Halo 3 Mythic (SLASO) Walkthrough

Halo 3 Mythic Walkthrough by Daniel Morris

Halo

At last we've reached the end! This happens to be one of the shortest and easiest levels in the game. Cunning how Bungie included so many elements from the original game in the final stage. Divided into three main segments, you'll be battling much of the first half in the familiar control room environment from the snowy Assault on the Control Room mission (as well as Two Betrayals) from Combat Evolved. I openly admit I almost cried tears of joy when I saw this beautiful level remastered with Halo 3 graphics and goodness.
The mission will be divided by an epic battle with an old enemy, and then you will be sent on your way in a recreation of one of Halo: Combat Evolved's most memorable moments, the final Warthog run from the Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Convicts chapter of The Maw. Even the mission's name derives from the second level of the first game. So many fond memories, and yet so little time to enjoy it. With that, it's finally time to activate Halo.

Full Circle

Ha. A bit of irony in the title. Love it. Moving forward, you've crash-landed in the middle of a blizzard in a freakishly familiar environment. Backtrack to the Pelican momentarily to switch out your useless assault rifle for the ever-powerful battle rifle. Your other weapon is a handy-dandy rocket launcher which we will only be using once.
Trudge through the snow and ice. There's a cave up ahead. Follow it straight until you drop down and approach a clearing. When your eyes finally focus, you'll see the control room tower looming directly ahead.

Download: QuickTime (20.8 mb) | WMP9 (21.6 mb)
(Right-click, Save As)

Gravemind has other plans. Flood pods will start plummeting from the sky and smashing into the snow, dispersing dozens of mixed Combat Flood. Since we won't be using it anymore anyway, we might as well rocket the hammer-swinging Flood. Drop the rocket launcher and grab the hammer. Also save your grenades. The Arbiter will kick some major Flood tail here. My advice is to let him. Stay back and headshot any unshielded Flood from a distance. Let the Arbiter handle the Elites. You'll be fighting a total of three waves of enemies here. When one dies down, advance towards the left side of the tower which will cause additional pods to drop.
Now, you could try to make it up the tower the conventional way while using Arbiter as your meat-shield, but the Flood tend to not only continuously spawn in front of you, but also behind you. I don't know about you, but I'd rather just get straight to the top and skip the hordes of undead that wish to stand in our way.

Download: QuickTime (9.9 mb) | WMP9 (9.6 mb)
(Right-click, Save As)

    Just like in the video, head towards the left side of the tower and use a frag to grenade jump to the next level. Your shields won't be critical but they'll be low. Don't worry though. A Stalker is about to jump down from the tower to give you a free energy boost. Take the opportunity. The second jump is trickier. Ready your gravity hammer and throw a plasma grenade directly on the same spot you see in the video. Look down, jump, and swing your hammer all at the same time for a nice clean triple jump. If you did this correctly, you should now be on top of the solid beam leading straight up the tower. If you're having trouble with these jumps, I highly recommend practicing them on an easier difficulty until they become almost second nature to you.
    Scale the beam and hop on over to Johnson's snowy ledge. From here, you can simply wait for Johnson, Arbiter and the infinite spawning Sentinels to mop up the Flood surrounding the control room door. Wait until the opposition is low, and then drop down and try to melee a Stalker for full health. Just try not to get lasered by Johnson in the process. He's just begging for an opportunity to get you back for stealing his battle rifle in the jungle.
    Refrain from using any auto-turrets as well since the machines will be against you upon your return. If you feel inclined, head back down to the bottom to pick up a rocket launcher. Not really necessary, but I feel kind of guilty about dropping the heavy artillery at the start of the mission. You won't need the hammer any more anyways.
    Enter the Forerunner hall at the top of the tower once your ready. Gravemind will make one last plea for his life. Yeah, the ball's in our court now, isn't it, big guy? Proceed to the control room and watch as 343 Guilty Spark goes from our bubbly little friend to raging AI maniac that could even stick a fright into Arnold.

Download: QuickTime (10.3 mb) | WMP9 (9.2 mb)
(Right-click, Save As)

    Guilty Spark's gone rampant! If you're still as peeved as I am about his murderous intentions in Halo 1, then you'll have no problem putting him out of his misery. Destroy him!
    As shown in the video, jumping his destructive red beam is an easy task. You can use the rocket launcher against him if you want, but really it's just a matter of playing the waiting game. Personally, I love emptying my rockets into the little traitor. Eventually he'll use his magically obtained force-push to pin you to the wall. Johnson takes over from there by dishing out a fresh helping of Spartan Laser!
    Johnson will offer you his laser. Take it and get back to the far wall. Your main danger here aside from Guilty Spark's beam is being "push" off the ledge. Target your laser and let him have it. Eventually, he'll rupture and explode as he cries out in agony one last time. And now for another cut scene.

The Way the World Ends

Well that's a bust. A badass like Johnson being killed cheaply by Guilty Spark of all things... Oh well. Assuming that he's really dead this time and won't simply bounce back up with a battle rifle clutched in his hands, let's grant him his dying wish and send him off with bang. When you leave the control room, you'll find you've been completely stripped of your weapons and now have an assault rifle. Crap. At least Arbiter is there too, and you have full shields. Let the meat shield go first. Infection Flood and Elite Combat forms are just around the next corner. Arbiter will deal with them, and pick up the plasma rifles they were using. They'll serve you far better than the AR.
The next corner will provide a large cluster of Infection Flood. Again, let them pop all over Arbiter's shield since his recharges. Before heading out the door, let Arbiter douse the now evil Sentinels with searing-hot plasma. I usually let him deal with the nearby Flood too.

Download: QuickTime (44.5 mb) | WMP9 (42.7 mb)
(Right-click, Save As)

    Gaze up at the ominous blood-red sky as you make your way along the cliff wall to the door on the opposite side. You'll want to kill the Sentinels parked near the door itself if Arbiter hasn't already done the deed for you. Just inside, the Flood will be battling it out with another group of flying robots. Let them kill each other. Then clean up the survivors. If you think you're low on shields, now would be a very good time to recharge them via melee attacks.
    Moving forward, the next corridor will contain a number of Carriers. Yet another job for the Arbiter, however I'd advise you stay close and dual wield a pair of blazing blue plasma rifles to wipe out the surviving Infection Flood.
    One last obstacle before we head out. When you turn the corner, just up that ramp will be the largest mass of Infection Flood you'll ever see. Chime in with your Elite chum and take out the trash. Because they're so clustered together, they'll disappear quickly with all the little chain reaction explosions they'll cause.
    Finally, the Warthog is insight. I hope you know this drive well, because the Flood and Sentinels aren't your only worries here.

Download: QuickTime (50.4 mb) | WMP9 (47.8 mb)
(Right-click, Save As)

    Ride like the wind, Spartan! Follow the path you see in the video. A few things that differ from this drive then the one from The Maw is that although you aren't timed, the tiles will be collapsing behind you. From here on out, nowhere is safe. If you flip at all, be quick about getting back in the hog. It won't take long for the tiles to catch up to you. They'll also be blown apart on the road ahead, so be careful to not accidentally plunge off into the abyss. Avoid ramps as well. The Sentinels seem to have gained the ability to flip the Warthog using only their beams.
    Aside from what you just read, there's really not much else to say except follow the path in the video and stop for nothing on your race to get to the Dawn before the ring blows you to kingdom come.
    It looks like the Sergeant got his wish after all. And so did I. It only took three games to finally watch the ring detonate.
    Congratulations. You've just managed to conquer Halo three at its most mind-boggling level of difficulty, something a very small portion of the Halo 3 community has accomplished. If you haven't seen the Legendary ending yet, then I won't spoil it for you. It will serve as your reward for such a momentous accomplishment, and certainly serves well as the close to a memorable and unusually deep trilogy. I will say though that it opens up some rather intriguing possibilities for the games to come.
    I don't know about you, but after that endeavor, I'm bushed. Time for some matchmaking!

Special Thanks

If you're still reading then you're enjoying this guide way too much. In all seriousness though, I'd like to take the time to thank some of the people who ultimately helped make this mission a better experience for everyone. Pahat Pojat (Mythic beast extraordinaire!), SonicJohn (the original LASO pioneer), VincentKurayama (Knight of campaign glitches), Ur Television (hidden BR hunter), the Veteran Mythic Achievers who continue to monitor my help thread on Bungie.net, GameVee for going out of their way to place the full Mythic missions on their awesome site, and of course Louis Wu and the devoted HBO team for breaking their backs getting this walkthrough on their amazing website. Last, but far from least, I'd like to thank Bungie, their talented staff, and their extraordinary game. Guys, I can't even begin to thank you enough. All of you.
Now after your long journey it's time to go outside and explore things outside the world of Xbox Live... at least until Halo 3: Recon!

*walks outside*

"It's dark out here..."