Long Night of Solace (level)/Walkthrough

This is a walkthrough for Long Night of Solace, the sixth level in Halo: Reach 's Campaign. It is written for play at the Legendary difficulty, but contains notes for lower difficulties.

Your mission is to plant a Slipspace Drive aboard a Covenant corvette and deliver it to a Covenant Supercarrier for detonation. Your initial loadout for this mission is your MA37 Assault Rifle, M6G Pistol and two 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.

This Is A Really Bad Plan
The opening of this mission is standard run-and-gun action; simply follow your squad and eliminate all hostiles on the beach. There are a couple of Elite Ultras and a few Elite Majors and plenty of Grunts. Once you reach the entrance to the launch facility, lob a couple of grenades at the Jackal Majors to break them up them go with your team and wade in and finish them off. There is also an Elite Major here, but he really shouldn't be much of a problem. When you've cleared the entrance, you can proceed into the facility, but be wary. You're going to encounter an Elite Major tossing a soldier like a ragdoll. Empty a clip from your Assault Rifle into him, and then melee to finish him off. Now you're clear of enemies. Find the Drop Shield near the entrance and a DMR. If you can find one laying around outside, swap your Assault Rifle for a Plasma Rifle, or pick up the Energy Sword lying by the dead Elite Ultra on the way to the Sabre. Load up all the ammo you can get, and then get in yourself planted in your ship with Jorge-052. Time to fly.

Welcome to the Danger Zone
OK, now you're flying your Sabre. Take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the controls. Note how to apply aerobatic maneuvers, and that switching between your cannons and missiles is the same as in ground combat. Now, follow the waypoint icon and join up with the rest of your squadron. Now you're going to face off against your first starfighter enemies, Space Banshees. Stick to cannons, and blow them out of the sky. If you start to take damage to your shields, roll out using aerobatics. Try to put something solid between you and the enemy firing at you for breathing space; the junk floating around Anchor 9, as well as the station itself, will work just fine. Once these enemies are dead, you will encounter a squadron of Seraphs. Use your cannons to pierce their shields, and then fire a volley of missiles at them. The missiles are fire and forget, so if you don't need to, don't stick around to watch the fireworks; just lock on, fire, and move on to your next target. At some point, a group of Phantoms will come to try and assault the station. Come in from above and behind to unleash missiles at them. They are unshielded and not very mobile, and are therefore easy kills, but they do have powerful side-mounted cannons. Roll back and forth to dodge their defensive fire and hammer them with missiles. Once you've cleared the area around the station, go in to dock and drop off Jorge.

I'm a Leaf On The Wind, Watch How I Soar
Regroup with your squadron and approach the corvette. Dive down toward the stern of the ship; as soon as you have a clear view of the engines take them out with missiles. Then, start clearing the Seraphs from the area. The Seraphs will be reinforced by a swarm of Banshees shortly, deal with them appropriately. Don't bother firing at the drop pods that shoot from the corvette; you can't kill them. You're going to have to make serious use of aerobatics here, because the Seraphs will target you aggressively. Be warned; the corvette has its own guns and the powerful broadside cannons near the front of the ship are extremely deadly, so make sure that the Seraphs don't chase you into their firing arc. When you've cleared the area and destroyed the corvette's engines, land on the ship.

Prepare to be Boarded! Actually, We Don't Care if You're Prepared or Not.
Once out of your space fighter, two Elite Rangers will pop out of the shielded area. Kill them quickly before they drop back in to the ship. This will leave you with the not insurmountable goal of only six elite Rangers to kill. You should be able to get the drop on a few of the Rangers below, so assassinate them if you can, or use the Energy Sword. Use your DMR to pick off the remaining Rangers (It only takes about 5-7 headshots). The Rangers are extremely mobile so don't allow yourself to get surrounded. When you're through here move quickly away from the door. As soon as it opens toss a grenade and kill whatever Covenant are left with the DMR. Head down the hallway to get to the hangar. There are many Ultra Grunts in the center with an Engineer hovering above them providing shields for them. On the far left, standing on a raised platform, are two Elite Rangers with Focus Rifles and to the far right on an identical raised platform are two more Elite Rangers with Plasma Repeaters. Kill the Engineer first, then take out the two Rangers on the left to get rid of the Focus Rifles. The other Rangers will probably move around, either on the floor or jumping up to your area, deal with them appropriately. If Grunts come into your field of fire kill them, but otherwise leave them for now. Once the Elites are dead mop up the Grunts. Go deactivate the shield to let the Pelican in.

I Don't Think They Want Us on Their Boat
Keep your Needle Rifle or restock your DMR ammo depending on your preference. Your secondary should be either a Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle, or Energy Sword. Pick off the Grunts and deal with the Elites (two Ultras if you're unlucky) however you like. Be careful if you use the Sword; Elites have a VERY strong melee on Legendary. Move to the next area and assassinate the Elite manning the corvette's guns. Next section is the bridge. Be very sneaky. There is a small barrier directly in front of you. This is your start position. Everything here is done from this position. From the start position go right along the wall, look to the inner bridge near the hologram of Reach. If you don't have an Energy Sword, now is a good time to grab one from a case on your right. Go back to the start position. To the left in the bridge pit there should be a lone Grunt Ultra. Your priority target is the Elite General patrolling the bridge. If you have been careful, the bridge crew should not have yet been alerted to your presence. If you took out the Grunt Ultra, sneak along the left hand wall keeping the Elite General in your sights. When his back is to you run up and kill him with the Energy Sword. It should take two swipes unless you are very lucky and get a quick assasination, then he'll be dead and you'll almost be home free. Grab some cover. There are three Cloaked Spec-Ops Elites that will attack you plus the remaining Grunts. Take them out with your DMR/Needle Rifle. Use the Energy Sword if an enemy gets too close. Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of your very own corvette. Too bad you're going to blow it up.

Wait, I'm Sorry, You Want Me to do What!?
Turn back to the door you came through, some baddies are going to show up to try and take their ship back. You are going to deny them this boon. Use grenades and headshots to take care of the attackers, an Elite accompanied by Grunts and Jackals. Your Energy Sword will take care of stragglers. Use the Drop Shield to heal up if you need it. Head back up the hall. When you get back to the gun battery, you'll run into an Elite or two with some more Grunts and Jackals. Rinse and repeat. You'll eventually get back to the main hangar, with a Plasma Launcher conveniently in front of you. The Pelican is on the right, the door to the bridge (where you found the Plasma Launcher) is the back, and the door to the original entrance (the comm relay) is the front. Immediately when you enter the hangar there will be a group of Jackals and Snipers coming from back left on the ground level. Toss some grenades to thin their ranks, mop up with DMR or Needle Rifle fire. The next wave will come through from the forward left, at ground level. This group is a mixed assortment of Grunts and an Elite Major. The third wave comes from the forward center door and consists of a mob of Grunts. Toss grenades to wipe out most of them, then mop up the rest. Use the DMR to take out the fourth wave, two Elite Majors coming from a door on the forward top left. When these are dead retreat into the small hallway you came into this section in. It will provide you with adequate cover and there's only one way for hostiles to get at you. Finding some place high up is also a good bet. The final wave consists of FOUR Elite Ultras, and at least two will be equipped with heavy weapons. There will always be one Ultra equipped with a Plasma Launcher. If you're a talented sniper, pick up one of the Sniper Rifles to deal with the Ultras as the concentrate on Jorge. The free Plasma Launcher on the ground when you returned to the hangar also comes in handy if you picked it up and it still has ammunition. Some sneaking with the Energy Sword can be effective, but is also dangerous; if the Ultras spot you charging with the Sword too quickly, you will be gunned down in seconds. As always, the Noob Combo is effective. Once this battle is over (it may take a few tries), steel yourself cause the first step is a doozy.

Legendary Notes

 * When in space, aerobatics are essential at the Legendary Level. Simply boosting will not break an enemy's lock on you. You can roll out and come up to attack your attacker.
 * Stay away from the Corvette Batteries. Instant death, two shots if you're lucky. It's already been said but it's worth repeating.
 * Against Elite Shielding in the confined space, Covenant weapons are faster, but they also deplete more quickly too. You'll have to swap more often, but you'll be able to kill more quickly, giving you a chance to breathe during fights.
 * Try to let Jorge do a lot of the heavy lifting during the final fight. If you can get a good angle you can watch for shields to drop and kill Ultras with a single round.
 * Being sneaky on the bridge eliminates almost all the effort from this area. You can kill the General with the heavy weapons and make this whole area almost a walk.
 * Be careful of Grunts sneaking behind and sticking you. Keep an eye on your motion tracker.
 * Good Skulls here are Catch, Iron, and Thunderstorm.

Notes for Lower Difficulties

 * Your fighter is more forgiving in taking enemy fire, but keep an eye on your damage. You'll recharge quickly but you'll need to break off.
 * There seem to be more enemies on Heroic, but they are much easier to kill.
 * Use your DMR or Needle Rifle effectively. You can do significant damage, and there's plenty of ammo around for both.