Mythic (difficulty)

The Mythic shield, as per Halo: The Master Chief Collection's release.

Mythic, more commonly referred to as LASO ("Legendary All Skulls On"), SLASO ("Solo Legendary All Skulls On"), CLASO ("Co-Operative Legendary All Skulls On"), or the very extreme version Mythic informally coined by players ("Solo Legendary All Skulls On No Deaths No Save and Quits") is an informal difficulty setting for any Halo title featuring Skulls.

Overview

In order to play on this difficulty, the game needs to be set to Legendary and all the Skulls activated. Mythic is possible in Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 4, Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 5: Guardians, and Halo: Infinite. When played solo, its shortened name is "SLASO". Halo: Reach weekly challenges often include a challenge in which the player needs to complete a certain campaign level. Although it can be beaten, the game stats will still read "Legendary" since Mythic does not exist in the game's code. For the same reason, the difficulty for the games up to Halo: Anniversary do not have an icon. However, with the release of Halo 4 onward, 343 Industries implemented an icon for the difficulty, generally featuring the Legendary shield surrounded by skulls.

Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

General differences

• In Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary:
  • There exist two versions of the regular LASO rule for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary: LCS ("Legendary Classic Skulls") and the regular LASO difficulty.
    • If it is for the former, then the Foreign Skull, Malfunction Skull, Boom Skull, Recession Skull, Bandanna Skull, Grunt Funeral Skull, Piñata Skull, and Eye Patch Skull remain turned off.
    • If it is for the latter, then the Bandanna Skull counts.
  • There are many instances of explosions going off at any time. A good practice to do, if playing LASO, is to throw a frag grenade to detonate any grenades lying on the ground, or kill any enemies off-screen or far away. It is best to wait for about 30 seconds in order to ensure every spare Grunt finishes their death animation and subsequent explosion; a grenade or several finish exploding; Flood Carrier forms finish exploding. In order to prevent risk of taking any damage from throwing frag grenades, you also have to wait about 3 seconds before throwing another one. If you don't do this, then a frag grenade can very easily bounce back to you.
• In Halo: The Master Chief Collection:
  • The Bandanna Skull is not included in the Halo: Combat Evolved LASO Campaign and Legendary Master Chief Saga playlists.

Awards

• The Like a Fine Wine achievement is awarded for completing the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Mythic playlist.
  • The blue LASO nameplate is awarded to the player.
• If the player has completed all other Mythic campaign playlists and obtained the associated achievements, they will also unlock the LASO Master achievement.
  • Additionally, the platinum LASO nameplate is awarded to the player.

Halo 2

General differences

• In Halo 2:
  • You'll have to manually get each of the Skulls activated. This is easier to do by creating several dummy accounts for each of the 15 skulls.
• In Halo: The Master Chief Collection:
  • The Envy Skull, despite counting towards LASO, is not included in the Halo 2 LASO Campaign and Legendary Master Chief Saga playlists. This gives the Master Chief a severe disadvantage in comparison to the Arbiter.

Awards

• The Back for More achievement is awarded for completing the Halo 2: Anniversary Mythic playlist.
  • The bronze LASO nameplate is awarded to the player.
• If the player has completed all other Mythic campaign playlists and obtained the associated achievements, they will also unlock the LASO Master achievement.
  • Additionally, the platinum LASO nameplate is awarded to the player.

Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST

While not featured as an official difficulty, the Mythic difficulty was the namesake of the eponymous Mythic Map Pack, which was given this variant of difficulty shield as a logo.

General differences

• In Halo 3:
  • This is the origin of the Iron Skull's reworked effect of restarting the player to the beginning of the level after death in solo games. Because of this change, players had eventually come up with "Solo Legendary All Skulls On No Deaths No Save and Quits" or the very extreme version of Mythic.
  • Back when linked Bungie.net accounts were created, this version of the Mythic difficulty could be verifiable by the Scoring system. If you never died once in a mission, the results screen showed up. This was utilized effectively in the Summer Mythic Recon Challenges.
  • You are able to tell which type of grenade you are selecting by its specific noise.
• In Halo 3: ODST:
  • You are able to tell which type of grenade you are selecting by its specific noise.

• In Halo: The Master Chief Collection:

Awards

• In Halo 3:
  • The A Preference for Pain achievement is awarded for completing the Halo 3 Mythic playlist.
    • The silver LASO nameplate is awarded to the player.
  • If the player has completed all other Mythic campaign playlists and obtained the associated achievements, they will also unlock the LASO Master achievement.
    • Additionally, the platinum LASO nameplate is awarded to the player.
• In Halo 3: ODST:
  • The Safety Not Guaranteed achievement is awarded for completing one of two Halo 3: ODST Mythic playlists.
    • The platinum New Mombasa nameplate is awarded to the player.

Halo Wars

General differences

• In contrast to all Halo games to date, sans Halo 2, you'll have to manually activate each Skull to gain LASO.
• There were 2 Skulls exclusive in pre-ordering the game. Some say that those Skulls do not count.

Halo: Reach

General differences

• The FSS-1000 Sabre is not affected by the Black Eye Skull.
• This is one of the few Halo games with auditory cues when a player Spartan takes damage.
• By pressing Select, you will be able to see what weapon and Armor Ability you have equipped.

Awards

• In Halo: Reach:
  • The player will be granted a set amount of credits if the mission completed corresponds to the Weekly Challenge available to them.
• In Halo: The Master Chief Collection:
  • The Why Do This To Yourself? achievement is awarded for completing the Halo: Reach Mythic playlist.

Halo 4

The Halo 4 Mythic shield.

Awards

• In Halo 4:
  • Completing the campaign of Halo 4 on Mythic will grant the player an exclusive emblem.
• In Halo: The Master Chief Collection:
  • The Naked Tyrant achievement is awarded for completing the Halo 4 Mythic playlist.
    • The gold LASO nameplate is awarded to the player.
  • If the player has completed all other Mythic campaign playlists and obtained the associated achievements, they will also unlock the LASO Master achievement.
    • Additionally, the platinum LASO nameplate is awarded to the player.

Halo 4 Spartan Ops

• • Completing the campaign of Halo 4 Spartan Ops on Mythic will grant the player an exclusive yet difficult experience.

The Iron Skull is not available on Spartan Ops an there by nullifies it from being accepted as difficult as other LASO playlists.

...Assessment... In Spartan Ops your normally well supplied with ammo an it's much easier with a team. Spartan ops solo on Legendary is probably the most difficult Campaign solo. I think many veteran players would agree it is actually more difficult then Halo 1 or 2 campaign expect to die because you got out played not because of bad spawns. Being spawned directly enfront of the alerted enemy repeatedly is likely to happen in Halo 1 or 2. Count your total amount of deaths throughout the campaign if you want confirmation.

Time wise it appears 2 or 3 Spartan Ops Missions is equivalent to a level that you would play through as the Master Chief.

Gameplay notes below.

If the player decides to place on the Tough Luck skull they may find themselves being literally hunted down regardless of where they spawn.  Think of the Blood stars or the Silent Shadow from the novels strike team behavior is noticed as the enemy NPC is now free enough to flank an chase you around the map. With the addition of the Thunder skull a squad of 

4 or more Elites an Knights that have given chase add a layer of difficulty to the game that can be felt in Halo 2 as one is often not far from cover. The Jackal snipers are so numerous on some missions you should expect to be picked off at some point.

Halo 5: Guardians

The Halo 5: Guardians Mythic shield.

Halo Infinite

Awards

• The Headmaster achievement is awarded for completing the campaign in Mythic difficulty.

Trivia

• Players can exploit the "Save and Quit" option in the pause menu whenever the player dies. When the player resumes gameplay from the Campaign lobby, they will start from the previous checkpoint and may continue to the end of the level. Doing so will still reward the player the weekly LASO challenge.
• If the player completes a mission on Mythic in Halo 5: Guardians with Score Attack on, the post-game carnage report background will change to show Mister Chief with a lasso in a desert background, as a reference to "lasso" being similarly spelled to "LASO".
• There appears to be some disputed concepts and some misconceptions on both extremes of Mythic or LASO. Some prefer Mythic difficulty to be "Solo Legendary All Skulls On No Deaths No Save and Quits" while others, in contrast, prefer Legendary with only the Mythic Skull turned on. Some even prefer SLASO and CLASO to not be affected by how many times you die in a level; saving and quitting while alone, too.
  • If it is for the former, starting from Halo 3, it is okay if you die during a level, though the only ways to verify the attempt on a level is through Theater, File Share, or recording the footage. If you decide that dying is not an option, you can restart the level from the Campaign menu if you do die in a level. This does not mean "Solo Legendary All Skulls On No Deaths No Save and Quits Single Segment Campaign".
  • If it is for the one with the Mythic Skull turned on, then both enemies and allies alike are 3% more resilient.
  • Finally, if it is for the latter two, then it is best practiced on all Halo: The Master Chief Collection LASO playlists or for the now defunct Halo: Reach LASO weekly challenges.

External links

• Halo.bungie.org Halo: Reach Mythic Difficulty Guide
• Halo.bungie.org Halo 3 Mythic (SLASO) Walkthrough
• Halo.bungie.org Halo 3: ODST Mythic (SLASO) Walkthrough