Halo: Reach Mythic Guide - Long Night of Solace

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

Long Night of Solace, Page 2

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While the firefight continues, each time one of your own Sabres gets shot down, a new one will emerge from one of the side docking bays of Anchor Nine. At the very least they'll serve as a distraction allowing you to pop out from time to time to do all the dirty work.
Round four will begin once enough enemy fighters have been neutralized, but this time the game doesn't wait for you to kill all of the ones from the previous wave, so be wary of enemy fighters. At this point, you'll be warned of five Phantoms on an inbound vector to Anchor Nine. Your objective here is to simply neutralize the Phantoms. Your best weapon for the job? Medusa missiles of course! You'll notice a lack of resistance from Banshees and Seraphs as you're attacking them. That's not to say you won't get attacked, just not as much. When there's only one left, hit it with everything you've got. The second it's down, everything will instantly stop attacking you and teleport off to safety.

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    If you're up for taking a more aggressive approach to space combat, I've outlined in my Legendary guide exactly where you need to position the Sabre in order to get max kills without putting your own ass on the line.
    When doing this, keep in mind that on Mythic, it actually takes roughly three salvoes of Medusa Missiles to blow up a shieldless Seraph rather than just two. Also, when taking the more aggressive approach, I highly recommend sticking close to the "space trash" so that you can quickly dive into cover should the sudden need arise. Flipping in space works to an extent, but if you know you've already taken a significant amount of damage, flipping likely won't save you. You also risk flipping into a much larger object which can be quite an embarrassing way to bite the space dust.
    Now that the first half of this one-two punch is behind you, dock with Anchor Nine on command and enjoy a relaxing breather as you ready up for an assault on a Covenant Corvette! You'll be treated to yet another inescapable cut scene, but I must admit I find immense entertainment in watching Sword Base getting glassed after the amount of trouble the first fight gave me in the actual mission. Take that, weird shark-finned building!
    When the controls are yours again, you'll have two major options as to how you want to approach the Corvette assault. Again it all depends on your particular tastes in space combat and what works best with your style. The first method is difficult to mess up by accident. Straight away, you can opt to nuke the Corvette's engines even before you're given the command. Nothing the military likes more than an insubordinate ace pilot who jumps the gun (don't believe me? Watch Top Gun). The engine on the far right is the easiest to blow up from your starting location. Then drop down to the Corvette's elevation, hold back on the joystick to slow down your speed, and nuke the other three with your missiles. Once they lock on, you should hear the series of beeps despite the lack of a HUD, and they should proceed to the nearest intact engine.

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You'll notice the Savannah circling the Corvette. If you want to play it safe, stick close to its portside. Not only will the vessel provide you with plenty of cover, but it'll retaliate against assaulting foes. Its cannons are extremely effective against enemy fighters whether they be Banshee or Seraph, not to mention several will usually crash into its starboard side. That very reason alone is what causes the length of the battle to fluctuate. At times it can seem to drag on and on, but eventually, the Savannah and your allied Sabres will wipe out the threat on their own. Other times, the fight can last a mere few minutes. Believe it or not, I managed to land the Wake Up Buttercup achievement purely by accident during a Mythic run because the entire escort apparently thought ramming their ships into the Savannah was a far more effective approach than using their mounted weapons. It's a good thing Kat taught them to drive!

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So hiding behind a frigate sounds too wussy for your liking? Perhaps a more proactive approach is in order. Rather than going for the engines first thing, jet to the belly of the Corvette and unleash all hell on the hangar. It's tough to see from a distance, but it houses more than a dozen Banshees. With the element of surprise on your side, it's easy to score even a killionaire by using this method, and let's face it - how often can you say you snagged one of those medals against Banshees in the Halo franchise? Only the Seraphs will remain at this point. I still recommend at least hanging around the Savannah while dealing with them. This will lure them to the frigate's guns, making it much easier to weaken their shields and finish them with a few Medusa salvos.
When the Corvette's lonely hull is the only thing left, veer around back and nuke the engines. This will trigger a second wave of Seraph fighters. Again catch up with the Savannah for cover. Mopping these guys up will be easy with 20 additional Banshees picking at you from every possible direction.

Land on top of the Corvette whilst keeping an eye out for stray plasma torpedoes. The real hell is about to begin...

And the Horse You Flew In On

    A clever nod to The Maw, no doubt!
    Things are about to get brutal. So far you've had nearly everything under your control. You were in command with respect how the battles played out. But now for the first time in the game, you're about to go toe to toe against an insane number of ruthless Elites on your own without any sort of useful support from invincible Spartans or heavy vehicular weapons. You're about to be tested.
    The comms room is first up on the list. Many people consider this to be the major choke point in the mission. You're about to face off with six Ranger-class Elites; four with plasma repeaters and two dual wielders. For this reason alone, our weapons of choice are the energy sword and rocket launcher. All that abuse we took on the beach is about to pay off.
    While the frigate gets smashed in the background, keep your eyes on the shield barrier separating you from the Corvette's interior. Two Elites are about to boost up to your level and one will land right next to you. It's important to note that while an Elite is in the air, he can't fire his weapon at you at all. This gives you a huge advantage when using the sword. Take it. You'll need it. When the first one boosts up, melee (DON'T LUNGE!) with the sword. Two swipes will kill the Elite. The warning against lunging is due to recovery time. You can melee much faster than lunge. Since it takes two hits with the sword to down a Ranger, the only time you should be lunging is when you've already landed the first hit and you need to close the distance quickly. Other than that, melee is always the best way to go.
    As soon as the first Elite is down, rush over to the opposite side where a second Elite will try to land. Rinse and repeat! These are the only two freebees you'll get. The final four you'll need to contend with inside the comms room. Two will be working the controls in the center while the two dual wielders will be patrolling the outer halls of the room on the second floor.
    Waste no time. Once you've killed the second Elite, whip out that rocket launcher and drop down to the "rafter" that spans half the room and hovers over the control panel. Try to land a rocket on one of the Elites on the controls. If you managed to beat your Marines, they still shouldn't be alerted to your presence, but once you get that first shot off, whether you succeeded or not, use the rafter to retreat back into the halls of the second floor. Remain on the rafter.
    If you haven't already noticed, it only takes one direct hit with a rocket to kill a Ranger, but if it's only splash damage and not head on, they'll survive. Also notice that even though you're relatively safe on the rafter, at the right angle, the Elites can still peg you from below. Since you don't have the use of any sort of radar, it's nearly impossible to tell where they are, and due to the muffled sounds of space, it can be difficult to tell quickly when you're getting hit. For this reason, I recommend deploying a drop shield at every opportunity. While getting hit by a surviving Ranger with a repeater may not be that big of a deal, the dual wielders can down a fully shielded Spartan in roughly a second. Don't chance it.
    You'll know your shield is taking hits when it starts to turn red. Use this to turn around and face your attacker while you're still protected. The second the shield drops, give him a face full of rocket. Rinse and repeat for the other dual wielder!
    Oftentimes, the last repeater Ranger will remain on the ground level since that's where your Marines initially landed (and are no doubt lying dead by now). You can use this to your advantage. Jump down to the second level and make your way around the room, making sure the Elite notices you. When you're close enough, he'll initiate the chase and try to come up after you. Use this opportunity to get your shields back, and while he's in the air, gut him with the sword!
    This will trigger one last wave of enemies to come forth through the ground level door; one repeater Ranger and three Grunt Ultras. If you have any rockets left, you can sneak around just above the door and rocket the Elite below. This will cause the Grunts to go suicidal and blow themselves to kingdom come. If you miss, then they'll all retreat back to the hangar. Not a big deal at all. Either way, they're very easy to deal with. Check out the video below to see how to make short work of the comms room.

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    Lose the rocket launcher and snag a needle rifle from the crate just above the door. Similarly, drop the sword for one of the full plasma pistols located directly under the control center stationed at the heart of the room.
    You'll need to learn a new technique I like to call "crating" for the rest of the mission. In Reach, you can use crates for one of two things (aside from getting additional weapons, smartass). The first and most common use is to give yourself a forum of mobile cover. That will be our main use for the next battle. Secondly, you can also use crates to prevent enemies from advancing or retreating. Amazingly enough, they have unlimited technology at their disposal, but if you place a box in front of them, their minds draw a blank...
    For this first bit, you have it easy. Space makes everything lighter, so go ahead and push one of the comms room crates into the now accessible hallway and make sure you can see over top of it. This will serve as your cover for the next battle. Enemies nearly always shoot for center mass, and sense it will be blocked by this crate, you'll have the opportunity to shoot without being shot.
    First, we must trigger the bait. Head toward the hangar where you'll find a dozen Grunts and five additional Elites (six if you didn't kill the one from before - all Ranger class). The two on the far side are currently the most dangerous of the bunch. They wield deadly focus rifles and can pinpoint you from across the room. This makes fighting in the hangar itself a bit too risky, so we're going to make them bring the fight to us. You may have noticed that most of the nearby Covenant are covered in a slight pink glow. That's due to the overshields provided by the Engineer hovering above them. I was beginning to wonder when we were going to start seeing these in campaign. We'll need to take him out in order to trigger the Grunts to start charging. Be wary, though, since one of the Grunts also carries a fuel rod cannon.
    Before crossing the door's threshold, drop a deployable cover, let the doors open, then slip through and head up the slope on the left. Look towards the center of the room until you spot the Engineer bobbing peacefully near the center. Let 'er rip with the needle rifle. Two super-combines will send its empty armored shell crashing to the floor. Make a run back for the hall and jump behind your crate. After a few seconds the doors to the hangar will open on their own, and a few Grunts will be patrolling back and forth waiting for you to get close. Disappoint them. Start pegging them from safely behind your crate. If you spot the fuel rod wielder, make him top priority. If you notice the door is open but you don't see anyone standing in front of it, odds are they're just a couple of feet away on either side. Shooting a needle round at the floor will cause them to dodge in front of the door. Each time they dodge, it takes them a couple of seconds to recover, allowing you plenty of time to land those three rounds for a super-combine.
    Killing enough Grunts will grant you a checkpoint (that you won't be able to see due to Blind) which will trigger the Elites to charge. This is why we brought the crate. Again there will be three Elites that charge you (four if you didn't kill the extra one from the comms room), and usually they'll charge one at a time. Each time you see one, let him get close enough that you can duck out from behind your crate and easily plasma charge him. This won't knock out his shields completely, but two or three followup dome shots will be enough to pop the shields and bring him down. Do the same for all of them as shown in the video.

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When the doors close, it doesn't necessarily mean that all the enemies in the area are dead, but rather that there aren't any close to the door. You already know the two focus Rangers are still active as they'll be the only ones who don't charge. Slowly make your way to the door and peek outside to make sure the coast is clear. If it is, that means the only two enemies left are the Rangers on the elevated platform on the left-hand opposite side of the room. Open the doors and bolt to the right side this time. Head up the slope, snag some extra needle rifle ammo from the crate, and head to the top platform.
Once again you have elevation to your advantage, and from here there are two relatively easy ways to deal with the Rangers. The first is to simply shoot off plasma pistol rounds from your position. Just keep peppering them until their weak shields pop. Then follow up with the needle rifle. Otherwise, you can just pop them with the needle rifle from afar. You have plenty of ammo even though they'll continuously try to dodge. And remember to keep them shooting at center mass.

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With the hangar finally clear, return to the comms room and grab the other full plasma pistol. It's time to open the gates for Jor-hay and his crew. When the Pelican lands and the cut scene ends, you'll find yourself with full shields and health! There's plenty of ammo and health packs lying around, but you really won't need it until later. You'll also have access to a few more armor abilities, and you may want to temporarily pick up Sprint for the upcoming encounter.
Four Grunts will emerge from the doors opposite from where you first entered the hangar while a pair of Elite Ultras will hang back in the corridors beyond. Dealing with the Grunts should be routine at this point. The two Elites, on the other hand, may be a bit trickier. I prefer to pull a trick similar to the one we used to deal with the first Rangers in the hangar. Find some cover, and plasma pistol them until their shields pop. Then follow up with a dome shot. This will only work for one. The second will always retreat to hall leading to the cannon room, and if he takes enough damage, he'll warn the two Ultras in there as well. For this reason, I recommend charging into the hall after him. Let the door open, activate Sprint, and close the distance quickly. This will allow you to win a melee fight against him and possibly even keep the two Ultras in the cannon room from being alerted to your presence. Once you're done, you'll want to stock up on ammo. Use the needle rifle crate you had access to prior to the Pelican landing. You might need the one inside the hall for later.

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