Long Night of Solace (level)/Walkthrough

This is a walkthrough for the fifth mission of the Halo: Reach campaign, Long Night of Solace. It is written for Heroic and Legendary difficulty, with specifying notes for either, and does not involve skips or hacks.

Level notes

 * Long Night of Solace has three unskippable cutscenes, which are the beach landing, the Sabre takeoff, and the docking at Anchor 9. They are thirty seconds, a minute forty, and two minutes eleven seconds long, respectively. Have patience when doing this level.
 * This level has the most energy swords available, with three fully charged ones and one available on Legendary from an enemy.
 * Enemy projectiles travel faster on Legendary, in addition to being stronger.
 * If you're disorientated flying upside down on the Sabre, let go of the control stick for a few seconds and it will automatically right itself.
 * The Black Eye skull has no effect on the Sabre, as it is nearly impossible for it to "melee" opponents short of ramming them, which usually destroys the Sabre in the process.
 * A BOB can spawn on this level in one of five possible locations. Refer to this guide for where to find them.

The Rocky Beach

 * Jorge-052: "Bit of a hike to the launch facility..."


 * Carter-A259: "Any closer's too hot to land."


 * Kat-B320: "Copy that, Commander."


 * Carter-A259: "Move up the beach, Noble!"

The first encounter is on the beach heading to the launch facility. You'll be on even ground with lots of rocks fighting four Grunts, three Jackals, and four Elites. You'll be armed with an assault rifle with 400 rounds, two frag grenades, and a pistol with 60 shots. You'll be accompanied by Jorge with his turret, Kat with her pistol, and Carter with his DMR.

As you run past Noble Team towards the beach, you'll enter through a somewhat narrow crevasse to see a Spirit dropping four Grunts behind the rocks just ahead of you, with a drop pod following afterward. On high difficulties, you may want to wait a bit for the Spirit to start flying away so that it doesn't shell you from above. Then head for the rocks, circle around, and toss a grenade into the pack of Grunts. Mop up any that are left with either of your weapons, but watch for the Elite that just landed in the drop pod by them. Usually it's a Minor and Major Elite, with another landing further to the right of the beach. They'll tend to fight a bit then flee. Three Jackals will be by the second Elite. They'll retreat too, but they'll be hard to headshot from this range, so you can ignore them for now.

As you move up the beach, you and Noble Team will battle the Elites. The Elites will often retreat behind the rocks, so try flanking them. The Noob Combo, using a plasma pistol from one of the Grunts, can be helpful here, but the Elites will be fairly far away and they have greater accuracy than you. Approaching from the left, by the coast, can be safer, since the Elites will be farther away, but this will still put them rather far for good accuracy. Try to flank them when they're more focused on your allies then on you. Sometimes the Elites will charge if their shields are down and you're fairly close; whip out your pistol and rapid-fire at their head before they reach you.

After killing the first three Elites, the last Elite will land, and he’s an Ultra. He isn't shy about tossing grenades and any surviving Jackals will be on a hill behind him providing covering fire. Once again, wait for him to engage your allies. The best time to noob combo is when he's tossing a grenade, as he'll be stuck in place. Once he's dead, Noble Team will aid you with any remaining Jackals and then advance to the next area. Leave your plasma pistol or assault rifle behind, keep your magnum and grab a plasma rifle, and look for any spare plasma grenades by the dead Elites or Grunts. Then move with Noble over the hill.

The Beach Hillside and Into the Launch Station

 * Jorge-052: "More hostiles in the rocks to the south."


 * Carter-A259: "Root 'em out."

The next section is a hill covered in boulders that leads to the launch station's entrance. Several Grunts will be hiding behind the first rocks, but they'll soon retreat. Move around the rock to take them out, either with your plasma rifle or pistol. (And watch your aim if the Seraph crashing into the facility shakes the beach.) Noble Team will aid in tearing them up, then they'll focus on the Jackals guarding the hill by a metal barrier and their shields. Those Jackals you can ignore at first; your next priority is the two Jackal marksmen with needle rifles. They're on top of a rocky hill firing at Noble Team, and their needle projectiles will strip your shields quickly and force your teammates into Armor Lock. Since the marksmen will strip your shields if you get too close, use your pistol to peg them from afar. The shot hits a little higher than center on the reticle, so remember than when trying to headshot. When they’re dead, you can concentrate on the several shield Jackals defending the hill. Use your plasma rifle to get; it has much better range than the assault rifle or pistol, has a fast rate of fire, will greatly weaken their shield, and your pistol is likely low on ammo now.

The last few enemies will retreat to the top of the hill near the entrance, and an Ultra Elite in a drop pod will land. He's the biggest threat with his concussion rifle, but Noble will quickly distract him. Keep your distance with potshots while he fights your teammates, or flank him by heading to the far right of the hill, around some large rock dividers, to get him from behind. Use your plasma rifle at close range to mow down infantry and pop his shields. Once all the enemies are dead, a Pelican will land and drop troopers to reclaim the beach.

The Launch Station

 * Army Trooper #1: "Everybody inside, more hostiles on the way."


 * Carter-A259: "Inside, Six, let's go!"

There are only two enemies of note at the launch station, a Wraith and an Elite Major, but they’re still very challenging if you don’t have the right loudout to deal with them. You’ll want to assemble a good loudout to board the Sabre with, but you also need a good loudout to make it through the facility. Here’s what to do.

When you reach the entrance with Noble Team, grab grenades, health, Drop Shield, and a DMR from the weapons posted by the door. Two troopers will be guarding the door, and the one on the left has a sniper rifle. You’ll need this for the corvette mission, so swap a weapon for his sniper; it will have at least seven to ten rounds. Then wait at the door for ten seconds or so, and a trooper will come down carrying a rocket launcher. Swap your other weapon for his laucher, it will come with three or four rockets. These rockets are for the Wraith. Head to the left of the base, and you’ll see a Wraith parked at the dock some distance away. It takes three direct hit rockets to destroy it, four if one glances. If it fires a mortar at you, deploy your drop shield to protect yourself. If it won’t blow up and you run out of shots, look for another rocket trooper to swap with. Once it’s dead it’s safe to head in the base.

You have an Elite to deal with in the base, usually a Major or Ultra. You’ll be rather close quarters with him, and with Drop Shield you can’t run fast enough to assassinate him. So you’ll need rockets once again. As you head into the base you reach a room with the wall blasted out; the Wraith would’ve been below here lobbing mortars at you. As of now, there will likely only be a Spirit harassing soldiers with its turrets and dropping a few troops. One of those soldiers has a rocket launcher; trade him for it and you’ll get four rockets. You can fire a few to the dock below to get a small multikill, but keep at least two rockets. The first is to kill the Elite; the second is if you miss.

Go further into the base with Noble Team, and the Elite will arrive. He tosses a trooper down the hallway, waits a bit, then turns to fight you and Noble. If you have rockets, fire it center of mass to blast him away. If not, then go back for a DMR or let Noble Team fight him. It’s not a good idea to try for a point-blank snipe or melee kill; he’s much stronger than you at close range. Therefore, rockets are the definite way to deal with him.

Head into the control center and to the Sabre. If you're playing on Legendary, then before you climb in the Sabre swap out your Drop Shield for Sprint. The former armor ability is more useful but you need the latter for a tricky spot on the corvette in Legendary. Then grab an Energy Sword lying by a dead Elite, leave your sniper rifle as your alternate, head up to the Sabre, and fly off with Jorge into space.

Rally Point Alpha: Operation Upper Cut

 * Colonel Urban Holland (COM): "Noble Actual to Sabre Bravo Oh-Two-Niner, over."


 * Jorge-052: "Copy, Actual. Colonel Holland?"


 * Holland (COM): "Affirmative, Noble Five. Welcome to Operation: UPPER CUT."

It's time for a first in the Halo series, space fighter combat. The Sabre section consists of four waves: a Banshee wave, a small Seraph wave, a mixed Banshee and Seraph wave, and a Phantom wave. Because projectile speeds and strength are different on Heroic and Legendary, one's strategies will have to be different for either difficulty. If you're playing on high difficulties, presumably you'll be familiar with the Sabre's controls by now. But just in case, here's a refresher.

The Sabre controls similar to the Banshee in control scheme and mechanics. Like the Banshee it has two firing modes: one automatically firing bullets, the other firing lock-on missiles, which Colonel Holland points out work as a Noob Combo in space; bullets for enemy shields, missiles to finish them off. For faraway targets, it will adjust the reticle to account for distance and let you lead your shots. It can perform tricks to aid dodging; a left or right roll, and an up or down flip, neither of which have a use limit. Like the Banshee, it can boost to accelerate, but unlike the Banshee it can continue firing while boosting. It has regenerating health and energy shields, both represented by percentages. The Sabre's shields take longer to start recharging than the Sabre's health, but they replenish faster than health does. If flown upside down, it will automatically right itself if one lets go of the control stick for a few seconds. Pulling back on the control stick will slow it down, pushing forward will speed it up, and lastly it will not survive collisions if boosting or performing a trick.

As for the space field you're in, it's a large bowl with Anchor 9 floating towards the back and several construction platforms floating surrounding the rest of the edge. They can be used for cover, but generally this is hard to do because the Sabre will take a lot more time to fly behind them, and because your enemies might follow. Keep aware of their location so you don't accidentally crash into them. Three or four Sabres will fly around as allies, but their accuracy is poor as they don’t lead their shots and can’t fire missiles. Anchor 9 itself is more useful as it will deploy defense turrets that grow more accurate as the fight goes on.

Wave 1 and 2 / Banshees and Seraphs

 * Anchor 9 (COM): "Anchor 9 to all UNSC ships: station defenses are down, requesting combat support until we can bring them back online."


 * Jorge-052: "Here we go, Six. Show them what you can do."

The Banshee wave comes first, after a minute of free floating at Anchor 9. Even on Legendary the wave is a cakewalk, but there are still ways for improvement. As radio control warns you of an incoming wave, head for the far left of the field, by two floating construction platforms and wait there. Pull back on the control stick to slow your speed, then aim your reticle a few inches (on the screen, not in the in-game world) behind the waypoint marking where the Banshees will come from. According to the waypoint, you’ll be roughly 600 to 500 feet away from it. Done right, and when the Banshees appear you can shoot down four or five of them as they pass you by, making it easy to mop up the rest.

The Banshees are very weak in health and firepower. They only take one hit from your machine guns to destroy, and they generally only fire a few shots before speeding off. In other words, easy target practice. When there are only four left, waypoints will appear marking the last ones, making them easier to find. If the Banshee is far away from you, don’t try to peg it from long range even if you lead your shots. Use your boost to close the distance while shooting it.

Once the Banshee wave is done, you’ll only get a few seconds warning before four Seraphs come in. While there’s only a few of them, they’re significantly more challenging than the Banshees since their shots are stronger and they’ll frequently gang up on you. Also, like Colonel Holland reminds you, you need to wear down their shields with bullets before finishing them off with missiles. But if you move quickly, you can even the odds a bit as soon as they arrive like so.

As the waypoint marking the Seraphs’ arrival site appears, fly straight toward while aiming a bit above it. When the Seraphs appear, flip around with a trick and fire at the Seraphs below and furthest behind all the rest. Done right, and it will quickly be destroyed before it has the chance to turn around. Waypoints will then appear on the last three, making them easier to hunt down.

The Seraphs tend to fly in back and forth directions, speeding across one side of the battlefield then turning around to head the other way. As such, they tend to fly close together and combine their fire. When shot at, they usually break off, especially when getting close to your Sabre, so you usually don’t have to worry about crashing. If they blast your shield, flip around to face them, fire at them so they break off, then pursue as they flee. Like you did for the first one, you generally want to target the Seraph that’s the furthest back of all the others, so they won’t retaliate while you attack one. If wounded, it’s better to break off the chase and try again later than to pursue relentlessly hoping your attackers will give up.

Wave 3 and 4 / Banshees, Seraphs, and Phantoms

 * Jorge-052: "Is there any place the Covenant isn't?"


 * Anchor 9 (COM): "Anchor 9 to all UNSC ships: station defenses are back online. Clear the lane, and we'll light 'em up."

Wave 3 will have a checkpoint and a fairly lengthy dialogue before starting, allowing you a breather before battling again. You’ll need it, as this section is one of the hardest parts of the level, especially on Legendary. A mixed wave of Banshees and Seraphs, more than on the previous waves, will arrive and your Sabre will be practically bathed in plasma fire while in a bowl with limited cover. So to survive, you’re going to have pull out every one of your bag of tricks. For this wave, remember two rules. One, flip around when you’re attacked. Two, stay close to Anchor 9.

Wave 3 will arrive in two groups, Seraphs first, Banshees following a second later. While the Seraphs are obviously the more dangerous, the Banshees will be the thorn in your side, as they’ll frequently fire from across the map while you’re trying to get your shield to recharge. So to minimize this, you have to take out as many Banshees as possible quickly. When you see the waypoint, fly to the construction platforms from the same place you camped at in Wave 1. Wait for the Seraphs to pass, and when the Banshees arrive fire across to them and take out as many as you can. You once again might be able to get at least four or five before the fighters start turning to attack you.

That was the easy part; now comes the challenge. The Seraphs will promptly start ganging up on you. Once you taken out as many Banshees as you safely could, start flying to Anchor 9 and keep close to it. The reason for doing so is this: Anchor 9’s turrets are 100% accurate at close range. So if you stay close to it, it will shred Seraph shields and so protect you. But you can’t count on it to kill everything for you; you still have a job to do.

As you fly near Anchor 9, look for Banshees; you need to kill as many things as you can to trigger Wave 4 and the Banshees are the weakest. But as soon as you get shot, flip around and fire at your pursuer. If your shield gets popped, keep flipping. Then keep flipping and flipping until it recharges; do not let your enemy keep your aim on you. This is going to happen A LOT, so you must have patience with giving up prey so you can survive. The general rule is, every time you get attacked, flip and fight back.

Keep your distance a little bit from Anchor 9 so you don’t crash into it when flipping, but otherwise keep doing so when shot. A few seconds holding still will be all your enemies need to resume harassing you, so make it as inconvenient for them as possible. Rolls left and right generally won’t affect their aim as much, so up and down is the safer route. If they still keep picking at your health, don’t stop. Your health recharges sooner than your shields, so a few percentages of regained health can be just enough to last out until they break. Even if you’re under 20% health, it is still possible to survive. Sooner or later the Seraphs will pass you to another side of the battlefield and you can get back to fighting condition again.

Your priority targets are Banshees, but weakened Seraphs are next. If you spot a Seraph with an already damaged shield, fight him over a full shield one; a few hits will mean a few seconds difference between its destruction or you having to give up the chase. Anchor 9 will be a huge help here with its autoturrets. Now that all its defenses are online, it will constantly pepper Seraphs with overlapping fire and be pretty accurate at closer range. It usually can’t both take down a Seraph’s shield and destroy it, but it can usually achieve one of them so you can accomplish the rest.

Once enough Seraphs and Banshees are dead, five Phantoms will arrive as the fourth wave. This part is actually significantly easier than wave 3, as the Phantoms are basically immobile and the Seraphs become much less aggressive. The Phantoms’ concussion shots are more annoying than deadly, as they merely heat up your screen but cause your ship little damage. As long as you roll to avoid them, they’re easily avoided. Reinforcing Seraphs and Banshees will come with them, plus a few survivors from Wave 3, but once again they’re much less aggressive now and will mostly fly around the outer edges of the field. You can either fill the Phantoms with missiles (they don’t have shields) and then all the remaining fighters will flee, or you can take out all the fighters; no further reinforcements will come. Once all the Covenant are gone, dock with Anchor 9 to play the cutscene and continue to the Covenant corvette.

The Corvette

 * Jen (COM): "Frigate Savannah in position. Sabre teams: sound off."

When the battle starts, fly down under the Corvette and try for a Killionaire. Beneath the corvette is its “belly” full of docked Banshees. They’re arranged in two rows, and will take off when attacked or flown close to. When you’re under, aim for the Banshees and mow them all down with your machine guns. If you’re fast enough, you can take nearly 10 to 15 Banshees in just four or five seconds and rack up to a Killionaire medal. Plus, it saves you from fighting them later.

The Corvette space battle is not as hard as Anchor 9’s, but it is more cramped. The Covenant ship and the frigate flying around are easy to fly into, so you have to stay aware of where they are when doing tricks. The Seraphs should be taken out first; the Savannah, like Anchor 9, will helpfully weaken them with its turrets. When they’re all dead, you must cripple the corvette. Your objective is to destroy its engines, but you should also take out any light turrets on its hull. There are three at its rear and four on its sides; two on either side of its upper deck. The six bigger turrets toward its front can’t be destroyed; and don’t try, as they can blow you up in two shots.

Once they’re all destroyed, fly to the rear of the corvette, pull back on the control stick to slow down, and blast all its engines with your missiles.; there are four engines to destroy. Then, three more Seraphs will then fly in from above the corvette (and the Banshees would’ve launched at this point) and must be taken out before you can continue. With the Savannah’s help and your tricks from before, the can be destroyed so you can land and begin the operation.

The Comms Room

 * Holland (COM): "Noble Six, the Savannah ' s countermeasures won't work forever. Find a way inside, and permanently disable the cruiser's communications. As soon as we're sure the Corvette can't squawk, we'll initiate UPPERCUT - Phase Two."

As you exit the corvette, you will still have the loadout you entered it with: Energy Sword, Sniper Rifle, and Sprint. This landing bay and communications room is where you can put that sword to good use against the Sangheili Rangers. This section is also in vacuum and low gravity; sounds are muffled, you jump higher, and fall slower.

On Heroic, this section is a cakewalk. As soon as you arrive, slash the Ranger that leaps up to meet you then run to the other side to slash the second one that leaps up. Then walk down into the ship through the energy shield, land on a ring-shaped platform, and slash the last two Rangers that are typing on its consoles. LZ secured.

But on Legendary, this is one of the hardest spots in the level. After those four oblivious Rangers, there will be two more that dual-wield plasma rifles. While coming aboard the corvette with the Drop Shield might protect from their fire, it’s only a temporary comfort, as they’ll just tear down your shield then keep firing away at you. This comms room has little cover, so to fight them you need to run.

On Legendary, as soon as you land on the console ring and kill the two typing Rangers, Sprint for the second floor via the walkway going to the right. Once you reach that floor, turn around to the left and you’ll see a nook with two armor abilities, Drop Shield and Armor Lock. Now you can grab the Drop Shield; trying to do that run for the second floor without Sprint but with Drop Shield would not have gotten you away fast enough from the dual-wielding Rangers.

With you out of sight of the Rangers, they’ll head to the bottom floor to kill off the troopers that came with you. After reaching the second floor, head to the left until you reach a spot where you can see the ground floor and the Rangers. Wait until you get their attention. When they shoot, duck behind a wall, maybe peeking to see where they are. Sooner or later, the Rangers will jump to your floor. This is where you can take advantage of an AI exploit: the Rangers can’t shoot and jump at the same time. While they’re jetpacking to you, they’re harmless until they touch the ground. As they fly to your floor, greet them with the energy sword.

Securing the Hangar

 * Holland (COM): "Holland to Savannah, enemy comm relay is now offline."


 * Jen (COM): "Copy that. Halting countermeasures, diverting all power and personnel to weapons."


 * Holland (COM): "Alright, Noble. Let's get that slipspace bomb on board. Six, head for the hangar."

It’s time to help get the Pelican with the bomb onboard, and to do that you’ll need a needle rifle. But before you do that, remember one vital note about this section: All dropped weapons in the comms room will despawn. Weapons that spawned on the floor and ammo crates will stay there, but those dropped by you, enemies, or dead allies will disappear when the next room loads. Remember that before trading weapons right after the Rangers have died.

After the corvette’s communications are reported as jammed, a door on the ground floor will open, revealing a Ranger and two Unggoy Ultras. (All the Grunts and all Elites in this section will be Ultras and Rangers, as their enclosed helmets let them breathe in vacuum.) They won’t go far into the comms room and when damaged enough will retreat. You have several options here. You can either grab a DMR from your fallen allies and pick them off, you could toss a grenade to weaken and scare them away, or you could snipe them. For the latter, target the Ranger first, but watch out as the Grunts often go kamikaze after he's dead. Try to keep at least four shots saved in it. Remaining Covenant will retreat back the way they came from, going down a hallway leading to the hangar.

Before following them, grab the Drop Shield if you haven't already. Then look for a needle rifle. You'll find a crate with two on the second floor. Face the door to the hallway, look up and left, then jump in the low gravity to reach the crate. Whichever weapon you traded will still be useful, though, so drop-carry your three weapons back to the ground floor then down the hallway. When you exit the door on the further end and enter the hangar, you should have a needle rifle and an energy sword. Leave your sniper rifle in the hallway in front of that door.

The hangar will be filled with Unggoy Ultras, four to six Rangers, and an Engineer giving them overshields. It's a large open area with two balconies on either side, one on the side you entered and the other on the opposite side. A few of the Rangers (one on Heroic, two on Legendary) will stay back on the opposite balcony and annoy you with Focus Rifles. As they do so, the Grunt horde will move up to your location and the other Rangers will across the room to flank you. Basically, fighting in the hangar room is suicide. So to clear this area, don’t go to the enemies, let them come to you. Here’s how.

After entering the room and leaving your sniper rifle at the door, go to the left and hide behind the walls guarding the left ramp to the second floor balcony; this will protect you from the Rangers with focus rifles for now. With your needle rifle, take out the Engineer with three shots to cut out the source of overshield. Then retreat back down the hallway, turn around about halfway down, then scope in your needle rifle and wait for the hangar door to open. If its center light glows and its dings, an enemy is opening it. If the door stays open but no Covenant are visible, it means an enemy is waiting around the corner.

The Grunts will pursue you from the hangar, but the needle rifle lets them be taken out quickly with three shots each. Since the enemies treat the needles as though they’re grenades, the Grunts will usually dodge your fire rather than shooting back, making them easy targets in this narrow hallway. If they do fire enough to drop your shield, though, deploy your bubble shield to put a barrier between you and them. Your priority target on Legendary is a Grunt with a Fuel Rod Gun; take him out ASAP. If you run low on needle rifle ammo, you can return to the comms room and grab more from the crate, but you won't really need it because of the incoming Rangers.

As the amount of Grunts diminishes, the Rangers will start coming for you. These Rangers are equipped with needle rifles and plasma repeaters. They’ll run down the hallway and chase you into the comms room. If you didn't kill the Ranger that entered the comms room, then there will be four Rangers coming for you, one at a time. This is where your energy sword comes back into play. When a Ranger arrives, deploy your bubble shield to block his fire, run back to the comms room, and wait around a corner for him to arrive. As soon as he’s visible, slash him with your sword. You’ll usually have just enough charge left to deal with all the Rangers; if not then spam your needle rifle at them as they charge up the hallway.

When there’s only three enemies left, red arrows on your HUD will mark their locations. Even if you're not in the hangar, it's easy to tell what kind of enemies they are, since Elites move faster than Grunts. Most likely, the focus rifle Rangers will be among them. If your sniper rifle is still in the hallway and hasn’t despawned, pick it back up, enter the hangar, and go part of the way up the ramp to the balcony. Hide behind the ramp walls, and headshot them both. If you don’t have your sniper rifle, then use the needle rifle to wear down their shields. It’s possible to stand close enough at the wall that you can hurt the Rangers but they can’t hit you. If they do get your shields, duck and use your bubble shield.

When all the hangar enemies are dead, air will flow in and the gravity will return to normal. Before you hit the button to let in your Pelican, take one of the Ranger’s focus rifles; one of them should have at least more than 80 percent ammo. You can then either keep your needle rifle and refill from a crate at the entrance balcony, or take the sniper rifle, if it still has shots, to give to a trooper at the next fight. Don’t give it to any possibly living allies now; they’ll despawn and the sniper with it. Just make sure you have the focus rifle and the drop shield before letting in the Pelican.

To the Bridge

 * Holland (COM): "Noble Six, get that Corvette moving toward the supercarrier. Head for the bridge. Find the NAV controls."


 * Air Force pilot #2: "Got plenty of arms and ammo if you need 'em, Spartan."

The Pelican will bring it ammo boxes stocked with grenades and human weapons, some of which even have more than max ammo capacity. When the level resumes after the cutscene, quickly swap some weapons. If you have the sniper, give it to a trooper. If you have the needle rifle, swap for a DMR from a box. The one you grab may have 65 ammo capacity, five shots extra. Take it and take aim at the door leading to the bridge, it and two other door on its left and right sides are about to open.

When it opens, your team will fight four Grunts and two Elites. The first two Grunts can be headshot or fragged as soon as the main door opens. Then turn to the door to the left of it and take out the other two Grunts. This leaves the two Elites. On Heroic, it’ll be an Elite Majors or possibly an Ultra, one with plasma repeaters and the other dual-wielding plasma rifles. On Legendary, they’ll both be Ultras and one will have a needle rifle, the other a repeater. This is why you brought the focus rifle. Get far away enough from their fire that they’ll mostly miss, then scope in and wear down their shields. If their shield pops, just keep firing with the focus rifle; it’ll take longer to switch to the DMR for a headshot. Don’t worry about its ammo because you’re going to use it all here. When one Elite is dead, the other will retreat down a hallway leading to the next room, which is weapons control. But he’ll usually stop there for a bit in one last attempt to fight before fleeing again. As he runs, chase him while firing your focus rifle to keep his shields weak, then deal the finishing shots as he turns to fire back.

If this is done fast enough, you can actually keep all your trooper fireteam alive here, which is good because they’ll be useful later on. Once that last Elite is down, though, they’ll head to the end of the hallway leading to the weapons control room. They’ll wait there for a bit before going in, so hurry in reclaiming your needle rifle and a plasma pistol from the dead Grunts so that they don’t get themselves killed. Make sure it's the plasma pistol with the most charge because you won't get another in the next room.

The weapons room on Heroic is trivial, but on Legendary it’s a bit more complicated. An Elite Ultra is manning the plasma torpedo turret firing at the Savannah. On Heroic, he’s the only enemy in the room so you can just assassinate him. On Legendary, a second Ultra will be hiding nearby and he’ll attack you if you try to stab his ally. So you need to get him first on Legendary. When entering the room, walk along the right balcony overlooking the turrets on the left wall and computer stack walls in the middle. The Elite will be standing right under the balcony by the second wall. Drop down and assassinate or noob combo him. If you backstab him, the other Elite at the turret will remain unaware of your presence, letting you get that second assassination. If not, then get him with the plasma pistol and needle rifle combo.

Before heading down the hallway to the bridge, arm your troopers a bit first. There will be a plasma rifle or two from the dead Elites and crate in front of the door you entered from. Arm the troopers with those, swapping their human weapons out. If a fight breaks out in the next room, the troopers can stun or kill Grunts and pop Elite shields; their assault rifles, shotguns, or DMRs will be rather weak in there.

The Bridge

 * Air Force pilot #3: "Looks like the bridge, Spartan. Let's clear it out."

The bridge of the corvette is a circular room with three Spec Ops Elites, four Grunts, an Elite General (two on co-op), and sometimes even a BOB. They’ll be unaware of your presence when you first enter, so you can get some stealthy kills before they realize you’re there. But since their placement in the room is random, the same stealth strategy isn’t guaranteed. So if you want many to do this room all in the quiet with none of your allies dying, then here’s what to do.

When you go down the hallway leading to the bridge, stop halfway down and wait for a checkpoint to save. You’ll have gotten a save point just before the bridge enemies spawn, letting you easily revert to checkpoint if the enemies’ placement is unfeasible. Now you can try this room over and over again and not be cursed with one bad roll of the dice.

The bridge room is divided into two decks and shaped roughly like an upside-down Reclaimer symbol. Surrounding the room on the lower deck are four consoles that may be manned by Grunts. On the inner deck are three Spec Ops Elites, two of which are typing on consoles and one of which is pacing around a holographic globe of Reach. A BOB may be typing on another console nearby. Also pacing is an Elite General, who will stop by the globe, on either side of the inner deck facing in, or past all the decks to look out the window. Whether you can beat this room with perfect stealth, though, depends on the Grunts. Up to two may be with the Spec Ops Elite watching the globe. If there’s none, it’s almost guaranteed. If there’s one, it’s harder but still possible. If there’s two, then it’s not worth trying. For one or none, here’s how.

Enter the room; the troopers will keep quiet and hang back until you or the Covies open fire. Your first target is the Spec Ops Elite watching the globe; your last is (likely) the Elite General. When the General leaves and the Spec Ops Elite starts walking, punch the Spec Ops in the back. Make sure it's a beatdown, not an assassination, or the other enemies will hear you. If there's a Grunt with him, kill the Grunt then him while he's walking. After he's dead, beatdown the next Spec Ops Elite typing on a console to the right of the globe. Once he's down, look for the General. If he's at the inner deck's edges looking in, round a small barrier on its edge so he doesn't see, then carefully beatdown him before getting the others. If he's on the outer deck looking out the window, go up to the consoles on the north, beatdown the BOB, then the Spec Ops, then lastly the Elite General. At this point the Grunts will usually come alert and attack. Take them out with your needle rifle; your allies will pitch in and help you.

If it's too hard to do this room by stealth, then stick by the outer deck using the barriers for cover. Your needle rifle will handle Grunts, but the cloaking Spec Ops Elites will be more tricky. They'll be three with plasma rifles on Heroic; on Legendary one of them has an energy sword. Keep an eye on your radar to spot them, especially if they're charging, then try for a noob combo. If they drop your shield, you have a bubble shield. The Elite General will stay in the inner deck and blast you with the concussion rifle. He also likes to throw grenades, so stay aware and dodge his shots. To close the gap with him, spam your needle rifle; he'll dodge the shots like plague or go into armor lock. Use his panic to get closer and then noob combo him. If you need another plasma pistol, the Grunts may have some.

Once they're all dead the bridge is yours. Before you press the console button like Holland radios in to tell you to, you want to prepare your troopers for the next encounter. Around the deck are crates with needle rifles, concussion rifles, and dropped plasma rifles from dead Elites. Arm our troopers with the needle rifles and plasma rifles. Since you can have four troopers max, go for an even mix. Take one yourself if your DMR is low, and grab a plasma pistol too.

Back to the Hangar

 * Holland (COM): "Well done, Noble Six. UPPERCUT initiated. Corvette is underway."

As soon as you press the bridge button, turn around, scope in your needle rifle or DMR, and start firing at the opening door to the bridge. An Elite Major will be leading around seven or so Grunts and Jackals to attack the bridge. Good news is that your armed troopers, if they're alive, will be wreaking havoc with their needle rifles, so the enemies will be dodging all over the place rather than fighting back. Concentrate on the Elite first, since he'll flee once all his troops are dead. Then take out his footsoldiers. Since the Grunts and Jackals will be bunched near the door, you can take out a lot of them with grenades. Spare plasmas might be lying about the bridge, and you'll get more frag grenades pretty soon, so go ahead and toss them. But at least keep two plasma for the final fight.

When they're all dead, it’s time to head back up the hallway to the turret room. But before you do that, swap your plasma pistol for an energy sword; it will come in handy in the final fight. Then refill any precision weps, collect spare grenades, and exit the bridge with your allies.

The turret room will be empty when you first enter (unless the Major fled to there), but as you move up a door facing towards you will open with an Elite Ultra and many Grunts and Jackals. Once again, if your troopers are alive they'll cause chaos with their needle rifles and strip the Elite's shields with plasma. The Ultra will often go into armor lock to avoid the needles, so use that opening to toss a frag, use your sword, or use a dropped plasma pistol. The rest of the infantry will be too panicked to be much threat, especially if you throw a frag grenade into the door they entered.

If all your troopers are dead, then keep your distance by hanging by the door you entered. Pick off the infantry with your needle rife or DMR. The Elite will likely be last, and he'll hide at the far end of the room by the ramp leading to the door to the hangar. Move around it carefully and noob combo or sword him.

Holdout at the Hangar

 * Jorge-052: "Good of you to come, hostiles were pounding the hell outta the Pelican."

There are two ways of beating the hangar, one being the "no cheats" way and the other taking advantage of a secret Easter Egg. As such, this guide will list both, but first it will list the wave basics.

The final battle in the hangar is split into five waves. The first is a four Grunts, two Jackals, and an Elite Major that are attacking Jorge when you enter. The second wave is a pair of Jackal marksmen and four Majors that will come from the side you just entered from. The third wave is an Elite Major leading Grunts from the ground floor on the opposite side. The fourth is a pack of Grunts that come from the door leading to the comms room along with two or three Elites coming from the balcony above it. The last wave is four Ultra Elites coming from the four corners of the room, each from the doors at the balconies.

Pelican Turret
When entering the room, pick off the infantry with your needle rifle and head for the right side of the parked Pelican's cockpit. Looking at it, you should see a small black triangle pointing downward. Crouch next to it and keep hitting X like to enter a vehicle. Done right, and you'll enter inside the Pelican's chin turret. Shoot at the ground until your vision clears. You're now in control of a Pelican turret.

The turret does the damage of that of a Falcon, and also has the same reticule. Inside it you are immobile but completely invincible. Even a direct stick from a grenade will not kill you while you’re in there. Unfortunately, when you fire the firing flash will briefly obscure your vision. Also, enemies will often hide behind cover or stay far away. If you’re impatient, you can exit the turret, walk over to kill them, then walk back and climb inside again. Just be careful about doing this at the end of a wave, as you might get ambushed by the next incoming enemies.

During the last wave, the Ultra Elites like to hear near the back of the Pelican. You can still shoot them through the Pelican, though, and if they're on the left side you can shoot the many glowing plasma batteries to trigger explosions that will break their shields.

Boots on the Ground
When you enter the room, headshot the Jackals and Grunts; they’ll be unaware of your presence at first and concentrating on Jorge. The Elite Major can be noob combo or sworded; most likely he’ll be trying to fight Jorge hand-to-hand. Try to leave the Major for last, because you want a bit of time before triggering Wave 1 to restock DMR ammo, grab grenades, etc. Keep your Drop Shield handy as well.

Wave 1 is the Jackals. Four Jackal with shields will come out of the door to the left of the way you just entered this hangar. Two marksmen will come out on the balcony to their left (facing them, your right). When the door opens, toss a grenade or two into the shield Jackals; they’ll be clustered close together. The marksmen will then shoot with needle rifles from above. Use your Drop Shield if they injure you too much, then heal and headshot them. If you can’t find one, he probably ran off the balcony and is hiding below.

Wave 2 will come from the opposite side. An Elite will lead a group of Grunts underneath the left balcony. They’ll hide behind the cover there, so headshot them as they peek out. You could sword the Elite, but you want to keep at least 50 percent charge if you’ve use it already before, so either wear down his shield with the DMR or noob combo.

Wave 3 will come from the door to their right at the center ramp; the door you first entered from in this level. A bunch of Grunts will come out of here. If you come there quickly, you can toss a grenade as they enter and blast them all away. Otherwise, use headshots and keep your distance.

Two or three Elites will then fire harassing shots from the balcony above. But these Elites won’t pursue you; they’ll mostly hide up there or come down the ramp for a short while. Going up the balcony to fight them is too risky, so instead fight them from range. Behind the Pelican is a sniper rifle with 24 rounds. Use it to take them out. When there’s one Elite left, get on the balcony where you let the Pelican in from, and ready your energy sword before sniping that last Elite. For security, you can bring your DMR up as well; there’ll be a dead Major with a plasma rifle nearby that you can pick up to drop a valuable weapon there before heading down to grab the other.

Snipe the last Elite, then draw your sword and turn around for Wave 4. It’s going to be four Ultra Elites, armed with plasma launchers, concussion rifles, dual wielding plasma rifles, and coming out of each corner of the room. As soon as the music stops and the room fall quiet, turn, draw your sword, and slash the Elite coming out the door behind you. Since they’re Ultras, at full shields they’ll survive one slash. But they’ll roar in rage and thus give you time to land the second hit. Additionally, they’ll mostly focus on Jorge, letting you sneak up behind them. If they realize where you are and start firing back, deploy your drop shield and fall back. It’s not hard to side-step the plasma launcher Elites so they miss; but it’s still better to catch them unawares. If the dual wielder attacks you, don’t stay in your drop shield; deploy it then run before he can tear it down. If the sword feels too risky a strategy, pick up a plasma pistol before the end of Wave 3 instead and keep your distance.


 * Jorge-052: "Savannah did a number on the door. There's no way back up to the Sabres. Noble Six, form up on me."

When you hear the above line, it means everything you needed to fight is dead. Follow Jorge to the back of the Pelican to end the mission.

Alternate strategies

 * On lower difficulties one could take the DMR in the Sabre to the corvette, as it will perform better on incoming Rangers than the needle rifle.
 * At the beach, Pelicans will regularly land carrying troopers armed with assault rifles, DMRs, rocket launchers, and sniper rifles. You could grab their weapons or gain more ammo from them, but be aware that their weapons quickly despawn when they die. The Wraith will also sometimes fire a mortar near the Pelican, so stay alert.
 * If you want to assassinate the Elite in the launch station, you can take Sprint with you inside to do so. Note that switching Sprint for Drop Shield at the entrance will cause the latter ability to despawn shortly after. It is also more risky to fight the Wraith with Sprint.
 * If you want to spare the Engineer in the hangar, you can do so with the hallway strategy, as the incoming Grunts and Rangers will have to move out of range of its overshield to chase you. The focus rifle Rangers will also be out of range. Note that the Engineer still counts as an enemy, so you will have to kill one extra Covie for the marking waypoints to appear. Additionally, one of the Rangers tends to hang back more often when the Engineer is still alive. After killing all the other enemies, the Engineer will float away up into an exit on the ceiling.
 * Any allies that survive the communications room will go up the left or right balconies to shoot at enemies. Grunts might turn to face them when reaching your hallway, so the soldiers can be a helpful distraction. After turning off the hangar's shields, these allies will despawn during the cutscene and be replaced with other troopers, so don't give them any weapons you wish to keep.
 * On Heroic, if your energy sword taken aboard the Sabre still has at least 20 percent charge after clearing the hangar, you could take it with you to fight the Elites who first attack the Pelican. After killing the Grunts, head to the door on the right to flank the Elites. It's better not to try this on Legendary because the Ultra Elites will likely survive the first swing.
 * After the Pelican has landed and you've killed the initial attackers, you could possibly arm your troopers with needle rifles from the crate found on the way to the turret room. This is better on Heroic because the one Elite in the upcoming room will not do anything until any of you enter, whether as on Legendary the second Ultra will walk around in the meantime and become harder to assassinate.
 * One could use the energy sword on the bridge by using the needle rifle to close the distance. Spam its shots at the General and it will often dodge or go into Armor Lock, allowing you to get closer without getting shot. This is easier with the Tough Luck Skull on.
 * If you beat down all the Elites and don't assassinate the last, there's a small chance none of the Grunts will be alerted, letting you beat down all of them too. That said, they usually realize it anyway.
 * Good skulls include Tough Luck and Thunderstorm. If you turn on Catch, deploy your Drop Shield frequently as it will deflect grenades. If you turn on Black Eye or Mythic, note that the energy sword does not lose charge with swings unless it deals a killing blow.