Tip of the Spear/Walkthrough

This is a walkthrough for the Halo: Reach level Tip of the Spear. It is written for play at the Legendary difficulty, but contains notes for lower difficulties. This is the fifth level of Halo: Reach. For this mission you are joined by Catherine-B320. Your Mission is to Eliminate the Covenant Anti Aircraft Batteries. Your initial loadout for this mission is your M319 Individual Grenade Launcher an M392 Designated Marksman Rifle 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.

See What Happens When You Let The Woman Drive
Pick yourself up, dust yourself off. No time for lollygagging here. Looking ahead you can see a large group of Grunts and Jackals moving to attack you. Stay away from the Warthog as cover because it's going to explode and if you are standing next to it you will too. Use your Grenade Launcher to lay into the gaggle and put a serious dent in their numbers. It's very effective on Jackals, since they move slowly and are vulnerable to explosions. If you are having trouble getting use to the arc of the grenades or how they work, revert the checkpoint and start over for practice. You need to be able to drop the grenades right into the thick of the group before they disperse to have the most effect. Skipping the grenade off the ground sets its fuse, so firing into the ground in front of your enemy will cause the grenade explode in midair nearby. Once your enemies have thinned use your DMR to kill the stragglers. Your should be standing near where you started. There are two Shades of the Fuel Rod Cannon variety just out of your sightline. They have a fairly high rate of fire, and you need to stay out of their sights while you deal with the Elite Ultra shooting at you. Kat should occupy the Ultra's attention, so waste him with the DMR. He's agile so the Grenade Launcher isn't a good weapon facing him. Once you've killed him, attract the attention of the Shade gunners and headshot them. Now a Pelican will swoop in and drop you a fancy Missile Launching Warthog. Sweet.

Impossible is What Spartans do.
Hop in the drivers seat. It is very tempting to play with the pretty rocket launcher on the Warthog, but the AI drivers are criminally stupid, and the missiles aren't the easiest things in the world to aim. If you really want you can play musical weapons with the trooper and give him your Grenade Launcher. If you get Kat on the Missile Turret and him firing grenades, it makes the next section a whole lot more explosive. Keep in mind that you won't be as effective against fast, annoying infantry like Skirmishers. Since Kat can't die, though, having her on the rockets can be a great help. Drive off and approach the first Anti-Aircraft Battery. You're going to want to do this in sections. You can't just drive up and kill it. You can shoot it with the rocket turret from a distance,but it will consume some time and it will be hard to stop Kat or the Marine from driving you there, so only do so if you've got a friend. Start by clearing the area below the plateau. There is a Ghost and a Revenant, as well as assorted ground troops, but the Grenade Launcher and Missile Turret are pretty efficient at killing enemies. The Revenant is nasty on higher difficulties, and your AI gunner may seem to think that a panicking Grunt is more worthy of death by rockets than the vehicles that can actually KILL you. Keep moving. Eventually Kat and the Marine should take out the enemies. Once the lower ground is clear, you are going to take a little risk. You could simply climb the Lookout Tower and DMR snipe the enemies at the tower, but where's the fun in that? Drive your Warthog to the overturned Ghost near the tower and park. Your gunner should fire volleys of rockets at the enemy for explosive and satisfying results. Use your DMR and Grenade Launcher to kill anything you can see. The Elite General with a Concussion Rifle is a priority, as he can flip the Warthog with his shots and ruin the explosive fun. Once you've taken care of those you can see, run into the AA gun. Melee the shield protecting the core (big and glowing, impossible to miss) and toss a plasma grenade in the reactor. The reactor should explode and emit a warning alarm. If it doesn't go, try again. Then, run for your life. The Gun will explode and kill you in about 10 seconds. Reach a safe distance and watch the pretty, pretty lights as the Gun goes boom.

Construction Delays can be a Killer.
Get back in the Warthog and drive off the opposite way you came in. Eventually you will see a broken bridge. Stop. You'll hear some comm chatter and way even encounter some Wraith Plasma being fired close to your head. Don't advance yet. Wait until you see the Pelican drop the temporary bridge repair. Now you can go. You're going to encounter some Jackals and a Wraith and you could waste time killing them, but don't bother. Keep driving, over the bridge and around the corner. If you really want that Wraith to die, just circle around it and let your gunner lay into it. It should go down after a few volleys.

Stop Or My Spartan Will Shoot!
See the large structure across the way, that's your next objective. You'll notice a squad of soldiers on the same side of the bridge that you are on being attacked by Covenant Forces. Advance until you are near the bridge but not directly in line with it. Hop out and get on the turret. At this point because of the way the game is scripted no one should get in to drive. Start by taking out the Shade at the far end of the bridge. Then move to the front of the Covenant forces at the bridge and clear your way back with the rockets. The enemy should be pretty easy pickings. Once you've cleared the front door, get out of the 'Hog and advance. You may want to root around in the dead soldiers to pick up any ammo you can. Still you are probably going to be pretty light on DMR ammo at this point. Once you cross the bridge you'll get an intel update about your Zealot friend from Winter Contingency. Advance up the walkway, you'll encounter some Skirmishers with Needle Rifles. Kill them and take their weapons and ammo. Keep going, your going to run into Grunts and Jackal Majors. Use grenades and your DMR to clean up to the Armor Lock. But since, armor lock is basically worthless in campaign, forget it. Bring up your Needle Rifle. Kat should be in line with you providing fairly decent cover fire. Here you'll run into an Elite Major who after a few hits will withdraw to hide behind another Elite Major at a Plasma Turret. Use the Needle rifle to drop his shields then super combine him. Advance, and grab the turret. Finish off the second Major and continue forward. Once you pass through you will encounter another Elite Major across the way, use the Turret to penetrate his shields, then drop it and super combine or headshot him. Look all the way across the area and the Zealot will appear, you should be able to use your DMR and Needle rifle to take him at range. Once he's dead (or in the unlikely scenario he gets away) grab your turret again and advance. You'll have to deal with a couple of Grunt Majors above, then when you drop in the hole there are a few more that need killing. Move forward and you'll receive an ordnance icon on the floor indicating a Plasma Launcher. Hopefully you still have some DMR ammo left, if so swap your needle Rifle for the Launcher, if not swap the DMR for the Launcher. You can also ignore the Launcher entirely and bring your Grenade Launcher or a Plasma Pistol, the EMP will come in handy. Head out and hop in the Revenant. Kill the few Grunts that are here and take out as many of the Ghosts before anyone can get in them. Kat will join you in the passenger seat.
 * Note of Consideration: While this isn't always effective unleashing several volleys of missiles at the upper tier of the facility may just clear out a few of the enemies that you are slated to run into.  You may even be lucky enough to take out the Elite Majors on the walkway.

Didn't I Do This Already? Why is She Trying to Kill Me?
Now you have to advance on the second AA battery and eliminate it. You'll encounter a few Jackals and Grunts before you get there, and you will learn one very important thing about the Revenant cannon in that it is VERY underpowered for being such a pain to aim. Once you see the AA battery you want to turn right and go counterclockwise around the cannon to clear. You are first going to encounter a pack of Shielded Jackals. Watch out for their overcharge shots. Demolish them with the Revenant cannon, or splatter them. You'll encounter a Wraith keep strafing it and try to stay out of range of the turret gunner, it's a little tedious but once the Wraith is dead you can mop up the low ground enemies easily. Alternatively, hop out of the Revenant and snipe the Wraith gunner. Run up to the Wraith, EMP it, and then hijack it. The Wraith is slower than the Revenant but it's main gun is MUCH more powerful. Shell the AA gun. A few hits will overload the gun and blow it up. A Phantom will come in and drop enemies off. A few Hunters near the gun will also attack you. Use the mortar and kill everything, but strafe to avoid the Assault Cannons of the Hunters, they hurt quite a bit if they hit you. Once everything has met death, a UH-144 Falcon will come in with Jorge-052. Get in the Jump seat with the Launcher, because there's more killing to be done.

If They Run They're Covies. If They Stand Still They're Well Trained Covies
Once you are in the air, you are going to see a whole lot of targets of opportunity. Just start shooting grenades. Using the EMP/delayed detonation can be interesting, but you are honestly better off just shooting them off and letting them explode on impact. Focus on the Shade Turrets specifically, because they're really the only threat here, but there are a variety of enemies running around just begging for a grenade. Soon you're going to encounter a Really Big Spire with shielding. Which is your next objective. Deactivate the Shield protecting the spire.

I Believe I Can Fly. I Believe I Can Splatter Your Brains at 500 Yards.
Once again, get up, dust yourself off. Grab a Jet Pack. This is really just a cool Jump Jet that can assist you in getting to places you couldn't otherwise get. It's extremely useful here, much more so than Sprint. Advance and use your DMR to take out the Skirmishers with Focus Rifles. Then work on the Grunts and Jackals. You don't have a lot of DMR ammo so take care with your shots. As you approach the top of the path you'll encounter a lone Elite Minor manning a turret, kill him and advance to the overlook of the Spire. There's a fully loaded Focus Rifle on the ground here. There are a lot of enemies here, but you can actually bypass this entirely. Off to your right is a broken pipeline. Jet pack onto the pipe and run along it to reach the Spire. Jet pack across the gap and land on the roof of the lower section of the Spire. Hop into the gravity lift to ride up.

Going Up. Next Stop, Housewares, Dining, Destruction
This part is a little tricky, but if you do it right, you'll be done in no time. When you come off the transport go out and turn right, when you see the Grunt Ultras toss a grenade. This will probably kill two or possibly all three. Edge out to that side, be very careful. You will see a grunt Heavy with a Fuel Rod Cannon. Head shot him with the DMR/Needle Rifle. This will draw out the Elite Ultra with his Energy Sword. Withdraw to the open shield floor and use the Focus Rifle to weaken his Shields. He will quickly close on you, use the Jump Jet here to get out of reach. If you're not careful he can chase you off the edge of the Spire which will lead to a very humiliating death if you don't have the Jet Pack. Once his shields drop, put a round in his skull with your DMR or Needle Rifle. Mop up survivors. Now you've sanitized the Spire, so go deactivate the shield then get out and watch the cutscene.
 * An alternate method to eliminate the Elite here is to have him pursue you outside to the platform of the Spire. When it gets close enough jump off the edge and fly away with your jetpack. The Elite should fall to its death.

Legendary Notes

 * Overcharged Plasma Pistols are by far the biggest threat in the level. They leave your vehicle disabled and open to assault. When given the opportunity to thin out the enemy before riding into an area take advantage. Also use aggressive driving techniques and brake slides to ram and splatter enemies.
 * Revenants are ineffective against Shielded Jackals. you just end up knocking them around, not killing them. Get out and use a DMR or Needle Rifle to finish them off.
 * You can't take your Plasma Launcher with you when you get on the Falcon. Use it wisely against the Hunters and AA Battery.
 * When assaulting the Spire your Jump Jet can provide you with a number of advantages, from closing on the enemy quickly to hijacking a Banshee, use it effectively and it will help keep you alive for the entire area.
 * Good Skulls on this mission are Cloud and Tough Luck. Catch is unfortunately not so good due to the amount of time you need to spend in a vehicle.

Notes for Lower Difficulties

 * This mission plays exactly the same for lower difficulties. The only thing that changes are the ranks of the enemies that you face.