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  • Subject: Get the Most Out of Skulls
Subject: Get the Most Out of Skulls
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We were doing 3 person Legendary Co-Op with:

Gold Skulls:

Tough Luck Skull
Catch Skull
Fog Skull
Famine Skull
Thunderstorm Skull

Silver Skulls:

Grunt Birthday Party Skull
Cowbell Skull
IWHBYD Skull

It's a fun way to play on any difficulty level as grenades become a real pest what with their expanded blast radius and potency increased thanks to the Cowbell.

  • 10.04.2007 6:20 PM PDT
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awesome i want to try solo mode with EVERY gold skull on hahahaha (on easy mode and ill see how i do)

  • 10.04.2007 7:47 PM PDT
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I'm about halfway through the Campaign meta-game (solo) on heroic with:

tough luck
catch
fog
famine
thunderstorm
mythic

It's proving to be wayyy harder than I thought. The "Hero" brutes require formidable weapons and in large quantities...but with famine turned on, taking them down with the limited ammo I scavenge has become quite a struggle =/. The battles overall, though, are much more frantic with "catch," which I oddly enjoy. I'm gonna avoid "Iron" and "Black Eye" until I have a couple buddies with me.

  • 10.04.2007 9:32 PM PDT
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i think that the bday skull is funny ass hell and the iwhbyd skull works well i watched the opening sequence twice in a row with it on and the second time he said some thing completly diffrent as his ending statement.

  • 10.04.2007 9:46 PM PDT

hmm

i dont know if anyone put this up, but i maximise my score by playing legendary with fog, touch luck, luck and catch. They dont increase the difficulty too much, i think if you play on heroic you should still be able to make the points because i make well over 10k over everytime.

  • 10.04.2007 9:55 PM PDT
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what effect do the cowbell skull and the IWHBYD skull have?

  • 10.04.2007 11:02 PM PDT
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I don't know if anyone said this because I'm too lazy to read through 7 pages of posts, but using the Catch skull is great on the levels with either exclusively or almost exclusively flood guys because you don't have to worry about grenades. Easy multiplier with no downside! On legendary I usually engage the Tough Luck, Catch, Fog, Famine, and Thunderstorm skulls. With legendary difficulty it gives you 12x which is easily enough for you and a co-op friend to both get over the minimum score for the achievements. Grunt birthday party is also a favorite :O)

  • 10.05.2007 3:49 AM PDT
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my fav skull is the grunt one i wont say any more than that (pm my gamer tag if u want to know more its Razr Burn)

  • 10.05.2007 5:03 AM PDT
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Catch, Tough Luck, Fog, and Famine.

On normal difficulty I've been averaging 42k for the 15k achievement missions, and 130k for the 50k achievement missions.

  • 10.05.2007 8:14 AM PDT
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=D TNX BUNGIE,I HAVE ALL THE SKULLS[YAY,HAYABUSA!!!]i usually play with CATCH,FOG,FAMINE,THUNDERSTORM,IWHBYD,COWBELL,GRUNT BDAY.......AND TOUGH LUCK =D

  • 10.05.2007 9:43 AM PDT
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Best Way to get achivments.
Legendary (Best Training, anything else is setting you up for faliure Online)
Fog (You Don't need a radar)
Catch ( When You Enter a fight, watch what they do, usally they all throw grenades, so just back up and pick them off)
Famine. (This is fun and a x2. Use all the weapons around you, shoot, pick up new gun, shoot, keep going. Gives a great shoot out fell to the game and lets you practice with every weapon type and combo. Plus, weapon drops, turrets and vehicles are not affected by this)

I play alot of 2 player Co-Op and i so far always get my achivment, and that with sharing alot of points (my partner never gets a achivment, but dies alot to) You get a great bonus with all these skulls on legendary and its not that much harder then normal legendary. All my friend agree they have gotten used to it and forget the skulls are even on.

  • 10.05.2007 7:19 PM PDT
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i believe the question by many is how can i get through it 'fast' and get meta-game score

do legendary, and always have the vital 3,
fog (do u really need it, no!)
catch (extra nades, shoot em while they throwing and drop for 'their allies' to get blown up)
thunderstorm (more than most of the brutes are already gold anyway, y not? grunts still onli take one hs)

and for effect the IWHBYD and cowbell, cowbell can help for blowing up grenades dropped by enemies near other enemies

with these three skulls, and a steady aim, hs every grunt for around 85 or more points, use the grenades picked up to stick (all gold) brutes for around 500 points and killing a chieftain with a hs is more than 1550 points, not to mention getting a vehicle kills with this on third and fourth missions
with the sticking, i was implying DON'T turn on tough luck, its pointless, as the 1.5x multiplier for sticks, or whatever it is.

fog - doesnt make it harder, just requires a lil more attention
catch - more fun if anything, just raise ur aimer to watch for incoming nades from above, should be fine
thunderstorm - grunts give more points from kills as most spec ops, brutes mostly already gold anyway

on the flood based missions, it is advised keep fog off, if u get killed by the widdle ones, and never turn catch off, they don' throw grenades anyway

using this combination, the first mission was done in 28 mins on legendary, dying twice, once from sniper and once from spike grenade storm.
these disadvantages don't require a big change in gameplay as opposed to tough luck, black eye and tilt.

for those with a little more skill, put mythic on, but beware of super jackals that can require 4 clips of assault rifle if u run out of carbine/battle rifle, WHICH U SHUD ALWAYS HAVE ONE OF, so that headshotting grunts, because of the 1.25 multiplier for hs's.

if u put mythic on, try to use power drains against brutes more often, as those shields can be a -blam!- to take down without plasma

do this without dying too many times, which is basically a modified legendary, no harder, and clearing the meta-score by 10k is simple, allowing for a death spree no occasion, also, turn mythic off for vehicle stages, grunts dont deserve to take more than 9 brute shot grenades while in a ghost.

  • 10.06.2007 7:37 AM PDT

Just as the most exact theory of and function does not answer the question as who I actually am, what I actually am, or what it means to be a human being, so there can never arise out of it that interpretation of one's self and the world demanded by even the simplest action based on some evaluative decision.
:::Karl Mannheim:::Ideology and Utopia:::

These are my standard skulls- these are now always on and I dont play campaign without them.

Golds:
Like most Vet's, the fog skull [1.5] seems like the first option to use- if theres an enemy around, you either hear the grunt squeeling or you feel the brute hitting you so motion tracker really is not needed!

Tough luck skull [1.5]- stops the grunts running away so much and they charge you,
if you dont get a stick then you can shoot brutes while they are diving to the side- giving you some clear air to fight in!

Catch Skull [1.5]- dodging 15 grenades being thron att you is sometimes difficult but be honest it makes it more fun- run round a corner and theres 9 grunts with glowing blue balls in their hands! Shoot them quick and they kill each other with the grenades!

Thunderstorm [1.5]- So theres a few more high level brutes- as long as they dont have the hammer then they are smart enough not to shoot their big guns at close range as they may hurt themselfs- get close and personnal and beat them down!

Silvers:
Grunt Birthday Party Skull- may annoy some people after a while but i like knowing i got loads of headshots.

Cowbell Skull- added to the Catch Skull this makes dodging those grenades even more important!!

IWHBYD Skull- Just listen out and enjoy- simple!

Total Multipliers: 1.5 x 4 = 6

  • 10.06.2007 2:52 PM PDT
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Does saving at check points allow you to continue the campaign scoring later or does each level have to be done in a single run? I've noticed when I save and quit after finishing one level the campaign scoring is off when I resume the campaign. Could be kind of a drag considering how long the ark and covenant levels are.

Also do you have to get all the terminals in one sitting to get the marathon man achievement?

  • 10.06.2007 6:00 PM PDT
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i play legendary with all but black eye and iron, still fairly easy on 2 man coop but at least a challenge solo, going to push for using the last 2 next.
As for scoring just plasma pistol/battle rifle combo brutes for quick 2k combo points

[Edited on 10.07.2007 4:48 AM PDT]

  • 10.07.2007 4:45 AM PDT
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On Legendary Co-op we use... Thunderstorm, Fog, Catch, and Grunt Birthday Party because its always soooo awesome to hear that "HOORAY!!" in the background of exploding frags and plasmas LOL. oh yeh dont forget about the colorful confetti that pops out of thier heads...

Thanks!

  • 10.07.2007 8:49 AM PDT
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i like to use, mythic, catch, famine, thunderstorm, fog, IWHBYD, Cowbell, and G. Bday =)

  • 10.07.2007 9:23 AM PDT

I like turning on thunderstorm, catch, fog, and mythic, usually on normal (or iron, as well, if Im on easy).

  • 10.07.2007 4:59 PM PDT

Dark Knight

i love the grunt birthday party skull !!!!!!!

  • 10.07.2007 9:55 PM PDT
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I use black eye catch thunderstorm famine IWBYD and birthday party skulls..

black eye owns
green thumb FTW!!

  • 10.08.2007 8:21 AM PDT

Someone has 2 be the loser......

But don't touch my penguin !

somehow those skulls make me wonder whether i would ever like them. (i read somewhere there are also skulls in Halo 2. What the hell ? where ? i played halo 2 often, i got everywhere and never spotted a skull)

  • 10.08.2007 9:16 AM PDT
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Halo 2 they were VERY hidden. More like easter eggs really.

I always have Grunt b-day, cowbell and IWHBYD skulls one (i have to find it in saved films, but i am almost positive i heard a marine with a lisp when i had it on.) Also the catch skull affects marines/elites as well, so they throw LOTS of grenades. And I always have catch when playing the two all flood levels, since the flood doesn't throw grenades, its an free bonus. Same thing with thunderstorm since flood don't have different "ranks" per se. At any rate it doesn't affect what type of flood show up.

Strangely, i actually play much better with catch on. With grenades flying everywhere i usually retreat back or out of sight more often and i die a lot less on heroic and legendary.

And black eye on anything other than normal with no other skulls on is dam near impossible.

  • 10.08.2007 12:12 PM PDT
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i lie to play on heroic with catch,mythic,tough luck,fog,famine
and silver is grunt birthday party,iwhbyd (whats that do btw),and cowbell

  • 10.08.2007 1:06 PM PDT

games never over til its over

all you guys are soft......solo, legendary, black eye skull is the way to go......i get like 20,000 points when im done but i avg around 20 deaths.

  • 10.08.2007 1:12 PM PDT
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I actually find that when playing with the black eye skull it becomes somewhat easier (depending on your play style that is). One of my major play styles is to rush my opponent head on, so getting my shield regenerated whenever I slap my opponent in the head actually makes this strategy easier rather than harder. Black eye really only becomes a pain when dealing with vheicles or snipers, although it seems even with no shield while driving on heroic or legendary that it's harder to get killed than you would expect it to be. Oh also: The grunt birthday party skull -never- gets old. I just wish it worked for enemies other than grunts too.

[Edited on 10.08.2007 2:03 PM PDT]

  • 10.08.2007 2:01 PM PDT