H3:Floodgate/Walkthrough

Halo 3
	Prev:	The Storm
	Next:	The Ark
Floodgate
Level overview
Player(s):	John-117
Objective(s):	Stop the Infestation and find Cortana
Location(s):	Voi, East African Protectorate
Gameplay overview
Default weapons:	MA5C assault rifle BR55HB battle rifle
Available weapons:	Human M90 shotgun Machine Gun Turret Covenant Energy Sword Gravity Hammer
Enemies:	Flood Pure Form Combat Form Carrier Form Infection Form

Floodgate is essentially a reversal of The Storm. Players will have to backtrack from the Covenant Anti-Aircraft Battery to Lakebed A, fighting their way through a massive Flood infection. The level is the first Flood-only level in the game, introducing Combat Forms, Pod infectors, and Pure Forms.

Overview

Finding your way around Floodgate shouldn't be much of a problem—you're backtracking your footsteps all the way to Lakebed A in the previous level. This is the first mission in which you fight the Flood, making it a new experience when fighting the newly evolved Pure Forms. Keep in mind the useful weapons when in combat with them and any other Flood, especially on higher difficulties. This is a good starter mission for engaging the Flood. You can test the best technique of dispatching them without dying, because although there are some instructions about where to go and what to do, there are a billion other techniques that work just as well.

The recommended skulls on Legendary are Tough Luck and Catch. Tough Luck may cost you a few multi-kill bonuses, but grenades aren't a vital part of your arsenal during this mission. Catch is, as in all other Flood-only missions, a consequence-free multiplier—the Flood don't use grenades, so leaving it inactivated is a waste. All other skulls except Famine are okay on this mission, so try activating one of them too. You may not want to activate Fog if you aren't skilled at close combat with the Flood. Due to its short length, this level is arguably the easiest level to beat with Iron activated. Mythic is a consequence-free multiplier, as there are no Covenant enemies present on this level. Tilt is not recommended on this or any other Flood level.

Weapon instructions in this level can be freely followed, as you will receive new weapons after this level - the Battle Rifle and a Sniper Rifle.

Statistics

New in Floodgate

Introduced in this level...

New Enemies:	Pod infector, Flood Combat Form, Flood Carrier Form, Flood Stalker Form, Flood Ranged Form, Flood Tank Form
New Vehicles:
New Items:
New Weapons:	Flamethrower, Energy Sword

Campaign Scoring

Points information

Exterminator Achievement Milestone:	15,000 points
Recommended Multiplier:	6.5x (Tough Luck (1.5) + Catch (1.5) + Thunderstorm (1.5) + Mythic (2))
Time Bonus
0-10 min	3×
10-15 min	2.5×
15-20 min	2×
20-25 min	1.5×

Starting Weapons

Player V Starting Point >	Mission Start	Rally Point Alpha	Mission Start Respawn	Rally Point Alpha Respawn
Master Chief Primary Weapon Solo	BR55HB SR Battle Rifle	BR55HB SR Battle Rifle	N/A	N/A
Master Chief Secondary Weapon Solo	MA5C Assault Rifle	MA5C Assault Rifle	N/A	N/A
Master Chief Grenades Solo	2 M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenades	2 M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenades	N/A	N/A
Master Chief Primary Weapon Co-op	BR55HB SR Battle Rifle	BR55HB SR Battle Rifle	BR55HB SR Battle Rifle	BR55HB SR Battle Rifle
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 Grenades	2 M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenades	2 M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenades	2 M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenades
Thel 'Vadam Primary Weapon N'tho 'Sraom Primary Weapon Usze 'Taham Primary Weapon	Type-51 Carbine	Type-51 Carbine	Type-51 Carbine	Type-51 Carbine
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 grenades	2 Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenades	2 Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenades	2 Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenades

Walkthrough (In-depth)

It Followed Me Home (Mission Start)

Storage Area

If you're skilled with the Battle Rifle and are trying to get the Exterminator achievement, you may want to look to the right of the path that is about to be described. There, in the distance, if you are quick enough, you may see several Flood Combat Forms assault a small group of Marines. They will begin to retreat, though if you fire at them, they may turn to face you, and strafe instead of running away. For quick kills without using a lot of ammo, aim for their chests to kill the Pod infectors that reside inside of them. When you're done with that, proceed as you normally would...

Backtrack down the path you took to get to the Anti-Aircraft Battery. Make your way down the hill, and enter the Storage Area where you previously fought the Brute Chieftain. There will be a building on your right. Just after the checkpoint—right when a Marine says, "All squads, report!"—a Flood Combat Form will appear on the roof and jump over the street. If you kill this Flood during his jump (or right as he starts to jump), he will drop the Fog skull. Collect Frag Grenades, a Gravity Hammer en route. Retain the battle rifle for the time being.

As you approach the Marines—some of which are gathered behind a pile of sandbags, standing next to weapons lockers— attacker forms will drop down and start attacking your allies. The safest course of action at this point would be to hang back and wait for the Flood to finish the Marines off, as it is very unlikely to save any of them, as a single pod infector will easily make work of them. Additionally, on Heroic and Legendary, additional attacker forms will join the battle from the fenced off area, which can potentially entrap a player if they don't handle the initial group fast enough.

Scour the area for more Shotgun ammo—this is your main weapon during this mission, so always be on the look out for more cartridges. There are four Shotguns in the Storage Area, along with Battle Rifle ammo and the Assault Rifles dropped by your fallen allies, so make sure you have a full amount of ammo before moving on. There will also be a Shotgun to the left of the next room.

Warehouse

Inside this warehouse, engaging the Flood over open ground is clearly suicidal. Though only a few carry weapons, their sheer numbers and the scattered Pod infectors (reanimating additional corpses) make it easy to be overwhelmed. The recommended way of dealing with massive amount of Flood is to launch a brief attack before taking a defensive position and encouraging the Flood to come to you.

Although a few Marines are present in the area, they are likely to be overwhelmed by the attacker forms. Midway through the battle, additional attacker forms will leap in from the stacked containers, some of which are armed with weapons. The player has the option of killing them or waiting them out, as they are scripted to explode into pod infectors after a short time.

There is some potentially useful equipment here, including a