- 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
Sierra 117 "The First Few Minutes" Guide
This is essentially the text version of what I'll be releasing later. Most people make the mistake of trying this level first when in fact the first few minutes can be among the most demorilizing in the entire campaign. This leads people to believe that SLASO is beyond hope. Fortunately, there is a solution!
*Sierra 117 BR Start*
You read correctly. You can correct Bungie's opening weapon inbalance by gaining yourself a Battle Rifle (thanks to Hudson for the discovery!). Why bother? In order to use the pistol effectively (since the AR is useless against the Covenant), you need to get within "grenade-throwing-distance". Need I say more? If you follow the steps below, 9/10 you will make it through the first area and into the Carbine area in one piece.
At the start of the game, turn to a tree and empty your assault rifle completely. Don't actually move away from where you're standing, but just face away from your Marines. Though sometimes I just like to empty it into Arbiter for all the future trouble he'll cause. Once your AR is completely empty, switch to your pistol, move in as close as you can without triggering them to run off (this may take one or two times to get used to), and snipe Sargent Johnson once in the head. The second he drops, rush over there and take all his AR ammo. The key here is to get him away from the AR, so if you shoot him from too great of a distance, when he gets back up, he'll just pick up the same weapon. BUT if you did it correctly, he will get back up with a Battle Rifle!
This next part is important. Don't kill him again right away or else your allies will turn on you. Instead, follow Johnson's group until you get to the area where the Phantom passes overhead. He and the others will crouch, making him much easier to snipe again. Once again use the pistol to headshot the Sarge and immediately switch out your AR for the BR.
Don't feel too guilty about killing Johnson for his BR. If you haven't played the Halo level SLASO yet, he'll make it up to you then...
Now, your ammo from this point will be limited, so make every shot count. In theory, if you make every shot a head shot (not a powershot. Sorry Sharapova!), then you should have enouggh to take out every Grunt you encounter in these next few segments. However if you're more like me, you'll shoot a few rounds into a rock and need to switch back to your pistol after awhile.
NOTE! In theory you can retrieve more ammo from Johnson as he will not follow his group up the waterfall if you killed him at the Phantom like I told you. However I highly advise against it as your allies may or may not turn on you, and let's face it. The whole point in this little glitch is so that you don't have to die constantly at the beginning.
The next area I'm going to divide into three segments. The first is over the fallen tree and into the area where the Brute has his back turned. As soon as you jump the log, head right and into the corner where you can jump behind a rock and tree. You should be hearing rats at this point. From where you are, you're safe for now from the Grunts AND this will get Arbiter to join the battle right away rather then cloaking himself. Let Arbiter and the Marines do as much as they can here, and also be ready to leap from your hiding space if disovered prematurely. The outcome will be one of two things. Either the baddies were killed by Arbiter and the Marines, or it was the other way around. In the case of the latter, leap from your hiding spot, whip out that BR, and finish the job. Swap out your pistol for a plasma pistol to deal with the Brute and then pick the pistol back up once the area is clear. Arbiter will magically return to life.
Next area. Prepare your plasmas and follow the water until you hear the two Phantoms. As soon as you do, jump back behind the rock in the middle of the water and chuck plasma grenades at the Grunt using the Plasma Cannon. Then backtrack a little bit and look to your right. See those rusty looking buildings in the brush? There's a ladder on the first one, so climb up, crouch, and make your way over to the far edge towards the falls. This will trigger Arbiter to be more aggressive. Once again, if Arbiter dies before the baddies here are gone, use that BR to deal with the Grunts. In this area (and in this section of the game only) killing the Grunts in a group will cause the Brute to berserk. Use this to your advantage and assassinate them to recharge any shields lost.
NOTE! When Brutes berserk they have two kinds of jumps - short range and long range. Short will leave them with their back to you. If you're quick enough, you can assassinate them before they turn back around. Long range however is a different story. If one jumps at you from a distance... RUN! No matter where they land, they'll be facing you, and odds are they'll kill you in one hit. If Arbiter is still up and running, it's always a good idea to put him between you and the berserking Brute. While the Brute is busy trying to pound the Arbiter into the dirt, assassinate him.
Apply the same techniques to the next area where two Brutes and a bunch of Grunts stand between you and the tunnel. Use whatever BR ammo you have left to headshot the Grunts. If you run out, switch to your pistol. At this point there shouldn't be too many Grunts left so the grenade spam will be drastically less devastating and far easier to get away from this time around. Again, when the Brutes berserk, try to assassinate them.
Congradulations! From here on out the level is a bit more abundant with midrange weapon ammo, making the scenarios easier for you to control. Your number one cause of death from here on out will just be careless mistakes, so as long as you survey, plan ahead, and conserve ammo, you should be fine.
[Edited on 08.01.2008 5:11 AM PDT]