H3:Cortana/Walkthrough

Halo 3
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Cortana
Level overview
Player(s):	John-117
Objective(s):	Rescue Cortana and destroy High Charity
Location(s):	High Charity
Gameplay overview
Default weapons:	M90 shotgun MA5C assault rifle
Enemies:	Flood Flood pure form Flood combat form Flood carrier form Flood infection form Flood tank form

“

Cleanse High Charity. Save Cortana.

”

This is a walkthrough for the level Cortana, structured for play on Legendary difficulty with notes for lower difficulty levels. Cortana is the penultimate level of Halo 3, and arguably one of the most difficult of the franchise. Your mission as stated is to find Cortana on the High Charity, free her from the Gravemind and eliminate the Flood.

Your most valuable pieces of equipment in this level are Deployable Covers and Bubble Shields. Cloaking is also handy but extremely rare. It is recommended that you always have a Deployable Cover with you. Grenades are also your friends here; Plasma Grenades are very effective against Flood Ranged Forms and Flood Carrier Forms, and Fragmentation Grenades will thin out large groups of Flood and bring down shields on any shielded Flood Combat Forms. Beware, though: if you have bad aim, you will be penalized in this level. Flood Blisters line High Charity's walls and if you are inaccurate you will unleash torrents of Pod infectors that will make you waste valuable ammunition and probably kill you. Once you've killed all the Flood in a room, melee their corpses to prevent re-animation of them.

Using Skulls on this level is not a good idea for inexperienced players, but using the Catch skull provides you with a distinct advantage, as the Flood do not use grenades, but upon death, they will almost always provide them with this skull active.

Starting Weapons

Player V Starting Point >	Mission Start	Rally Point Alpha	Mission Start Respawn	Rally Point Alpha Respawn
Master Chief Primary Weapon Solo	M90A Close Assault Weapon System	M90A Close Assault Weapon System	N/A	N/A
Master Chief Secondary Weapon Solo	MA5C Assault Rifle	MA5C Assault Rifle	N/A	N/A
Master Chief Grenades Solo			N/A	N/A
Master Chief Primary Weapon Co-op	M90A Close Assault Weapon System	M90A Close Assault Weapon System	M90A Close Assault Weapon System	M90A Close Assault Weapon System
Master Chief Secondary Weapon Co-op	MA5C Assault Rifle	MA5C Assault Rifle	MA5C Assault Rifle	MA5C Assault Rifle
Master Chief Grenades Co-op	2 M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade	2 M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade	N/A	N/A
Thel 'Vadam Primary Weapon N'tho 'Sraom Primary Weapon Usze 'Taham Primary Weapon	Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword	Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword	Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword	Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword
Thel 'Vadam Secondary Weapon N'tho 'Sraom Secondary Weapon Usze 'Taham Secondary Weapon	Okarda'phaa-pattern plasma rifle	Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle	Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle	Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle
Thel 'Vadam Grenades N'tho 'Sraom Grenades Usze 'Taham Grenades	2 Anskum-pattern plasma grenade	2 Anskum-pattern plasma grenade	N/A	N/A

Part 1: Rampant

I'd Say Wipe Your Feet, But... You Know.

You will start this mission with the M90 Shotgun and the MA5C Assault Rifle. At the mission start, a large amount of pod infectors will emerge, so shoot them down quickly before they can revive the two corpses (an Elite and Brute) in the area. Swap the shotgun for the Okarda'phaa-pattern plasma rifle and grab both the Anskum-pattern plasma grenade and Orgudam Workshop firebomb near the corpses.

As you move up, you will be met with a split path. Take the left path, where several flood blisters will explode. If you are quick enough, you should be able to prevent them from reanimating any of the corpses. Once the area is cleared, go back and take the right path. Grab a Vostu-pattern carbine, along with grenades if not full. The energy sword sounds tempting, but it should be avoided for now unless you plan to juggle the weapon down to the next area.

When you reach the porta in the floor, drop through it and immediately take cover in the corner behind you. At this point, attacker forms will begin appearing armed with weapons. On higher difficulties, this will include Sangheili attacker forms armed with energy swords, and you do not want to fight those in close quarters as you will most likely die. After enough attacker forms are killed, the remainder will temporarily retreat. Two carrier forms will also waddle down to you, so blow them up with stickies.

Where The Hell Did This Come From?

For the next area you'll want to be quick. Follow the path up and around. You should see a couple of Deployable Covers here. Grab one and make your way to the large opening in the wall, leading outside the High Charity. Try to stick close to this wall to avoid flood stalker forms from spawning and eliminate any attacker forms that retreated. Outside Pelican is a shotgun, a M41B SPNKr and a case with four M9 fragmentation grenade; these are the only frag grenades in the level. You can grab the Flamethrower here. When you go further down the chamber, the Flood will screech, causing numerous stalker forms. After this point, you will only encounter Sangheili and Jiralhanae attacker forms. From here you have a choice, you can set up your Deployable Cover and shoot out the flood, dor you can run past them. You're going to need as much ammunition as possible, so while you could clean out this area (and if you're playing the Meta-Game for points you should) you're much better off just running back inside, going to the left, and making your way to the porta and to the next area. The Flood will not follow you once the porta closes.

The room behind the porta contains a small slope and several Infection Forms. The chamber is filled with dead Elites and Brutes, as well as some grenades. You can throw a grenade to set off a chain reaction and weaken or kill any Flood that re-animates. Finish the Flood off with the Energy Sword. In the next tunnel, grab either a Gravity Hammer (good for clearing away Flood if you get surrounded) or a new Energy Sword (usually the best choice), and then drop through the hole in the floor to continue.

The Control Room. To Your Left, Right, Up And Down, You'll See A Good Chance Of Death

Once you're through the hole, run forward and set up your Deployable Cover. You can shoot through it with your Assault Rifle, and it will provide you with excellent cover from the Ranged Forms. Draw in the Combat and Tank Forms and finish them off with the Energy Sword (remember to lunge at their "mouths"). Once you're down to just Ranged Forms use your Assault Rifle to clear out a path. Run to the right side of the room. From there you should have a good cover and a perch from which you can finish off any remaining Ranged Forms on the ceiling. Switch to your Energy Sword and finish off any remaining Ranged or Tank Forms that may be present on the ground. Now go back to your Deployable Cover at the entrance of the room. When you look to the left of the place where you dropped the cover you will see a Covenant weapons case with a Needler inside.

At the other end of the chamber will be three Tank forms. Kill these, then head down the path and turn back once you reach the end. Failing to do this will result in an infinite wave of pod inf