HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 27 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: Quakeman224

LOL Spartz Screenshots Of The Day today courtesy of Quakeman224, who frolics with the Banshees as he practices his crawl stroke on Hemorrhage. (The irony, of course, is that if he actually went swimming he’d be dead in two seconds.) Thanks, Quake! 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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NOT IN THE FACE

Campaign

Heroic

Skull On

Type: Completion / Timer
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 9000

Complete any Campaign mission on Heroic in 15 minutes with Black Eye on.

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Completion, Kills, Killstyle
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 150-180 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★☆
TOTAL CREDITS: 6150

SHOOTIN’ AND LOOTIN’

Any Game Mode

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Any Game Mode
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 2000

Kill 400 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).

CAME FROM BEHIND

Multiplayer

Single Match

Assassination

Type: Killstyle
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-15 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1200

Perform 3 Assassinations in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

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!

NEUROSCIENCE

Multiplayer

Single Match

Headshot

Kills

Type: Killstyle
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-20 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1200

Kill 10 enemies with headshots in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

Only four letters really make a difference here, and they’re spelled SWAT. Bungie has been kind enough to make this its own playlist for those laggers and aimbotters among us, since both the DMR and Magnum can take out opponents with a single headshot no matter what kind of fantastic armored-helmet-from-the-future, you’d-think-these-things-could-stop-a-bullet-by-now they happen to wear.

In fact, your main obstacle — apart from people shooting you in the back of the skull — will be to rack up 10 headshots before the game ends. SWAT games run to 50, and if you’ve either matched against a particularly good team or with particularly good teammates, you could find yourself short of the bonus just as the score tops out.

If that keeps happening, recruit some friends to coordinate your efforts; an entire team can earn this Challenge in a single game if they work together.

PUT YOUR QUARTER UP

Multiplayer

Type: Completion
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 150-180 minutes (Concurrent with other Daily Challenges)
Value: ★★★☆
Reward: 1750

Complete 15 games in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Yes, you really can earn this by doing absolutely nothing for 15 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 1750 free cRedits. So don’t complain, eh?

Personally, we’ll be notching these games in Grifball, but if you want to wrap this up even faster, you can head over to HRD’s favorite gametype (*cough cough* — sorry, I had some bullshit in my throat): Infection.

For a playlist named “Living Dead”, Infection nets you a surprisingly low number of kills, but the games finish incredibly quickly when compared to other Zombie Apocalypses. You should be able to register a complete game every five minutes or so, not counting matchmaking or post-game, so any remainder in your Challenge points will become sorted in short order. When you’re finished, take consolation in knowing that you got to school some squeaky Halobrats in the proper use of the Sword and Shotgun.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 26 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: KamiHunter

Ooh, look, a camera! Yep, we’ve all had friends like this. We just generally don’t shoot them with a Rocket Launcher afterward (no matter how much they might deserve it). Thanks to KamiHunter for our LOL Spartz Screenshots Of The Day! 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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NOT IN THE FACE

Campaign

Heroic

Skull On

Type: Completion / Timer
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 9000

Complete any Campaign mission on Heroic in 15 minutes with Black Eye on.

[ 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: 50-60 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 5275

ONE SPARTAN ARMY

Firefight

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 25-30 minutes (Concurrent with other Firefight Challenges)
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 1875

Kill 250 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: 45-60 minutes (Concurrent with other Firefight Challenges)
Value: ★★
Reward: 1000

Kill 5 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 at least five 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 occupied-vehicle kill.
• Likewise, be careful in Arcade, since under the new rules if you drop the heavy gun, you won’t be able to pick it up again. The Banshees on Holdout 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, which — apart from Dropships — don’t offer any vehicles at all.

BLAST RADIUS

Firefight

Special Weapon

Kills

Type: Kills / Special Weapon
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10 minutes (Concurrent with other Firefight Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Kill 40 enemies in Firefight Matchmaking with grenades.

Though it might seem counterintuitive, Nadefight is actually not your best bet here: it starts you with an eight-grenade bandoleer, but the updated Firefight Arcade settings prevent you from farming replacements from the field, meaning you’d need to suicide or kamikaze your way to a respawn to restock your inventory.

Instead, simply clear this out in Score Attack’s Gruntpocalypse, where the waddlin’ tykes tend to travel in packs and die from grenade explosions like pond fish. You’ll wrap this up in just a single Round, and be able to work toward your One Spartan Army Challenge at the same time.

DEMON

Firefight

Special Enemy

Kills

Type: Kills / Special Enemy
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 20-25 minutes (Concurrent with other Firefight Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1400

Kill 40 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 40 mandibles in a single match — particularly with other players hunting for Dino meat — 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.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 25 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: Ron Paul R TX

Yow! We’re guessing that Plasma Grenade is going to either feel really good or feel really bad. (We’re going with bad.) Everyone wave goodbye to Ron Paul R TX (no, not THAT one, okay?) who was kind enough to pose for our LOL Spartz Screenshots Of The Day. 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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NOT IN THE FACE

Campaign

Heroic

Skull On

Type: Completion / Timer
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 9000

Complete any Campaign mission on Heroic in 15 minutes with Black Eye on.

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Completion, Kill, Killstyle, Multikill
SETTINGS: Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 60-100 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 8800

FIRE WHEN READY

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 15-20 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1500

Kill 50 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Gimme a G! Gimme an R! Gimme an I! Gimme an F! Gimme a BALL! Okay, on second thought, hang onto your balls. You might actually need them one day. We’ll just run another great Grifball pic instead and you’ll get the idea.

Credit for the screenshot to Loyal Rook. Thanks, Rook!

KILLAGRUNTJARO!

Firefight

Single Match

Multikill

Type: Multikills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1100

Earn 10 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 10 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 10 out of a single match, you’re just not trying, eh?

L.D. WINTER

Campaign

Zero Deaths

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 30-60 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 5000

Complete Winter Contingency on Legendary without dying, with Mythic, Thunderstorm, Tilt and Tough Luck on.

Tip Of The Day

Um…what? Another one of these? Look, Bungie, we’re sorry we said that about your Mom, okay? Give us a break.

Anyway, 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? Good. Four Skulls on — 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, just about everything to make the Covies as invulnerable as possible without involving the planet Krypton.

On the other hand, Winter Contingency offers wide-open geography that helps your front-line fighters skirt past most encounters, while giving weaker players the opportunity to *ahem* “guard the rear flank” and Checkpoint forward once the danger has passed. So, though it’s true this level remains more welcoming to solo excursions — as the Campaign’s first mission, it’s also by design the easiest — and the game scales up the difficulty for more players in co-op mode, you’ll still want the extra guns at your side; otherwise, it could be a very long day of level Reloads.

ONE 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 read your progress as Challenge Failed.

All right then. We don’t have room here for a detailed walkthrough, so just as we did with the LASO Challenges we’ll 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.

• HALO REACH MYTHIC GUIDE: Winter Contingency

Meanwhile, check out the Legendary Strategies link at the top of the page for tips and tactics on tackling Legendary levels regardless of which mission you’re in. And, 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.

Whew! Quite a lot to keep in mind. To help you out, here’s a video walkthrough — done SOLO, and with ALL skulls on too — that’s well worth the watch if you get frustrated. Credit to Cruel Legacey Productions for the gameplay and crazy accomplishment.

GOOD LUCK!

CAME FROM BEHIND

Multiplayer

Single Match

Assassination

Type: Killstyle
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-15 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1200

Perform 3 Assassinations in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

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: 24 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: Ender Xer0

It’s been a while since we ran a special week for our Screenshots Of The Day, and so after seeing ourselves in the mirror naked we realized it was time for an entire Comedy Week of laughs, lulz and ROFLs. 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. And, as always, click to enlarge!

So, if you want to submit a screenshot, yo: Send ’em 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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NOT IN THE FACE

Campaign

Heroic

Skull On

Type: Completion / Timer
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 9000

Complete any Campaign mission on Heroic in 15 minutes with Black Eye on.

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Assists, Completion, Kills, Spree
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Medium
TOTAL TIME: 120-210 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★☆
TOTAL CREDITS: 11000

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 23 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.

***NEW WEEKLY CHALLENGE!***

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK: MANEX MONDAY

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Our friends over at the ManeX Gaming Channel on YouTube put together a Video Of The Week for us about one of our least favorite Challenge types — and probably yours as well: Scoring Multiplayer assists rather than the kills we’ve all come to know and love. With a major assist Challenge rearing its head once again today, we thought it’d be the perfect time to showcase it. 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 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: Assists, Kills, Special Enemy, Special Weapon
SETTINGS: Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Grind
TOTAL TIME: 115-160 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 6000

MORE THAN A HANDFUL

Multiplayer

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 45-60 minutes
Value: ★★★☆
Reward: 2500

Kill 125 enemies in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Whoah! A hundred and twenty-five enemies….that sounds like a lot. Let’s see…if you average X number of kills per game, with an average game time of Y plus Z minutes per game in the matchmaking lobby, rounded out by the coeffecient of the remainder times the weapon fire rate of…ahh, screw it. we’ll just run another Grifball screenshot and be done with it. Get out your hammer, and start swingin’!

Today’s action pic by blackrosevenom. Keep ’em coming, people!

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, once again, 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, and make sure to check out our assist-frenzy Video Of The Week link above.

THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT. . .

Campaign

Special Weapon

Kills

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

Kill 100 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-Matic 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 100 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 double-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.

A SATISFIED THIRST

Firefight

Special Enemy

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Firefight
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 10-15 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 1000

Kill 100 Grunts in Firefight Matchmaking.

A simple Challenge with a decent reward that 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 enemies quickly, and nobody’s around to score them out from under you. Use Drop Shield liberally to keep the party going, and you should register this Challenge just after the boom-chucka-boom music of the final Wave begins.

Corevette, atop one of the platforms, and Overlook, on the lower of the two sheds near the silo, both provide wide lines of sight for sending Grunts to their birthday party. The big guns on Outpost and the far-side terrace on Courtyard also offer excellent defensive positions; a larger open map like Waterfront will work too, but it’ll take longer.

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WEEKLY CHALLENGE

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NOT IN THE FACE

Campaign

Heroic

Skull On

Type: Completion / Timer
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 9000

Complete any Campaign mission on Heroic in 15 minutes with Black Eye on.

NEW CHALLENGE!

Two words: Midnight Run. If you’re a regular reader of this site, you know what to do; if not, just click on the standing link at the top of the page for a complete description, or check out the video walkthrough below. It’ll be the easiest 9K cRedits you’ll earn all week.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 22 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.

***WEEKLY CHALLENGE: LAST DAY!***

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100% ARMORY COMPLETION SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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100 PERCENT ARMORY COMPLETION SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: Ender Xer0

JUST THOUGHT I’D MENTION IT. 🙂 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 PACKAGE: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 90-180 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17000

Complete The Package on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Kills, Scoring, Special Enemy
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Campaign
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 25-35 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 4750

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.

Nothing to see here; move along. You’ll score all of these automatically as part of completing your other Daily Challenges today.

THE LITTLE GUYS

Campaign

Special Enemy

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 10-15 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 1000

Kill 75 Grunts in Campaign today on Normal or harder.

Load up any Campaign mission that opens with Grunts, then start making confetti. HRD remains partial to Winter Contingency’s Rally Point Bravo, where the Dropships spit out waves of Grunts in a steady stream, but really any level will do.

Once you’ve cleaned ’em out, simply reload the checkpoint, rinse and repeat.

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.

CANNON FODDER

Campaign

Special Enemy

Kills

Type: Kills / Special Enemy
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1250

Kill 100 infantry-class foes in the Campaign today.

Infantry-class enemies are those weakest among the Covenant horde, and come in a few different flavors; they’re also the ones occasionally given really bitchin’ weapons like Fuel Rod Guns, the better to humiliate you with as you’re blown to hurtling pieces by a twerp you could have squashed with your elbow.

By far the most convenient cannon-fodder carnage can be found 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. It’ll take around 30 or so thunderstorms to rain down enough death to register the Challenge, but each one only takes about 10 seconds, so we’re only talking a couple of minutes here.

But, if you don’t like the open credit farming that goes with Target Locating, just load up any Campaign mission that opens with Grunts — and preferably a headshot weapon — then start making confetti. Do it on Winter Contingency’s Rally Point Bravo and you can notch The Little Guys Challenge at the same time.

HALO REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 21 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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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: Oceanwave808

Screenshot Of The Day this morning courtesy of Oceanwave808, who blazes some wicked metal on Tempest. Thanks, Ocean! 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 PACKAGE: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 90-180 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17000

Complete The Package on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Assists, Kills, Special Weapon, Wins
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 55-60 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 4600

SHOOTIN’ AND LOOTIN’

Any Game Mode

Kills

Type: Kills
Setting: Any Game Mode
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5 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 your leftovers, just head into ONI Sword Base or an Anti-Grunt Custom Firefight game (see links at top of the page for both).

HELPING HAND

Multiplayer

Assists

Type: Assists
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Grind
Time: 25-30 minutes
Value: ★★☆
Reward: 1000

Earn 10 assists today in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

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 10 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.

LIGHT FUSE, RUN AWAY

Multiplayer

Single Match

Special Weapon

Type: Kills / Special Weapon
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-10 minutes
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1000

Kill 4 enemies with grenades in a Multiplayer Matchmaking game.

Okay, this one’s pretty straightforward.

1. Get a monkey.
2. Go into Matchmaking.
3. Give the controller to the monkey.
4. Go get a sandwich.

If you’re having trouble finding a monkey, you can actually do this yourself, though it may take longer. Load up Rumble Pit or Multi-Team and look for close-quarter maps that specialize in clusterfuck explosions, as well as gametypes like Oddball or King Of The Hill that encourage players to run into the middle of the body-part fiesta.

Also vote for game variants with Plasma Grenade loadouts, since they’ll score more direct kills with a successful stick — Pro-style games remain your best bet, since the Warden option includes Covie grenades and the matchtype doesn’t offer Armor Lock. Any Elite game can also work if you’re smart about it: save your stickies for enemies wielding Plasma or Needle Rifles, since the basic Needler remains a tipoff that the player may have loaded up Armor Lock.

And, oh yeah–don’t forget: Return the monkey. You don’t want to find out what those guys use for grenades.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE

Multiplayer

Win

Type: Wins
Setting: Multiplayer
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 45-60 minutes (Concurrent with other Challenges)
Value: ★★★★★
Reward: 1600

Win 4 games in Multiplayer Matchmaking.

Not much to say; play enough and you’ll rack up four wins. Grifball is your go-to game here: Not only will you be able to work other Challenges at the same time, but the matches are short, and all things being equal you’ll go in with a 50-50 chance of pulling host and scoring the win.

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 20 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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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: GlazZz ODST

Fantastically cool Screenshot Of The Day this morning courtesy of GlazZz ODST. Thanks, Glaz! 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 PACKAGE: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 90-180 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17000

Complete The Package on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Kills, Killstyle, Special Enemy, Special Weapon
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 30-40 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 4910

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 19 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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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: rubberducky296

You know those cool shots from action movies where the hero walks in slo-mo toward the camera while a huge explosion goes batshit in the background? Yep, we’re suckers for those too. Screenshot Of The Day this morning courtesy of new friend-of-the-site rubberducky296, who gets props for his cinematic glory. Thanks, Ducky! 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 PACKAGE: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 90-180 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17000

Complete The Package on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Kills, Multikills, Score, Special Enemy
SETTINGS: Firefight
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 45-60 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 4900

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 18 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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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: V Translanka

Screenshot Of The Day this morning courtesy of longtime friend-of-the-site V Translanka, who goes airborne on Unearthed for a distinctly lyrical shot. Thanks, V! 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 PACKAGE: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 90-180 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17000

Complete The Package on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Completion, Kills, Special Enemy
SETTINGS: Campaign, Firefight, Meta, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 200-240 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 7250

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 17 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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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY

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SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY: Sean Fechtelkotter

Holy crap, that is one BADASS looking Elite! Screenshot Of The Day this morning courtesy of Sean Fechtelkotter, whose flaming-helmet-officer-armor makes him one of the most distinctly clad Dinos in the game. Thanks, Sean! 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 PACKAGE: LASO

Campaign

Legendary

Skulls On

Type: Completion
Setting: Campaign
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 90-180 minutes
Value: ★★★★
Reward: 17000

Complete The Package on Legendary with All Skulls On (LASO).

[ ACCESS COMPLETE INTEL: CLICK HERE ]

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Completion, Kills, Special Weapon
SETTINGS: Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Easy
TOTAL TIME: 60-75 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★☆
TOTAL CREDITS: 6500

REACH DAILY CHALLENGES: 16 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.

***NEW WEEKLY CHALLENGE!***

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK: MYTHIC MONDAY

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The MXG lads over at the ManeX Gaming Channel on YouTube are in exams this week, so instead of our regular Video Of The Week from them I thought we’d post something directly related to the Challenges — a video walkthrough of the new Weekly, the Campaign mission The Package on the freakishly hard Mythic Difficulty. (Well, okay; the weekly is NQM — Not Quite Mythic — since that requires the Blind Skull and a Solo runthrough, but fer chrissakes it’s close enough.) The vid clip is full-on Mythic, though, so strap on your hip-boots: lots ‘o Covies are about to die.

Special Thanks to Shadowstrike1 for uploading his crazy runthrough. The Manex Monday feature returns next week, and 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!

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DAILY CHALLENGES

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Summary

TYPES: Kills, Killstyle, Special Enemy, Special Weapon, Spree
SETTINGS: Any Game Mode, Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY: Grind
TOTAL TIME: 60-110 minutes
OVERALL VALUE: ★★★★
TOTAL CREDITS: 5100