HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 09 JUNE 2011

Posted: June 9, 2011 in Any Game Mode, Firefight
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Check in here for strategies on completing the Daily and Weekly Challenges in Halo: Reach. If it’s your first time, click through the About HRD link above; and add comments below if you’ve got a good idea of your own for tackling the Challenges today.

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: dannydinosaur

Screenshot Of The Day today courtesy of dannydinosaur; not much to say about it except that it kicks all righteous ass and we wished our own screenshots looked this awesome. Thanks, DD! Everyone, click to enlarge!

Meanwhile, if you haven’t done it already, yo: Send your screenshots to haloreachdaily@live.com, or just make a file recommendation to us on XBox (Gamertag: Ender Xer0, with a zero), and we’ll take care of the rest. Remember: we’re not looking for plain Forge art or random pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

ALL IN A WEEK’S WORK

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 143 kills/day (Concurrent with Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 15000

Kill 1000 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking this week.

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

DAILY CHALLENGES

Summary

TYPES: Kills, Special Weapon, Spree, Survival
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Firefight
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 30-45 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 5475

SHOOTIN’ AND LOOTIN’

Any Game Mode

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Any Game Mode
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes (Concurrent with other Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1875

Kill 250 enemies in any game mode in Reach.

Take this one on last; you’ll score at least some of these as part of completing your other Daily Challenges today. For leftovers, just head into ONI Sword Base or an Anti-Grunt Custom Firefight game (see links at top of the page for both).

SCOPED

Firefight

Special Weapon

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 20-30 minutes (Concurrent with other Firefight Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1500

Kill 200 enemies in Firefight Matchmaking with precision weapons.

Two main options here, each one a brain-ventilating headshotpalooza of good wholesome fun:

  • If you’re with friends or don’t mind some randoms in Co-op, hunt for a Sniperfight on Glacier to tackle all four Challenges at once; see below for details on the Survivor and Bulletproof Challenges.
  • If you feel like flying solo, simply load up Gruntpocalypse in Score Attack; you’ll be knocking back only three of the Challenges (sorry, only one Round in Score Attack, so you can’t become Bulletproof), but you’ll have map selection control and will notch this Challenge before the second Match ends.
  • Either way, keep an eye on your ammo, and make your way back to base before the clip goes dry; your pistol doesn’t count as a precision weapon, even when it scores Headshots, so you’ll be wasting kills that don’t count toward the Challenge. Also remember that while you don’t need a Headshot for a Challenge point, the medal earns you extra Firefight cR, and your ammo will last longer before the need to restock.
SURVIVOR

Firefight

Single Match

Spree

Type: Spree
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Earn 5 Sprees in a Firefight Matchmaking game.

Five Sprees? No problem. The fact is, Bungie has created so many Sprees for Reach that you can hardly take a piss without, well, pissing on one. (And do it five times, you’ll probably get a Pissing Spree.) Weapons like the Sniper or Fistfight’s Sword and Hammer will trigger two Sprees at once, so you’ll Spree with the weapon in addition to your naked killstreak — twice as fast, in fact — to earn two notches toward the Daily Challenge.

Likewise, the extended-streak awards — Killing Frenzy, Slice ‘N’ Dice and so on — score additional notches, so you’ll register a new Spree every five kills up through 20, with double-awards at the 10 mark; that means you’ll have this Challenge in pocket from less than two dozen enemies.

The Target Locator: How to smell napalm in the morning.

Don’t like the cool special weapons of an Arcade Firefight? Okay, you eat quiche, but whatever. Just head into a standard Firefight and recover the Ordnance Weapons right away; a Spree will literally fall from the sky if you snare the Target Locator, but the rest of the Ordnance arsenal — Rockets, Sniper, Laser — will easily Spree for you as well. (Your only challenge will be the Laser: just four shots in Reach — WTF is that about, Bungie? — so simply fire into a Covie pack or burn through a Wraith for a Double-Kill to notch the added point for a Laser Spree.)

And, just one map-specific note: If you vote your way onto Beachhead or Unearthed, it’s time for some real fun. Hop into the Rocket Hog and joyride a friend around as he cuts loose with his best imitation of a KISS concert. You’ll rack up Wheelman Sprees — yes, there are those too — as well as paint the grill with a Splatter Spree or two along the way.

BULLETPROOF

Firefight

Single Match

Zero Deaths

Type: Completion
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 10-15 minutes (Concurrent with other Firefight Challenges)
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 1100

Complete 2 Rounds in a Firefight Matchmaking game without dying.

This Challenge used to be MUCH more difficult in the days before Firefight Arcade; getting tagged by the occasional stray Plasma would end your run (and fun) pretty damn fast. Now, however, the gift and glory of Overshields will almost always carry you through at least the first Round of a match, not to mention the ridiculously hilarious power weapons at your command.

Still, with Mythic-powered Hunters, Hammer Brutes and Heretic Snipers all populating the later Waves, it’s less likely you’ll make it through two Rounds perfectly — so you’ll be killing time at the same time you’re killing Covies as you wait for the match to end, for a Challenge bonus that’s pretty much at the bullshit end of the spectrum.

Because of that, we might even consider skipping the Challenge entirely if we didn’t find Firefight Arcade such a goddamn riot. Plus, head into a Sniperfight and you’ll be able to work all four Challenges today at the same time.

Meanwhile, though it’s slightly dated — written before the Firefight playlist upgrade — check out our Finish The Firefight permanent page for an in-depth guide to Zero Deaths; it should still give you enough good advice for racking up the Rounds — and eventually the Challenge.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 08 JUNE 2011

Posted: June 8, 2011 in Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Check in here for strategies on completing the Daily and Weekly Challenges in Halo: Reach. If it’s your first time, click through the About HRD link above; and add comments below if you’ve got a good idea of your own for tackling the Challenges today.

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: Mr Ha99y

Screenshot Of The Day today courtesy of Mr Ha99y, with a cool-as-hell portrait pic that actually makes a Plasma Pistol look badass. Thanks, Happy! Everyone, click to enlarge!

Meanwhile, if you haven’t done it already, yo: Send your screenshots to haloreachdaily@live.com, or just make a file recommendation to us on XBox (Gamertag: Ender Xer0, with a zero), and we’ll take care of the rest. Remember: we’re not looking for plain Forge art or random pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

ALL IN A WEEK’S WORK

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 143 kills/day (Concurrent with Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 15000

Kill 1000 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking this week.

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

DAILY CHALLENGES

Summary

TYPES: Completion, Kills, Spree
SETTINGS: Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy / Grind
TOTAL TIME: 110-185 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 8225

FIRE WHEN READY

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 15-20 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1100

Kill 30 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

GRIFBALL!


A HEROIC BREACH

Firefight

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 20-25 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 1125

Kill 150 enemies on Corvette on Heroic in Firefight Matchmaking.

Fire up a Gruntpocalypse and you’ll be able pocket this in two matches; you could notch it in one in Arcade, but Score Attack remains vastly superior since it gives you map selection control — no getting stuck in a Rocketfight on Glacier with a bunch of guys who aren’t chasing the Challenge. You should cross the finish line just as the second Wave of your second Round starts.

L.D. SOLACE

Campaign

Zero Deaths

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard (solo) / Medium (co-op)
Time: 60 to 120 minutes
Value: ★★★
Reward: 5000

Complete Long Night Of Solace on Legendary without dying with Mythic, Thunderstorm, Tilt and Tough Luck on.

Tip Of The Day

OK, our standard recommendations when it comes to L.D. Challenges: You’ll probably never do this alone, and if you can in fact handle a Legendary level solo without dying, you won’t need any advice from here. This one’s practically a Weekly Challenge, and while it’s not quite last week’s Mythic difficulty — LASO/SLASO requires virtually all Skulls on — it’s pretty damn close.

So, fair warning: if you’re tackling this, it will be out of inspiration for personal accomplishment or from a compulsive psychological defect to complete all the Challenges. The 5K bonus is in the penthouse of daily cR rewards, but since you’ve already played the campaign, you won’t earn much besides the Challenge award; and you could easily score that many cRedits playing Grifball for half an hour.

Still with us, then? OK, good. Four Skulls on, so let’s take a look: Mythic doubles enemy health. Thunderstorm upgrades their rank — which, ha ha, combines anti-awesomely with Mythic. Tough Luck helps enemies evade damage, while Tilt modifies the damage tables, generally in Covenant favor against Spartan weapons. So, basically… everything the game could do to make the Covies as invulnerable as possible without involving the planet Krypton.

Since the Challenge requires zero deaths, you’ll also need to play even more defensively — stealthy when possible, and get-the-hell-out when necessary. If you think you’ve just done something that would make an awesome kick-ass clip for your File Share, you’re probably not doing this right.

ALSO NOTE: If you don’t make it through the level alive, you can’t just hit Restart; you’ll need to Save-And-Quit, then reopen the level. Otherwise, it’ll still mark your progress as Challenge Failed.

OK then. The mission’s much too long for a detailed walkthrough here, so just as we did with the LASO Challenges we’re going to turn the microphone over to the Mythic Master — the jacket-strapped lunatic who invented the SLASO runs, Tyrant himself — and his in-depth guide posted on Halo.Bungie.Org, where the HRD Challenge Report written by Associate Editor FoxmanFX appears each day.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out our Legendary Challenges permanent standing link at the top of the page for some of our standard strategies to keep in mind no matter what part of the Legendary campaign.

Whew! Quite a lot to keep in mind. To help you out, here’s a video walkthrough — done SOLO, and with the Blind Skull on too — that’s a quite long (more than 90 minutes) but well worth the watch if you get frustrated. Credit to SHADOWSTRIKE1 for the gameplay and crazy accomplishment.

GOOD LUCK!


KILLING SPREE

Multiplayer

Single Match

Spree

Kills

Type: Kills / Spree
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 15-20 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 1000

Earn a Killing Spree in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Yeah, like we really needed a Daily Challenge to make us hunt for Killing Sprees. We all score them pretty frequently, though not necessarily with any sense of planning or regularity. However, you still have a few options to skitch the odds in your favor:

  • Armor Lock, hate it though you might, becomes your best friend here, since it’ll prevent a lucky Plasma stick from resetting your Spree counter and generally save your ass in all sorts of tight spots. You know all those douchebags who you hate Armor Locking just as you’re about to score a kill? Well, now that’s you. Do you want the Challenge cRedits, or do you want to be popular? Yeah, thought so.

    Armor Lock: Be The Douchbag.

  • As a general principle, play defensively, since you need five kills for this to register, and you probably won’t get them all in row by going batshit on the battlefield. Stick with distance headshot weapons that’ll help you score kills from range while keeping you out of danger (yes, Sniper Rifle, we’re talking to you). Ignore the close-quarter Power Weapons like Hammers, Swords and Shotguns unless you’re decent at camping; if you are, you’ll rack up a Spree in no time, and if you’re not, you’ll get a Plasma Grenade stuck to your head.
  • Ideally, spend your time in Objective-based Big Team Battle games and especially Invasion, since you’ll only have a timer to contend with rather than a kill-count limit, which can mathematically cut short your Spree before the game has even finished. You’ll also find more enemies to target in BTB and a greater likelihood of vehicles, which make Multikills (and thus Sprees) more typical no matter which side of the headlights you’re on.
  • In fact, while it’s true that Reach has nerfed most vehicles into rolling deathtraps, making it likely that you’ll eventually get blown to bits (by gunfire, Armor Lock, a flying traffic cone), they still remain useful for a few essential kills on their way to the scrapyard, especially against other vehicles. Hop in a Wraith or Revenant and play conservatively, waiting for the other team to make its rush; you can score single- or Double-Kills against guys on the ground, Doubles and Triples against other vehicles, and even boost for splatters when needed.
  • Other Big Team Objective games also remain great for gathering a Spree: enemies usually converge into clustered hot zones, such as with King Of The Hill or Multiflag, making it easier to spam grenades and fire into the crowd. Just don’t go into the Hill, or grab the Flag yourself: That’s a sure way to get fragged and lose your Spree. You’ll be trading off a few points in the game, but the Challenge bonus will more than make up for it.
  • NOTE, however: In Objective games, the counter for Sprees doesn’t carry over from Round to Round. And in all games, a betrayal will reset your counter, so don’t be tempted by that teammate with the Sniper Rifle when you’ve got one kill left to go. (Or, ever, yeah?) Also: Host migrations will reset your kill-streak to zero. It can’t be avoided, so just deal with it; and at least you can go get your own Sniper Rifle now.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 07 JUNE 2011

Posted: June 7, 2011 in Any Game Mode, Firefight, Meta, Multiplayer
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Check in here for strategies on completing the Daily and Weekly Challenges in Halo: Reach. If it’s your first time, click through the About HRD link above; and add comments below if you’ve got a good idea of your own for tackling the Challenges today.

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: ThatHatKid

Screenshot Of The Day today courtesy of ThatHatKid, who demonstrates why a flaming Recon helmet is the best hat of all. Thanks, Kid! Everyone, click to enlarge!

Meanwhile, if you haven’t done it already, yo: Send your screenshots to haloreachdaily@live.com, or just make a file recommendation to us on XBox (Gamertag: Ender Xer0, with a zero), and we’ll take care of the rest. Remember: we’re not looking for plain Forge art or random pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

ALL IN A WEEK’S WORK

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 143 kills/day (Concurrent with Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 15000

Kill 1000 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking this week.

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

DAILY CHALLENGES

Summary

TYPES: Kills, Meta, Special Weapon, Spree
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Firefight, Meta, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 30-40 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 4850

BLASTIN’ AND RELAXIN’

Any Mode

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Any Game Mode
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1350

Kill 180 enemies in any game mode in Reach.

Take on this one last. You’ll rack up kills working your way through today’s other Challenges; for leftovers, our standard recommendations:

  • By far the most convenient carnage remains at the opening of the Campaign’s ONI Sword Base mission. If you know it and don’t like the stigma of naked credit boosting, skip down. If you don’t know it, you can find a detailed rundown in the Owning On ONI permanent link on the top of this page.
  • But, if you don’t like the open credit farming that goes with Target Locating, simply pocket some quick kills in a Custom Game instead. Click on the Grunt Game Settings link at the top of the page for instructions on the best settings; you’ll also find a Custom Game there already set up for you.
  • Don’t forget you need 143 Multiplayer kills to stay on track for your Weekly Challenge, so Grifball remains a top option for scoring them quick-and-easy. Plus, you get to play Grifball. Yay!
WEAPON SWAP

Firefight

Single Match

Spree

Type: Spree
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 15-20 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 1000

Earn 10 sprees in a Firefight Matchmaking game on Heroic or harder.

Wow, 10 Sprees in one single match. Sounds initimidating, right?

Pish-posh. Bungie has created so many Sprees for Reach that you can hardly take a piss without, well, pissing on one. (And do it five times, you’ll probably get a Pissing Spree.) So, our standard observations for this Challenge, repeated here for your convenience:

We’re accustomed to the Killing Spree and the occasional Sword or Shotgun Spree; but now there are Grenade Stick Sprees, Assist Sprees, and even Teabag and Rage Quit Sprees. Though we’re pretty sure the medal for that last one is a Quit-Ban. Also, there’s probably not a Teabag Spree. Yet.

Some weapons will also trigger two Sprees at once; for example, the Sniper or Hammer, since you’ll Spree with the weapon in addition to your naked killstreak and earn two notches toward the Daily Challenge. Likewise, the extended-streak awards — Killing Frenzy, Slice ‘N’ Dice and so on — score additional notches as well.

    The Sniper Rifle. AKA El Spree-o.

  • With all those options in mind, however, our personal favorite remains SniperFight: You’ll register a new Spree every five kills up through 20, with double-awards at the 10 mark; that means five points on your Challenge meter — halfway there — and the game’s hardly started. Do that again, and you’ll have Spreed all over this Challenge, long before you face the toughest opponents. (For in-depth tips and tactics on maps and Sniper positions, visit our Finish The Firefight standing permanent page.)
  • And, though it might seem counterintuitive, avoid Rocketfight: You’ll certainly stack Multikills quickly enough for ordinary killstreaks to come naturally, but you won’t get any special weapon streaks; and it’s pretty goddamn easy to blow yourself up, so you might find yourself ending your own streak just as often as the Covenant.
  • Don’t like SniperFights? Well, you’re adopted, but okay. If you head into a standard Firefight, recover one of the Ordnance Weapons right away; a Spree will literally fall from the sky if you snare the Target Locator, but the rest of the Ordnance arsenal — Rockets, Sniper, Laser — will easily Spree for you as well. (Your only challenge will be the Laser: just four shots in Reach — WTF is that about, Bungie? — so simply fire into a Covie pack or burn through a Wraith for a Double-Kill to notch the added point for a Laser Spree.)
  • And just one map-specific note: If you vote your way onto Beachhead or Unearthed it’s time for some real fun. Hop into the Rocket Hog and joyride a friend around as he cuts loose with his best imitation of a KISS concert. You’ll rack up Wheelman Sprees — yes, there are those too — as well as paint the grill with a Splatter Spree or two along the way.

CLIP IT. SHARE IT.

General

Type: Meta
Setting: Theater / Fileshare
Difficulty: Retarded
Time: 1 minute
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1250

Make a clip from your Local Files and upload it to your File Share.

Next week in Daily Challenges: Tyin’ yer shoolaces.

YOU WANT THIS, DON’T YOU?

Multiplayer

Single Match

Special Weapon

Kills

Type: Kills / Special Weapon
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-15 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1250

Earn 10 kills with precision weapons in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

All sorts of options here, since “Precision Weapon” includes Snipers, Needle Rifles, and the trusty standard-issue DMR. (Even though your Magnum is a headshot weapon, it’s actually classified as a Sidearm; the Focus Rifle is a precision weapon too, but they’re fewer and further between in Multiplayer.)

Both SWAT and Team Snipers seem obvious choices, though just about any gametype with a DMR start will qualify. In the playlists that don’t emphasize one-hit kills — Team Slayer, Rumble Pit, for example — keep in mind that you only need your DMR for the final shot: soften up (but don’t kill) enemies with grenades before you open fire, take down shields with an overcharged Plasma Pistol and follow melees with a headshot rather than a second melee. Remember also that you only need use a precision weapon to score a kill, not necessarily a headshot — so feel free to Supercombine with a Needle Rifle, it’ll uptick your Challenge meter just the same.

Likewise, you obviously want to avoid most instant-kill weapons, such as the Sword, Hammer, Shotgun, Rockets and Plasma Grenades, though that doesn’t mean you can’t use them to your advantage: most of these tempt other players just by their very presence, and they often concentrate more on scoring the weapon than fighting or defending. Like every other creature in the galaxy, Halo players can’t resist the lure of a shiny object.

So, even if you’ve got the chance to swap out for one yourself, consider using it instead to set a trap, waiting for players who have focused more on the power weapon than the dangers of their immediate environment (such as you). Or, even better, snag it and then drop it again in an absurdly open space, where other players are sure to see it but have little in the way of cover or defense. Unlike most other types of camping, you won’t have to wait very long for someone to show up.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 06 JUNE 2011

Posted: June 6, 2011 in Multiplayer
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

Check in here for strategies on completing the Daily and Weekly Challenges in Halo: Reach. If it’s your first time, click through the About HRD link above; and add comments below if you’ve got a good idea of your own for tackling the Challenges today.

***NEW WEEKLY CHALLENGE!***

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: MANEX MONDAY

Our friends over at the ManeX Gaming Channel on YouTube put together an incredibly interesting Video Of The Week for us this time around: game commentary for a new player who’s only been on XBox and Halo for a short while. The MXG lads look at the things he does right, the things he does wrong, and a number of habits that you probably take for granted but might actually want to rethink yourself. Check it out!

The ManeX Monday feature provides clips not of specific Challenges, but of key tactics and techniques intended to help make you a better player across ALL your Challenges. Subscribe to the Channel to get notified of updates, or follow it on Twitter here. Thanks again, guys!

Our regular Screenshot Of The Day returns tomorrow. So if you haven’t done it already, yo: Send your screenshots to haloreachdaily@live.com, or just make a file recommendation to us on XBox (Gamertag: Ender Xer0, with a zero), and we’ll take care of the rest. Remember: we’re not looking for Forge art or random pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

DAILY CHALLENGES

Summary

TYPES: Completion, Kills, Killstyle, Multikills
SETTINGS: Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 60-80 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 5100

FIRE WHEN READY

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 20-25 minutes (Concurrent with other Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1500

Kill 50 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking.


The Ancient Aztecs were a great civilization. But they didn’t play Grifball, and they died. Don’t be an Aztec! Also, you’ll get the Fire When Ready Challenge really quickly, and tank through your Oops! All Kills and Credits For Completion Challenges (see below) at the same time. Yow! (Grifballin’ courtesy of SinisterSin.)

COOK ‘EM, CLEAN ‘EM!

Multiplayer

Jetpacking

Kills

Type: Killstyle
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1200

Kill 10 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking while you’re jetpacking.

Tip Of The Day

This Challenge is why you’ll see so many people jetpacking through Multiplayer today. If you’re a seasoned jetpacker, you won’t need any advice from here; if you’re not, it’s still going to be easy as hell.

  • To earn the Firebird Medal — and thus notch a kill toward the Daily Challenge — you need only be airborne from the moment you fire your final shot to when the game registers the kill; you don’t have to actually jetpack the entire gunfight.
  • That means you can move and fight as usual, and simply hit the jetpack as you take your killshot. (Which, in fact, is precisely what we recommend — it’s dead simple, and you’ll hardly need change your fighting style at all.) In fact, you can even hover just an inch aboveground, with barely any daylight between the floor and your boots, for your Firebird Medal to register.
  • It’ll also register with melees, assassinations, and weapons like Hammers and Swords; and with those weapons, you’ll even lunge pretty much the same as if your feet still touched the ground. Again, just hit your jetpack an instant before you strike and the Challenge point will register.
  • It won’t register, however, if you’re not actively “thrusting” when you make your kill; finish your enemy off while only in freefall and you’ll score an ordinary kill, not a Challenge point. So make sure you’re thrusting when you, ah, unload.
  • Unless you’re an experienced jetpacker, avoid the larger, open maps (Powerhouse, Forge World) in favor of tighter, smaller ones (Sword Base, Zealot, Countdown), even if that sounds counter-intuitive. It’s real easy to get shot out of the sky if you don’t know what you’re doing, and a close-quarters map allows you to fight almost normally, jetpacking for a moment only as you close the deal.
  • Rumble Pit used to be your best bet for this Challenge, since basically you could fire at anything while boosting, but Dino Blasters in Action Sack has somehow made it even easier — spawning you with a jetpack as well as a Concussion Rifle with a bottomless clip. Yeah!

OOPS! ALL KILLS

Multiplayer

Multikill

Type: Multikills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-15 minutes (Concurrent with other Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Earn 5 multikills in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Grifball remains your best bet: You can score a Double-Kill with a single hammer swing, and all other things being equal you should register the Challenge just by happenstance. Not a fan of the orange dude with the bomb? Well, OK, you’re weird, but whatever:

  • Head instead into Rumble Pit or Multi-Team; more enemies on smaller maps = more multikills.
  • Vote for gametypes on tighter maps that encourage enemies to converge into single flashpoints: King Of The Hill and Oddball, for example. Spam grenades into the hotzone, followed by DMR or Magnum headshots and the occasional coup-de-grace melee rush. Avoid the area yourself, however; no sense adding your corpse to the fiesta.
  • If you’re not having much luck in the Pit, get a friend and head into Multi-Team; it’s like Rumble Pit With Partners, and your enemies usually travel in pairs or threes — almost as if they’re asking to all get killed together, yes? So, coordinate with your teammates: team-shoot one enemy, then whoever doesn’t score the final shot can melee or plasma-burst another, setting up the Multi-Kill.
  • Big Team Battle and Invasion also offer Multi-Kill opportunities: taking out a vehicle with passenger, or a pair of enemies in the unlock zone of an Invasion phase, seem like good bets. Your main problem, however, will be not your enemies but your allies — with so many players on each side, you’ll have considerable competition among your teammates to actually score those kills.

NOTE: The Challenge tracks your progress by keeping track of medals; that means a Double-Kill that stacks into a Triple and eventually an Overkill nets you three Challenge points, not just one. Pretty good, eh?

CREDITS FOR COMPLETION

Multiplayer

Type: Completion
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Retarded
Time: 60-80 minutes (Concurrent with other Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1400

Complete 8 games in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Yes, you really can earn this by doing absolutely nothing for four games; it’s hard to call it a “Challenge” when the only requirement is that your controller doesn’t turn off. (And even then.) But, hey, it’s 1400 free cRedits, and you’ll probably pocket the games simply by handling the other Dailies and Weekly Challenge. So don’t complain, eh?

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

ALL IN A WEEK’S WORK

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 143 kills/day (Concurrent with Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 15000

Kill 1000 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking this week.

NEW CHALLENGE!

Scoring 1K kills in one week sounds like an insurmountable task for which there are no shortcuts, but only the second half of that is right. The number seems conquerable only by the truly skilled or truly crazed; but, with all week to run your counter up, it becomes implausible only if you leave it to the very end.

One thousand divides not-so-neatly into 143 kills per day — an eminently manageable number, considering you’ve already completed Daily Challenges that required you to register up to 150 names in the dead-book. Notching that once per day simply turns this into a fifth Daily Challenge, with the massive payoff for all seven days at the end of the week.

Also: Though we don’t know what they are yet, several upcoming Daily Challenges — like all of today’s Challenges — will likely require you to stack Multiplayer bodies, so you’ll work this one automatically as you wrap up the Dailies during the week.

Most importantly, however, don’t talk yourself out of this simply because it’s intimidating. With the Bungie-sized bonus at the end of the week, each kill will net you an additional 15 cRedits; considering that a standard kill only awards you 4 cR, you’ll be nearly quadrupling your cRedit reward for your next thousand kills — but only if you finish. You’re a Spartan, okay? “Impossible” is a word for ODSTs.

HALO REACH WEEKLY CHALLENGE: ALL IN A WEEK’S WORK

Posted: June 6, 2011 in Multiplayer
Tags:
0

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

ALL IN A WEEK’S WORK

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 143 kills/day (Concurrent with Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 15000

Kill 1000 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking this week.

Scoring 1K kills in one week sounds like an insurmountable task for which there are no shortcuts, but only the second half of that is right. The number seems conquerable only by the truly skilled or truly crazed; but, with all week to run your counter up, it becomes implausible only if you leave it to the very end.

One thousand divides not-so-neatly into 143 kills per day — an eminently manageable number, considering you’ve already completed Daily Challenges that required you to register up to 150 names in the dead-book. Notching that once per day simply turns this into a fifth Daily Challenge, with the massive payoff for all seven days at the end of the week.

Also: Though we don’t know what they are yet, several upcoming Daily Challenges — like all of today’s Challenges — will likely require you to stack Multiplayer bodies, so you’ll work this one automatically as you wrap up the Dailies during the week.

Most importantly, however, don’t talk yourself out of this simply because it’s intimidating. With the Bungie-sized bonus at the end of the week, each kill will net you an additional 15 cRedits; considering that a standard kill only awards you 4 cR, you’ll be nearly quadrupling your cRedit reward for your next thousand kills — but only if you finish. You’re a Spartan, okay? “Impossible” is a word for ODSTs.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 05 JUNE 2011

Posted: June 5, 2011 in Any Game Mode, Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Check in here for strategies on completing the Daily and Weekly Challenges in Halo: Reach. If it’s your first time, click through the About HRD link above; and add comments below if you’ve got a good idea of your own for tackling the Challenges today.

***WEEKLY CHALLENGE LAST DAY!***

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: Pahute Mesa

Screenshot Of The Day today courtesy of Pahute Mesa, who reminds us there’s nothing quite like a good explosion of Zombie blood on a fine Sunday morning. Thanks, Pahute! Everyone, click to enlarge!

Meanwhile, if you haven’t done it already, yo: Send your screenshots to haloreachdaily@live.com, or just make a file recommendation to us on XBox (Gamertag: Ender Xer0, with a zero), and we’ll take care of the rest. Remember: we’re not looking for plain Forge art or random pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 100 to 150 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17777

Complete The Pillar Of Autumn on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

LAST DAY!

You Knew It Was Coming: The final campaign mission on the most freakishly hard difficulty setting. We’re ready; how ’bout you??

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

DAILY CHALLENGES

Summary

TYPES: Kills, Killstyle, Multikill, Special Weapon
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 35-40 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 4100

LIGHT FARE

Any Game Mode

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Any Game Mode
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5 minutes (Concurrent with other Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Kill 100 enemies in any game mode in Reach.

You’ll score most of these automatically as part of completing your other Daily Challenges today. For leftovers, just head into ONI Sword Base or an anti-Grunt Custom Firefight game (see links at top of the page for both).

THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT. . .

Campaign

Special Weapon

Kills

Type: Kills / Special Weapon
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-15 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 1000

Kill 50 enemies with precision weapons in the Campaign today.

Load up any Campaign level on Normal that offers a precision weapon plus lots o’ Grunts, and get to work.

ONI Sword Base features a DMR start and opens in the middle of a firefight, plus there’s a Sniper Rifle at the end of the base-side Terrace for pwning Elites once you’ve cleared the Jackals and Grunts. Winter Contingency at Rally Point Bravo literally drops you into a Fodder-O-Rama of a firefight; and though you enter with an Assault Rifle, a DMR conveniently awaits your weapon swap on the asphalt leading to the rear bunker, with more ammo for it just inside.

(Nightfall, of course, spawns you with a Sniper, but with 50 kills in front of you, it’s not going to wrap things as quickly; and do you really want Jun telling you to “do it quiet” again? Anyway, take yer pick.)

Concentrate on headshots against Grunts and Jackals, since those award extra Medal cR, and don’t waste DMR ammo on the Elites — you’ll run out of enemies before hitting the half-century mark and need to revert the Checkpoint anyway; so, unless you feel like sniping, you might as well reset as soon as you’ve cleaned slate on the lesser Covies.

If you run low on ammo, simply swipe Needle Rifles from the fallen Jackals; those register precision kills like a DMR, but heading into a bunker for a DMR reload can trigger a Checkpoint, meaning you’d have to settle for a full level restart.

KILLAGRUNTJARO!

Firefight

Single Match

Multikill

Type: Multikills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Earn 7 multikills in a Firefight Matchmaking game.

Despite its name, Killagruntjaro doesn’t actually require you to Jaro anything, though we will be going with Gruntpocalypse in Score Attack to wrap this in one Round rather than three.

It shouldn’t be any problem to Magnum or DMR your way to seven Multikills, since the Grunts go down with one shot, travel in packs, and maneuver with the agility of highway roadside accident. So, if you can’t manage seven out of a single match, you’re just not trying.

CAME FROM BEHIND

Multiplayer

Single Match

Assassination

Type: Killstyle
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-15 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1100

Perform 2 Assassinations in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

Tip Of The Day

Probably the most fun you’ll have snaring a Challenge all day.

  • We prefer Rumble Pit on smaller, tighter maps: Wherever you can sneak up on someone, catch them by surprise as they come ’round a corner or make a straight Sprint toward their unsuspecting spines will offer all sorts of banzai backstab openings.
  • Although you can Sprint for a cheetah-like takedown, you can stalk just as easily with Active Camo if you don’t mind alerting your prey to nearby danger, since Camo-crouched near a doorway or corner for a lightning strike will make the Discovery Channel highlight reel as well.
  • Though it often goes hand-in-glove with Rumble Pit recommendations, avoid Multi-Team for this one: There’s just too much damn gunfire everywhere, and you could easily find yourself Yoinked — or worse, Showstopped — as the Assassination animation plays.
  • Finally, an excellent point from reader MAL, who in real life makes his living as a professional assassin:

    Choosing a ‘Pro’ game in Matchmaking Rumble Pit, like Crazy King Pro or Slayer Pro, makes this extremely simple. The lack of radar will make it easy to sneak up on opponents and get multiple assassinations.

Thanks, MAL!

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 04 JUNE 2011

Posted: June 4, 2011 in Firefight, Multiplayer
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Check in here for strategies on completing the Daily and Weekly Challenges in Halo: Reach. If it’s your first time, click through the About HRD link above; and add comments below if you’ve got a good idea of your own for tackling the Challenges today.

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: PaperTowels

Holy crap, that’s BADASS! Screenshot Of The Day today courtesy of PaperTowels9876, who will wipe the counter with your dead, twitching body. Goddamn right, PT! Everyone, click to enlarge!

Meanwhile, if you haven’t done it already, yo: Send your screenshots to haloreachdaily@live.com, or just make a file recommendation to us on XBox (Gamertag: Ender Xer0, with a zero), and we’ll take care of the rest. Remember: we’re not looking for plain Forge art or random pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 100 to 150 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17777

Complete The Pillar Of Autumn on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

You Knew It Was Coming: The final campaign mission on the most freakishly hard difficulty setting. We’re ready; how ’bout you??

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

DAILY CHALLENGES

Summary

TYPES: Assists, Completion, Kills, Killstyle
SETTINGS: Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy / Grind
TOTAL TIME: 65-95 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 5000

COVENANT-CIDE

Firefight

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 10-20 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 1100

Kill 120 enemies in Firefight Matchmaking.

Load up any power-weapon Firefight Arcade game and you should be able to blast your way to this Challenge in a single match. Even if you fall short of the mark, though, it’s a simple matter to just fire up another, or wrap things up in Score Attack.

(We’d recommend against Score Attack for starters, however; though Gruntpocalypse seems like an obvious choice, since it offers exactly the right number of Grunts — 120 — they have a tendancy to blow up themselves, or each other, or both, meaning you’d fall short and need a second match anyway.)

PASS THE ROCK

Multiplayer

Assists

Type: Assists
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 50-70 minutes
Value: ★★
Reward: 1500

Earn 20 assists today in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

NOTE: Remember that maddening glitch from the first time this Challenge appeared, when it required you to score Assists before your first death, and then the counter locked until your next game? Yeah, well, that’s been fixed. Rack up your Assists and get killed with reckless abandon, they’ll all still register toward the Challenge.

So, our standard spiel: Working toward Assists can always be a hassle, since your natural instincts and gaming skills focus on putting down your enemies, not passing the kill off to another player. Nobody makes the highlight reel by almost scoring 20 times.

Despite that, Bungie intends to pay you today to help out other players who haven’t really earned it when they cash in on your setup. Click on the Assist-O-Rama permanent link at the top of the page for our in-depth guide to Not Closing The Deal.

T-HUG IT OUT

Multiplayer

Single Match

Close-Quarters

Type: Killstyle
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1200

Kill 6 enemies with close-quarters combat in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

Grrrrrrifball! (Though Living Dead will work too.) Grifball love courtesy of xDEATHCRUNCHERX.

PARTICIPATION COUNTS

Multiplayer

Type: Completion
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Retarded
Time: 20-30 minutes (Concurrent with other Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1200

Complete 4 games in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Yes, you really can earn this by doing absolutely nothing for four games; it’s hard to call it a “Challenge” when the only requirement is that your controller doesn’t turn off. (And even then.) But, hey, it’s 1200 free cRedits — so don’t complain, eh?

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 03 JUNE 2011

Posted: June 3, 2011 in Any Game Mode, Multiplayer
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Check in here for strategies on completing the Daily and Weekly Challenges in Halo: Reach. If it’s your first time, click through the About HRD link above; and add comments below if you’ve got a good idea of your own for tackling the Challenges today.

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: ENDEROFLEGEND

Screenshot Of The Day today in honor of new Ender Nation clan member ENDEROFLEGEND, rocking a flaming Gugnir helmet in outer space. Cool! Welcome to the Pillar Of Awesome, Legend! Everyone, click to enlarge!

Meanwhile, if you haven’t done it already, yo: Send your screenshots to haloreachdaily@live.com, or just make a file recommendation to us on XBox (Gamertag: Ender Xer0, with a zero), and we’ll take care of the rest. Remember: we’re not looking for plain Forge art or random pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 100 to 150 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17777

Complete The Pillar Of Autumn on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

You Knew It Was Coming: The final campaign mission on the most freakishly hard difficulty setting. We’re ready; how ’bout you??

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

DAILY CHALLENGES

Summary

TYPES: Kills, Killstyle, Multikills, Special Weapon, Wins
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 45-90 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 5750

SHOOTIN’ AND LOOTIN’

Any Game Mode

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Any Game Mode
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Kill 100 enemies in any game mode in Reach.

Take this one on last; you’ll score at least some of these as part of completing your other Daily Challenges today. For leftovers, just head into ONI Sword Base or an Anti-Grunt Custom Firefight game (see links at top of the page for both).

I’M RUBBER, YOU’RE GLUE

Multiplayer

Single Match

Special Weapon

Kills

Type: Killstyle / Special Weapon
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Earn 1 sticky grenade kill in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

Any Elite gametype will start you with Plasma Grenades, as will Invasion (Covie side) and Pro gametypes (Warden Loadout). But Plasmas are also scattered all over the maps, and respawn almost constantly, so if you prefer a different gametype/loadout you’ll still find with more than enough to spare.

Look for playlists that put you on smaller, tighter maps, where close-quarter combat virtually begs you stick opponents with impunity. Enemies with Armor Lock (AKA “Fuckin’ Armor-Locking Douchebags” — except, of course, when it’s you) will in turn frustrate you with impunity; so, vote for Pro gametypes — which don’t allow for Armor-Locking Douchebags — and especially King Of The Hill, where enemies cluster into spamworthy hot-zones that additionally disable Armor Abilities while inside.

  • Rumble Pit remains a top option, specifically because it offers a candy store of Elite, Pro and KotH gametypes, on exactly the type of maps that invite you to go stick-or-treating — and you only need to score one, yeah?
  • Invasion likewise represents a solid option, since even the open maps still encourage enemies to concentrate around the capture points, though when on the Spartan side you’ll need to scope for fallen Plasmas before being able to stick Covies crouched in the countdown zone. Just scan for dead Dinos after one of their attack rushes; you should find them everywhere.
FOURTH HORSEMAN

Multiplayer

Single Match

Multi-Kill

Type: Multikills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-20 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 2000

Earn 4 Multi-Kills in a multiplayer Matchmaking game.

Tip Of The Day

Multi-Kills, while typical, are often a question of circumstance. Getting the odds to align in your favor four times in one match can be tricky, but there’s a few things you can do to skitch them in your favor.

  • Grifball remains your best bet. You can score a Double-Kill with a single hammer swing, and all other things being equal you should register a saddlebag full of multikills before the game ends just by happenstance.
  • Not a fan of the orange dude with the bomb? Well, OK, you’re weird, but whatever. Head instead into Rumble Pit or Multi-Team; more enemies on smaller maps = more multikills.
  • Vote for gametypes on smaller, tighter maps that encourage enemies to converge into single flashpoints: King Of The Hill and Oddball, for example. Spam grenades into the hotzone, followed by DMR or Magnum headshots and the occasional coup-de-grace melee rush. Avoid the area yourself, however; no sense adding your corpse to the fiesta.
  • The Pit’s Juggernaut can be a mixed blessing: If you’ve got the Hammer, you’ll have an excellent opportunity to skullcrush your way to multiple Multi-Kills. If you’re not Jugs, you won’t be able to score any. Seek out power weapons like Rockets that can deal massive damage to the Juggernaut from a distance; and even without them, steer clear of close-combat and nickel-and-dime your target from range — if you’re lucky, you’ll score the last shot, and get a Hammer for your efforts.
  • If you’re not having much luck in the Pit, get a friend and head into Multi-Team; it’s like Rumble Pit With Partners, and your enemies usually travel in pairs or threes — almost as if they’re asking to all get killed together, yes? So, coordinate with your teammates: team-shoot one enemy, then whoever doesn’t score the final shot can melee or plasma-burst another, setting up the Multi-Kill.
  • Big Team Battle and Invasion also offer Multi-Kill opportunities: taking out a vehicle with passenger, or a pair of enemies in the unlock zone of an Invasion phase, seem like good bets. Your main problem, however, will be not your enemies but your allies — with so many players on each side, you’ll have considerable competition among your teammates to actually score those kills.

NOTE: The Challenge tracks your progress by keeping track of medals; that means a Double-Kill that stacks into a Triple and eventually an Overkill nets you three Challenge points, not just one. Pretty good, eh?

FIVE-TIME CHAMP

Multiplayer

Win

Type: Wins
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 45-90 minutes (Concurrent with other Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 1750

Win 5 games in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Not much to say; play enough games and you’ll rack up five wins.

TAKE NOTE, however: Despite what it may say on your Reach game stats page over at Bungie.net, simply finishing in the top half of a Free-For-All game will NOT register as a win for your Challenge progress here — you’ll need to place First, or not at all.

Similarly, avoid any Objective gametypes that frequently end in a tie — Capture The Flag or Assault, for example — since although your game score registers a win for both sides (that is, you both came in “first”), the Daily Challenge is not so generous; either one team takes the top spot, or both sides lose.

  • Avoid Big Team Battle and Invasion; though generally worth more cRedits, they also take longer, and you’re targeting wins here, not just cR. Plus, you can spend twice as much time in a Big Team game and still have a 50% chance of finishing without any Challenge progress; two smaller-squad games will earn just as many credits in the same time, but double your chances at a win.
  • Remember when I said to avoid Objective games? Well, just as it does with most things, Grifball breaks the rules. Games are usually quick and generally won’t end in a tie, and so all other things being equal you’ll go in with about a 50-50 chance of pulling Host and scoring the win.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 02 JUNE 2011

Posted: June 2, 2011 in Firefight
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Check in here for strategies on completing the Daily and Weekly Challenges in Halo: Reach. If it’s your first time, click through the About HRD link above; and add comments below if you’ve got a good idea of your own for tackling the Challenges today.

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: seakoral

We’re not sure exactly what’s happening here — either someone pissed off the Jedi Council, or Neo just figured out that Spartans don’t belong in the Matrix — but it sure looks hellacool. Screenshot Of The Day today courtesy of seakoral — thanks SK! Everyone, click to enlarge!

Meanwhile, if you haven’t done it already, yo: Send your screenshots to haloreachdaily@live.com, or just make a file recommendation to us on XBox (Gamertag: Ender Xer0, with a zero), and we’ll take care of the rest. Remember: we’re not looking for plain Forge art or random pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 100 to 150 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17777

Complete The Pillar Of Autumn on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

You Knew It Was Coming: The final campaign mission on the most freakishly hard difficulty setting. We’re ready; how ’bout you??

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

DAILY CHALLENGES

Summary

TYPES: Kills, Special Enemy, Special Weapon
SETTINGS: Firefight
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Grind
TOTAL TIME: 120-160 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★☆
TOTAL CREDITS: 5825

ONE SPARTAN ARMY

Firefight

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 45-60 minutes (Concurrent with other Firefight Challenges)
Value: ★★★☆
Reward: 2000

Kill 400 enemies in Firefight Matchmaking.

Take this one on last; you’ll already score a good number of these on your way to your other Challenges. For your leftovers, you can continue to stick it out alone in Score Attack — Gruntpocalypse is probably easiest, with 120 enemies per round who go down from a single trigger-pull — though Firefight Arcade offers you Overshields, three Rounds (plus a Bonus) of enemies and a virtual salad bar of power weapons; you’ll just have to share in your kills. (But hey, Firefight is supposed to be cooperative, yeah?)

FLAT TIRE

Firefight

Special Enemy

Kills

Type: Kills / Special Enemy
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 90-120 minutes (Concurrent with other Firefight Challenges)
Value: ★
Reward: 1250

Kill 10 enemy vehicles in Firefight Matchmaking.

Wow, someone really needs to convince Bungie that Baby Jesus cries every time a Covie vehicle gets destroyed. The Challenge Gods there simply have NO perspective on what a massive hassle this is: Most Firefights feature only a handful of destructible vehicles — while some maps don’t feature any at all — and, on Challenge day, everyone will be shooting at them.

That means you’ll be lucky to average one per game — and that means on average 10 games, for a cRedit bonus you could earn by standing AFK at Grifball. The one marginal benefit remains that vehicles themselves offer jumbo cRedit bonuses — including the lowly Ghost — even without the Challenge, which makes the ordeal only slightly more worth your while.

But, if you’re a Challenge completionist, knock yourself out — we’ll wake you when it’s over.

  • Stick to Firefight Limited; most Arcade and Score Attack maps have removed all traces of enemy-occupied anything.
  • Beachhead represents a top option, featuring both Wraiths and Ghosts, along with a Rocket Hog to help you deliver your damage. Glacier offers both vehicles as well, though you’ll need to scrapyard them with more conventional methods. So, it’s a bit like choosing between cat poop and dog poop: either way, both options kinda stink.
  • You might also consider Holdout, the only map that will work for you in Arcade as well: though most weapons you spawn with aren’t necessarily suited for taking out Banshees, the map features three turrets that will ventilate the aircraft in short order; just be careful to aim for the nose and not the tail, or you might accidentally ventilate the Covie pilot first and get no Challenge credit for an “enemy vehicle” kill.
  • If attempting that, also remember that in most of the gametypes if you drop the heavy gun, you won’t be able to pick it up again. The Banshees seem to appear based on game time, rather than Waves or match progress, so keep an eye out for them.
  • Meanwhile, of course, avoid Courtyard and Waterfront, since — apart from Dropships — they don’t offer any vehicles at all.
DEMON

Firefight

Special Enemy

Kills

Type: Kills / Special Enemy
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 20-25 minutes (Concurrent with other Firefight Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1200

Kill 30 Elites in Firefight Matchmaking.

Firefight Arcade has rendered the Demon Challenges vastly easier, since games now feature entire Waves of Elites and three Rounds worth of them as well. Still, it won’t be that easy to string up 30 mandibles in a single match — particularly with other players hunting for Dino meat as well — so be prepared for their arrival.

The Heretics actually present more of a threat than the Boss-Wave Elites, since they’re way more in number and rock instant-kill weapons like aimbot-controlled Sniper Rifles; a helluva lot more dangerous than some solo Gold Elite with a melee weapon. Look for Arcade playlists with concussive weapons — Grenade Launchers, FRGs, and of course Concussion Rifles — to bounce their sharpshooters around the map; that’ll actually throw off their aim and extend your lifespan amid the headshot crossfire.

Drop Shield will also buy you some extra time — but make sure to use it where you’ve got other cover as well, since it won’t last long under sustained unlimited Sniper and Rocket fire.

BE THEIR HUCKLEBERRY

Firefight

Special Weapon

Kills

Type: Kills / Special Weapon
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 15-20 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1500

Kill 200 enemies in Firefight Matchmaking with the pistol.

A Challenge tailor-made for Gruntpocalypse: Fire up Score Attack, select Drop Shield as your Armor Ability, then slide past the ammo crate to stock up on rounds. Switch to your Magnum and let the target practice begin. You’ll need two matches for this, but you’ll notch the Challenge before the boom-chucka-boom music of the second game’s final Wave begins. As always, focus on headshots and multikills, since the Firefight medals earn you additional cR.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 01 JUNE 2011

Posted: June 1, 2011 in Firefight, Meta, Multiplayer
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Check in here for strategies on completing the Daily and Weekly Challenges in Halo: Reach. If it’s your first time, click through the About HRD link above; and add comments below if you’ve got a good idea of your own for tackling the Challenges today.

LOL SPARTZ SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

LOL SPARTZ SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: rubberducky296

Yowtch! Wave goodbye to our LOL SPARTZ Comedy Week of Screenshots while you wave goodbye to rubberducky296’s testicles. (Not that you ever said hello to them, but still.) Thanks, Ducks! And thanks to everyone who sent in pix of lulz, ROFLs and Epic Fails; it’s been great fun, and we’ll be sure to do it again. In the meantime, everyone click to enlarge!

Our regular Screenshot Of The Day feature returns tomorrow. So if you haven’t done it yet, yo: Just shoot a pic over to haloreachdaily@live.com, or make a file recommendation to us on XBox (Gamertag: Ender Xer0, with a zero), and we’ll take care of the rest. Remember: we’re not looking for plain Forge art or random pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 100 to 150 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17777

Complete The Pillar Of Autumn on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

You Knew It Was Coming: The final campaign mission on the most freakishly hard difficulty setting. We’re ready; how ’bout you??

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

DAILY CHALLENGES

Summary

TYPES: Kills, Meta, Multikill, Spree
SETTINGS: Firefight, Meta, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 30-40 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 6500

FIRE WHEN READY

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 15-20 minutes (Concurrent with Three Dog Fight Challenge)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1500

Kill 50 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking.



Ooh! A Grifball team photo! Screenshot by IIITiNyFuRyIII of the New Mombasa Lions. Roar! (You’ll notch this Challenge in just one or two games, and be able to score your Three Dog Fight Triple-Kill Challenge (see below) at the same time. If the Lions don’t eat the three dogs, that is.)

A SIMPLE SPREE

Firefight

Spree

Type: Spree
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Earn any spree in Firefight Matchmaking.

Actually, it would be more of a challenge to complete a Firefight match WITHOUT a Spree. Kill 10 Covies without dying and you’ve got a Spree. Kill only five, but with a Hammer, Sword or Shottie, and you’ve got a Spree. Or a Laser. Or a Sniper. Or Stickies. Or…well, okay. You get the idea.

LINKED UP WITH BUNGIE.NET

Multiplayer

Type: Meta
Setting: Meta / Multiplayer
Difficulty: Retarded
Time: 1 minute
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 3000

Link your Gamertag with Bungie.Net and play a game in Halo: Reach Matchmaking.

This is Bungie‘s way of telling you that its Website is up and running again. (Hey, wouldn’t it have been funny if this Challenge had appeared yesterday? Okay, maybe not so funny. But still pretty funny.)

Some people report problems making this Challenge click. If you’re a new Bungie.net user and have difficulty getting it to flash, you might need to do something that only a registered account could, such as change your nameplate; that’ll trigger the Challenge completion, and the bonus along with it.

Also, keep in mind: the game awards you the bonus the moment you enter a Matchmaking game, so it gives you the cRedits immediately rather than in your post-game report. People sometimes don’t pay attention to their cRedits beforehand, and don’t realize they’ve already received the bonus when the end cRedits roll.

THREE DOG FIGHT

Multiplayer

Single Match

Triple Kill

Type: Multikill
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-15 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Earn a Triple-Kill in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Tip Of The Day

Before the rise of Grifball, this used to actually be challenging; now, a couple of well-timed hammer swings will net you a Trip pretty regularly.

If you’re not a fan of the orange dude with the bomb — well, OK, you’re adopted, so that explains it — you’ve still got a number of options that’ll skitch the odds in your favor:

  • Start with Rumble Pit. More enemies on smaller maps = more Multikills.
  • Vote for gametypes on small, tight maps that encourage enemies to converge into single flashpoints: King Of The Hill and Oddball, for example. Spam grenades into the hotzone, followed by DMR or Magnum headshots and the occasional coup-de-grace melee rush. Avoid the area yourself, however; no sense adding your corpse to the fiesta.
  • Big Team Battle and Invasion also offer prime Multikill targets: a warthog with a gunner and passenger, or a pack of enemies in the unlock zone of an Invasion phase, for example. Your main problem will not be enemies, but allies: with so many players on each side, you’ll have considerable competition to actually score the kills.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 31 MAY 2011

Posted: May 31, 2011 in Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Check in here for strategies on completing the Daily and Weekly Challenges in Halo: Reach. If it’s your first time, click through the About HRD link above; and add comments below if you’ve got a good idea of your own for tackling the Challenges today.

LOL SPARTZ SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

LOL SPARTZ SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: ender4449

Hey, toaster, you probably shouldn’t have destroyed the 12 Colonies of Humanity, even if it meant we got to watch Tricia Helfer in a red dress for the next five seasons. Ah well — you can’t trust those frakkin’ Cylons. LOL Spartz Screenshots Of The Day today courtesy of clan-brother ender4449, who as an Ender can’t be trusted either. Thanks again, Niner! Everyone, click to enlarge!

We’re running an entire Comedy Week of laughs, lulz and ROFLs here on the Pillar Of Awesome. Got a funny screenshot of Epic Fail or overall Halo hilarity? Send it in! We’ll run ’em for the rest of the month or until we run out. Just shoot it over to haloreachdaily@live.com, or make a file recommendation to us on XBox (Gamertag: Ender Xer0, with a zero), and we’ll take care of the rest. Remember: we’re not looking for plain Forge art or random pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 100 to 150 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17777

Complete The Pillar Of Autumn on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

You Knew It Was Coming: The final campaign mission on the most freakishly hard difficulty setting. We’re ready; how ’bout you??

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

DAILY CHALLENGES

Summary

TYPES: Assists, Kills, Score, Special Weapon
SETTINGS: Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 85-115 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 6000

ONE SPARTAN ARMY

Firefight

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Kill 100 enemies in Firefight Matchmaking.

You’ll notch this in a single Round of Score Attack — we prefer Gruntpocalypse, but 2X Score Attack will work just as well. You’ll pocket your Challenge cRedits just after the boom-chucka-boom music of the final Wave fires up; you won’t be able to work on your Support Structure Challenge (see below) at the same time, since Assists require a partner, but that one’s a huge hassle and you’ll clear this so quickly it’ll be worth it to do it separately.

SUPPORT STRUCTURE

Firefight

Assists

Type: Assists
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 60-90 minutes
Value: ★★☆
Reward: 2250

Earn 30 assists in Firefight Matchmaking.

This is actually MUCH harder than it sounds. The underlying problem: most Firefight enemies — Grunts and Jackals — go down so easy that it’s difficult to coordinate an Assist without killing them outright. Even shattering a Jackal’s energy buckler with a plasma burst won’t register, since it’s not calculated as actual “damage” to the enemy.

Complicating matters: the sheer number of enemies, compared to your number of allies. An Assist requires at least 40% damage to the target’s combined Shields and Health, then for a teammate to finish the kill within five seconds of your last strike. With Covies swarming the entire map, it’s less likely an ally will be firing on the same target, at the same time, as you.

When tougher enemies do arrive fashionably late, they’re often too few or too resilient to rack up too many Assists. A Hunter, for example, often involves several teammates ripping into him at once, making it less likely any single player will strip off more than 40% before the beast goes down.

Plasma Pistol: The Assist's Assistant.

Brutes represent more solid candidates for Assist-farming: a steady DMR stream will flick off their helmets, setting them up for a teammate’s coup-de-grace. The problem isn’t so much that standard Brutes don’t know how to put their hats back on; it’s that most don’t carry regenerative Shields, so you won’t know how much damage one’s taken already. Plus, higher-ranking Brutes require more setup, making it difficult to gauge when you’ve crossed the 40% mark.

  • With all that in mind, your best bet remains to target Elites, crashing their Shields with an overcharged Plasma Pistol so that a teammate can close the deal. The Dinos — while otherwise remarkably crafty — for some reason stand and howl when they lose their Shields like a pro wrestler who just got whupped by the guy with the folding chair; so, your ally should have an easy headshot.
  • The problem eases up once the Mythic Skull powers on, since that doubles enemy health, including for even the lowliest DMR fodder; but — because they don’t have regenerating shields — it’ll still be difficult to gauge when you’ve peeled a Grunt or Jackal by 40%. So, better to keep steady with what’s worked for you, rather than shift strategies in the middle of the match.
  • Firefight Arcade now offers a candy store of options for notching Assists; we prefer Nadefight, which arms you with an EMP pipe for bursting enemy shields, though splash-damage weapon games like FRGfight and Fistfight‘s Hammer will catch some assists in your wake as well. Since Arcade doesn’t feature dropships until the bonus round, you’ll lose the chance to rack up a string of Assists off their turrets, but it’s a worthwhile tradeoff.
  • And, more than for any other Challenge, get friends to join you if possible; coordinating with a partner will cut both your Challenge times, taking turns flashing an Elite’s shields while the other readies a headshot. It’ll be the one time when the Firefight playlist actually becomes cooperative.

    • POINTS PYRAMID

    Campaign

    Scoring

    Type: Score
    Setting: Campaign
    Difficulty: Easy
    Time: 10 minutes
    Value: ★★★★★
    Reward: 1500

    Score 25,000 points on any Campaign mission.

    Yikes, 25,000 points….seems like a lot. Guess what? Where we’re going, it won’t make any difference.

    Tip Of The Day

    Fire up New Alexandria, which starts you in a Falcon and pits you against enemy vehicles, worth far more points than ordinary Covies. Then switch on five Skulls: Tough Luck, Catch, Famine, Thunderstorm and Tilt. None of these affect aerial combat, but still register as major point multipliers. And don’t worry about the ground combat, either: We’re not getting out of the chopper.

    Play on whatever difficulty you find comfortable, though harder ratings will attract enemy aircraft more rapidly; Heroic is likely a good balance between enemy numbers and how tough they fight, though go ahead and load up Legendary if you’re a solid pilot who’s good on the stick.

    Ignore Phantoms and concentrate fire on the Banshees; though the transport ships score massive points, they don’t represent an aerial threat, they’re heavily armored, and the Banshees will quickly swarm you to protect their troops. Just pick off the Banshee flights as they approach — you’ll hit 25K in almost no time at all.

    A few pointers for your Points:

    1. Look out for rooftop Shades as they fire into the sky; if one catches you by surprise, you won’t have much chance to defend or evade.
    2. Keep an eye on your Falcon as well; you can land and call in a fresh one at any time, so no point storming into a dogfight with your chopper already trailing fire.
    3. If the Banshees seem to have better things to do, simply coast toward your current Objective and cut loose on rooftop enemies — you’ll score some points, and enemy aircraft will take notice quickly enough.
    EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISTRIBUTION

    Multiplayer

    Special Weapon

    Kills

    Type: Kills / Special Weapon
    Setting: Multiplayer
    Difficulty: Easy
    Time: 5 minutes
    Value: ★★★★★
    Reward: 1250

    Earn 3 kills with Ordnance Weapons in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

    So, what the hell is an Ordnance Weapon? Well, you know them better as the Rockets, Laser, FRG, Concussion Rifle, Grenade and Plasma Launchers — pretty much what we lovingly refer to as Power Weapons.

    Before the Action Sack playlist update, you’d actually need to go out of your way for an ordnance weapon, fighting off enemies and teammates alike for the chance to score the Rocket Launcher (as if that was different than any other day). Now? You’ve got a salad bar of options: Dino Blasters, Splockets, Rocket CTF, BOOM! Ball, the works. Play any of ’em for five minutes and you’ve got the Challenge.

    HALO REACH WEEKLY CHALLENGE: THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN LASO

    Posted: May 30, 2011 in Campaign
    Tags: , , , ,
    0

    WEEKLY CHALLENGE

    THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN: LASO

    Campaign

    Legendary

    Skulls On

    Type: Completion
    Setting: Campaign
    Difficulty: Hard
    Time: 100 to 150 minutes
    Value: ★★★★
    Reward: 17777

    Complete The Pillar Of Autumn on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

    Tip Of The Week

    You Knew It Was Coming: The final campaign mission on the most freakishly hard difficulty setting. We’re ready; how ’bout you??

    As with most of the LASO Challenges, we have our standard warning — you’re probably never going to do this alone, and if you can handle a Legendary level by yourself without dying, you don’t need any advice from HRD. So, while it’s true that the game amps up the difficulty for more players in Co-op mode, you’ll want the three more guns at your side; otherwise, it’ll just be a very long day of level Reloads.

    OK then. The mission’s much too long for a detailed walkthrough here, so just as we did with the previous Campaign missions we’re going to turn the microphone over to the Mythic Master — the jacket-strapped lunatic who invented the SLASO runs, Tyrant himself — and his in-depth guide posted on Halo.Bungie.Org, where the HRD Challenge Report written by Associate Editor Foxman FX appears each day.

    Meanwhile, the LASO and L.D. (Legendary Difficulty) Challenges have cycled into the regular rotation so often that we’ve gone and created a permanent standing page of all of our standard strategies for tackling the game on its hardest setting, no matter which Challenge or part of the Campaign. Check it out!

    And, likewise, make sure to check out our Video Of the Week, which features a full-on Mythic runthrough of the mission, done solo and with the Blind Skull on too. It’s a bit long — about 55 minutes — but well worth the watch if you get frustrated. Special Thanks to SHADOWSTRIKE1 for uploading his crazy accomplishment.

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