ONI: Sword Base/Walkthrough

This is a walkthrough for the Halo: Reach level ONI: Sword Base. It is written for play at the Legendary difficulty, but contains notes for lower difficulties. This is the third level of Halo: Reach. For this mission you are joined by Catherine-B320. Your mission is to clear ONI: Sword Base of all Covenant hostiles, with additional objectives to be added later. Your initial loadout for this mission is your MA37 Assault Rifle an M392 DMR and 2 M9 Grenades. It is important to note that as this walkthrough at the Legendary difficulty, all strengths of enemies reflected are at the Legendary level.

They Really do Pick the Worst LZs
Well, here you are, stuck on the low ground being assaulted from all sides. What to do. This area has two tiers, the ground area that you start on and an upper level. On the upper right level is one Elite, (a Minor, if you're lucky). On the upper left is a team of two Jackals. Directly in front of you are around four Grunts. Get the Elite first, then the Grunts, then the Jackals. (The Grunts have a very annoying tendency to Kamikaze once you kill that Elite) Run up that left hand side walkway, or cut left across the bridge if you went right. Either way you want to be on the left side of the next area. There are a lot of Covenant in this section, a mixture of Grunts, Jackals, and Elites. Lob some grenades into the mob to cause some damage. Stay on the left and deal with the Jackals that come up. Once you've handled them, move forward. There will be a SRS-99 Sniper Rifle on your right. Sprint back and take cover from the Elite Ultra and his Concussion Rifle and the Elite Majors. Use the Sniper Rifle to swiftly dispatch them. Once you've taken out the Elites, help Kat mop up the area before you move down the ramp.

Where Do the Spartans Get All Those Wonderful Toys?
You probably don't have a lot of ammunition for the Sniper Rifle if you used it, so swap it for the Target Locator. Now, what you do next will determine how you proceed. If you can hit both Wraiths with a airstrike, then you'll have 1 strike left in your Target Locator. The timing is critical if you want to do this right. A burning Warthog will come across the area and be destroyed by the two Wraiths. Firing the Target Locator at the area where the Warthog explodes immediately after it is destroyed stands a good chance of destroying both Wraiths with one shot. The Wraiths will move forward into that area after destroying the Warthog, and if timed right will drive right into the artillery barrage. If one survives, kill the gunner and hijack it to finish it off. The Army will ever so kindly drop a Warthog for you once the Wraiths are neutralized. There's a little hillock off to the right of the battle area with a very handy Rocket Launcher lying there. Pick it up and swap with the Army trooper on the Warthog for some heavier firepower. The next area will give you two methods for completing the section, one with the Target Locator and one without.

A. I'm Only Happy When It Rains (Devastation and Destruction)
If you were good enough to keep a salvo with your Target Locator, hop in your Warthog and head to the right. If you skirt along the left side of this area you'll come to a small ridge overlooking the gun. Park your Warthog here. Kat and the Army trooper with the Rocket Launcher can sit back and wreak havoc from this perch. Let them do the hard work. Try and pick off any enemies that are out of the turret's firing arc so they don't stick the Warthog with grenades. Drop the Grunts milling about below with DMR shots from long range. Once that's done pick yourself a nice piece of high ground and pull out your Target Locator. Keep low and take aim at the Elite General on the roof of the building. He basically will just sit there for the entire battle with a Plasma Launcher, and in your current position on the small ridge, you're out of his range. Unleash Hell. Watch as his pretty golden armor is turned to slag and cackle with glee at his demise. A wave of reinforcements will hit you now. A Spirit will come over you and drop two Elite Rangers and some Grunts almost on top of your position, but your AI allies (with some help from you) should have no trouble mopping them up. Two Ghosts will also appear, and can make for a challenging fight. One is driven by a Grunt who can be blasted off it with some good shooting, but the other is driven by an Elite who's much harder to kill. If your AI allies don't take care of the Ghosts, head into the building, swap out your TL for the General's fallen Plasma Launcher and pick them off. There's also a Sniper Rifle in the secondary building to the left of the ridge that can be helpful as well. Make sure you flip the designated switch to turn the AA Gun back on. Get back in the Warthog and head out. A Pelican will drop a fresh Warthog that you can use if you like, but it's easier just to use your original so you can hang on to your rocket-equipped trooper. Once you start to approach the Generator station you'll notice two buildings. You have to flip a switch in each one. Pull your Warthog up to the crest of the hill overlooking the area and let the Kat and the rocket trooper provide covering fire while you use your DMR to pick off the enemy. There's an Ultra and a Elite Major here so kill them quickly along with a mix of Grunts and Jackals. In addition, a Revenant is cruising around in the open lower area and will start firing at you once the driver spots you. If you EMP a Revenant, however, the AI driver can still shoot at you with the cannon, so simply fighting it with the Warthog is probably easier than fighting it on foot. Avoid the mortar shots and eventually Kat and your rocket trooper will kill it. Activate the required switch. On the roof of the same building as the switch is a Sniper Rifle and leftover Needle Rifles from the Jackal Snipers you killed earlier. A Spirit Dropship will fly in and drop a group of Skirmishers and a few Grunts on the other side of the area, by the other switch you need to activate. You can fight them from the Warthog but it's simpler just to snipe them with the DMR or Needle Rifle from the roof. Don't bother using the Sniper Rifle on Skirmishers. They're a pain to headshot with the Sniper Rifle, and they can survive non-headshot Sniper Rifle hits. Take aim and get headshots with the DMR or Needle Rifle instead. Once they're taken care of, head to the other side of the area and activate the second switch. This will trigger a Pelican to come in and drop a Gauss 'Hog.

B. A Spartan's Work is Never Dull
You've got a DMR and Sniper Rifle, because you used up the Target Locator. Head left down the hill towards the water. Once your down there you'll hit a Ghost. Drive fast and let the turret and rocket trooper handle it but keep evading and don't move up the other side yet. Once the Ghost is dead, move up. Drive to the other side where the crest of the hill is to get some cover and to give you a better shot at the Elites on the ground. Again use your DMR and Sniper Rifle to kill them quickly. Following the procedure listed above, clean out the enemy Grunts, Jackals and Skirmishers. Hopefully at the end you have a functional Revenant. If not, Oh well, you still have the 'Hog. Head up the path to the Gun. If you've got the Revenant, just strafe back and forth until every thing on the ground is dead. Take shelter under the building when the Spirit shows up to drop waves two and three then pop out and keep firing. Eventually you'll be Left with the General and maybe an Ultra. Go back up to the top crest of the area and pull out the Sniper Rifle. Shoot the General until he's dead. It takes 3-4 rounds if you score head shots. Mop up and hit the button. A Pelican will pop in and give you the Gauss 'Hog.

They Like to Grow 'Em Big Back Home
Get in the Gauss Warthog. Try and get a trooper with a rocket launcher to ride shotgun, and have Kat take the main cannon. No matter which way you went initially, you're going back where you came from, to the starting area where you faced the Wraiths. You'll have to face down three to four Revenants and a couple of Ghosts. The Gauss cannon on the Warthog is MUCH more powerful than the usual chaingun, but don't get cocky. On high difficulties Revenant shots will kill you very quickly. Avoid flipping your vehicle, and don't charge straight at the Revenants! Circle them rapidly to dodge their slower moving shots. The AI gunner on the Gauss cannon is quite accurate and should make short work of the Covenant enemies here regardless of what your passenger does. It's generally better to have Kat on the gun; if you take a hit it will likely kill your army trooper. Kat, on the other hand, can't die. Once you're done, (everything alien is dead), head back to the small hillock where you picked up the Rocket Launcher earlier in the level, and you'll find a brand-new launcher and full ammunition! Head up to the big metal door and flip the switch to open it. Drive in with the Warthog, right up to the barrier. Your gunner and passenger will hop out of the Warthog, but don't leave just yet. A few Covenant troops (Grunts, Jackals, 2 Elites) will come down the ramp towards the barrier. Hop on the Gauss turret and go nuts. The Gauss cannon will insta-kill any of the Covenant here (except shielded Jackals) with one shot. Kat and the trooper won't get back in the Hog cause it can't go anywhere, so you've got a big stationary emplacement to kill everything you see. Once you've pacified the area, hop out. Use your DMR to mop up the survivors of your Gauss rampage. Then move up to the next area. Carefully enter the underground garage. You'll note the two very large armor plated cannons. These are not your daddy's Hunters. These Hunters are smarter, faster and more deadly than ever. Here's where that rocket-equipped army trooper really comes in handy. He's got unlimited ammo so let him beat up on the Hunters. Help him out with your own rockets to take the Hunters down nice and quick. If you don't have rockets, you can use Shotgun at close range to defeat the Hunters. Dodge their melee attacks (no small task) and fire at their exposed backs. Once the Hunters are down, Kat will head for the elevator, running past a very confused reinforcement Elite while doing so, leaving him wide open for an easy assassination. Hop in the elevator with Kat.

Somehow I Don't Think These Guys Want to be My Friend
Once you're off the elevator, you'll be facing off against an Elite and a few Grunts. Use the DMR or the Shotgun to take them out (DMR ammo is pretty scarce inside, so you may want to conserve it) Once you've killed them if you need to heal up run back to the elevator and grab a health pack. Now it's time to join the rest of your squad. This area has an open lobby and a smaller room off to the right. The lobby has your Spartan allies engaged with about four Jackals and an Elite or two. Deal with them however you wish. The right side area is populated by three Grunts armed with (unusually) Plasma Rifles. Keep following the path towards the top of the building, using the catwalks. Your Shotgun should clear most of the cannon fodder with no problem. If you're running low on DMR ammo, or simply prefer the Needle Rifle, swap for it. There are a few routes to take to get to the top. Once you reach the third floor, you can go straight up the stairs in front of you or hang left and move across another catwalk (if you go left, there's a big group of army troopers you can use for reference) On the top floor, there is a General with a Fuel Rod Gun. If you're lucky you may be able to get behind him and assassinate him before he notices you (it's easier if you take the left route). If you bring his shields down once (a grenade works really well) he'll run off. Move forward. You'll encounter a few Jackals but you can make short work of them. Grab the M41 SSRM Rocket Launcher on the floor but keep your DMR out. There are two cloaked Spec-Ops Elites sneaking about that you need to put down. If the General is still alive, he'll be in this area to complicate things. Watch out for the Fuel Rod Gun and smoke him with your rockets. Then you can kill Banshees to your heart's content. Clear the skies and the cutscene plays. Say hi to Dr. Halsey.

Legendary Notes

 * It is Important to keep track of how much ammo you expend here. Being conservative and taking your time will lead to fewer reset checkpoints, and a faster overall completion time.
 * Range is an ally here. If you can hit a target from distance, do it. Often your enemy is too strong to take on in close. Kill him from afar.
 * While in vehicles be aware that a single overcharged plasma shot will disable you. be prepared to dismount and defend yourself.
 * The safest way to ensure checkpoints is to clear areas. It can be tedious and often you can just rush through an area without actually clearing it, but you won't get your checkpoints and if you die, you lose all your progress.
 * This is your first encounter with Sangheili Generals. They are tougher and more dangerous than Zealots. Best dealt with from range.
 * Hunters are a formidable enemy, but you've faced them before. While more adaptive and quicker, they share the same weakness as all Mgalekgolo.
 * Good Skulls are Iron and Catch. You can accomplish much from distance and this level is a great way to hone your skills.

Notes for Lower Difficulties

 * You will face more Elites numerically on Heroic but they will be of lower rank. Numbers will be similar on Normal but of lower rank. This means More Minors, fewer Officers/Majors, One or Two Ultras.
 * Sniper ammo does more damage. You can One-shot most Elites on lower difficulties and Most Upper Ranks take no more than two or three shots depending on your aim.
 * You have more salvos available in your Target Locator. Use them wisely.