REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 13 APRIL 2011

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.

Halo Reach Daily is dedicated to my Dad, who taught me what it means to take on a Challenge.

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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: LeGy P L U T O

Screenshot Of The Day today courtesy of LeGy P L U T O, with an amazingly cool tribute to color and shape. (Yes, we just watched a documentary on Foo Fighters.) Thanks, Pluto! 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!

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Completion, Kills, Scoring, Spree, Zero Deaths
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 60-90 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★☆
TOTAL CREDITS: 6700

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: LIGHT FARE

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 nearly all 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).

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: POINTS, POINTS

POINTS, POINTS

Firefight

Single Match

Scoring

Type: Score
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 2000

Score 40,000 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 40K, no matter how skilled you are at headshots or multikills.

Instead, load up a standard 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.

• Rocket and FRGFight represents your quickest shortcuts to points — especially while Jetpacking, raining plasma/fire from above onto enemy waves. 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 full missiles clips 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.

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: MOSTLY AT NIGHT

MOSTLY AT NIGHT

Campaign

Legendary

Zero Deaths

Type: Completion / Zero Deaths
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1700

Complete Nightfall on Legendary without dying.

Wow, gone are the days when Bungie awarded 5000 cR for this very Challenge; they’ve finally dialed into the fact that so many of these Campaign Completion Challenges can be pocketed with the Midnight Run. If you’re a regular reader of this site, you know what’s coming; if not, click on the standing link at the top of this page for a full description, or just watch the video clip below:

If you’ve never done it before, you’ll probably hit a few crash-and-burns before you thread the needle; the good news is that you’re most likely to meet your fail at the level’s opening, so you won’t lose much of anything in a restart. (Just make sure to Save And Quit, rather than a reload, since the Challenge can be twitchy this way.) And, if you’re struggling, pay close attention to where the Runner hits Sprint and where he pauses for a break; when it comes to outracing Legendary, timing can be everything.

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: KILLING FRENZY

KILLING FRENZY

Multiplayer

Single Match

Spree

Kills

Type: Kills / Spree
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 45-60 minutes
Value: ★★★☆
Reward: 2000

Earn a Killing Frenzy in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

Yeah, like we really needed a Daily Challenge to make us hunt for Killing Sprees. We all score them pretty frequently, though Killing Frenzy is perhaps one you’ve nailed many times before, but not with any sense of planning or regularity. The fact is, there’s no real shortcut here: Either you’re good, or lucky, or both, but it’s not a Challenge that will simply fall into your pocket.

However, despite that this may be your longshot Challenge of the day, 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 10 kills for this to register, and you 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 particularly good at camping; if you are, you’ll rack up Sprees, 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.
  

  The best way to destroy a Banshee: Turn into Godzilla.

• Many players who score a Killing Frenzy do so in the Banshee, particularly when griefing a team populated by some combination of quitters, betrayers or AFKs; and we’ve all been bent over by that piece of sunshine at some point or another. The fact is, though — and you may not want to admit it, but it’s true — unless you’re a really good pilot, climbing into the cockpit will just turn you into a soon-to-explode bullet magnet long before you hit a 10-killstreak. If, however, you do insist on Banshee-bombing: run up a few kills, then ditch the bird once enemy fire has reduced you to a flying purple potato. At that point, the vehicle has become more dangerous to you than any enemies you might target.
• Other Big Team Objective games also remain great for gathering Sprees: 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 some 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.

REACH WEEKLY CHALLENGE: NOT LOUGH, HIGH

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WEEKLY CHALLENGE

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NOT LOUGH, HIGH

Campaign

Scoring

Type: Scoring
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 20 to 30 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 7777

Earn a score of 80,000 in any mission in the Reach Campaign.

Yikes, 80,000 points….seems like a lot!

Guess what? Where we’re going, it won’t make a 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 80K in short order.

A few pointers:

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.