##################################################################### #Halo 1 Walkthrough/Strategy Guide # #By: Joyel Puryear # #URL: http://www.freelancebusinessman.com # #Email: businessman332211(@)gmail(.)com - remove () # #Spoiler Free (Unless warned) # #Contributions or Requests Welcome from everyone # #(x-box/pc/other) # ##################################################################### 1. Version Information 2. General Guide Information 3. Legend 4. Basic Game Information 4A - Controls 4B - History 5. Walkthrough 5A - The Pillar of Autumn 5B - Halo 5C - The Truth and Reconciliation 6. Lists/Strategies/Specific Topics 6A - Character Mini Bios 6B - Enemies 6C - Weapons/Items 6D - Vehicles 6E - Beginner Strategies 6F - Intermediate Strategies 6G - Advanced Strategies 6H - Multiplayer Strategies 6I - Legendary Mode General Tactics 7. Secrets 8. PC Version Specifics 8A - System Requirements 8B - Patch Data 8C - Other Downloads 8D - Bugs And Fixes 9. Final Words 10. Credits 11. Wish List 12. Copy Right ###################### #VERSION INFORMATION # ###################### 0.8 - 03-04-08 -------------- * Reformatted parts of the walkthrough * Added New PC Section * Added system requirements subsection under pc section * Added Patch Data subsection under pc section * Added as much info about patches as I currently could * Added cheats section * Populated the cheats section with various cheats - (More to come later) * Added some content to "Overview" section of the walkthrough * Fleshed out the data within the pc version specifics very heavily 0.5 - 08-31-07 ------------- * Wrote walkthrough for mission 2 * Added reference points as well (legendary) * Started mission 2 + Reference Points (legendary) 0.4 - 08-28-07 ------------- * Fixed copyright information * Finished mission one walkthrough * Finished legendary reference points for mission one * Added more strategies * Added multiple "Information" sections * Added characters section * Added npc's section * Added weapons section * Added gun's/items section * Added enemies section 0.2 - 08-25-07 ------------- * Finished Skeleton * Lot's of new sections * Started on walkthrough portion 0.1 - 08-24-07 ------------- * Basic skeleton of walkthrough * Initial Release ########################### #GENERAL GUIDE INFORMATION# ########################### Overview -------- I am a psychotic completionist. When I write a walkthrough I intend for them to be the one stop shop for everything related to that game. Every idea, tactic, strategy, unlockable, explanation and everything that can ever be formulated and presented for the game I like to include. Every strategy my mind can possibly concieve, and every single idea behind the game I can find. I intend for each walkthrough I write to be a 100% perfectionists walkthrough which explains everything and delves into the deepest soul behind the game... That can't be done without contributions. I like getting any form of contribution in any way shape or form. I want to get feedback on anything, strategies, tips, hints. Anything anyone can offer, even there own custom walkthroughs for specific sections, I don't mind. I want any and all contributions I can possibly get because every view point is good. It also sometimes takes awhile to make a walkthrough better than any source in existence. I even aim to be more complete than the official walkthrough (also note I don't buy the walkthroughs for the games I write). I want to have the most complete source available anywhere. I want every guide I write to be like a bible behind the game (meaning a massive collection of data that is 100% complete in every way shape or form). I want to get all the data that is humanly possible on the game. I normally write everything I can when I am playing. Then later I will take contributions over time and rewrite as they come in, then when I eventually play the game again I expand EVERYTHING in the entire walkthrough which basically means finishing sections, rewriting sections, and always adding entirely new sections. Walkthroughs that I write are NEVER complete and I always come back at some point to write more, add more compile more data or make sure it's still the most complete reference on the game in existence. Technically I have beaten Halo 1 around 3 times both solo and co-op. I am pretty sure I have covered everything that could be covered with this game. However I am always open for contributions, and even request then whenever possible. I try to keep it as spoilor free as possible. As you know there are 4 different difficulty settings. I play the game on heroic which is the third difficulty setting. There is one after that and it's possible to beat the entire game on that setting but it's such a challenge it's not even fun. If I ever decide to take up that challenge I might add a special section for just clearing the game on the highest difficulty settings. However all the provided info is assuming it's on the third difficulty setting. I am a rabid completionist. I am obsessed with getting everything, doing everything, and saying everything that can be said about a game I play. When I write a walkthrough I intend to be a full completionist offering even more information into every aspect of the game than the official walkthroughs. I intend to be a psychotic completionist that covers every humanly possibly area of a game. I also do not (at all) go through viewing OTHER walkthrough's on a game that I intend to write a walkthrough on WHILE writing it. I find that you can read something and later forget you read it then use it. So I am heavily against stealing something in another walkthrough. If I SAW something in another walkthrough then I will put a note about where you should check and what the walkthrough would have to avoid copyright infringment. I try to be very careful about that, and try to write from my own experiences and/or rumor's and/or from randomly gathered data. The Book -------- I am going to writing a walkthrough to both the first Halo and the second Halo. However as you all know there is a book series about the backstory. The games are based on the books. I intend to read these books in time and for both walkthroughs I intend to right a "Book Biopses" about the books. I want to see how they relate to the game story, and how well they translated it over. As well as go into detail mentioned in the book as far as the story is concerned that is not available in the game. I guess you can call what I am going to write a "book report" of the book and recap the story to an extent to help you understand more about the world, back story and everything else that isn't present within the game. ######## #LEGEND# ######## --------------------------------------------------------------------- ################ #Section Header# ################ -------------------- -Sub Section Header- -------------------- Mini Section header ------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- ######################## #BASIC GAME INFORMATION# ######################## This is going to include all the generic information about the game as well as some gameplay related strategies. ---------- -Controls- ---------- Below are all the default controls for both the x-box and x-box 360 consoles. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Action - X-Box Control - X-Box 360 Control --------------------------------------------------------------------- Move - Left Thumbstick/D Pad - Left Thumbstick/D Pad --------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn/Aim - Right Thumbstick - Right Thumbstick --------------------------------------------------------------------- Crouch - Click Left Thumbstick - Click Left Thumbstick --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fire Weapon - Right Trigger - Right Trigger --------------------------------------------------------------------- Charge Weapon - Hold Right Trigger/Release - Hold Right Trigger/Release --------------------------------------------------------------------- Throw Grenade - Left Trigger - Left Trigger --------------------------------------------------------------------- Scope Zoom - Click Right Thumbstick - Click Right Thumbstick --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pause Menu - Start Button - Start Button --------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Back - Back Button - Back Button --------------------------------------------------------------------- Flashlight - White Button - LB Button --------------------------------------------------------------------- Switch Weapon - Y Button - Y Button --------------------------------------------------------------------- Action/Reload - X Button - X Button --------------------------------------------------------------------- Switch Grenade - Black Button - --------------------------------------------------------------------- Melee Attack - B Button - B Button --------------------------------------------------------------------- Jump - A Button - A Button --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- -History- --------- This will explain the history and story behind the game, as well as personal insight into what is happening in the world. General History (From Manual) ----------------------------- The Story So Far The year is 2552 Planet earth still exists, but overpopulation has forced many of her former residents to colonize other worlds. Faster-Than-Light travel is now a reality, and earths unified government, through the United Nations Space Command, has put it's full weight behind the colonization effort: millions of humans now live on habitable planets in other solar systems. A keystone of humanity's colonization efforts is the planet reach, an interstellar naval yard that builds colony ships for civilians and warships for the UNSC's armed forces, conveniently close to earth. Reach is also a hub of scientific and military activity. Thirty-two years ago, contact with the outer colony Harvest was lost. A battlegroup sent to investigate was almost completely destroye: only one badly damaged ship returned to reach. It's crew told of a seemingly unstoppable alien warship that had effortlessly annihilated their forces. This was humankind's first encounter with a group of aliens they eventually became known as the covenant, a collective of alien races united in there fanatical religious devotion. Covenant religious elders declared humanity as affront to the gods, and the covenant warrior caste wages a holy war upon humanity with gruesome diligence. After a series of crushing defeats and obliterated colonies, UNSC Admiral Preston Cole established the Cole Protocol: no vessel may inadvertently lead the covenant to earth. When forced to withdraw, ships must avoid earth-bound vectors-even if that means jumping without proper navigational calculations. Vessels in danger of capture must self destruct. On reach, a secret military project to create a cyborg super-soldier take on newfound importance. The soldiers of the Spartan II project rack up an impressive record against the covenant in test deployments, but there are too few of them to turn the tide of war. Existing Spartan 2 soldiers are recalled to Reach for further augmentation. The plan: Board a covenant vessel with the improved Spartan IIs and learn the location of the covenant homeworld. Two days before the mission begins, covenant forces strike Reach and annihilate the colony. The covenant is now on earth's doorstep. One ship, The Pillar of Autumn, escapes with the last Spartan 2 and makes a blind jump into deep space, hoping to lead the covenant away from earth. Pillar of Autumn History (From Manual) -------------------------------------- The Pillar of Autumn is a Halcyon-class warship that has seen decades of service. An aging but sturdy vessel, and one of the smallest cruisers in the human fleet, the military high command chose it specifically as an inconspicuous launch pad for a covert offensive against the covenant. Genetically-engineered cyborg soldiers in state-of-the-art battle suits were supposed to board a covenant vessel and locate the covenant homeworld. A surprise covenant attack on the human military base on the planet Reach annihilated all but one of the Spartan II soldiers. The remaining Spartan II, known only by his rank of Master Chief, was stored in a cryosleep chamber upon The Pillar of Autumn shortly before the ship made a blind jump across the galaxy in a desperate effort to lead the covenant away from earth. The Master Chief is easily the best soldier aboard the Pillar of Autumn, but many of the human military's finest also call the ship home. ############# #WALKTHROUGH# ############# There are multiple difficulty settings with the game. I generally start playing a mission on Heroic. Which is the third and semi-difficult setting. After that I normally go back and beat the mission on normal and then come back one last time to work on legendary. Instead of writing 2 seperate walkthroughs or even 2 seperate sections I have just included the walkthrough for legendary mode directly into the main walkthrough. What you are reading by default is the game as it's beaten on Heroic setting. Most of the time legendary mode is manageable but there are certain "Trouble spots" that can really cause trouble later on. I have segmented out parts of the walkthrough as I write it when I encounter those trouble spots, and it's just a little area in the walkthrough to give enhanced strategies for that specific part if you were in legendary mode. These reference points are segmented out and labeled as "Legendary Reference Point" and numbered accordingly. I normally do things (and recommend) doing them a specific way. The idea is to get all of the medals for each level. There are 3 in all. One for normal, one for heroic, and one for legendary. I normally do heroic mode first (this walk through is based on that by default) then I go back and do normal (for a break). Then I go and do legendary (which is also in here using reference points). This allows you to get good experience with the mission as wall as 2 play throughs into the mission before you start to help you better learn the layout of the mission and how things fall into place throughout the mission. This also helps you get familiar with where enemies are (because legendary is almost the same just with more in some areas). ---------------------- -The Pillar of Autumn- ---------------------- Forward ------- This is the easiest mission which will teach you all about the basics of the game as well as let you develop your own basic to intermediate strategies necessary to get through the challenges presented in this first mission. Heroic Walkthrough ------------------- This is a very easy introductory mission. The beginning part is a straight story mode, then tutorial if you choose to play through it. Either way it's pretty straight forward. Move your way to the bridge and talk to the captain, get his gun and head out, after a few minutes you will get the ammo for it, and the real fighting begins. Now you start off with just a pistol so it's going to get you use to it right off. if at anytime you need to look up a weapons info check the weapons section for full details of the weapon and all the advice I have on it's usage. When you first get the ammo and turn the corner you are presented with a few little ones so you can get use to your weapon. You can easily take care of them, then move through the door into the first room as well as normally seeing a few explosions. Before going into the room look around for grenades or anything you want. When you first go through the door you pick up a machine gun. This is normally my PERSONAL combination which is the machine gun and pistol for backup whenever possible but this game has multiple weapons to cater to every play style. As you go experiment and find out what you like best the only exception later is the shotgun for the flood (late in the game) because it's nearly impossible without it. In this room watch your fire your allies are around as well. Another thing is you will encounter a few grunts and a few elites, so you need at this point to start getting use to there shields and developing strategies to get through there shields easily. Either way this first room isn't going to take you long to get through. By the time you learn the controls and play a second these will be no problem. If you have troubles then come in ducking and do a little more careful approach. ..Legendar Reference Point 1.. This room is one of the most difficult throughout this whole mission. There are 2 parts to the room and they are both very hard. Not only do the enemies throw grenades at you happily, but you are pinned down by multiple enemies at one time. This is VERY difficult in this mood. A few things to keep in mind, to maximize the affect remember where the enemies are on the first few run-ins so you can keep tabs on there locations for future runs. Try to memorize there locations and everything so you don't get caught off guard. The first few appear towards the left when you first enter, and after they are cleared all the rest pour in from the other side of the room. Taking your first steps into the room you are up against a few elites and grunts both. At this point you probably don't have any grenades for this first half of the room. If you do use them carefully. The idea is to get the grunts out of the way quickly with the pistol, and go somewhere to cover and do fire/duck tactics until you get the shield off of one of the elite's. It's rather annoying but after awhile once you clear out the first minor part of the room, it get's worse. There are tons of them down the hall. It generally comes down to clearing them out as quickly as possible, and trying to move a little ways at a time down the hall. Most importantly take out the grunts ASAP because they tend to throw a lot of grenades which can really hamper your covering strategy. Then slowly decrease the shields of the elites and take them out one at a time using duck/fire tactics. After you are down to 1-2 elites move up, and try to do the same with one of them and when there is only one left you can try and rush him. Hoping for the best. Don't get mad, if you die you start back outside the room and have to keep doing the room until you get past it to the next checkpoint but honestly, the more times you have to go through it, the faster you learn strategies. Also you'll notice once you clear the first few missions in legendary your newly acquired strategies helps you through future missions. Also it's important to remember that once the elite loses there shield it's gone. So you can basically use the pistol and peek out enough to get one and only focus on one until there shield is gone then take them down. Then one at a time and slowely ease your way out. ..End.. The first part of the room has 1-2 then you will be heading down the room to encounter a slightly more difficult group. Just be patient, cut through them as you go. After the room is cleared you can take either door into the hallway to encounter a few more. You can also get health and check alien weapons or whatever you want to do at this point. The left and right of the hallway are dead ends, so just go through the one open door to lead on. You will encounter some minor skirmishes as you head further in. You will go until you come into the hallway and there is a boom. Someone will say "What the hell, something hit us" or something like that. Head around the corner down the hallway's carefully. You will circle around to a group of marines and the door they are around suddenly explodes. A few minor enemies comes out and then cortana says something. ..Legendary Reference Point 2.. This one is generally easier compared to the first reference point. However you should have a few grenades. It might take you a few tries to get this strategy right, but here is what I do. I noticed a few grunts come, then an elite, then a few grunts then an elite plus 1 more grunt. The grunts aren't much of a problem so take them as they come and when an elite pops out try to attach a plasma grenade on him. Another thing you can do if you can position yourself well enough is try to get a plasma grenad INTO the room as it explodes, and the explosion inside the room and near the entrance can take out a handful of them before you even need to start engaging. At the very least when the first batch comes out the explosion will startle them, and damage or kill some of the ones remaining inside making the second wave considerably less and disoriented as well. ..End.. Continue heading around the corner but before you do GO INTO the door they came out of and grab whatever powerup is in there. Be careful when the explosion first happens because there are a few elites in the mix and they can be annoying if not handled properly and quickly. Continue to head around after that and you will see a door, activate the flash light and walk in (taking out whatever enemies are in your way or near the entrance). Follow the path until you are back in the light again and turn the corner. When you come down the hall watch to your left for enemies. Watch to your left and head there first. It leads to a dead end, clear them out but be careful there are quite a few and a well placed grenades can turn the tides if things start to get hairy. Now once this dead end area is cleared circle back around and this time head straight. If you want you will see a area barded off at the dead end instead of going back around you can work your way through that by jumping into the open area and ducking to get through. Either way once everything is clear around this area the dead end you were at opens up at the end of the hall allowing you to continue back down that path. Which leads to a health pack in front of a door that you can take if you need, then head into the doorway. Head until you see another square block area that circles around, clear the whole area out and head down the next hall. Once you pull through the next clearing you are going to find one small encampment followed by a large encampment around the corner that even has a ground shield setup, The first encampment doesn't always see you at first and it has one elite and a few grunts. A well placed plasma grenade can almost entirely take out that first encampment then you can mop up the rest BEFORE coming into view of the second encampment. Now when you are ready turn the corner and prepare to take on the next which has 1 shield they use to guard. A few grenades can clear them enough for you to move up and finish them. Or you can slowly work your way up taking them out as you go and using grenades to supplement you in battle during reloading or when you get a good opprotunity with one. Either way when they are clear then head around the corner into the dark part, duck under the half closed door and continue forward. Here you can go straight and hit the minor encampment head on, or you can circle to the right and come up beside/almost behind them and get a mini surprise attack if done right. Either way once the area is cleared grab the health pack if you need it and head through the door and down the hall. Continue until you get into the room with 2 floors. Cortana will mention something before you enter about "Covenant, landing above us". This can be annoying or easy. ..Legendary Reference Point 3.. There is absolutely nothing I can say to make this part of the mission easy. This one is a living nightmare that makes reference 1 look like baby land. The only good thing about it is the checkpoint is right outside. So you are in the heat of battle and when you reload after dying you can jump right back into it. However this mission is a deep pain in the butt. The next one is RIGHT after that. So once you clear these 2 floors and head through the door then shortly it checkpoints your data and you are safe. The first bit of advice I can offer is your grenades. Accuracy with grenade throwing was never as important as it is now. You can make your way up to the first level of stairs enough to get a view of the enemies before being blown away. Atleast at first when you have allies fighting with you before they are all killed. The idea is go up there and see if at the start of the battle you can get a few well placed grenades to sticky to passing elites. The less elite's here the better, so always use grenades to sticky to them and hope they take out a few grunts with them. When you do this beware incoming grenades. One time I had as many as 3 different grunts throwing grenades at me at the same time. Another issue is you can't go back very far because one of the doors closed keeping you from going back too far for ammo but you can nevertheless go a little ways. If the grunts are presenting a huge problem with grenades you can stand by the initial doorway and try to use your pistol if you still have one and get a good zoom in aim slowly to start taking out grunts. You can easily take out multiple ones without getting shot, after that the grenade strategy is still available to try to knock down the number of elites on the upper floor. ANother thing is the same as before, if you focus on one elite and drop there shield it's gone for good, so after there shield is gone you have time to work there health down after that. Once you have cleared out enough initially beware, the doors torwards the left on the lower floor suddenly open and out come an elite and a few grunts. Fight them off the best you can, and work on the elite as much as possible, either way after a bit he normally works his way up the stairs to join his brothers on the upper floor. This is where you can make mad dash for that open door, be careful there are no grunts left in there but there normally aren't, and take refuge behind the door. Here you are safer, and have a better shot pattern for systematically starting to take out those elites. If at any time at this point you run out of ammo your only option is for risky mad dashes into the middle area to hope to get ammo/guns from dead allies and aliens, and maybe a few bombs here and there that fallen soldiers and enemies may have dropped. Your pretty much stuck here until you can thin there numbers. When you are sure you have them down enough to move in, then cross your fingers and rush for the steps and hope you can make your way to the top for the nearest cover to start taking out the rest. Either way the pistol will work wonders while you are on the lower level. Peek out around hte corner and get a zoom in lock on an elite. Shoot that one, follow him and keep tabs on him, after about 8-9 shots there shield will drop, and then about 4-5 after that and that specific elite will fall. You can repeat that to easily take out elites if you have the pistol. Same thing with any other alien weapon or the machine gun just aim carefully and make sure as many bullets actually hit as possible to try and conserve ammo. Be careful before going up even if it seems as all of them are dead. A few may have not shown up there and some others may have taken damage and hidden behind your view. So be careful as you slowly and strategically make your way up the stairs. It's best to circle around at the bottom to make sure you can't get a visual on any more enemies before heading up the stairs, it's a lot safer that way. Once you cleared them all and get near the exit you get a second checkpoint luckily. ..End.. You can stay below and pick them off, and use grenades when the possibility presents itself or you can test your luck and rush the top and hope to get a good firing position to start taking out enemies. Either way with it being the first mission you won't be stuck here for long if at all. Once your dead head through the door on the upper level. Head down a little ways into another encampment but this time you are provided with a giant shield you can duck behind and use the whole when you are standing up to shoot through. One thing though, you can also throw grenades over it and duck again so this is a good position until you can thin there numbers some, and then move in to mop up the rest quickly if you start getting impatient. Behind the main encampment there is one shield, followed by a dark area. Be careful not to get ambushed by enemies that retreated here from the first encampment. WHen it's cleared move out of the dark and back into the light. You will recieve minor resistance until you get to another one of there shields with an elite behind it. After he's cleared just head down the hall. Continue and you should be fine for a few turns. Cortana will say "The life pods are launching, we should hurry". When you clear the final corner, a small group of enemies are there to encounter you. Go past all the pods (you can't go in any of them) and clear out the few grunts in the way. Cortana will say something again, wait a few minutes and a mission objective will activate. Head over towards the grating and go into the small tunnel like area. Follow the tunnels until you get a checkpoint a few seconds later. You can come out of the crating in any one of 3-4 areas. It's fine whichever just make your way to the main hall and start clearing out enemies. ..Legendary Reference Point 4.. Hmm, this one wasn't much of a problem for me, but since it's easier to do it this specific way I wanted to mention it. If you go out of the grating where the dark part is, it will be all dark at the one I am talking about. Come out there and circle around to attack them, that gives you a much better tactical advantage for one and for another your first attack (Plasma Grenade) can be planted carefully before all hell breaks loose. Also watch out after you flurry them up and take out a few one sometimes circles around and tries to get you from behind. But the overall tactical advantage you recieve from this approach is worth it. Also there are a lot of elites in this area so be really careful. If you are going to use any plasma grenades try to make them stick ONTO an elite, each elite taken out like this makes the overall gunfight a lot easier and more likely to win. ..End.. This one might get messy so use grenades to your advantage. However be wary of incoming grenades the little guys especially won't hesitate to throw them. I normally recieve 1-2 grenades thrown towards me in this one section. When it's clear head down the hall, and turn the corner through the door. Keep moving forward and she'll say something about the covenant wanting to catch you napping. There will be a few down there but you can't kill them, I THINK if you get there attention by shooting they come up and attack you but I am not sure. Either way a little further and you get a checkpoint. Continue down the hall. After the first corner there is a dark spot and bunch of grunts. Explosions behind them will kill alot of them and you can fire upon and finish off the one's towards the front, beware the elite near the door on the other side. WHen you head through the door after defeating the grunts he will be ready to try and kill you. He is a red and more powerful than normal elites, plus you have to deal with more explosions that damage you and the enemy every few minutes so watch where you go and be careful. Go back to where the grunts where and head through the opening those explosions made. Turn left into the grating and make your way through it but beware this time because a few grunts are in various places throughout the tunnel area this time. Through the grating this time you encounter a rather impressive encampment of enemies. Grenades are a good way to hopefully thin there numbers. One strategy I find affective here is to come out the crating directly ahead and you will see the elite standing facing the other way. ..Legendary Reference Point 5.. Hehehe. This place was a pain at first in legendary. Then I just had an idea. If you have a nice collection of grenades saved up this is the best place to use them. Your near the end of the mission and this is the last major set of enemies. Also equipment doesn't go over to the next mission so that shouldn't be a factor. Move your way near the barricade while you launch a few grenades for cover. Once you are at it, just start ducking and throwing. Launch like 2-3 randomly at first to do massive destruction, then aim carefully on the next few to finish off the last few elites. If there are any left after you used all your grenades enact the duck and fire method to slowly thin there numbers. ..End.. Quickly stick a plasma grenade to him and that'll take care of him and most of the encampment in one shot. EIther way clear the area. Just scower there area as you go and you will find a few twists and turns, some turnoffs and a couple of minor spread out enemies and small encampments here and there until you work your way to the area with more escape pods. Head through the crating to get around the obstacles and continue forward around the corner into another minor encampment. Head back a little into the lifeboat and the mission is over. That's it, watch the cutscene's and into the next mission we go... Post Mission Rambling --------------------- After you have completed this first one on all difficulties as well as legendary you can consider yourself good at the game. The first level is the easiest to do on legendary but either way you just learnd a TON of new strategies that will carry with you throughout the rest of this game and the second one, and third when it eventually comes out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ -Halo- ------ Forward ------- This mission is "very" open. They are open areas with no real strategy that you can use. This mission is also VERY long so it's going to take a long walkthrough for this mission to properly cover everything. This is also one that "in my opinion" is a little to difficult to the average beginner, if you have a lot of problems here then go back to the first mission and beat it another time or 2 to allow yourself to hone more strategies and learn the system better before taking on this mission. I may not have listed every possible strategy in every possible situation and alternate. I include all I can think of, or all I need ot easily beat it, and if anyone has ultimate strategies feel free to send in as many as you deem necessary. As much as I love to keep my people alive, when you get into the legendary version, you REALLY don't want to care if they survive or not. The only thing that matter's is keeping yourself alive from checkpoint to checkpoint. This mission in legendary is going to push you to the limits. It's going to enrage your temper more than once, it's going to push you to every limit you have ever reached. It's a real pain trying to beat this one on legendary mode. Heroic Walkthrough ------------------ You start off with a scene, followed by you on foot inside the wreckage. When you finally come to you will notice your friends are all dead. This would have been you, had it not been for the suit you were.... Well nevertheless we must continue on. When you first get out you can get ammo out here, and get fully stocked along with some grenades. There will be a few messages from her, and then something about an incoming ship. It seems by what she's saying that you can avoid them but I normally take them out. Your best bet is to head over that bridge and wait for the ship to land and take off, them come down the bridge slowly taking them out as needed. Which shouldn't be too much of a problem clearing all of them out. Then you will have a Phantom attack you from the sky. The main reason to "not" run away is that if you do the phantoms still come and hte ground troops will follow after you anyway. If anyone has a strategy to avoid this first group let me know. Back to the phantoms.. Just dispatch it, very carefully aim and you shouldn't have too many problems with it. When everything is clear head back over the bridge and follow the wall northward up the incline. Also note if you run out of ammo later you can ALWAYS back track during this mission. I just did a test run as well on this part. I am 100% sure you can't avoid the initial drop. I tried everything. I tried running and continuing to run and they know your there but you just leave them behind, leaving enemies you didn't kill. They'll just give you problems if you ever come back. I tried getting behind something and hiding for 20 minutes and same thing. The drop ship still drops the enemies and both phantoms still come. However if you want to avoid the message "you were detected" from cortana you can wait behind a tree or something until the ship is gone completely and then go out and engage them, so that leads me to believe she just meant for you to stay hidden from the drop ship not the actual enemies. If anyone else has anymore feedback on this at all, feel free to share. I also did a secondary test run after that, which was a little different. one thing I notice for sure is that when you face those first 2 phantoms. If you destroy one phantom the other one always run's away, it takes off into the sky so if they are bugging you just focus your fire on one and this will allow you to go ahead and clear out the other by it flying off after the first one explodes. ..Legendary Reference Point 1.. When you first start this mission in legendary mode it can be very difficult making it successfully to the first checkpoint. You have to deal with the phantoms, the first group of enemies, as well as another group up the incline before you ever make it to even the first checkpoint. The idea in staying alive isn't easy. The first thing to remember is not to try and fight from inside the ship at the beginning. They are ruthless on legendary and very dangerous. I suggest going across the bridge, and seeing if you can get engaged by and remove the phantoms BEFORE turning your attention to the enemies on the other side of the bridge. So no matter what the first thing you are going to want to focus on are the phantoms. The best way I have found to do that is to cross the bridge and go BEHIND the 2 trees right beside the bridge on the other side. This keeps you (for the most part) out of site of the enemies on the other side. Be careful because sometimes the enemies will try to cross the bridge so you need to get rid of those phantoms as soon as possible before that happens. This won't be too hard if you aren't shot at by both at the same time. Focus on doing damage to one only because the other will still leave after the first one is destroyed. Once those are out of the way, you need to as carefully as possible destroy whatever you can across the bridge with zooming in with the pistol BEFORE crossing the bridge to clean up the rest and get ammo. They are a lot more aggressive than normal so there is a chance about the time you clear out the phantom you are going to have the grunts running down the bridge, and an elite already across. Be careful remember your strategies. Pistol the little ones, hit the elite with everything you have. He packs so much power I generally have to unload a clip, run, wait for health, unload a clip run wait for health, and finish him off. The bad thing is that isn't the end of it, there is one more elite somewhere (either already crossed the bridge) or on the other side. If he is on the other side then you should be able to pistol him (providing you have the ammo) from a distance without too much trouble. Once you are careful you should be able to get through all of that within a minute. After you are sure they are clear head across and get ammo and relax a minute. You aren't safe to the first checkpoint yet. So you stil need to be careful until you atleast get that first safety. Get all the ammo you need and head across the bridge and up the incline. Go up it slowly because after clearing all that up I know you don't want to have to start back at the beginning. At this point you want to go slow and try to get a view on them with the pistol from a range before you are right up on them. They are just a little ways past the upcoming set of rocks. Be careful. There should be one elite and some grunts which you can work through with the pistol from a range, before they even get close enough to fire if you are a decent aim and very careful. Once you clear them out go BACK to the beginning, get the ammo restock and whatever you can pick up. Then head back towards where you killed them at and head on past. Jump down (once you jump you can't come back through) and continue a little further until you have successfully gotten to your first checkpoint. ..End.. When you get a little way's up the incline you will find a minor group of grunts, followed by a nice number of grunts and one elite. You can pretty easily work through all of these at this point and continue through into the clearing. Ok, this whole upcoming section is one of the first major areas that can get annoying. You are going to circle around into a clearing and recieve a message from her about a lifeboat up ahead. Just to prepare you that means you are coming up on a small encampment of your people that survived the ships destruction and made it down to this planet safely. The good part is you found the first lifeboat, the second part is you have to protect it from a series of attacks. It's not so much difficult as it is hard to keep up with (where the enemies are dropping at). When you first enter a enemy boat is already making a drop of enemies, and they are almost to the ground by the time you come. Get down there and clear them out as quickly as possible. In this section if some of your men die don't freak out it's not easy getting them all out alive and you don't get anything different either way, even if none survive. Well... If they all die, you want to avoid that. Because she'll drop a message about none of them surviving. You want to make sure there are enough for her to atleast drop afterwards and pick them up. For the first drop your pistol will allow you to remove a vast number of grunts from a distance then move in to mop up the remaining elites. Another thing, right after that's over you get a checkpoint. Your not safe but you have your first save, so if something goes wrong you can revert to your last checkpoint, and you get one after clearing each drop. ..Reference Point 2.. There isn't alot I can say to really help you here. Luckily every couple of enemy drop ships you clear gives you a checkpoint. The idea is checkpoint to checkpoint gameplay and improvise when you are stuck. You have the ammo dumps for when you need them. After this one part of the mission things can get easier depending on how you play but this first part is part based on luck, part based on skill, part based on improvision, and checkpoint to checkpoint gameplay. Once you clear the first part and get a checkpoint then you are in good shape atleast. Again the pistol from a distance can work wonders against elites but sometimes your machine gun has to go with you and you have to be quick and able to improvise in rough situations (like running up for the last hit or 2 when you need a reload) and other clever improvisions where needed. Another bit of advice is as mention in the forward is to not focus on your allies. Let them help you let them work as bait. The ONLY thing important in legendary mode is getting through it one checkpoint at a time. Whatever you have to do to make it to just that next checkpoint is something you need to do if required. This can even include grenades in the middle of your allies if it helps to take out 1-2 elites that would otherwise mean defeat. A good thing here is head over to the part you have that little building to act as decent cover. If you are quick and can thin there smaller forces then wither down the rest with grenades and whatever else you have. After Generally by the time I have these complete the next ship has already made a drop which can make things get difficult if it takes you a long time to clear the first drop. At this point once the first part is cleared and the second drop is made you don't get a checkpoint until you clear both that drop adn the one that just came down. I had to improvise here big time. It took me about 2 tries to get to the next checkpoint. I ran to one elite and got about 1 inch from in front of him so I could stick a guaranteed grenade. Then I backed up into the life boat to get ammo, and ran to the big building. Using cover from going up and down the ramps I was able to slowly weed out the remaining elites until I "somehow" got to the next checkpoint. At this point I was on top of the structure when the next drop ship came down. I tried to clear out as many from a distance with the pistol as I could before they made there way towards the structure. However you have to be careful of the drop ship itself firing at you. If you are lucky you can take down 5-6 grunts so you only have elites to worry about. One good way to deal with the elites here if you are lucky is grenades. You have the height elevation they have to walk up. If you keep tabs on them so you know when they are coming up, you can hopefully give them a plasma grenade that sticks. If you are able to then that's it. One plasma stick means 1 dead elite automatically plus damage and possible death to one's around it. Either way once they are cleared you get another glorious checkpoint, head down the ramp carefully and around the corner is where your going to meet your next enemy set. If you are able to and have some left a good plasma grenade stuck to one near the middle can cause mass damage and panick for enough time to retreat back up towards the structure. Or you can choose to stay on the structure and use it to maneuver around the top doing damage to below at first then using the walls for cover when the enemies start to advance up towards the top of the structure. This can be one of the hardest parts right here in this mission so far because there are so many and multiple elites. This is where the real pure skill of gameplay is needed the most. There is one other tactic I sometimes find effective. Since they originate from the other sidey you can slowly peer around the edge wall of the other ramp and get a few pistol ranged kills. Then when the elites pile up the ramp and are near the top you can quickly duck out and try to plant a grenade on one of them so you can guarantee there death, as well as taking down the shield or killing the other if he is close enough. Beware however there are multiple elites. You will probably end up getting rushed by one who is half damaged so be prepared to quickly switch to machine gun or do some hits when needed. Another BAD thing about the grunts is generally they will try to come up behind you so be prepared for something to come up behind you as well. With a little patience, skill and strategy after a minute or 2 you will successfully make it to the first checkpoint successfully. MAKE SURE you get yourself full stocked up on ammo after the next checkpoint BEFORE running off with the warthog. You will be severly out, try to also scrounge to restock fully on plasma grenades (with all the dead grunts that shouldn't post to hard of a problem. ..End.. There may be a lot of fighting, but there is also a lot of ammo. There is an ammo dump in a downed lifeboat with LOT'S of various types of ammo and weapons (machine gun's, pistols) as well as health packs on the ground and inside. There are also some grenades there as well. There is a second ammo dump on top of the structure on one of the sides (on the left if you going up from the opposite side you entered the area from). This has a bunch of ammo laying on the ground. Between these 2 points there is little chance you will run out of ammo in this first area. Plus later when you get low you can come back to all of these areas as mentioned before. Since the first one is gone they say yay he's here and all this other stuff but before they get too far another enemy ship is beginning it's drop somewhere on the other side. BE THERE before they announce it, and you can use your pistol and with good aiming have 3-6 of them DEAD before they even hit the ground. Making the second drop a lot more manageable. Ok this is also the first situation you meet the Jackals in. Look up them in the enemy section if you need strategies but they generally aren't that hard to defeat. Right after that one is dispatched another one comes popping out at the other side quickly. If you hurry and get there you might be able to mop the rest of them. After that you get another checkpoint and another drops back where the last one did (the one before this one). This seems like a little bigger drop. However if you are able to get the drop on them first and clear out some of the little one's it's more manageable. Now, the bad part is before the first ship load is destroyed a second one comes down towards the other side (to your right). This normally happens before the other team is even cleared. This doubles the enemy count as well as the secondary ship shooting at you if you get in it's line of fire. Either way after you manage to destroy that it's the last of the drops in this section. After that is finally done there will be some talking and a checkpoint. Foehammer comes dropping in, and picks up the remaining crew and drops the warthog. You normally are provided with 2 people to go with you (1 for the passenger seat, 1 for the gun). If you are wondering anything about the warthog then check the vehicles section for more information. I love that feeling when virtually nobody dies, and you see them all pile into the ship to go back home. That is my favorite part, but it doesn't always turn out like that easily. It just depends on how responsive you are when the enemies drop to the ground. Either way after you are ready jump on the warthog. You could "in theory" go on foot, however there's no point. It's harder, it takes 4 times longer (the mission is long enough as it is) and if you don't learn how to use this vehicle (check the vehicles section for details) then you will never beat this game. If you take forever then after awhile she'll talk a few times and then go ahead and give you a red marker to your destination. However when you are ready to continue head forward and you will go down a slope into the mouth of a cave. Here you will get a message from Cortana about the cave. Head inside. A little ways into the cave you get another message and a checkpoint. Then she says something about monitoring there chatter on your transcom system in your suit. Be careful when you get near the corner, you can basically flip off but it's stupid and can cause damage or even kill an ally if you land wrong. Instead go to the end and you will see the ramp leading down. When you circle around you are going to have to make a jump (not that hard) just back up a little give it gas and clear the jump. After the next curve you get another checkpoint. When you head into this room there will be enemies. I generally like all the people on my side surviving that I can. So what I do here is I just stay back some with my warthog but I move it closer a little bit. Just close enough for there guns to be able to reach some of the enemies and then I get out and go on foot to clear out this whole area to clear friendly strategies. If I REALLY need it I can slowly move that vehicle up as needed to allow them to get within firing range but keep from getting killed. ..Legendary Reference Point 3.. This is A LOT easier than the last reference point. With your pistol and using the wall for cover you can take out almost everything within site on the right hand side including the 2 elites and 4 jackals. The left is also easy to clear with just a few grunts. NOW the hard part is coming up. The normal ramp here, is not normal anymore. Elites are A LOT tougher in legendary mode and it almost MAKES you get in direct contact with them here. However I use the same strategy everytime that works. I get up far enough get a grenade to land at the top of the hill. Once it explodes I turn around the corner and VERY QUICKLY AND ACCURATELY plant a grenade on the elite which normally kills them both. Get use to that strategy and this area won't be a problem to you. ..End.. There are 3 grunts on the left inside that middle maze area, but the bulk of the enemies are over towards the right part of the room. Your destination is to the right, on foot (because you have to activate something). You can peer around the wall and hopefully get a few of the jackals and grunts out of the way. Watch out for the few in the front of you and maybe 1-2 that are crossing from the other side. When you clear out the lower portion go behind everything and head up the ramp. Watch out on your way up to your emmediate left, as there is an enemy. There are 2 total. You can sneak up on them by crouching which decreases the chances of them hearing you come up the ramp. You can use your plasma grenade to stick to them, use your standard ally grenades to bounce them off the wall, or just engage them in a direct assault, any method should work properly. Be careful throwing grenades up there as they can bounce back at you. The plasma grenade method will work the best if you are slow and don't let the first one hear you coming, that is if you are having difficulties with the other approach. When you finally take them out head upwards and behind where they were guarding and you will see something you need to move in to activate which will lower the bring. After that return to your car, and head forward over the bridge. You don't have to encounter more enemies on the other side of the bridge so just drive on through. You will get another checkpoint and more information from Cortana after that. Follow the cave and after a few minutes you will get to a place you can exit the cave but right before that is a checkpoint. After you get out of the cave follow the area north. Keep going until you reach a more open area. Basically there are a total of 3 more lifeboats to rescue and they are all accessible from this central open area. There are 3 different areas to go and they can be gone in within any order. There is the right path, the left path and the north (like) path. I am going to start with the right path because it's the closes to you. After that we will head over towards the second which is the north, then finally head through the left pass. Right now drive along the right wall until we get to an opening in the all, with lights showing the way (on the ground). This first areas has a great collection of rocks in the middle. The people are within those rocks on a cliff overlooking the rocks. It's hard to define any one specific affective strategy in this mission because of the vast "Chaos" that ensues while you are in this area. I "normally" pull my vehicle through the rocks trying desperately to find a path through, and try to part it somewhere up near the top of the overhang where the sniper foottroops are. Because of all the chaos it's sometimes even hard to decide what to do and when. I know the first thing I normally do is secure a decent safe spot for my vehicle to * Help provide support fire from the warthog gunner/side gunner * Allow the snipers to help protect my warthog in return. I generally pick the same place each time just out of simplicity. I normally immediately follow the left wall, and work my way through all the rocks while staying against the wall. When I get to the ledge my people are on I generally park the vehicle at the rock right beside it. The 2 people in my vehicle normally survive just fine given that specific situation. ..Legendary Reference Point 4.. Ok, this part can be easy, or it can be hard. There are 2 basic strategies you can use, hit and run just fighting. Or sniper rifle. It depends on how you want it to work. I generally fight with my normal style until I get done with this area. I find the 2 drop points after this CONSIDERABLY more easy with the sniper rifle because of the way the boards are setup. So if you end up getting the sniper rifle now, and using most of your ammo here then you will have problems later. Another good thing is while your allies are alive they provide the same sniper support which can help. Plus you have the rocks as various forms of cover and emergency hiding which is less effective if you are trying to utilize the sniper rifle with this terrain. If you insist on using it I recommend finding a higher area and trying to get clear shots and waste as little ammo as possible (the initial hill they are at is a good example of a good sniping spot) should you choose to use that in this area. I also have to warn you about the last few enemy dropships. Things can get really difficult when you start nearing the end of this little area and the enemy makes the double drops (one then another). This place can be really difficult. Considerably one of the most difficult in this whole mission. Because there are so many ground elites, it's really hard to be able to deal with them all affectively without being overrun. Not to mention the vast amounts of ammo you will find yourself going through. Near the end if you are having troubles this is where you may want to vary out some using the sniper rifle to make it to the next checkpoint. Pretty much what normally happens is everything goes great through the first few drops and at the VERY end when the last few drops come you will find yourself dying over and over again and trying to formulate strategies to get safetly to the next checkpoint. Well I came up with something decent last time I was stuck on it. If you have people alive go up to the plateu they are over and guard the entrance way. The enemies will make there way up this slowly and with the marine cover fire you should be able to work your way through it slowly. That's the best way to get out without getting totally destroyed. Even then, you can use the ledges to take out a lot of the ground troops in the distance even with the pistol to save your sniper rifle ammo. ..End.. Whatever you decide after that it's time to focus on clearing out enemies. The first thing I normally do is head down and use the rocks for cover. It's very hard to explain how to survive here. Just use the rocks for cover as best you can, try to avoid being seen by the enemy as you work your way through one drop to another, and one checkpoint to another. There are about 3-4 drops maybe 5 and then you call for evac. That is it. There is one alternative strategy. Below the rocks near the other side is a downed ship with a sniper rifle. If you can make your way to the sniper rifle and back to the edge you can use that for your weapon of choice during this part. What I normally do those is clear out these survivors THEN replace my pistol with the sniper rifle so I can use it for the next upcoming mission or 2 (it's alot fun then with so much less chaos). Another different thing about this part of the mission is the snipers on the cliff end up constantly shoot at the enemies with there sniper rifles. This can really help thin the numbers of elites and drop shields quickly. That's generally the reason I take my luck on the lower level to try and do what I can down there to engage down there only so I can stop all enemies before they get within range to kill my snipers. This allows me to get support sniper fire while keeping them safe as well. Before you head off there is something you might want to see. If you get to a place where you have a good view of that big moon (Not the small one but the huge one that takes up half the sky) then you can see something. It's not directly where that moon is but a little to it's left. You will see 2 phantoms high in the air circling around and around each other. They keep doing the same circular motion forever. I tried to shoot them down with the sniper rifle (You can even get it to turn red like you have a (target) but no matter how you target, or how you angle the aim or where you are viewing them at I have never been able to shoot them down (not even one of them). If anyone has ever been able to, please let me know. Don't forget to revert to your last save point if you start shooting at them, that way you won't lose any ammo. It will revert you to right when the evac ship dropped, which will be before you tried firing at it. There are 2 ways to get to your next destination from this point. The first way is to head back the way you came, follow the RIGHT wall until you get to the first opening and go in it, or head through the other pass and it will lead to a stream (get past it) and into the one path directly ahead. Either path is about the same but offer varying tactics. You come out in the same area just different parts. If you return back to the way you came and take that route then you appear over on the side with a dropped ship for ammo and a few ammos outside of it that you can clear out. From there snipe whatever you can and move forward taking out enemies as you go. If you appear on the other side you don't have the ammo reserve RIGHT beside you but it's easier to pinpoint enemies with your sniper rifle. You can even do both. You can visit back the way you came, clear out the land enemies so you have the ammo source and then snipe what you can, then go back around to where you were and take that other pass to come out the other side and finish sniping (which is what I generally end up doing). Let me write the walkthrough as if we did it the method we just described. From the point where the last evac happened to back to the central area, and follow the right wall and enter the opening. Get out of your warthog a little sooner rather than later. Clear the few land enemies and that's it, head back to evac zone and then go through the other one, getting off your warthog so you can do some sniping. Spend some quality time dealing death to any enemies you can hunt out (believe me it helps). You don't want to get too close until you are done with your initial sniping (or you'll notice your allies and lose the mission marker). ..Legendary Reference Point 5.. This part is going to be A LOT easier than the area with rock formations. The idea here is for your sniper rifle to be your initial tool to clearing out a majority of the enemies in the area. This includes most of the jackals that are running around. Be a little more careful because of 2 things. The first is that they take a few more shots to kill (elites 3, and jackals are harder to hit). Second, they don't take you sniping them laying down. They will actually (especially the jackals) come within your fire range and start shooting at you if you don't take them out quick enough. Try to get head shots here as often as possible. If you are able to get headshots on the jackals then you can almost always get them down in one shot if you aim carefully. It's not hard to waste ammo here so you need to try and be as careful as possible so you can conserve your ammo as much as possible. After the initial clearing it's important to quickly ignore everything else and get your warthog over to the other side of the screen behind the rocks (so there machine gun fire can provide support when needed). The thing is there is sniper ammunition right up there as well. If you make very good use of the sniper rifle, and aim carefully and are very safe here. Then there is a chance you can get through this entire part of the mission on your first try with very little problems. Aim carefully and try to rely heavily on taking them out from as far away as possible before they get up on your area. The thing is, there is only one enemy drop so assuming your initial clearing was complete there won't be a lot of enemies left to take out at this point. I know it may seem like the only thing that matters here is clearing out the enemies but try to conserve your ammo as much as possible. In the legendary mode that's very important. Chances are after it's all said and done your only going to have 5-10 shells which can prove making the next section difficult. When you are done you are ready to head near the next point. ..End.. When you are done sniping grab your warthog and drive all the way across until you get behind the rock your allies are at, part close to the end wall, and get out coming around to the front where your guys are. As I mentioned to hurry because once you unlock them you have just enough time to get your warthog safe and in position and to your guys before the drop ships start coming in (don't worry about this whole open surrounding area, you can explore this whole area after clearing all drop ships and the evac ship comes. After a second they say something about having wounded and cortana says she is going to call for evac soon. Any second now a drop ship will drop a few enemies over towards the right. The idea of keeping your people alive will mean you need to directly engage and distract the enemy whenever possible (letting your people simply provide cover and support fire). Your radar can help you a lot when it comes to pinpointing where enemies are dropping at or if you missed a few after taking out a good number of them. That should have gone relatively painless because there was only one dropship. After that they call evac, and they are out of there. Now is your chance after evac calls out to look around this whole area. There are a few interesting things. Obviously you have used some sniper ammo (probably) there is a dead soldier beside a rock (near where they are encamped) that you can pick up if you haven't already. Also there are 2 buildings (structures, a small one and big one). The big one has nothing, and the small one has nothing (except a small opening going into the first few feet of the structure). You can also finish restocking up on machine gun and a few fragmentation grenades at that downed ship on the other side. Make sure you get all the grenades you can (both plasma and army) that you can before heading towards the next location. You are going to need them for this final point. Either way when you are done hope back onto your warthog, and head towards the exit closest to the downed ship (it's closer to the final drop point). On your way there you are going to get a message from cortana updating you on a few major events to deal with the core game story. From this point head over to the final drop point. As you come over the horizon (I generally at first part a little before the hill to avoid any potential casualties. When you peek over the hill have your sniper rifle ready. If you choose to use it. You can clear out almost all of the "visible" enemies that are within eye view. Make sure every shot counts (It normally takes 2 for an elite). Any misses hurt because of the limited ammo you have for it. Nevertheless clear out everything in site and slowly move the warthog up further, I normally head towards the right and around. Stop again to get some more enemies out of the way from a distance. For elites try to have 2 things of ammo in the clip and fire 2 times in a row quickly to kill them with a lot less mess. Before you go too far cortana tells you to check the structure. Head to the little building and go in to greet a small group of enemies in a room. Clear them out (grenade if you want) and head past them. There you will meet your allies at the bottom as they head for the surface. Hurry ahead of them, and use your mini-map to quickly track targets down. Take them out as quickly and violently as possible to try and avoid casualties. If you did a decent job taking out enemies with the sniper you won't have a lot of them to face, after a few minutes when they are dead cortana then calls for evac. ..Legendary Reference Point 6.. Ok, by this point you are almost out of ammo. Sniper ammo that is. You will probably end up running out before you are done with this place, and it can be VERY hard without sniper ammo. SO.... I hate saying this, but there is one alternative way you can get sniper ammo if you are on this area. First get in your NEW warthog (leave the old one, they provide you with a new one at that last drop point). ASSUMING some of your men survived the last encounter they will be supplied to go with you. One of them will generally have a sniper rifle which you can get him out of the warthog, kill him, and take his ammo (if he was already killed in the previous area go there, find his body and loot it to see if there is any sniper ammo you might have missed). Generally there will be one with sniper ammo going with you if a few survived the last encounter. You don't have to, but it makes finishing up the last part of this mission on legendary A LOT easier. I am normally obsessed with keeping them alive, but my policy in legendary mode is checkpoint to checkpoint gameplay and nothing else matters but getting that next checkpoint. I don't like doing it, but if you need the ammo it helps. Then you can go back to your point and take out ALL the visible enemies you can see AS CAREFULLY AS POSSIBLE. Each enemy you leave means one more problem when your men head back up to the top of the structure. This can be a pain, because you already have new ones down at the bottom to attend with you don't need leftovers you could have killed before remaining outside and giving you troubles later. When you finally get them cleared and go down the tunnel. The first room can be dealt with using 1-2 grenades. After that go through and get your sniper rifle ready to look over that underground bridge(s) so you can deal with all of the jackals coming down the hall before they are able to present too big of a problem. After they are clear go through the tunnels so you can come out ON THE OTHER SIDE opposite the one you entered. In legendary mode it's alot easier than going back up the way you initially came. I also found a good strategy for finishing up the mission. If you take out those initial jackals and QUICKLY run past your guys it doesn't register you having been there, so you can come out the other side and clear out most of the enemies (or all of the initial ones) then go back down and start that sequence. From there when you get to the outside there will only be a few grunts present and then evac will be called to complete the mission. ..End.. After that there is really nothing left to do but head to the evac point to leave the mission. You can grab weapons or whatever else you want but there is really no point as nothing you get carries over with you to the next mission. I do however normally (for roleplay value only) get my warthog and bring it around near the ship and drive up to it with it. When you do that can finish the mission as well. Again I do that for pure roleplay value only, not anything else but roleplay value. That is the only reason. Post Mission Rambling --------------------- If you were able to make it through this mission on legendary then you have basically earned the knowledge necessary to finish the rest of the game on legendary. You had done most or all of the intermediate to advanced strategies to be able to keep yourself alive and do what is needed to beat missions on legendary Setting. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ -The Truth and Reconciliation- ------------------------------ Forward ------- The first part of this mission is outside, the rest is on the ship. This mission is pretty easy, but on legendary it takes a whole different set of strategies than you have ever encountered. You also start to face things in this mission that you have never faced before in this game, so be prepared. I also always try to keep my people alive, but in this mission it can be rather difficult even in heroic mode only. It's a little annoying especially near the end but there are multiple strategies overall to help you successfully clear this mission with not AS MANY problems. I have just noticed an alternate strategy at the very beginning of this mission that can strategically affect the strategies available throughout the whole rest of the mission. After the initial area is cleared, MAKE SURE before you go into that lift you HAVE A SNIPER RIFLE ON YOU. I just realized there is sniper rifle ammo for this mission on the ship in MANY places just no sniper guns. So essentially if you make your sniper rifle your secondary throughout this whole mission you will have the option of doing difficult parts of the mission with a sniper rifle. You may want to keep this sniper rifle in mind if you go through the mission without it and have troubles. It's not the end of all your problems but having it on you when you are stuck in very difficult situations can dramatically decrease the stress this mission can otherwise put on you. It can make things a lot easier in certain portions of the mission, and even if you don't use it, just having it on you incase you need it is worth it. It's also the defining point in legendary mode where improvision can sometimes mean the difference between victory and defeat. As you know sometimes in legendary mode you can come up against impossible odd's. Having the sniper rifle with you on this mission can help you deal with those situations as they arrive. They also provide you with ammo in multiple areas, but make sure you only use it when needed, and it'll last you through the whole mission to help you in any areas you REALLY get stuck in. Heroic Walkthrough ------------------ You get dropped in an open like area with multiple people with you. The idea behind many segments of this mission is pure stealth kills. The stealth is pretty important for guaranteeing victory. However you can also run in psychotically and still survive but it's messy, unprofessional, and dangerous for both you and your allies. Head towards the right wall and up the ravine. Here you want to start crouching a little way's up and HOLD the crouch button down so you are guaranteed to stay ducked. If you can't see the enemies in the dark here at all then the flashlight button will cut on your nightvision (through the sniper rifle zoom) allowing you to be able to identify the enemies better in the dark. The first and most important target is the gunner sitting on top of the turret. You want him gone and out of the way before anything else (that way if a ground battle takes place atleast you stand a better chance. If you are careful you can take out most of the enemies (or all) before they eventually spot you. Just watch your ammo some, this mission is comprised of a few areas and all have gunner turrets. There are a total of 2 turrets inside this areas so make sure they are both dead and all the enemies when you kill. Whenever the finally spot you, you can stay up here and continue sniping or you can jump down and engage on foot. Also normally one of the grunts will head towards the stationary gun. KILL him before he get's to it, you can also get to one yourself if you are quick and careful and get a whole lot of firepower but you have to be careful not to shoot down your allies. Another way this mission can be done (and how the creators originally set it up for) is half stealth half foot fighting. You can "In theory" stealth through this whole first area. After all of the initial enemies are clear (stealth or whatever else) your people move forward and jump down to engage new enemies that are coming down the path. So I would try to do this entire first area using stealth then engage the incoming enemies on foot. ..Legendary Reference Point 1.. This part of the mission is the very first part, and get's you involved in the action. If you use the sniper rifle properly you don't have a lot of problems here. Even after you take out the turrets and clear them out, if your guys engage you can still stay safe on the ledge with the sniper rifle. There is not really any other strategy to it. IF you are having problems then you need to practice your stealth, as well as practice your aim. After some practice runs on heroic come back to this difficult, it takes very few tries to make it to the first checkpoint. ..End.. After you are done clearing the first area, and whatever other enemies come down the pass start heading for the path that will lead into the next area. Move your way up the path slowly as you'll probably encounter a few enemies on the way up. Also once you get a little further up you get a checkpoint which will mean you don't have to redo that first area over again if you die. Keep your eyes to the front. Off in the distance you are going to see 1-2 enemies on foot and one inside one of the gun turrets again. You probably want to take out all of those before heading any further down or that gun turret can give you some pretty annoying problems, after they are cleared out slowly continue moving forward up the path. The enemies you are coming up on are going to generally know you are here. The best bet is to move forward slowly and take them out as you go, and try to get a good view of any gun turrets BEFORE they come into attack range to attack you. If there are a decent group of enemies in front of you, then you can use a grenade to spread some chaos which will give you some time to back up and lay down some sniper fire to finish them off a lot quicker, and easier. There will only be that one turret you encountered in front within this next up-coming mini area. Work your way through it taking out enemies as you go, but still continue to preserve your sniper rifle ammo as much as possible. Once the area is clear continue down the path. ..Legendary Reference Point 2.. This area on has one turret, take it out and move your way through and you won't have many problems. Since there's like only one turret and one elite you won't have a lot of problems here. ..End.. In this next area stealth is partially an issue but the most important thing is getting each and every one of the gun turrets taken care of first, then enemies. It is also pretty important to do this quick enough so you get them cleared before the enemy drop ships start coming. This is very important to get rid of those gun turrets they can take you and your members out fairly quickly without too much of a problem if they are not dealt with quickly. If you are able to get to it quick enough you can sniper rifle a lot of the enemies coming out of the drop ship before they even hit the ground them mop up the rest. This is also a point in the mission where if you are out of allies (they all died) then you can recieve additional re-inforcements. She will call for re-inforcements right after that drop ship drop's if your current reinforcements have been wiped out. Over towards a tree is some camaflauge power up which can help some if you are still in a heavy firefight by the time you find it. When you clear the area you will probably be completely out of or pretty low on sniper rifle ammo (depending on how you managed your ammunition and what gun you used for the most of the mission). When you are done here, head through the clearing towards the next area for the mission. ..Legendary Reference Point 3.. In this area you area going to want to clear the elite stands guard and walks back and forth on the edge of the cliff. You also want to go around the left this time definitely. You will encounter a jackal on the way and on the other side an elite or 2. However from this angle you can take out the 2 turrets, and then some across the path so your guys don't die as quick. Just clear out all the enemies you can before the enemy drop ship comes in. Be careful here. It takes some nice work, and good grenades mixed with real good sniping to keep these enemies under control. Multiple enemies drop from the ship and head into multiple directions, and worst of all they love going for those turrets. NO MATTER WHAT keep an eye on those turrets at all times. Even 1 turret vrs another will normally result in you dying. If you are trying to utilize the turrets to your advantage in this situation that's fine also but beware that grunts like sticking grenades to people in turrets, and that guarantee's certain death. If you are careful and quick and improvise you can successfully make it through this part. Again make sure anyone going for turrets, or on turrets get your attention first. ..End.. Once you are heading towards the clearing you are going to encounter a few enemies and an elite. Take them out and head past them into the next area where you get some story dialogue. After that you will be heading into the hardest of all the areas. If you have your sniper rifle then you can take out the gun turret's if not then you have to rush them. Another good weapon against them is a needler (You can find a few layout around off the enemies you have killed). The needler is real good at taking those out. There are like 3 turrets or so in this area and a good group of initial enemies you have to work your way through. Head towards the other end of the place ASAP and get the turret on the far side. About that time you hear that a enemy dropship is inbound. The next step is check your ammo reserves (You can look at the bottom of the middle area for some allied enemy reserves). Now be prepared. ..Legendary Reference Point 4.. Have you ever died before and had a very near death experience. So much so that you passed from life to death and temporarily entered hell. Well this will remind you of what you saw when you were there. After you are done with this part you are going to have mental illnesses and shell shock and many other diseases that you'll never get better from. This part of the mission will change your life forever more. This is the hardest, most annoying, most difficult part of any mission so far in legendary mode. The first part you need to come in with the sniper rifle and take out that gunner over across the path. Then head behind the try and you can hit 2 grunts with your weapon before they even notice you then work your way forward enough to take out the 2 jackals, the retreat back behind the rock at the entrance. Let your people go in and work your way in behind them to clear out enemies and try your hardest to take out remaining gun turrets with your sniper, or rush them and run back to safety. Once there all clear and the enemy drop ship comes back it's time to get dirty. Cortana requests more reinforcements but they'll be dealt with shortly, the best way is to get them to follow you back to the rock and after 30-50 minutes of slowly weeding them down and running back to previous areas for ammo you should make it through this part. Then the 2 hunters come down, deal with them as normal, (after you get the safety of the checkpoint there is not as much to worry about). After all of that you can continue on the ship but I know you may have broken your controller during that period of time and had to buy a few replacement controllers. There were a few times here I almost did... ** Note** I am definitely wanting alternate strategies for this section. I am able to always make it through it after awhile, but let's face it the average person will have many problems. There has to be an easier way. I am hoping to get multiple responses on this one part. I have been so annoyed here I have knocked (by hitting) one of the gun turrets ALL the way over towards the rock and used it as I lured the enemies there, but it took me 25-40 minutes (roughly) to get it over there. Does anyone else out there have alternative strategies/secrets for this area that make it easier? ..End.. There is a huge onslaught of enemies but your allies are with you, and you also have ammo around you have to just improvise. Clear them out as they come (You can use the gun turrets for heavy firepower but that leaves you very vunerable so you have to be careful while using it). I normally use that rock in the top left corner of the screen for cover as well whenever possible. After you clear them all out you finally meet your first hunter(s). Leave it to them to make you fight 2 your first time fighting them. Look up the section under hunters for detailed strategies in dealing with them, it's too much to repeat here. You can also use the little things aren't the transporter sticking up out of the ground to help give you something in between you and them if you need the cover. I don't really know what else to tell you as far as these 2 hunters. You just came fresh out of a major battle, with probably little ammo and health. Basically you are going to want to focus on one at a time. If you have your machine gun it can be nice to get behind them to take them out quickly. If it was one you have room to maneuver so try to seperate them from each other. Don't worry if they take out some of your men, because you will get more re-inforcements so as bad as it sounds let your men keep one occupied while you focus on getting one of them down. Then go to the other. They are also very slow AND STUPID, so you can easily get "aways" away from them to get health or take a breather. However if you get farther away they start shooting a really powerful beam at you when your in there line of site which isn't that hard to dodge if you see it coming. Be careful, make sure you focus on one at a time, and you should be fine. Once you are on the ship, your strategies need to alter a bit. The whole first part of the mission was outside in open areas with far off combat and some close up combat. Now it's time to be inside the ship, and fight close up throughout most of the whole ship. Now strategies you used during your very first mission are going to become a lot more useful. This first room can be a pain in the butt but you also have your allies around helping you which can make things a little easier. ..Legendary Reference Point 5.. This is basic a normal area with normal enemies (much easier than the last situation) but those swordsman are present, and moreso on legendary. They are very difficult in legendary and again should have your immediate, and extremely violent attention. They are a real problem if not dealt with first thing. This part really wouldn't be that hard if it wasn't for the multiple swordsman. Atleast 3-4 come out before you get to the next checkpoint and some of them are the yellow kind with shields. They are nearly impossible to defeat in legendary, it takes 2 full clips and even then they don't die. On top of that, they roll when you stick a plasma grenade on them, and that drops the grenade, they are real annoying and in this whole little part you fight about 2 of them. The hard part is it's all random so it's hard to setup any real strategy for this room. I have had 2 of the yellow ones at a time come out before (that would be damn near impossible). This is one of the most annoying rooms, pretty much after this it get's easier for a majoriy of the mission (atleast until certain trouble spots), but this is really the 2nd hardest part in this entire mission. It's extremely annoying. The yellow one's don't always roll off the grenades so save your grenades here for when they come out. Your best bet against them is to close in and stick a grenade to them, but still get a direct hit, generally if you make a good stick, then they still die from the explosion. This is the BEST way to take one out, any other way they are a real pain and take atleast 2 full clips from your assault rifle to kill. I FINALLY uncovered there weakpoint. Those yellow one's that have the swords (there shielded). NEEDLER. That is there weakness. You can hit them with the needler and half a clip to a clip and they are going to die. That is how I was finally able to get past this section without an hour of trying over and over again without hours of reloading. It's the needler. NOTE:::: I have tried my hardest to get past this reference point. I just can't... I am going to continue writing mission walkthroughs and legendary reference points for other missions but for the time being I am putting this mission on hold (I have this checkpoint saved in my game). Every few days I will try to come back to this mission reference point and do what I can to clear it but for the time being it's just not working. I finally figured out the yellow swordsmen weakness, the needle. I utilized it against them affectively and started using my grenades on bigger teams. There are just too many obstacles to get to the next point. I put a good 34 hours on this one point trying various strategies JUST to get to the next checkpoint and nothing worked. Enemies kept coming and coming until they start coming so fast the entire inner room was full. I affectively can deal with a few swordsman but a total of about 10 came, and I was still fighting to the death. I went through a total of 10-15 during that whole section and STILL no checkpoint. Plus there are tons of enemies all over the place, I just am getting too angry at this part. If anyone has any alternate strategies in the meantime, if not then I am going to come back to this some other time and see if I have better luck later. ..End.. Ok, in this first room there is going to be a little chaos. Based on what I can tell (starting the mission over multiple times to make sure) everything in this room is random to an extent. There is one type of enemy which is an elite carrying a sword which can kill you in one hit, always focus on them first (see the enemy section under elite where it speaks about the sword). Now other than that these enemies here are full random. Groups will come through random doors, with random collections of enemies you have to face. The normal time interval is one group comes out, you kill them, about that time another group comes out. I normal face about 3 total sword carriers here overall before the next checkpoint and you ALWAYS need to focus on them first. If you can't see them look for a floating sword and listen for there roar they sometimes do when they are around. Either way you have some cover, and a team. After a few tries you should easily make it to the first checkpoint (which is still in this same room after clearing out a certain number of them). Well one thing is certain.... after the checkpoint you get to fight 2 hunters (Again). Again this isn't the same as when you were outside, you are in an enclosed area with limited space and each one of the hunter's takes up a decent amount of that available space. The same strategies can be applied, but your men will help to warrant a distraction. You want to take them out quickly, because your men can be pretty helpful on this mission when they are alive and you only get a few re-inforcement points throughout this mission. You want to keep them alive if possible. Focus on one hunter at a time, use the big barrels for cover when needed and you should be fine here, as long as you don't let them hit you and do enough dodging to force them to keep moving around. Don't put a lot of distance between you and them in here as they will start shooting and in this limited amount of space that can be pretty dangerous. After that room is cleared go through the large open space where your men went and go to the dead end. You get told to go through the spaces and unlock the door from the other side, while your men wait here. When you head back it's the first door on the right you are going to want to enter. Head around and follow that right wall until you run into a grunt, kill him go past, and continue down the passage. There are a few cut off paths and deadends you can explore but the ultimate destination is straight all the way down the path until you get to a checkpoint. After it points head through the door. Your going to come through the door and be basically on the other side of the door the marines are on. When you first come out the top there are going to be a few jackals hanging around the entrance. I normally take the entrance ones out and toss a grenade down the corridor to give me some cover from the enemies further off while I take some cover. After cortana finishes talking there are going to be 2 things you want to do. Clear all the enemies out of this area and unlock the door (in that order preferrably). I am going to be honest with you, this initial room can be VERY hard to get past. You are going to want to take the door on this upper level and work your way around to get below, avoid just jumping off. The idea here is to clear out the ones on the top first, then whatever you can on bottom BEFORE going around. You can take out the initial ones with a well placed grenade or 2, then finish the rest. Move down, eliminate the elite near the end and another grenade for the few jackals near the end. After that you are going to be focusing on taking out whatever you can on the lower level before going through the door. I personally find the needler helpful for clearing out the bottom level. It's also very affective for elites whenever you need. It may take a minute to clear most of them out, when you get low on ammo go find some new ammo. Be careful when you are clearing the bottom one's out because I noticed sometimes other one's will try to head through the door and attack you. There are just a few grunts and jackals not really nothing to worry about but they need your immediate attention to keep from taking unnecessary damage. If you are running low on ammo or don't feel like taking them out you can wait and do so when you get down there. However I do recommend doing what you can now because the more you kill now the less you have to worry about close up when you get down there (plus you get the tactical advantage of being above them) so it's ultimately your call, but you choose. Also about this time I find myself nearly out of machine gun ammo, and my secondary I am already alternating from alien weapon to alien weapon and going through them very quickly. So from this point forward you are going to be improvising on weapons until the end of the mission but you will get some points to get your own ally weapons back(when your allies die, or certain rooms where allies where and died). Either way when you are done head through the door and start to circle around killing anything minor you might encounter. When you cross the next corner you encounter an elite and a few grunts. However the ammo shortage might be forcing you to use strange weapons. Do the best you can with what you have, and focus on the elite then the grunts. Get the elite out of the way as soon as you can. The main reason to be careful here is because you haven't gotten a checkpoint yet. If you die you have to redo that entire last room. After you clear out those 2-3 enemies then work your way to the bottom where the door is leading out towards one of the mini side rooms that lead towards the lower part of the room you cleared out a few minutes ago. Head around and out the door. If you did what I said before and cleared out most or all of the enemies when you were above then you have little to no resistance here. Now you get pretty much a full restock on all your ammunition right here, which is pretty good to have a fully stocked machine gun on you, you know you are now safer than you were a minute ago atleast. Even if that leaves your secondary alternating between weapon to weapon in order to have a secondary. You also (luckily) get a checkpoint here as well. When you head a little further into the room you are bombarded from both the left and right sides (which means you have what you left behind plus what just entered to deal with). I recommended finishing the first group before you came down, so if you didn't your stuck trying to figure out how your going to clear them all out. Either way when the new group(s) come out, it's time to improvise. Use the cover, grenades, and weapons provided. Take out elites first in this situation and smaller enemies in between taking out elites. If you head towards the left door you can automatically encounter all the grunts in there and kill them to keep them from getting in your way in the upcoming battle (the more you can thin enemy numbers before a battle in this game, the better). That also gives you a good place to be able to get grenades across to the oncoming enemies, as well as the option to back up and allow the doors to close to give you some cover in emergencies. There are a few difficulties with this strategy but it's the easiest way I have found to clear out this area of new enemies. Just peek out the door do as much damage as possible and go back in for ammo/shield recharge. When you start running low on ammo the hopefully you have cleared enough enemies to be able to make your way out long enough for some ammo or weapon changes, then move back to your spot (which needs to be your central location until the room is cleared) and repeat. When there are no more "visible" enemies you need to make multiple recon attempts (always going back to your original position in case) to make sure all the enemies are cleared from the room or no more are going to trigger. Once they are all clear open the door and allow your marines to come through the doorway. You will see a new red mission marker after that, before you go in it make sure you go back to those dead allies from before and grab ammo/grenades so you have as much as you can carry before heading through the mission door. Then head through the marker to head further into the ship. Head down the hall and go left at the first turn. Then all the way to the end and then follow around the corner to encounter some enemies. Just a few jackals are there initially then as you move down the hall you see a grunt, and an elite at the far end with a few other minor enemies down there. Continue going through and clearing them out as you go. Head all the way down the hall until you reach the door that will open into a larger room. Down here the idea is your men will run out, and obviously die after a few minutes. You want to use this door like you did earlier as cover. You want to go out, do damage, come back in and repeat. The idea is after a minute re-inforcements will be coming down, and give you the chance to get more allies which can distract the enemies. This may give you the change to advance outside of the door (always fall back to it if things get too hairy). When you come out head for the right, take out that small set of enemies there, and make that corner your new encampment for the time being. The allies around you fighting provide you enough cover to be able to do some active fighting on the field. When you have initially cleared out the first part of this room, you are going to be able to scrounge for ammo some but enemies will be on the upper ledge firing at you. After you get your bearings you are going to need to spend some quality time dealing with the enemies on the upper ledges, using whatever means necessary (if you have some grenades and are a REALLY good aim you can probably take some out with grenades. You want to thin the ones up there as much as possible so they aren't shooting down on you anymore. When you have cleared enough on the upper ledge on this side, make sure you have all the ammo/guns you need and head around the wall to the other side of this room. On the other side you are going to get a checkpoint, after that (FIRST THING) head directly for the armor boost, which you can see laying on ground sort of in the middle near a dead soldier and big stash of ammo. After that take out some of the minor enemies as they come out to prevent getting overrun later. After that you get an elite, grunt and a few other minor enemies here and there. Take them out as they come, and then cortana tells you to wait a minute, with some other speech after that. After that the battle starts up again. They start with a fairly decent group of minor enemies which can overrun you if you aren't carefull. Dispatch all of those and take some form of cover quickly as bigger badder enemies, as well as upper eneemies will start coming out at this point. As you can see there are 2 hunters that just came out one of the doors not to mention a couple of enemies at the top that can shoot down on you if you get within there line of site. Another problem is if you die by these, you have to go back a little bit to where you have to fight the minor enemies, hear the message from cortana again then go through the other patch of enemies before getting to the hunters again. So again be careful, if you can kill them on the first try it saves you having to redo that section over and over and over again (which can get annoying if you are having troubles with the 2 hunters). Another thing you can do if you find yourself redoing it over and over again is leave the armor boost until after all the minor enemies are dead. THEN get it when the hunters come out, that can nearly triple your chances of survival as you can take considerable more damage before you die. Also if timed right sometimes grenades can help if they are near the explosion, also if one is at a distance shooting try to get the second one within his blast range so he takes damage. Once they are done wait a minute and she'll unlock the door. Once she does go through (make sure you have everything you need before going through as the door locks). However when your ready, go through and your get a checkpoint on the other side. After that start heading up the corridor taking minor enemies out as you go. A little ways up is a minor enemy encampment with an elite, but you can generally take most of those out with a well place grenade, then mop up the rest. A little ways up you encounter 1 stealthed elite (without a sword) and a few others. Continue on and you encounter one more up a little further. You will go through some enemies until you get near the end where cortana talks about getting support. When you come up on this upcoming room, it's an open area like before. This area can be a little annoying. Near the end in front of you is a nice collection of enemies, plus a few over towards the left. There are also some at the bottom. I normally use a grenade or 2 to thin the lines in the front, move up to there position for cover, then focus on the ones coming from the other side. After they are clear I mop up what is below from above, then head over towards the target beacon so I can get better re-inforcements for what's ahead. When you get over to this section make sure you are ready because when you near the target beacon some enemies come through the original door you came out of. You want to be ready to take them out as you go. If you want you can backtrack and you will see a little cut in the wall that can go for really good cover for the enemies that are coming. After those are cleared out head over and activate the beacon. As soon as you hit that, you get a checkpoint (luckily). Once you activate the beacon the soldiers come out, and land on the upper ledge right beside where the computer beacon was. Now it's time to press on. Head towards the right this time (opposite from where you entered at). When you get up to the door, your going to see some enemies right inside the door. The first one is a red elite, which is facing away so a grenade can get rid of him. Sometimes he isn't there, and they are all up the ramp, in which case a few grenades up there can almost entirely thin there numbers before you even engage them. The rest come pouring out after that, just shoot at them and use grenades, if you have to back up behind the barrel for cover so your guys can take the heat for you until you are ready to go back into action. Up a little further you get a checkpoint, a few enemies. A little further you get more enemies and an elite. After the elite there are a couple of normal grunts, kill all of them and head further on. Head to the end and head out the door, into an open area (on an upper platform). Down the path a little ways you can see a group of enemies, I find the best way to clear them out is to get as close as you can and plant a grenade or 2, then clear out the rest manually. Continue heading around the path at the top. At the end you will meet a group of enemies, and right after you clear those out you will have a few coming up behind you. These might get a little tricky, so head towards where you just cleared out the ones at the end and try to seek cover. This is the best point to hide. Give your guys a few minutes to fight while you regain any shieldings you might need, and from that point prepare to move out and try to clear out the rest of them. After all enemies are dead, head through the door at the end of the path to continue on. Head down the corridor and after a minute you get a checkpoint. Head further up and towards the left for health and some ammo. Then head out one of the 2 available paths (both go to the same central room, just 2 different exits). This room is a little difficult to gain entry to initially. There are 2 standard elites patrolling each side, multiple grunts in the crevices and in various locations, and a elite yellow swordsman up on the top part. The idea I normally use to gain entry is to come in using the left entrance. I peer around the corner with a needler and load the one on the left with needles. Then empty the rest of those needles on the yellow swordsman elite. Then I finish him with the machine gun and move into cover, trying to take them out as I can. After that I am good to go normally once the room is clear. The idea is to go for the yellow elite and get him killed however possible, at that point even if you need to retreat atleast you don't have to face the yellow one again when you come back. Next it's time to head through the next mission directive. Head through the halls and you will encounter a small group of grunts followed by a few jackals. After those is another corridor, and more jackals. Then through the open doors, and continue on down the hallway. A little futher you will see a door to your left you can go through. It's a jail room, but your soldiers aren't in this one. Go to the back and open the doors, some of the rooms (1 I think) has ammo in it. Get what you needed, and head back out the door you came and go straight continuing down the hallway. You will get to the room where your actual men are inside the prisons. This is a hard area depending on how it's approached. There are a few minor enemies, a normal elite swordsman and 2-3 stealthed elites. The stealthed elites are no problem if you see them (much easier than elite's with shields), and the swordsman can be taken out after awhile if you are careful. Either way do what you have to, to clear the room (grenades where needed) and then open the prison doors to let all your people out. Then there will be a scene and some talking. At this point the main objective is keep people alive, especially the captain, if he dies it's mission over. The next step is to clear this room. The enemies are going to storm in here in a minute. When they do there will be a few stealthed elites (focus on them first) then some coming out the door (primarily jackals) which can be taken care of next. Once they are all cleared, grab whatever ammo from the rooms you can, and it's time to move forward. Work your way around the hallway into a group of enemies. I sometimes have some problems with these enemies here, which keep killing the captain. If you are careful though you can make it through this part after a minute. Continue down the corridor. On your way through the halls you have to make it past a few minor set's of enemies. Be careful however because at this point if you die you start back all the way inside the jail where you first released them, so try your hardest to make it to the next checkpoint so you don't have to keep redoing that section over and over again. After making it a little way's past just minor enemies you start heading down a longer hallway. About halfway down the hallway you get a checkpoint and for a time, can breath easier. Continue heading down to the end of the hallway. At the end of the room you open a door back to the room from earlier. The thing is there are 2 normal elite swordsman up here. These aren't the yellow ones so you can rush both of them and take them out with one full clip of your machine gun, then she give's a message about this being the place, and she call's for evac. After some stuff, you find out you have to hunt down your own ride. This room will be bombarded by a few minor enemies which you can easily take out and continue heading for the next mission marker. Continue heading throughout the halls towards the mission objective and right outside it you get a checkpoint incase if something bad happens inside. Head through the door to encounter an elite right in front of you. Luckily there are just a few minor enemies and one elite right there. From there you will see a few more minor enemies at the end, after that head towards that mission objective and after a few seconds, you ended your mission. Post Mission Rambling --------------------- As you can tell this was one of the overall longest missions. Most missions aren't quite that long so you don't have to worry about all of them lasting that long. ################################## #LISTS/STRATEGIES/SPECIFIC TOPICS# ################################## This section is where you get all the general details. This is also going to contain all the strategic related data, lists and everything else pertaining to the game. --------------------- -Character Mini Bios- --------------------- These mini bio's are taken from the book, with possibly some personal feedback below each bio. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Master Chief Manual Bio: There is no actual "bio" in the original manual of the game about him. He is mentioned briefly throughout the "History" of the game within the manual. Also you can pick up some history from reading the section about the history. Personal Thoughts: Ok, here is my personal take on master chief. He is awesome. He's the main character, as well as the forefront of the entire fight for humanity. Basically there were a lot of his kind. But based on a plan that was suppose to happen they attacked the colony that was housing them all and they were all completely destroyed. With him being the only one who survived. There is a book on the series. You can get ALL the information that is available about him via the book's of Halo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Captain Jacob Keyes Manual Bio: Twenty-six years into his military career, Captain Keyes commands respect as a keen strategist and inspirational leader of his men. He became a minor hero early in his career, when he led a small group of security troops against a covenant ambush of the colony ship Meriwether Lewis and held them off long enough for the ship to escape. His many decorations and years of combat experience against the covenant made him a natural choice to command The Pillar of Autumn and it's secret cargo. Personal Thoughts: He is one of the chief figureheads behind the game. He makes appearances throughout a good portion of the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Cortana Manual Bio: Cortana is a highly advanced AI at the heart of The Pillar of Autumn. Her design allows her to be uploaded into an appropriately configured battlesuit for safekeeping. She is capable of hacking into alien computer systems, and has used this skill to intercept covenant communications during combat. She interpets the data to provide her caretakers with directional waypoints and the best available information about troop movement and strategy. Personal Thoughts: She is one of the main backbones of the game. The relationship between her and master chief is one of the main elements of the story. She is with you virtually throughout the entire game, and that adds to your abilities even more. It's very helpful throughout the game. Some of the dialogue between her and master chief throughout the game is awesome, and her providing you with info straight from covenant battlenet while in game play as well as providing you with waylay points and markers for mission goals. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ###SOME SPOILERS BELOW### Name: Seargent ??? Manual Bio: None Personal Thoughts: I don't remember this guy's name. I looked in the manual for halo 1 and 2. I didn't see anything about him, and I am trying to remember if they said his name in either game. He is the african american at the beginning of halo 1. It's strange. It's everywhere. He shows up at the beginning talking to the troops and you hear his voice throughout the entire game here and there. He is absolutely one of my favorite characters in the game (He plays a huge part in halo 2). I just don't remember his name. He is hillarious and reminds me of someone from a movie. He is one of the funniest members in the game. For example in the 3rd mission when it starts he yells "Move it men, the core ain't paying us by the hour" but he never dies throughout the game. I am trying to remember who he is, it doesn't even explain how he got off the planet in the end, he's one of my favorite characters in the entire game. If someone remembers his name please let me know. ###END SPOILERS### ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- -Enemies- --------- Please keep in mind the general idea behind the game. I have all the the information I could included about them here. However before you read it keep in mind the overall idea behind the game. The idea is to play the first one with little info, and during the whole excursion throughout the first game Cortana (during the second game) has crap loads of info on enemies, enemy weapons, and the covenant as a whole. At which time you are suppose to get up-to-date on all the info you weren't aware of throughout the first one, so if you are just starting with the series, you may want to wait about reading this section. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Type: The Grunts Manual Bio: Approximately 5' tall and relatively weak. Grunts tend to travel in packs and stick closely to more powerful allies. Individually they are easy to defeat, but in groups they can overcome careless marines. Their armor seems to house some sort of life support mechanism. They are known to use a variety of weapons including the plasma pistol, plasma rifle, and plasma grenade. Personal Thoughts/Strategies: These are the easiest enemies in the game. I never really had a problem with them at all. They are easy to kill, they are also a little funny. These little one's suprising also have different "types" to them. You won't see anything about this in the book but if you pay attention some of them have slight differences, and some are better than other's. Some of them use different weapons, and vary. However they all have the same weakness. I find the "EASIEST" way to take these out is with the standard alliance pistol. Using the standard pistol, you can stay from a distance and zoom in with it. Then you can easily pick off 10-15 before they even see you. Most of the time you can kill one "literally" anywhere between 1-4 hits with the pistol. Which is no-where near as messy as using the machine gun or other alien weapon. However based on this there is one thing you can do that will help defeat them. This will help in LARGE groups or when they are coming out of a drop ship. You can use the pistol just a little ways away and with careful aiming you can kill half of the little ones or all of them before they even hit the ground from the airship. This also works in groups. You can kill all the little ones in a group then focus on the other's after they are dead. Weapon Affectiveness: Ally Grenade ------------ A direct burst, or even a partial burst from one of these will easily kill multiple grunts in one strike. Pistol ------ The pistol is very good against them. You can use zoom in to take most of them out in a well place head shot, and others you can take out in one shot anyway with the pistol. It's very useful for clearing out multiple layers of them inside of a larger group filled with elites. Assault Rifle ------------- Pretty helpful against grunts if you are up close and personal with them, it's not very affective if at a longer range because it's harder to aim but up close it can be really helpful. Shotgun ------- A shotgun can easily kill an elite from close up, but I think it's a waste of ammo and recommend trying to avoid using the shotgun to kill a grunt. Sniper Rifle ------------ The sniper rifle from a distance can easily kill a grunt, if you can get a few lined up in site you can take out multiple of them at one time with one shot. Rocket Launcher --------------- To ever try and take out a grunt with a rocket launcher in any way is a waste of ammo and time and should be avoided. Plasma Rifle ------------ A plasma rifle is like an ally assault rifle, and it's VERY affective against grunts. It's even affective at longer ranges, and one clip of a plasma rifle can take out a decent amount of grunts. Plasma Pistol ------------- The charge blasts can kill the grunts normally take 2 charges to kill but sometimes you can get by with one. I don't know what governs this under how many hits it takes but I am supposing to aim closer to the head to remove grunts faster with this weapon. Needler ------- The needler is pretty good against them because you can sticky a few needles on them and move to another enemy and they are sure to die from the explosions. Plasma Grenades --------------- I think trying to get a plasma grenade to stick on a grunt can be a waste of time unless used strategically (to send them back into there friends and kill a large group). I suggest using it for larger groups of grunts with other enemies and not just grunts as grunts can easily be clear with any other standard weapon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Type: The Jackals Manual Bio: With superior senses of sight, hearing, and smell, Jackals serve as scouts and assassins for the covenant forces. They use plasma pistols and carry a strong energy shield to compensate for there physical weakness: a well positioned jackal can hold his own against several marines. Though grenades are effective against them. They stand approximately 5'8'' tall. Personal Thoughts/Stategies: These aren't too much more difficult than the grunts. However they don't travel in large packs as they other's. These are move of used as lone snipers, or battle supplement (simply aiding the enemy cause lightly with there presence. If you meet one it can be tricky to take down unless you know how. There are however multiple ways to take them down. If you have a sniper rifle and they don't know your where then just be patient until you have a clear shot to be able to shoot them somewhere there skin is showing. This is another I find that is easier with the pistol. You can rush it with the machine gun and blast it's shield out and gun it to death but it's messy. With the pistol you can get closer, or zoom in and look for a skin shot. Once you shoot them one time in an exposed area of there skin they are stunned for a few minutes giving you open target to put them down. Another effective maneavuer is to just look for one hole within there shield where they point there gun out. In that whole you can shoot right through there shield. Also running up to them and hitting them with the gun can sometimes be enough to knock them back enough for you to open fire, and sometimes 1 hit with your gun can even totally knock out there shield for a few minutes. Plasma grenades can all be attached to there shields if you can't seem to get a shot on them. On the ones that carry those charge gun's (the ones that let out great bursts) be careful when they charge it. One shot from that can take your shields ALL the way down. Luckily notaall of them have that weapon just sometimes, and those are the one's you should be be careful of the most. Weapon Affectiveness: Ally Grenade ------------ The ally grenade against a jackal can easily kill one or a group of them but if a you throw the grenade and it bounces off there shield (you being too close) it can bounce back on you if you aren't careful. Pistol ------ The pistol is useless against there shield but if you use the zoom in and get them off guard there is a chance that you can kill them before they put there shield to face you. If you are at a distance use zoom in to try and get a clear flesh shot before firing. These, just like grunts, can be easily taken out with one headshot with the pistol if you can get a good enough shot. Assault Rifle ------------- It's impossible to get a good clear show with the assault rifle. However you can rush them, hit them with the weapon to disable there shield and then finish them off with the bullets. If you shoot them a second there shield will go down or they will stagger from all the shots leaving them open for destruction. Shotgun ------- The shotgun is messy and reckless to use against a jackal unless you can get a flesh shot, or get REALLY close on them I don't recommend that unless from VERY close range. Sniper Rifle ------------ These can be very affective against them. From a distance you can EASILY get a clear flesh shot without a problem. If it's ahead shot they die, if it's another area they sometimes die. Rocket Launcher --------------- Again, a waste of ammo unless against very hard and/or difficult groups. Plasma Rifle ------------ It can be affective, provided you get flesh shots. Or if you shoot there shield a minute with it, it will go down allowing you to finish them. Plasma Pistol ------------- A standard charged shot can sometimes take down there shield, then followed by another can sometimes kill them, not bad from a slight distance to help clear out a few before moving in. Needler ------- Inneffective unless you can get them to stick to flesh. Otherwise it will bounce completely off there shield and do absolutely nothing. Plasma Grenades --------------- Good if you can get it to stick to flesh, if not it won't stick directly to to there shields. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Type: The Elites Manual Bio: There are a few varieties of elite, but are all roughly 8'6'' tall and incredibly strong. Their strength allows them to rely on brute force when necessary but their quite capable of brilliant battlefield tactics as well. Their natural resillience is augmented with full-body energy shielding which recharges when depleted. They wield plasma pistols, plasma rifles, grenades, and needlers. Personal Thoughts/Strategies: These are one of the most aggravating enemies in the game. One on one they normally aren't that big of a deal. However normally even one on one in a direct shootout you will die before them. They have a "personal" shield around there body like you do. Except there's lasts a little longer. The idea is to first destroy there shield then you start doing real damage to there actual flesh. Until they run out of hitpoints and die. Well that may be a challenge if they have the right gun. In a one on one shootout, they can be QUITE challenging especially if there are 2 around you. One always affective measure is attach a grenade to one. Once the grenade is HOOKED to there body that one's death is guaranteed no matter what. If he is near a small encampment of them you can find him taking out multiple small one's, and maybe even a few more elite's or doing damage to them atleast. Well that is one method. I SOMETIMES find hitting them with your weapon to be affective depending on when you hit them with it. If you just run up to them and start hitting them out of nowhere you are going to die. However there are times when hitting them with your weapon can be affective. For example if you come after them shooting them, they are taking shield damage, and after so much there shield dies. If you go in and you have to reload when there shield is almost down start hitting them with your weapon. The best weapon to use on them by far is the machine gun because of the continuous stream of damage to remove there shield and then them. However there is one downfall to that, the gun will run out of ammo at about the time there shield dies. I normally take off there shield and do some flesh damage before my clip dies. 1-3 hits with my gun after that normally kills them. If I stop to reload then a few things can happen. At times they even regained there shield on me, if not then they regain some hitpoints. Not only that but during that time you are taking damage from them and they have time to get into a better combat position. Once you start an attack on them keep it on until they die unless you are overwhelmed and find yourself having to fall back to a better position. Also try and avoid closing in on them too close (except to hit them) because if they hit you they do massive damage and normally can completely disable your shield with just one hit. Bluish Elites ------------- These are standard elites. There shields are decently powered, they don't have a great deal of hitpoints after there shields die, and they do moderate amounts of damage. They are still VERY dangerous unless handled properly. Redish Elites ------------- A lot more dangerous than standard bluish elites. There shields are stronger, they have more hitpoints, and they do considerable more damage. Now these are more dangerous than standard elites. Takes more firepower to destroy them, and they are especially dangerous in legendary mode, so if you see a red elite be prepared for a decent fight. Alot moreso than the standard blue elites. Stealthed Elite --------------- The are elites that go stealth without having a sword. They also generally don't have a shield, since they have the stealth capabilities instead. When you shoot them they appear, also if you look carefully you can see one by a shaded outline, there not too hard to see once you get use to looking for them later in the game. They also don't have a whole lot of hitpoints either, plus the no shield makes them a lot easier to kill. Elite Swordsman --------------- I had to put a seperate mini-section on these. This isn't a normal elite. We'll they are normal elite's when it comes to what it is. However the bad thing is they carry a sword other elites don't. This is there actual tribal weapon, based on there tradition everyone is suppose to carry one but in this game only the melee combatants do. Now, these kill you in one hit shield and all. That's it. There is no questions asked, one hit you are dead period. The best way to deal with this enemy is defeat them as soon as possible. If they come at you do whatever you have to, to put distance between you and them. You DO NOT want to be within hugging range of these enemies, believe me. One hit is ALL it takes and you die, period. Don't get close enough to give them a chance to attack you. They are normal elites and they always end up "starting" out invisible except for you to be able to see there sword. When you shoot them they become visible. Another bad things is if they are invisible your allies can never see there sword only you, so it's up to you to do the first shot so they are aware of his presence. Elite Yellow Swordsman ---------------------- These are about the same idea as a standard elite swordsman but they are yellow. They are far more dangerous than a normal elite swordsman. There shields are roughly double the strength of the normal swordsman with almost 150% the hitpoints. There swords still kill on one hit. You can empty an entire machine gun into one of them and BARELY if at all have enough to take out there shields entirely these are VERY dangerous, even more so than a pair of hunters. In legendary mode these are the most dangerous enemies in existence. I HAVE FINALLY uncovered there main weakness. The needler, after hours and hours fighting with them, trying my hardest to get past a certain mission in legendary I finally found out there main weakness. They are stunned for one, so you can easily side step them, and about half of a clip to a full clip you can take one out. This is the easiest way to deal with them this came from hours of heart pounding anger, I FINALLY found there weakness. Weapon Affectiveness: Ally Grenade ------------ Very affective against groups of them but they can't see you throw it. It needs to be done stealthily or a lot of them could move out of the blast radius, or even worse, charge you. Pistol ------ Believe it or not this can be very affective against them, even in legendary mode. If you are at a distance and shoot them just 5-6 times with the pistol, then there shield goes down, and a few more can kill them. In legendary mode this can be helpful because you don't have to worry about taking them on up close if they are dead by the time you get to them. Assault Rifle ------------- Very affective against elites. You can close quarters with them and get real close then use the machine gun on them rapid fire, until there shields go down, and then kill them with it. Sometimes you will use a whole clip on one and require a reload so when you run out of ammo close in to them and try to disable them by hitting them with your weapon a few times. Shotgun ------- Very inneffective and messy against elites, it can kill one but it's time consuming when they have there shield up. Sniper Rifle ------------ Very affective as 2-3 well placed shots can kill an elite from a distance. Rocket Launcher --------------- Innefective unless against large or difficult groups. Plasma Rifle ------------ This can be about as affective as the assault rifle if used in the same manner. Plasma Pistol ------------- A few well placed charged shots can take down there shields and a few more can kill it. It's not the ideal choice but it's feasible in a difficult situation. Needler ------- Very affective against elites. You can unload an entire clip at a decent distance from the elite. Most of them will stick and when they explode it normally can take down there shield and kill them both, if not a few more stickies after the shield is down will surely take care of them. It's the BEST weapon against the yellow elite swordsman, with them being almost invincible in legendary mode I finally uncovered THIS as being there main weakness. Plasma Grenades --------------- The best measure against one. Once it's stuck they are dead plus damage to whatever is around them (including possible deaths). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Type: The Hunters Manual Bio: Hunters stand 12' tall, though in their combat state they contract to approximately eight feet. Hunters fight with a fuel rod gun integrated directly into their armor. They carry an enormous and nearly impervious metal shield made of an unknown alloy, which they sometimes use as a melee weapon. Personal Thoughts/Strategies: Hmmm.. Based on the book these are suppose to be nearly impervious..... Hmm... Well. That's not that case. They are FAR from impervious. In fact there armor has a horrible design flaw that makes them quite easy (in theory) to kill. Single these things are in fact quite easy to destroy if you can get past what I call there 3 lines of defense. There first line of defense is this EXTREMELY powerful long range blast. This is very dangerous and 1 hit can entirely destroy your shield, a second hit can entirely destroy you. However there is a basic way past this. It's called the standard sidestep. If one is coming towards you, you simply move out of it's fireline and it misses you. You may have to do this a few time's to get totally past there first line of defense, but once you get closer to them they switch to there second line of defense. Which is... Their melee attack. The big gun they were trying to shoot you with they are now trying to beat your brains in with. They violently try to beat you senseless into a bloody pulp. They are ferocious fighters. However they have this other mental flaw to want to rush you... This second line of defense is instantly avoided when they tried to rush you because all you have to do is side step behind them. Sometimes they get "hard" to get along with and keep trying to hit you. Simple circle them until you can get behind them. Well there armor is another story, it's there third line of defense. Literally invincible (hehe, from most angles). However there back is totally exposed. Real hard warriors. If you hit them in the front you bounce off. But they will eventually die from even frontal assaults at the right angle (or so it seems). Just get behind them and hit them with the weapon, or shoot them in the back. After about 3 standard shots they die. The pistol is REALLY affective against them. If you are away from them you can zoom in and shoot them in the back if not you can get behind them and shoot them in the back as explained above. The sniper rifle from a long distance (if you can get them to face away from you) is very affective in taking them down from a distance. Now there is one more problem with these guys where the real trouble comes in. They sometimes have this bad habit of coming in a pair. This can and is a real problem. Facing 2 at once is very difficult. Instead of getting through the first line of defense, you are facing both shooting at you. When you get up close you have to worry about them both trying to beat you senseless. The idea with this is to improvise. Use the basic tactics you have been presented to slowly work through the problem of facing both as best as possible. If you can and have a sniper rifle try to do as much damage from a distance as possible before they spot you. They may be walking in a specific path so if you are at a distance try and see what path they are walking. See if at any point they turn there back on you, if not try to get in a position to get a good few of the armorless area on there back. Even if you have to be patient to do it. However a lot of times they are in a situation where you are trapped in an area with them with no tactical advantage. This is where quick thinking, patience, and are required to come through victorious ESPECIALLY if there are other smaller enemies. There is NOTHING worse than having to take on 2 hunters with multiple grunts, jackals, and elites running around. This is a life and death situation at it's finest. Well, use the basic strategies. Try to remove the small ones, then the jackals if possible. Then get up close and try to weed out the shielded elites before moving into battle with the hunters. Now here is where you have a problem against 2. If you can avoid long distance. 2 of them shooting at you makes it VERY hard to avoid both. Or if you are in toe-toe with one and another is off shooting at you is also quite hard. Try to cross them. See if you can get one to get your attention and circle him. AGGRESIVELY pick one and go for there back. Try to topple the first as aggressively as possible while still remaining defensive enough to avoid damage whenever possible. When the time comes for the first to die, just back up and focus yourself. Avoid until your sure your shield is recharged, and improvise. Follow 1-1 tactics. If there are other distractions try to remove them if possible without taking damage from the hunter. When you are in a 1-1 scenario you can safely maneaver behind him and take him out systematically. Weapon Affectiveness: Ally Grenade ------------ This isn't very affective against hunters, but it can do some damage. Pistol ------ If you are behind them and can get clear shot's it can be affective but it's hard to get the shot's right from behind them, if you can get good at the aiming of it, then this weapon can be pretty affective against them. Assault Rifle ------------- Very affective against them as you can get behind them and fire. If you are able to circle them and continue to supply a constant streat of fire towards there back they die after about 20 seconds. Shotgun ------- Very inneffective against them. I assume if you are able to get behind them and get clear shots it can serve to kill them after a few minutes but it's harder with the shotgun. Sniper Rifle ------------ You barely ever get to get at a distance and use it, but if you can get some clear distant zoom shots with it, then it can be very affective. Rocket Launcher --------------- Very inneffective. Plasma Rifle ------------ This can be affective if you can get behind them and provide a decent stream of fire. Plasma Pistol ------------- Charged shot to the back and do a decent amount of damage, but it's not normally the best (or easiest) method. Needler ------- The needler can be very affective against hunters if used right. The idea is to attach as many as you can, and luckily some even attach from the front if it hits at the right angle. So if you can pour on a bunch of ammo from it then it can do CONSIDERABLE damage and you can run up and finish the job after a few minutes. It doesn't do a lot of natural damage but if you use them for a minute it does considerable damage, not to mention the fact that it allows you to damage them from a distance whether you are facing there front or there back. Plasma Grenades --------------- Inneffective unless you are able to stick the grenades directly onto there back (which is very difficult), it doesn't do much damage otherwise. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Any other enemies (namely the ugly ones) will be added shortly. "Boss" enemies might be present here, but I may just present them throughout the game as you encounter them, I have to start writing the walkthrough and decide as I go about that one. --------------- -Weapons/Items- --------------- Here I am going to provide overall information and basic strategic usage behind the various weapon's, grenades, and items throughout the game. It may sound throughout here as if I discredit some weapons and favor other's. I do have my favorite's but I guarantee i have used every weapon in the game until it got old, so I am going to be able to leave good info about each one because I may have my favorite's I still end up over-using each weapon throughout a standard playthrough. Human Weapons ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: M9 HE-DP Grenade Manual Information: The M9 high explosive, dual-purpose grenade is a thrown fragmentation device. Use it to supress or disable vehicles, except tanks. It can be thrown, rolled, bounced, or richocheted into places direct fire weapons can't reach. Increase the angle of the throw to toss it farther, or get it over obstacles. Be careful not to throw it to close to your own location. Personal Notes/Strategies: I find myself using this grenade a lot less than the covenant grenade (explained later). However this one is very affective for me in specific situations, as well as when I am out of the other grenades. This grenade is also alot more affective than direct confrontations sometimes. There are a lot of times in this game where the enemy will be within a little encampment of some sort they have created. I can use base tactics to get into there encampment (mainly taking out the littles ones and snipers then bumrushing the remainders. However that is a messy, damage taking approach. So if you have a grenade you can simply throw the grenade into the heart of the little encampment they created and make them scatter as well as take some or all of them out in one attack. However There are other secondary affects to doing this. Even if they all run from it, and no damage is dealt there attention is diverted to the grenade. Giving you time to rush in and by the time they regain there composure half of them could be dead. Either way it's affective. Another method is if you are directly pinnde down from 2 sides or 2 different locations. You can send one of the grenades towards one set of enemies to distract them while you move in on the other group of enemies to dismantle them. They will be dead and your attention on the remaining team (if there still alive). Other uses for this are it's bounce affect. You can throw it against the wall and have it bounce into room. If you are in a HARD area and you know enemies are around a door, you can a few grenades against the wall knocking them into the room to provide some cover damage or distraction (or both). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: M6D Pistol Manual Information: This pistol is a recoiled-operated, magazine-fed handgun. It is issued with a smart-linked scope capable of 2X magnification (press the Right thumbstick). It fires 12.7 MM semi-armor-piercing, high explosive rounds. It can shoot either semi-automatic or automatic fire (Pull and hold right trigger for automatic fire). Shot placement is very important. The only shot that gaurantees immediate and total incapacitation is one roughly centered in the head, above a horizontal line passing through the ear opening and below the crown of the skull. Personal Notes/Strategies: Ok the pistol is generally the first weapon you start with and seemingly the most basic one in the game. However it ends up being one of the most affective in a variety of situations. I personally try my hardest to have one for backup even if I don't use it in all situations. The reasons are innumerable but it might be my own personal play style. For one they are good against both the grunts and the jackals. Another is there light zoom abilities. They are also pretty affective against the hunters. Another thing I like about them is they are not quite as messy as the machine gun or the games numerous other weapons. Being messy I mean you have a more accurate, well placed shot than with many of the other enemies in the game. I normally end up using it for starting a fight with a group. It allows me to remove the grunts and most of the jackals before turning my machine gun towards the elites. It also packs a decent punch when you have to hit with it. If you are reloading you can take the little guy's down in about 2-3 hit's. It's also VERY affective against popcorn flood because one shot with the pistol will kill one. Unless there are large groups more suited for the machine gun. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: MA5B Assault Rifle Manual Information: This rifle is a gas-operated and magazine-fed. It fires 7.62MM armor- piercing rounds. Rate of Fire is limited by a soldier's ability to aim, fire, and change magazines. Short, controlled bursts are more accurate than fully automatic fire. The MA5B's integrated computer displays rounds left in the magazine and the relative direction of the gas giant. Threshhold, for point of reference. This feature is particularly useful for orienting you in areas where it's easy to get turned around and lose your sense of direction. Personal Notes/Strategies: This weapon can be both a blessing and a curse depending on how it's used. The average player may find themselves having it in there hand most of the time and to be honest whenever I can have a machine gun I will choose it normally over any of the alien weapons (as my primary). Well that can be good and bad if you know when and how to use it. It can fire fast which is very handy, but also very dangerous if misused. For example. Against the small ones a full clip isn't required. Simple short bursts (about 3 seconds worth of shooting) is MORE than enough to take down a small one (even a headshot will take one down in one shot) anymore than is needed to kill a grunt is an obvious waste of ammo. For the jackals the standard response is to shoot there shield until it desolves and then drill there flesh until they hit the floor. It is affective to a degree but extremely messy (not professional, and wastes ammo). The same thing if you use it right though it's great. You can start off by hitting them with the weapon. Or you can move beside them and try to get a flesh shot. When you have an opening open fire and they will go down after about 4-10 bullets. But shoot carefully, as soon as they die, then stop shooting to conserve ammo. To be honest the messy approach is best against the elites. The only way to take down there shields is with damage. So when you attack them start a continuous stream of fire on one elite until there shield is out, and you will do a few hits then run out of ammo. When you run out draw in on them and hit them with the weapon a few times until they die. If there are enemies around as well then fall back and repeat if there are more elites. Or do whatever is necessary to remove the other threats. Now the machine gun is not really worth trying to use againts the hunters in a direct assualt. It takes forever and wastes ammo. It's also a little messy to use from behind. To take down a hunter it will only let you shoot it in the back a few shots before it turns around quite angrily. So the best best if you are using this gun against one is when you are behind it, shoot in a short burst (2 or 3 shots) then release. Then get behind again and repeat. After about 3 behind visit's the enemy should fall. The only situation where I like doing the messy frontal assault approach is when you are against a close together group. In this situation then a direct assault might be more affective. Then again without some kind of supplement it can still be quite risky. Do what you can from afar then move in for the psycho approach. Having a few plasma grenades to supplement your frontal assault and cause enemy disorder in the brink of battle can be all that will turn the tides in a tough firefight. But despite the goods and bads it's the most affective weapon. I find myself using this above and beyond any other weapon. If this one is available then I end up picking it up over any other weapon. If I don't have one and I am using alien or other weapons then I drop whatever I am carrying if I run across one of these. It's just a personal play style. It's also very affective against popcorn flood if used in controlled bursts, and if you are careful not to overfire and waste ammo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: M90 Shotgun Manual Information: The shotgun is a pump-action, magazine-fed (dual tubular non-detacheable type) weapon. It fires 8 gauge magnum (3.5") rounds. This weapon is very effective against targets at close range and may be used to engage several targets simultaneously at medium and long range. Personal Notes/Strategies: Ah... The shotgun. Very messy, very inaccurate and very powerful. This one I use almost anytime I have it available. Normally I choose it as a secondary above the pistol. One reason, there is a type of enemy you fight later in the game and this does WONDERS against the flood of any type (except popcorn flood). However having this as a secondary when the flood are around can mean the difference between life and death. It's very affective againts covenants but not "as" much because of the way it works. You can kill the little ones in 1-2 shots the pistol/machine gun is much more affective. It is horrible against deletes. It is Usable against hunters but a lot harder than using the machine gun or pistol. It is not as affective as you would think even if you get behind them and follow the normal tactics. However if you are right up on the back of the hunter then it does massive amounts of damage and can be quite useful. The other downfall is it's slow loading. It can never be used in a major firefight because once it initially runs out of ammo it takes so long to fully reload that you will find youself loading a few shell's, shooting them out, and loading a few more without ever being able to do a full load until you get some cover or the enemies are cleared from the area. Same with the flood later in the game it's hard to use because you can take down 8 (that's how many shells it holds) and after that, you don't have time to reload. THen you need to quickly start a reload while you dodge enemies or trust your other weapon until you have the time period where you can perform a full shotgun reload. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: S2 AM Sniper Rifle Manual Information: This rifle is a gas-operated, magazine-fed weapon. It is issues with a smart-linked scope with two levels of magnification (press in the right thumbstick once for 2X, press again for 10X and once more to deactivate). Also, while still in zoom you can press the flashlight button to activate light amplification. It fires 14.5MM armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot rounds. WARNING: The 14.5X114MM APFSDS round is an anti-materiel munition. It can easily over-penetrate several armored soldiers. Be sure of what is on the other side of your target before firing. Personal Notes/Strategies: Ok, this weapon is really good but has limited capabilities in actual combat. The bottom line is it's relatively useless in standard fights where the enemy is aware of your location and close to you. Basically if you are away from the enemy and hidden then it's awesome. It can be used to take down multiple enemies and "most" can be done in with one shot. This is one weapon that is even very affective at long range against elite's if you are a really good shot. The grunts, jackels, flood, and many other's can be taken down with 1 shot at a distance if done right. The elite's can be roughly taken down in 2-3. Which may seem hard. However if you are a decent shot with the weapon it's more than do-able. The first shot almost always completely disables there shield. If you can keep steady aim after that you can normally get 1 more hit and kill them. If not 2 more at the most. Now if they are aware of your presence and a distance away it still is helpful if you are able to track them well enough to get a lock on them even with them moving. Now if they are aware of your presence and within fighting range the weapon is "almost but not entirely" useless. There are some strategic uses for it, but nothing like the affects you can get from the weapons that are meant for close range. The idea is it does a decent amount of damage when hitting with it. As for firing at close range, I have to be honest one shot from this is considerably more powerful than most of the other standard weapons. Zooming at close range is next to impossible. But if you are within standard site view and just point and shoot, which is also harder on a moving target because the barrel is longer, it's still quite affective against elites. However with it being even harder to aim upclose it's more of a challenge and less of a help in most situations up close. As for hunters, if you can get one to face away from you at long distance it's VERY affective against them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: M19 SSM Rocket Launcher Manual Information: The M19 SSM is man-portable and shoulder fired rocket launcher. It has two major components, the launcher and the magazine. The magazine (the expendable part of the system) contains two 102MM shaped-charge, high explosive rockets. It is designed for fast, easy detachment from the launcher. The launcher contains the sighting and fire control system. Personal Notes/Strategies: Ok, this one has it's uses. However you find limited throughout the game, and because of there limited ammo capabilities they don't last very long. They have limited explosive capabilities against ground based enemies, and are decent against hunters if you can aim it right. With limited ammo you can't really afford to miss so aim carefully. The real reason they are in the game is for vehicle destruction. They are good against almost all vehicles except for the flying banshee. They are fast and hard to hit with the limited ammo of the rocket launcher. Now those are best with other weapons. Now if you are within any other land based vehicle and you are a semi-decent aim then they can work wonders. They are especially good against enemy land tanks. However close in as close as you can and make sure you have a clean shot. They move back and forth so they are hard to pinpoint from too far of a distance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: M41 LAAG Manual Information: The warthog's M41 light anti-aircraft gun is a three-barreled, electric powered,linkless, drum-fed weapon. It fires 450 to 550 12.7X99MM armor penetrating rounds per minute. Turret traverse rate is 100 degress per second and weapon elevation rate is 60 degrees per second. Recoil from sustained fire is prodigious and negatively impacts accuracy at long range. Personal Notes/Strategies: It's the mounted weapon that comes on top of the warthog. You will RARELY if ever find yourself on top of it when you are in single player but it's a dream in 2 player co-op. One drives and another fires, together you can do some massive damage. THe only other use is to stop driving and get on it so you can use it. Also if you have npc's with you they can get on top and shoot from it while you drive. If you get off then they can provide a certain level of rapid fire support while you move in to wipe up remaining land units. I find myself pulling up and getting out while the gunner clears the area and I pick up stragglers. Then I get in and drive closer so they have a clearer shot for any remaining enemies. This is affective because I can get involved on foot plus get the firepower from the top of the vehicle. More on this under the vehicles section. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Covenant Weapons ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Plasma Grenade Manual Information: This weapon is similar to our very own hand grenade in that it is thrown anti-infantry and anti-vehicle weapon. It has some kind of internal mechanism that allows it to distinguish between targets and background. For example, it will stick to soldier or vehicle, but not a tree or wall. It has a three-second fuse that is activated after it sticks to a target or otherwise comes to rest. Personal Notes/Strategies: BY FAR my favorite grenade in the game and to me the most usefull. Now I like the other grenade and it has it's uses but I normally use it under specific conditions as well as when I am out of these. This is my primary choice in grenade. I can't even begin to explain the strategic advantages this grenade can give you. It can be used pre-battle to cause disorder and damage on the enemy. It can be used under fire to provide support, distraction, and enemy damage. It can be used in the middle of a face to face firefight and turn the tide of any battle where you are outnumbered. It's affective against all forms of enemies. Generally any enemy you attach it to instantly dies when it goes off, except fo hunters which still take a LOT of damage and could die if it's attached to there back. It's mean to be a supplement to battle. In situations where you are in a firefight against multiple opponents. When you have to reload sometimes the enemies rush you. If you send them a grenade before you start the reload then the simple fact you threw it causes disorder, and damage when it explodes. If you happened to get it to properly stick to the target they are as soon as dead, and not only that they will generally fall back for cover even with it attached which can result on there death and the death of others. The only downfall is in some situations if you are closer to the enemy they will try to rush you with the grenade attached to them, that can get pretty ugly if you have nowhere to run. The enemy can't get the grenade de-attached from them but I have known times when you are in the highest difficulty setting where they sometimes actually pull the grenade off there body and throw it back but it rarely happens. Now if you are hit with one and it attaches to you, then you can jump backwards and jump a few times and sometimes it'll fall off your body. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Plasma Rifle Manual Information: Core Power Output - 100-150 kv @ 2-3 da Rate of Fire - 420-600 RD/MIN This is a directed energy weapon. It is capable of either semi-automatic or automatic fire (pull and hold the Right Trigger for automatic fire). Continuous rapid fire overheats the weapon--this in turn depletes the weapon's power core. We currently do not understand how to replace or re-charge a power core. Note- This weapon will deplete it's energy source as you use it. It is wise to replace it as often as possible. Personal Notes/Strategies: This one can be pretty useful. It is like a machine gun but with plasma energy and it doesn't do "quite" as much damage as the human made machine gun but it's affective as a replacement for the machinegun. It's also more accurate, and easy to use with the exception that if you overuse it,then it burns your hand, makes you lose slight shield, as well as delays you far longer than you need. Make sure you watch the bar and make sure you never over-use it. If you think you are getting near the breaking point then go ahead and switch weapons and use your secondary for a second and switch back so it has time to cool down, and doesn't delay you in the middle of a difficult firefight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Plasma Pistol Manual Information: Core Power Output - 100-150 Kv @ 2-3 dA Overcharge Power Output - 1.5Mv @2-3 dA This weapon is a semi-automatic directed energy weapon. If you pull and hold the right trigger, this weapon may become over-charged: when the right trigger is released the bolt is launched. After the over-charged bolt is launched the weapon temporarily stops functioning as it dumps waste heat. Use of the over-charge capability rapidly depletes the weapon's power core. We currently do not understand how to replace or re-charge a power core. Note- This weapon will deplete it's energy source as you use it. It is wise to replace it as often as possible. Personal Notes/Strategies: Decent weapon. It's got a decent fire rate. It also has a special turbo charged feature that is really nice. You can charge it to maximum and then when it releases it shoots a charge bolt at the enemy doing massive damage. It run's out fast, and the cooldown for using the charge is quite a big one to be too effective in a major firefight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Needler Manual Information: Very little is known about this weapon other than that it is a magazine fed weapon capable of automatic fire. It's projectiles penetrate soft targets no matter what the angle of impact. They richochet off of hard surfaces at oblique angles, however and are always deflected by energy shields, the only exceptions to this being the shields generated by the MJOLNIR battle suit and the elite's combat armor. The composition and energy signature of its projectile is unknown. The manner in which the projectiles home in on their target is also unknown. Personal Notes:Strategies: This weapon has many strategic uses. I find myself having some fun with it. The good thing is it's partially homing so you don't have to be "as" careful with aiming as with other weapons. Not only that it sticks to enemies. It's still ineffective against enemies with shields. Except it can stick to elite's shield. This can be great. You can run up to an elite and stick a whole clip to them a few minutes later there shield will be done plus them taking some damage. Then you can follow up there death with a secondary weapon. I have even found a full clip into a elite to sometimes even come close to and in some cases causing death. It is also good in a group. When it's attached it raises the enemies stress level. This makes them sometimes run around disorderly and decreases there accuracy and tactics to an extent. If you are around a group (as long there aren't jackals in the front lines) you can safely fire recklessly towards a group. You won't see bodies hitting the ground but you will see a bunch of them attach to various enemies and some will drop after the explosions starts, other's will scatter and overall chaos will ensue. Some will bum rush you, some will run around circles, and some will fire back. Empty 3-4 clips into a decent crowd of enemies then chances are after 2-3 clips they'll just be only a few left. They are good againts jackals if you can get a clean flesh shot, because then you can unload half a clip into them and back away. After they explode they die and even if they don't they drop there shield long enough for you to make the necessary secondary attack to finish them off. Same with a hunter if you can get behind them and hook half a clip on there back it does pretty affective damage. There not "as" affective against flood because they attack violently and constantly try to rush you so the weapon needs a few seconds to explode upon impact and they are on you hitting it before it has a chance to detonate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Stationary Gun (Shade) Manual Information: Although the shade appears to be a light anti-vehicle weapon, the covenant uses it almost exclusively in anti-infantry role. The operator sits directly behind the gun and an armored suite, but relies entirely on infantry support for protection on the sides and rear. Personal Notes/Strategies: It's very unlikly you will find yourself behind one of these to start. They are normally enemy occupied and you can take them over after the enemy has been removed from it. If one enemy dies then another will normally try to man the machine right after that. Also I have never seen a human npc try to occupy one before so they aren't set to do that. Well if you get ahold of one that isn't manned it's sometimes good for light ground support if you are facing the only area enemies can come from or fighting a large group and want to mop them fast. but if there is a continual stream coming towards you then chances are they are going to overrun you and get you off of it before you really have a chance to make a difference with it. It is also pretty helpful against some form of vehicles but not very affective against phantoms because you can't aim it up very high of an angle, and phantoms normally fly out of range of it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------- -Vehicles- ---------- This will list all of the vehicles, there descriptions from the manual and my basic thoughts and perceptions about them as well. Human Vehicles ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: M12 LRV (Warthog) Manual Information: Crew - 1+1 (Plus 1 more in rear) Weight - 3.25 tons Armament - 12.7mm three-barreled machine gun The M12 light reconnaissance vehicle, or warthog, is the standard vehicle of the UEG armed forces. It is fast and maneuverable, but prone to rollovers during hard cornering. A three-barreled machine gun is mounted in the rear of the vehicle. Armed passengers significantly increase the unit's infantry capabilities. Personal Notes/Strategies: This is the primary vehicle you will find yourself in throughout the game. You NEED to make sure you get use to this weapon as soon, and as good as possible. I don't want to reveal too much of the story but there is a time late in the game when you HAVE to drive it and you have to drive it fast and well. You need to already be extremely familiar with it and all it's basic controls and usage. Hopefully you can pick up some tips and tricks during your usage throughout the game, believe me during the level where you HAVE to use it your going to need all the skill and speed behind it's usage that you can get. The more experience you get with it freeform ahead of time is going to help you a lot. Other than that it's hard to control. You need to learn how to drive it, and how to shoot when neded. There won't be alot of times that you get on the turret but it's helpful in some situations so your going to atleast want to learn how to use the turret as well. Whenever they are available try to have a full load of npc marines in there with you. A max of 3 total (including you) can fit. One in the side and one on the turret. They can give heavy supplementary gunfire when needed. If it's just you then you can alternate between driving, stop get out and get on turret, and get off drive again as needed to aide you in combat situations. When someone is on it then you have him up there giving you support fire. You can pull up and get out and do ground battle while he provides support then get on and move closer as needed. On top of that if you have someone in the passenger seat they will normally shoot there machine gun or whatever as even extra support fire which can help in combat even more. Get use to pulling back on the controls when are doing really high jumps. It can sometimes mean the difference between flipping and not flipping. I will be giving EXTENSIVE details throughout the game as needed, so if you are stuck on a specific area check the walkthrough and you may find more warthog tips as needed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: M808B Scorpion MBT Manual Information: Crew - 2(or 1 cyborg) Weight - 66 tons Main Gun - 99MM HV (High Velocity) Secondary/Coaxial gun - 7.62mm AP-T (Armor piercing, Tracer) The Scorpion Main Battle Tank is primarily an anti-vehicle platform, but it also has very high anti-infantry capabilities. Its ceramic-titantium armor makes it nearly invunerible to small arms fire, but it's deep dead-zone, or the area within which fire from the tank's guns cannot hit targets, puts it at risk from enemy anti-tank infantry. Up to four soldiers may ride on (and fire from) the Scorpions track pods. Riding on a tank is always hazardous and should be done only when the advantages outweigh the risks. Personal Notes/Strategies: You don't get to use this one alot. There's not much to it, it's a tank. It moves like a tank, barely nothing can stand in it's way, it's slow, but it runs over anything (including vehicles) as well as does massive damage from it's fires. Use it whenever you have it, whenever you can get it relish it, and learn to make full advantage of it during whatever missions you are lucky enough to use it in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Covenant Vehicles ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Ghost Manual Information: Crew - 1 Weight - 3.25 Tons Armament - Two plasma cannons (100-250 kW range) The ghost is the Covenant standard reconnaissance and rapid attack vehicle. It is equipped with two of what are now accepted as the light vehicle mounted weapons: a directed energy weapon capable of projecting a bolt of super-heated plasma in the 100-150kW range. While the vehicle is fast and maneuverable, the driver is virtually unprotected. Personal Notes/Strategies: These are great if you can get a hold of one. It's hard to shoot an enemy off of one without destroying the vehicle, and the only other option is to find an unmanned one. You will end up having multiple opprotunities to use one and if your a decent fast learner then you'll notice if you going ghost against ghost it's really easy to gun another one down if you know how to use it and how to focus it's shot's and aim well. You can have one ghost against 4 and with some dodging and decent aiming a really good driver can take out 3-5 enemies on ghosts with just having 1 ghost of there own. Very affective especially if you have other ground allies to provide a certain level of support. In multiple player on person can drive and another could be ground support, really helpful. Weapon Affectiveness: Ally Grenade ------------ Inneffective and almost impossible to get the vehicle within the blast radius. Pistol ------ If you do zoomed in, well placed shots it can be very affective. If you use this gun to attempt to disable the rider it's more affective than going for the vehicle itself with this weapon. Assault Rifle ------------- Very affective if done at close range. Apply a constant stream of damage towards the vehicle direclty can be more affective with this gun. Shotgun ------- Inneffective and not recommended in standard cases. Sniper Rifle ------------ If you are at a decent range and can zoom in then this can be very affective for taking out the rider. It's not very affective however for the vehicle itself. Rocket Launcher --------------- Inneffective and a waste of ammo. Plasma Rifle ------------ This can be pretty affective if you supply a continous stream of fire to either the rider or the vehicle. Plasma Pistol ------------- The standard shots are inaffective but the charge blasts are affective if shot directly at the vehicle. Needler ------- Extremely inneffective if not useless to the vehicle, but if you can attach them to the rider than can be one of the most affective one's around. Generally though the explosions done from it will damage the weapon they are riding as well. Plasma Grenades --------------- Useless against this vehicle and near impossible to get it attached to the driver if you ever can at all. I have tried getting it attached to one of the drivers but have never been successful. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Banshee Manual Information: Crew - 1 Weight - 2.25 Tons Armament - Two plasma cannons(100-250 kW range) Secondary Weapons - Two Fuel Rod Cannons The Banshee is the Covenant's standard ground assault aircraft. It is very fast, extremely maneuverable and capable of hovering. It has two weapon pods mounted to either side of the fuselage. Both of these rods contain a light plasma cannon and a fuel rod cannon. Though small arms fire may disrupt or disable the pilot only heavy weapons are capable of inflicting damage or destroying the vehicle. Personal Notes/Strategies: "Only heavy weapons are capable of inflicting damage or destroying the vehicle" HAHAHAHAH that is the funniest thing I ever heard. Actually this thing can even be properly and easily destroyedwith just a hand gun. You need to get good aim and make a few direct shots on it, but you can take one of these out in LESS than a full pistol clip of well placed shots. I mean actually destroying the Banshee not just killing the driver. With 5 well placed pistol shots you can make it blow up in mid air. The Machine gun is also good but takes longer because it's harder to aim. Sniper rifle works wonders and various types of plasma weapons do as well. As for driving them they are pretty good vehicles once you get use to how they fly. The hover, and fly but strangely. It takes a minute to get use to it but once you do you should be fine. Just take your time with it to learn the controls and after you have that down then focus on learning how to aim and when to use primary and when to use secondary (left trigger) and you'll get good with it in no time. However there are limited times when you will actually be able to drive one since there VERY VERY hard to commandeer if not impossible, I have never been able to kill the driver and get in the vehicle as they are enclosed inside the vehicle. Weapon Affectiveness: Ally Grenade ------------ Useless Pistol ------ Very affective against this vehicle. If you zoom in you can make sure you aim well (especially useful when they are rushing you). You can easily take them out in roughly 1 and a half clips, which may seem like a lot but it's one of the most affective weapons against them. Assault Rifle ------------- Useless at a distance, but if you can get a steady stream of fire on them during the times they hover closer to the ground it'll work. Takes longer than the pistol generally because you have to wait until they are close enough to be able to take damage from the assault rifle. Shotgun ------- Useless, I am supposing if they flew really close and you got direct shots the shotgun (might) be able to take them out after awhile, but it's useless and a waste of perfectly good ammo. Sniper Rifle ------------ It's harder to use because the vehicles are moving, but if you are at a distance and a really good aim, I don't see why not. It's not recommended. Rocket Launcher --------------- Very hard to get a good aim, but one hit from it and there gone, I don't personally recommend it because of how difficult it is to hit it with this not to mention the limited ammo the rocket launcher has. Plasma Rifle ------------ It can be affective, provided you get flesh shots. Or if you shoot there shield a minute with it, it will go down allowing you to finish them. Plasma Pistol ------------- Not very affective but if you can get direct charged shots you can take it down after a few minutes. Needler ------- Relatively useless in this situation, if not completely. Plasma Grenades --------------- Useless. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Tank with unknown name. Manual Information: Nothing in the manual about this one. Personal Notes/Strategies: Not even mentioned in the manual but you run across it often enough for it to potentially pose a threat. It's a difficult vehicle to go against because of what it does. It moves back and forth in hover form. Basically it starts a central location and slides back and forth over and over again on the same spot. Which makes it near impossible to properly target with the rocket launcher without being close enough to give it a hug. On top of that it shoots giant balls of plasma energy that can easily destroy any other vehicle within attack range. If it hits you on foot your shield is virtually gone in one hit, leaving you vunerable to any ground units in the area. They aren't too hard to dodge if you pay attention to the balls coming, you simply side step. However make enough distance between yourself and it's drop point to not take area damage caused by the impact. Now another factor into it's attack is it arches. It will point in your direction and fire way up in the air in a broad arch that makes it sometimes hard to tell for sure where it's going to drop at exactly and that can be a problem pinpointed what part to avoid. You will RARELY if EVER get to use this vehicle on a standard playthrough. It's almost impossible to get ahold of one during a standard playthrough of halo 1 (halo 2 is drastically different where this is concerned which will be explained later in my halo 2 walkthrough. Weapon Affectiveness: Ally Grenade ------------ This may seem useless but if you are good and can land it right along the annoying path it takes back and forth you can do quite a bit of damage if you have nothing better at your disposal. Pistol ------ Useless, It would take forever to destroy it with just a pistol. Assault Rifle ------------- Relatively useless, takes a long time to destroy it. Shotgun ------- Useless Sniper Rifle ------------ Useless Rocket Launcher --------------- VERY affective, probably the only primary way I recommend taking these out, however you want to do it from as close as possible and make sure you are going to get a direct hit. You have to take into account there path back and forth, but this is very affective. However with it's limited ammo you can't afford to miss much especially if you have a few of these vehicles to destroy. Plasma Rifle ------------ Useless Plasma Pistol ------------- Relatively useless Needler ------- Useless Plasma Grenades --------------- About the same as the standard grenade, it doesn't stick so you have to make sure you get it within the right path so it does damage when it explodes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------- -Beginner Strategies- --------------------- Ducking - Ducking is a very important part of the game. For both cover, and for general uses like taking less damage even if you are getting hit. (Every bullet that misses you is a little more damage you avoid). Also one thing I do dislike about the game is the way you crouch. You have to hold the button to stay crouched and I personally like being able to stay in crouch position without holding a button down, that is the most annoying parts of both of the games... Either way ducking is very important even though you have to hold it down, especially when you are trying to stay hid from the enemy. Grenades - Grenades aren't something you want to become wholely reliant on because you can only carry a limited supply and run out fast. However get use to both types of grenades, there uses, and how to use them to supplement difficult battles and root out enemies that are under good cover. Also the plasma grenade can be stuck onto an enemy and sometimes they'll run back into cover and successfully take out not only them but half of the encampment at the same time. ------------------------- -Intermediate Strategies- ------------------------- --------------------- -Advanced Strategies- --------------------- ------------------------ -Multiplayer Strategies- ------------------------ -------------------------------- -Legendary Mode General Tactics- -------------------------------- Ammo Conservation ----------------- Ammo loss in legendary mode is real bad. You find yourself running out of ammo and having multiple problems all over the place. The best ways to prevent that are to change weapons whenever possible. When it's needed then backtrack as you need, and pick up old ammo that was left behind. Change ammo often, and try to get use to guns you don't like, so you can go back for ones you like during the needed situation. Rarely in a mission will they stop you from moving forward. Taking Breaks ------------- It's hard wrong to take a break during the game. Each MISSION INDIVIDUALLY is set to save a mission checkpoint from ONE of the 4 different choices. Meaning you can start mission 1 on heroic, and go halfway through a mission get a checkpoint and save. Then go to mission 2 and get a check point in legendary save, and quit. Then later go back to mission 1 heroic, or even head into mission 3. AS LONG as you don't go INTO mission 2 and pick ANOTHER difficuly setting other than the one that had your saved checkpoint then you can replay it whenever you want. That way you can work through a little ways and come back later when you have had a break or done a few other missions on another difficulty setting. You could (in essence) beat the game then have every mission saved in various stages on legendary mode at checkpoints. It will keep up with your progress for each mission seperately for 1 difficulty setting. Use this to your advantage and take breaks when needed. New Players may want to wait ---------------------------- You really do have to understand that legendary isn't for the average one time halo players. It's very hard. I noticed when I first started the game there is NO WAY I could have done legendary mode. However over an extended period of time I played the game, beat it and stopped. (normal mode). A few months later I would clear it again. Then one day I just wanted to take on heroic. After beating the game 2 times on normal it was really no problem. It was just a little harder than normal. After about 4 more playthroughs I finally decided to beat it on legendary. I got MURDERED. However I kept at it. I made it through the first mission on legendary and backed out. After awhile back I went back to it and honestly, I made it from checkpoint to checkpoint almost each time. A few deaths here and there but I had developed the strategies to not have many problems in legendary mode because of the amount of overall time over an extended period of time I had dedicated to the game, plus playing the second one. So take your time, wait until you are ready and have the skill necessary to do what is needed to really be able to beat legendary mode successfully without getting too angry at it. ######### #SECRETS# ######### Secret Ending - Tested ---------------------- There is a semi-secret ending built into the game. If you manage to beat the entire game on the "Legendary" difficulty setting (walkthrough on how to accomplish this is built into the game) then you will be able to get extended scenes at the very end of the game because of this. Special Hidden (random) Messages - Untested (currently) ------------------------------------------------------- At the character profile screen enter the name .fortune and the game will auto-generate a random message. (All potential random messages will be listed here soon). Marines Attack You - Tested --------------------------- You can perform this during any level where you have fellow marines within viewing distance. If you shoot a marine they will say something about attacking them. After attacking them a few times they get mad and all the marines within the area will start attacking you and maliciously trying to kill you. ###################### #PC VERSION SPECIFICS# ###################### There are some things in the PC version that will be "important" that you don't have to worry about on any of the system versions. Those things are listed throughout the various subsections within this section --------------------- -System Requirements- --------------------- Minimum ------- * Operating Systems: Windows 98, Windows Second Edition, Windows Mellenium, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista. * Processor: 733 Megahertz * Direct X Version: 9.0 or better. * Memory: 128 Megabytes (MB) of RAM. * Hard Drive Space: 32 MegaBytes * CD: 8X atleast * Sound: Sound card, speakers, or headphones (if you play multiplayer) * Modem (If you are wanting to play online) Recommended ----------- The better your system is then obviously the better it's going to work. So if you try it and you meet minimum requirements it'll work fine but you might want to upgrade your system for best results to be a little bit above the recommended settings (for best results only) ------------ -Patch Data- ------------ I want to offer a COMPLETE list of EVERY patch every created for Halo the pc version as well as the details in the changelog. Yes it's VERY hard to track these down but I hope I have a semi-complete list (atleast to-date) and I would REALLY appreciate it if I missed 1 thing from a change that was made or one patch or anything if you would fill me in immediately. I really would like to keep this list fully up-todate and 100% accurate. PC Patch 1.01 (September 30, 2003 (File Size: 3.87 MB) --------------------------------------------------- I really need the changelog for this if anyone can help me get a hold of it. PC Patch 1.02 (October 8, 2003 (File Size: 4.04 MB) ------------------------------------------------ * Timedemo doesn't check memory usage consumption with every frame rendered. * After running timedemo, the last saved checkpoint is not altered anymore. * Multiple minor bugs fixes to the Halo Auto-Updater application. * Fixed an issue in keystone.dll that was causing certain configurations to potentially crash when chatting in multiplayer games. * Fixed minor card specific rendering glitches. If anyone has a COMPLETE list of bugs that were fixed and any issues I am missing I would appreciate you emailing me about it. I know I don't have a complete changelist for this patch but I need one PC Patch 1.03 (December 10, 2003) (File Size: 4.63 MB) ----------------------------------------------------------- * Lot's of fixes * Improved online play * Networking Architecture was improved * At this point saved games are not compatible with older versions * Anti team killing. Increased respawn time multiplier for team killing. * Added automatic ban feature for team killers. * Increased chat text length � Chat length has been increased from 40 characters to 64 characters * Networking performance � Enhancement to player prediction * New in-game scoreboard � Displays players, kills, deaths, assists and ping * Cinematic speech bug with Audigy cards fixed PC Patch 1.031 (December 31, 2003) (File Size: 4.63 MB) ------------------------------------------------------------ * Fixed problems experienced with 1.03 patch PC Patch 1.04 (February 11, 2004) (File Size: 4.63 MB) ----------------------------------------------------------- * Fixes potential crashing issue (from microsoft and gamespy) PC Patch 1.05 (May 20, 2004) (File Size: 4.6 MB) ------------------------------------------------ I need patch notes for this (I have none) PC Patch 1.06 (September 6th 2004) (File Size: 4.5 MB) ------------------------------------------------------ I need patch notes for this (I have none) PC Patch 1.07(May 31, 2005) (File Size: 4.7 MB) ----------------------------------------------- Latest Patch (I think) * Fixed the crash on startup bug relating to the intro movies. * Anisotropic filtering is now off by default. * A significant number of reported game crashes are related to an external library called keystone.dll (such as 'There is a problem with your game installation. You may need to reinstall the game to fix it'). Microsoft has updated this library to address the most common failures. These crashes would usually occur when changing screen resolution, when starting or quitting Halo PC, when chatting in a multiplayer game or when using ALT-TAB to minimize Halo PC and return to Windows. * Halo can now be bound to a specific IP address using the -ip command line argument. (facilitating multiple NIC support for Halo Dedicated Servers) * Halo can now read/write data files to a user specified folder using the -path command line argument. This is particularly useful for Halo Dedicated Servers but also be used for users whose 'My Documents' folder is remapped to a UNC path. It is an advanced option and using it will force you to manually move saved games and multiplayer gametypes. * Online Multiplayer: Telefrag message is now appropriately replicated. * Online Multiplayer: Minor fixes to switching teams in kill-in-order games (score will now remain accurate) * Online Multiplayer: Minor fixes to the end of the game state (new players now have to wait for the game to be restarted before being admitted to the server) * Online Multiplayer: Fix for clients flashlight states when joining games * Online Multiplayer: Vehicles won't re-spawn if they have a projectile (such as a plasma grenade) attached to them. They will wait for the projectile to be removed. * Online Multiplayer: Minor fixes to using teleports for high-latency connections * Sound: Fix for cinematic dialog being cut out on certain cards when enabling Audio Hardware Acceleration in the Audio Settings. After running timedemo, the last saved checkpoint is not altered anymore. * Multiple minor bugs fixes to the Halo Auto-Updater application. * Fixed minor card specific rendering glitches. Need complete list (or additions) if anyone has them. ----------------- -Other Downloads- ----------------- Trial (demo) ------------ The trial version of the game is available for download in many location on the internet. It features: * Single Player Gameplay (Limited) - Silent Cartographer Level (this is the level you have access to in the trial of the game) - Blood Gulch (This is the map you are given access to in the trial version multiplayer) * Multiple Play Gameplay (Limited) * Vehicle Combat (Limited) If I missed anything please let me know. Mac Patches ----------- There were a series of patches for teh "MAC" version of the game. Once I get the data for those prepared then I will be removing this mini-section and adding the mac patches into the "patch" section of the walkthrough. String Files ------------ I know very little about this. After I am done researching this I will put detailed data about it down within one of the sections somewhere in this walkthrough. Server Patches -------------- Another thing i am still doing research and compiling data on. ---------------- -Bugs and Fixes- ---------------- Ok. There are almost always bugs with games (game specific crashes), crashes because of your system) whatever. I want to eventually have a 100% troubleshooting guide here. If anyone has EVER had a problem with the game running IN ANY WAY and found a solution please email me the INITIAL problem you had, ALL solutions you tried, and the final solution you used that made it work and I will add that into the walkthrough here and give credit as needed (like I do so far). ############# #FINAL WORDS# ############# I hope you enjoyed the walkthrough. I doubt this is the final version of it ever. I will always eventually replay it, or add new stuff from contributions or whatever else. All of your contributions are deeply appreciated. If you ever want to make a contribution you can do so at businessman332211(@)gmail(.)com - remove (). ######### #CREDITS# ######### This is where the credit's go for anyone who contributed to the walkthrough as well as what they contributed. ########### #WISH LIST# ########### This is going to be the main things I am hoping to get "Contributions" for. * Alternate strategies you might be able to provide. * If there is ANY WAY AT ALL to have it stay ducked until you unclick it, I hate that you have to hold the button down to remain ducked. * Anything else. ############ #COPY RIGHT# ############ Anyone can use or post this guide anywhere, as long as the following rules are applied to all situations. 1. It HAS to remain free. 2. It has to remain UNALTERED in any WAY SHAPE OR FORM PERIOD. ALL INFORMATION FROM THE VERY TOP TO THE VERY BOTTOM MUST REMAIN 100% INTACT. INCLUDING THE BOX AT THE TOP WITH MY CONTACT INFORMATION. It can be posted on any site that a person wants to take the time to post it on. However the only one I update is www.gamefaqs.com so if you are wanting to get the updated version of the faq ALWAYS check on gamefaqs for the newest version.
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