See how to set up the level's best fight. Then go do it!

(3:54) Level 9 ('Keyes') on Heroic. This demonstrates setting up the Flood onslaught challenge with good weapon provision. Specifically, I want to get the maximum 30 shells for the shotgun, I want my original plasma pistol on 100% charge, and I want to have the three other weapon types available as options (AR, plasma rifle, needler).

Released December 28th 2014, gameplay recorded December 22nd-23rd 2014.

00:02 At the start here, I kill the chasing Flood, delay the checkpoint which was triggered at the door, get the camo and three plasma grenades, then pause for the checkpoint - handy for retries.

00:22 In my situation here the Flood spawn at the end of the corridor, which is ideal (and if you don't get this, you could always restart the level). I want to get the shotty and check the randomized ammo count, but I don't want to go down the corridor yet or I'll trigger the hangar fight before I'm ready for it. So I try to get the shotty blasted my way. There's a Grunt who's quite keen on grenading some spores, and I try to smack him quick so he doesn't spoil the plan. On this first try I throw a plasma then fire a shot to draw out the Flood, but on later tries I fire the shot before throwing, as that turned out to work better on average (because the shotty guy tended to emerge behind the other guy). I get 27 shells this time, but I want the maximum 30. Bah!

00:41 Here's another try (I've picked out a few examples for you). Only 20 shells this time - phooey!

00:53 Hah, killed that Grunt before he could throw - although another Grunt stepped up to take over. I only get 25 shells though.

01:06 This time I don't even try to whack the Grunt. I realized that I could just fire my Flood-alerting shot and let it shock him, so he won't throw. I don't manage to catch the shotty this time as I have to get clear of the carrier blast which wipes out the Grunts. But when I get it, I see the desired 30 shells, yay!

01:22 Next task is to make the place safe, for which I get a spare plasma pistol. After that, I sort out a full needler for my future weapon stash, then take what's left for the next bit. I also get my plasmas topped up. Actually, it would've been better to get the grenade which was near the dead Elite, leaving the other one to get detonated in the battle. Oh well, too late now.

02:05 Heading down the corridor, the hangar fight gets quickly triggered. I go just far enough to open the door without triggering Cortana and the Flood onslaught yet. Plasma balls do a good job on the three covies, and they're soon dead. My final stream of needles kills a Flood I spotted. Can't see any more threats now; job done.

02:43 I arrange the AR, plasma rifle and full needler not far from where I plan to get my battle start checkpoint, and end up with the shotty and the original plasma pistol (100%). Actually those spares could've done with being a little further apart for ease of selection, but they're ok.

03:08 I trigger Cortana's speech just past the door trigger, but delay the checkpoint until she's said "powerful", then quickly switch on my flashlight (optional, but I prefer to have it on, and especially for recording). The checkpoint comes, and I'm ready for action. By way of illustration, I then take advantage of my weapon stash and start attacking. Hopefully that'll whet your appetite for the next movie!

Closing remarks After recently doing a set-up movie for the Keyes hangar battle, I thought I really ought to demonstrate the set-up for the level's other major bit of fun too. I decided to use Heroic for two reasons. Firstly, it's probably a good difficulty for most good players to start on, making for a tough challenge without being as outright murderous as Legendary. And secondly it gives greater scope for using weapon combos other than the most powerful one (shotty & plasma pistol), and hence it's more worthwhile to arrange some spares.

In this set-up I got a plasma rifle with relatively low charge. I probably could've got higher charge by killing its owner more quickly (he fired quite a few shots), but I wasn't so concerned about that. Another little shortcoming of this set-up became apparent later. When I get forced back near the door, I sometimes get needled by one or two Flood in the hangar, on the floor to the left. However, it's not severe.

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