All about tackling those waves coming down from the ship.

Posted May 17th 2026, based on material from 2007

When it comes to the grav-lift battle which you need to fight before boarding the covie ship, one thing you can do is make sure to get extra Marines to help (see pic), and another is to make sure you brought five healthy Marines along, making an excellent squad of ten. But whether you've got a boosted squad or not, how do you actually tackle the incoming waves?

In this article I'll lay out some ideas. Originally I had most of this talk in that 'extra Marines' article; but it wasn't actually part of that trick, so I've finally separated it out to this new article (and added a Shade tactic).

Just to mention in advance, each of the main waves (i.e. prior to the Hunters) seems to comprise 1 blue Elite, 2 Jackals and 3 Grunts. On Legendary you get eight main waves, which amounts to 48 covies! Quite a marathon, and quite a strain on your reserves of sniper ammo if that's what you're basing your defence on. With all the other difficulty levels you only get four main waves. It does strike me as odd that Heroic only has four though. Bit easy! I would've thought six would be more appropriate.

Sniping

A favourite tactic of mine is to stand somewhere I can snipe enemies the moment they come down. Sometimes you can get them while they're still in the air - a nice challenge! I'll typically have a plasma rifle as backup, for toasting any enemies that get too close.

Often I'll be up on a rock so the Marines don't get in my line of fire. There's a good rock up on the right, just past where an Elite was patrolling; I've used that a lot. Rocks on the low ground near the area entrance are also good fun; you get a dramatic low view of enemies on the grav-lift, and quite often they stand around having failed to spot you.

But possibly my favourite vantage point is up on the high ground on your immediate left as you enter the area, where a Shade is often located. You can see this place used in BCM634. Stand on the edge to avoid Marines getting in the way, and you've got an imperious view. In addition, you can always jump down and retreat back to the safety of the passage if the situation goes bad.

Welcoming grenades

There's also a sneaky grenading tactic I like to employ. As you may've noticed, each new wave seems to be triggered once the enemy count drops below two. So, when you see that the count is at two or just over, lob a plasma grenade so it's going to land near the centre of the grav-lift, then quickly reduce the count below two to trigger a new wave. Just as the new wave arrives, the grenade hopefully takes out a whole bunch as they're standing there, or possibly even before they've quite touched down. Nice!

Of course, that potentially triggers another wave; so if you've confidently lobbed another grenade in the meanwhile, you might take that wave out too! See how many waves you can get like that. Throws are relatively hard to aim from the low ground, so ideally you should be higher up.

Admittedly this tactic is a bit of an unfair trick as it rests on unrealistic advance knowledge of when a new wave is going to come down. But it's fun! Naturally, you could also simply wait until you see a wave coming down before you throw. But in that case a fast-acting frag grenade is probably the best choice.

Perimeter movement

Another idea is to keep moving around the raised outer perimeter. The Marines get strung out behind you and the enemy gets quite unfocused with the dispersed targets. Fire and grenade as you go. It's probably also good that the Marines are being encouraged to run along to keep up with you. That makes it harder for the enemy to hit them.

Close-range work down below

If you want to live a bit more dangerously, you could just hang around in the area below the grav-lift and enjoy a general free-for-all at fairly close range. You can see me doing some of this in BCM634 during the second battle. An Elite will often get distracted by Marines, allowing you to give him a nasty surprise of some sort. You can throw grenades onto the grav-lift when the time is right, and don't forget that there are plenty of spare frags in the supply area, as well as a rather handy medkit.

Grav-lift hold-out

Gung-ho corespondent One One Seven brought my attention to a recipe for even greater chaos, which I've enjoyed plenty of. Go stand on the grav-lift itself and defend from there. You'll have enemies beaming down all around you and the place is likely to be cluttered with Marines too, at least while they're still breathing. Excellent frantic fun!

A plasma pistol would be good here, ideal for close-range zapping and whacking. Or maybe you'd prefer some visceral drilling with an AR. You might also consider having a plasma rifle as a backup, for taking down anyone who's got clear of the platform, as it has both precision and reach. Oh, and take a moment to look up at the enemies as they descend sometime; it's a novel view!

Shade use

Here's a novel idea. Blast a Shade down so it's closer to the grav-lift, and use it to try and slaughter the arriving waves. This can be pretty good fun, though you do have to watch out for Grunts throwing plasma grenades.

Preferably don't have the Shade so close that Marines will be drawn onto the grav-lift, as it then becomes hard to attack the covies without also hitting your guys. You'll need to experiment with positioning, and how best to blast the Shade to a desired spot.

On Legendary things can be a bit tough, but it's certainly manageable if you've got the support of a nice large squad distracting the covies. Try to pepper each incoming wave of covies promptly though, before they zero in on you with their fire. In particular, you really don't want to get hit by a plasma ball, as that can quickly lead to your having to bail and run for the medkit. Also, try to bring down the Elite fast, to make the other covies panic.

Blending the Shade idea with 'grav-lift hold-out', you might even try having a Shade on the grav-lift itself. I'll leave you to check out what that's like!

Hunter tactics

When it comes to the Hunters, I quite like to run in to start whacking them and drilling them with an AR. It can all be over in seconds. But if you fancy something more spectacular, try streaming needles into them as you move around the raised perimeter.

If you're feeling cocky, you could try luring a Hunter over to the cliff edge. Dodge as he swipes, and watch him plummet to his doom - perhaps with a plasma grenade attached for good measure. What a chump.

There are other ways to handle things too of course, including just standing back and seeing what your squad can do, if it's still in good shape. Time to earn your pay boys! Marines can also be useful for making the Hunters swipe, giving you the chance for scoring a sniper round in the back; so watch out for the opportunity.

Checkpoint avoidance

A checkpoint is triggered by finishing the last of the main waves (STOP PRESS: actually it looks like things aren't so simple; I'm currently investigating). It can be annoying to get the checkpoint, because then you won't be able to revert to your battle start checkpoint (assuming you took the trouble to get one). However, it's fully delayable, so here's what you can do if you want to avoid it.

Once you've finished the main waves, delay the checkpoint with some jumping or by throwing a grenade (perhaps throwing it over the plateau edge so it lasts a long time). Once the Hunters arrive, enemy threat plus active ordnance in the air will automatically continue the delay. When they're dead, either revert immediately or do some more delaying until ready to revert for another battle.

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