Uprising (Level)

''Looking for Changing of the Guard, the Covenant event?

Summary
Uprising is the 11th playable level in Halo 2.

As the Arbiter, the player must battle his way through Brutes and Jackals to reach a rendezvous with "Rtas 'Vadumee". Along the way, he will receive some aid from Grunts and Elites.

Usable Weapons

 * Brute Plasma Rifle
 * Brute Shot
 * Energy Sword
 * Fuel Rod Cannon
 * Plasma Pistol
 * Plasma Rifle
 * Rocket Launcher
 * Shielded Plasma Cannon
 * Shotgun
 * Covenant Carbine

Drivable Vehicles

 * Ghost
 * Spectre
 * Wraith

First Cinematic: "Oh, So That's How it Is"
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{Note: No dialogue at all in this cinematic}

''{"Heavy Price Paid" plays, camera moves up from a cliff face to show a view of Delta Halo's Control Room. The glow of a teleportation appears on the cliff. The camera focuses on the glow, and the Arbiter materializes, then stretches. The camera goes to beside and behind him, showing the path ahead. He turns to his left and finds a conveniently-placed Plasma Rifle, lying in a small pool of Elite blood, which he picks up, the camera now focusing on his front once more. Fade to white, gameplay starts}''

Gameplay
(Arbiter sees Brute shot grenades going off in the distance, followed by plasma rifle bursts firing in the air)

Brute 1: "Weaklings!"

(Arbiter picks up an energy sword)

Elite: (Dying) "The Brutes... have betrayed us... the councilors...!"

(Arbiter sees Brute shooting at a dead Elite.)

Brute 3: Let's just throw them over the edge!

Brute 2: Where's the fun in that?

(The Brute passes by two more Brutes)

Brute 1: "I already checked there!"

Brute 2: "Just making sure..."

(After you kill those three)

Brute Captain: (Growls) "Go see what's taking them so long!"

(After you reach the doors of a structure, a SpecOps Elite kills any Brutes remaining)

SpecOps Elite: "By the Prophets... what have these Brutes done...?" (Pauses, looks at Arbiter, then tightens his fist) "They have shed our brothers blood... and for that, they must die!"

(Pods land on the canyon)

SpecOps Elite: "A Zealot! So much for a stealthy advance."

Zealot: "Bah! Over so soon?"

(Once you move into the structure)

Zealot: "Arbiter! Save some for the rest of us!"

SpecOps Elite: "Take haste! There are more Brutes to kill!"

(Once you enter the next room)

Elite Minor: "Ha ha! Long have I waited for this!"

Brutes: "Intruders? Raise the alarms!"

(Later, the Arbiter finds a Grunt cowering in a corner)

Grunt: "Please... no hurt! Me like Elites! Brutes stinky bad-bad! Me stay here, make sure no Brutes come behind mighty Arbiter!" (Chuckles nervously)

(Upon entering a hallway with dead Elites and Grunts, with scattered weapons)

SpecOps Elite: (Praying) Start the journey... be at peace.

(Alternatively)

SpecOps Elite: And yet I live.

(Later, they find a cache of human and covenant weapons)''

Elite: "What vulgar taste! Even as trophies, these weapons are worthless!"

Second Cinematic: "Fight Club"
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''{Arbiter exits last door. A Wraith approaches him slowly. Arbiter readies his weapon. The lid opens to reveal Rtas 'Vadumee}''

Rtas 'Vadumee: "By the rings, Arbiter! The Councillors, are they.. ?"

Arbiter: "Murdered.. by the Brutes."

Rtas 'Vadumee: "Vile, disloyal beasts! The Prophets were fools to trust them."

''{They see a Phantom fly over them. It stops above the platform of the Delta Halo Control Room. Tartarus lands from the grav lift, with Commander Miranda Keyes and 343 Guilty Spark in captivity. Tartarus greets the Brute guards with growls. He enters, and the doors close behind him.}''

(End cinematic)

01: Oh, So That's How It Is?
Whew! Through with Gravemind. You know, this place was so pretty, and I was so happy to have outfought the end group of Elites in the Mausoleum that I let my guard down first time I was here. Big mistake. There are no less than eight Brutes in this happy outdoor area, who are having fun blowing corpses off of cliffs with grenades. I think that says just a bit too much about the Brutes.

A lot like Gravemind, though, we begin this level in a rather disadvantageous situation: no grenades, no sword, and a plasma rifle. Luckily, the sword can easily be obtained just ahead down the path, where a minor Elite is lying, mortally wounded by the looks of it. Grabbing the sword will cause him to give you a little speech about how the Brutes screwed the Elites over (gee, thanks for telling us that before they blasted us into a pit where we were yapped at by Audrey) and that "the Councilors..." I don't know exactly what he's trying to say about the Councilors, and it irritates me. It seems to me like this level originally had a purpose: namely to try and save the Councilors from the Brutes. As it stands, the only objective in the whole level is "Take revenge on the Brute traitors", which seems a bit stupid, given that Bungie has spent the whole game trying to convince us that the Elites are more civilized than the Brutes. But I digress.

Time to take on the Brutes. You can either let them come to you before killing them one by one (hard) or run straight past the morons as they stand and stare. (I guess I wouldn't have expected an Arbiter to show up literally from nowhere either). The second way is far easier, but you'll need to do a bit of quick work with camo and sword. As you go around the first bend, camouflage, then sword-lunge the Brute and finish him with a quick sword-melee. Easier, camo and assassinate the brute to save some battery for the sword. Generally, he has at least one grenade, but if not (or even if so), you'll want to turn around. There's an Elite (dead), a little rock, and a big rock. Jump up onto the big rock, grabbing the Elite's grenades as you go. Head straight over the top of the rock and into the next section of the area; with luck, the next group of Brutes won't notice. Head straight over towards the cliff; bear in mind that as you do, two Brutes will rush out in front of you. Watch your motion tracker, and activate your camo to save yourself a good deal of trouble. Run up the hillside, being careful to stay to the left, and you'll find two Brutes up top, one in your way. Stick him with a grenade and run through the door double quick. As soon as you're in, a Stealth Elite will come out and waste the other Brutes. Yay.

As the Brutes frantically try to regain control of the situation, our stealth Elite will shell them all to death with grenades. You may want to watch out for berserkers, though, as he can't always take care of them. At any rate, once all the Brutes are dead, three Elites, one a Zealot, will show up to help. Quickly swap out your plasma rifle for a Brute Shot.

Head through the door at the other end of this next room and you will find yourself in a multi-leveled cavern. Ahead of you are two Brutes, patrolling away from you. Run up and assassinate them both with the Brute Shot. Ahead of them, two Jackals will show up. Your Elites can probably take care of them, but you could always do it yourself with the Brute Shot. Head up the slope, but do not follow the path! Instead, head to the left of the big column-thing and jump up to the next level. A couple of Jackals will leap down in front, easy meat for the Brute Shot's merciless bayonet. As you head further up the path, two Brutes and a Drone swarm will come through the door. Camouflage, run through the door, wait for all the Drones to file out, then stick one with a grenade. As soon as it explodes, lob another at one of the Brutes and sword the other to death. As your team comes up from below (possibly minus a member or two; after all, they just took on three Brutes and two Jackals), move on through the L-shaped hall, into the stepped room. Man, I love this place.

On the level below you are some Jackals, congregated around an explosive crate. In front of you, on the left, are two of the tall, pushable explosive crates. Shove 'em off the ledge (don't melee them, obviously), watch those Jackals fly, then drop down and bayonet any survivors. You should get a checkpoint, which you'll want. Down one level, there are four Brutes. The strategy that works best for me is to stick one, wait for it to explode, camouflage, drop down, stick another, then sword the rest before they get what's happening. Down on the floor below are four Brutes, easy targets for plasma grenading. Don't drop down onto the floor, though; as soon as the last Brute berserks, four more will show up and help him out. If your team is still alive (at least the Zealot probably is), let them handle this—or at least wear the Brutes down a little.

The next room holds a Brute on a turret, three Brutes not on turrets, and two or three Jackals in a fairly small space. To make matters worse, at some point four more Brutes will show up, and these guys will often rush the ramp to the lower level. If the Zealot somehow survived this far, he can wreak havoc here. If not, you have a slightly tougher task on your hands. Right away, stick a grenade to the turret; it's the biggest threat in the area, able to kill you in two or three hits. The Jackals will often dodge away from the explosion in such a way that they're visible from the ramp. Drop some Brute Shot fire on them; try and wipe them out. If you got two of the Jackals, the second wave of Brutes will probably show up now. Almost immediately, one, or sometimes two, of the Brutes will go up the ramp. Camouflage, stick one, and sword the other as he turns to look at the grenade. Another Brute likes to take up a position to the right of the exit; he'll be easy to stick from the ramp. That leaves three more Brutes. One will often try and head up the ramp; camo, circle around behind him and Brute Shot-melee his butt. Stick a grenade to anything standing still, then take out the berserker with the sword.

Whew. Head on through the L-shaped hall, swapping your Brute Shot in exchange for the Fuel Rod Cannon. In the next room, which is empty, there's another Fuel Rod Cannon behind a crate. Grab that for ammo.

02: Step Aside! Let the Man Go Through!
Once you're prepped, step through the door. Kill one of the Brutes (I suggest the rightmost one) with the Fuel Rod Cannon, then fire a single shot at the other one to weaken him before you sword him to death. As you move down the path, four Brutes and a Jackal sniper will show up. Camo, head around to the left, and sword the sniper. Then, use your remaining Fuel Rods to kill most of the Brutes before finishing up with the sword. Once they're all dead, swap out your Fuel Rod Cannon for a Beam Rifle.

The next part is among my favorites in the game, partly because there's so many different ways to do things. You can resolutely take out all the enemies with a Ghost; you can boost past them all; you can snipe everything to death before cautiously moving through; hell, you can even skip the next two battles by sword-flying. If you feel like taking the last route, zoom in on the Jackal sniper in the next area, make sure the crosshairs are red (he's on a ledge on the right side, near the top) and quickly roll your fingers over X and Y, then hold the Right Trigger. It'll probably take a few tries, but if you're doing it right, you'll swing the sword and your aim will go off a bit. Eventually, you'll go soaring up towards him. If you're massively unlucky, he'll see you coming and snipe you beautifully out of the sky, but usually he's oblivious until you're actually up there, at which point he panics and becomes a good target for your sword. Jump up onto the next ridge, turn right, and head that direction. At the first time when you can go left without falling to your death, do so. Head along the ledge (you may want to use camouflage) until you see two Ghosts on the ground. Drop down, hop into one, and zoom away.

Alternatively, there's a way to skip the whole rest of the level, but it's pretty hard, and you'll need at least one shot left in the Fuel Rod Cannon. Use the FRC to sword-fly up to the Jackal sniper again, turn right again, but this time, keep going that way—don't take the left turn. Cross a sort of trench, and then, once you're on the far side of it, take a left. Eventually, you'll come to a narrow bridge over two of the ground area. It's in a crooked shape. Stand on the right edge, where it changes direction, and walk off the edge. Count to three and fire a Fuel Rod Cannon shot into the wall. If you time this perfectly, the end cutscene of the level will begin. Note that this is very hard.

If you choose to stay on the ground, there are quite a few Brutes and Jackals around this valley, and there are enough Ghosts for the Brutes that I'd suggest you just speed past them. If you really want to fight them all, you can, but there's no set advice I can give you. Just remember to snipe the Jackal sniper before you start, and remember the Bungie Proverb: "Never stop running, never stop firing, never burn money". Meaning: "Don't make yourself a target, don't wait too long for the perfect shot, and don't pass up a good opportunity".

The next valley is pretty hard. You can't really boost through; there's a bottleneck near the exit where you'll pretty much have everyone shooting you. It's best to thin the opposition first. Initially, there are four Jackals, a Jackal sniper, and a Brute in the wooded area to your left. Kill the Brute first, then the sniper, then another of the Jackals. As soon as there are only three Jackals left, look over towards your exit. A Specter with a Brute driving and another Brute on the turret will approach. Snipe the driver so they can't move, then kill the turret-guy before he can open fire. Grab a full Beam Rifle from the crate. Then hop back in your Ghost and head for the exit. Another group of Brutes, usually two or three of them, will show up as you leave, but they won't be able to hit you if you boost past them.

Up ahead are a few scattered Jackals; blow right past them. Slow down as you go down the steep hill; stop before you reach the bottom. Ahead are a large group of Brutes with two snipers and a few Jackals. However, if you stop for enough away from them, they won't see you as you stand there and blow their heads off. Obviously, take out the snipers first, then the Brutes, then anyone else. Be warned that beyond the main group are two Jackals on either side of the river, just waiting to ambush you. Once all the enemies are dead, grab the less full beam rifle from one of the snipers, then grab the more full beam rifle. That way, neither of them will disappear, nor will the one you just dropped. Three beam rifles will be pretty helpful for this next bit.

03: Fight Club
Great movie. Sadly, this chapter is not great; it sucks. Ahead are two snipers, one above the waterfall, the other to his right. Neither of them know you're there. Gun them down without hesitation. Once they're dead, your priority is the structure; more specifically, the four Brutes occupying it. Two are on the ramp; two are directly across from you. The ones on the ramp should go first; take off both their helmets before you kill either one. That way, the berserker will be an easier target. The ones in the structure rarely berserk, but man, can they ever throw nades! Every couple seconds, you'll have to dodge the glowy blue death they sling at you. Aside from that, they aren't too tough. Once they're dead, the structure is yours, not that you really want it.

Note that if you wait a few seconds before killing the Brutes inside the structure, you can have the entertaining sight of watching a Brute repeatedly shoot a wall with a shotgun! To see how it works, I guess.

Well, the structure is yours, anyway. Drive your Ghost up into the building, and fast. The Brutes want the structure back, and you need a checkpoint. Because eleven Brutes are going to come at you, although fortunately not all at once.

When they show up, just outside the door that you'll eventually continue through, a Jackal sniper is on a ledge a ways behind them. Snipe him before he notices you, then get back into cover. What will follow is a pretty long and dangerous battle in which you have to get headshots and duck back into cover every couple seconds. However, you have an advantage in that you have camo. Use it to give yourself enough time to target your enemies, and the battle will become far easier. The main problem here will be avoiding getting surrounded—some bright-spark Brutes find it fun to circle around, come up the ramp, and lob grenades at you as you snipe. Bleh. Eventually, some of the more daring Brutes may even come right into your hiding place, but they should fall to your sword. If you find more and more of them coming in, you may want to grab a Brute Shot or Shotgun from the big ammo stash. After you get about seven of the Brutes, take cover and you will often get another checkpoint. Eventually, when they all go down, you'll get another checkpoint, and a Wraith tank will drive over into your general area. Camouflage, drop down, board the tank, and beat the driver to death. Get in, and look under the natural bridge. Another Wraith tank, huh? Well, now we have one too. Introduce the other tank to the magic of the plasma mortar. When he dies, you'll get another checkpoint.

If you feel cowardly today, you could just skip the whole battle by sword-flying past the first group of Brutes while camouflaged. Of course, you could run into four more Brutes in the next room. That's poetic justice there.

Eventually, once the eleven Brutes are dead and both Wraiths are out of commission, a couple of Elites will fall from the sky to help. Zoom under the natural bridge in your tank and start shelling the Brutes in the second structure with plasma. They'll lob a crapload of grenades at you, but, unlike Halo 1, you no longer die when your vehicle is stuck. Lol pwned! Take the Brutes down until they stop throwing nades. Fire a couple aye-mak-sicur blasts. Then drive your tank up against the wall and grenade-jump up into the second structure. Head for the tunnel and move forward until you hear a Ghost coming. Then back off, back into your Wraith tank, and shell that Ghost and the others that follow it. On your right, a couple of snipers might show up between the trees, but they'll fall easily to the almighty mortar.

Once everything stops moving, get out of your Wraith, head back up the ramp, grab whatever ammo and grenades you need, and head down the tunnel. End of level.

Speed Run Walkthrough
''Note: This walkthrough require correct Grenade Jumping, Sword Flying, Active Camouflage usage, precision in everything and... speed. This walkthrough is based on Cygnus's 2:22 Legendary Co-Op run, with a bit of minor editing as I personally deem fit from tactics used in Spotcheck's 1:57 Normal run. It may be altered as and when faster runs emerge. Certain portions detailed here may only take place on Legendary and alternate methods, not detailed here, will be necessary in such events.''

Go along the path, picking up the Energy Sword as you do so. Once around the corner, jump up and over the rock, picking up the Plasma Grenade as you do so. If there is no Plasma Grenade present, however, it would be prudent to use Active Camouflage and backstab the Brute nearby for his grenade. If you did not get spotted by the Brute as you vaulted the rock, you will get a checkpoint as you near the next rock, otherwise you will not get it. Jump onto the rock and then Sword Fly to the Brute emerging from the inner area. Leave them to the Infiltrator Elite lying in wait and run past. As the next door opens, throw a Plasma Grenade to the bottom of the cliff and use it to Grenade Jump up to the Grunts. Swap out your Plasma Rifle for the nearby Carbine. Hopefully you get a checkpoint here, it doesn't always happen.

Zoom in and Sword Fly to the enemy reinforcements that emerge from the door, then use Active Camouflage to sneak past the Brutes that enter. Jump up and sight the Brute on the lower level, then quickly Sword Fly to him. Knock off the Jackal that goes through the door before he delays you too much. Head through to the next area and jump down the slopes. Run past the Brute that goes through the door. Head into the next area with the Shade and Sword Fly to the Brute that goes through the door. Pick up the Fuel Rod Gun in the area after that, and the reload before the door.

"Step Aside, Let the Man Go Through" will appear now. Use Camouflage to sneak past the Brutes and Jackals waiting outside. Sword Fly to the Brute Captain arriving in his Ghost and Cancel off him onto the rock. Get next to the tree-like object and jump up the cliff, then face downwards and jump upwards and forward, then jump again and make it to the top of the mountain. Once on top, turn slightly to the right so that the bend of Delta Halo is in the distance, then walk forward. You'll get a checkpoint here if you've been fast enough.

Head forward and down the sloping section to a thin stretch of pointed rock. Drop down the right side, as close to the wall as possible, then aim downwards and fire your Fuel Rod Gun. It's rather hard to state precisely where to aim, but just note that you don't have to be firing so close as to hurt yourself. It may be a few tries before you get the targeting perfect, but keep at it.

Trivia

 * The Ghost Skull is found on this level.