The Package/Walkthrough

This is a walkthrough for the ninth level of Halo: Reach, The Package. It is written for play at Legendary and Heroic difficulty. Your initial loadout is a M392 DMR and MA37 assault rifle.

Level Notes

 * The glassing of Reach has lit up the atmosphere and scorched the surface, and a result everything looks brown and black. Turn up the brightness in the gameplay options to make the level easier to see.
 * Musical cues are your friend in this level. Use the music to know when a new wave is coming.
 * NOBLE Team is of limited help here. Because some parts of the level are so cramped, they tend to bunch up together. This also holds true for the lab defense, as they will not leave the holdout area. That said, they can whittle down enemies on their own, even on Legendary. Jun's sniper rifle will be the most useful for weakening troublesome targets.
 * You might be familiar with the method of hijacking a Wraith by leaping into the gunner seat to force out the driver. In this level that doesn't work. You'll have to break the cockpit door and kill the driver, leaving the Wraith a little damaged and you a bit more vulnerable. Stand on top of the Wraith and killing the driver, don't use the board command, and melee the door then the driver. This way is slower but will damage the Wraith less than boarding.
 * Each difficulty has less waves than the higher one. Normal has three, Heroic has four, and Legendary has five.

Heavy Defenses

 * Carter-A259 (COM): "Covenant own this sector now. They are defending for a full major strike, not a small-group infiltration. Eliminate all hostile ground air-defense so the rest of Noble can land at Sword Base for the torch-and-burn. Keep a low profile - we'll take them by surprise, this will be a hell lot easier."

The start of the level puts back at Farragut Station, but not as you remember it from ONI: Sword Base. The area has flooded and there's tight Covenant defenses. Looking out from the ridge, you'll see two Shade turrets, a Ghost driven by a Grunt, three Heavy Grunts with Fuel Rod Guns, a lookout tower with a Jackal Sniper, and many more Grunts behind what was the comms building. You have three Orbital Drop Shock Troopers as teammates, but they won't last long against all those turrets or Ghost. As for yourself, you have enough DMR ammo, a Hologram armor ability in the building in front, and the high ground.

Your first plan is to stay back and pick off everything you can from up here. As soon as you drop down from the cliff you're on, the Covenant will be alerted and your teammates will rush ahead and get themselves killed. The cliff is pretty narrow and invisible walls prevent you from climbing higher, but you still have a decent amount of room to shoot at the Shade turrets and the Jackal sniper. It's also harder for them to shoot you at this distance, though still easy enough if you stay put while they shoot. Also look for the Fuel Rod Grunts. You'll be able to headshot two of them for now; the third is behind the generator building and can't be seen yet. Also see if you can kill the Ghost's driver. This is much harder because it doesn't stop moving and because the Grunt driving it has his head protected by its cockpit. So aim carefully with bodyshots, and you might possibly take him out. If you can't from here, move up into the comms building and use the Hologram there to distract it.

Once the Ghost is dead, move up. There's still a lot of Grunts left, including one more Fuel Rod Grunt. Your teammates will cross the lake and attack the Grunts from the right, so you can either join them or come from the left as a flanking maneuver. Sometimes they'll even drive the Ghost, which can be pretty helpful. When you hear Emile and Jun start chatting over the comm, that means everything's dead. Hand Fuel Rod Guns to your teammates before they run off to the next area, grab a plasma pistol for yourself, restock on DMR ammo before heading off with them.

A Spare Tank

 * Carter-A259 (COM): "Might be a Scorpion still operational, Six. Check it out."

Unlike the tank sections in Halo 3, the Scorpion should be used with caution than with reckless abandon. It responds to enemy fire more, having weaker armor and a screen heating effect when it's shot at. It's more powerful than in Halo 3 but has a slightly slower firing rate, and your teammates, even armed with Fuel Rod Guns, don't have much effective range. The key word of this area is vigilance. Stay alert of everything coming and shoot before you can get shot at.

Anyway, first headshot the Grunt gunner on the lookout tower overlooking the Scorpion. Then jump in and slowly go around the boulder it's parked at. On the other side is a Shade turret, past it is another, and then past them is a bunch of Elite and Grunt infantry. Coming down the mountain after them will be two Ghosts. Try to engage everything one at a time and watch your reticle for when it turns red. Corners and boulders are ideal cover, and if you see an glowing blue explosive plasma batteries, shoot them to mop up infantry with them. Once they're all destroyed, drive up the mountain to where Airview Base used to be.

The Tyrant Guns

 * Carter-A259 (COM): "Time to get to work, Noble Six. Take out those guns!"

As you come up the hill, you'll see two Tyrant anti-air guns. As they're immobile, huge, and scripted to shoot at the UNSC aircraft on the other side, they're no threat to you. It takes eight shots to destroy each with the tank. The bigger danger is Banshees. There are roughly eight to ten Banshees flying in this area, and their weapons are powerful. Should they gang up you, your tank is not likely to make it out. So you have to progress through this area slowly and cautiously, watching for any Banshees that are flying by. Shoot them down with the tank; it only takes one shot to destroy each. Also, your tank shell is not hitscan, so you'll have to lead your shots a bit.

When both Tyrant guns are destroyed, several Falcons, one of which is carrying NOBLE Team, will fly down to help you out. You will be allowed to progress through the area. Keep an eye out for infantry and use the explosive canisters to kill them. There's also a Ghost or two in this area, though the Falcons sometimes take it out. Stay alert, and head on to the gate.

Fuel Rod Turrets at the Gate

 * Carter-A259 (COM): "Noble Team: Falcon group has landed, hostiles engaged. Jun is working on getting the gate open."
 * Jun-A266 (COM): "Really missing Kat right about now..."

Now comes what is perhaps one of the hardest sections in the level, if not the game. In what was the western plains, you'll have two Ghosts and a lookout turret with a fuel rod Grunt in it. Past them are four Shade turrets and two Revenants guarding the gate. Two of the turrets fire rapid-fire plasma shots and the other two fire fuel rods. Not only do these fuel rods travel faster than you'd think, but the turrets are so far away that you have to know beforehand where they are to shoot them. And on top of that, there are no checkpoints in this section until the whole area is cleared. Screw up one turret, and your tank explodes and you have to do the level over again.

So when entering, first aim for the lookout tower and blow up. Then rev forward and take out Ghosts as you see them. When you come to a large boulder bordering this plain from the gate area, carefully rev around and shoot to your right to blow up a fuel rod turret. If it fires, rev back immediately so its shots hit the boulder, then try again. When it's blown up, drive around the rock and blow up a Shade turret that'll be on your right. Ahead of you in the valley you'll see a Revenant, shoot it, and past it will be another far-off Shade turret.

As this point you should be against the left wall of SWORD Base in prep for the last and most difficult fuel rod turret. This one is on a mountain high above you, and is so close that the tank can't dodge its shots. So, use the base corner for cover. Position your tank so it's facing the wall, then carefully rev backwards and fire at the turret. If it fires back, drive forward so its shots miss or hit the wall. The tank is slow but you need fast reflexes for this; drive forward as soon as it shoots.

When it's blown up, the objective may say the area is clear, but it really isn't. There's one more Revenant hiding back right in front of the gate. Drive around the corner and keep moving so it doesn't shell you. Then once you see it, blow it up. The area will then be safe for you to park your tank at the open gate.

Courtyard Reunion

 * Emile-A239: "Just in time, Six."
 * Carter-A259: "Kill 'em all, Noble!"

The main door at the gate won't open, just a small parking spot, so you're forced to leave the tank and the ODSTs behind. But should you have a DMR and plasma pistol gained back in the first area, then you should be fine for this next encounter.

Head into the gate and up the road leading to the courtyard of SWORD Base. As you reach the top, you'll see NOBLE Team fighting two Elites, some Jackals, and a pack of Grunts. They'll be busy fighting your teammates with their backs turned to you, so you can easily surprise one Elite with a noob combo before finishing off the other. With the Elites down, Noble will mop up the Grunts fairly quickly and then head into the base. At its entrance ramp will be two Grunts manning plasma turrets. Approach them carefully to headshot them, and since they're immobile NOBLE might easily take them out themselves. Once they're dead the entire area should be clear.

The only complication of note with this area is that sometimes a BOB spawns in the balcony to your left. He'll have a concussion rifle and is as strong as a General. You can noob combo with caution, but keep your distance and don't try to fight him hand to hand. When you leave the area, you can bring a plasma pistol and one of the turrets, but neither will be that necessary. If you need a health pack, there will be one right by your teammates at the door to the elevator.

The Catwalk

 * Carter-A259: "Have to go through maintenance. Elevator's out."
 * Emile-A239: "The way this place has been done? We're lucky anything still works."

The next room will have a maintenance catwalk filled with nothing but Jackals and Skirmishers of various ranks. This part may look simple but it's actually deceptively tricky. The catwalk has no cover and huge sightlines for snipers forwards, backwards, and sideways. Should you rush out to run and gun, you'll get quickly mowed down as Jackals surround you and shoot at you from above. Once again, caution is key.

First, scope in and look carefully in the room to take out as many Covenant as you can. There will be marksmen with needle rifles far back and shield bearing ones close by, as well as Skirmishers that will rush up. Let them focus on your teammates and pick them off one by one. If you have the plasma turret, you can use it to wear down their shields, though be carefully about getting flooded with return fire. You can also use a plasma pistol overcharge to temporarily stun a shield Jackal as well, though it won't break their shield. You can also use the Hologram to lure out enemies. If you haven't got it already, you can get it from a case on the opposite side of the entrance room, though clear out enemies first or you'll get swarmed while trying to grab it.

When you can't see any more enemies, carefully exit the entrance to start going up the catwalk. Use your hologram to see if the path ahead is safe, and check all around you. There's two dangers when going up. First, Jackals that might be on the catwalk above and behind you, so check behind you often. Second, on Legendary there's a Jackal Sniper with a Focus Rifle who can quickly drain your shields and health. Use the hologram to lure him out for headshotting. There's crates full of DMR ammo on the ground floor and at the top, so don't worry about conserving at all. There's also an energy sword, but it's not very useful here against Jackals.

Keep proceeding to the top, picking off Jackals as you go. When you reached the stop and are sure everything in the room is dead, you'll need to rearm. Go back down and collect all the needle rifle ammo you can get; there will be more than enough to completely fill it. Then look for a focus rifle. You can get the one from the dead sniper, or you could grab a full one that's been left on a small platform in the room's central pillar. Go to the second floor and look in the middle to find it, then jump up to grab it. Leave this area with a full needle rifle, full focus rifle, and Hologram.

The Ruined Atrium

 * Jun-A266: "Where are we going now, boss?"
 * Carter-A259: "Dot?"
 * Auntie Dot (COM): "Please proceed to the prearranged coordinates.”
 * Emile-A239: "Cryptic..."
 * Auntie Dot (COM): "You know as much as I do, Noble Four."

There are no enemies in SWORD Base's bombed out security station, but there's a lot of fully loaded weapons here. There's a full plasma pistol on the floor, which you'll take with you later, and full DMRs in a crate. Swap your needle rifle for one and then open the door to SWORD Base's ground floor.

There you'll fight numerous Spec Ops Elites, an Elite General, and an Engineer shielding them all. They'll take a while to enter first, so use the brief opening to take out the Engineer. Kill it with the focus rifle; there's no point in sparing it as NOBLE Team will just kill it anyway and it gives the Elites more shields every few seconds. The cloaked Elites will then rush in while the General hangs back for now. Use the focus rifle to wear down their shields then use the DMR to headshot them. You could possibly use the focus rifle to kill them too, but it'll expend ammo faster. You can also use the hologram to lure them out, as you'll take a lot of fire trying to move up in the room.

When all the Spec Ops Elites are dead, the General will come. He's got a concussion rifle and stands on top of a narrow ramp, making trying to engage him close-range with the noob combo far too risky. So use your focus rifle again to wear down his shields, and then a DMR headshot to kill him.

When everything's dead, go back for your needle rifle and leave the DMR. Then swap your near-depleted focus rifle for a fully charge plasma pistol you'll find near the entrance of the security room. Then go up with NOBLE Team into the first floor and push the button to initiate the cutscene.