Halo: Reach Mythic Guide

Halo 3: ODST Mythic (SLASO) Walkthrough by Daniel Morris

Exodus

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The Tru7h about Mythodus

    Oh, thank you Bungie gods! At last we're getting a break from fighting Elites! Following the events of Long Night of Solace, you'll find that while Jorge's efforts were indeed heroic, they couldn't prevent the Apocalypse of Reach. Noble 6 stumbles across a city under siege, New Alexandria, and it becomes quickly evident that the one super carrier wasn't the only dreadnaught the Covenant had up their sleeves. Three Corvettes currently have the city burning, and it's your job to bring the invasion to a grinding halt.
    You'll be granted a nice break from Elites, and instead, you'll be fighting Brutes. While they're certainly more numerous, due to their lack of shields and field ranks, you'll find that neither the Tilt nor Thunderstorm skull has any real effect on them at all, and when it comes to super-combines with needle-based weaponry, the Minors are still just as vulnerable on Mythic as they are on Legendary.
    The mission has been broken down into the following segments:

The Devil His Due
Too Close to the Sun
I Should Have Become a Watchmaker

So if you're ready for a change of pace in the Mythic game, let's hit the streets of New Alexandria!

The Devil His Due

    Behold the gruesome sight before you. Many dozen civilians lay dead around the courtyard as crows pick away at their rotting flesh. Vengeance against the Covenant is now futile!
    Proceed forward through the lonely streets of New Alexandria through the first set of doors in your quest to gain access to Traxus Tower to assist with the citywide evacuation. It should be noted at this time that your health is low but your shields are at full strength. It shouldn't matter much since there are two health packs available to you before things even start getting tough, but just make note for future reference. Slip through the sliding doors into the next open area where you'll encounter your first group of Covenant baddies—three Skirmishers armed with plasma pistols. Use your magnum to try and pick them off. If you wait too long, they'll retreat back inside the only accessible building, and you'll be forced to deal with them later under less ideal conditions. It's best to tag them all now if you can.
    Restock with pistol ammo via the extra one lying on the ground, and before you head inside, there's a health pack located just off to the left of the stairs where you first entered. Pick it up and proceed inside the building.
    To be frank, I found this next segment to be a bit unnerving my first time through. You'll be making your way through a series of dark passages in the underbelly of the city where Grunts will randomly light themselves up with plasma grenades and hurl themselves at you for no reason at all. This, coupled with the fact that the corridors will be quaking with the might of the UNSC assault, makes it all the more difficult to put them down where they stand, so we're going to do the best we can with what we have. When I asked why the Covenant do this to lesser classes, it was explained to me that it sucks away the morale from human survivors. They couldn't be more right. Though the game is set on a fictional planet, I couldn't help but get a sense of some of the modern day tragedies of warfare that are encountered on a day to day basis. For those of you who were hoping for a "darker" Halo, it doesn't get much darker than this.
    Due to the Famine skull taking such a toll here, before entering the building, grab one of the Skirmisher's plasma pistols. We'll be using it to deal with the Grunts while we cleverly reserve the pistol ammo for later.
    The first room will consist of two Grunts who will immediately stick themselves the second they see you. A third will emerge from the opposite hall. Use the plasma pistol to fend them off and save those magnum rounds. Round the next corner to face off with another pair of fanatics. Their deaths will allow you to gain access to the Armor Lock AAs sitting in the crate. Take one. The trade off of being able to render yourself temporarily invincible versus being able to rush from one location to another more quickly is well worth it.
    If you're tired of peppering the Grunts with plasma bolts, simply allow the Armor Lock to do all the work for you from here on out. The next corridor will house 2-3 more Grunts. The second you get their attention, they'll light themselves up and start running and screaming in your direction. Test out the Armor Lock and laugh at their wasted efforts. The following room will usually contain five more who will follow suit. Wow, they just keep coming! Again, apply the same technique. If you aren't sure whether or not you got them all, just listen for their frantic screams.
    In the dead center of the room you'll find additional magnum ammo. Take advantage of the freebie and move on.
    The final room will contain several suicidal Grunts who start out on the elevated level, but quickly charge down the ramps to rush you. Usually killing one of them will cause a chain reaction that kills the rest. Also, if you failed to pop all three Skirmishers early on, they'll now be waiting for you here. Use the magnum to land headshots against them. The video below displays exactly how this eerie and ominous segment plays out.

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    Your goal at this point is to retrace your steps and retrieve every single needler you can find. The numbers vary. Sometimes you'll find quite a few while other times you'll find yourself making every shot count. Either way, you still won't have enough to max out your extra ammo clips, so always try to conserve as best you can when using the weapon in combat.
    The door to the courtyard will zip open, but hang back for a second. A Spirit will rise up from just beyond the banister, packing a familiar enemy... Brutes! Half a dozen to be precise. They'll start raining spikes down on innocent civilians, and you don't want to get caught in the shard storm. Wait until it passes by before slipping outside. Race down the stairs and stick the first Brute you see with a plasma grenade. BE CAREFUL not to accidentally kill the dangling civilian in the process. Prepare for a rant...
    Welcome to the worst mechanic introduced into the Halo franchise since Jackal Snipers in Halo 2. Each time you accidentally (or on purpose for that matter) cause the death of a civilian, you somehow spontaneously explode inside of your suit, causing instant death and ruining all your progress. I'm not sure what irks me about this feature the most. It's not so much that it makes the level more challenging but rather serves as yet another mechanism for inching the game even further away from consistency. I won't go as far as to say "realism". After all, this is Halo. It isn't meant to be a realistic FPS modern warfare-type simulator, but when I think of Halo, I tend to think of the closest an FPS will ever come to "free roam". Civilian "suiciding" puts you more on a scripted path and snatches away that freedom. It's the only urbanized mission we get in the entire game, so why place limits on it?
    Nevertheless, it's the hand we were dealt, so for future reference, don't ever, ever kill the civilians. Stand by and let the Covenant do it instead...
    Moving on, proceed forward and stick the second Brute, forcing him to release his hostage. About this time, the Spirit will drop another Brute trio armed with spikers and plasma repeaters. At last it's time to whip out that needler and go to town. If you're quick enough, you'll be able to land a triple kill on the three droppers. Otherwise, just wait until they try to chuck a grenade your way. As long as they're stuck in the animation they won't try to dodge your deadly pink fury. One last Brute to go. He'll be dangling a civilian near the tiny food station. If you want to play it safe, move up the left hand side of the courtyard, shimmy up the incline to the food stand, and either stick him (if you have enough grenades) or needle him.
    Something to bear in mind. Once a Brute becomes aware of your presence, he becomes impossible to assassinate. Again, it's another unfortunate game mechanic. For this reason, I highly recommend 99% of the time to avoid melee combat with a Brute. Their retaliatory strikes are potentially lethal if you possess anything less than full shields and health. Instead, use the following methods for close range combat.

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    A brief lull will allow you to recharge any needed health via any one of the three health packs in the courtyard (one near the food stand, one near the stairs leading up to the picnic area, and another in the picnic area itself, accompanied by a sniper rifle and Sprint). Wave two will be far less formidable; a Brute minor escorted by three Skirmishers from the far door leading into Traxus Tower. Use the magnum to dispose of the Jackal-wannabes and either stick the Brute or use a super-combine. If you're lucky, one of the Skirmishers dropped a needler to serve as an additional ammo refill.
    Zip through the now open door and head up the stairs. Two Grunts will strangely be wandering out from looks like a sealed off dead end on the left. Assassinate them. For now, drop the needler (yes, you will need it again later so keep track of where you place it) and grab a plasma pistol.
    Your orders are clear. Neutralize all enemy threats inside the atrium so the UNSC can use the elevator located on the opposite side to evacuate the civilians.
    The atrium will be occupied by several Grunts, Brute Minors, a Captain, and a trio of Jackals. Start small. Use the plasma pistol to start taking out Grunts. Feel free to move back and forth between the upper and lower level as need be. The bottom level contains a pair of health packs on either side of the atrium entrance, and a few spare clips of magnum ammo aren't too far away either. A shotgun lies just inside the atrium itself, though you won't need that until later, and both floors contain a DMR, but once again due to ammo scarcity, you'll want to use up all your magnum ammo before snatching one of those mid-ranged beast machines.
    This is one of those areas where having Armor Lock really becomes an asset. Not only does it shield you from surprise plasma grenades, but it can also protect you from those sudden superbolts fired by the Grunts.

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    Following the Grunts' massacre, the Brutes are next on the list. I highly recommend dealing with the Captain first to give you a bit more freedom as to where you can place yourself in the atrium. Head back out the courtyard and fetch the sniper rifle. Bring it back inside with you and take out the Captain from a safe distance. He's located one level up from the Brutes and possesses either a spiker or plasma repeater (it's random).
    It's now safe to move in and deal with the Minors on the second floor. After retrieving the needler from before, I tend to move up the stairs on the right for the purpose of elevated advantage. When you climb the stairs, you'll notice the opposite side is occupied by yet another pair of Minors. When they see you, they'll hop the railing and start heading your way. Use the magnum to pop them a few times in the head. It'll take at least 2-3 shots to remove their dome caps, and from there, a single headshot will suffice. Use this technique to dish out death to both of them. The ones below are even easier. As a general rule of thumb, they'll always aim for center mass. Take advantage of the banister before you and peek over the edge to land headshots. If you've lined yourself up correctly, they'll only be landing hits on the banister.
    One thing to consider. Occasionally upon observing the death of one of his companions, a Brute will "berserk". This is far less apparent than in previous games where they would toss aside their weapons and make a beeline straight for you. In Reach, they'll simply forget all about cover and start running directly towards your location while shooting whatever weapon they have. This might seem like a bad thing, but whenever they berserk, they disregard all means of personal safety and fail to dodge things such as needles and grenades. Easy kill.

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Last up on the list are the three Jackals stationed near the elevator. All three have shields, though whether they have needlers or plasma pistols tends to vary on a play by play basis. Grenades are certainly a fun way to send them flying around the room, but I like to bring the shotty for backup.

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    Reaching the top grants you access to uber amounts of needler ammo, courtesy of the Covenant crate near the elevator. Two additional health packs can be found near the elevator as well behind each of the walls, so if you need a recharge, now's the time to do it. When you're ready, activate the elevator switch, turn, and make a mad dash back towards the Traxus Tower entrance. Now's the time to take advantage of those luscious DMRs you've been craving. Grab the ammo from both, meaning at this point you should be gripping a DMR as your primary with a needler serving as your secondary, and head into the room off to the side from where you picked up the DMR on the lower floor.
    A pair of Phantoms are about to drop off enemy reinforcements to the courtyards. On the lower level, they'll be dispatching three Skirmishers, a pair of Brute Minors, and a hammer-wielding Captain. It seems like with each Halo game the poor gravity hammer gets even further demoted from its former self. Whatever happened to the "No Chieftain, no touchy" rule? Depressing...
    On the upper floor, the Phantom will be dropping off a squad of Grunts, another pair of Brutes, and yet another Captain with a hammer. For now, though, we'll be concentrating on the first bunch. If you're in the mood for a more proactive approach, you can position yourself to scope in on the tower entrance. When the Skirmishers rush in, you can pop them each in the head. The Brutes will follow closely behind, and the Minors are scripted to rendezvous with their buddies on the upper level. The Captain will do one of two things. He'll either rush in through the bottom level door, or he'll take a detour up top and come down from the stairs. In either scenario, as soon as you seem him unload half a clip of needles into his chest. It'll take two super combines to kill him.
    Move up the stairs. At this point, the rest of them will be engaging the Marines on the upper level. Taunt the other Captain to rush you and deal with him the same way. If you have any sniper ammo left from before, you can pick up the rifle and safely take out the Minors from afar. If not, you can play tag with them via the needler as shown below.

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Use the DMR to deal with the Skirmishers (if you didn't already), and finally pop the Grunts one by one. When you hear the Marine sucking up to you ("Glad you're on our side!"), you'll know only one enemy remains. Cap him and duck inside the elevator.
Just a quick word of advice. I personally like bringing the Gravity Hammer to the next section, but it isn't a necessity. I highly recommend it as a means of backup, and you'll see why in a few minutes. For now, it's time to take to the skies!

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