HHH HH HH A LLLLL HH HHH AAA LLL OOOOOOOOOOO HH HHH A AA LLL OOOOO OOO HH HHH AA LLL OOO OOO HHHHHHHHHHHHHH AAAAAAAA LLL OO OO OOO HHH HHH AA AA LLL O OO OOO HHH HHH AA AA LLL OOO HHH HHH AA AA LLLL L OOOOO OOO HHHH HHHH AAA AAA LLLLLLLLLLLLLL OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOO OOOOO 222 OOOOOOO OOO 222222222 OOOOOOO OO 22 222 OOOOOOO O 22 OOOOOOOO OOO 22 OOOOOOOO OO 22222 OOOOOOO 222 OOOOOOO 2222222222222 OOOOOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO [------Legendary Difficulty Guide------] [ Version 2.7 ] [ By ] /== ==\ || DeusExMachina (on Neoseeker) || || MrWalkthrough (on GameFAQs) || || Deus_Ex_Machina (on Bungie.net) || || Trigintillion (on Xbox Live and Xbox.com) || || Anton Bovin (in, you know, that world outside the Xbox?) || \== ==/ ________________________ "The Great Journey waits for no one, brother. Not even you." -Prophet of Truth /======================================== // / /Contents: // / /1. Intro / 2. Storyline 3. Characters 4. Difficulties 5. Weapons / -Human Weapons / -Covenant Weapons -Sentinel Weapons /6. Enemies // -Covenant / -Flood -Sentinels /7. Artifacts / 8. Vehicles / -Human Vehicles / -Covenant Vehicles /9. Other tips / 10. Walkthrough / -I. The Heretic / -II. Armory -III. Cairo Station -IV. Outskirts -V. Metropolis -VI. The Arbiter -VII. Oracle -VIII. Delta Halo -IX. Regret -X. Sacred Icon -XI. Quarantine Zone -XII. Gravemind -XIII. Uprising -XIV. High Charity -XV. The Great Journey /11. Secrets // -Skulls / -Secret Swords -Others /12. How to Contact Me / 13. Version History 14. Legal 15. Thanks to... 16. Final Word / / /======================================== // / OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO OOO OOO OOO OO OO OOO O OO OOO OOO OOOOO OOO OOOOOOOOOOO _______________________[ 1. Intro]________________________________________ Welcome, my name is Anton Bovin; this is my fifth guide. The other guides I wrote were for the games called Evil Twin: Cyprien’s Chronicles, Myst III: Exile, Worms: Forts Under Siege, and, of course, the sacred Halo. First thing I should point out and you should know: don’t get scared away by the big “Legendary Difficulty Guide” title. This guide is intended for Legendary, but can successfully be used for any other difficulty. In fact, I strongly suggest you pass another difficulty first, because it’s not a good idea to start trying to pass Legendary without a head start on the guns and tricks of the game. I’m planning on making this guide more complete than the ones I saw on the Internet by adding a walkthrough. Yes, the ones that are only walkthroughs have walkthroughs, but I think this is one of the only two or three complete Legendary guides that contains one plus a complete collection of tips for vehicles, enemies, and weapons. You might find the walkthrough unclear about precisely where to go and the number of enemies in each area, but I’ll include the vital parts. There are some huge spoilers outside the walkthrough, so play the game first if you care. I’ll try not to make things sound too easy. In other words, I won't tell you to run into an area full of Elites, kill them all, and then move on to another part. I’ll describe the places I had trouble with in detail so that you don’t have too much trouble. Note that the game plays differently each time. Don't expect the gameplay of your game to be exactly like mine. This guide is for single player, so I'll assume that you, like me, don't have the option of co-op. Otherwise, you might avoid some dilemmas, as it would seem that I'm trying to be in several places at once. I hear that co-op is very good to have, but I don't. Almost anyone who has ever read a video game guide before knows that some authors have the habit of wasting their time by listing the exact number of enemies in every area. I'm not going to do that. Usually. I think it's completely useless and unnecessary as most of the time I'm busier killing the enemies than counting them. To generalize everything I've said so far: I made this guide to be as universal as possible. Of course, I had to overcome some paradoxes and contradictions to do so. For example, I insist that everyone pass one of the easier difficulties before moving on to Legendary, but I'm giving weapon and story details as though the reader is new to Halo 2. Hopefully you'll find what you're looking for here. Also, I'm prone to using big words which may not be on an average person's level of comprehension (told you!). OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO OOO OOO OOO OO OO OOO O OO OOO OOO OOOOO OOO OOOOOOOOOOO _______________________[ 2. Storyline]____________________________________ Halo The story is set in the future, in the year 2552. Humankind is tired of living on Earth due to overpopulation and decided to build an engine that will transport spaceships at the speed of light to other planets. They built it and started going to those other planets. Everything seemed to be going all right when all contact with the colony called Harvest was lost. The human government sent the ship Argo to see what happened. Argo was never seen again. That was a cue for the United Nations Space Command to send a fleet of warships to Harvest. One surviving ship returned and reported that an alien warship was in the colony’s orbit and had obliterated the population. The war went on for thirty years during which humans got a transmission from the aliens, which revealed that they called themselves the Covenant and for some reason they didn’t like humans and decided to kill them. It so happened that because of this, the humans didn’t like the Covenant either, so they decide to board a Covenant ship and find their home world. They put the boarding party on the ship called the Pillar of Autumn, but before they could organize, the Covenant destroyed Reach, the last human citadel against the aliens. The Pillar of Autumn had to make a blind jump to a random location in space to try to lure the Covenant away. They arrived near a huge ring-like artificial planet near a gas giant, Threshold. Now they have to land there and discover what it hides... Halo 2 Master Chief, the protagonist of Halo, survived and returned to Earth. But there’s one problem: the Covenant has found Earth and is doing their best to kill all humankind. And Master Chief is the one to defend it. He’ll have to fight on Earth, in space... and shortly somewhere else. I won’t spoil it for you. OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO OOO OOO OOO OO OO OOO O OO OOO OOO OOOOO OOO OOOOOOOOOOO _______________________[ 3. Characters]___________________________________ Master Chief-good guy number one. He’s a cyborg, but technically he’s a human with artificially improved bones and muscles inside the MJOLNIR Mark VI armor. He’s not the usual guy with limited health, but he’s got a rechargeable shield that, when damaged, recharges in a couple of seconds. Unlike the first Halo, he doesn’t have any health other than that, or at least no indicator of it. If the shield is depleted, he’ll take only a few shots before dying. That’s especially true of Legendary. For more details on how the SPARTANS originated, read The Fall of Reach. Arbiter-good guy number two. From the beginning he’s obviously a dedicated human exterminator, but then he really gets ticked off at the Hierarchs of the Covenant and starts fighting against them. He’s pretty much identical to the Master Chief, except being an Elite. Even the HUD is a carbon copy of the Chief’s, except its purple color and the Active Camouflage meter. Sarge Johnson-he’s a more or less major character, and he does put a lot more flavor and language into the storyline. He’ll typically be in and out of the gameplay and he’ll normally carry powerful guns like the Sniper Rifle and the Beam Rifle. And he'll be immortal. Marines-they’ll help you a lot, but they usually get killed off at the start of every major battle, especially those long sieges on some places filled with enemies. Too bad that you can’t give them any commands, or you could stop them from pointlessly charging into the place and getting ripped apart. They will be smarter now, driving vehicles with you at the gun or vice versa. And if you care to listen, they’ll occasionally warn you about snipers and such. But they’re still mediocre drivers and will occasionally get stuck in places where it’s very hard to get stuck. It’s better than nothing, though. They will usually serve as cannon fodder/sacrifices and will be an acceptable source of ammo. Prophets-there are three: Truth, Mercy, and Regret (in order of survival). They’re the leaders of the Covenant. They come with some sort of hovercraft that seem to be equipped with a Prophet-Hunter Fuel Rod Cannon, though Regret is the only one that actually used it. You’ll see or hear a Prophet, usually Truth, almost every time you watch a cutscene inside High Charity. Lord Hood-my guess is that he’s an admiral, but no word on why he’s called that. He doesn’t seem to be wearing a hood... Tartarus-he’s a Brute. In both ways. He’s mean, nasty, ugly, and pretty strong. Tartarus seems to come directly from the Norse mythology: the god Thor carried a hammer, like Tartarus; and Tartar (as I remember) was some infinitely deep chasm mentioned there. I may call him something like “the Monkey” or “Mr. Mohawk”. OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO OOO OOO OOO OO OO OOO O OO OOO OOO OOOOO OOO OOOOOOOOOOO _______________________[ 4. Difficulties]_________________________________ This guide is for Legendary, but since I recommend playing at least one of the easier difficulties first, I’ll include a full description of them. I will start each description with the phrase provided by the game. Easy -“Enemies cower and fall before your unstoppable onslaught, yet final victory will leave you wanting more.” Easy is the easiest difficulty and you can literally run through, shooting the Covenant and generally having a good time. In my opinion, this is the best place to get started, but because the difficulty increases exponentially (i.e. the enemies’ strength and the damage they do to you is doubled each time you go to a harder difficulty), some people reasonably argue that it’s better to get started with Normal rather than Easy. But if you trust my opinion, start with this. Normal -“Hordes of enemies vie to destroy you, but nerves of steel and a quick trigger give you a solid chance to prevail.” This is remarkably more difficult than Easy, but the description says the truth: be patient, fire at everything that moves that’s not a human or another ally, and if you get killed too much, figure out a new way to do things. Always sneak up on enemies if you can, and use cover to dodge enemy fire. Use grenades to clear up areas that you’re finding hard to clear from where you are. Heroic -“The enemies are as numerous as they are ferocious; their attacks are devastating. Survival is not guaranteed.” This is a challenge. You’ll have to pick the strategy you will use, not just run into an area full of enemies and start emptying your guns into them. Do it and you will probably die. Always take cover and allow the shield to recharge. Reload your guns. Backtrack to a previously cleared area to get grenades, new weapons and ammo. Get back to the enemies. Flank them if possible. Use a nearby object as cover, throw in a grenade or two, and start shooting. Legendary -“You face enemies who have never known defeat, who laugh in alien tongues at your efforts to survive. This is suicide.” This in-game description doesn’t leave me much to clear up. Like it says, this is suicide. You will be dying a lot, but if you have enough determination and patience, you might actually make it to the end of the game in one piece. If your life expectancy is too low, rethink your options, start using different guns to see how good they are against the enemies you face, and of course, be as careful as possible. And never expect to finish any part of the game quickly. Halo 2 is literally saturated with those checkpoint-less places where you have to sit in one place and patiently pepper the enemies with fire from your guns, where any indiscretion can mean you losing hours of progress. Always count for at least an hour at a time of sitting at the console. OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO OOO OOO OOO OO OO OOO O OO OOO OOO OOOOO OOO OOOOOOOOOOO ______________________________[ 5. Weapons]_______________________________ “Speak softly and carry a big stick” -African proverb Human weapons The Human weapons are the ones I prefer to stick with. Although they’re not the best in some situations, they’re normally the most useful ones in the long run. The arsenal has changed a lot: some weapons have been added, some have been removed, some have been improved, and Halo’s most useful gun, the Pistol, has been stripped down to include only its basic functions. Each description will have some stats in the beginning (the numbers might be slightly off) and a verdict at the end. -SMG Accuracy: not too good, but a lot better than the late Assault Rifle Clip size: 60 rounds in each clip Ammo capacity: 180 in each SMG, plus those in the clip Power: amazing in the right hands, otherwise pretty good The new Assault Rifle. The SMG is much smaller and can be dual-wielded, unlike its Halo cousin. It’s much better, too, but there are not as many of them as I would’ve liked. If you’re going to use it, make sure you have a good gun behind you--this uses up ammo like there’s no tomorrow. It’s much easier if you’re using two of them at once, but the ammo goes twice as fast too. Plasma Rifles are good weapons when double-wielded with an SMG. In fact, a Plasma Rifle and an SMG form a scary combination. On Easy, enemies can literally go down by the dozen from this kind of firepower. This is good on Grunts. Even a Black Grunt can be killed after a second or so from two SMGs. Don’t use this on Flood unless you have to. They’re very hard to kill with SMGs and if that wasn’t enough, they sometimes get up afterwards. It’s just a waste of ammo. But if there’s a lone half-dead Flood nearby and you’re low on ammo, but there’s an extra SMG lying around, it’s just not practical to use you own guns. It’s much more accurate than the Assault Rifle. This enables you to use it for medium range jobs instead of the point-blank-only assassinations the Assault Rifle limited you to. An SMG is not much use when used without a Plasma Rifle of at least another SMG. In most places, it just takes too much time to kill something with only one SMG without dying yourself. If you have an SMG and some Spores around you, it’s not very convenient to use your own guns when you can pick up the SMG. Try not to dual-wield a Needler with an SMG. Neither does much damage alone and an SMG and a Needler won’t do much damage together, either. When you’re dual-wielding two SMGs, make sure you don’t reload if you might be attacked at any moment (unless you’re about to be forced to reload). It takes too long and you can’t stop it without dropping one of the guns--pressing Y will stop it, but you’ll drop an SMG, and meleeing will also make you drop an SMG. This is a pretty good method of killing off Drones/Bugs from close range. But if you meet more than two or three that closely, the SMG won’t help you anyway. Okay, I know that this is heresy, sacrilege, blasphemy, irreverence, derision... deep breath... condescension, disparagement, et cetera, but I suggest you not dual-wield SMGs (and especially not use them without dual-wielding) in any situation where they’re not the best weapon available. For instance, one or two SMGs are definitely not the best weapon when you’re trying to fight Elites or, say, Hunters. //=== Overall: 8/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: pretty good. Certainly better than the Assault Rifle. SMGs work ||pretty well at close range but use them for medium and long range only ||if you get desperate enough. \\======================================================================== -Battle Rifle Accuracy: depends on your aiming ability and the target, otherwise you can fire it with pinpoint accuracy Clip size: 36 rounds per clip Ammo capacity: 108 rounds plus those in the clip Power: pretty good when it comes to Grunts Second trademark weapon of Halo 2. It’s not available in most levels, and when you can actually use it, there’s not usually much ammo for it. You might call it the second Pistol. It’s pretty much identical to Halo’s Pistol--great for sniping and has about the same amount of ammo. The only two differences: it’s a rifle and it fires three rounds instead of one. That doesn’t deplete ammo as fast as you might think, as long as you’re not fighting some big enemy. It often takes down a Grunt with only one shot, as long as that’s a lucky shot (headshot). Aim for the head whenever you’re attending to a Grunt. Sometimes you can use this successfully on an Elite, if the latter doesn’t have very good cover. When it’s standing in the open, pepper it with bullets until the shield lets up. Then it should die very quickly. I’ve seen an Elite expire after only one or two bullets (once its shield’s depleted). This can also get you killed if you get too carried away and don’t notice your own shield. The Battle Rifle is not one of those universal any-range guns. Of course, if you get good enough with it you can use it at any range, but I prefer medium to long range sniping. It’s perfect for getting rid of Sniper Jackals--one headshot will be guaranteed to kill one and if you hit it somewhere else, it won’t take long either. The only problem is that you have to catch them off guard before they catch you off guard--one shot from the Beam Rifle is lethal to you and one shot from the Battle Rifle is not necessarily lethal to them. This is much better on Shielded Jackals. For some reason I find that they’re much easier killed with the Battle Rifle than the Sniper Jackals are. Maybe it’s because I don’t have to stay out of the way, as their Plasma Pistols are not the best guns I’ve ever seen. Again, it’s great for sniping Grunts. Have you noticed that they sometimes carry those Plasma Cannons of theirs before setting them up? If you use the Battle Rifle to quickly kill a Grunt before it has a chance to set up its cannon, you’ll eliminate the danger of an Elite of another Grunt using it. Despite the fact that the Battle Rifle seems to be the descendant of Halo’s Pistol, it doesn’t work very well against Flood. The range is pretty much unlimited, even though, like in every other gun, the reticle stops lighting up red if the target is a certain distance away. Sometimes the enemy is very far down and can’t get to you, while you can snipe it with the Battle Rifle. An example of this situation is on Cairo Station, in the hangar just before the second venture outside. If the huge elevator starts descending with enemies on it, you can climb the tiers on the side of the room and snipe those enemies with the Battle Rifle. Sentinels are not a very good target for the Battle Rifle--like almost every other gun, it has its ups and downs. Its inability of shooting down Sentinels (very effectively) definitely qualifies as a down. If you don’t have any other weapon that’s good against Bugs, use the Battle Rifle. Pesticide would probably work better, but around three Battle Rifle shots will kill any Bug. //=== Overall: 8/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: I liked the Pistol and I certainly like the Battle Rifle. Carry ||it whenever possible unless you’re about to pass an important checkpoint ||and you know that there will be no Battle Rifle ammo in the near future ||or that it won't be of any use any further. \\======================================================================== -Shotgun Accuracy: very bad if the reticle’s not red Clip Size: 12 shells before you have to reload Ammo capacity: 36 shells plus those in the gun Power: much worse than Halo’s Shotgun. Does almost no damage if the reticle’s not red The Shotgun is still a scary gun, but I’d give a lot to make it more like Halo’s Shotgun--more power and range. It’s still often my weapon of choice against the Flood--if I don’t have an Energy Sword. Halo’s Shotgun was by far the most useful weapon in Halo (aside from the Pistol) and I could shoot two Flood from thirty meters away and permanently kill them. Here, a point blank shot sometimes doesn’t do the job. This is good for mass Spore-killing. If they’re concentrated in one place, you can take most of them out with one shot. Seeing that Spores are now much harder to get with a melee attack, the Shotgun is one of the best ways of doing this. It’s good against Elites. One or two point blank shots will kill a healthy Blue Elite, and not many more will kill a Silver Elite. If the reticle is not red when you point it at an enemy, try to get closer before shooting. It’s normally a waste of ammo to try to kill anything from that distance. Most Sentinels usually go down from one or two Shotgun shots. If you don’t have a Sentinel Beam, a Carbine, or a plasma weapon nearby, use a Shotgun to easily dispose of the thing. Most Grunts die after one straight-on Shotgun shot. Some might need a bit more. Main reasons why you sometimes don’t kill a Grunt with only one shot: you were turning while you fired, or you were shooting it from too far away. Not all Jackals are easily killed with the Shotgun. A Sniper Jackal will kill you long before you kill it, and the Shielded Jackals are, well, shielded, so the shield blocks most of the shot. When there are some Flood Bombs around, the Shotgun is my gun of choice against them. Yeah, the Energy Sword kills a Bomb instantly, but it requires me to be rather closer to the Bomb than I prefer. When shot with the Shotgun, most die outright and only few stay long enough to take a second. The twelve shells are a lot more than you might think--it takes... I’d say about 30-40 seconds to empty all twelve shells. But I wouldn’t mind if it held more of them due to the decreased damage it does. Very effective against Bugs. One point blank shot is almost guaranteed to get rid of one. //=== Overall: 7/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: well... depends on how you use it. The Shotgun is definitely far ||worse now than it used to be, but it’s still a weapon superior to most ||others. \\======================================================================== -Pistol Accuracy: as it now has no scope, pretty bad Clip size: 12 rounds Ammo capacity: 48 rounds plus those in the clip Power: depends; if the power is like Halo’s Pistol, very good against some enemies I can’t say much about the Pistol, mainly because I never use it. It’s been cut down on functions and by doing so, Bungie made me real angry. You see, the Pistol was among the most useful weapons of Halo and having it deprived of the scope and the ammo capacity decreased more than three times made it just a waste of a weapon slot. If the power of the Pistol is still the same, I can guess that it can down a Hunter with one shot to one of the weak spots, and kill some enemies (Grunts, Jackals) with one headshot. But I haven't tested this yet. The ammo can be depleted so fast in some situations that you won’t notice how it’ll just disappear. What I mean is, the Pistol can be fired very fast and seeing that each of the total of five 12-round clips can be fired in about five seconds, the whole thing can fire for only about 30 seconds before running out of ammo. //=== Overall: 2/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: the result of the worst messing with a weapon I’ve ever seen,the ||new Pistol is only for those situations where you’re completely out of ||ammo and don’t have any other choice but to use it. \\======================================================================== -Sniper Rifle Accuracy: perfect as long as the target’s not moving Clip size: 4 rounds (???) Ammo capacity: 20 rounds plus those in the clip Power: very good with pretty much every enemy except the Flood The great weapon for people like me who like to stay out of sight and range while effectively killing the enemy. The clip size is one of my main complaints. Just four rounds are not enough if you’re trying to kill some big enemy like one of the most elite Elites. One of the best qualities of the Sniper Rifle is that it has, literally, “side effects”. Even if the bullet doesn’t hit the target but passes close to it, it does some damage. The size of the reticle makes it very, very hard to hit anything without spending a few seconds on aiming. That goes for the occasions when you might try to take down an Elite with a Sniper Rifle if you meet it at close quarters. Unless you’re comfortable with the Sniper Rifle at any range, the Elite will kill you very fast. Don’t try this on Flood. If you don’t want to waste about ten to fifteen rounds on a single Flood. After about that long, some Flood will explode and release a Spore. And that’s more trouble. When you see some Hunters and you happen to have a Sniper Rifle, aim for the head. If you don’t hit its neck in the first shot, it’ll throw back its head and the second shot will hopefully go through the neck. Well, of course, if the Hunter doesn’t see you, you can aim straight for the orange spot on the back. The Sniper Rifle takes down a Bug in one shot, but you’ll have to get that shot into the Bug in the first place. This will probably work only if the Drones don’t know that you’re there or if they’re flying toward you from some far-away place. This doesn’t necessarily kill a Grunt with one shot anywhere to the Grunt, so aim for the head. It won’t do to waste two rounds or more on each Grunt that might be around. A Sniper Rifle can get rid of an average Guard with two or three shots. That also goes for the smaller ordinary Elites. Each round jerks an Elite back and gives you some more time to adjust your aim if necessary. But if you only have a limited view of the Elite you’re sniping, the shot might throw it into cover, wasting your round. Jackals are not very easy to get rid of with a Sniper Rifle. A shot to the notch in a Jackal’s shield will cause the alien to move the shield to the side and this gives you room to aim for the head. But this window is very small and doesn’t usually give you much opportunity to aim properly before you shoot. A good way to keep a Jackal from getting back behind the shield is another shot to anywhere to its body (if you have enough ammo to spare). I noticed that Sniper Rifle shots are deflected off the armor of Wraiths and Scorpions. That is very, very, very (!) useful when you have a Sniper Jackal or a Sniper Rifle-wielding Flood around and you have to fight another enemy. This allows you to lay off the Sniper until you’ve dealt with the other foe. Naturally, don't get out of the Wraith or Scorpion. The melee attack is moderately fast. Just so you know. //=== Overall: 9/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: the Sniper Rifle is great if sniping is your thing. Although the ||Sniper Rifle is not available in all places, you can usually use it very ||effectively. \\======================================================================== -Rocket Launcher Accuracy: good with vehicles; extremely bad with anything else Clip size: 2 rockets Ammo capacity: 6 plus those in the clip Power: very powerful The Rocket Launcher is now the best weapon for vehicles you can’t get close to. It has a new ability: homing. When you have an enemy vehicle within range, just aim at the target, hold the right trigger till it locks on, and let go. The rocket usually hits the target. Remember that a rocket is lethal to you. Make sure that you don’t shoot at anything close to you. Also, don’t pilot vehicles when there are Rocket Launcher-wielding Flood in the area. This works on almost everything equal to or bigger than a Ghost. That includes Sentinel Tanks, Wraiths, Phantom Cannons, and even Phantom turrets. But as it doesn’t do any damage to Scarabs, the tracking system doesn’t work on them. I'll mention it later, but this is more general. There's a hidden oink when you're dealing with an enemy in a Wraith. If you shoot a rocket at a Wraith, it hurts the driver. So, you might be able to kill the driver of a Wraith using rockets. Watch the ammo. There’s very little of it, and it should be spent only on the bigger enemies and vehicles. Of course, if there are a lot of enemies in one place and you’re planning to toss the Rocket Launcher, it’s kind of irrational to waste ammo from other guns. When you have a Flood behind the stick of a Wraith, you don’t always need to jump on top of the Wraith to take it. It sometimes works to shoot rockets at the Wraith until the driver dies. That will leave the Wraith slightly battered, but it’s your best option if you don’t have any grenades. The Rocket Launcher is your best weapon against Banshees. Two rockets kill a Banshee, but you need enough cover to hide while you’re shooting at the Banshee. If it somehow happens that you don’t have enough cover, run sideways while facing the Banshee and fire the rockets when they’re ready to be shot. Don’t give the Rocket Launcher to fellow Elites. They fire it about every sixty seconds, and that’s not enough. When you have a Scorpion and a couple of Marines with Rocket Launchers, you can usually push through anything, like the bridge in Metropolis. When you’re around Marines with Rocket Launchers, make sure you stay a good distance away from them--they usually don’t look where they’re shooting and tend to blow themselves up, along with you. If you have some spare rockets and an enemy Phantom nearby, don’t hesitate to take down its cannons with the rockets. It’ll be easy to do and will get rid of a few nasty enemy cannons. Don’t ever try to hit an Elite with a rocket unless it doesn’t know that you’re there. any Elite will be able to dodge a rocket and kill you in the process. And you don’t want that. I've recently tried the Rocket Launcher on a Hunter on Easy difficulty (it's excruciatingly hard to have a Rocket Launcher while facing a Hunter on Legendary), and I was impressed. If the power is proportional, then it would take one or two rockets at most to kill a Hunter on Legendary. //=== Overall: 6/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: use this only on vehicles and turrets; it doesn’t work on ||anything else. \\======================================================================== -Machine Gun Accuracy: very good at medium range Power: perfect against minor Covenant The Machine gun is available on the Warthog and the Scorpion. It’s more or less useful on the Warthog (although you don’t get to use it much), but the Scorpion Machine Gun... let’s just say that it’s an unnecessary piece of metal to slow down the tank. If a Grunt ever gets caught in the reticule of your Warthog Machine gun reticle, you can be sure that there will be a lot of blue liquid flying. The Grunts are simple to mow down with the Machine gun, even if you’re surrounded. If you’re going to dispose of some Grunts, make sure you do it fast--they tend to hide. Elites are about as easy to kill with the Machine gun. A few seconds will do, as long as the Elite doesn’t have any cover. If it does, then don’t even try to kill it. Concentrate on more accessible targets. I’ve never tried it on Flood and you probably won’t either, without going to considerable lengths to get it. As far as the Machine gun on Scorpions goes, it’s useless. The Cannon is a much better option. Just for the sake of doing some more completely insignificant damage, hold down the left trigger while you’re targeting an enemy with the Scorpion's guns. This won’t make a difference if that enemy is a Flood, and it certainly won’t matter if it’s a Ghost. Machine guns exist in the form of turrets, but those are rare. //=== Overall: 6/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: it’s strange how much the gun in the Warthog is different from ||the one on the Scorpion. When you get to use the Warthog Machine gun, ||especially on infantry, do it. \\======================================================================== -Frag Grenade Accuracy: all depends on how you throw it; usually not very good Power: kills you in one hit; enemies are luckier The grenade. It doesn’t do nearly as much damage as you might expect it to (they probably have better grenades now, so it looks like the grenade-making business has degenerated over five and a half centuries), but if you get caught in the explosion... well, just don’t get caught in it. Frag Grenades don’t give you many clues as to where they’re flying, but the ones that do exist are: 1) it lights up the surroundings with a pretty hard-to-see yellow glow, 2) makes a very noticeable sound when it hits any surface, and 3) if you have a Frag Grenade under your feet and don’t know it yet, you will soon. Frag Grenades have short fuses, so count on that if you’re planning to drop a grenade somewhere nearby. Don’t drop one at your feet and expect to be able to escape while luring that mob of Flood onto the grenade. The Frag Grenade can be bounced off walls into convenient places. If you’re hiding behind a corner while there’s a half-killed Elite on the other side and your shield doesn’t let you get out there and finish it, throw a grenade and enjoy. If you don’t want to waste a Frag Grenade, don’t throw one at some narrow space where it can easily fall off. It’s very hard to get a Frag Grenade to go exactly where you want it to go, so throw them only when there’s something to stop it or enough space to let it bounce around and still do damage. Hunters are much more affected by grenades now than they were in Halo. In fact, when you don’t have a Fuel Rod Cannon, a Brute Shot, or a sniping weapon while fighting a Hunter, the Frag Grenade is my weapon of choice. Frag Grenades are also effective on Flood. Throw one at a hoard of them and watch them standing there, unaware of the grenade. Flood often get blown apart by Frag Grenades, or they might just die. It’s tougher with Flood with shields--they’re more resilient. Don’t use Frag Grenades on anything other than Hunters and Flood unless you have some to waste--those are the only enemies who don’t jump out of the way once a Frag Grenade comes into range. //=== Overall: 7/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: good weapon of mass annoyance. Frag Grenades are more or less ||powerful, but the accuracy has a lot to improve. \\======================================================================== -Gauss Gun Accuracy: could be very good if the Warthog’s not moving; otherwise it’s hard to aim Power: pretty powerful, especially against minor Covenant This is installed on some very rare Warthogs. Actually, the only place where you can use a Gauss Gun (outside multiplayer) is Metropolis, so it’s like the Scorpion in Halo: available for only a fraction of one level. Some people say that one shot is lethal to a Ghost. Now you have an excuse to laugh at them. One shot from the gun is not lethal to a Ghost, even on Easy. Try to aim at the base of a vehicle if you’re going to shoot it. If it’s a Warthog or a Ghost, the gun will probably turn it over, or at least push it. If it’s a Wraith, there’s more surface area at the bottom, so you’ll be less likely to miss. //=== Overall: 9/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: pretty good, but you’re not allowed to use it much. \\======================================================================== -Cannon Accuracy: can be very good depending on how it’s aimed Power: very powerful; possibly the most powerful (legal) weapon in the game This is installed only on the Scorpion, which is just as well--you get to use it a lot more than in Halo. The Cannon’s reticle gets red when pointed at an enemy, but only at a very limited range. But when it’s not red, you can still use it. What really surprised me is that the Rocket Launcher miserably loses to the Cannon when it comes to Banshees. You see, the Rocket Launcher’s range (and tracking ability) is even more limited than the Cannon’s. But while the rockets’ slow speed is compensated for by the tracking, the Cannon projectiles are very fast and are easy to aim. All you need is to be able to see the target. So that guarantees a few Banshees easily shot down from far away. If it’s at all possible to have a Cannon when facing Ghosts, have one. One shot or so per Ghost and you’re done. When around Flood, be careful not to get too close. They tend to jump on top of the tank and sit there, meleeing your shield to pieces. If you’re unlucky enough to have a Flood on your tank, get out immediately and confiscate the Scorpion. If you have passengers, it’s made slightly easier--the Flood will probably start annoying the passengers before it gets to you. Why am I saying this? Because it’s very important that the Flood don’t get a hold of your Cannon. If one does and you’re more than ten meters away, then you’re toast. They’re usually much more accurate with the Cannon than you can possibly be--I’ve experienced one shooting me out of the air right in mid-jump. //=== Overall: 9/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: very powerful and handy to have. If you have a Scorpion nearby, ||take it. \\======================================================================== Covenant weapons Covenant weapons are pretty different from human ones. Some are energy- or plasma-based. Only one works like the old human projectile guns. Many Covenant guns have human counterparts. Although some overheat, in some cases it’s better to have an overheatable gun than one that you have to reload every five to ten seconds. What’s more, if you time your shots from an overheatable gun properly, you might be able to use it constantly, without pausing to overheat or reload. Much of the time, I certainly prefer Covenant guns over the human ones. -Plasma Rifle Accuracy: very good at medium range, from long range the shots spread out and it’s hard to hit anything. But the shots don't really have any set range, so you can use this on weaker enemies from far away if you have the ammo Ammo capacity: 100 units of charge * 4 shots per unit = A LOT of ammo Power: dual Plasma Rifles are very powerful, but a Plasma Rifle used alone doesn’t do much damage I consider this, along with the Carbine, the signature Covenant weapon of the game. The Rifle has many advantages, mainly that it’s very, very hard to empty of its ammo. The original 100 units of charge now last for twice as long, seeing that every four shots take one unit of charge, and this gives you twice as much ammo as you did in Halo (where a unit of charge equaled two shots). It’s pretty powerful, so you can use it to take down enemy shields before stepping in with a human gun. If you’re going to use a Plasma Rifle, fire it in short, three second bursts. That almost guarantees that it won’t overheat. There are two ways of telling the amount of heat: one is the indicator in the top right-hand corner of the screen. If you tend to look directly down the Rifle, you might want to use the indicator built right into the gun. The indicator takes the form of a circuit-board-like thing/decoration on the side of the Rifle (towards the front). As the gun picks up heat, the circuit board starts picking up some color, starting at the front. When the color reaches the back of the decoration and completely fills it up, the gun starts dumping the heat. It takes about five seconds and is usually pretty nasty. Remember that you can dual-wield this gun. Some recommended, or at least potentially useful, combinations: -Plasma Rifle-Plasma Rifle--very good in all situations. Two Plasma Rifles are very nice to have, especially when you’re dealing with Sword Elites and the smaller Covenant. -Plasma Rifle-SMG--this is, as I mentioned before, a scary combination. It affects the enemy ranks more significantly than almost any other weapon. Almost any type of Covenant goes down after you introduce this combo to them. -Plasma Rifle-Plasma Pistol--if you can concentrate on two differently used guns at once, you might like this. Personally, I can’t make this combo work for myself because I can’t always manage to think about using these two guns individually. Just know that, whatever you do, don’t dual-wield a Needler with a Plasma Rifle. Needlers take a long time to cause any real damage when dual-wielded, let alone when you only have one Needler. And one single Plasma Rifle won’t do much damage either. When you don’t have a more appropriate weapon (A.K.A. SMGs), use dual Plasma Rifles to dispose of Bugs. It’s very effective, maybe even more so than SMGs. The thing that makes it so good against Drones is the range. SMG bullets only go a very limited distance. Plasma from this gun travels a lot further and with much more accuracy. Plasma Rifles exist in two types: the standard Elite type and the Brute Plasma Rifle. The latter is, of course, used by the Brutes and seems to be designed to be more ceremonial than for actually fighting. Brute Plasma Rifles are red and are apparently smaller than the Elite ones. They’re also much more ineffective--they overheat very easily and lose ammo about twice as fast. Dual Plasma Rifles are my preferred weapons for close-up Sentinel fighting. Really, you can dispose of about three or four before they have a chance to kill you. Brutes are very tough and I know that two of them take about fifty units of charge to get rid of, as proven in Uprising level. //=== Overall: 9/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: the Plasma Rifle is a very good gun; use it whenever you feel ||you need to, namely when you have Elites, Grunts, Jackals, or Sentinels ||to get rid of, if you don't have something more powerful or effective. \\======================================================================== -Plasma Pistol Accuracy: overcharges are pretty accurate at short range, normal shots are accurate at almost any range Ammo capacity: 100 units of charge, two shots per unit and about fifteen units per overcharge Power: normal shots do very little damage, but overcharges can take down just about any shield There are not many positive things I can say about this. Mainly, I hate this gun: 1) The only dual-wielding combo (that uses a Plasma Pistol) that I can use is dual Plasma Pistols. But that doesn’t work very well either--as the normal shots are pretty much trivial, the best option is overcharges. Because two overcharges waste too much ammo, I want to charge up only one Pistol. Now, so that the other one doesn’t go to waste, I usually want to fire it. Here’s another dilemma--it’s hard to fire one Pistol normally while having to concentrate on the second one, which has to be held and released. I don’t blame you if you didn’t get this, but just trust me--try this once and you probably won’t like it. 2) Again, the power. Normal mode shots are very weak; overcharges can take down about any shield, but they also take down your ammo supply just as effectively. Overcharges: big blobs of green plasma that home in on the target. They’re very effective on shields and sometimes Sentinels, but that’s about it. If that wasn’t enough, they only home while the target is within range. If not, the overcharge flies in a straight line and rarely hits anything. Jackals sometimes use overcharges, especially if you hide for too long. Be careful around them, or at least don’t get too close. Of course, always have cover available in case you happen to see a large green thing flying towards you at an impressive speed. Bugs with Plasma Pistols are exceptionally nasty. Get caught by a couple of them in the open without a Plasma Rifle or an SMG, and consider yourself fried. I’m not completely sure, but I think that if you shoot the Beam Rifle out of a Sniper Jackal’s hands, it draws a Plasma Pistol. Not that it’s too much of a threat, just watch your six for Sniper Jackals that might have survived. //=== Overall: 4/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: my personal opinion is that Plasma Pistols are mostly useless ||unless temporarily used to take down some particularly annoying Elite’s ||shield. \\======================================================================== -Carbine Accuracy: very good Clip size: 20 rounds Ammo capacity: 72 rounds in your pocket plus those in the clip (well, in one place you get an exception with more than 72 rounds) Power: perfect for headshots (kills some enemies in one headshot), otherwise not so good I think that this is the successor of the late Pistol. The properties of both are pretty much identical--both have clips, both shoot a round per shot, both are usually used for sniping, and both are good for headshots. First of all: headshots. One headshot from the Carbine can take out Grunts, Jackals, and, most importantly, Brutes. Well, a number of headshots are needed to kill a Brute, but hey, it’s better than body shots. Also, I noticed that when you’re targeting a head, or at least an enemy's weak spot, a tiny red dot (pixel-sized) appears in the center of the reticle. It’s not much, but can help when you’re trying to execute a Brute or something from far away. I can’t honestly say that this is good on Bugs, but it’s better than, say, the Battle Rifle. Use it if you don’t have anything better. By the way, don’t get tricked by that red dot when you’re dealing with a Shielded Jackal. Instead, use your common sense. You should, of course, realize that if you’re targeting the shield and you see the red dot, the only thing you’re going to hit is the shield. There's an extremely handy trick you can use when fighting the Flood with the Carbine. It's pretty simple: shoot for the chest. The red dot that appears in the center of the reticle clearly says that that's a weak spot. It makes sense, really--that's where every Combat Flood's Spore is lodged, so it only takes one or two shots to kill one. As most other weapons, the Carbine’s range is not limited to only the distance at which the reticle becomes red. No, it’s not guaranteed to hit anything if you’re out of range, but it’s a very good gun either way. Somehow, it’s very easy to aim even if you’re far away. Sentinels are pretty easy to down with a Carbine, especially the unshielded ones. Their Sentinel Beams’ range is limited, so you can sometimes take a few down from far away without even using cover. Shielded Jackals are a bit of tough spot with a Carbine. Their only vulnerability is the notch in their shields, which is not much of a target. But when you do hit the notch, the Jackal in question will jerk back and expose itself to more Carbine rounds. Have fun. Don’t discard the first Carbine you see because of its looks. Yes, I admit they're ugly, but it’s about the best gun available, so use it. It takes quite a bit of ammo to down an Elite’s shield. But usually this is the best choice--it doesn’t pay to get close to any kind of Elite. After the professional sniping weapons (Beam Rifle, Sniper Rifle), I think this is the best weapon against Sniper Jackals. For some reason, Carbine rounds often seem to find the head. I don’t know how, but Carbines are for practically any range, from close quarters to very long range. //=== Overall: 10/10 ===================================================== ||Verdict: probably the best weapon in Halo 2, the Carbine deserves a round ||of applause and very frequent use. \\======================================================================== -Needler Accuracy: depends on the range and whether the enemy is moving much; ranges anywhere from zero to perfect Clip size: 30 rounds Ammo capacity: 90 rounds plus those in the clip Power: individual needles do almost no damage; combined, they produce a large and powerful explosion Well, Needlers are not always my choice, but having a gun that can detonate an enemy with half the force of a Plasma Grenade is useful. Needlers have odd range issues. There is a certain range (pretty close) where the needles home almost perfectly. Then follows medium range, where enemies can easily dodge the needles. After that follows semi-long range, at which range the needles home very well also (if enemies are standing far enough away, they won’t dodge the needles as much). Notice that as long as the reticle is pointing in the general direction of the enemy, the needles will home even if the target’s out of range. It takes about six needles to start a big explosion. That severely hurts most enemies. It’s even better with friendly Elites who carry dual Needlers--they can fire incessantly, which causes some big damage. Try not to use Needlers against fast enemies. They can easily dodge the needles and then make you see your mistake. A list of enemies needles do work on: Grunts, Elites, berserk Brutes that are running at you, Brutes that don’t know that you’re there, sometimes Sentinels, and I think it works on Flood--the latter don't realize that needles are a health hazard and run at you no matter what. The only way I suggest you use Needlers is dual-wielding. A Needler alone doesn’t do that much damage and it takes twice as long to start an explosion as the dual Needlers could. Besides, two Needlers can let you collectively store twice as much ammo as one Needler. Needles seem to bounce off vehicles, or at least if the vehicle is shot at head on. Try to avoid doing that. Note that if you’re shooting at an enemy at point-blank range (and I mean point blank; you have to be almost in contact with the enemy), your own needles could do damage to you. Well, I’m not implying that this happens that often; personally, I usually don’t live long enough to get that close to an enemy. If you’re hiding behind a corner, still be careful when an enemy is firing needles at where you were a few seconds ago. The needles usually seem to be shot at an angle that will have them ricochet back at you. Sometimes, an occasional needle might still have its homing ability after bouncing off the wall. I suggest you hide behind a second corner if possible. The melee attack is less vicious-looking this time, but it’s still accompanied by the weird swinging noise. The crystalline spikes on the top of a Needler are the indicator of the ammo you have left, kind of like the circuit board thing on a Plasma Rifle. The more the spikes are sticking out, the more ammo you have in the clip. If you have some ammo, as you shoot the needles slowly retract into the gun. The reloading time is very short, just wait for Master Chief/Arbiter to tip the gun forward and stick out some more needles. //=== Overall: 5/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: normally useless, though it’s good in some situations, say when ||a Brute is charging at you. It’s handy for disposing of tough enemies who ||happen to be close. \\======================================================================== -Fuel Rod Cannon Accuracy: depends on the distance; the slow projectiles are hard to aim at long range Clip size: five rounds Ammo capacity: 25 fuel rods, plus those in the clip Power: very powerful Now, finally, you get to have a hand-held Fuel Rod Cannon (YAAAAHOOOOO!!!). It’s still carried mostly by Grunts, but you can give it to other allies. Well, don’t get me wrong, Fuel Rod Cannons exist in four types: Hand-held Fuel Rod Cannon- this is the type that’s carried by Grunts. The projectiles are relatively slow and have a hard time hitting anything faster than a Hunter from long range. Actually, a Grunt with a Fuel Rod Cannon can sometimes be more dangerous than a Hunter--the often catastrophic splash damage can make cover useless. Hunter Fuel Rod Cannon- this is carried by Hunters, so you can’t use it. This particular kind fires a two-second-long stream of plasma, which can easily kill the Chief if he’s exposed to more than half of it. Hunters are very accurate with it; take cover if you ever see a Hunter. Prophet-Hunter Fuel Rod Cannon- long name, isn’t it? This breed is pretty much identical to the Hunter Fuel Rod (right down to the sound), but is installed on the Prophets’ hovercraft and the plasma is, for some reason, orange. Because of the color, some people call these Flamethrowers. I don’t know. Maybe it was intended to be a flamethrower. But I would’ve thought the Covenant were above using something as primitive as flamethrowers. The only place where you have to experience this gun is Regret level. Banshee Fuel Rod Cannon- the Fuel Rod Cannons installed on Banshees are the only type of Fuel Rod that’s identical to the one in Halo. In the on-screen manual (those directions that sometimes appear in the center of the screen), it’s referred to as the “Banshee bomb”. Well, this kind is a large projectile of plasma that can destroy just about anything. It’s even accompanied by the old Fuel Rod Cannon sound from Halo--I mean that smashing-glass sound. Hunters just happen to be very affected by Fuel Rod Cannon fire. I’ve seen a single Fuel Rod shot kill a Hunter, though I’m pretty sure that the Hunter was previously damaged. It’s kind of hard to test this, as you don’t get to see many Hunters on Legendary while having a Fuel Rod Cannon. If you want to test this, you can go to Gravemind level and check. The Fuel Rods on Banshees are very powerful too. Shoot one at a Ghost and see (a good place with a few Banshees and many, many Ghosts is the bridge at the start of Metropolis. You can jack a Banshee just as you pass the first Wraith (look in Secrets section)). Not that you get to use Banshees a lot, but no more than a couple of shots at an enemy Banshee can lay it down for good. The projectiles on the hand-held Fuel Rod Cannon are very slow, so take the enemy movement into account when you’re going to shoot something far away. So far I haven’t found anything that’s completely immune to the Fuel Rod Cannon, except Regret and his shield. If you don’t know this, Fuel Rod Cannons have scopes. That helps slightly when you’re trying to go for long distance. Note that due to the very fast firing rate, you can put out a whole clip in a few seconds. Very useful when you need to apply a number of rounds into a target as fast as possible. //=== Overall: 8/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: well, I would call the hand-held Fuel Rod Cannon the heavy gun ||of the day in the legal hand-held gun category. The ammo is well above ||the Rocket Launcher’s and Fuel Rod Cannons are available slightly more ||often than Scorpion Cannons. Still, I wouldn’t mind more ammo and ||projectile speed. \\======================================================================== -Beam Rifle Accuracy: about the same as the Sniper Rifle--potentially perfect Ammo capacity: 100 units of charge; about 6 units per shot. That’s 17 shots at most Power: headshots usually mean instantaneous death This is about the same as the Sniper Rifle, so I’ll be brief, although it does have some advantages over the latter. Big advantage: no clips. That means that all the ammo is loaded and ready to go, so, provided you don’t overheat, it’s possible to fire constantly until the charge runs out. I’ll assume that you’ll always be using the scope when using the Beam Rifle. Look at one of the edges of the scope (I’m not sure which; I think it’s the right). There, you’ll see the heat meter. When you fire one shot, the meter will rise considerably. The second shot, if fired less than a second after the first, will bring it over the top and the gun will start dumping the heat. So, try not to get it overheated at the second shot unless the target is going to die of two shots. Elites get visibly shocked by Beam Rifle shots, so once you hit it once, you’ll have time to adjust your aim to shoot the Elite a second time. The same goes for Jackals once you hit the notch in one’s shield, but the window is considerably smaller than the one with Elites. The reticle is even less noticeable than the one of the Sniper Rifle (about two pixels). That makes it even harder to shoot at close range. That, and the slightly lessened ammo capacity, is about the only thing it has that’s worse than the Sniper Rifle. Like the Sniper Rifle, the Beam Rifle rounds can go through more than one enemy. That way, you can get rid of two small enemies (Grunts, perhaps Jackals) with only one shot. Combat Flood are very hard to kill with the Beam Rifle. It takes somewhere around the entire stock of a Beam Rifle’s ammo to kill one. And after get enough shots into the Flood, they sometimes explode and release a Spore. Don’t use the Beam Rifle unless you have too many Beam Rifles or no choice. Wraiths are immune to Beam and Sniper Rifles. The rounds just bounce off the hull. This is useful when dealing with Sniper Jackals. //=== Overall: 9/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: Beam Rifles are usually more effective (not to mention much less ||rare) than Sniper Rifles. They’re usually my preferred sniping weapons. \\======================================================================== -Energy Sword Accuracy: the uppercut can get you across a short distance way faster than you could walk it; otherwise you hit whatever gets near the blade Ammo capacity: a maximum of 100 units of charge. Different amounts of this are spent, depending on the enemy Power: one hit is not lethal to most enemies, but it does take away a lot of health This is the dream of any Halo fanatic. And finally you have it. The Energy Sword is a close-range killing machine preferred by some of the higher-ranked Elites and, of course, me. There’s a trick to using the Sword, which is its uppercut attack. Not only is it powerful and looks cool, it can also have the character fly across a couple of meters much faster than the speed you could get there at without it. The uppercut is simple to use, really. Get the reticle on an enemy and start moving toward the enemy until the reticle becomes red. When it does, squeeze the right trigger. You’ll automatically pull up next to the enemy and hit it with an actual uppercut attack, which seems to be more powerful than your normal swing of the Sword. Be careful when you’re performing an uppercut because it has a tendency of leaving you disoriented for a second. It’s sometimes an issue when you’re surrounded. Also, don’t use this on enemies in turrets. For some reason I don’t know yet, you can miss many times in a row even if you’re standing right next to the turret. There’s a weird and, in my opinion, rather useless feature known as Sword canceling. I can’t fathom what practical use this has, but it’s kind of amusing anyway. When in the middle of the swing, press X to cancel it. To see this properly, start repeatedly pressing the right trigger and at the same time mashing X into the controller. The result: the character swings the Sword at at least twice the normal rate, but it doesn’t do any damage. Flood don’t take much ammo, which is very good, considering the numbers they tend to come in. Flood corpses (as they’re technically all corpses anyway, I’ll point out that I’m talking about the ones lying on the ground, not the ones that can still walk) take very little ammo to destroy, which is why I recommend you destroy them before a Spore settles into the Flood. Why I’m telling you this is that live Flood with Spores inside them take more ammo to kill than the bodies on the ground. There are some more dos and don’ts of this in the Flood part of my Enemies section. Don’t get in the way of an enemy Sword just because you figured that as your Sword can’t always kill an enemy in one blow, theirs won’t either. One hit of the Sword is normally lethal to you. Most Flood are killed by a single Sword hit, but that’s not true of all Flood. Some are shielded and some are just so tough that it takes more than one swing. A big advantage of the Sword when it comes to fighting Flood is that it gives you two options: either die or blow the Flood apart. It always destroys the Flood and takes away some future Spore’s chance to use the body. Energy Sword ammo is spent only when the Sword kills an enemy. If you hit one but don't kill it, the ammo is unaffected. I don't use this, but you could theoretically use the Sword without wasting ammo by weakening enemies with it first and then finishing them off with other guns. //=== Overall: 10/10 ===================================================== ||Verdict: as perfect as a melee weapon could get; it’s my preferred weapon ||when I need to fight at close range. \\======================================================================== -Brute Shot Accuracy: horrible Clip size: four rounds Ammo capacity: 12 grenades plus those in the clip Power: barely acceptable This is a kind of a grenade launcher carried by some Brutes. It’s okay for getting rid of some enemies, but the accuracy is, well, atrocious. Brute shots are not very powerful, yet I grudgingly admit that they have some rare advantages. For example, the grenades can bounce off walls and even if you miss in some narrow space, the grenade could bounce at the enemies you missed. Back to the accuracy. I’m not kidding when I say that you could miss even when the gun is sticking straight into the face of an enemy. I don’t know how it could possibly be this inaccurate. Never shoot this at a flying enemy. That’s a waste of your ammo (the rounds have some drop on them) and what’s more, it gets their attention if you’re hiding. The clip size and even the overall ammo capacity are way too small for comfort. That, and the difficulty of actually having all sixteen rounds on you at one time, amount to another significant drop in prestige. The melee attack is one of the few advantages. I think it’s about as powerful as a hit with an Energy Sword. At least there’s something good about it. The when the grenades explode, it pushes things, which you can use to your advantage. Get the Sputnik and you’ll be throwing enemies overboard on a regular basis. If you’re ever fighting a Brute, know that it takes four grenades or more to take it down. Miss one and I suggest you empty the rest, then proceed to use another gun on the Brute. The splash damage is pretty wide, so keep your distance when you’re shooting at an enemy. //=== Overall: 3/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: good only for its melee attack. \\======================================================================== -Wraith Mortar Accuracy: very bad Power: good, which compensates for the accuracy; Mortar rounds tend to throw things Mortars are only installed on Wraiths. It’s a good thing that they’re not very common because enemies can be much more accurate with these than it’s possible to be for an actual person. The rapid firing rate is one of the two advantages over the Scorpion’s Cannon. You can fire about two Mortar shells in the time it takes to fire one Cannon round. The second advantage is that it’s an indirect-fire weapon. That allows you to fire over obstacles. But again, it’s very hard to aim, especially due to the very limited range of vision. More about the range of vision: this is a real pain. It doesn’t allow any close-range fighting because the shells just go over the target and there’s no way you can stop that. The best thing to do is to use Scorpions whenever you can, or just limit the Mortar use to long-range jobs. The massive splash damage often throws vehicles. Use that to knock them off cliffs or at least to deprive the driver of his vehicle. //=== Overall: 5/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: the inaccuracy and limited range of vision are about the only ||disadvantages of the Mortar, but they’re enough to bring it crashing down ||to the murky depths of my least-used-gun list, next to the Brute Shot, ||the Plasma Pistol, and the Scorpion Machine gun. \\======================================================================== -Plasma Cannon Accuracy: depends on the kind of Plasma Cannon you use, but all are pretty accurate Power: some are powerful, some are not These are very similar to Plasma Rifles. They come in three types: Dual Plasma Cannons (Wraiths, Ghosts, Banshees)- these are about the equivalent of two Plasma Rifles put side-by-side on a vehicle, although they don’t overheat or have any ammo limit. Spectre Plasma Cannon/Spectre turret- this is very different from a Plasma Rifle or the other vehicle-mounted Plasma Cannons--there is only one gun on each Spectre instead of two. This is very weak, but it’s also very accurate at long range, as long as you can aim properly--I mean that the shots don’t spread out that much, if at all. It also makes a somehow imposing noise. Portable Plasma Cannon- this kind is very small (seeing that a Grunt can carry it and set it up). It’s usually operated by Gunner Grunts, but sometimes an Elite, or even you, may man one of these. This is like a Plasma Cannon taken off a Ghost or Banshee--it makes the characteristic Plasma Rifle noise and the shots look like Plasma Rifle shots. The gun itself even looks kind of like a Plasma Rifle. These are very weak--a couple of melee attacks at most are enough to break one down. If you want to prevent some future Grunt from using a certain Plasma Cannon against you from behind, I suggest you disable it with those melee attacks. Also, if you need a couple of shots to finish off a particularly insistent Elite, feel free to use this for a couple of seconds--the Elite in question won’t let you use it longer. And, if you don’t want to dispose of some other half-dead small enemy and don’t feel like using your ammo, this is a possibility. //=== Overall: Ghost, Banshee, Wraith-8/10; Spectre-6/10; Portable-6/10 == ||Verdict: the Plasma Cannons on Wraiths, Ghosts, and Banshees are pretty ||good against everything; the Plasma Cannon on Spectres are fine for ||certain tasks; Portable Plasma Cannons are okay for certain things like ||short-term disposal of small enemies. Again, Plasma Cannons on vehicles ||are especially effective. \\======================================================================== -Phantom Cannon Accuracy: relatively good, if the target is not moving too fast Power: works very good on you, otherwise I think it’s fine Phantom Cannons come in three breeds: Actual Phantom Cannon- these are actually installed on Phantoms. When I happen to see one, the word “incinerator” inevitably boards my normally Halo 2-orientedted train of thought. Look at the burned surroundings near a place where a Phantom saw an enemy--you’ll see why. The contrast of this gun on Easy and Legendary is phenomenal. On Easy, it does practically no damage. On Legendary, you have to be exposed to it for just a couple of seconds before you buy it. Phantom turret- this is a turret that fires projectiles similar to the Phantom Cannons. Not that this is the worst weapon in existence, but if I have to resort to using it, I can honestly say I’ve seen better times. It’s a lot more powerful than the Portable Plasma Cannon (not to mention that it can turn 360 degrees), but the projectiles are slow and are not fired very fast. An advantage this has over the other turrets is that it has a shield in front of it protecting the gunner. Shadow Phantom turret- this is a Phantom turret installed on top of a Shadow. It works in about the same way as the Phantom turret, but with only one slight quirk--there is only one place where you actually get to use it, and you have to kill off the enemies near the Shadow to use it, so there won’t be any fun in shooting the walls just for the sake of taking the opportunity to use this particular gun. //=== Overall: Phantom-5/10; turret-4/10; Shadow turret-5/10 ============= ||Verdict: not the best nor worst weapon, but if I have a chance to use ||anything else, I’ll happily take it. \\======================================================================== -Scarab Cannon Accuracy: very good even at long range Power: awesome I really shouldn’t be mentioning it due to it being a well-kept secret, but I just couldn’t resist as I’ve just recently gotten it. If you want it, you’ll have to visit the Secrets section of the guide and find out how to find it. To escape some unnecessary question marks and head-scratching: I’m not talking about the big contraption on Scarabs. I’m talking about a genuine, hand-held Scarab Cannon. I’ve rated the “most powerful-ness” of the other guns independently from this gun because it’s, again, secret (by the way, I didn’t tell you this). Another reason is that the other guns are really no match for this monster. The Scarab Cannon, for one thing, fires rounds equal in power to a Cannon shot. And it does it every half-second. That means an obliterated Wraith or any other vehicle, you name it, in two seconds or less. Another thing is that the Scarab Cannon has infinite ammo and never overheats. That allows you to pulverize huge areas in seconds. Just be careful not to become epileptic. The splash damage can be very damaging (to you) if, say, you shoot a Ghost speeding toward your person. The splash damage itself is kind of weird--apparently it starts in the center of the explosion and spreads outward until it suddenly stops. That way, there’s a fixed distance at which you can fire and a certain distance at which you can’t. //=== Overall: 11/10 ===================================================== ||Verdict: without a doubt the best weapon in existence, and if it’s not, ||then it’s certainly by far the most powerful. \\======================================================================== -Plasma Grenade Accuracy: depends solely on the person who throws it Power: powerful This is the Covenant version of the Frag Grenade. Just about the only advantage it has over the Frag is the fact that it sticks to any enemy (or friend) it hits. If you want to avoid any accidents while throwing Plasma Grenades (when you suddenly experience a sizzling blue object somewhere on your person), remember that a Plasma Grenade’s ability to stick doesn’t disappear once it hits a surface. It stops only once the grenade has settled. So don’t throw a Plasma Grenade at the ceiling, or you can expect a resounding and slightly blue death. Plasma Grenades kill most enemies in one explosion. Grunts go down like flies; Elites are slightly tougher, but anything weaker than a Gold Elite will die after a Plasma Grenade explodes on it. Gold and Silver Elites can take slightly more to finally buy it. Hunters are more or less affected by grenades now, or at least it makes them pour their orange... stuff... onto the surroundings. Stick about six or seven Plasma Grenades onto a Hunter and hopefully it’ll die. Now you have to worry about the second one. Nice going. Don’t try Plasma Grenades on Bugs or anything else that flies. They can easily dodge them and then start annoying you with whatever they have. //=== Overall: 9/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: very good, but it could do with a shorter fuse. Well, I guess ||Bungie didn’t want to make it too perfect. \\======================================================================== Sentinel weapons These are only installed on Sentinels and Sentinel Tanks. They’re mostly weak (against anything other than yourself) and are pretty rare. You can actually use only one, and it’s one of the weakest, so I usually consider them not worth bothering with. It's a wonder how Sentinels actually manage to qualify as enemies with weapons this weak. Well, I guess that's because all the damage enemies do to you is amplified. -Sentinel Beam Accuracy: relatively good Power: bad. Very bad This is the one you can use. Frankly, I suggest you use these only if you’re cornered by a Sentinel Tank, a couple of Wraiths, and enemy Ghost, and several Flood, with no weapons nearby. This piece of Flintstonian technology (probably Fred's cigarette lighter) is really a piece of trash used to make the game look more interesting. My main complaints: practically nonexistent ammo which drains remarkably fast, and the fact that Sentinel Beams overheat after about three seconds of use. Sentinel Beams exist in two types: normal Sentinel Beams and Gold Sentinel Beams. I think the normal kind is carried by the most ordinary Sentinels (steel-colored and no shield) and the Gold kind seems to be wielded by every other type of Sentinel. Or maybe the type of the Beam depends directly on the color of the Sentinel carrying it. I know it once helped me finish off a certain stubborn Sentinel Tank that refused to submit to the human guns that were all that was available at the time. That’s about it. Sentinel Beams work properly only on Sentinels and Sentinel Tanks. //=== Overall: 2/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: take it if you don’t have anything else; if you do have ||something else, glare at the Sentinel Beam and walk away. \\======================================================================== -Sentinel Tank artillery Accuracy: apparently, pretty good Power: powerful on Legendary This is a kind of ballistic weapon used by Sentinel Tanks on just about everything. It’s basically a long stream of bombs that are fired in an arc at the target. They’re very effective against you on Legendary, so find cover from any Sentinel Tanks that might be in the vicinity. //=== Overall: 2/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: would have been good if only you could actually use it... \\======================================================================== -Sentinel Tank Needler Accuracy: none if you manage to find cover in time; otherwise the massive numbers of needles make this weapon hard to avoid Power: weaker than the Covenant Needler, and combining the needles doesn’t start an explosion Sentinel Tanks use this on minor targets. It’s basically very small red needles that stick to whatever they hit. The damage is minimal, and as you usually have good cover when fighting Sentinel Tanks, this is an easy weapon to avoid. //=== Overall: 1/10 ====================================================== ||Verdict: wouldn’t use it even if I could. \\======================================================================== OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO OOO OOO OOO OO OO OOO O OO OOO OOO OOOOO OOO OOOOOOOOOOO _______________________[ 6. Enemies]______________________________________ "Great spirits have always faced violent opposition from mediocrities." -Albert Einstein One thing you have to remember: every race is every other race’s enemy. If there are two races that have sore feelings at each other in one place, wait for them to finish deciding whose bad feelings are the strongest, and then come out and deal with the winner. Sit fights out if you can so that you don’t have to waste your own nerves and ammo. Covenant These come in different shapes and sizes, and all of them will do everything within their power to kill you and everything else they don’t like. The Covenant are very numerous in Halo 2, but you don’t always have to fight them. One more thing... I’ll make this sound smart: every life form with a Covenant origin and an ability to speak English often employs psychological warfare tactics. Now in actual English: they never skip an opportunity to call you names. Oh, well, at least they do it in a somewhat lame way. For example, Elites will sometimes call you a “cur” and Grunts tend to imply that you should be scared. You can put in some earplugs, which should help you concentrate on the game. -Elites Introducing... your main Covenant enemy. When they’re fighting on your side, they’re pretty helpful (unlike those Marines). When they’re fighting against you, there will be some serious sweating to do. Elites exist in a number of types, in the approximate order of toughness: Blue Elites- these are the weakest Elites (which doesn’t mean that they’re weak--quite the opposite). They, like any other kind of Elite, can carry an array of weapons (again, many more than Marines), which can really help when you need some diversity in what your allies are doing. Generally, an average Blue Elite goes down after two shots of so from a Beam- or Sniper Rifle. This breed can be more or less easily killed with a Carbine, assuming that the Elite doesn’t have cover. Jet Pack Elites- this type of Elite always carries dual Plasma Rifle and can fly (sort of the Covenant counterpart of the Heretic Leader). They’re a serious health hazard, especially when met up close. The dual Plasma Rifles can kill you in a matter of seconds. Your best hope is to keep your distance and use some sniping weapon (even a Carbine or Battle Rifle if necessary) to take them down from that distance. Just never get trapped by a Jet Pack Elite in some hole in the wall because they can usually find some kind of way to get to you without too much risk to themselves. Jet Pack Elites can be considered the nastiest Elite type out there. Red Elites- slightly more annoying than their Blue comrades. The sniping numbers are about the same--two or three shots to kill. Red Elites are relatively easy targets, although just a bit harder to kill than Blue Elites. Honor Guards- they’re about equal to Red Elites, only they’re dressed in exceedingly ornate orange armor (some are dressed in silver). They guard the Prophets, so you won’t see them much. Heretic Elites- they look distinctly technological, with wires and cables coming out of their armor. They seem to have wing-like things on their backs, although the only one I’ve seen fly is the Heretic Leader, and he didn’t use wings. Otherwise they’re pretty much the same as Blue or Red Elites. Invisible Elites- these Elites are equipped with a full-time Active Camo. Now they unfortunately have shields, so that makes them still harder to hurt. They’re usually visible as a blur in the air (a la Predator), but that depends on the lighting and the background color. Sometimes, an Invisible Elite can be really invisible, which occasionally allows them to sneak up on you, though that doesn’t happen often. Also, some have only temporary Active Camo, like the Arbiter, only longer. They activate that at points where they were programmed to do so, thereby letting you have the advantage of knowing in advance if there are any hostile Invisible Elites nearby. Sometimes they carry Energy Swords. Kind of irrational, isn’t it, to arm an Invisible Elite with an extremely visible Sword, which paints a big bull’s-eye on the Elite. Gold Elites- these are no longer the main character in any sane gamer’s nightmares, although I still wouldn’t want to come within a mile of a Gold Elite. They’re killable with some smart strategy and an overwhelming amount of luck. You can take on a Gold Elite with just an SMG and a Plasma Rifle (as long as it’s carrying an Energy Sword), although I prefer to get rid of threats like this from a distance with some big gun. If the Elite is not carrying an Energy Sword, then you have two options: use the aforementioned big gun, or try to precision-throw a Plasma Grenade at it. Either way, you’re risking being slaughtered by said Elite, so be careful. Silver Elites- well, these are taking the place of the Gold Elites in Halo. Silver Elites are ridiculously strong. I once emptied two whole SMG clips at a Silver Elite, point blank, and it still took a melee attack or two before I put it out of its misery with some more SMG fire. Possibly that was an anomaly or some glitch, but nevertheless it happened. Sniper Rifles don’t work because the Elite will easily survive all four rounds with some shield left over, and then find cover while you’re reloading. Beam Rifles give you slightly more hope because you don’t have to reload. Certainly don’t even try anything Carbine-like or weaker. If you can sneak up on an enemy White Elite, you can toss it a Plasma Grenade, or just melee it in the back. I noticed that some Silver Elite seems to accompany the Arbiter in all the easy parts, and he seems to be the Elite counterpart of the Sarge--always invincible and usually carrying powerful weapons. Also, Silver Elites seem to be the only Elites who can carry more than one weapon. That is, once you do enough damage to an enemy Silver Elite, it sometimes drops its gun and takes out an Energy Sword. Elites can pilot just about everything, and in most cases you can extract the Elite from the vehicle it’s piloting and then use the vehicle to kill off the Elite. It’s usually not very easy due to the necessity to get close to the vehicle in the first place. But take advantage of this whenever you can. Elites are tough. They often find cover and repair any damage done to their shield, even if you manage to do some. Elites can dual-wield guns, but be careful when trading with those rare Elites--once you take two dual-wielded guns from an Elite, you can’t get it to hold two guns again. It’ll have to do with one. I suggest you just avoid swapping weapons with those Elites unless you, for some reason, have no choice. They can use any gun, but try not to give them a Rocket Launcher or a Fuel Rod Cannon. They very rarely fire them and usually have to do with melee attacks. On the other hand, they’re remarkably effective once armed with Energy Swords. If there are some Swords lying around and there are some ground enemies nearby (especially Flood), don’t hesitate to arm your Elites with Swords. If, on Legendary, you find yourself mandible-to-mandible with an enemy Elite, you can consider yourself dead--their melee attacks are so powerful that they can put down your shield and usually kill you with one hit. -Grunts Grunts never fail to remind me of some small dogs that run at every casualty. To quote my description of them in my Halo guide: “These aliens are small, short, stupid, dog-like, suicidal,” and about the weakest enemies you get to face. Use their tendency to run away after a comrade is killed to your advantage. That gives you time to concentrate on bigger, or at least more annoying, enemies, or at least shoot the Grunts in the back. It can help you out when you’re in a tough spot. Also, remember that they don’t run forever. Sometimes they gather some of their almost nonexistent courage back and start shooting at you. Keep an eye out for that. Grunts, like your average enemy, come in several types: Yellow Grunts- they’re the weakest Grunts out there but can still be a pain. I think they only carry Plasma Pistols, but that doesn’t necessarily make them a small threat. A couple of shots can destroy your shield. Well, at least they don’t fire overcharges. Red Grunts- they’re slightly tougher than yellow Grunts, and they seem to sometimes carry Needlers. All Grunts are equally cowards, so expect them to run away like any other type of Grunt. Gunner Grunts- these have green armor and operate Portable Plasma Cannons. What’s surprising is that a Gunner Grunt can actually carry and set up its own Plasma Cannon. Note, though, that if you dispose of a Grunt if it hasn’t set up its Cannon, the gun will fall on the ground and there’s nothing you can do to set it up again. Gunner Grunts have a definite weakness, and that’s the fact that when one is sitting at its Plasma Cannon, you’re usually free to get rid of it from behind. Well, it’s not that simple because if the Grunt realizes that its Cannon can only turn about 150 degrees, it gets out from behind the Cannon and starts using its own personal gun, which seems to always be a Plasma Pistol. Heretic Grunts- they look very different from Covenant Grunts because of the two bluish tanks on their backs instead of that weird and functionless ridge on their Covenant cousins, but are still about the same. Heretic Grunts carry Needlers, which is kind of annoying--whenever you meet this kind of Grunts, your Covenant comrades always carry the weaker Plasma Pistols. But look on the bright side--you can always arm your own friends with dead heretics’ Needlers. Black Grunts- I’m not sure if they even exist, but I think they do. If I’m right, they can carry Fuel Rod Cannons, Plasma Pistols, and Needlers, and are pretty annoying. Again, there’s a bright side, which is that without them you wouldn’t have any of the hand-held Fuel Rods. Grunts also usually have Plasma Grenades, which can, with some help from you, backfire on that Grunt's side. For example, when a Grunt is getting ready to throw a grenade and you manage to kill it at that precise moment, the Grunt will drop the grenade, so it will stay where it was, in that case near the late Grunt. If there were any enemies near the alien, they might get killed or at least wounded by the explosion. Another thing about them throwing the grenades--the distance a Grunt throws a grenade depends on how far trough the process it was when you killed it. In other words, if you kill it at one point, it’s going to have just enough strength to throw it a certain distance. If you kill it slightly later, then it’s going to have more strength, thereby throwing the Plasma Grenade further. Who knows, maybe you can get lucky enough to get the grenade onto some Elite standing in front of the Grunt. -Jackals Jackals are rat-like Covenant that tend to be a big annoyance. There are a couple of types: Shielded Jackals- technically, these are two types, but as you don’t meet them often I decided to merge them. They’re Jackals with shields that always carry Plasma Pistols. Their shields indicate how strong they are, in this case the green-shielded Jackals are weaker than the ones with yellow shields. A good way to kill them is to either snipe the notch in a Jackal’s shield through which it’s shooting, or use a melee attack to make it lower its shield, opening it up to more melee attacks or bullets. My preferred method is to use a sniping weapon (preferably the Carbine or Battle Rifle because they have more ammo than the Sniper or Beam Rifle) to shoot at the notch, then take the second I get to aim and shoot the exposed Jackal somewhere in the general head area. Even if the round doesn’t hit, the Jackals should once again lower the shield, which gives more time to aim. Sniper Jackals- this type is extremely annoying because, for some reason, they usually see you long before you see them. That, and one single Beam Rifle shot being fatal to you on Legendary, contributes to them being one of your worst enemies. Discovering them is a trial-and-error thing, when you go into an area and die enough to know where the shot came from. Then it’s just having the luck to be able to successfully get rid of that Sniper. A single Sniper Jackal can take quite a while to find. Just be patient and look for it. By the way, they don’t have shields, so if you somehow manage to catch one off-guard, you’ll be able to give it a headshot no matter what the angle. And in case you don’t know, you can shoot the Beam Rifle out of a Sniper’s hands. If you do, it’ll draw its Plasma Pistol. But well, they’re not much of a threat without a Beam Rifle. It also helps that they often carry Plasma Grenades. Let me know if you know for sure exactly why they have them. If you want to dispose of some closely grouped Jackals with a Plasma Grenade, make sure you don’t throw the grenade at a Jackal’s shield. That way, it bounces off and is usually wasted. Worst case scenario: the grenade bounces off the shield and lands right next to where it started, maybe on you. Try to throw grenades at Shielded Jackals’ feet so that they can’t bounce back. Not that it changes much, as Jackals normally jump away at the last possible moment. Unfortunately, you only get one or two friendly Jackals during the entire game, and that’s at the beginning of Sacred Icon, where the Sentinels usually kill the Jackals. If you can, try to confine Jackals to small spaces so that you can either melee them constantly or just throw a grenade and watch them trying to get out, which will hopefully be impossible because of the size of the space. A good place to try this out is Metropolis level. When you enter the underground highway, you’ll pass through the first half-closed blast door. You’ll have to fight through a section of the highway, then pass another blast door, and go into the sewers. Just before that second door, get onto the walkway on the right side of the road. You’ll notice that there’s a large rectangular prism/box on that walkway, forming a passage with the wall. Now you can lure enemies in there, not necessarily Jackals, and throw as many grenades at you want. I suggest you not do this on Legendary because you’ll be quickly overwhelmed. If you could have more Jackals on your side, I would have recommended to give them Carbines. Otherwise, I suggest you leave the only friendly Jackals you get with their original guns. -Drones I have several names for them (Bugs, Flying Pain in the Fanny, insects, and so on), but they’re essentially insect Covenant that fly around and annoy their enemies with their guns. Try to take Bugs out from a distance because I personally need a miracle to survive a close-range encounter with more than two or three of them. They fly in packs and are very hard to hit, which takes a lot of ammo and nerves. If you happen to have an immortal ally close by, stand aside and let that ally deal with the Bugs. I think the only place where you can actually do this is in the half-ruined building at the beginning of Outskirts level. Again, Bugs are very hard to hit. If you’re trying to get rid of a swarm of them using a Battle Rifle, you probably don’t stand a chance. From a distance, they’re pretty easy to hit because they’re usually flying straight at you, which gives you an almost stationary target. Use those rare moments to shoot them with some powerful sniping weapon, Beam Rifle being the best option. This can be done on Delta Halo. When you clear the big swampy place, you’ll pass through a canyon and emerge onto a rock ledge, from where you should have a grand view of the lake, and see a platform below you and a huge building slightly to your left. At some point, some Bugs will start flying at you from that building. Now you can use a Beam Rifle to snipe those Bugs from where you are. That should be relatively easy. Drones sometimes carry Needlers. Those are slightly less annoying because at least you can hide from the needles. This doesn’t exactly apply to Plasma Pistols. SMGs are the best non-Beam Rifle weapons against Bugs. If you’re unlucky enough to have to fight them close-up, then SMGs (or, maybe, Plasma Rifles) are your best option. -Hunters These are big monsters with big guns and big shields. To be honest, Hunters are more like vehicles than actual on-the-ground enemies. They’re tough, tougher than any other enemy that can walk, but have their own weaknesses. The main weakness is their speed. Even at full speed, a Hunter can only move slightly slower than you. That makes them susceptible to Frag Grenades or other slow weapons, Fuel Rod Cannons for example. When running from a Hunter, try to zigzag because the range of their Fuel Rod Cannons is impressive, which makes it easy for them to hit you, even from a distance. If you’re running away from a Hunter and it’s just behind you, it won’t try to melee you with its shield. But that’s not a big consolation, seeing that it’s very hard to outrun a Hunter. Try to use the close range to aim at, and shoot, one of its weak spots. That will hopefully slow it down enough for you to clear the Hunter and throw a grenade at it. If you somehow get behind a Hunter, I suggest you do your best to get away from it because they have a bad habit of unexpectedly turning around and meleeing you. That’s often fatal. For some reason, when you finally get a few friendly Hunters, they usually die quickly, as opposed to the long sieges you have to conduct to get rid of even a couple of Hunters in the previous parts of the game. A pretty hard-to-execute strategy of killing Hunters with Beam Rifles, but useful nevertheless, is using the Rifle to kill the Hunter head-on. Ever noticed that a Beam- or Sniper Rifle shot kind of jolts a Hunter backward? Well, it also exposes the “soft spot” on a Hunter’s neck. Just aim for the neck and pull off two shots in rapid succession. If you’re lucky, the first shot will shock the Hunter and the second will go into the neck. A Sniper Rifle seems applicable for this task, but Beam Rifles can fire two shots almost simultaneously. And it doesn’t help that you might find out just as you fire the first shot that you only had one round in the clip. On the other hand, the two shots overheat the Beam Rifle, so you can’t squeeze off a third if you missed. If you somehow happen to have a Rocket Launcher when facing a Hunter, use it. If the power on Legendary is consistent with its power on Easy (where I recently used a Rocket Launcher on a Hunter), then they should be a piece of cake. -Brutes Brutes are, in both ways, pretty brutal. They resemble brown gorillas that were for some reason given guns. The most brutal aspect of Brutes is their tendency of going berserk in tight situations. Examples of those situations: when the Brute is the last or almost last Brute left in the area or when the Brute is hurt enough. Believe it or not, a berserk Brute without its gun is far more dangerous than a calm Brute with its gun. Evade those if you possibly can, and use something explosive like Needlers to get rid of the Brute. When headshooting a Brute, notice its helmet. That's going to take some damage from the shot, but a hit will knock it off. Very detailed, isn't it? I noticed another Brutal aspect, which is that they, for some reason, sometimes use human guns. The only human weapon I've seen a Brute use is a Shotgun, but if you get to the armory on Uprising, you'll see a number of Shotguns, a Rocket Launcher, helmets, Frag Grenades, and even some very human canned food, all apparently stashed in that armory by the locals. Very interesting... Beam Rifles don't work very well, but their long range compensates for that. This is, again, noticeable on Uprising. Brute Shots don't work very good either. A single Brute can take at least four Brute Shot grenades. Carbines are about the best weapons against Brutes. Headshots take some time, but are relatively easy. After you depose a Brute from its position as owner of a Ghost, it'll take some time to actually kill the Brute with the Plasma Cannons. You can try to drive over the Brute, but that doesn't always work. And you can just run away and see what comes out of it. Swords work, but I can't say anything better. Try to have a Sword for close-up Brute fighting, but you're probably screwed if it comes to that. The only situation when you're forced to fight Brutes up close seems to be the fight just before you enter Delta Halo's Control Room. Flood This is a parasitic race found on the Halos. I usually act on the principle that the Flood are by far my worst enemies, so I deal with them first. -Combat Flood Stay away from these Flood if possible, especially if they or you are in vehicles. If you see a vehicle that a Flood hasn’t yet piloted but is about to, and there’s another Flood that’s going to board that vehicle even if you kill the first one, probably the best thing to do is to blow up the vehicle, even if it means destroying the wheels you could use for yourself later. The Combat Flood can wield weapons and use turrets, although for some weird reason they can’t fire weapons while running. That’s a big advantage for you. You can wait for some lone Flood to run at you across an indefinite distance without firing a shot, then blow it to pieces with your Energy Sword. By far the best weapon against Flood is the Energy Sword. The normal Combat Flood are instantly killed with one swing. The shielded ones can take two. The bad thing--one of the bad things--about Flood is that the corpses are reusable. In other words, once you “kill” a Flood, but the corpse is still in one piece, another Spore can get into the body and you’ll have a new Flood on your hands. If you have an area that you either know will be besieged by Spores or just has some Flood corpses lying around that could potentially be appealing to Spores, try to destroy the corpses. Depending on the amount of time you have, you might destroy the corpses with a Sword or just melee them to pieces with other weapons. The latter is time-consuming and the noises are not exactly pleasant, but it saves Sword ammo. If you choose to use the Sword, know that the ammo it takes to destroy a Spore-less corpse is much less than the amount of ammo it takes to kill a live Flood. Definitely don’t try to melee a living Flood to death. It’s excruciatingly hard and it’s really just impossible on Legendary. If you want to see just how hard it is, get to the Famine skull (Oracle level) and start meleeing the Flood around it with some weapon other than a Sword. It takes several minutes to melee one of them to death. Now consider that these particular Flood are permanently paralyzed or something and that an actual Combat Flood will put up a good fight before it lets you hit it. You’ll die before you hit it twice. Make absolutely sure that you keep Scorpions away from any Flood that might be in the area. They’re very good with the Cannon. I’d once seen a Flood shoot me out of the air with one, all because I somehow let it near a Scorpion I left nearby. If you’re in a slow vehicle, especially a Wraith or Scorpion, stay away from Flood. They often jump on top of your vehicle and swing their tentacles around the place until you die. This is slightly easier when you have allies because the Flood tend to go after your allies first. That gives you time to pry the Flood off the vehicle. If at all possible, when you have ally Elites and are dealing with Flood, arm the Elites with Swords. They’re very efficient with them, probably more so than the Xbox controller could ever allow you to be. -Flood Spores The Spores are the prime Flood. They get into a host body and make it into a Combat Flood or a Flood Bomb. They’re nasty, but usually don’t pose any overly big threat. In case you don’t know, when they jump at a shielded enemy, they kind of pop, slightly impacting the shield. If the enemy is not shielded, they stick to it and do something, I really don’t want to know what, (looks like they're sucking something out of the enemy) that does even more damage. Note that Spores now do a lot more damage to your shield than they did in Halo. Try to avoid contact whenever you can. The Sword is the best weapon against Spores if you don't want to waste ammo from your guns. It’s far more accurate than melee attacks with other weapons and Spores don’t take any Sword ammo. If you’re in a tight spot, wave your Sword at the Spores and see what happens. SMG work fine, especially if the Spores you need to get rid of at the moment are in one place. Just shoot at the place and the Spores will die off like flies. -Flood Bombs Bombs, as I’ll call them in the future, are living containers where Spores are grown. When they come near an enemy, they explode, releasing a few Spores (it’s kind of weird that the explosion can almost kill you, yet the fragile Spores seem alive and happy). When you see a Bomb, either run or blow it up with your guns. Unless absolutely necessary, don’t come near one--the explosion is very powerful. If you choose to detonate one with a gun of your own, try to do it when the Bomb is around other enemies. That way they can be damaged as well. Do your best not to use the Sword on Bombs--it sometimes throws them away, but it sometimes doesn’t. If not, then the resulting explosion will be very painful. Grenades and other explosions throw Bombs out of the way instead of detonating them. Sometimes they bounce around a bit before detonating. Make sure that one doesn’t land next to you. Always look around whenever you might meet a Bomb because they don’t make any noise until they blow up, and when you find out, it’s kind of too late. Sentinels These are Forerunner guards left on the Halos. Their weaponry is basic, but their large numbers often win them fights (only against your enemies, hopefully). -Sentinels These are the actual Sentinels. They’re flying machines equipped with Sentinel Beams. As always, the Beams are a lot more powerful in their hands (so to speak) than in yours. Don’t stand under or near a Sentinel when it goes down--Sentinels usually explode when they crash-land, which takes a chunk out of your shield. Sentinels are most easily brought down by Sentinel Beams. You can salvage a Beam from a dead Sentinel to use against them. But the Sentinel Beam is a horrible weapon otherwise, so I suggest you use other guns. Dual Plasma Rifles are about as effective, if not more so, than Sentinel Beams. Sentinels come in three types: normal Sentinels have the usual Sentinel Beam (red in color) and are kind of steel-colored. Upgraded Sentinels are the same as the normal kind, but they have shields. Gold Sentinels have shields and carry Gold Sentinel Beams (the actual beam is blue). In Sacred Icon, Sentinels are created in special chutes (those hexagonal or octagonal things in the wall with a light at the bottom). You can shoot a chute with your guns to blow it up, which can take away the possibility of a number of potential Sentinels. -Sentinel Tanks Sentinel Tanks are gigantic mechanical flying monsters. They carry Artillery and Sentinel Tank Needlers, and can be a significant health hazard. Something you’ll probably discover in Quarantine Zone: never get under a Sentinel Tank in a vehicle. Sometimes they try to grab your vehicle, lift it into the air, and start banging on it with their limbs. Not fun. This causes some big damage, which you should avoid unless you’re playing kamikaze for some reason. Watch the artillery as the range is very long. Stay out of the way if you’re in a vehicle, and you’d better find some cover if you’re on foot. OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO OOO OOO OOO OO OO OOO O OO OOO OOO OOOOO OOO OOOOOOOOOOO _______________________[ 7. Artifacts]____________________________________ This section describes most of the things you find in the environment. And I don’t mean everyday things (corpse, rock, wall, and so on). I mean things that can actually affect the gameplay in some unusual way. -Storage crates These are the crates the Covenant stores weapons in. Some don’t contain weapons, but can still be used as, say, barricades against some enemy siege. The latter use is worth taking a close look at. In some instances, you can wedge yourself between a crate and a wall, and thus have a very defendable “fort”, especially from those enemies that don’t look for you, but wait for you to come out. Sometimes you can even form real forts by meleeing several crates into rows (like in the detention center on Gravemind level). Of course, a grenade can usually blow apart any crates you spent ten minutes carefully meleeing into place, but this can give you a good chance to shield yourself against any enemy fire on the unwelcome side of your cover. And this has hidden advantages, too--you can build the fort with crates containing weapons, so that when you own weapons empty you’ll be able to pick up new ones without even moving. -Skulls These are multiplayer oddballs scattered around the campaign. They’re Easter Eggs that give you special powers, or tamper with the ones you already have, like your HUD. For more info on the Skulls, including a list of them and a walkthrough on how to get each one, visit the Secrets section. -Over Shield I think that this is a multiplayer-only item, but it can still be very useful. Basically, an Over Shield looks like a transparent cube with a yellow spherical thing hanging in its center. Over Shields give you two extra layers of shield, although they seem to drain by themselves, without help from other players. I heard that Black Eye skull can give you a free Over Shield if you use the skull’s effects long enough, but I can’t say I’ve proven it yet. -Active Camouflage Here I mean the multiplayer-only pick-up item, not the default Camouflage in the Arbiter’s armor. This one looks like a transparent pyramid with a blue sphere in the center. It gives you significantly more camouflaged time than the Arbiter’s Camo or Envy skull, and firing shots doesn’t automatically turn it off--it just makes you slightly visible for a couple of seconds before you become invisible again. And even then, it takes a lot of shots to make you completely visible, about five seconds straight of firing a rapid-fire weapon. This Camo doesn’t completely shield you, though, like all the other ones. You’re still visible as a kind of blur in the air. -Destroyed vehicles I’m not mentioning pilotless vehicles because they can still be destroyed. These, on the other hand, don’t have anything to lose. They can sometimes shield you from incoming fire and if the vehicle is (was, I should say) large, it could provide full-time shelter. Just make sure you stay away from some Covenant vehicles for about twenty seconds because of their habit of exploding a second time. -Covenant explosives These are like octagonal prisms cut diagonally somewhere near the middle. They have something blue and glowing in the center and are for some reason scattered around the levels for no apparent reason. They explode when you do enough damage, so make sure that you don't stand near one if you have any damage done to your shield. If and enemy ventures close to one, you might be able to use a sniping weapon to detonate the explosive, but you could probably damage the enemy more by putting the rounds straight into the enemy. -Weapon capsules Weapon capsules are pods that Pelicans sometimes drop to supply you with weapons. You get to see weapon capsules only on Delta Halo and Regret levels. -Sentinel chutes These are roughly octagonal chutes in the walls (Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone only) that deposit Sentinels everywhere. Sentinel chutes can be destroyed by sufficient firepower (dual Plasma Rifles work exceptionally well), but there are usually dozens of them in one place. I suggest you just take cover or run away whenever you see the chutes. -Pistons These objects are found exclusively on Sacred Icon. They're rectangular-prism-ish vertical slabs of metal with holo panels on them that you can shoot and by doing so raise the piston. Once you open a piston, you always have to jump down into the hole and into the next area. On the easier difficulties, you have the luxury of opening pistons by pressing X. Now, on Legendary, raising pistons is gun-only. -Levitated platforms These are sometimes used by Sniper Jackals to gain extra accuracy and height. And sometimes they're just floating around for you to use. They're essentially platforms that you can get on top of by walking into the miniature grav lift in the center. OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO OOO OOO OOO OO OO OOO O OO OOO OOO OOOOO OOO OOOOOOOOOOO _______________________[ 8. Vehicles]_____________________________________ Vehicles play a big part in the game. While they’re rarely required by the storyline, it's sometimes very hard to pass the game without them. Note that, if you somehow don’t know, you can jack vehicles. Vehicle-jacking manual: get close to a slow-moving or stationary vehicle, jump at it, hold X when you get to just the right point, and you will hopefully cling to the vehicle and the character will do his thing. Sometimes you’ll just kick the driver out of his seat, like in Ghosts, and sometimes you’ll have to melee the top out of the vehicle and throw a grenade in there, like in a Wraith or Scorpion. Human vehicles It’s kind of hard to compare these with their Covenant approximations (still proud) because they’re so different. I can’t really say which is better, either, for about the same reason--they’re sometimes the most useful vehicles under the circumstances and sometimes they’re junk to fill up the game. Human vehicles are not as maneuverable as I would have liked, but the big firepower often makes up for that. -Warthog Ah, the good ol’ ‘Hog. This 26th century Hummer (I may call it an LRV--light reconnaissance vehicle) carries a big gun in the back, usually a Machine gun, which you even get to use while a friend is driving. That friend can even be AI. Warthogs are not as maneuverable as I would have wanted them to be, but it’s still enough for some quick getaways. And maybe just ramming enemies with your bumper. In Outskirts you have to perform a drive-through assault on the highway tunnel, where the bumper is the essential weapon. Bad thing is, Flood seem to like Warthogs as well. And their driving is pretty good. For those cases, I suggest you pack a Cannon or at least a Mortar. Warthogs almost always have Machine guns, but at least one ‘Hog in the game has a Gauss Cannon. That’s a certain Warthog on Metropolis. Outside Legendary, you can even use it without buying the farm. If you have a friend in the back of the Warthog, you can usually circle enemies and have that friend constantly shoot those enemies. The Flood also seem to use this tactic, so watch for that. If an enemy Warthog drives in front of you and you happen to be inside a Wraith at the moment, you can boost straight into that Warthog and ram it away from yourself. Then you can proceed to use the lengthened range to fire your Mortar at the Warthog. This is even better when the LRV drives between you and some chasm--you can drive it straight off the edge. The speed is impressive. Back to the highway in Outskirts--the Warthog was probably the best vehicle for that. There was one point there, where you had to drive the vehicle off a ramp and into the air. It launched so high that I accidentally killed a Bug that got in the way--and the Bug was almost touching the ceiling. Choose the weapons that the passenger carries carefully. For example, make sure that, if one Marine has an SMG and the other has a Sniper Rifle, that the one with the Sniper Rifle gets into the passenger seat. Or, if you’re dealing with enemy vehicles or turrets, have a Marine with a Rocket Launcher ride shotgun. Just to have this in your memory: you can use Warthogs to get higher ground. I mean, just stand on top of a Warthog and jump to wherever you need to. I’m not sure if this can do any good anywhere, but it might. This, of course, applies to other vehicles. Look at the walls in the multiplayer map Headlong--on one or two of them is a big picture of a Warthog with the appropriate caption, but the vehicle is, for some reason, yellow. Well, not that I would have liked to have a yellow Warthog, but that would have still been a pleasant variation. But, well, an army LRV must be exorbitant. Notice that if you ram things in a Warthog, as in all other vehicles, your shield takes damage. Try not to crash into walls or any other solid objects unless you have to. -Scorpion The human tank. Scorpions are relatively common now, at least far more common than they were in Halo. The Cannon is the most important advantage you have on the Scorpion. Use it well. The weapon tends to throw objects, including vehicles. If you want to get the most out of this, get the Sputnik, start up Metropolis, grab the nearby Scorpion, and lay your path of destruction across the bridge. If you have to resort to this, you have the option of driving over enemies and sometimes even vehicles with the Scorpion. This is not effective, but it’s an option in some tough spots. Don’t even think of getting near a Flood on foot while you are in a Scorpion. This vehicle is permanently slow-moving and therefore permanently available for jacking. The Flood are especially efficient at it. They can set jumping records just to get your tank. Well, that’s unlikely, but still sends quite a bit of electricity down the Arbiter’s pain neurons. First, if they get close enough, the Flood lands on top of your tank and starts meleeing the top of the tank until the occupant either gets out or dies. If you have allies on the tank, the Flood often gets them before it tries to kill you. The only way to get the thing off the vehicle is to get out and kill it somehow. Watch for Rocket Launcher-wielding Flood when you’re in a Scorpion. That’s simply because a Scorpion is a huge target. It would be hard to miss even if the rockets couldn’t home. The Cannon is really long-range, so you don’t have to drive your Scorpion close to a threat, especially seeing how slow it is. It’s important to know that the Scorpion now doesn’t have to go only where the camera is pointed. That’s a huge plus. Just tilt the left thumbstick in the direction where you want to go and use the right thumbstick to aim wherever you need. This is especially useful on the bridge in Metropolis. You always have the option of pushing vehicles and maybe even enemies into chasms using a Scorpion. Covenant vehicles These are a lot more diverse than human vehicles and are used a lot more. Covenant vehicles can be easily distinguished from the human ones by their ability to hover and the overwhelming amount of purple color. They use energy or plasma weapons and are much more common. Covenant vehicles usually explode a second time after being destroyed. -Ghost Ghosts can be considered the Covenant equivalent of Warthogs. They’re fast and are good for quick getaways or drive-through parts of the game. The main problem is that Ghosts leave most of the driver exposed. That directs a lot of shots straight at your shield. Not that it’s a big advantage if you’re the one doing the shooting, but you being behind the stick often results in you having an empty shield. About ten seconds after being downed, Ghosts explode a second time, which is why I never recommend being near one for a few seconds after you destroy it. Theoretically, Ghosts can be used as bombs if you manage to hurl one at an enemy. But the timing, the physics involved, and just precision-throwing the Ghost, are too hard, at least for me. Besides, the explosion is too weak to be worth bothering with. I could probably get a bigger explosion out of whatever I would have to use to move the Ghost wherever I would need to move it in the first place. Ghosts’ Plasma Cannons are improved now due to the increased firing rate. As they don’t overheat, they can be fired constantly. You even have the option of drawing on walls with them. Ghosts are fast and maneuverable, which is very good in those instances when you need to get away or just drive through enemy ranks. What’s more, the new boost function makes it one of the fastest vehicles in the game. But the boost has its disadvantages too--like the worsened maneuverability and the increased damage if you hit a wall. You can circle enemies and shoot them with the Plasma Cannons. Well, sometimes enemies can turn as fast as you can circle them, so some variation in the direction of your circling helps. A Ghost can be destroyed by a good Cannon shot, but the shot has to go straight into the Ghost. If the Ghost just got caught in the explosion, it’s likely to survive. A Fuel Rod Cannon shot (from a Banshee) has been proven to work well, but it’s not often that you get to see a Ghost while in a Banshee. In fact, I think you have to cheat, or at least bypass some intended limits, to get a Banshee in an area with Ghosts. Plasma Cannons can’t work when you’re using the boost. But not that you really need them anyway without the proper ability to target. After boosting a Ghost (as in jack), you usually have to get rid of the driver because they almost always survive you kicking them out of the driver seat. Unless, of course, you somehow happen to kick him out so that he flies over some cliff, drop-off, or chasm. That best-case scenario doesn’t usually work, though, due to the usual absence of Ghosts near chasms and the very small probability that you happen to steal the Ghost in exactly the right place. Be very careful around other objects and small debris on the ground. If you’re not careful, the Ghost can turn over and maybe even land you in the middle of, maybe, a number of enemies. Wherever Ghosts are available, they tend to be available in large numbers, so you normally don’t have to worry about losing a Ghost or two. I’ll point out that it’s a very bad idea to try to push a Ghost with other vehicles. I’m not sure what will result if you push one with another Ghost (the one you’re in will probably flip over), but anything Spectre-sized or bigger will result in the Ghost exploding. If you’re really unlucky, you vehicle will be trapped on top of the wreck and take damage from the “aftershock” explosion. If you happen to jack a Ghost from a Flood, you can immediately dispose of the former driver by simply driving over him. The Flood will be blown apart, making this one of the easiest ways of killing Flood. -Banshee The only vehicle you can pilot that can actually fly. Banshees are useful in some places and essential to the mission in others. Banshees are equipped with a boost, like Ghosts, and the controls are about the same while the boost is active. Naturally, the weapons are deactivated during the boost (Bungie wouldn't give you that advantage, of course) and the maneuverability is very limited. But still, it gives you a lot of speed. It’s possible to do some tricks with the boost. Hold A and now, tilting the left thumbstick to the side will make the Banshee roll over, and tilting it back will make it flip over and gain some height in the process. Both are just to add some interest because the fraction of a second that the Banshee is not moving is more than enough for an enemy to pull the trigger. You would be better off if you just strafe to the side or boost out of the way. Shooting at enemies while strafing to the side is a very good way of fighting enemies like Phantoms, turrets, and other enemies with slow weapons. You get this combat at its best in the Banshee part of The Arbiter level. There, you can use this strafing technique against the Grunts with Fuel Rod Cannons on those platforms spaced around the station. Plus, at the end of the flight, you get to fight some turrets on a platform, which can also be effectively defeated with this. Enemy Banshees can easily kill you on Legendary. If you don’t have some ally who can fight them off while you do your thing, I suggest you boost away and get to some safe place. This particular situation doesn’t happen very often, but there are a couple of spots where the best thing to do is to run. One of them is the part of Oracle where you have to chase the Heretic Leader into another wing of the station. If you linger for a few seconds, a couple of Banshees will come and finish you off. Fly straight toward the destination. Then there’s the part of The Great Journey where, when you have to give Sarge cover, the road to Delta Halo’s Control Room leads you past a few Banshees. As long as you boost straight through, all that should be hit is the Banshee’s tail. At least I could do this very easily. Like Ghosts and most other Covenant vehicles, Banshees explode after they go down. But well, I want to make sure you know that it’s VERY hard to accidentally get hurt by a Banshee exploding. This is partly because the area where the destroyed Banshee could land is larger than the other vehicles’ due to the fact that they can fly, and go (and fall) to places where other vehicles can’t. Another reason is that the explosion is weak. Jacking Banshees is not very easy; the main issue is surviving long enough to jump close to a Banshee. Banshee-jacking manual (I wrote one in the intro to the Vehicles section about general vehicle-jacking, but there are some tricks to jacking Banshees): 1. Find an appropriate Banshee. It would be good to choose one close to you because one flying far away will have more time to incinerate you with its Plasma Cannons before it gets close enough for jacking. 2. When the Banshee gets close to you, about one second of non-boost flight away from the point where you currently are, face straight away from it and jump forward--away from the Banshee. 3. If it’s not boosting when you’re right under it, you should get a message to hold X. Comply with the message, after which you should hop onto the