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"Are you part of the 5% of players who shares this honor with me? If so, how'd it go for you? If you have tips and tricks to share please sound off and maybe it will make its way into my future helpful Legendary guide. "
As someone that has beaten the campaign on solo Legendary, here's some quick tips:
1) Overcharge + Headshot - aka the noob combo that has been effective in every single Halo game. This is an overcharge shot from the plasma pistol followed by a headshot, typically with a DMR or needle rifle, but any headshot weapon works, like say a pistol. This is primarily used on Elites, but the occasional Brute has a shield you can rip through with this, but it usually requires you to make 3+ headshots to remove their helmet and then kill them, so watch it on those chieftans and other ranked up brutes.
2) Take it slow - Seriously, you aren't going to win any battles going crazy gung-ho super soldier like you did on normal or even heroic. Grunts can kill you if you dont act quick enough.
3) Never Let the AI do ANYTHING - AI teammates with you? Do not let them do anything. They cannot drive, they cannot shoot guns, they cannot help with objectives. Do not rely on them. NEVER let them drive a vehicle for you. Ever. This is paramount to surviving. You cannot win if the retarded AI keeps driving into mortars or stops in front of elites shootin gyour face.
4) Use Scoring MOde - Turn on the scoring option for each level. I also throw on the grunt birthday skull for laughs, but the scoring is all that really matters. This does not negate your achievements and is not cheating or anything that woudl disqualify conditions for the achievement. What it does do though is let you know when you kill something.
Not sure if that Elite died to the grenade you threw when it ducked behind cover to recharge its shields? Well scoring pops up a +100 or whatever value and lets you know it died. No score popped up? That elite is still alive.
A great example of whent his is useful is on the package level in the tank. There are many turrets near the end before the ONI base. They are far off in the distance and difficult to see until the homing mortars are already locked on and in the air towards your tank. Firing blind into the distance and hoping it is destroyed is fine, but you are never sure they are dead without the scoring mode enabled and the +xx score modifier showing up.
Use scoring. It's quite helpful for confirming kills.
5) Don't Forget the First Cutscene - You might be tempted to just load up individual levels and play them. Don't forget to do the intro cutscene to the game on Legendary.
6) Watch for Hunters - Hunters are not really that tough in this game. Grunts with fuel rod cannons are much more likely to kill you or anyone with a concussion gun. However, on Legendary, you cant just run up and bash the hell out of hunters. You can still bash them, but you need to be careful of their back attack. They quickly turn and melee anything behind them and it's a 1 hit death for you if it connects. It's usually better to just aim for joints from a distance from my experience than to risk constant reloads.
7) Abuse Checkpoints - You can usually trigger checkpoints by walking back to safe sections. On the last level with the elites and engineer, you can kill an elite, run outside and get a checkpoint before continuing on to kill the rest. Repeat as necessary to avoid having to kill the entire room over and over. This is useful at all times when you run into tight situations. Not all work as easily as the above example though, but very rare not to be able to get a checkpoint this way.
8) Go back for ammo/use other guns - Dont waste DMR ammo on every single enemy when a tough section is ahead. Drop the gun, pick up a needler or assault rifle and kill those grunts or jackals. Empty the clip and pick up your DMR again.
Also, know where weapon racks/ammo racks are. Go back and get it even when its far away. Entering a room full of elites and grunts with 75 DMR bullets vs 23 bullets is a huge advantage. Same with sniper ammo. On Oni Sword Base (second level), you can get sniper rifles in both sections for comm and anti air guns. Theres also ammo for it above the section with the hunters. Instead of wasting ammo on grunts, save it for the hunters and you can kill them with ease with neck shots between the armour.
On the pillar of autumn, after the room with the hunters, you can find a DMR ammo cache beyond the chain fence area before you go up on the scaffolding. Refill before moving on to the next section. Always swap out your plasma pistol for a fresh one from grunts/jackals/skirmishers.
9)Kill at Range. Always - In the tank? Kill anti-aircraft guns from range with it. In a warthog on tip of the spear? Use the rockets to kill the anti aircraft guns (kick the AI out of the warthog and drive away before it gets in again, get off and man the gun. AI might run up to you, so just repeat until the AA gun is destroyed). Kill grunts/skirmishers/jackals at long range with precision headshots. I use needle rifle whenver i can for these long range kills and save dmr for tough sections with elites, but thats preference. needle rifle eats brutes at range though (3 shots = dead brute from explosion whereas you need 3 headshots from dmr to guarantee kill).
10) Abuse Holograms - It is easily the best armour ability in campaign. Nothing tops it. Nothing. Fuel rod cannon users reveal their position for quick headshot as they unload on the hologram. Elites will run up and bash it and you can then assassinate or overcharge/headshot them. You can scout areas for enemies. On the sniping mission, you can find the elite that is cloaked (may not always show up, not sure if it was a random upgrade or not) and then headshot him. You can make those annoying concussion users blow their ammo on nothing and that split second they are reloading means you get to kill them unmolested. The entire last section in pillar of autumn becomes a complete joke as you can assassinate half the elites and overcharge the rest as they one by one try to kill holograms. Tough sectiosn with skirmishers/jackals spamming overcharges and needles become easy as you headshot them one by one as they target the hologram (the package level in particular).
AI is dumb in this. It looks smart and is crazy good at times, but they fall for very simple tricks with holograms that make them eat the noob combo or assassinations. Abuse it at will.
[Edited on 10.09.2010 2:13 PM PDT]