HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 02 JUNE 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.

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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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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!

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WEEKLY CHALLENGE

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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 ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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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: 31 MAY 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.

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LOL SPARTZ SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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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!

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WEEKLY CHALLENGE

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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 ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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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.

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 14 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: player1josh46

Screenshot Of The Day today courtesy of friend-of-the-blog player1josh46, who you can find tackling the Daily Challenges every morning the moment they go live. Thanks, Josh! 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, Killstyle, Spree
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Firefight
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy / Grind
TOTAL TIME: 25-30 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 6125

One of the simplest Challenge days EVER. Enjoy!

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 11 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.

NOTE: NEW WEEKLY CHALLENGE!

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK: MANEX MONDAY

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Something different for our Video Of The Week this time around: our friends over at the ManeX Gaming Channel on YouTube take us on a spin through one of the new Action Sack gametypes, along with commentary about all the new games you’ll find in the revived fan-fave playlist — something we should have done a long time ago but were just too damn lazy. Everyone, check it out!

The MXG lads provide 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 their Channel to get notified of updates, or follow them on Twitter here. Thanks again, guys!

Our regular Screenshot Of The Day feature 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!

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Kills, Killstyle, Special Enemy, Special Weapon
SETTINGS: Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Grind
TOTAL TIME: 45-60 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 5575

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 05 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: RK4N3

Screenshot Of The Day today courtesy of RK4N3, who waves “hi” to his Mom after assassinating an Elite General. Thanks, Arcane! 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 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, Special Weapon
SETTINGS: Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Grind
TOTAL TIME: 3 to 3.5 hours
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★☆
TOTAL CREDITS: 6975

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 31 MARCH 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.

NOTE: NEW SPECIAL SCREENSHOT WEEK!

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CLASSIC SACK SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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CLASSIC SACK SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: VS Beejer

CLASSIC SACK Screenshot Of The Day today courtesy of VS Beejer, who demonstrates how frikkin’ AWESOME it looks trailing Power flame while wearing Inclement Weather armor. Thanks, VS! Everyone, click to enlarge!

We’re running pix from the new Classic and Action Sack playlists all week. So, 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!

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Kills, Killstyle, Points
SETTINGS: Firefight
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Grind
TOTAL TIME: 25-35 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 4850

CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE SPECIAL: THE WINNERS!

CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE SPECIAL: Save Santa's Workshop!

Heya Everyone! Thanks for your patience throughout the day, because NOW… we can finally announce the winners of our first-ever Daily Challenge Special: Defending Santa’s Workshop on Christmas!

Santa has honored Bungie’s favorite number by rewarding seven Spartans with special Christmas gifts, listed below. (Though Santa doesn’t know about such things, they’re all approximately the same value, yeah?) Winners have been selected at random from players who successfully completed the Challenge, and are listed alphabetically. Prizes were likewise randomly assigned to winners.

The winners are:

Cupcake Of DOOM:
• XBox Live 3 month Gold Membership
Disciple N2k:
• 1600 Microsoft Points
MaDmOsChE:
• XBox Live 3 month Gold Membership
Molten Slowa:
• 1600 Microsoft Points
Morpheus414:
• 1600 Microsoft Points
Shieldziee:
• BradyGames Halo: Reach Guide, hardcover Legendary Edition
uhh oh oreo:
• BradyGames Halo: Reach Guide, hardcover Legendary Edition

And, as announced, an extra-special bonus gift goes to the first Spartan who completed the Challenge with the most confetti thrown. That Spartan, with an Amazing, 120-headshot Perfect-Score game, is:

SaiyanHeretic:
• XBox Live 12 month Gold Membership

Ho ho ho! Merry, um, post-Christmas!

Congrats, Saiyan! That’ll cover you all the way through next Christmas!

All gifts will be shipped during the first week of the New Year. Thanks once again to everyone for playing; we couldn’t possibly list all the players who submitted entries here, but we’ll reveal this was a test-run for something we have slated to launch Jan. 1 — and, even if you didn’t receive a special gift, your courage under fire has not gone unnoticed. Credit for it will carry over, so if you like you can start this new feature already ahead of the game.

(No, we can’t announce what this feature is yet, but expect official word sometime this week. It’s incredibly cool, you’re gonna like it a lot.)

Before we go, however, we decided that a few additional Spartans deserved special recognition for their efforts. Though it comes with no gift other than pride in accomplishment (which is its own gift, yeah?), we now list our staff-selected….

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• wraps52, who wrapped the Challenge with a near-perfect 119 headshots

• MaDmOsChE, who, in addition to receiving a gift above, likewise score 119 shots of confetti, and

• swooshdave, who not only scored a hilarious Killtastrophe, but was cool enough to record a clip of it for us. So, we’ll roll credits on the awards ceremony over a video of the accomplishment, complete with upcoming-holiday fireworks.

Have a safe and Happy New Year, everyone!

–Ender Xer0

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REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 25 DECEMBER 2010 CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!

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.

* * * MERRY CHRISTMAS! * * *

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ENDERTORIAL

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HAPPY HALO-DAYS TO EVERYONE! Hope it’s been a fun and exciting Christmas season. As we announced yesterday, because of the holiday we won’t be featuring our regular Daily Update today.

BUT, WE HAVE SOMETHING EVEN BETTER!

It’s our first-ever HRD Daily Challenge, an extra-special Fifth one added onto Bungie’s other four. Complete it successfully, and you won’t get imaginary, space-buck Bungie cRedits; you’ll get the chance to win real, actual prizes bought with cold HRD cash! We told you yesterday how much we appreciate your support during the site’s first few months; now here’s our chance to show it!

So, check out the HRD Christmas Challenge contest below, and keep in mind the most important rule: Have a good time! Winning entries that do not have fun will be disqualified.

Merry Christmas!

Ender Xer0
* * *

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CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE SPECIAL

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CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE SPECIAL: Save Santa's Workshop!

SAVE SANTA’S WORKSHOP

Headshot

Firefight

Zero Deaths

Type: Completion / Zero Deaths / Killstyle
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★★
Reward: Christmas Spirit (and prize drawings)

Save Santa’s Workshop without dying. (BONUS: Score as many headshots as possible.)

With Santa Claus away during Christmas delivering presents, evil Dwarves have stormed Santa’s Workshop at the North Pole, intent on killing all of the helpless and exhausted Elves. Their only hope: YOU!!

Here’s what you need to do to Save Santa’s Workshop, including the chance to win special presents from the Big Guy, such as BradyGame Strategy Guides, Gold Membership cards and free Microsoft Points.

1. Go into Score Attack Matchmaking on Glacier (the North Pole!) anytime today, Dec. 25, before the new Challenges update for Sunday
2. Load up Gruntpocalypse, in which 120 Dwarves will storm the Workshop
3. Repel all five Waves, finishing the game, without ever needing to be brought back to life by Christmas Magic (zero deaths / no respawns)
4. Send us a link to your Game Record, like this one, at haloreachdaily@live.com, anytime before Monday.
5. We’ll review your record to verify that you saved Santa’s Workshop, and enter your Gamertag into the prize drawing. Only one entry per Gamertag, so don’t submit multiple games from the same account! Sorry, no guests.
6. Winners and prizes will be announced Monday, Dec. 27, in the regular HRD Daily Update.

BONUS PRIZE! The Dwarves have been tricked into attacking the Elves by Winter Magic, and they cheer and throw confetti when freed from its spell correctly. The first player who successfully saves the Workshop by freeing the most Dwarves in this way automatically wins a special present from Santa for his good work. (Award goes to player with the most headshots; tie scores go to first player to email the winning Game Report.)

And, just because we know you want to do the regular Bungie Daily and Weekly Challenges today as well, this one will score you the entire Where There’s Smoke… Challenge, as well as notch five more Waves toward your Ride The Wave Weekly! So what are you waiting for, Spartan? Santa needs your help!!

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BROTHERHOOD SCREENSHOTS OF THE WEEK

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BROTHERHOOD SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: Bark At The Moo

Our final Brotherhood Screenshot Of The Day this week courtesy of Bark At The Moo (far right), who along with his allies (from left to right) x 37 Stitchez x, Noh Wai and BigPimpn2113, suddenly make us want to listen to the Beatles album HELP! (Not that these guys would need any help; they look like they can kick your ass.) Everyone, click to enlarge!

Thanks to everyone who sent in Screenshots for our special Christmas Brotherhood week. If you didn’t make it on to the Front Page, it’s only because we didn’t have room to run them all, and we’re hanging on to them to run during our regular Screenshot Of The Day feature.

As usual, 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!

In the meantime, as promised, here’s a replay of all the special Screenshots that ran on our Front Page this week. Thanks again to everyone for sending them in!

BROTHERHOOD SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: x Hells Harp x

BROTHERHOOD SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: ODST Alpha

BROTHERHOOD SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: KillaMox

BROTHERHOOD SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: Sliderz105

Click to enlarge all of them!

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WEEKLY CHALLENGE

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Firefight

Type: Completion
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 180-200 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 4000

Complete 100 Waves in Firefight Matchmaking.

Remember that nightmare grind from early October, when you had to complete 50 Firefight Rounds in a single week? It had been the most tedious Weekly Challenge until last week’s 200 Multikill task. So now Bungie wants 100 instead of 50? Yikes!

Well, as the Hitchhiker’s Guide says on its cover: Don’t Panic. These are merely Waves, and there’s five of ’em in every Round. So, play Gruntpocalypse in Score Attack and you’ll collect five; finish a standard Firefight and you’ll net 16. (Yes, you notch one for the Bonus Round; no, you don’t need to survive.)

That works out to only six full Firefight games, plus part of a seventh to clean up the remainder — Jiminy Christmas, that’s EASY, even this late in the week. In fact, chances are, the Challenges so far this week have already perched you narrowly close to to completion, if you haven’t finished it already.

You can even tear through the entire Challenge today — the HRD Christmas Challenge will net you five Waves for starters, and time’s running short — the Challenge ends tomorrow, so get on it!

25 OCTOBER 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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DAILY CHALLENGES

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FIRE WHEN READY

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Reward: 500

Kill 50 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

An easy Challenge that you’ll score simply by playing enough. Head into Rumble Pit or Multiteam and vote for an Objective game on a tight, smaller map: The kills will come fast and loose, along with your 500 bonus cRedits. You can also work your Aggressive Negotiations Challenge (see below) at the same time, and might even complete it before this if you’re lucky. Progress toward your Weekly Challenge (see below) likewise remains an added bonus.

ONE SPARTAN ARMY

Firefight

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Reward: 4000

Kill 400 enemies in Firefight Matchmaking.

Another simple Challenge you can pocket just by playing enough, though you can save time using the right game mode. Gruntpocalypse in Score Attack represents your best bet: you can dispatch Grunts quickly, and without allies to score them out from under you. Focus on headshots, since Firefight offers additional cR for medals earned.

A typical Gruntpocalypse game sends out about 115 of the cute little tykes to their doom, though you actually won’t be able to score all of them: Grunts will occasionally kill each other by accident, explode in a suicide plasma rush or not complete the Great Journey at all if your game timer runs out. So, expect to wrap this in four matches total, though you might need a fifth to clean up any stray kills.

SHORT, CONTROLLED BURSTS

Campaign

Special Weapon

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Reward: 500

Kill 50 enemies with automatic weapons in the Campaign today.

Yet another simple Challenge that you’ll notch in no time. You can load up any level on Normal that starts you with an Assault Rifle — Winter Contingency and Pillar of Autumn seem two obvious choices — though Spikers, Needlers, and Plasma Rifles and Repeaters also qualify as autoweapons, so it’s easy enough to swap out for the right gun on any of the Campaign missions.

For the truly impatient, enter Winter Contingency at Rally Point Bravo, which drops you directly into a courtyard firefight. If you fail to register 50 kills before you and your fellow Spartans clear the deck, simply reload the level — your kill-count will keep running.

AGGRESSIVE NEGOTIATIONS

Multiplayer

Single Match

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Medium
Reward: 1200

Kill 17 enemies in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

Tip Of The Day

Your most difficult Challenge of the day; but, if you’re coming off the 30-killstreak Like Mike Weekly task that just wrapped, this one’ll actually seem within, um, reach. (Get it? Okay, nevermind.)

The lower kill-count today edges Rumble Pit up to the top of your starting options, since you won’t have to avoid its 25-point Slayer limit, while its smaller, tighter maps put enemies almost constantly within range.

However, because they pit only a timer against you rather than a maximum-kill limit, you still want to prefer Objective gametypes; particularly those — like King Of The Hill or Oddball — which encourage enemies to converge into single flashpoints. Just spam grenades into the hotzone, followed by DMR or Magnum headshots, along with and the occasional coup-de-grace melee rush.

Avoid the area yourself, however; no sense adding your own corpse to the fiesta. Remember, you’re going for kills, not game points, and the Challenge bonus will more than make up for whatever you lose by placing lower in the scoring grid.

Also don’t be afraid to trade double-melees, or to sacrifice yourself for a plasma stick. Again, you’re working your kills, not K/D, and another player’s kill-count won’t end an Objective match any faster.

If you’ve got a friend, then even better: As I’ve said many times, Multiteam is pretty much just Rumble Pit With Partners; you can coordinate your efforts so that your teammate takes down an enemy’s Shields with a melee or plasma burst, setting you up for the easy headshot — and Challenge-point kill.

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WEEKLY CHALLENGE

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ALL IN A WEEK’S WORK

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Reward: 4000

Kill 1,000 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking this week.

Ahh, finally, another Weekly Challenge that’s actually a 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 would be right.

The number 1,000 seems like a towering endcap, attainable only by the truly skilled or truly crazed. The fact remains, however, that you have all week to run your counter up, and it becomes implausible only if you leave it to the very end.

• One thousand kills divides not-so-neatly into 143 kills per day — an eminently manageable number, considering that you’ve already completed Daily Challenges requiring you to register as many as 150 names in the dead-book. Notching that once per day simply turns this into a fifth Daily Challenge, with the payoff for all seven days at the end of the week.
• Also keep in mind: Though we don’t know what they are yet, many of the upcoming Daily Challenges will almost certainly require you to stack Multiplayer bodies, so you’ll be working this Challenge automatically as you wrap up the Dailies during the week. (In fact, two from today allow you to do exactly that.)
• If you want to clear these quickly each day, however, just follow the strategies from today’s Aggressive Negotiations Challenge; along with Fire When Ready, you’ll be able to work all three today at once.
• And, as a final note, if you’d like to see how much time this “fifth Daily Challenge” might add to your Halo gametime, log into your Reach stats page on Bungie.net.
  1. You’ll be able to break down your killrate by each individual playlist; and though there’s not an individual stat for kills-per-game, simply divide your total playlist kills by the number of games you’ve played to find out your average killrate.
  2. Multiply that by the game length for that playlist, and you’ll get an approximate read on how much extra time you might need each day. (You won’t get a truly accurate read, though, since your Total Game number include quits, and the matches themselves likely ended before the timer expired.)
  3. Remember, again, that some new Challenges will take care of that kill-count for you — so you may not end up needing to commit to any extra game time at all.

21 OCTOBER 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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DAILY CHALLENGES

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BE THEIR HUCKLEBERRY

Firefight

Special Weapon

Kills

Type: Kills / Special Weapon
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Reward: 3500

Kill 200 enemies in Firefight Matchmaking with the pistol.

Yes, you read that right. You were their Huckleberry yesterday, and you did such a good job that Bungie wants you to do it again. The difference? Twice as may enemies, and 1,500 more credits! If you thought yesterday was the fastest Spartan scrip you’ve ever made, Thursday is about to piss all over Wednesday.

Even better, you’ll be able to work at least two other Daily Challenges at the same time (Blastin’ And Relaxin’ and The House Of Blue Leaves), and yet another one (Above The Law) if you’re lucky — meaning the rare chance to tackle all four at once.

As with yesterday’s Huckleberry, simply head into Score Attack and veto your map options until you’re offered Gruntpocalypse on Corvette. Select Drop Shield for your Armor Ability, then slide past the weapons crate to stock up on rounds. Head up to one of the side platforms, switch to your Magnum and let the target practice begin.

As always, aim for headshots, since the Firefight Medal earns you additional cR. Keep an eye on your ammo, and restock whenever there’s a break in the action, rather than when you simply run low: you don’t want to be caught with an empty clip just as the Grunts begin to converge.

You’ll rack up all 200 kills within two or three Rounds, but you’ll clear out Blastin’ And Relaxin’ and The House of Blue Leaves by the end of the first. If by chance a Fuel Rod Grunt catches you unawares and forces you to respawn, don’t worry — you’ll still have another Round or two to try and finish with zero deaths for Above The Law.

BLASTIN’ AND RELAXIN’

Any Game Mode

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Any Game Mode
Difficulty: Easy
Reward: 1000

Kill 90 enemies in any game mode in Reach.

Not much to say about this at all — you’ll score it easily as part of the Be Their Huckleberry challenge and won’t even notice.

THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES

Firefight

Single Match

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Reward: 1000

Kill 88 enemies in a single Firefight Matchmaking game on Heroic.

As mentioned above, you should be able to easily score this at the same time as Be Their Huckleberry.

Tip Of The Day

However, if for some reason you find time running out and you’re still short of the 88, remember that Huckleberry‘s Magnum Challenge will take two or three Rounds to complete, so feel free to switch to your DMR, toss grenades, or swap out for a Fuel Rod Gun to rack up the final kills more rapidly. In fact, it’s a good idea to recover one early on, just as a precaution.

(And does anybody know what this Challenge has to do with a 1966 play about a zookeeper, his deranged wife and the Pope visiting NYC? Or why it’s set at 88 kills? Just wonderin’.)

ABOVE THE LAW

Firefight

Zero Deaths

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Medium
Reward: 500

Complete a Round in Firefight Matchmaking without dying.

As noted previously, you’ll be able to go after this Challenge at the same time as the other three. Make judicious use of the Deployable Shields on the platforms, and occasionally switch sides when you reload — Grunts will have been converging on your last location, so it’ll put some extra space between you to pick them off.

Use your Drop Shield liberally, and retreat back into the alcoves nearby if things get too hot. In a truly tight spot — though there probably won’t be any — you can simply drop off the platform and pass through the Safe Room to the opposite platform, though obviously this carries its own risks.

If you get tagged by a stray Plasma Grenade or a Fuel Rod Grunt takes you by surprise, don’t panic — the main Huckleberry challenge will take at least two run-throughs anyway, so you’ll have a second chance at a perfect game.

If, however, you find yourself struggling, you can always just spend an extra 10 minutes taking this Challenge on separately. Check out our Finishing The Firefight survival guide for key tips and tactics on scoring a zero-death Firefight Round.

(And now for a comment about our own personal Daily Challenge: An entire day of Gruntpocalypse strategies, and not a single Justin Bieber joke. Yow!)

20 OCTOBER 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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DAILY CHALLENGES

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A GREAT FRIEND

Multiplayer

Assists

Type: Assists
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Reward: 2000

Earn 30 assists today in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Tip Of The Day

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 15 times. Despite that, Bungie intends to pay you today to help out other players who haven’t really earned it. More good news is that you’ll be able to work the Fire When Ready Challenge at the same time, to make it even more worth your time. Click on the Assist-O-Rama standing link at the top of the page for our in-depth guide to Not Closing The Deal.

FIRE WHEN READY

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Reward: 300

Kill 30 enemies in multiplayer Matchmaking.
Chances are, you’ll get the 300 bonus cR without even noticing you did it. Chances are that you’ll simply get this as part of going for the A Great Friend Challenge. Chances are your chances are very good that you won’t need any help from me. I mean, you could probably make this an Hourly Challenge and still end up with 30 kills every time the little hand moves, yeah?

THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT…

Special Weapon

Campaign

Type: Special Weapon
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Reward: 500

Kill 50 enemies with precision weapons in the Campaign today.

Another of one of the easiest Challenges you’ll encounter all week. Load up Winter Contingency at Rally Point Bravo and get to work. You’ll spawn with an Assault Rifle, but a DMR is conveniently awaiting your weapon swap on the asphalt courtyard leading to the rear bunker. Inside the bunker you’ll find more DMR ammo as well.

Concentrate on headshots against the Grunts and Jackals, since those will award extra Medal cR, and don’t waste your ammo or time on the Elites, since you’ll run out of enemies before hitting the 50 mark and need to restart the checkpoint anyway; might as well do it as soon as you’ve cleaned slate on the lesser Covies.

If you run low on ammo, simply swipe a Needle Rifle from one of the Jackal bodies; it’ll register precision kills as easily as the DMR, but heading back into the bunker for a DMR reload can trigger a checkpoint for the doors to close, meaning you’d have to settle for another restart.

BE THEIR HUCKLEBERRY

Firefight

Special Weapon

Kills

Type: Kills / Special Weapon
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Reward: 1500

Kill 100 enemies in Firefight Matchmaking with the pistol.

A Challenge tailor-made for Gruntpocalypse if ever there was one. Simply head into Score Attack and veto your map options until you’re offered Corvette. Once the Gruntpocalypse begins, select Drop Shield for your Armor Ability, then slide past the weapons crate to stock up on rounds. Head up to one of the side platforms, switch to your Magnum and let the target practice begin.

As always, go for headshots, since the Firefight medal earns you additional cR. You should be able to rack up all 100 kills within one Round, but it won’t matter if you don’t — simply head back into a Gruntpocalypse to clean up what’s left.

And: Special props to Bungie for the Tombstone movie reference in the Challenge title. If you haven’t seen it yet, your Netflix queue is calling to you.