Winter Contingency (level)/Walkthrough

This is a walkthrough for the Halo: Reach level Winter Contingency. It is written for play at the Legendary difficulty, but contains notes for lower difficulties. This is the second level of Halo: Reach and the first playable one. For this mission you are joined by the rest of Noble Team less Jun-A266 who remains in the Falcon. Your mission is to discover what has occurred to the Communication Relay station that has gone offline. Your initial loadout for this mission is your MA37 Assault Rifle an M6G Pistol 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.

Spartan Sightseeing
The first part of this mission is going to be a lot of learning how you move and getting comfortable with the controls. Once you're off the Falcon, immediately head down the hill towards the beacon. Once you've reached the beacon, your team will get directions to head towards another set of buildings. Follow your squad. Eventually you'll run into a group of farmers who will tell you about strange noises and an attack.

Uninvited Guests are Like In-laws. Shoot to Kill.
Proceed on mission and move forward. Eventually as you enter a structure you will hear Jun call out that he has detected movement. This is your cue to pull out your pistol. As you move along you'll come to a window overlooking a small grassy courtyard. On the roof of the building to the left, across from you, is a Skirmisher. He'll stand still for a few seconds, so use the opportunity to take him out with an easy pistol headshot. Now you know, The Covenant are on Reach. A few more Skirmishers will charge across the courtyard into the basement of your building. If you're quick, you can take out some of them with your pistol before they get inside. Stay where you are for now. Some Grunts will also start moving across the courtyard towards your building. Thin their ranks with pistol headshots. Take note of the large red fuel tank in the courtyard. These explode very powerfully if shot enough and are found throughout the game, so make use of them. If the cap is blasted off the top of these tanks they become powerful time bombs that will detonate after around five seconds. Head down into the basement to deal with the Skirmishers that made it inside. They are extremely fast, just as agile, and good shots with their weapons. Get some cover and use your pistol and grenades to deal with them. Head outside. Two Grunts will wander across your field of fire on your left as you move down the slope. You should have no trouble taking them out. A Spirit will drop reinforcements across the river, a mixture of Grunts and Skirmishers. Use your pistol for headshots and toss some grenades to clear them out. You and your team will make short work of this group. Take a moment here and reload. Pull out your Assault Rifle before you continue. You will want a Plasma Pistol instead of the Assault Rifle on Legendary, so swap out for one. Run across the river and take out the Grunts that are visible. Now things get tough; it's your first encounter with Elites, and unfortunately for you they are high rank and not pushovers. Expect four Ultra Elites, accompanied by a General. They are much faster than you are and their shields are over triple (quadruple on Legendary) the strength of your own. Stay back and let your squad weaken the shields on the Elites. Use the overcharge shot on the plasma pistol to help out. Once the shields drop, use your pistol to headshot them. Once you've mopped up this area, reload and get ready for part two.

Am I a Safe Driver? Dial 1-800-SPLATTER, and Let Me Know.
OK, you've handled the first part well enough, but now comes the hard part. Run down the hillside until you reach the Spade flatbed truck. This is important. ALWAYS DRIVE THE VEHICLES!!!!! You may really want the turret, and if you're playing coop, that's fine, but the AI cannot drive. On Legendary it is suicide to let the AI drive the vehicles, on any level. So hop in the drivers seat, Carter will man the passenger seat and Jorge will get the flatbed (he's his own turret). Now drive fast, you could go all tourist and stop to kill every Covenant you see, but why bother, leave the sightseeing, and achievement getting for later, on perhaps a different difficulty setting. For now, conserve your ammo and keep going. Once you reach the bottom you will see a bridge leading to several buildings. Again, for achievement hunters, or those gunning for points cross the bridge. If your not interested in that right now, and your just looking to get done and get your shield, go right past the bridge, up the hill.
 * For those who are interested, go over the bridge, and engage. The most effective methods are the drive and retreat (drive in and let your AIs shoot until your shields are down, then retreat until they come back up) and the figure 8 drive in the middle. Both are risky, as a single overcharged plasma bolt will leave your vehicle dead and you along with it not soon after. If you complete this area head north to the river. Your location will be different from the rest of this section, but the enemy strengths will be the same.

Excuse me, I'm Looking for the Fight. Oh, I Seem to Have Found It.
Once you're up the hill, keep following the road until you reach a bunker in the hill. There will be a few troopers here to assist you (or you're arriving here to assist them, take your pick). Find the one with the M392 Designated Marksman Rifle and swap your Assault Rifle for it. Head into the Bunker and ammo up your DMR (there will be a DMR on the floor). Now find a good position for the coming assault. There will be two waves. One with Grunt Majors and an Elite Major. One with Grunt Ultras an Elite Ultra and a few Jackal Majors thrown in for good measure. Use your pistol and clear out the grunts and as many Jackals as you can. You are going to need to displace often, because the Elites will target you. Once you are down to the Elites, your squad mates will make short work of their shields, letting you get the kill shot with the DMR. If you're forced to take on the Elites early, know that the DMR is powerful, but aim for the body to drop the shields. It's a bigger target, and with the movement from the Ultra your going to need all the help you can. Once the shields are down, you can headshot and get a solid kill. Once these enemies have been dealt with, a Falcon will arrive. Hop in and take a break.

Hey, I Didn't Get to Finish My Kit Kat Bar.
Break's over. Hop out of the Falcon. Clear out the remaining enemies here, head up the stairs on the side of the building and load up on ammo, if you head further down, you'll see an entrance to the building and an armor lockup. Grab it and hop down. This next part is pointless and a waste of time, but you have to do it anyway. Run in to where Kat is working, peek out and kill anything that gets in close, but nothing will, because it's not scripted to. You just have to prevent yourself form being killed here. Don't expose yourself, and pick off whatever comes into your line of sight. If you do choose to engage stick to the building on the right of the door, it will provide you with significant cover from the Spirit's cannon fire. There will be 2-3 waves of Covenant, Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, and a few Elites. Right after you get the notification that Kat has completed her hack two Banshees will fly by and bomb the door. Watch out for them! They're often not noticed because the ground action is so hectic. Wait until they attack before you run inside if you engaged outside, those Fuel Rods hurt and will one hit kill you on Heroic or higher. Once the door closes, head inside. You'll trigger another cutscene.

Hey Ugly, How 'Bout You and Me Have Another Go?
Presto chango, you're back in the fight. Swap your pistol for a DMR on the wall and watch out. Many Grunts and Jackals will advance, while a Zealot with a Concussion Rifle sits back and launches an endless barrage at you. Note that on the right side of the room there are three fuel tanks. Blow the lids off of them with the DMR for explosive results that should take care of the cannon fodder. Concentrate on the Zealot. Only break off the attack to reload or recharge your shields if required. Kill him quickly or he'll run away and the next part of the level gets that much harder. Keep picking away at him with the DMR. It should take around a magazine to drop him if you don't miss. Once he's down, advance and use grenades in the hallway to clear the remaining Grunts and Jackals. Reload, and head into the next area. It is populated with Grunts and another Zealot with an Energy Sword, and he's a lot craftier than his friend was. Once the Grunts are cleared he will charge quickly but steady fire from you and the DMR and Assault Rifle (don't stop to reload, just switch weapons) should slow him down enough for you to either drop his shield and peg him with a grenade, or headshot him. Since he will usually make a beeline straight for you once you've got his attention, sticking him with a grenade is very effective and should deplete most of his shield. Melee is very dangerous because of the Sword. If you need it, the drop off area below you contains a M45 Tactical Shotgun and a Drop Shield (which you can use to help defend yourself and regenerate health). Once you've killed him, go and activate the panel on the wall to trigger the cutscene and move on to the next mission.

Legendary Notes

 * Know your weapons. While new weapons like the DMR and Needle Rifle are new and shiny, your old standbys still work. Before you head in, realize the same strengths and weaknesses that got you through the previous Halo games still apply here.
 * When facing the Elites it is best to find a strategy that is comfortable for you, and make that strategy work against the Jackals and Grunts. If you are best with an overcharged plasma pistol and DMR, or the Assault Rifle and Needler, make it work for you.
 * Watch out for the Spirits. They will kill you faster than any ground Covenant forces.
 * Achievements are best tackled on lower difficulties, when ammo is not as crucial and health not as easily lost.
 * Your Squad is extremely Helpful. Let them do most of the heavy lifting here. Mop up after, but don't get used to it. After this your squad is going to need you more than you need them.
 * Your Pistol is your best friend. It will clear out Skirmishers and most Grunts with a headshot. You can kill everything else that isn't an Elite with two shots or less. Take your time, be accurate and kill swiftly.
 * Good Skulls here are Famine, Catch and Cloud. Most of your weapons are in racks so they'll be full or close to it, all of your enemies are in front of you so you don't need a motion sensor, and everyone loves more grenades so add catch since majority of the fighting takes place in rather open environments.

Notes for Lower Difficulties

 * Test out new weapons to see what works for you. You may prefer the Needle rifle to the DMR or the Plasma pistol to the Magnum.
 * Take your time and clear each area of enemies before moving on. You will learn valuable skills on this level as it contains a little piece of everything you are going to encounter, from open spaces requiring ranged weapons to tight spaces needing close in weapons.
 * Grenades are your friends, unless the Covenant are throwing them at you.