Savage

"The gunship your dad thought he'd be running from in World War III. Like a Russian politician, it refuses to give up no matter how old it gets or how many people campaign for its decommissioning, and it's at its best setting its enemies on fire."

- Warstock Cache & Carry description

The Savage is a military gunship helicopter released in Grand Theft Auto Online, as part of the Heists Update.

Description
The Savage is based on the Soviet/Russian Mil Mi-24 "Hind", and features its armament of rockets and a nose-mounted machine gun. However, rather than the Hind's four barrel Yak-B 12.7mm cannon, a six barrel Gatling gun is fitted.

The vehicle's cockpit appears to have a cross between the earlier angular greenhouse-style cockpit design from the Hind-A and the "double bubble" canopy seen on the Hind-D and latter. Erroneously, it is piloted from the forward seat, while the gunner sits in the rear seat. A Hind is piloted from the rear seat, while the gunner sits in the forward seat. Unlike the Hind, the Savage features enlarged side exhausts and lacks a strike guard on the tail boom. Also, the wingtip pylons for mounting AT/AA missiles are empty. The rocket pods appear to be based on the Hydra 70 rocket usually fitted on the AH-64 Apache. The side doors are made to resemble traditional sliding doors; in contrast with the real-life door compartments, with one of them acting as a step bar when opened. A feature of the Savage is the retractable tricycle landing gear, which can be retracted by clicking in the Left Stick.

The vehicle has various military-themed decorations, including a desert military camouflage pattern, the U.S. Army star on its side, the "Zancudo" and the numbers on the side doors, a badge near the cockpit area with "Enduro Fortes" markings and a similar one on the opposite side reads "Voxusm Delicat" and a yellow line on the tail edge where the word "Danger" would be that reads "Zancudo". It is operated by Merryweather Security.

Performance
In terms of function, the Savage has similar features to the Buzzard. The pilot has access to the machine gun and rockets; the latter of which can be set to heat-seeking or free fire. When not in use by the pilot, the co-pilot can optionally fire the rockets. It seats two passengers in the cargo bay.

The Savage can carry four occupants, with the pilot/gunner on the front seat and the passenger/rocket gunner at the rear one. Both the pilot and the passenger/rocket gunner access from the left, as they open a canopy that swings to the right.

In terms of weaponry, the Savage is likely the most well equipped vehicle in-game. Its rockets function like the Buzzard's: however, there is no cooldown, which mean the player can fire rockets in bursts, which is very practical. The machine gun functions similarly to the P-996 Lazer and Hydra built-in machine guns, using explosive rounds: however, the minigun has an even faster fire rate, which makes it even deadlier. It cannot pivot up and down or rotate, so the pilot must tilt the helicopter forward to engage ground targets. It cannot tilt as far forward as the Buzzard, so engaging targets directly below it may be difficult. The most effective way to use this helicopter against ground targets is to treat it like an aircraft; make several fast "strafing runs", as loitering will cause the Savage to take damage.

Compared to the Buzzard, the Savage has more firepower but is heavier and bigger, making it an easier target. Also, despite how it would appear, the armor is not as effective as its real life counterpart.

Despite appearing to be bigger and stronger, the Savage is very weak, even weaker than the Valkyrie. The Savage is susceptible to the smallest crashes, however, explosions from its own weaponry doesn't affect the engines too much. Care must be taken to avoid obstacles when landing and when in flight, as its tail rotor is quite large and vulnerable, and does not have a strike guard on the end of the tail boom.

Mission Appearances

 * Pacific Standard - Convoy - GTA Online Heist Setup

Locations

 * Available from Warstock Cache & Carry for $1,950,000 after completing the Pacific Standard - Convoy set up mission.

Trivia

 * The Savage has the same rotor sound as the Buzzard.
 * NPC-controlled Savages have the ability to rotate the gun and pivot it up and down, whilst the pilotable ones cannot.
 * Compared to other military vehicles with camouflage patterns in GTA V, the Savage comes with a very dark camouflage scheme, based on the actual camouflage used by US Army "aggressor" Hinds.
 * Strangely, the Savage's cockpit seems to be partly lifted from the P-996 LAZER's, as an unusable side-mounted control stick can be seen to the right of the center stick.