assuming JC's first shot will be a headshot. Of course, any sort of explosive such as a LAM or the Gep gun will kill them instantly.

If JC is forced into a firefight with Commandos, try to keep them at a distance. The rockets are damaging, but travel relatively slowly and can easily be avoided just by strafing. They do have a splash damage hovewer, so try not to have a wall behind JC's back when using this tactic. If he has the Aggressive Defense System augmentation at level 4, activate it, and the Commandos will kill themselves with their own rocket splash damage.

Behind the scenes

 * MJ12 Commando was at first a riot cop mechanical-augmented named "Megatech", before his design changed. This was changed to Majestic-12 soldier instead of a cop and his mechanical augmentation were completely redesigned to be power armor with a regular human inside instead of a mechanical-augmented person.