Halo: Reach Mythic Guide - ONI Sword Base

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

ONI Sword Base

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The Tru7h about ONI: Mythic Base

    I'll be blunt. This one starts out rough and can easily be classified as one of the more medium-ranged difficulty missions. It's a step up from Winter Contingency, and you'll likely hear Kat's ramblings more times than you'd care to recall, but once you get past the initial ass-kicking, things start to lighten up a bit, and you'll find yourself blasting through zones with relative ease. For the first time in the game, you'll gain access to some of the heavier vehicles, and during certain scenarios, you'll be able to dish out quite a bit of swift, harsh pain to your foes.
    Kat will be your escort throughout the entire mission, but don't rely on her to do much aside from serving as a mild distraction for your enemies. She wields an assault rifle, sucks with it (no, not in that way), and you don't have the ability to trade it off for a better weapon. On the lighter side of things, given some of the weapons and vehicles you'll have access to, you won't really need her much at all.
    Bungie has taken the time to divvy up the mission into the following chapters:

The Best Defense...
Get the Hell Off My Lawn!
Office of Naval Intelligence

I'm guessing it was our ol' pal Marty that came up with the second one on that list ;-)

The Best Defense...

    Right away you'll be tossed into turmoil with Kat and a few Marines there to lend you a hand. You'll find yourself in an open courtyard divided by a bridge with an incline on each side leading up to elevated walkways and platforms. On the right side, there will be an Elite Ultra raining plasma fire down on you and your troops. On the opposite side, a pair of Jackals prepare for battle. The middle is no picnic either. A small group of Grunt Ultras will be wobbling through the Jersey walls and down the hill to engage you and your troops.
    You have two immediate options. The first is to engage the Grunts. Once you've successfully downed three, the survivors, the Elite, and the Jackals will all retreat to the back half of the courtyard. The only problem with this is now you've got four Elites you need to kill from a distance rather than three.
    I recommend sprinting up the right incline the second the controls are yours and assassinate the Elite as shown in the following video.

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    Whacking Elites can be a bit touch and go, so don't become overly discouraged if you can't land it the first time. Your success relies on a couple of things. The first is how much shields and health did you have when you engaged him? If you allowed him to peg you a few times with his plasma rifle on the way up the ramp, you'll most likely lose the melee. An easier way to help prevent him from shooting is to toss a frag grenade up there ahead of you which will cause him to dodge. This will give you that extra two seconds to Reach the platform and get within striking distance of the Ultra.
    When he'd dead, you'll want to immediately backpedal down the incline and take cover. Typically a few Grunts will go kamikaze and run straight for you, so put some distance between yourself and them. Additionally, a Phantom will swoop in from behind your starting zone to not only drop off reinforcements, but also to pound the hell out of your location with concussion rounds. After the Phantom settles behind the bridge, the platform will be yours for the taking, and you'll have a relatively safe spot to start picking off the remaining Covenant troops.
    The area beyond contains several Jackals, a few Grunts, and three Elite Ultras. As if that weren't bad enough, one of the Ultras has a concussion rifle and loves to use it. So let's take this one step at a time, shall we?
    First, I'd recommend dealing with the Jackals on the opposite elevated walkway while they're preoccupied by the Marines. This should allow you to land a few easy headshots. Sometimes as they retreat, they'll do so in a fashion that leaves them almost entirely exposed. Again, this makes them sitting ducks for your DMR.
    Next, you'll want to focus on some of the more local foes down below. Mop of the rest of the Grunts since they generally take the least amount of effort to kill. Then try to pick off some of the Jackals that are in view. Again, you can force them to stumble by shooting them in the foot which will expose their peaked skull for a split second. Be quick with that DMR and finish them off.
    You'll start running low on ammo at some point. The easiest way to tell is to try and reload after each enemy you kill. That way you'll know before engaging the next enemy whether or not you're on your last magazine. Backtrack down to where you started and head up the other side. You can use the left incline as cover to pick off a few more Jackals if you wish. Usually Kat will have their attention either somewhere along the bridge or the opposite platform. Then, when you're ready, move up the walkway where you can collect additional DMR ammo (plus a health pack if you need it) from the corpse near the locked door. If the rest of the Marines are dead, there will be an additional DMR rifle laying around for you to use later if necessary.

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Use the banister on the walkway for cover as you continue to pick off the remaining Jackals and Grunts. Keep moving forward and eventually Kat will advance too. She'll cut right through the courtyard and start using the ground-level barriers as cover. Every now and then, though, she'll become infuriated and attack one of the Elites at melee range. When this happens, ready your DMR. Typically she'll be able to knock out its shields allowing you to pop an easy headshot. Basically from this point forward in the battle, you'll need Kat to keep the attention off you long enough to either run up for a quick assassination, or to sit back and peck away at the Elites' shields using a plasma pistol.
As stated previously, plasma pistol super-bolts are a waste when it comes to disabling an Elite's shielding. It takes a grand total of three consecutive shots to disable the shields (which usually completely depletes your weapon), and more often than not, they'll either dodge one of the blasts or go into Armor Lock. So your best bet remains the "plasma pepper" while strafing and taking cover when necessary. When their shields start to flare, you know you're close to a "pop".

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Finally, when the enemies in the courtyard are down and you start to advance, four Skirmishers will trot up the hill and start hammering both you and Kat with plasma pistols. I've never seen them advance much further than the Jersey walls, so as long as you stay back, you should be able to pick them off with the DMR one by one with little to no retaliation as shown in the next video.

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With the Skirmishers down, take a second to breathe after a rather intense encounter. When you're ready, head down to the blast doors where a crate of BR ammo and health awaits. Here's a tip. If you know your shields are down, but your health is full (keeping you from grabbing a health pack), you can stand next to a wall and fire a super-bolt at it point blank. The shockwave will damage you just enough to enable you to use the health pack. I almost always use this method right before a major encounter to ensure I'm at max health and shields. The following video will show you how to pull this off successfully without accidentally killing yourself in the process. Though it's actually performed later in the mission, the sooner you learn this technique, the better.

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Before you proceed to the next area, make sure you have the freshest plasma pistol you can find. There should be at least four lying around where you killed the Skirmishers without having to run all the way back to the courtyard. Finally, switch out your Sprint ability for the Armor Lock. You won't be using it much throughout the campaign, but it certainly does leave a bit more room for error during the next segment. Once you're prepared, go ahead and proceed to the next section.

Get the Hell Off My Lawn!

    Temporarily switch out your plasma pistol for the new target locator in the furthest crate. This will trigger the blast doors to open. Once they do, don't venture out too far. Otherwise they'll shut behind you, sealing off access to your plasma weapon. You'll need it, so stay close to the wall. Use the locator to target the Wraith on the left. Artillery will then rain down from the sky and blast it into oblivion. Sometimes you'll even get lucky (as I did in the video), and the artillery will also wipe out some of the nearby enemy infantry too!
    I think the Spartan Laser just got put in its place...
    You'll want to leave the remaining Wraith alive, but go ahead and take out the secondary gunner. If the tank starts shelling your location, and you aren't exactly sure where the mortars are about to land, don't hesitate to go into Armor Lock. This is why you picked it up to begin with!
    Start moving up the right side. If any enemy infantry remain (usually an Elite Ultra backed by a small group of Grunts), they'll start meandering out from behind the large boulder near the Wraith. Take out the Grunts while the Elite jumps into the Wraith's secondary gunner seat.
    Hopefully Kat will be doing something useful at this point and distract the Wraith while you move around carefully to the rear and jump on top of it. As a side note, you can use the plasma pistol to disable it if you think it's about to do a 180 and nuke your location OR if you need slight help getting on top of the vehicle. EMPing the machine causes it's thrusters to stop momentarily which decreases the height for about two seconds. Work your way to the front of the tank while being careful to stay behind the gunner. Then beat him to death with your weapon. Next, board the Wraith and bash it twice. This will cause the hatch to pop. The next move is a bit risky, so make sure you have plenty of wiggle room. You'll need to jump off the Wraith and hop back on. My advice is to EMP the tank as soon as you jump off to keep it from turning around and boosting over top of you. Then jump back on top of it and bash the driver's brains in. Congratulations. You now have a tank to use for the next third of the mission!

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    Two objectives lay ahead, and you have your pick as to which one you want to do first. Since we'll be using the Wraith for both, there really isn't one that has a particular advantage over the other. I'd advise heading right and towards the anti-air battery.
    Before you round the first major corner, you'll encounter a Ghost and a few Grunts. None of them are any match for your big purple beast, so flatten them with your main gun. If Kat jumped into the secondary seat, she'll help you mop up the ones you miss. No real challenge here.
    Round the bend and approach the battery. It'll be closely guarded by a pair of aggressive Ultras, a few Grunts, and an all-seeing General grasping a deadly plasma launcher. Pay no mind to the Phantom hovering above the base. Apparently its pilot is too busy doing other things to take notice of the pair of Spartans laying waste to his own troops below...
    Take your time and start shelling the base. You'll be surprised at the Wraith's splash damage. Much of the time you won't even need to hit your enemies directly to kill them. The Ultras on the other hand will take at least three indirect hits to kill; two to pop the shield and one for the armor. Whatever you do, don't venture too far past the pond, otherwise the General will lock on and send a few balls of explosive plasma zipping your way. Hang back from a safe distance and let 'em have it. Eventually, the Elites will get aggressive and charge you anyway, keeping you out of harm's way in terms of the General as shown in the next video.

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    As you can see, sometimes they'll make it easy for you and group up around the entrance to the base too.
    A Spirit dropship will arrive once enough of the current occupancy forces have been obliterated and will drop off additional reinforcements. This includes a few grenade-happy Grunts and a pair of weak-shielded yet concussion-carrying Elite Rangers. You'll want to keep your distance here since the latter pair can level your tank with only a few bursts. They'll eventually charge you, making it easy to land kill-shots their way. Usually they die in as little as 1-2 hits.
    Usually another Phantom will pop in long enough to drop off a pair of Ghosts. If you see it coming, you shouldn't have any trouble nailing the pair the second they fall. You'll notice in my video that I didn't even have to hit either Ghost directly to take them out.

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