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. 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 civie, but you are going to have to run absolutely flat out and nail the brute in the face with the SR. Once that is clear, unleash a torrent of needles at the Brutes. Grab the MA37 Assault Rifle off the ground and advance. When you advance you will encounter more Skirmisherss and Brutes. Strafe around the area and clear it. It takes a little work, but with a few well placed grenades, the area should clear fairly easily. 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. Enter the next area and head up the stairs. You'll encounter a lone Grunt. 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, even at Legendary the Brute Minors only take a few shots and Brute Captains only take five or six.. Sweep the floor, take out the Skirmishers, and go activate the elevator. You're going to receive a message of incoming Phantoms. Head to the left doorway and take out the Grunts and Minors that show up first. Withdraw and Swap out the DMR for an Assault Rifle. Head back down to the entrance sweeping out the Skirmishers. You may feel bad about losing Civilians and Soldiers but unfortunately, there are two Chieftains with Gravity Hammers, and dealing with them at range is just easier. Use the Sniper Rifle to punch large round holes in them. Then run up grab a Gravity Hammer and sweep the area clear. Get in the elevator and head out.

Look at me, I'm The Rocketeer!
get out of the elevators and follow the waypoint to the open area. As you enter there should be a weapon case full of DMRs. If you still have Sniper ammo swap your Gravity Hammer for the DMR. If you don't, keep the Gravity Hammer and swap whatever other weapon you have. Head over and grab an Jet Pack. Before you bound over tall buildings in a single bound, look forward. There is a short tower to the front left. and a taller platform to the right. the tower is stop 2, the platform is stop one. Head to the platform. eventually a plethora of Grunts and Jackals will make themselves visible on the far side. use the DMR to clear out as many as you can see before heading to the tower. Once you move to the tower, finish of the Grunts, then start work on the Brute Minors. If you look a little left and up you will see a Chieftain with a Gravity Hammer. Use your DMR (or Sniper Rifle if you still have it) to take him out. 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. either way you 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. 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. 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 annoying enemies that will gladly end your existence. Method 1 is the frontal assault, this is not recommended, as it often leads to the annoying side effect of being dead. Method 2, is slightly less dangerous but not as easy. to the left of the bridge on the far side room directly below the ground floor, jump jet into that, and come up behind the ground level enemies and under the upper ones. From here you have complete defilade from the upper tier enemies while gaining enfilade fire on the ground level enemies. Method 3 is by far the easiest and least risky. On the near side of the bridge there is a second level you can jump jet up to where there is DMR ammo and a Sniper Rifle. Use them to clear the enemies. Start at the ground level and work your way from left to right. When the Chieftain and his Gravity Hammer make an appearance, kill him quickly, he is by far the largest threat to your few advancing soldiers. There will also be a Captain with a Concussion Rifle here and several Minors. deal with them in terms of threat level, high level targets first, then clean out the remains. At some point here you should be harassed by a Sniper with a Focus Rifle begging to be ventilated by 14.5milimeters of metal, oblige him. Finish clearing out the minor enemies with your DMR before advancing. There will be another Captain at the top of the stairs with a Concussion Rifle, kill him and advance. 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 balcony several Brute Minors may appear. Kill them, before they go back inside. Stay on the ground level and enter the building clearing the room from left to right. There will be another Chieftain with a Gravity Hammer, kill him with the Sniper Rifle then retreat and swap your DMR for the Fuel Rod Gun. Head back in. At this point you should see a Phantom Drop a pair of Jackal Majors and a Brute War Chieftain with a Fuel Rod Gun. Snipe the War Chieftain then the Jackals before using the Fuel Rod Gun on the Shades. Once the Shades are clear look at your Sniper ammo, if you still have 4+ rounds keep it and the Fuel Rod Gun and get on the UH-144 Falcon, if you have less than four rounds go grab your DMR, keep your Fuel Rod Gun and get in the Falcon.

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 with one of the Army Grunts and hop in the driver's seat and take off. 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. 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.

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.