HALO REACH DAILY: 09 DECEMBER 2010

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.

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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: chancedabomb

Hey kids! Eat your Plutonium Wheaties every morning and you too can glow like a Spartan!

Screenshot Of The Day this morning courtesy of chancedabomb — thanks, chance! Everyone, click to enlarge! (Legal Notice: Don’t actually eat plutonium.)

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 pix from the Internet; it should be a screenshot of YOU!

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

• TYPES: Assists, Kills, Killstyle, Score, Special Weapon
• SETTINGS: Firefight
• AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Grind
• TOTAL TIME: 60-90 minutes
• AVERAGE VALUE: ★★★★★
• TOTAL CREDITS: 7250

Perhaps we neglected to tell Bungie that Firefightpalooza is HRD’s least favorite of all paloozas. The good news is that, in a rarity, you’ll be able to get your palooza on in all four Daily Challenges simultaneously — so at least you’ll get paid well for your time in the moshpit.

ONE SPARTAN ARMY

Firefight

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 60-90 minutes (Concurrent with other Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 2000

Kill 400 enemies in Firefight Matchmaking.

Though it’s easy enough to get your Gruntpocalypse on for a four-game 400 kill-count, you’re already going to stockpile most of these points during the other Daily Challenges, and may even blow past the mark without noticing. To save time, take on the other ones first, then simply Grunt your way through any leftovers.

It should be noted that Grab Bag’s Firefight Vs. mode will register for this and any other Challenge today — ironic, since you can actually notch One Spartan Army points by killing them as an Elite — but your score will be so paltry compared to a Gruntpocalypse in Score Attack that it won’t even remotely compare. So, if you’re still up for some Firefight after today’s four Challenges — and if you are, what the hell is wrong with you? — you can spend the rest of the day in Vs., but steer clear of it until you pocket your bonus cRedits.

SUPPORTING ROLE

Firefight

Assists

Type: Assists
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 60-90 minutes (Concurrent with other Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1100

Earn 20 assists in Firefight Matchmaking.

This is actually much, much harder than it sounds. But, since you can work all four Daily Challenges at once, the Bungie-sized cRedit bonus for the day makes it more than worth your time.

The 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 is that there are so many of them — an Assist requires at least 40% damage to the target’s combined Shields and Health, and then for a teammate finish the kill within five seconds of your last strike. With Covies swarming the map, it’s less likely an ally will be firing on the same one, 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 all 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 remove their helmets, setting them up for a teammate’s coup-de-grace. The problem isn’t so much that 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 for a teammate to close the deal. Elites — while otherwise remarkably crafty — for some reason stop and howl when they lose their Shields like a drag queen who missed the wig sale at Macy’s, giving an ally 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.

You can also steal cheap Assists throughout the match by targeting a Phantom’s main gun: taking it out registers a kill, so damaging it — a single sniper shot, or several with the DMR — will generate an Assist; you can even take care of it as the Dropship approaches, before it empties its troops, so you won’t have a Wave of Covies firing on you. With three Rounds of play now in Firefight, that’s 30 Dropships; more than enough to notch the Challenge.

And, by all means, go in with a friend if possible; coordinating with a partner on microphone will cut down on 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, POINTS

Firefight

Scoring

Type: Score
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 60-90 minutes (Concurrent with other Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 2500

Score 20,000 points in a Firefight Matchmaking game.

Despite that this is a Scoring Challenge, Score Attack is not your best bet here: under the new Firefight setup, it remains only a one-Round game, so even a Gruntpocalypse will likely not net 20K, no matter how skilled you are at headshots or multikills.

Instead, load up a Co-op Three-Round Firefight, and vote for a match that features vehicles as a “map hazard” (as they’re called in the game settings) — Wraiths, Banshees and even Ghosts will register massive points, far more than even the most powerful Covies. Beachhead easily represents your best option: multiple Wraiths, Ghosts and even a Rocket Hog tucked into the corner for when you’ve got a joyride-friendly partner.

The gametype itself won’t make much difference, however; each offers advantages, and three Rounds of Covies can deliver enough points no matter how you kill them.

• Rocketfight represents your quickest shortcut to points — especially while Jetpacking, raining fire from above onto enemy waves as they unload from Dropships. Remember, though, your teammates will do the same thing, so don’t come late to the party. Also remember that your Launcher is not a crotch rocket and become cocky: Many Boss enemies, like Brute Chieftans, can shake off two missiles to the face before shoving a Hammer up your ass while you reload, so always lead or follow with grenades to finish them off.
• Sniperfight gives you more opportunity to pick and choose enemies, so concentrate on big-ticket leaders first, even if it means emptying an entire clip to reach your killshot; you’ll still score more points than if you had simply unloaded into a pack of Jackals or Grunts.
  
  

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

• Classic Firefight features both Rockets and Snipers as part of the Ordinance Drop, but if you’re lucky enough to snare the Target Locator, resist the urge to Killionaire a clutch of Covies and instead lock onto a Wraith: it’ll napalm the vehicle — scoring you major points — along with any stray Covies with the misfortune to be nearby. The Locator’s Red Ring Of Death will even follow a vehicle once it’s locked, so be patient and make a clean shot.
• The main drawback — limited to today’s Challenges — is that unlike Rocket or Sniperfight, a standard Firefight won’t feature unlimited ammo. Because of the way Reach game settings work, unlimited ammo for your Sniper and Rockets also means endless rounds for any weapon you pick up, which becomes remarkably useful when tackling the Pink Mist Challenge (see below) at the same time. So, if you haven’t registered your Needle kills yet, stick with Sniper and Rocketfight until your Supercombines are done.

THAT PINK MIST

Firefight

Special Weapon

Type: Special Weapon / Killstyle
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 60-90 minutes (Concurrent with other Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1650

Kill 20 enemies with a Supercombine from the Needler or Needle Rifle in Firefight Matchmaking.

Ah, the beloved Needler. An an unusual weapon ever since designers buffed it for Halo 2, with a Supercombine effect from needles microbursting after they hit; pin enough into a target, and the burst sets off a chain reaction for an instant-kill explosion. At the same time, though, this only works if enough hit before the first burst; stagger your shots, and you can empty an entire clip without ever triggering critical mass.

The effect also works differently on each class of enemy. Six needles will Supercombine a standard Grunt or Jackal; but Elites wear shields, so it requires seven to strip their protection before six more take them out. (And let’s not even get started on Hunters.) But, at the rate the needles fire, it’s not like you can really count them anyway.

The DMR Wannabe.

The Needle Rifle, meanwhile, Supercombines after only three shots against an unshielded opponent; but, against an opponent without shields, why not just take a headshot and be done with it?

That said, it’s still pretty easy to Supercombine — particularly with the pistol, which features a homing reticule that aim-assists even stray shots while the circle stays red. This also allows needles to bend around corners a bit, so you can dispatch an enemy even after you’ve lost line-of-sight.

Keep in mind, though, this actually works against you when firing into a pack: your reticule will flicker from one Covie to the next — especially as they maneuver under fire — meaning you might not successfully Supercombine any of them. It’s also a medium-distance weapon at best, so you’ll have to wade dangerously close to enemy fire rather than the much more sensible Needle Rifle strategy of picking off opponents from range.

The Halo 1 punchline, now packing some punch.

Also redlining the suck meter: in Firefight matchmaking, you don’t ever actually spawn with a Needle weapon. You need to recover one from the field, and especially with the smaller gun, the automatic fire empties its clip at an alarmingly rapid rate — so stick with Rocket or Sniperfight, with its no-suck unlimited ammo, until you have this Challenge in pocket.

Whew! Already seems like a pain in the ass, right? But wait, there’s more. In Firefight, most enemies — Grunts and Jackals — usually hit the dirt with remarkably little effort; in fact, until the Mythic Skull powers up, it’s pretty damn difficult to Supercombine a Grunt without accidentally killing him first. (Grunt leaders will sometimes hang on until the blast; standard Grunts, not so much.) So, unless you’ve got an open, uninterrupted shot, you might shoot them to death inadvertently before you hit the Supercombine.

With all that in mind, then:

• Recover both a Needler and Needle Rifle early on. Use the smaller weapon for close-quarter Supercombines and the Needle Rifle to target opponents at range who themselves carry needle weapons. A scattering of Grunts will have armed themselves with basic Needlers, while Jackals remain otaku for the rifle version, so you won’t have trouble finding these.
• Elites, meanwhile, can be wily as hell in dodging fire; and, as noted above, they’re rocking Energy Shields, so you’d likely need a reload before a Supercombine even becomes possible. If you hit a Wave of them, consider ditching one of your Needle weapons for a secondary plasma pistol; flash their shields with an overcharge burst, then finish with the needle spray. As noted above, the Elite will stand and howl in place like Darth Annakin at the end of Sith, making him an easy, stationary target.
• Vote for wider, open maps, since enemies tend to spread out, giving you an opening to farm for Needle weapons without drawing fire from every Covenant on Reach. (As mentioned above, Beachhead’s at the top of your list, so you can parlay several Challenges at once.) Plus you’ll be able to cut loose with an uninterrupted stream (Needler) or three steady shots (Rifle) without wandering around in the middle of a plasma crossfire.

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WEEKLY CHALLENGE

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NOT IN THE FACE

Campaign

Skull On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-15 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 4000

Complete any Campaign mission on Heroic in 30 minutes with Black Eye on.

Tip Of The Day

Probably the easiest Weekly Challenge you’ll see in months — after all, the Challenge itself says that it won’t take more than 30 minutes. (And, trust us, it won’t even take that.) After a couple of Weekly Challenges that actually took all week, this one’ll take less time than a single game of Firefight or Invasion. Cash your cRedits, friend, and don’t complain.

Okay, only one Skull on here, so let’s take a look: Black Eye disables your shield recharge, unless and until you melee an opponent. A bit retarded, yeah? OK, so it doesn’t make much sense, but it’s been around a long time; kind of like Ozzie Osbourne, neckties, and nipples on men. It is what it is, so don’t ask.

So, the only real difference is that, like a teenage boy, you’ll need to smack a Grunt every now and again to freshen yourself up; other than that, it’s a typical Heroic Campaign level.

Decide ahead of time if you intend to go in solo or co-op. If flying solo, your best bet will be to take the Midnight Run on Nightfall. (Never done the Midnight Run? Oh, you’re gonna like this.)

• After assassinating the initial Elite at the opening of the mission, you’ll Sprint your way through almost the entire level, skirting the perimeter of the map, meleeing an occasional Grunt or Jackal as you go with only a small amount of gunfire when you reach the bridge to Powerhouse. There’s an absolute GEEEnius maneuver with the forklift (yes, the forklift!), and you won’t even encounter the Hunters at all.
• Here’s a video of the complete route — the guy here finishes the level in five minutes, and that’s with ALL Skulls on; but even if Forky doesn’t immediately cooperate, you should still wrap it in under ten.

On co-op, the Challenge becomes even easier. You’ve got a couple of solid options, but we prefer Winter Contingency. As the Campaign’s first playable level, it’s also by design the easiest, and the open-ended geography allows players to bypass most encounters entirely.

• In fact, after the first faceoff with the Covenant, players can Sprint past the next skirmish, off the small cliff that leads to the Warthogs, then drive directly to the firefight at the last compound before the Falcons arrive; other than the occasional bloodthirsty Moa, you’ll hardly encounter any gunplay at all. (You can even skip most of the first clash, if you’re quick about it.)
• The Falcons take you straight to another firefight at the final building of the level. From there, you need only dispatch a few butch Elites and their entourage to reach the level-ending cutscene.