Exodus/Walkthrough

This is a walkthrough for the Halo: Reach level Exodus. It is written for play at the Legendary difficulty, but contains notes for lower difficulties. This is the seventh level of Halo: Reach. For this mission you are on your own. Your Mission is to assist in the evacuation of civilians from the city. Your initial loadout for this mission is your trusty M6G Pistol. It is important to note that as this walkthrough at the Legendary difficulty, all strengths of enemies reflected are at the Legendary level.

I've Fallen, and I Don't Want to Get Up
Ouch. So, all you have is a Pistol with a few rounds, you've just lost a squadmate, and let's face it you've just taken one hell of a fall. You're hurt and you just want to lie down and sleep for a week. Get over it, you're a Spartan and there's work to be done. First things first. Hunt around a little and you'll find a bunch of ammo to fill out your Pistol cache. No health yet, but then again no enemies so don't look a gift horse in the mouth. You're eventually going to come upon a few Skirmishers Kill them quick and grab a Plasma Pistol off their corpses. It's not much but it'll do until you can find something better. Advance again. You're going to hear about Suicide Grunts. Then you're going to encounter them. Use your pistol to headshot them, but beware of the flying grenades. In the enclosed space you can still get stuck. Keep advancing into the basement. You'll encounter more Grunts, an Armor Lock drop and a few Needlers. Swap the Plasma Pistol for the Needler. Remember, six shots equals a corpse. You can use the Armor Lock to fend off any Grunts that get close enough to blow and shoot down any that appear at range, but you don't need to. Keep Sprint if you prefer it, just keep an eye on your motion tracker. Eventually you will come to a set of stairs where you will find an exit and a Health Pack. Heal up and head out.

You're one Ugly Mother......
Avoid the Spirit that flies by and turn left. You will encounter a Brute at the bottom of the stairs holding a civilian. You can save the civilian; sprint behind the Brute and assassinate him before he can complete his animation to throw the civilian down. Try to avoid using grenades; killing a civilian, even accidentally, will cause you to instantly die. Unleash a torrent of needles at the Brutes. Six hits will kill with a supercombine explosion, so don't empty your magazine. Grab the MA37 Assault Rifle if you like, but you should still have plenty of ammunition for your Needler. Continue to advance. You will encounter more Skirmishers (around four) and a Brute. Strafe around the area and clear it. If you toss a grenade into the opening these enemies come from immediately, you may get lucky and kill several of them. Now you're going to have to search a bit outside but there's a Sniper Rifle outside you're going to want to have for the next area so find it and swap it for your pistol, If you've already got the Sniper, ignore. If you are not skilled with the Sniper Rifle, don't pick it up at all and keep the Needler. Enter the next area and head up the stairs. You'll encounter a lone Grunt (possibly two). Melee him, and advance into the open area. Grab the M392 Designated Marksman Rifle off the ground and use it to kill the Brutes at range. DO NOT close to melee range; Brutes have a powerful melee rivaling that of Elites, and are immune to assassination if they are alerted to your presence unless you are on multiplayer and your friend distracts the brute. Use the Needler for best effect, but if your target is out of range or you are out of ammo, the DMR will do fine. If you do use the DMR, you must be precise. Aim for the head. DO NOT go for chest shots; Brutes take a great deal of damage and you'll waste ammunition. If your aim is good, Brute Minors can be taken out with 3-4 shots, Brute Captains only take 4-5. Once their helmets are knocked off, they are vulnerable to an instantly fatal headshot.Sweep the floor, move upstairs and eliminate the Jackals up top. Do NOT go activate the elevator just yet. There is Needler ammo in a crate near the elevator. There is also a Shotgun back where you began, and some DMR ammo. Swap for the Shotgun if you like but it isn't necessary. Facing the elevator there is a door on your right leading into an open courtyard with a M247 Machine Gun. You can rip it off and carry it about, and it's quite valuable. Activate the elevator. You will receive a warning about incoming dropships. Go to the door leading to the open courtyard. A Phantom will drop aroud 4 Grunts, 2 Brute Minors, and a Captain with a Gravity Hammer. Pick them off with the DMR. They all pause briefly on landing, which will give you some time to line up easy headshots. You should finish with these enemies by the time the next wave comes up. You may feel bad about losing Civilians and Soldiers but unfortunately, you probably will. Mop up the second wave (mostly similar to the first, a few more Brutes and another Captain with a Hammer, but with Skirmishers instead of Grunts.) Then run up grab a Gravity Hammer (or keep the Needler, you really can't go wrong with it against Brutes) and sweep the area clear. Get in the elevator and head out.

Look at me, I'm The Rocketeer!
Hop out of the elevator and follow the waypoint to the open area. As you enter there should be a weapon case full of DMRs and a Shotgun, so stock up on ammo. A few Banshees will strafe you. If you are very unlucky, one will attempt to bomb the nearby ODST's, so stay back until they pass. Head right and grab an Jet Pack. Before you leap over tall buildings in a single bound, look forward. There are two routes to take, right and left across the shipping yard platforms. The right route is safer, and if you are a very good shot with the DMR you can knock a few enemies off out of auto-aim range. If you aren't a good shot, you may want to head left, but now enemies can shoot back at you. Head to the platform of your choice. Eventually a plethora of Grunts and Jackals will make themselves visible on the far side. On the lower left platform is a Grunt with a Fuel Rod Gun. Locate and kill him, he's a priority. Use the DMR to clear out as many as you can see and move up to the main platform. You have good cover from grenades and gunshots here if you stay right. Once you move to the tower, finish of the Grunts, then start work on the Brute Minors. Keep back and continue sniping with your DMR. Your ODST's will likely all die. If you look a little left and up you will see a Chieftain with a Gravity Hammer. Use your DMR to take him out if you have the chance. Otherwise, he'll jump down and charge you. Don't panic. Lay into him with your Needler or use the Shotgun. Fly away with your Jetpack if he's too close for comfort. Once you've cleared the near platform, go back and reload your DMR from the case then head back to the fight. When you are on the far side. You have two choices. Follow the ground game and go right and up the stairs or Jump Jet up to get behind the enemy and clear them out. You may want to grab the Gravity Hammer that the Chieftain dropped. If you go straight, and jump, stop on the first level and turn right, you'll see a bunch of Grunts. Smoke 'em. Jump to the top and there are two Brute Minors with Spikers and a Brute Captain with a Concussion Rifle. Start with the Minors as they are easy kills then follow up with the Captain. Watch out for the Concussion Rifle shots, they can easily knock you off the platform. If you go right and follow the stairs you'll face the same enemies, only head on. When you're clear, advance.

Reach Out and Touch Something with Sniper Fire.
You're going to come to an open courtyard with Marines, ODST's, and civilians under attack by a Phantom. There is a Rocket Launcher in an ammo crate in front of you, as well as DMR, Shotgun, and Assault Rifle ammo. Pick up the Rocket Launcher and swap with an ODST. He has unlimited ammunition with it and his rockets home in on targets, but keep an eye on him. If he dies, you'll want to get the Rocket Launcher back. There are several approaches you can take here. As you advance you'll notice a small bridge with several Deployable Covers. On the far side of this are a great number of enemies, including Brutes, Grunts, and both Shielded and Sniper Jackals. The Sniper Jackals are equipped with Focus Rifles. A frontal assault across the bridge is inadvisable. You will immediately be surrounded and on low ground against multiple powerful enemies. Thus, you should thin out your opponents before advancing. On the near side of the bridge (on your right) there is a balcony that you can jump jet up to, providing a good vantage point, as well as some DMR ammo and a Sniper Rifle. Your ODST's will usually hop up there, look for their icons if you're having trouble finding where to go. Consider shooting out the glass railing on the balcony, as your Rocket Launcher ODST may accidentally commit suicide by firing into it, and the splash damage could easily kill you as well. Use the DMR and Sniper Rifle to clear the enemies. Take your time and try to stay in good cover. The Focus Rifle Jackals don't pose much of a danger to you, but they do interfere with your aiming so eliminate them first. Your Rocket ODST will do plenty of damage on his own. Advance across the gap when all enemies are dead. The next area is tiered, and you will start on the lowest of these tiers. A Captain with a Gravity Hammer will run down the stairs leading to the next tier. Kill him quickly, he is by far the largest threat to your few advancing soldiers. Sticking him with a grenade works well. On the second tier are some Grunts, and at the highest level is a Captain (or Chieftan on Legendary) with a Concussion Rifle. You can use one of the fallen Focus Rifles to snipe him from your low area. Deal with the enemies in terms of threat level, high level targets first, then clean out the remains. Finish clearing out the minor enemies with your DMR before advancing. Once you reach the top you will be met by a squad of Grunts, two of whom are Heavies with Fuel Rod Guns. Kill them first and clear out the remainder. On the forward building's upper balcony several Brute Minors may appear. Jetpack up and kill them or DMR snipe before they go back inside. Stay on the ground level and enter the building clearing the room from left to right. This part is tricky. You'll face a large Covenant squad, mainly Brute Minors and a few Grunts. Your main enemy is a Brute Chieftan with a Fuel Rod Gun. He has shields, he's a pain to headshot, his weapon will instantly kill you, and he's a VERY good shot. Keep back and whittle away at him until he goes down. If you're daring, use the Fuel Rod Guns from the Grunt Heavies on him. A Phantom will drop off a few Jackals and a Captain with a Hammer (AGAIN). Ventilate them and continue. Two Shade turrets are outside. Creep out and headshot the Grunts manning them. Don't charge out unless you want to die. A UH-144 Falcon will arrive to pick you up. Steal the Rocket Launcher back from your ODST if he survived, or keep the Fuel Rod Gun and get in the Falcon. Keep your DMR.

Hey, This is a Really Nice View.
Once You are in the Falcon look high right. Track the roof here and when the Brutes come in line they can damage you. Once you are clear of this threat aim to the rear of the Falcon. Several Banshees are going to try and sneak up behind you. Fire at them until they are destroyed or break off. You can shoot at the groundside enemies now or not your choice. When you come in to land near the missile batteries, kill all the Grunts and Jackals that are bottlenecked in the pass. Once they are all dead, the Falcon can land.

Drivers Ed Never Taught Me how to Dodge Plasma
Get out of the Falcon and head to the Warthog. Swap your Fuel Rod Gun (or Rocket Launcher, if you have it) with one of the Army Grunts, hop in the driver's seat and take off. Make sure to let the soldier with the heavy weapon hop in the passenger seat. First handle the Ghost on the near side (if you are very, very lucky the Chieftain with his Gravity Hammer will come down and you can kill him early) then move to the other side of the hill and kill the two Wraiths that show up. Don't sit still, the Wraith AI can drop a mortar round on you easily. Clear the missile batteries starting with the far one. Beware of the Brute Captain on the bridge with the Plasma Launcher (Now would be a good time to use some of your remaining sniper rounds to kill him quickly), kill him swiftly and then activate the first battery. move back across and clear out the near battery and quickly activate it and get back to your 'Hog. get in and swiftly take out the two Ghosts that get dropped before moving on.

Squatters Rights Don't Apply to Ugly Aliens. Get Out.
Now you have to assault the building behind the missile batteries to get to the button to activate them. This button is guarded by a large contingent of Hostile Monkeys on steroids accompanied by Grunts and Jackals. Park the 'Hog at the Bottom of the stairs. The Gunner will stay on the turret and clean out a majority of the enemies here letting you focus on the main problem, a War Chieftain with a Fuel Rod Gun. He's tucked away either on the top terrace of the building or in the control room. Jump Jet onto the roof part of the stairway. If you have any Sniper ammo left, now it the time to use it. The sniper rounds will stagger the Chieftain and if you don't have enough rounds to kill him you can at least get his shields down to finish him off with the DMR. Once he's down you can leisurely attack the rest of the forces here and go activate the missile battery.

I am a Coward, Hear me Mewl.
If a direct assault is not to your liking, once you've taken care of the Ghosts run back over to the near missile battery and swap your jump jet for Active Camo. Run around the bottom to the right side of the building and turn on your camo as you approach. You may be able to make it all the way without running out of camo, but you may want to stop and let your camo recharge when you're hidden in the back of the building before advancing. Once you're recharged advance slowly into the room with the Brute War Chieftain, and push the button. The mission will end and you haven't faced your enemy so much as skulked to victory.

Alternatively, grab a Jet Pack, and just sprint through enemy fire. When you reach the building where the big red button is, activate the jetpack and fly up to the window. Even though it doesn't seem like you can reach it, the prompt will pop up, so press the button before you fall.

Legendary Notes

 * Brutes are far easier to kill than Elites, regardless of rank. Conversely, ammo is more difficult to come by and your rationing and aiming skills are crucial here.
 * Realize that while it would be nice to kill the bad guys and save the civilians and have a group of troopers backing you up the whole way, your protectiveness is an easy path to death. Protect yourself first.
 * This really is the first level where creating yourself a threat assessment is helpful. You should deal with enemies based on how quickly they will kill you if left unchecked. For example: Brute War Chieftain wtih Fuel Rod Gun > Pack of Jackal Majors > Two Brute Captains with Concussion Rifles > mixed squad of grunts > lone Brute Minor.
 * When assaulting the missile batteries with a Warthog, drive up, stop a few seconds, letting the gunner get a few pot-shots then drive off turn around and repeat. This and with a Rocket equipted Marine in the passenger seat is a deadly effective tactic against those pesky brutes.
 * Find the Sniper Rifles, they can cut the time spent on this level in half.
 * When you first get to the missile batteries, quickly head to the north end of the area. There is another squad there and one of the soldiers has a Spartan Laser. grab it for yourself and it will put down the War Chieftain in no time saving you all that sweat and toil.

Notes for Lower Difficulties

 * Exodus should be played the same on lower difficulties, though you can take greater risks because of your increased durability.
 * If you Run up to the Shades The Grunts will have exited. Give 'em headaches they won't remember by headshots or melee. Only attempt this on Easy or Normal difficulty, on Heroic it's almost certain death and the Grunts are unlikely to abandon their positions.
 * Using a Needler or a Needle Rifle is an excellent way to deal with packs of unshielded Brutes if you are having difficulty achieving headshots.