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 Home | Cairo Station | Outskirts | Metropolis | The Arbiter | Oracle | Delta Halo | Regret RegretOverview:This visually impressive level picks up where Delta Halo left off. Instead of vehicles and wide-open fields, however, this time you'll fight across a series of relatively confining rooms and platforms. Don't get too distracted by the scenery, because the jackal snipers are out in force, and the hunters make an overdue reappearance, as well. Seizing the initiative, though, can help us to skip some of these situations altogether, or at least turn them more toward our advantage. Travel, both above and below the lake, is mostly one-way with little opportunity for backtracking, so maintaining an effective selection of weapons for the challenges ahead becomes a particularly vital task. The level culminates with another unfortunate boss fight as we finally come face to face—literally—with the Prophet of Regret, although at that point the prophet himself will be the least of your worries. Part 1: TestamentAs in Delta Halo, Bungie doesn't waste much time and drops you right into the thick of battle from the very beginning. A few moments after the cutscene ends a swarm of drones will attack along with a pair of elites who appear from door to the right on the upper level; and a second group of elites will follow once the first group is defeated. As usual, you have several options here, depending on your weapon selection and how aggressively you want to play. The most conservative approach, predictably, is to find a good hiding spot and pick off the enemies one by one. One possibility is to run back to the entrance; the enemies won't follow you in there, and you'll have two doorways from which to fire on the room. Another possibility is to run up the ramp and around to the corner on the left, which will give you a decent view of the room and channel any enemies that come after you into a narrow corridor, making them easier to target. Of course, this approach works best if you have a sniper weapon (which is included in the default selection) to one-shot-kill the drones and engage the elites from afar. If you've been following my advice, though, your weapons are more likely energy sword/battle rifle, which are not so well suited to these tactics. However, this combination works quite well if you can control the flow of the combat in such a way as to turn it into a close-quarters battle. To this end, I would suggest immediately running up the ramp and through the door to the right, and engaging the elites as soon as they spawn, as shown in the next video.QuickTime (3.2 mb) | WMP9 (3.3 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. By this method, you can avoid the drones altogether and cut down the elites before they have a chance to spread out. As you can see, though, there's still the matter of the snipers once the elites are dead. In fact, you'll have two groups to deal with: the initial 5 or so snipers scattered around the vicinity of the central platform and the structure across the broken bridge, and a second group of another few snipers along with two elites that spawn when you approach the central platform. Note that the appearance of this second group is signaled by the departure of the gondola, and the exact moment at which it triggers depends on which route you take. The logical avenue of attack once you finish off the elites probably appears to be using the beam rifle conveniently provided just outside the first room to pick off the snipers before proceeding. However, unlike the alleys in Outskirts, this area can be particularly tricky because there really doesn't seem to be any fixed pattern to the snipers: their number and position, as well as the direction of their attention, seems to vary each time you play the level. For this reason, I really don't think it's any more difficult to continue right on to the next bridge after killing the first five elites, as I showed in the video. In my experience, your chances of being sniped are not much greater than if you stayed back and engaged in an extended sniper duel. Be aware that firing once you step outside will draw the attention of the snipers, and a swift death will usually follow unless you take cover. Therefore, one key to this approach is to rely only on melee attacks, grenades, or the sword until you make it to the relative cover of the bridge. When you reach the bridge, you once again have a couple of choices, and you may or may not receive a checkpoint, depending on the whims of the game. The conventional path would be to continue around to the left, which would lead you through a room filled with grunts and jackals, and out onto a walkway that connects to the central platform. Even if you take this route, you can still skip the battle inside by jumping over the rock pile that's on your left when you enter and heading right through the exit. Note that in this case the gondola will depart as you approach the last walkway, heralding the appearance of the second group of Covenant troops. The disadvantage to this approach is that it leaves you in a perilous position for engaging the snipers once you finally reach the platform. In contrast, although you're initially more vulnerable while jumping up the pillars to the high ledge, as I showed in the video, the advantage is that you end up in a much stronger position, with an excellent field of view and much better cover from sniper fire. The convenient placement of the beam rifle under the sheltered section up on the ledge suggests that the designers had this general course of action in mind. If necessary, you can always take out a few of the snipers before you make the jump (there's even a beam rifle on the bridge if you need it). From this point, you can control the battle much better and engage the snipers at your own pace, as shown in the next video. QuickTime (3 mb) | WMP9 (3.1 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. Well, that's all nice, but suppose just don't feel like running the sniper gauntlet. Well, as it happens, there's another vantage that you could use to take out the snipers before crossing the bridge that provides much better cover than the balcony. This approach involves grenade jumping up onto the roof of the first room, as shown in the next video. QuickTime (2.2 mb) | WMP9 (2.2 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. From this vantage, you can kill not only the first batch of snipers but the elites, grunts, and additional sniper at both ends of the bridge, as well. Despite your lofty position, you're far from invulnerable and the snipers can easily pick you off, so you still need watch out. To be safe, I'd recommend moving forward in a crouch and popping up periodically to survey the area until the first sniper is in view. You should receive at least one checkpoint after you eliminate the snipers, and possibly another when you clear out the rest of the enemies on the bridge (although one of the elites, nearest to the starting room, can be difficult to target from above). When you've cleared out the area to your satisfaction, you can either drop down to the bridge and proceed as described previously, or you could even grenade jump directly to the central platform, as shown in the next video, which will spawn the snipers and elites on the far side as soon as you land. QuickTime (536 kb) | WMP9 (522 kb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. The latter course can be particularly dangerous because not only will you have to face the second batch of snipers and elites without the advantage of elevation, but any enemies that you left alive in the first area will have a clear shot at you. Still, it's something different to try, and it can be entertaining. If you go this route, I'd suggest crouching behind the nearest barrier and popping up quickly to gauge your enemies' position and fire. Whatever course you chose, once you successfully take control of the central platform, a phantom will soon show up to drop off a couple of hunters. The last time we ran into hunters back in Outskirts we took the easy way out with the turret, but there's no such option this time. As you'll discover, Bungie has seen fit to make the hunters a bit more fearsome this time around. First and foremost, there's no more one-hit kill to the orange neck or midsection with the pistol. Even the sniper rifle requires two shots in the orange to kill. Their melee attack range and power has also been improved—much of the time, one hit from them will kill you—and they can now quickly attack both forward and backward. Thus, dancing around them at close range to hit their vulnerable spots is not so easy as it was in Halo 1. Still, a little sneakiness at the beginning should help to turn the odds in our favor. When the hunters land they'll expose a bit of their midsection for a few seconds; so, position yourself as shown in the next video and be ready with the sniper rifle as soon as they drop.QuickTime (2.5 mb) | WMP9 (2.6 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. They don't always land in exactly the same spot, but you should always be able to hit at least one from that position. Once they're weakened, you can finish them off relatively quickly with the carbine or another beam rifle shot, or even stick a few grenades to them if you prefer. If you have any marines left alive, they can be a big help in distracting the hunters so they turn their backs to you. When the hunters are dead, as Cortana is nice enough to inform you, your next job is to repel the attack from the oncoming gondola, which contains two elites, several assorted grunts, and two jackals. In the meantime, a pelican will show up to drop off some weapon resupply pods as well as a few marines, if your original team has already met with an unfortunate end. I guess it would be too much to ask for them to just pick you up and drop you off at your destination, which is plain sight across the lake. While you're waiting, I'd suggest upgrading both of your marines to sniper weapons, equipping yourself with a beam rifle and a carbine if you haven't already, and setting up a defensive position behind the barrier that directly faces the oncoming gondola. This battle is really pretty straightforward, especially with the help of your marines: just snipe the elites, and pound the grunts and jackals with the carbine as they emerge. Depending on their behavior, you may be able to pick off quite a few of them before the gondola even reaches its destination. Note that your marines will be a great help in the next few battles, so I'd highly recommend ensuring that they both survive this encounter. When the battle is over, you can finally relax and re-equip at your leisure. If it's any consolation, you've already passed what in my opinion is the trickiest part of the level, at least until the very end. In any case, activating the gondola will send you off on the first of several one-way trips in this level, so before you leave you should make sure that you're properly armed. I'd suggest dropping off a shotgun and battle rifle in the gondola, and equipping yourself with a beam rifle and carbine; make sure that you fill up on plasma grenades as well. If you have a sword and you plan on doing any flying during the next section, obviously you'll want to bring that too. When you're ready, hit the switch to set off across the lake. After a few moments, several drones will buzz in to attack you, but with the sniper rifles your marines should make short work of them. About midway to the next platform, another gondola containing two elites and a few more drones will pull up next to you. The next video shows how I usually deal with them. QuickTime (1.1 mb) | WMP9 (1.1 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. At this point, I should probably mention that if you're really in a hurry, there's yet another option once you kill the first batch of elites way back at the beginning, as shown in the next video. QuickTime (2.7 mb) | WMP9 (2.7 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. Given the randomness of the snipers' positions, there's no guarantee that one will spawn over on the balcony, let alone with his back to you, so you may have no choice but to keep restarting until you receive a configuration suitable to this tactic. Unfortunately, the gondola only launches when you actually touch the central platform, giving you barely enough time to get back. To make matters worse, the second group of enemies spawns right on top of you, making a successful return to the gondola largely a matter of luck. Midway through the trip the second gondola will pull up alongside you and you'll have to jump across. When you hit the switch, the next chapter should begin, the enemies should spawn back on the first gondola, and you can proceed as usual. Part 2: One-Way TicketAs you approach the next platform, you'll notice two turrets and a couple of sniper jackals overlooking the entrance. Snipe them as you approach, though be aware that more grunts will appear to take up their positions on the turrets, so you'll have to keep clearing them out. It's also possible to sword fly up to the turrets from the gondola, as shown in the next video. QuickTime (1.8 mb) | WMP9 (1.8 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. I wouldn't really recommend that route, though, unless speed is your main concern, because the gondola won't dock with the platform even if you jump back onto it when it arrives. Therefore, you'll end up leaving your marines behind and it will be much harder to retrieve your weapons from inside the gondola. As you come to a stop, a few jackals will run out, but your bigger concern is the jackal snipers that occupy the entranceway. I'd suggest taking cover down by the front right ramp inside the gondola, killing the jackals outside with the carbine, and then switching to the shotgun to take out the snipers and the rest of the jackals inside, as shown in the next video. QuickTime (2.2 mb) | WMP9 (2.3 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. You may want to exchange your beam rifle with a newer one on the way in, because the rifles dropped by the snipers may disappear by the time you finish clearing out the next room. It's not critical, though, since a full beam rifle is available in the next area before you really need one. The drones will arrive (about 2 or 3 with plasma pistols, followed by two more with needlers) when most of the jackals are dead, but if you keep moving and rush right at them, you can prevent the second wave from appearing. In fact, if you move up the ramp before killing the second group of jackals and then take them out from above, the drones won't even appear at all. Note that there's also one little grunt who will run down from the top level if you make too much noise up by the drones, but he shouldn't pose much of a problem. Once these enemies are dead, as Cortana informs you, an elevator will emerge from the hole in the middle of the lower level bearing some additional jackals. The lack of any sort of guardrail around the elevator shaft ensures that I somehow manage to fall into that damn hole every time I play this level. Apparently lawyers were not a big concern back in the days of the Forerunners. Anyway, grenade + jackals + tiny enclosed space = dead jackals. After the battles, the pelican will show up once again to drop off some weapons, as well as a few marines if any of yours have perished. Once again, I'd recommend taking some time to equip your marines with decent weapons (sniper weapons, if possible). Note that if you follow the ramps in the elevator room to the very top you'll find a partially-full fuel rod gun, though I usually don't bother. I've never found it to be much help in the upcoming areas, and your marines seem to do more damage to each other than to the enemy when you hand it off to them to them. Personally, I usually go beam rifle/battle rifle for the next area, though the beam rifle is all that really matters, in my opinion. When you're ready, get your marines inside the elevator and hit the switch. The elevator deposits you in an underwater structure, and as you continue onward a bit your first encounter will be with a room full of grunts. I doubt you need any assistance for this one, so just pull out the battle rifle and enjoy the turkey shoot. If for some reason you failed to bring along a decent ranged weapon, you can find a carbine underneath the ramp where you enter. When the grunts are no more, continue up the ramp on the opposite side, as well as the next few ramps, where you'll find a large, mostly open room that contains what can be one of the game's more frustrating battles. Each side is occupied by several jackal snipers and a contingent of drones that will attack as soon as the battle starts. In addition, waves of honor guard elites will emerge periodically from the series of doors on the lower level. As if that were not enough, two hunters will enter the fray from the lower-middle door on the far side of the room. Wow, anything else? Actually, yes: a group of elites and jackals will eventually attack from the doors on the far side of the upper level. You know, this battle would actually be fun if it weren't for the snipers and drones. As it is, there's nothing in there but pain. Therefore, much like sniper arena back in Metropolis, I feel that I must once again skip this battle in protest, as shown in the next video. QuickTime (4.9 mb) | WMP9 (5 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. Of course, this approach means abandoning your marines, but it's unlikely that they would survive even if you stayed around to fight. As you can see, the beam rifle is useful not so much for the main room (though, if you do plan on fighting your way through it, you'll undoubtedly want a sniper weapon) but for the water-filled room that follows. Note that you can also find a full beam rifle as you're beginning your dash through the sniper room, if necessary. Whatever you do, just don't fire until you make it through the door, lest you attract unwanted attention from the snipers. Jumping down underneath the ramp once you enter the second room gives you cover not only from the invisible Covenant ahead, but from the hunters who may choose to follow you. Try to conserve your beam rifle as much as possible, as it will be very useful for another battle in the near future. At the end you can switch your battle rifle for the sword if you desire, though it's not really necessary as there's another sword to be found in the near future. Continue onward and step into the elevator for yet another one-way journey. When you exit the elevator, you should see an honor guard walking with his back to you, so smack him on the head with the beam rifle. A second honor guard, this one armed with a plasma rifle, as well as several grunts await down the hall, so eliminate them with some combination of grenades, the sword, or the nearby carbine found in the Covenant crate. As you round the next corner, you'll finally be back outside where about four drones as well as two elites and some jackals up on the cliff are waiting to welcome you. It helps to snipe as many of the enemies as you can from the cover of the doorway, but your priority is the drones. Often, the remaining enemies will back up out of sight once the drones are dead, but you can then move up the cliff (I'd suggest bringing the sword) and hit them at close range, as shown in the next video. QuickTime (2.3 mb) | WMP9 (2.4 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. After the battle the pelican will make its final appearance (still adamantly refusing to pick you up, even though the end is now merely a short gondola ride away) and drop off some weapon pods and marine reinforcements. Arm yourself for the for next fight; I usually go energy sword/sniper rifle in order to give myself a bit more flexibility against the carbine elites at long range, though energy sword/battle rifle and plasma pistol/battle rifle are also reasonable choices, depending on your preference. You may want to hand off your beam rifle to one of your marines, but I'd suggest leaving the other one with the shotgun, unlikely as that may seem, because he actually seems to do pretty well with it in the next area. As you continue up the trail, you'll find another open area of ruins with an annoying batch of snipers, elites, and a few grunts. As was the case back at the start of the level, while it may seem like hanging back to snipe is the natural course of action, your marines usually won't survive the combination of jackal snipers and carbine elites very long. Instead, I've found that moving in aggressively right from the start makes this battle quite a bit more manageable, allowing you to flank the main group of enemies and take out the snipers before they can do too much damage, as shown in the next video. QuickTime (4.9 mb) | WMP9 (5.1 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. Surprisingly, I've found that the marines actually can hold their own pretty well against the two elites in this battle, for whatever reason. Hiding behind the rock does not really provide cover from the phantom, but it usually lets you escape its attention long enough to throw your grenades and wipe out the little guys as soon as they land. At that point, you can either move right in or circle around, as I did in the video, to mop up the last few elites. Watch out for that last sniper waiting to ambush you. If you're in a hurry, it's also possible to run right to the gondola. However, that means abandoning your marines, who can help you in the battle ahead, and leaves you with no time to prepare your weapons for the final encounters, so I'd recommend fighting it out here. The first time I ever played this level I arrived at the cliff battle frightfully low on ammo. After clearing out the area of the gondola, I was determined not to make the same mistake twice, and so I proceeded to stock up the gondola with so many weapons that I was surprised it could even fly. Well, I don't think you need to go quite to that extreme, but I would suggest spending some time here to gear up for the end of the road. At the minimum you'll want to bring along all of the sniper rifles, battle rifles, and rockets that you can find. If you prefer the carbine to the battle rifle, pack in a few of those, too. You may want to throw in a few plasma pistols, as well. If your marines are still alive, you'll probably want to give them sniper weapons, keeping all of the rockets and a sniper rifle for yourself. When you've prepared to your satisfaction, hit the switch to begin your final one-way trip. Your first encounter will be with two banshees; stand in the relative cover of the ramps at the back of the gondola and lock on with the rocket launcher. Two shots each should do the trick. As you dispose of the banshees, you'll see another gondola heading toward you, and you know what that means. This battle can actually be tricky, because the gondola carries a pretty dangerous assortment of covenant troops: two flying elites and several grunts, two of which are armed with fuel rod guns. As soon as they're aware of you, the grunts will make the surprisingly intelligent move of saturating the area with fuel rod blasts, which can be very effective at killing you. Meanwhile, the elites will spread out and surround you (though sometimes they'll perform their unwise signature maneuver of stopping to stare off aimlessly into space). Therefore, it really pays to hit them quickly at the beginning before they have time to spread out and organize against you. To this end, one possibility is to fire rockets into the lower area of the gondola while it's still approaching; with luck, you may manage to kill the elites before they even know you're there, after which you can pick off the grunts. Another possibility, as shown in the next video, is to hide up behind the structure on top until you receive a checkpoint and then board the enemy gondola (you are a Marine, after all) as it pulls up next to you. QuickTime (1.9 mb) | WMP9 (2 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. Clearly, the initial dash is the riskiest part, and I'll tell you right now that it doesn't always work. However, the elites don't seem as likely to fly around to flank you on their own gondola, and the grunts are seemingly stunned into ineffectiveness for a little while by your initial assault, giving you time to finish off the elites and close with the grunts before they collect themselves. Jumping back to your own gondola will resume your journey to the final platform. Of course, if these options don't work out for you, could also try fighting it out from your own gondola. In that case, obviously you want to stay on the side away from the enemies; however, I'd still recommend hiding on top and then running out to launch a rocket into the grunts to start the battle. At that point, you can fall back try to snipe the elites. The difficulty is mainly due to the fact that you don't really have any perfect position to take cover, and the elites can surround you and kill you very quickly with their plasma rifles. After the battle you should no longer need your rocket launcher, so I'd suggest exchanging it for a battle rifle or carbine. As you draw closer, you'll see several little grunts and jackals futilely trying to mount a defense while you snipe them. Of course, you could also sword fly to the platform, but it doesn't gain you anything unless you're playing purely for speed. The enemies appear to rout as you finally dock, but don't be fooled: this is not so much a rout as a tactical retreat, and soon two elites, two turret grunts, and two jackals will show up to reinforce the position at the top of the ramp. Part 3: Sorry, Were You in the Middle of Something?If you wish you can just sit back in the gondola and snipe them. The next video, though, shows how you can pull a sneaky maneuver of your own and flank them with the help of a little grenade jumping. QuickTime (3.5 mb) | WMP9 (13.7 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. You should receive a checkpoint after you kill the first two honor guards that come through the door, after which I'd strongly recommend that you save and quit. Note that there's quite a weapons stash underneath the ramp leading up to the Prophet, in case you need some plasma grenades or any other Covenant weapons. And so we arrive, at long last, at the Prophet of Regret. At first glance, it seems that the Prophet plagues us with the very same elements of video-game-boss cheesiness as the heretic leader (for all the good that it did him):
Nevertheless, I must confess that while I object to this battle on principle and lament the breaches of logic that accompany it, it can actually be rather fun if you just look at it as a workout for your shooting skills. Now, if you've been expecting some clever revelation from me that will let you circumvent the fight or kill the prophet in one easy stroke, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. I have yet to discover any solution to this battle other than simply fighting it out as intended by the designers. That having been said, an understanding of the structure of this fight can help make things considerably more manageable. One reason I can tolerate this battle more than the other boss fights in the game is that your primary opposition here is not really the Prophet himself, whose offensive contribution is largely negligible, but the legions of honor guard elites that protect him. Therefore, your most challenging objective is not really the act of assaulting the Prophet, which is trivial in itself, but preparing the area for your assault so that you don't get torn to pieces as soon as he teleports away and you're left hanging in midair. So, your first order of business is weapon selection, and I would have to recommend that you go with the ever-reliable plasma pistol/battle rifle. There's certainly no shortage of swords around here, so energy sword/battle rifle is a possibility, but I think it's just too chancy against the multitude of sword elites, and it generally eliminates your ability to target elites at anything but face-to-face range. With suitable weapons in hand, I then proceed as follows: QuickTime (13.5 mb) | WMP9 (13.6 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. As I said, it's nothing fancy: just a nice, deliberate battle that consists of taking out the elites in each round and making sure the area is clear before moving in on the Prophet. The beginning of the battle is fairly consistent in that the Prophet always starts out over the platform at the other end of the room; you don't want to move in right away because at least two elites (and sometimes 3-4) will arrive shortly after he finishes ranting at you. After that, though, all bets are off, and I haven't been able to determine any pattern to when, where, or in what numbers the elites will appear in each round. From a replay perspective this can be fun, as memorization won't help you and it comes down entirely to your ability to observe your enemies and formulate your plans on the fly. From a walkthrough perspective, though, it's more challenging as there's no fixed route that will work every time. It's just a matter of keeping an eye on your surroundings, watching your motion tracker to identify any nearby threats, and using your judgment to determine when it seems safe to swoop down on the prophet. As you can see in the video, my general approach is to retreat back to the top level between each round in order to survey the room; any elites that come after you will be channeled into the narrow ramps where they will be easier targets. It takes about two dozen punches to send the Prophet on the Great Journey; and since you only have time for about 4-5 before he teleports, that means you'll have to board him about five times. Remember: your main opponents are the elites, so try not to get hung up on hunting down every single grunt that catches your eye, unless it looks to be an imminent threat. You're protected by the Prophet's shield as long as you're clinging to him, which should give your own shield just about enough time to recharge. As long as there are no elites around, there's enough cover that you should be able to make it to safety once he teleports no matter where you are in the room. The beam from the Prophet's chair is easily avoided as long as you don't run straight at him or get caught by surprise while you're otherwise occupied. Thus, I think you'll find that most of your deaths in this battle will come when you simply overlook an elite before boarding the Prophet, or when one appears suddenly while you're in the process of punching him. Note that if you do see trouble approaching you can always jump off the Prophet early to deal with the more serious threat. Also, you can actually leap vertically off of the chair when you let go, which may sometimes help you avoid falling down into dangerous situations. If you want to get fancy, it is certainly possible to sword fly to the Prophet and board him, but that still leaves you with the problem of surviving the elites once he teleports, so I don't think this tactic is really a solution in and of itself. There's not much else I can really say. Basically, keep moving, be aware of your surroundings, and only move in on the Prophet when you're reasonably sure that you won't be ambushed by elites. One battle rifle should probably be more than enough if you don't waste your ammo. The door doesn't lock behind you, though, so feel free to run back outside to retrieve whatever weapons you want, or even just to take a break and regroup. Be patient: there's no time limit, so don't feel compelled to rush in. Eventually he'll scream like a wuss and fall to the ground dead, at which point you might as well head for the exit. Well, in all fairness, if the Chief punched me in the face 25 times, I'd probably scream like a wuss too. In any case, after a few moments, the level will end. Two boss fights down, one to go.Home | Cairo Station | Outskirts | Metropolis | The Arbiter | Oracle | Delta Halo | Regret |
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