- Tyrant122312
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- Fabled Legendary Member
Hello, Community!
Hopefully if you're reading this, it's because you're interesting in kicking your campaign experience up a notch by cranking up the Legendary with all skulls activated :-) Need advice? A guide? Maybe even a friendly community to cheer you on and help guide you through the process? Then give our Mythic thread a read, and Godspeed on your Mythic journey!
Best Regards,
The Tyrant
Review on Tsavo Highway
I'm giving this one a special review due to the unique approach that was necessary to beat it.
First off, after the brutalities of Crow's Nest, the first few minutes of Tsavo were a welcomed relief. In fact even your average player could probably run through about 95% of this level on SLASO with it being about has difficult as Floodgate. However, that last 5% is nothing short of demoralizing and completely shatters your chances of just being able to rush for it. This changes the entire approach to the level completely.
Let's talk about the Brute blockade at the end of the level. When all skulls are on, using anything but the plasma pistol/battle rifle combo is nearly useless and generally just a waist of ammo. Be that as it may, it could be entirely plausible to combo your way through them if you had enough plasma pistols and BR ammo. Have fun trying to find them. Even so, you still have to worry about not one, but three Wraiths which will be at the other end of the bridge making your life hell. At one point, one of them will start heading over in your direction so its secondary gun can pick you to pieces.
Through many painful avenues and restarts, I've come to the conclusion that jacking a tank and slowly obliterating everything in your path is the best approach (and quite possibly the only approach) to winning this battle. The dilema, of course, comes if you simply raced through all of this level up until now. If you think Brutes are hard to kill, Wraiths are nearly invincible with all skulls on. I emptied two full fuel rod clips into one of them and it seemed to do next to nothing to the hulking machine. Because of these little issues, we end up spending the level prepping for this one battle. I'll walk you through how to snag your own Wraith jacking kit!
You'll need two weapons; a fuel rod cannon and a beam rifle (which seems to work better on Brutes than the sniper, though not sure why). Both of these can be obtained at the near beginning of the level. When you first get outside (preferrabling on the chaingun warthog, go up the hill and turn left and enter the first crater area. There are three snipers here so make sure your passenger is facing them, and allow your gunner to take them out. Now use one of those beam rifles to gun down the fuel rod Brute Captain near the downed phantom. You may end up using the whole beam rifle for this, but you still have two more, so don't worry if you do. Next, pick off the Grunts from a distance as well. You're going to want full shields for the next area and meleeing to get them back is a pain. Once the opposition has been cleared, pick up a better beam rifle as well as the fuel rod cannon.
Maneuver your way through the next area by hugging the left hand side and zig-zagging just enough to dodge any incoming brute shot bursts. It doesn't take much to flip a hog. You'll come to a slight slope up ahead. SLOW DOWN BRIEFLY here so you don't go into the air. If you do, you'll get tagged by Brute shot bursts. The second your warthog flips, it's over.
Once you've bypassed the slope, floor it and enter the next area. Leave your warthog just outside the area, hop out, and kill the passenger so he doesn't steal it. Then sneak up on the Chieftian and assassinate him for his fuel rod rounds. You'll need them. Now go fetch your warthog and use it to gun down the grunts and closest Brutes in the immediate area (no need to worry about the choppers or the Brutes on the other side of the trailer truck). Also be sure to take out the shade turret. Now park your hog in an open area, make your way to the trailer, sneak up on a chopper, and jack it. If your shields are low, jacking counts as a melee and will recharge them. Use the chopper to destroy all remaining opposition in the area. Now hop of and drive the hog to a place were it can easily shoot at the tunnel. This is for the drone battle. Now take the chopper and trigger the drones. Note there will be some Brutes hiding behind the shield door, but ignore them for now. Back up and let the gunner in the hog do most of the work while you provide support. Once the drones are down, hop out of the chopper and temporarily swap out your beam rifle for a plasma pistol. Use this to knock out the remaing Brutes' shields. When they charge, your warthog gunner will finish them off. You can also afford to dispense a couple of fuel rod rounds if you've been collecting properly, though you shouldn't need them.
Once you deactivate the door, back track and snag the grav lift in one of the bunkers (don't forget to pick up your beam rifle too!). We'll be taking the chopper through to the next area for multiple reasons. Firstly, it won't flip as easily as the warthog. It's also faster and packs an offensive weapon that can be very useful. Once you get to the bridge, use the grav lift to get the chopper across which is very simple. This makes the next area far simpler. Rush through, keeping to the left and using the zig zag technique to avoid the fuel rod rounds and brute shot bursts and keep going til your through the caves. On the other side are two Brutes and two empty choppers. Kill the brutes and take a new chopper. If you think your shields might be low, jack one of the choppers not to far ahead to gain your shields back.
Now boost to the top of the hill near the first wraith, but still out of site. Now park and get ready. At this point there are only two direct threats near you; the wraith itself and the shade turret nearby. If you've been following along you should now have a fuel rod cannon and beam rifle to counter them both. Nuke the turret with the fuel rod cannon. If a chopper happens to follow you up (this is rare!), you should have enough rounds left to send him flying off the hill. Then sneak back to the hill and peek over just enough to see the Brute controlling the secondary turret. Switch to your beam rifle and headshot him til he's been put down. Now jump out and jack the wraith. Immediately jet over to the other end of the bridge to avoid the approaching phantom. Don't go to far or the other Brutes at the blockade will start shooting. Now turn around. By now the two remaining Wraiths should be near or on the bridge. Destroy them and straff back and forth to avoid their mortar. Once they're down, simply rain hellfire down on the blockade. take your time and remember to kill EVERY brute. You've made it this far. You don't want to restart the level simply because one stray brute stuck your tank with a spike grenade. Also nail the shade turret.
Now the Chieftian can be a bit tricky. I've hit him with countless mortar rounds only to find him still standing. The solution? I use the force from the rounds to edge him to the cliffside, then blast him off. The guardians will get the credit, but you will have beaten the level as consumation! Now deactivate the shield door and exit Tsavo Highway!