BCM621 - Spawn-launched Wraith

(7:30) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Heroic. Back in 2025 I had the idea of putting the Scorpion where the first Wraith would be spawning, to see what would happen. Turned out to be quite amusing! Here's my tutorial on it, and see also my new article.

Released January 5th 2026, gameplay recorded January 1st-3rd 2026.

Commentary

00:02 (Setting up) This set-up work should be clear enough in the movie, but I can add a few remarks here.

At the start I do a Banshee grab (possible only on Heroic and Legendary), but you could instead do a descent trick off the bridge and head off to fetch one in the twin bridges area.

After I get the Scorpion back over the step, which takes a bit of effort, I place it in the approximate Wraith spawning location. A brief aerial view is provided around 1:24.

Triggering the room around 1:34 is what now allows you to spawn the Wraith (as part of the ground battle) by going in through the ground door. You're actually doing the working for the seven extra Marines trick here.

01:54 (Launching and tweaking) As it turns out, my first spawn-launch is actually quite nice, getting good height. The Wraith stays almost level the whole time. Thereafter, I try some tweaks to the Scorpion and show the resulting launches. For brevity (once I've given the general idea), not all the tweaks are shown.

In the 2:49 clip the launch results in the Wraith getting flipped and the pilot being ejected, which is not uncommon. And for the first time in the movie, I close in to have some fun with the situation.

At 3:13 I introduce the 'flight option' of having the Banshee ready to board as soon as the Wraith is spawned, something which enables you to quickly close in. Good for having fun. I also manage to score a long-distance hit on the Wraith. Together with a further hit as I close in, I'm anticipating finishing it off with a Scorpion blast, but the Wraith pilot has other ideas! A tragic end. There's a bit of payback in the subsequent clip though.

04:07 (Inverting the Scorpion and consolidating) After a while, I decided to try having the Scorpion inverted, to see if it could give bigger launches or something. I flip the tank using the nearby hill (worked first time), then push it into position with the Banshee and consolidate with a new delayed checkpoint, namely using the bridge checkpoint, which hadn't yet been used up.

04:59 (Launching and tweaking) The initial launch is rather small and the Wraith bounces off the cliff base. But I then proceed to get more interesting launches via tweaking, and in each case I fly over to have some fun. I also start using a pre-zoomed pistol view at the door (previously I was zooming in only after the spawning).

In regard to the 5:36 launch, the Wraith actually lands on the nearby rock, though it doesn't properly settle there, Maybe that's possible but I haven't seen it so far.

The 6:11 launch is the biggest in the movie. That's about as high as I've seen the Wraith launch, whether the Scorpion is inverted or not.

The 6:35 final launch is also quite big, but the main reason I've included this clip is because I was able to do a rear flip attack, something you rarely have the opportunity for, as the Wraith normally tries to keep facing you when in a one-on-one situation like this.

I can't say the inverted tank provided noticeably different launching, but it was worth a go at least.

Closing remarks Glad to've covered this little topic at last, since trying it out last year. I wouldn't say I've explored the possibilities fully though. Perhaps there's a Scorpion configuration I haven't yet tried which can give bigger launches to some degree?