BCM276 - Wraith at the bottom of the cavern, edge start

(7:37) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Legendary. In my third movie on getting a live Wraith to the bottom of the cavern, I try starting it off teetering on the edge, and it's pretty good. It saves you having to barge under the Wraith when making descent attempts, and it can also let you easily get far below to wait to intercept.

Released March 2nd 2018, gameplay recorded February 26th - March 2nd 2018.

Commentary

00:02 (First perch) I set things up by modifying the save used in the last two movies. All I do is move the Wraith so it's teetering on the edge, then go back and wait for another tunnel checkpoint in the checkpoint trigger zone, which doesn't take long (the ripple transition represents about 38 seconds of waiting).

00:34 It's easy to then knock the Wraith off of course, such as shown here. I cushion the Wraith relatively high up but it gets additional slowing when it hits the pipe, which I expect saved the pilot from dying. On the ground I soon bail to do some rocketing.

01:18 However, you can also just let the Wraith fall off by itself, which it tends to do when it turns. In this example I get it down safely with two bounces, also scoring a nice mid-air fuel rod hit. But the Wraith gets me with a close-range shot at the bottom as I cruise by.

01:48 Letting the Wraith fall off by itself gives you plenty of time to get down to a suitable height and wait to intercept. It's essentially the early freefall method of BCM275 done an easier and more leisurely way. By seeing where the pilot would suffer fall-death, you can soon learn the appropriate height at which to cushion the Wraith. Down the wall there are light-coloured horizontal bands, and I do the cushioning just above the fourth band. That's pretty ideal, at least for PAL Xbox (things might differ on NTSC/PC). Down on the ground I go for some rocket play again, but my third rocket is a touch late and we end up both dead. Of course, I knew the danger - but I was playing in gung-ho fashion for entertainment.

02:25 On Legendary at least, you have to beware of early shots from the Wraith, because the pilot is no slouch with that mortar. This clip shows a typical example of what can happen.

02:35 In this second example I'm freefalling down to wait for an intercept, but I never get there. A plasma ball chases me down and blows the Banshee out of the air. Nasty!

02:46 On this play the pilot only just makes it down alive. He loses his shield just as the Wraith is reaching the ground, and you can hear him groan, which I think is associated with the shield loss rather than the impact. There's some comedy afterwards when he loses track of me and fires at open ground for a while, until I make my location known.

03:33 More comedy, but this time at the expense of the cyborg. I get out of position somewhat and try to drift in to slow the Wraith, but it sails past and casually blasts me.

03:51 Ok, now we're back to knocking the Wraith off. I cushion it nicely then score a mid-air fuel rod hit. Just as it reaches the ground it fires a plasma ball, but because of the Wraith's downward speed, the ball heads downwards and hits the ground right under the Wraith - doing damage I assume. I subsequently enjoy some distant rocketing.

04:42 This descent looks to be going ok, but then we have an exchange of fire, both scoring hits, and I'm killed. That plasma ball was quite a surprise; the pilot managed to sneak it past the pipe. As you can see from the footage, he made it down alive.

05:03 Here I give the Wraith three knocks on the way down - and also a fuel rod hit - but it lands badly and the pilot pops out. That opens the door to some comedy though. After whipping out my launcher, I flip the Wraith and give him a rockety surprise.

05:45 (Second perch) Here's another location I tried. This time I get the Wraith teetering on the end of the broken bridge. The key way this differs from before is that when the Wraith falls, it'll initially be away from the wall. As such, there's less chance of it ending up scraping the wall (or a pipe) and spilling the pilot.

05:50 The Wraith almost gets me with an early plasma ball here, but I manage to dodge it before giving the Wraith some cushioning. After bouncing off a pipe and the wall, it narrowly misses again. But when I get down to ground level, eager to deliver a bit of hurt, it catches me before I can get away. Oops!

06:25 Just as with the earlier location, you have to watch out for early shots from the Wraith. Here I get blown out of the air with a frontal hit. This guy doesn't mess around!

06:38 Another play with similar flight plan, except this time I'm a bit more standoffish. Doesn't help though. I see the plasma ball coming and start to evade, but it's too late. BLAM!

06:53 This time the Banshee takes longer to topple, during which I barrage it with cannon fire and two fuel rod shots. As it comes down I score a third fuel rod hit and deliver more cannon fire, briefly matching it for fall speed. After cushioning it, I get a fourth hit just before it reaches the ground. I'm pretty sure it only needs one more. And sure enough, it blows when I swing around a pipe and let loose at close range.

Closing remarks Putting the Wraith on the edge was an obvious idea really, because then it could much more easily be knocked off. But the biggest advantage - which I hadn't anticipated - is that it can fall off by itself, allowing you plenty of time to get down below for leisurely cushioning.