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I have taken a bit of abuse in the past for claiming that I play Legendary setting with grenades and melee only (no weapons fire at all) from people that assume it cannot be done for more than Pillar of Autumn or select parts of levels.
I have been able to complete all five of the first levels without firing a shot, here is how:
GENERAL TIPs-When grunts are not close to you, throw your frags past them to direct the flying body and any dropped grenades back towards you making them easier and quicker to get to, especially if you are fighting from heavier cover or facing 4 or more enemies. Weapons of choice should be PLASMA PISTOL and anything with a scope when available. The recover from a melee done with the MC fist (the PP melee) is the quickest, and a scope really helps in recon and aiming for longer distance grenade tosses.
Pillar of Autumn-There are very few difficulties in completing this level this way, other than the Stairs. It can be hard to get good angles on the elites, especially since they move around so much on the upper platform. Most of the success in this way will be using frags to take out the grunts first, making them drop plasmas That way, even if you do not stick an elite often times the resulting secondary explosions from your initial throw igniting dropped grenades will do the trick.
Halo-The opening battle is one of the hardest since you start with no plasma grenades. Taking out the cliffside grunts exiting the Spirit will usually give you at least 2 grenades to work on the Elites around the crashed life pod. If you cannot do medium and long toss plasma grenade tosses this will mean you have to work from the close boulders which may cause you a fair deal of health. The longer that the health pack at the crash site stays unused, the better, as the banshees coming at you in a bit are gonna get alot of your health. Once you have taken out the Elites and Grunts on the other side with grenades (P's for the elites, Frags for the Grunts) the hard part is taking out the Banshees with very close range Plasma throws as they dive for you. This is where you will either die repeatedly or take an beating, hence the saved health pack. It is nice if the Banshees do not blow up past the cliff, as then you have the 2 plasmas that the dead pilots drop. The best strategy for the rest of the level (No, you cannot have any Marines in your Warthog, nor can you splatter anything while driving) is to use the structures and natural cover of trees and boulders to hide behind and then either toss plasmas for elites or melee all grunts and jackals. Most of the time you can get cover close enough to small enemies to use it and lure single covies to you, punching them, ducking back and luring again to punch and kill (1 punch kills delivered from behind, 2-3 needed for in your face assaults, wait till your enemy turns if it is more than 2 steps from your cover). Frags are best used when small enemies cluster, as they do at the next crash site.
Using a vehicle for cover is slow and a pain, but needed. There are times during the level where the ground is open, no cover. The Rockslide Battle is a great example. Most of the action will be too far from the entry points to be able to use grenades accurately with how the Elites move around. What does work is to stop the Hog near the entrance to the lower bowl and then move to the passenger side and melee it into the open space. If you do it right you can take a tree and extend its covered space the lenght of the Hog, moving you closer to the action. Ducking down behind a properly parked/punched into place Hog will protect you from the fire you will take, and allow you to crouch step along the length to hide and move into position. You can punch a Hog all the way up to an unsuspecting Covie if there is no other one with a line of sight from the side. I have found you need to keep some distance between you and them in that particular battle. All of the other battles the cover is not so spread out. Again, where possible, lure smaller enemies in around the edge of a vehicle and melee, grenades for elites.
T & R-This one is second hardest to do this way, with AotCR being the absolute nightmare. There are some wickedly difficult aspects to the first half of the level. The first battle is the hardest as you start with no plasmas, and the spawning of grunts near the entry into the first zone can mean either none or few located close enough to the entry point as to not make your marines move in. The longer you can go without marines alerting the enemy the better. Once they are defending it makes things alot harder. The great thing is that there is ample cover and enough grunts carrying plasmas to give you a fighting chance. Do not kill your marines, if you do it may trigger angry red spawns of all remaining marines on the level. The covies are plenty good at killing them, let them do it. This is one of the places that frags thrown past grunts is crucial, you have to have their dropped grenades coming back in your direction as much as possible since alot of this first part is grenade action as meleeing the first waves volume is fruitless and will just get you killed every time.
The rest of the level up to Belly of the Beast is pretty straightforward, lure, punch, kill, tag elites, frag groups of grunts if needed. The battle at the grav lift area is a matter of luring all enemies back to the choke point and luring the grunts and jackals near to the corner of the rock projection that you are hiding behind (this is where you get the initial checkpoint just before entering that grav lift section of the level). This choke point is your best freind in getting into that grav lift. All enemies will stop at that barrier of rocks allowing you cover and shield recharging and allowing you a place to be just enough seen to lure grunts bearing plasma grenade refills and jackals close enough to smack in the face. Most Elites stop farther out, and can be tagged once they calm down in movement. Those that come close, well, here, have a plasma for your trouble. If you tag an elite close it, get your ass moving backwards. If there are stray plasmas from a recent grunt pounding laying about, the secondaries will ruin your day.
Once all of the waves that spawn have been lured and dispatched, the hunters are not that hard to take out with melee. It does help if you can get them closer together though, that way you are not meleeing one to death while the other is lobbing his green death in your direction. So much for them mating for life, half the time one kills the other.
Belly of the Beast, well that active camo comes in real handy to take out the elites, but you have to get your butt into the connected side passages pretty darn quick. The Elites will chase you and can be taken out with PLasmas, adn they always return 2 to your stash. Once there are no more Elites take out the small guys in clustered groups or you will run out of grenades. The Hunters, no real big deal. The rest of the level plays using the corridor cover and the lure technique. The hardest part is when you enter the hanger, taking out that darn patrolling elite up on the riser in the middle of the hanger. The rest if lure, melee and sticky. There is an oversheild, but it does not last too long, it can be helpful to save it for when you come back from near the end of the level to stock up on any grenades that may still be laying about.
Silent Cartographer-Next to PoA this is the easiest level to approach this way as the battles are never too spread out and the amount of enemies is never out whack like some battles can be. The Hog Hiding comes in handy here for moving closer to enemy groups for plasma tosses and lurings. The hardest part is getting back out once you have activated the SC. There is a ton of cover, but there is alot of opposition! I have found that if I save my frags for the return trip, they help alot with the Jackals, of which there are an absolute ton on the trip out. Use the walls on certain throws where you have groups. Single jackals with little or no other covies around, with your shield at full are easy prey to a few well placed knocks to the head.
AotCR-Yeah, this one is a stone cold you know what. The first time I tried it, it took me 6 days, 2-4 hours a day to get it done this way. I am not sure if I have enough room left to type to give all of the info....and to be honest, being somewhat of a mean man I am tempted to let you all figure it out for yourselves like I did, but I know there will just be a ton of people who say I never did it (no, there are no pictures, never were, never will be). So, I will wet your appetite, and on Thursday I will post the specifics.
1-All vehicles can be taken out by plasmas, but you better not miss many throws or you are going to run out. Each killed elite drops two, there are lots of elites on this level fortunately.
2-Not only can you move a Hog by punching it, but you can also relocate the Scorpion in small increments, which can come in very handy at the battle around it. The Scorpion is a great Hiding spot. It is actually better in certain spots to have it as your hiding spot than a Hog, especially the tunnel/chasm battles. Drive it into certain positions and then jump out and hit the deck!
3-The tree areas on this level are actually better than Halo for luring Banshees down to plasma grenadeble level, better cover and better throwing angles, mixed with more aggressive Banshee pilots who seem to want to splatter you.
4-There are more places to pick up plasma grenades on this level, of course, if you think the level is huge during normal legendary play, it is going to seem neverending in this mode.
OK, well, less than 150 characters left, if you have questions, please feel free to ask, this is a blast to try!