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Update: I have mostly finished putting my videos back up. Please bear with me as I get the rest of them up. Thanks!
The Banshee is a rare gem: a weapon/vehicle that is found only on a few maps in Halo 3. But when it is in the hands of a skilled operator, the Banshee can be a versatile, destructive, and game-altering tool that can literally turn a loss into a win. Its size, speed, and the instantaneous nature of its killing power gives the Banshee a devastating effect on the opposing team that is unmatched by any other weapon, even if other teammates are getting more kills than the Banshee using weapons like the sniper rifle or BR.
As many of you know, when I broke 1000 Banshee kills, I created a thread called Tool of Destruction: The Banshee -- Tips and Tricks. In that thread, I gave a basic runthrough of simple Banshee techniques that can help anybody to become a better Banshee pilot.
Now, to celebrate my having broken the 2000-kill mark in the Banshee, this thread is designed for those of you who are already familiar with the basic techniques found in the previous thread, and are looking to refine and hone your Banshee skills to the point where you can become the force that turns the tide of battle, or, even better, establish your team's dominance right from the start.
The videos in this thread have taken several months to collect and edit, and I am the Banshee pilot in all of them. Hopefully, you find them as entertaining as they are instructive.
I should probably begin by establishing my "credentials" as at least some reason that you should listen to me. My current Banshee kill total is over 5200 as of today. I have 9 vehicular manslaughters, 2 Untouchables from Banshee kills, 6 Rampages, 43 Riots, and 165 Killing Frenzies. My highest multikill medal in a Banshee is a Killtacular. I have earned numerous Overkills and lower multikill medals. I have over 2800 splatter medals (not all in the Banshee), 109 splatter sprees (almost all in the Banshee), and 109 skyjacker medals. On maps containing a Banshee, including Heavies maps, my current K/D ratio over the last 45 days is 1.8.
I am the first to admit that I am NOT the most prolific Banshee pilot in Halo 3. I am currently ranked in the top-60 in total Banshee kills and in the top-30 in Banshee kills per game, but there are at least several players who are much better with the Banshee than I am. I would like to give special credit to players like Capown (GT: TTL Al Capown), who is a huge Bungie fan and an active forum user here, and whose 11,807 Banshee kills (at the time of this thread's creation) are an inspiration. I'd also like to thank baby ghuta (GT: A Ghuta), a frequent teammate and fellow Banshee lover who has even more Banshee kills than I do (but not by much).
Please feel free to add your own tips, strategies, and tricks to this thread, or comment on/criticize the ones you see here. Now, let's get to it!
ADVANCED BANSHEE TECHNIQUES AND STRATEGY
If you are new to flying the Banshee, or find yourself frequently getting killed within a minute or two of entering the Banshee, I urge you to read this thread before attempting to learn the strategies and techniques below.
Reaching the Banshee First and Avoiding the Early Kill
Videos Referenced in this Section
Video 1/Video 2: First to the Banshee and Early Kill Avoidance on Sandtrap
Video 3: Early Kill Avoidance on Valhalla
Video 4: Early Banshee Techniques on Standoff Heavies
As a Banshee pilot, by now you have probably figured out ways to reach the Banshee quickly at the beginning of the game and begin your attempts at establishing air dominance. It can be maddeningly frustrating, however, to reach the Banshee and take off only to be immediately killed or have your Banshee destroyed within the first minute. That is exactly what the other team's goal is, too. By destroying the Banshee early using the plentiful and freshly spawned anti-vehicle weapons, they have destroyed the other team's most frightening weapon and taken advantage of your eagerness in flying one of the largest, easiest targets on the map right into their sights.
To avoid this, you MUST allow your team to establish some level of map control before boldly venturing out into the open. As your team's Banshee pilot, it is your job to enter the Banshee and take it to safety as quickly as possible.
Reaching the Banshee First
To reach and enter the Banshee quickly, know the starting points for each map, each gametype, and each team on any game where a Banshee will appear. Know the direction you need to move in order to reach the Banshee and the fastest way to get there. When you spawn in, you should already be on your way.
On Valhalla, this is relatively simple. On Sandtrap, however, there is only one Banshee, and it spawns near the middle of the map, an equal distance from both teams. To reach the Banshee first, you need to know where to go as soon as you spawn in (use the nearest Mongoose). See Video 1 for a demonstration. Do not use the Chopper, as its speed (over a distance, with boosting) is equal to the Mongoose and using the Chopper merely to run to the Banshee takes away a valuable weapon for your team that another teammate could be using to kill enemies, stop onrushing offense, or even save your ass.
Practice your timing and speed. On Valhalla, you should be in the Banshee and flying within 6 seconds of game start. On Sandtrap, you should be able to reach the Banshee within 15 seconds of game start. In Video 1, above, the time from game start to entering the Banshee is about 12.5 seconds.
Avoiding the Early Kill
Reaching the Banshee first is often simply a matter of desire and practice (and sometimes luck). But it takes practice, patience, and skill to stay alive during the first minute of the game, when all anti-vehicle weapons are fresh and actively looking to take down the Banshee. Let me repeat that: in the Banshee, you are the enemy's first and top-priority target.
In general, you should not engage the other team within the first minute or so of the game unless absolutely necessary. Stay low, fast, near your own base/team, and unpredictable -- Spartan Lasers and Missile Pods will be seeking to gain height in order to see as much of the battlefield as they can, and they are looking for you first.
On Valhalla, the early kill can be avoided by using the base itself or the rocks to the left of either base as cover. Even so, with so many vehicles on the map, the other team will be coming for you. Video 3 contains a good demonstration of this and ways to avoid the early kill. Remember -- do not engage the enemy unless necessary. In the first minute of the game, the anti-vehicle weapons on the field are simply too formidable to be concentrating on killing enemies. Instead, concentrate on staying alive. In Video 3, you can notice the consequences of the other team's Banshee pilot being too eager to get into the action. The lead Banshee's team took control of the laser and was able to destroy the other team's Banshee within the first few seconds of the game. If the enemy Banshee had remained behind cover until the laser was out of ammunition or was distracted, its survivability would have been much greater.
On Sandtrap, the early kill is a huge risk that you take at the beginning of every big team game. There are tons of easily accessible anti-vehicle weapons and you will really have to use every bit of skill and experience you have to keep the Banshee alive through the first minute or even two minutes of the game. You especially need to be aware that in many situations, you are headed to your own death -- at the beginning of the game, the other team can grab the Spartan Laser and set up for a Banshee kill much faster than you can actually reach the vehicle. If the laser is highly skilled, you're dead as soon as you enter the Banshee no matter what you do.
One nifty Sandtrap move that I picked up in order to avoid this kind of early kill, however, is visible in Video 2. Studying the film, taken from the Spartan Laser's perspective, you can notice how quickly the laser is able to set up and wait for me to enter the Banshee, hoping for an easy early kill. But as I enter the Banshee, I immediately moved in an unexpected direction away from the laser's perspective. He had to adjust his aim and adjust for the Banshee's left roll, a great laser-kill avoidance tactic that ensures that the Banshee is not moving in a straight line from the laser's perspective. Also notice that I flew low and behind cover as quickly as possible, thus giving the laser only one chance at the kill -- once he missed, I was gone.
Standoff Heavies can be a difficult map for any Banshee pilot, especially in the opening moments of the game when lasers and Gauss Hogs are fresh. Video 4 shows a good opening strategy that involves diving behind the cliffs and flanking the enemy. They'll never see you coming :-)
[Edited on 08.13.2009 11:03 AM PDT]