Halo Anniversary Legendary Walkthrough: Mission 3 - The Truth and Reconcilliation

We board a Covenant cruiser under the cover of night in this third mission of the Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Campaign. As always, if you have any questions or Alternate Strategies, leave a comment below. Sorry I accidentally left notifications on in this one.

[@T0iletTr00per]

In my opinion, this is the hardest mission in the game. All those waves of covenant completely slaughtered me

[@Sir_Isaac_Newton_]

Absolutely.

[@ThunderStruck115]

Two Betrayals is way harder

[@Scoobinho11]

By some distance

[@user-nu2it6kf2m]

Hardest mission in all of Halo games as of 2022.

[@suckerloser123]

@@ThunderStruck115 Two Betrayals on legendary is way easier after you make it out of the first room. Once you get the sniper and pistol the rest of the mission is very straight forward. For this mission, if you run out of sniper ammo on legendary you'll have no headshot weapon to elite combo the elites

[@MrDank-cs1pw]

I did the covenant ship part with no sniper. That equals LOTS OF DEATH

[@Hokiebird428]

That probably wasn't the best of ideas.

[@MrDank-cs1pw]

didn't know about your walkthrough until assault on the control room, thanks

[@user-cn4dl2yc4n]

Doing it now no sniper. Exploding grunts and bigger explosion skulls. The first room was mental. Grinding shuttle bay now.

[@ChiliDawgActual]

Yes lots of death

[@ChiliDawgActual]

@@user-cn4dl2yc4n same the larger grenade explosion skull make this mission intense

[@AlyssonSouzaGames]

After five hours trying pass the hangar area whitout the rifle I give up and restart the level to get the sniper! what a hell almost impossible pass without it.

[@halochampion342]

I did it. Its not that hard you just have to quickly take out the wave if covenant and run in the door they came out of, and then as long as you have a plasma pistol you will be ok.

[@akisara7430]

Alysson Souza yeah i did it too, took like 20 minutes though.

[@IVelazquezMusic]

I even passed the elevator part without the sniper, it wasn't easy tho, but it is in fact, possible.

[@spiicypotato]

@@akisara7430 I've been on it for 2 days you sociopath

[@leahcimolrac1477]

@@spiicypotato what makes this level so difficult on legendary is that you have no access to ranged weapons anymore after you get on the grav lift. The only ranged weapon you get is the sniper rifle, and you miss out, most importantly, on the magnum. Then as soon as you get on the grav lift, that’s the toughest short range fight you have where plasma pistol to take down elite and jackal shields works best. But then there’s the hangar fight where there’s a lot of close range battle but also Covenant shooting down from one floor up. If you’re not good being accurate with sniper rifle at short range then I suggest doing plasma pistol/assault rifle for room with the gravity lift. For the hanger try plasma pistol/needler. Since needler has homing you can take out some of the guys on top with it. When the hunters come out at that point, pick up one of the many assault rifles/ammo again to shoot them in the belly/back and kill them

[@Hokiebird428]

The honor goes to Assault on the Control Room. Longest name, longest mission.

[@danielusher7995]

Wow very inspiring

[@Chuked]

Im about to do it for the first time, wish me luck

[@pelinalwhitestrake9162]

@@Chuked I'm doing it tomorrow after work.

[@Chuked]

@@pelinalwhitestrake9162 oh i beat all the halo games already lol

[@imza5535]

@@Chuked I guess 3 months is guite a lotta time lol 😂

[@jreegdss6878]

I killed those two hunters at 15:34 without wasting a single bullet or without hitting them. I went to the upper ridge up ahead, there's that huge drop. I went to the ledge, waited when one hunter charged at me, I evaded and watched as he falls over the edge. lol

[@luismoreno2828]

Well good for u ass hole

[@retardedsexer4209]

luis moreno r/youngleopleyoutube

[@retardedsexer4209]

Smelly Ham don’t judge people imbecile

[@squiddybits9394]

That’s actually lit. I just always melee’d them.

[@IgniKing]

good going! would give you a like, but you deserve 117 likes

[@SamsarasArt]

I like how halo ce handled the invisible elites. To offset their cloaking ability, they don't possess any shielding system. So what could have been a infuriatingly unfair an invisible could potentially be is actually well balanced like the rest of the game. Same goes for the invisible sword elites. The bigger advantages they have, the disadvantages are equally large. An invisible enemy that can one shot you seems so unfair it would never work in a game. But because their swords gives away their position and there's no shields to protect them, they can be dispatched just as quickly as they can take you down. Great design brings balance and this is just one small example.

[@breadwinner3558]

And of course Bungie completely throws this out the window in Halo 2

[@themeangene]

Halo CE is the best balanced game in the entire franchise. 3 comes close and in some levels it's comparable but 2, Reach and everything 343 made doesn't even come close. Honestly I think Halo never learned how to balance Brutes properly on harder difficulties

[@SamsarasArt]

@@themeangene I agree. Halo CE had the perfect challenge.

[@_exkasier_9624]

Really? I thought brutes, at least in H3 is much easier than elites in CE or H2. And I also thought H4 was known as the easiest game on legendary.

[@themeangene]

@@_exkasier_9624 The Covenant in 4 are easy but I'd argue that's an example of not being balanced. Some of the Prometheus however were completely unbalanced. The Knights require sniping from a distance.

[@elijahdain3642]

I could not find a walkthrough better than this one.

[@sharksareneat8723]

Was doing this level on legendary for the first time, I ditched my sniper before getting on the ship, then when I got stuck in the hangar decided to search for a walkthrough. Every single one said for the love of god keep the sniper. Pray for me guys #sniperless

[@AliceinEntropy]

I am hitting that now too, guess I am restarting the level :c

[@jacobr8063]

Well, here I am 4 years later. Did the prayers work or did you give up?

[@sharksareneat8723]

@@jacobr8063 They did, but I had to suffer

[@jacobr8063]

@@sharksareneat8723 Haha good to hear. I realized a few days ago after finishing Halo Infinite on legendary that I had never beaten Halo CE on legendary (nor Halo 2 for that matter. Was too scared to try it as a kid), so I'm doing a play through of it now. I'm not at this mission yet, but when I get there, I'll know to hang onto the sniper rifle.

[@sharksareneat8723]

@@jacobr8063 Fear the library, my friend. There's one room you get stuck in that is a living hell. Watch the vents and hold out in the back corner. Do it for helioskrill. When you're suffering just picture helioskrill armour and ride through the pain. Happy hunting.

[@FrancisBurns]

seeing you kill those gold elites effortlessly, is like poetry!

[@KnauerPepper]

47:13 "And thats the grenade that almost doomed us all" gave me a good chuckle after struggling through this level

[@Hokiebird428]

47:41

[@jaredwiggins539]

@@Hokiebird428 while working my way up 2 the ship I prefer sniping the covenant from a distance virtually unnoticed until I get 2 where the ship is in this mission!

[@machgt]

Took me a while but I got all 10 marines into the grav lift battle and enjoyed the chaos! Now trying to get a few marines to survive the belly of the beast with little success :p

[@TheDarkUmbreon8623]

Fun fact: You can both lose and win this level if you stick Keyes with a plasma grenade and activate the dropship at the same time. The grenade will explode around the time it takes for the cutscene to start.

[@kieranoconnor333]

Finally got through this mission, with this paying alongside... Can assure you it took me quadruple the amount of time it took you on this video, across the space of two days. THANKYOU, SO SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP MAN... Now time to book therapy meetings to help me with the PTSD caused by this mission.

[@Angel-qp9mp]

hopefully the other missions aren't as hard

[@Giggles_iJest]

@@Angel-qp9mp ... are they?

[@Angel-qp9mp]

@@Giggles_iJest no they're not except for Two Betrayals damn that one is tough, maybe as tough as this mission

[@warcrimes390]

Y’all forgetting 343 guilty spark

[@sandman8993]

It’s been over a week since I beat it and I’m still thinking about it

[@CoolausdtinDT]

For all my life of playing CE I had no idea there was an empty holding cell with health and an invisibility, this is going to help me out a lot on my current Legendary playthrough.

[@117oddlink-9]

That part after that grav lift is complete fucking hell.

[@Hokiebird428]

Yeah, Belly of the Beast is one of the toughest sections in the game, especially if you want to keep the marines alive.

[@letvolir6490]

Tell me about it. The Zealots make it living hell.

[@117oddlink-9]

I would take like three or four but six or eight? Bungie what the fuck?

[@iamgams]

Keep playing on Legendary x'D

[@meowtank]

it's 5am now and I just got to the belly of the beast... deciding to hop off and get some sleep before i do this part because it's hell even on lower difficulties sometimes lol

[@violetnop4345]

hokiebird i need to thank you - the first time i did a legendary playthrough, the section at 17:00 really broke me, no sniper rifle, no grenades, just spamming plasma pistol shots and plasma grenades i found laying around. along with the keyes escort, i promised I'd never do this level again. and here i am, playing through legendary again and following your guide I was able to clear that section on my 2nd attempt while having a shit load of fun. your approach to all these problems is really inspiring. thank you for taking the time to make all these walkthroughs, they really are amazing.

[@Hokiebird428]

Great to hear!

[@SpaceShot]

Considering many of these walkthroughs use the skull for unlimited ammo OR they get through with no disregard for keeping the Marines alive. Finishing with FOUR marines is brilliant and the use of Active Camo and preservation of sniper ammo was just great. Really made the rest of the level easier for you. As someone who has played through Halo CE on Original Xbox, and Anniversary and soon MCC, this was a great demonstration of getting it done.

[@marcstevenbalaoro7952]

Bruh, I like how people's inner thoughts to when the Marines say something stupid like "That was mine" and your response is obviously "Hell nah, you wouldn't have taken him".

[@Ikas90]

I love how you say not to pick up sniper ammo after using two or three shots, then you go ahead and pick up both stashes of sniper ammo in the hangar bay after using two or three shots.

[@Jarsia]

Weapons wise, what stood out to me in Halo 1 were the assault rifle and the plasma pistol. I mean the AR was just a BEAST at close range, and 60 rounds meant you could kill a lot before reloading. Yeah it was way too inaccurate to be any use on legendary, but even heroic it was alright. I did a mod on Halo pc to make the first few shots really accurate(kinda like in Halo 4), and it was basically cheating. If it were half accurate it would be way OP. The plasma pistol on the other hand was a staple on legendary, as long as you had cover to work with. Fully charged 500 shots, overload for shields, really accurate, even at range. Only real disadvantage was slow projectile speed against far off targets. But I mean 500 shots!! and even on legendary it only takes 5-6 to kill a grunt or jackal(assuming youre not hitting the shield), thats like 90-100 mooks you can kill, and half of them will be dropping PPs as well. Even elite majors drop on legendary pretty quickly to rapid fire. Theres just a ton of killing potential in each pistol. Unfortunately, PPs are useless except as shield/vehicle disablers in later games. PPs are a Godsend in the Library. also props for not using the bandanna skull, half the walkthroughs I see the guys have a constant 64 rounds of sniper ammo. Whats the point. Backtracking from the bridge into the halls is genius. Was worried about that fight, but not anymore. Still nowhere near as bad as the grav lift room. I just cant hold the room, I beat back 4-5 waves, then retreat and let the marines die while hiding in the halls and picking off brunts and jackals, and STILL zealots spawn in front of me, must have died 20 times. And it got worse, because after grinding through another 3 checkpoints, I wanted to check something on waypoint and even though I swear I saved and quit, it dumped me back at the beginning of the grav lift room. I put this game down for over 2 years because I didnt want to deal with that fight, and here I had to do it 2 times in 1 night. I was pissed to say the least.

[@zenaidaalejo27]

I actually used the assault rifle technique and its way to op i killed a TON of guys

[@lolwhat5635]

@Daddy George yeah I know that technique it's when you swap your assault rifle for a different weapon

[@bennettfender1546]

CheesyPlum not really in this level the AR is very useful due to the close quarters nature of it.

[@jbrown1169]

That Marine at 10:10 got plasma stuck and supercombined at the same time. Does he get two Purple Hearts for that? They'll have to be posthumous of course.

[@freyja-athena957]

Admiral Tug Benson he gets a purple heart and a purple lung.

[@jbrown1169]

Yet Hokie trashes the poor guy by saying he didn't put up much of a fight. He took a plasma and a supercombine for you bro, show some respect.

[@noahcuffel3821]

The Rookie yea

[@modernwarrior24]

the part once your inside the ship is BRUTAL died nearly 20 times..

[@modernwarrior24]

FINALLY DID IT THANKS TO YOU

[@ramonalbertomoralesvelazqu547]

+modernwarrior24 me too there was like 8 swordman elites

[@AkshatSTR8EDGE]

modernwarrior24 rookie numbers xd

[@nerpynerpston2597]

@Greckettopia87 Only 30?

[@Armyjayden33]

Marnies in this game suck

[@IWYVideo]

I'm brand new to Halo and these videos have been a lifesaver! I was stuck on the shuttle bay for days and finally with enough persistance and tips from this channel I made it past! Love your walkthroughs and will definitely keep coming back as I work my way through the series!

[@ryanshort8302]

The zealot elites CAN spawn if you meet them at the doors. I had 2 spawning while being close to the doors and looking at them. They both spawned on the door across from the wraith, if that's any use to anyone.

[@mcrafter3000]

This mission is near impossible.You are truly a legend

[@Hokiebird428]

Conserve that sniper ammo! I did a poor job of it in this playthrough, but if you enter the gravity lift area with about 20 bullets (one for each of the 8 elites, and extras for when you miss, plus a few for grunts in shades), you should be okay.

[@Hokiebird428]

On Easy and Normal, one round from the Sniper Rifle will take out Red Elites no matter where you shoot them. On Heroic, you can kill them with a headshot, but a bodyshot will only strip their shield, and on Legendary, it takes 2 shots no matter where you shoot them.

[@squiddybits9394]

I wish I had access to these guides when I was younger, playing thru the games. Had to maneuver the hard way. Personal opinion, but I feel these are the best out there, no cap.

[@MadaraUchihaNS]

Lol! Love the way you said after you killed a jackal, "Bullshit marine! You couldn't have taken him down, even if I let you." xD

[@HitInDAface]

19:39 the guns reloading go with the beat

[@barath14]

the gold elites spawn if you don clear out the previous wave fast enough

[@RETROTITANPLAYS]

You are honestly my hero, I didn't struggle with The Pillar of Autumn OR Halo, but this mission was a bitch, I don't think I would have even got out of the first room in the ship if not for you! You earned a Subscriber here man.

[@Hokiebird428]

VENOMKYD117 Don't ever underestimate the Truth and Reconciliation. It's probably the hardest mission in this entire game, and one of the hardest in the entire saga.

[@RETROTITANPLAYS]

Hokiebird428 That actually makes me feel better about the rest of the game! I'm just watching The Silent Cartographer episode now, figure I might as well save myself some trouble. I gotta tell you though man, you're a hell of a lot more patient than me, I do let's play videos and THEY get exhausting, But guides, ESPECIALLY on such a hard difficulty? That's some LEGENDARY level of patience. ... I'm going to go sit in the bad Joke corner now...

[@Hokiebird428]

VENOMKYD117 "I do let's play videos and THEY get exhausting..." Check the upload dates on my videos. These things don't happen overnight.

[@RETROTITANPLAYS]

Hokiebird428 Exactly what I mean, I don't think I saw you die once in this mission, or The Silent Carographer so far, I'm guessing that took quite a few tries, the voice over wouldn't have taken TOO much editing, but likely a few takes would have been needed, all of it together, along with finding and perfecting the route could take months to do half as well as you do it, which is what I mean... it's more exhausting than daily uploads, If I get fucked up in a video I just keep it rolling, since it isn't a guide, my deaths are just funny. Take the compliment man!

[@nillerboygamingdk6175]

Hokiebird428 The Truth and reconciliation is so hard but even with your tutorial i cant beat "Two betrayals" i always die in the hallway where there is a flood with a rocket launcher and he kills me all the time :(

[@TheJayson8899]

This is the hardest level in the game imo.

[@qcrd]

library

[@leahcimolrac1477]

@@qcrd I hate the Library cause it’s really tough, tedious and boring, and it creeps the hell out of me. I think Truth and Reconciliation is more difficult but kind of fun. Keyes is also a colossal pain in the dick on some parts.

[@CoolGuy-zs3xp]

@@leahcimolrac1477 even two betrayals dude

[@HillsPatrolTD42]

it aint the hardest mission 5 and 10 are

[@dustinpayne8707]

I thought library was leagues easier than T&R

[@chomped3958]

Another useful strategy: For the 8 waves of Covenant coming out of the gravity lift, I hopped in a Shade turret and blasted them to bits. Generally, they'll get stuck on the small hill leading up to the shade turret, allowing you to shoot them without taking damage due to the geometry.

[@kylio95]

Currently doing this now on PC release and oh my lord that bit when you get into the spaceship is so damn hard, even with the sniper

[@steviewonder0850]

I'm trying it now *without* the sniper....I may have to restart the whole mission lol

[@lukester102d6]

steviewonder 08 dude trust me, it’s worth it to just restart I wasted like 5 hours ( not all in one sitting ) just trying to make it out of the hangar room.

[@steviewonder0850]

@@lukester102d6 Yeah I restarted and did it with the sniper, was still a nightmare but got through it eventually lol

[@kylio95]

@@steviewonder0850 That part was easily the hardest part in the game for me, I must have died about 30 times or something, it was ridiculous.

[@kingzeffrey]

Lucas Hood dood how do u even fkn get past it

[@OrangeSodaKing]

People say The Library and Two Betrayals are the hardest levels, but honestly, the Flood aren’t that hard as long as you have a shotgun, grenades, and get them to attack you from only one direction. Maybe it’s just me, but this level is the hardest for me, since I’m still not great with the sniper rifle. I need to practice a lot with the sniper rifle to get better. Thanks for the great information.

[@Hokiebird428]

I've been saying exactly this for a while. I believe this is the hardest mission of the campaign.

[@PatrickLane1000]

​@@Hokiebird428 I usually enjoy sniping missions, despite being a pretty poor shot but for a variety of reasons unique to CE's gameplay, this mission is definitely one of the hardest in the game and one I replay the least for that reason.

[@Hokiebird428]

Patrick Lane - I wouldn’t even call Truth and Reconciliation a ‘sniper mission’ as that normally implies being slow and stealthy. It’s more like ‘run and gun with a Sniper Rifle’ which is always going to be very difficult.

[@kylio95]

I didn't find the library that difficult at all, I even beat the PAR score on legendary which surprised me. But holy fuck, this mission right here was horrible, easily the hardest part of he game, especially when you first enter the ship.

[@fortex78]

just used your tactics and completed the mission in just under 60 minutes, if i didnt know where enemys spawned i'd have been mowed down hundreds of times great video and it works! (Did add my melee berzerk moves on those bloody jackals ;) )

[@SamsarasArt]

"I'm not sticking around to die!" *Immediately dies*

[@pauloandremir]

I really enjoy your videos. I see your strategies and try apply these on my gameplays...

[@Adr1anFoo21]

holding them at the door on the top of the lift room thats the best advice ive gotten from any videos ive seen thank you lets see what else you can help me with

[@adroharv9213]

Best Halo campaign by a mile. I like all the sequels despite some obvious failings but it's Halo1 that simply feels superior regards to how satisfying combat feels. Halo1 lacks some refinement of course but simply feels a lot more fun to experience in gameplay terms. Great and informative video

[@paullafleur2827]

Thanks man, I was playing alongside you and I found you were conserving ammo WAY better than me. [You're obviously more skilled than me :D] Now I'm up on the TAR without an AR, trying to find a way to beat those damn door, Thanks for the reply, and the videos!

[@daed1819]

The belly of the beast room is what hell looks like.

[@thedoctor3547]

I love doing that too

[@Jim-fp9qr]

You are so useful I have been stuck on mission three for so long thank you

[@darknightl524]

This my 3rd time playing this mission on legendary. I still can't save my marines. I want to thank you for the walthroughs.

[@Hokiebird428]

Cheers mate, it’ll take you some time to get used to the flow of the mission, and how aggressively you have to play to keep the Marines alive. They’re pretty paper thin, so it’s a tough task even for the most skilled players.

[@johnisminty]

Thanks. the strategy for the lift room helped a lot

[@chrismax99Gaming]

You make the best Halo walkthroughs c:

[@Hokiebird428]

+Chrismax Thank you!

[@wendigo7385]

Hokiebird428 found out something interesting you can kill hunters with a plasma pistol or the pp or the pp pistol

[@davidking7750]

You know for an old game the AI is very smart. Smarter than AI in most modern shooters.

[@Hokiebird428]

At the time, it was one of the things that made Halo special. Even 20 years later, it seems that it _still_ makes classic Halo titles special, as most shooters don't seem to prioritize sophisticated enemy AI behavior to make hard difficulties challenging, especially when most of the focus is on multiplayer.

[@davidking7750]

@@Hokiebird428 I agree. It also makes Classic Halo's difficulty levels more engaging because Heroic or Legendary is not just about ramping up the HP on the Covenant or just throwing moreof them at you. They kickass. They take cover. Flank you. The snipers are competent. Strategic and accurate grenade throws. They mount turrents and suppress you. Check out noise or mischief. They use vehicles appropriately. They also make mistakes that makes it seem all the more real. Bad grenade throws. They retreat sometimes. Sometimes they panic. Halo 1 - 3 are indeed masterpieces technically as well. Like a well built 2000s mercedez car that although it's old, it has better features than most modern cars.

[@DeanT1987]

agreed, until this day still super impressive I've yet to play a game with AI as strategic as Halo

[@bobbydunkin4284]

So I've been doing the missions on legendary and after finishing them I like to watch what you would have done and each time I'm amazed. You make it look so easy, when you entered the ship and kept all the marines alive I was impressed. Good job.

[@Hokiebird428]

@Sparstespark Yep. When I'm finished, I'll show all the skulls and terminals, including the 11th one, and then if I have time before Halo 4, I'll do Halo 2 and 3. I hope to get Silent Cartographer (pretty easy) and AotCR (very long!) out during spring break next week.

[@zacharydunning6477]

I have two missions left assault on the control room and two betrayals. I just completed this mission took me much longer than I thought I’ve been using your guides to help me out with your guides I completed 4 missions on halo ce and completed ODST

[@Hokiebird428]

I feel like some punctuation would have been helpful here.

[@ToughGamingGuy]

And I'm now busy finishing Halo 2 on Legendary, which is a pain in the ass and probably the most difficult Halo. I'm now in the middle of Mission 7(where you need to fight the Prophet of Regret). And by the way. You've got some very good guides! Definitely recommended!

[@Vedrajrm]

The shuttle bay is where I'm stuck lol I've finished all the levels on legendary multiple times except this one

[@Armyjayden33]

Its unfair

[@Chuked]

@@Armyjayden33 it really is

[@andrewmadison3123]

So Hokiebird248 mentions at 38:25 that after dealing with a couple of squads on the 3rd floor (or catwalk) that you will have to deal with 5 (five!) more squads, and they spawn in pairs simultaneously. At this point, I could possibly follow his advice, double back and quickly kill the squad coming up from behind on an ambush. But my patience was over at this point. Mid-way on the long wall, there is a Covenant weapons cabinet on its side. It also marks where the peninsula juts out on the 2nd floor. Go back to this weapons cabinet, then step off the 3rd floor and land on the peninsula. Proceed to the 2nd floor door (it's not locked & will open) that takes you up the corridors to the 3rd floor, they're empty. Go ambush the Covenant squad that was "behind" you on the 3rd floor catwalk. You only have to deal with one squad at a time this way. Though as soon as you finish off that second squad on the 3rd floor, the double spawn happens again, return to the weapon cabinet lying on its side, step off the catwalk and down to the peninsula... Rinse, Repeat.

[@Ced4291]

Don't know how the hell you managed to keep all of your partners alive but you have all my respect for that. I went through Hell to complete this insane mode in solo without skulls for the 5 Halos and this "into the beast of the belly" section was one of the hardest gaming time I had never known.

[@Ced4291]

Jelly the Great This part was really more traumatic than I had thought 😆

[@GlobstersMessenger]

Strategy for the boarding area of the ship seems to be 'predict exactly what the enemies do' and if they happen to do something different you lose with very little you can actually do about it.

[@paullafleur2827]

Thank for these man, I've been looking everywhere for a SL guide, and no one but you has made one, and It's really good at that, I've been stuck on this mission at around 15:00, I gave up on the sniper thinking there wasn't any more ammo on the map [derp], and used the needler dropped by the first grunt in the Grav lift area, I mow the elite on the hill and mop, then I get fucked during the waves because the Shade turret is the only thing I have left... Guess I'm stuck restarting :(

[@xkillboompowxftw5365]

Omg thanks man, this mission was a pain on the ass. Oh, and I think some stuff changed on the Halo CeA on MCC, just a few. But thanks though. Wouldn't have done it without you mayun.

[@kushagrasonkar]

Man, you are so good at this

[@RobertJohnson-mn3br]

This guy is the greatest halo player I’ve ever seen

[@RobertSF4]

This mission was brutal and could not get past the waves after you get inside the ship even on co op but I think I didn't save sniper ammo, those camo plasma sword elites suck. On top of that the freaking marines survive? Brilliant play.

[@kingrhys9445]

I love the sheer quantity of enemies on Legendary, but I usually play on Normal and occasionally Heroic. I wish there was a feature that allowed you to play on lower difficulties but with the same enemy layout as Legendary.

[@tlo96]

thank you for making these videos

[@maxmcd1613]

Thanks Hokie you got me through Reach Legendary solo. If I can ever get through the part where you first enter the Truth and Reconciliation maybe you can get me through Halo CE as well. I beat this game solo on legendary 13 years ago and idk how the fuck I did it lol

[@polarman4969]

I tried doing what you did and it worked thanks man

[@dylpickle0192]

I’m surprised you don’t reload-cancel. Especially when dealing with mobs of Covenant, it’s saved me quite a few deaths. Those few seconds can make a big difference and it’s really useful for sniper rifles and rocket launchers (since they have the longest reload animation). To reload-cancel, as soon as you insert the new clip/magazine during your reload animation, switch weapons or double switch to end the animation while having your weapon reloaded and immediately be ready to fire again. Works well if you need to reload both your weapons faster or if you need to reload during a firefight.

[@chengzhou8711]

Dylan Osborne he does this sometimes, especially during the first mission at close range. He also does this a lot with the assault rifle in this mission.

[@fangee704]

Hokie Omg these vids are fun I watched em all ur starts are so good I combined ur strategy with a speedrun strategy so I only skip really hard parts but easy ones I kill everything

[@awsome5ful]

11:57 You can save your marines if you hide behind the entrance tunnel you came in. you can save like 2 or 3. when the enemies come down the drop lift all you need to worry about really is sniping the elite

[@Zynnerr]

Thank you broo I was getting pissed the fuck off on the last part because keyes was getting killed just by one bullet I was so frustrated until I found your video thank you broo for real 👍🏼

[@zaftra]

Couple of things I found that helped a lot was, 1, running back on your self to an area already cleared would make whoever you was fighting go back to a relaxed state, so you could kill a few when they were relaxed, run back, then repeat. 2, but certainly not here, eqiup the skull that make the grunts explode, on the upside, they take out a lot with them when they explode on the down side you can't hit them from behind or when sleeping, and you lose all the bombs and guns the would have droped.

[@ArmorOfGod7]

Does the sniper ammo only spawn if you're holding a sniper? I'm in the docking station right now (the part you said is your least favorite) and there is no ammo to be found. I stupidly used up all of my ammo and dropped the sniper before boarding the ship, so I've been going without one so far. I'm afraid I may have to start over :(

[@Hokiebird428]

ArmorOfGod There is ammo there, but no actual weapon. If you got rid of it (shame on you!) you will not be able to find one in the ammo stashes.

[@ArmorOfGod7]

Hokiebird428 Well that sucks. I tried for about an hour or two last night to get past this room but it's near impossible without a sniper (guys up top keep screwing with me too much and I can't take them out). It's looking like I'll have to start over, which I really don't want to do because this level has been kicking my butt and it took me a long time to get past a few areas. This is my first time playing this campaign in years, and my first time ever on Legendary, so I didn't know the sniper would be so important. Unfortunately, I got far into the level before watching your video :(

[@dgarage9]

ArmorOfGod Same thing happened to me and I had to start over. This level is annoyingly hard

[@Willyjohn69420]

Me too 😭😭😭

[@kylebenoit787]

Asmr oli Sameeee

[@bandrukesucks]

oh ya another tip! around 10:00 he comes to a bottle neck before the grav lift, the rock formation in the bottle neck sets a perfect cover angle where you can shoot them but they cannot shoot you if you stand in the right spot. it is especially useful for the waves that come off the lift later if you are for that sort of thing. but if you dont want to take very long.. erm, well this guy has the tactics for that.

[@dunadan7136]

as for the Belly and the Beast part, I found the Plasma Pistol to actually be more effective than the Assault Rifle: use the standard shots on the Zealots if possible, only using the PP overcharge if you’re starting to get overwhelmed. Even managed to make my whole PP ammo last and still had 4 marines alive. 2 of them even made it to the shuttle bay segment. as for the Gravity Lift part, it helps to conserve your sniper ammo, using it in targets that you’re sure you can hit and must be hit. had around 28 sniper rifle rounds by the time I hit the gravity lift segment because I was using my plasma pistol on most of the enemies that were present.

[@oscarnieves5083]

I went through the whole game in legendary again the other week. I can say with confidence that this mission right here, is the most brutal and relentless in the entire game. And it is only the 3rd mission. Took me over 6 hours to get through it even though I had beat the game in legendary many years ago. There are just too many blind spots and it gets extremely difficult once you enter the cruiser because there is little cover, the corridors are incredibly narrow and a lot of the time you are being ambushed from the front and back. I think the biggest challenge here was the amount of grunts and jackals that spawn. It is insane, when they are in big numbers they can easily overwhelm you. I actually had to restart the mission halfway through because when I got to the Hangar, I had no sniper rifle. I completely forgot about that little detail. If you don't take the sniper rifle to the Hangar with at least 16 rounds in it, you are pretty much in for getting your ass handed to you. Another thing I noticed: it is better to get the plasma gun as soon as the mission starts and forget about the assault rifle; it is absolutely useless here. The only way to get through it is to save as much sniper rifle ammo as you possibly can (you are given about 68 rounds to begin with, which is quite generous considering it normally only holds up to 28 I think). There are some cartridges laying around in the cruiser so as long as you have it with you, you should have enough bullets to at least take out the elites you encounter along the way, especially those in higher ground which are almost impossible to hit with the plasma gun as they move around too much. Make sure you grab all the plasma guns dropped by grunts or jackals so you have plenty of ammo in store. In the entire game, this is pretty much the only weapon which can be used to kill all kinds of covenant; including grunts, jackals, elites and flood; but not Hunters. This was an extremely good run. Much better than I could have ever done it, but I still feel the pain of having to go through this mission xD The funny thing is though, after finally beating this level, I found the rest of the game pretty reasonable in terms of difficulty. I think I only encountered problems again in the 8th mission, because you have to fight off the flood and covenant at the same time, and there is a lot of Banshee navigation you have to do (and Banshees are just horrendous for getting around).

[@Angel-qp9mp]

well thank you for saying this because I was really hoping that this mission was as bad as it gets. cos if this was just the beginning...dear lord was i in for a damn ride lol

[@zaftra]

Leave the covernant and flood to fight it out, flood normally win, sometimes the others, just pick the last off.

[@jesusmorales4526]

Having the marines alive all the time is amazing you get fun with them is the most thing I enjoy doing on the game

[@AngelRamirez-ll3mg]

Just in case no one told you today Hokie you the man of the hour

[@sandman8993]

Top tip for when your on the second and third levels just drop down to the one below and work your way back up. Annoying but sometimes no other choice

[@eldriantho6493]

Hi Hokie! Excellent guide! I was actually wondering what triggers the marine reinforcements sent by Echo-419. Sometimes I get a lot of reinforcements which makes the grav lift potion very fun but other times, I don't get any reinforcements at all. Same thing applies to the hangar for me - I'm not sure what triggers marine spawns in both of these locations.

[@aarchiksinha9673]

Killing the waves is one of the most difficult tasks in this mission

[@BSTYLES1010]

Whoa, I didn't know Hunters could also be shot in the belly. And I also didn't know the two-body shot trick with the red elites. Thank you! :D

[@lunarstrom8160]

For the first room after entering the ship, the enemies are already determined when you see them on the motion tracker. It doesn't make sense from a developer standpoint to make fake red blips then spawn the enemies in. It's just pure coincidence that you only get the zealots from the doors you didn't manage to get to. Also this level brings out some of the main problems with the remastered graphics. First, the massive sniper reticle which leads to inaccuracy. Second, the textures for the remastered graphics don't match the actual geometry, causing you to hit a bunch of invisible walls that you would see in the original. For a level all about sniping, both of these are serious problems. Edit: More general issues with the remastered graphics. You can't see enemies charge their weapons (Jackals with their Plasma Pistols, Hunters with their Fuel Rod Cannon) and you can't see when your camo fades out either. These are all very important cues, so it's unforgivable for a remaster to do these details worse than the original. Plasma Grenades also use a much darker blue than the original, making them harder to spot especially in the dark. The remastered graphics are really pretty, so it's a massive shame that it's also so sloppy. For a shooter, the gameplay is always the most important, beautiful graphics are secondary. As such, to me the original is still better.

[@Hokiebird428]

Most of my instruction is valid, but man I said some stupid shit 8 years ago. You can disregard everything I said about doors A, B, C, and D. Got that completely wrong.

[@lunarstrom8160]

@@Hokiebird428 I thought about it some more and actually, you might be right, just that it was backwards. Zealots are faster and more aggressive than Grunts and Jackals, so by the time they appear on your motion tracker, they're already charging towards the door. Furthermore, since they enter the fray so quickly, you will still be busy fighting the previous wave at another door. As such, it is difficult to meet zealots at the door. Effectively, it looks exactly like what you said: the zealots tend to appear at the doors where you do not meet them. But honestly, your guides are amazing stuff even 8 years later. I've beaten the original trilogy on Legendary, but I still learned a lot from your guides. And they're still really entertaining. Taking your time to kill every enemy, take in the scenery and save as many allies as possible... that's how I played CE as a kid, but over time I've forgot all about it.

[@Jedi_Spartan_38]

@@Hokiebird428 are the Zealots Legendary only because on Heroic I'm not encountering any... instead I've got to fight my way through what seems like a million active camo Elites with Energy Sword and I'm already hating the first room of the ship on my third try.

[@Hokiebird428]

Jedi Spartan 38 - Yes, the Gold Elites are a Legendary exclusive. Easy and Normal you get normal Elites, Heroic you get Stealth Elites, and Legendary you get Elite Commanders (and not a Plasma Rifle in sight until you leave that area.)

[@kylio95]

@@Hokiebird428 You're too hard on yourself, the walkthrough was great, even today.

[@guybrushthreepwood8174]

For the first big fight aboard the ship you can go into the hallways behind the main room, you just have to go through the correct door when it opens. Once you get into the long hallway, you will have a much easier time, but the marines will die for sure.

[@ErikLosLobos]

Struggling with this level now. Really hard yards. Just saw this guide and realised my solution is part 'git good' and part knowing where the helpful tools are. I'm tending to do it a dumb way and it's a real slog

[@SoldierOfFate]

When I first played this mission (and had no idea how to pick the appropriate weapons and conserve ammo when it's really needed) I burnt almost all my sniper rifle ammo before actually getting to the cruiser itself. Dear Christ I can't recall how many times I've died as a price to pay.

[@TheINTERNETfreaks1]

Dude, thanks this was so useful, are you gonna do Halo 5?

[@GreenDayFan8151]

If you find killing the camouflaged elites difficult, switch to the old graphics because its much easier to see there swords because its very dark.

[@xitaris5981]

What system are you playing on? And what kind of setting do you use? I started playing on legendary after not playing first-person shooters for .... maybe a decade I got to T@R past the gravity lift, but I haven't been able to make it past the first room (I haven't tried your strat to reduce the number of golden elites yet). But I feel like my aim is still pretty terrible. I've been playing with an xbox controller (but on my pc) with sensitivity settings between 1-3. I like to keep it at 1, but I only raise it up to 3 when I have to flip around quickly. Also, I ditched the Sniper Rifle right before going up the gravity lift because I figured I could just pick up a new one later, but it looks like I might have to restart T@R.

[@bengunderman5382]

23:44 the invisible wall is there because in the original graphics the wall extends farther than it does in the remastered graphics but the game still registers cover based on the old graphics.

[@spiritofhalo3685]

See this:- Marine POW 1: "It's the Chief!" Marine POW 2: "Chief! Chief! Let me out, man!" Captain Keyes: "Watch out Chief, the Covenant guards are using some sort of stealth armor." Captain Keyes: "Good work, Chief." Marine Corporal (POW): "That was amazing, sir, you really kicked the shi-" Captain Keyes: "Stow it, Corporal! Chief, open these cells, and let's get the hell out of here. The power control's along the back wall." Captain Keyes: "Coming here was reckless. You two know better than this… thanks." Captain Keyes: "Marines! Lock and load your weapons, let's be ready to move." Marine 1: "Okay, Sir." Marine 2: "Yes, Sir."

[@messierultra]

Beat this with my friend the other day oh my goodness it was so intense lmao

[@RirukaLover]

Thanks I had a lot of trouble with this

[@michaelprinsloo1376]

Thanks dude you rock

[@omegazeroINFI]

23:45 those missed probably because in the remake, they use the old graphics for the hitbox. theres many times where you can see an enemy that cant see you because in the old graphics, its a solid wall that doesnt exist in the new one. (most of the corridors rounded edges in this level are the opposite. the new graphics are stretched outward that you can walk in the wall and the enemy will see you through it because the old graphics, there wasnt a wall there)

[@TruePacifist201]

What part of "Shut up and get behind me," does Keyes not get? The entire point of escorting him is to get him off the ship alive, but he insists on running ahead like a dumbshit and committing "suicide by Covenant" and/or "suicide by friendly fire" every five seconds. Why didn't Bungie just give him plot invincibility or more than half a hit point?

[@RoyalFusilier]

To be fair, they did learn this lesson in subsequent games - Johnson and other plot-important NPCs became immortal from Halo 2 onwards to prevent this stuff. The one escort mission I can remember off the top of my head is escorting Dare on Coastal Highway in ODST, but they gave her regenerating super-shields at least.

[@zandylovesrisk]

If I don’t have a lot of sniper ammo entering the clearing. Better to restart mission or attempt to grab sniper ammo than retreat for waves? Also on the 360 version, not MCC, does the drop ship with the marines still come?

[@michaelwilliam9494]

When you get to The Belly of the Beast section of the mission Hokie recommended using the bandana skull so you can get used to what you have to do. It seems to me that if you go that way I would substitute a needler for the sniper rifle. I would only use the needler on the elites with the energy swords and save the assault rifle for everything else. Then when the hunters show up you can nail them in the back with the assault rifle. But if you don't have any marines left to distract the hunters then the AR won't do you much good.

[@alexdevido7358]

Very helpful video 👍🏻

[@Sam-im5tc]

Useful guide. Plus considering I'm significantly better with the sniper than I am with most weapons I should breeze through the initial part.

[@SinclairS2Engine]

This is actually my favorite mission from CE, even if you have to babysit the marines all the way to the gravity lift. Would have been better if they started you off with the magnum instead of the AR. That way you could mop up the grunts and Jackals that come down the lift and wouldn't need to restart the mission every time a plasma grenade makes love to 3 of my marines at once. As for the belly of the beast, you just need to save your frags until the music starts to kick in. Use plasma grenades and meet them at the door with the AR. Hokies theory about the gold Elites is also mostly correct, they seem to only spawn when you're just a few feet away from the next spawn door. I've tested this extensively and couldn't get the gold Elites to spawn when I was standing next to the doors. Only when I took to long to get to the next door did a Elite charge in and kill 3 crouching marines. Speaking of which, I think there was some kind of spawning error with the Elites during this part. Notice the first Elite that you kill is a stealth Elite, yet during the rest of the fight only gold Elites spawn out of the doors. I'm no programmer, but I hypothesize that only the first Elite was meant to be gold, and the rest stealth Elites . It makes sense gameplay and story wise, this is meant to be your first encounter with stealth Elites in a darkly lit area with only a SR and AR, the latter of which is effective against them since they lack shields. . Lore wise why would there be 6-10 gold elites leading a simple ambush? The gold commanders are meant to be scarce given their title, which makes sense as why one is commanding the bridge and the other guarding a VIP like Keyes. The other missions of the campaign supports this notion as there aren't more than 3 gold Elites in one level ( Actually, replaying two betrayals theres actually 6 gold elites, oops) . So a simple mistake like this makes the belly of the beast overkill even by legendary standards. That's not to say stealth Elites are push overs, they're just gold sword Elites only without shields and camouflaged.

[@TheWarlord9883]

I just played this mission on my old original PC version. I encountered 2 gold Elites with swords (I bashed one of them, plasma'd the other) and like you said around 6 invisible Elites (2 swords, 4 plasma rifles i think) ambushing me.

[@SinclairS2Engine]

Well yeah, you encounter both invisible Elites and gold Elites during the later part of this mission. I'm assuming its still gold Elites that spawn during the first ambush? Haven't played the PC version so I wouldn't know.

[@SamsarasArt]

Also I used your strat to handle the first room on the ship. I think your hunch was correct as I did this with zero gold sword elites spawning

[@kendallchristoun]

"Bullshit Marine, you couldn't even have taken him even if I'd let you." Halo gold right there. Also those eight waves and two hunters in this level are brutal if you're not prepared.