The Hive Guard is a medium-size 
Terminid sporting medium armor on the front of its body that appears on Easy difficulty and higher. It is a somewhat larger variant of the Warrior. They are often seen defending bug hole entrances, but can also lead patrols on the map depending on operations difficulties.
Behvaior
For the most part, Hive Guards behave identically to a Warrior, they will march forward to close the gap and attack nearby 
Helldivers with their claws. Unlike the Warrior, though, Hive Guards will not outlive the loss of their head, though certain medium-armor penetrating weapons will not instantly kill them with a headshot, instead causing them to bleed out over the course of about a second, however they can enter a berserk state if their head is shot off.
A Hive Guard may hunker down when shot at, putting the black armor on the front of its body to use in protection against all light penetration weaponry. This also allows them to function as a shield for other Terminids behind them, like scavengers. They will not move at all when hunkered down and will swish their tail back and fourth, which can be used to identify if a Hive Guard is hunkered down or not. This also gives one an opportunity to strike them from behind to attack their vulnerable body.
Like majority of the small and medium-sized Terminids, once it spots a Helldiver, it can call for reinforcements via Bug Breach. When doing this, Hive Guards emit a loud and distinct roar.
Hive Guards encountered in late April 2186 are reported to be sturdier than before, shrugging off medium-penetration hits to their head armor. Machine Gun and Gatling Sentries trained on directly-approaching Hive Guards may expend their ammunition to no avail, and so may need to be monitored, providing flanking fire where needed.
Anatomy
Hive Guards have a yellowish body with a dark brown head, with dark grey armor on it. They use the armor to protect bug nests, and when on patrol, they use it to protect Brood Commanders, and Chargers. They have claws on their front legs to cut through enemies and small rocks. It also has a similar biology to the Warrior, just with more armor on the front of its head and legs.
Anatomy
| Part Name | Health* | AV** | Durable | %To Main*** | Bleed | Fatal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Main |
500 | 2 | 0% | - | - | Yes |
| Head | 175 | 4 | 0% | 75% | Yes | Yes |
| Rear Legs | 125 | 1 | 0% | 35% | None | No |
| Front Legs | 125 | 3 | 0% | 45% | None | No |
| Claws | 100 | 2 | 0% | 25% | None | No |
Tactics
- It has the ability to "hunker down" when a Helldiver fires upon them. When hunkered, it will use its armored head and claws to form a shield wall. Their armored parts are only medium-type armor, however.
- When hunkered down, the Hive Guard is completely stationary, and will remain that way as long as something is firing at it. A team of Helldivers can exploit this by flanking its unprotected sides, or throwing an impact grenade over its head and behind its armor killing it.
- There are gaps between its armor, even when they are hunkered down. The lower part of their body close to the ground is unprotected during this state and will cause them to break formation if damaged. One however, might need to kneel to get a clear shot at this part.
- Hive Guards will attempt to advance if a Helldiver looks away from them. They also appear to be smart enough to know that reloading makes one vulnerable.
- Thrown grenades effectively bypass their defenses, however it isn't recommended to use an entire grenade just to kill one Terminid, if one is going to use a grenade against a Hive Guard, make sure it is at least in a group of enemies.
- If using a grenade launcher, have the shots detonate under or beside them as their armor can deflect grenade rounds, it can also deflect impact grenades if thrown at a poor angle.
- For the sane, fleeing is also an option, as a hunkering Guard neither attack nor pursue while shielding, this may also allow you to maintain a safe distance to fire at it.
- Any aerial attack stratagem can easily kill a whole group of Hive Guards, it is NOT recommended to attempt to land a stratagem ON a Hive Guard, as they will most likely chase you down, meaning that you may be caught in the cross fire of the stratagem.
- Due to their wide medium-armored front, Hive Guards cannot be damaged by gunbutt attacks in melee from the front, which is something to consider when they have gone berserk, or approaching towards you.
- Hive Guards will go berserk upon taking lethal damage to their head. This is less visible as their heads do not explode like most other warriors-types due to their armor, but this can be observed one it cracks and is bleeding yellow blood.
Trivia
- Battle reports from late March 2186 describe Hive Guards being more susceptible to light-penetration weapons.
