The Pillar of Autumn (Halo: Reach level)/Walkthrough

This is a walkthrough for the Halo: Reach level The Pillar of Autumn. It is written for play at the Legendary and Heroic difficulty. This is the ninth level of Halo: Reach. You're accompanied by Emile-A239 and initial loadout is an MA37 Assault Rifle and M6G Pistol.

Level Notes

• This level can actually be much easier than previous levels on Legendary because of how big its arenas are. Unlike The Package or Long Night of Solace, there are few areas where you're forced into immediate quick reaction danger. If you keep a long distance between you and your targets, then highly deadly enemies will become merely annoying. Remember that distance influences AI; the further you are from an enemy, the less complex tactics they'll use.
• Emile is commonly perceived as useless on this level because of the limited range of his shotgun. Eighty percent of the time this is true, but he can be lured into close-quarters combat with an understanding of how his AI works. Long story short, Emile tries to stay by your location. So if you're nearby a pack of enemies, he'll rush in and join you. If you stay far back and fight from a distance, then so will he.
• The needle rifle is the key to this level. Since you mostly engage Brutes here, it can become akin to a long-range shotgun with its supercombine, provided you use its ammo wisely.
• Although the DMR was your trusty primary for most of the levels, it's actually common enough in this level that you can frequently discard yours and grab another one at the next area.
• There's only one Drop Shield, at the start of Rally Point Alpha, so grab it when you have the chance.
• Brutes cannot be assassinated if they are aware of your presence and that's going to be 99 percent of the time, so don't bother meleeing them.
• There's a lot of drop-carrying to do in this area, so practice transporting weapons by rapidly switching between them while walking.

Once More Unto the Breach (Mission Start)

The Abandoned Bridge

The first encounter is a tough one. You have three Grunts with an Elite Major (or Minor) on the left, three more Grunts with an Elite Ultra on the right, three Jackals guarding the bridge, and three Grunt Heavies underneath it. Although the enemies are unaware of your presence when you arrive, they're so closely gathered that trying to take them out by stealth is impossible. Cover is also very limited here, as most of the rocks are too short to hide at and make you a target for grenades. While you have more than enough assault rifle ammo, your pistol only has 24 rounds, half of its total capacity. So you're going to have to make do other weapons while saving your pistol for the absolutely necessary.

First priority is the Elite Major and his Grunts, who are patrolling by a dilapidated flatbed truck. Head to the left, aim for the Grunts and toss a grenades; you should get one or two. The rest you target with your assault rifle, short controlled bursts. When they're dead, the Elite Major will retreat to hide at the truck's front, so head for the back of the truck for cover. Although he'll fire some harassing shots, he won't charge your location. When the three Grunts are dead, Emile will start coming down the mountain, and so the enemies will focus of him. Look past the truck to the bridge and you'll see the three Jackals shooting at him. They'll be oriented such that you can headshot one with your pistol. Once one of the Jackals is dead, the others will retreat up the bridge, and now you'll have a lot more room to move. Emile will now try to regroup with you, and in the process charge at the Elite Major. Sometimes he'll even kill it, but not always, so take it out with melees or assault rifle while it's distracted and injured.

Now every enemy in the area is aware of you, but they'll mostly harass from a distance. Your next target is the Elite Ultra, but he's guarded by the six remaining Grunts and the Jackals. He also have a concussion rifle, so trying to rush him is foolhardy. So focus on reducing his guards. Target either of the Grunts. For the Minors and Majors on the right side of the bridge valley, use your assault rifle, as you have plenty of rocks to fire from cover. For the Heavies on the left, use your pistol, as there's less cover on the left and they have better aim. As for the Jackals, stay off the bridge until the Grunts are dead; engage them too early and the Ultra will start blasting you. When he's fallen back because his Grunts are dead, then you can take the bridge. Rather than using your limited pistol shots or one remaining grenade to get them, try the dead Major's plasma rifle. Using the truck on the bridge as cover, orient yourself so you can see their shield but they can't shoot back at you. Then tear through their shield with plasma shots.

The Ultra is the last target, and he's fallen back to the cliff on the left across the bridge. With plenty of plasma pistols and hopefully saved magnum ammo, you should be able to noob combo him while he's distracted by Emile.

The Mongoose Drive

The drive down the road with the Mongoose is a brief section that doesn't warrant much strategy. Just keep moving, drift your turns, and don't let Emile drive. But before you drive along, you may want to arm up for a secret encounter. At the small supply house where the Mongooses are parked, there's a dead Marine with a rocket launcher. Inside there's more rocket launcher ammo. In total there are twelve rockets, and four Banshees spawn as soon as the music changes. With four rockets to spare, why waste them?

Grab the rocket launcher and look to the right in the sky, just above the cliff that the road passes through. You'll see four Banshees coming in, three in V-formation, one a little off to their right a bit faster. Target them with the rocket launcher's lock-in to blow them up. Their AI increases the closer they get to you, so the first two usually connect while the next two Banshees get more evasive. If one attacks you, use that chance to fire straight into it; they typically just use their plasma shots and not their fuel rods. If they dodge the rockets, wait for a bit, as the rockets typically circle around for a second try. With only four extra rockets, don't use anymore, grab a DMR as well before you leave, then drive along.

Only last thing you need to know for the Mongoose drive is that a Phantom flies over after you pass through a tunnel and then it comes over the broken bridge you have to jump. Since it shoots at you with its turrets, avoid it on Heroic and Legendary by stopping for a bit and letting it drive past.

The Brute Blockade

Across the bridge, the Covenant have barricaded the road. Guarding its end are ten or so Brutes, a few Grunts and Jackals, two Jackal marksmen in a lookout tower, and worst of all, a Wraith at the very end of the road. After them come three more marksmen in the rocks past, and four Grunts that like to go kamikaze.

The typical way of this section is safe but tedious. Since you have a hill to shoot from and lots of DMR ammo in the neighboring house, it's easy enough to just pick off all the infantry one by one until it's safe to challenge the Wraith. You're so far away that the Brutes cannot shoot you, but there's so much cover in the area that the battle becomes a long game of waiting for them to exit cover. More risky close-combat doesn't pay off because of the Wraith. Its aim is great with its mortar, and trying to go for the Jackals' needle rifles in the lookout will just have the Wraith blast you out of the air. It will also dodge your rockets if you try to bomb it from long-range. So if you want to do this safely, just stay back on the right of the house and slowly headshot everything.

But if you want a much faster and more creative way of clearing this area, then you have to do things a little out of order. The plan is to engage the marksmen-kamikaze group first, so that you can grab their weapons and use them to hijack the Wraith, followed by blasting everything. Done right, the entire Brute pack can be shelled in just two minutes after arrival. Here's how.

After you jump over the broken bridge, leap off your Mongoose and cross the road barrier to head to the small cliff on the left. Across it is a weapons house, a garage, and a stone hill that run parallel to the valley full of the Brutes and the Wraith at the end. Get to the left corner of the small cliff and use a Sprint jump to get on the roof of the weapons house. It takes a while of practice, but try to aim for the roof's corner than than the top, then jump up the "steps" to get on top. If you miss, revert the checkpoint or even just run back up to the top. The enemies will be focusing on Emile, and if any Brutes corner you then stick them with a plasma grenade. Once you get on the roof, head along the top and jump on the garage, then at its end sprint jump onto the top of the hill. The Wraith will see you by this point, so keep moving. It's also possible to get on top of the hill by running through the garage and then sprinting up it, but there may be enemies inside it and they're not going to let you just past them by. Once you're over the hill, the Grunts will charge with grenades and the Jackals will shoot. Use your DMR to target the Grunts first, then the Jackals. Done fast, and you might blow up the entire group.

Now you're behind the hill and have plenty of cover to steal the Wraith. Trade your weapons for a needle rifle and a plasma pistol. Then look for the Wraith and take out its gunner. The gunner is always a Brute Captain and he can't be supercombined with the needle if he's in the gunner seat. So shoot him five times in the head to kill him, then close the distance with the Wraith with a plasma pistol overcharge. When you do, Emile will charge through all the Brutes to get to you, so he'll somewhat distract it. Jump on top of the Wraith, switch to your needle rifle, then jump in and out of the gunner seat to force out the driver. Once you're both out, supercombine or sticky grenade him, then jump into the Wraith and bomb everything.

Your only worry is grenades, so keep strafing to dodge them. Sadly you can't bring the Wraith with you to the rest of the level, so arm up once everything is dead. Pick up any needle rifle ammo from the dead marksmen around the area and also pick up your rocket launcher that you left. Then follow the waypoint to the caves.

The Drone Caves

The Yanme'e in the caves are annoying, but there are less of them than it feels like there are. In the first room, there's ten. Use your needle rifle to shoot them; even if you miss a headshot three bodyshot will kill them. Don't worry about conserving your ammo; there will be more than enough needle rifle ammo in the next area and there's full DMR ammo by the entrance if you need that instead. Also, try to shoot the Drones unscoped, so that their shots don't constantly pull you out of scope. As their numbers diminish, they'll retreat further back in the cave.

The next room has five or so Drones, and Skirmisher Majors and Murmillos with needle rifles below them. Focus on the Drones first, as they're the more mobile threat. The three Skirmishers Mahors can be picked off from above with a headshot each, and the Murmillos will hang back. Before dropping down after most of them are dead, go back for the DMR and drop-carry it to come down with you; you'll need it for the next area. Then keep your distance and headshot the Murmillos. You're likely low on needle rifle ammo, but you'll find tons from the dead Skirmishers to completely refill it. When you hear the music reach a long low note, that means the area's been cleared. Move on ahead with a needle rifle, a DMR, and your rocket launcher.

Keyes(Rally Point Bravo)

Preceded by The Package

Halo Reach Campaign Walkthrough for: The Pillar of Autumn

Succeeded by Lone Wolf