Some of these Wraith pilots must wish they'd never spawned at all!

(7:53) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Heroic. Reapplying the idea of the last movie, here's another Wraith you can enjoy spawn-launching, and in multiple regards this new situation is even better! I've crammed a load of fun into this movie, so get out the popcorn! See also my new article.

Released January 11th 2026, gameplay recorded January 7th-9th 2026.

00:02 (Set-up work begins) My set-up tutorial style is a bit more brief and informal than before, as I'm tacitly assuming familiarity with that earlier situation. I'll provide some details here though. To begin with I again do a Banshee grab. But again I could've instead descended from the bridge and fetched a Banshee.

00:24 (Scorpion positioning) In positioning the Scorpion, I initially do a pretty good job of driving into the configuration I'd planned (a configuration I'd found good in earlier play). The tank is pointed towards a huge rock at the start of the battlefield (resting against the cliff wall). At 0:28 I point the rectangular reticle down so the bottom lines up with the front of the tank, and I edge forward until the screen-height from the top of the reticle to the snow is slightly less than the reticle height (so, there's almost enough space to fit another reticle into that gap). That's just a way I came up with of getting the tank approximately the right distance forward.

After dismounting however, I then do a little adjusting using melee, being guided by where certain indentations in the ice should be. I'm going rather fast though, for the sake of the tutorial. I could've been more fussy, and perhaps I would've used some Banshee nudging too. So I'm not surprised that when I eventually try the first launch, it's some way off being vertical. I wasn't going for perfection here; just something fairly good.

00:56 (Resuming combat) The post-bridge checkpoint is triggered around 1:03 but I don't bother delaying it. You might like to delay it until ready to trigger the battle, as a potential convenience, but I deliberately didn't do that for this tutorial as it wasn't important.

Around 1:31 when fighting through later, a Marine in a Ghost actually splatters an Elite! Not sure I've seen that before. I made sure to include it in the movie, for the novelty.

01:44 (Final phase) Around this time I trigger a checkpoint in the crashed Pelican area and keep it delayed for use in completing the set-up. There were just a few covies still to take care of, when it was triggered. Not that I had to kill them, but I thought it advisable. Incidentally, if you're wondering why there's suddenly an Elite voice behind me when I triggered the checkpoint, that was a Ghost pilot who'd suddenly teleported to his assigned Ghost (now overturned), which I'd briefly used earlier in returning to my Banshee after positioning the Scorpion.

There are several Marines in my set-up (initially holding back; they don't fully advance until the battle is triggered), and that adds a little fun later on. I didn't need to have Marines though. In fighting through, I paid little attention to them and just let things turn out as they would.

02:27 (Triggering in the Banshee by dropping) For this first launch example I drop into the trigger zone in my Banshee, and as you can see, the Wraith goes off to the side a bit, and I score a mid-air fuel rod hit. To avoid getting the checkpoint which triggers with the battle, I start some Banshee fire as soon as I see that the battle has triggered. Enemy threat soon takes over on the checkpoint delaying though. I don't want that checkpoint, as I wouldn't then be able to revert to my save point. I'd have to eject the disc and reload; a bother.

03:02 (Triggering in the Banshee by backing up) Here's my first example of adjusting the Scorpion before spawning the Wraith. Adjustment was also done for most of the other launches here too, but mostly I don't show it, now that I've shown it once.

I again trigger in the Banshee, but this time I back into the trigger zone, another way of doing things, and one which allows me to be lower down. The Wraith settles upright, but this time I do a frontal flip attack, and after a brief struggle, eject the pilot and splatter him. If you haven't seen this sort of attack before, see BCM81 (and my related Three Wraiths article). Maybe that's where I first featured it.

03:39 (Close-up view) To give you a close-up view of a launch, I let myself slide off the first ledge and into the trigger zone, while trying to maintain a fully zoomed sniper view. One thing to notice is that the pilot gets moved to the Wraith from some distance away, and intercepts it in mid-air (to start his boarding animation). That's something you may already have spotted in the previous two clips however. For this launch, I'd first tweaked the Scorpion so the launch would be more vertical.

Incidentally, to set myself up for trying to get clips like this, I'd re-checkpointed with the Banshee just above the ledge, ready to drop myself off. The checkpoint in question was namely the bridge checkpoint, featured in the previous movie. Because of my flight, the Marines had now moved out of the tunnel, drawn to a spot nearer to me. That's why a Marine turns up in the footage. He'd been nearby, and when the battle triggered, he advanced.

03:54 (Triggering on foot, near a rock) Now I start giving some launch examples initiated on foot. I'm doing it near a rock, and my initial position is guided by ground markings (specifically a snaking dark line), so I'll just need a back-step to trigger the battle. A pre-trigger grenade throw causes a checkpoint delay, allowing me to concentrate on getting a good view of the launched Wraith through my sniper scope.

Although he boards, he gets jolted out when the Wraith hits the ground. Jolted out before the hatch opens, heh! I move in and get sight of him, but by then a second Ghost is upon me and things go pear-shaped.

04:29 (Pilot sniping) Now we get to a major bit of fun with this business: pilot sniping! Four examples here. In the first, it takes two hits to kill him. Same with the second. In the third however, it's a one-shot job as I score a headshot. The fourth is another headshot example, but this time I get him at what seems like the last possible moment. That was a particularly tough shot to try for. I was waiting for the shot as he came into view during the forward somersault, but there was only a small window of opportunity.

Incidentally, the third example is odd-out in the sense that I'd re-checkpointed, ready for making tries at that specific shot. Multiple tries let me get used to the tracking and aiming work needed, so I'd be in with a better chance than otherwise. It was still challenging to nail though. For good measure, I also deliver a body shot after the kill (something I specifically had in mind, to give an example of that).

05:16 (Pilot rocketing) Eventually I had the idea of rocketing the pilot as he boarded. Rather difficult, requiring precise aiming and timing! Here I was using he Wraith without having tweaked it, and that allowed me to make some tries to try and get used to the aiming and timing needed. Here I score a rare hit, which you can tell by the mass of purple blood. But it doesn't kill him! Something about him boarding gave him protection.

05:47 (Tunnel trigger, Banshee) The movie ends with three examples where I'm triggering the battle at the tunnel exit. In this first case I'm in the Banshee, and after scoring a mid-air fuel rod hit, I engage in some rather gung-ho combat on foot, principally with my rocket launcher. Got killed a few seconds later actually.

06:31 (Tunnel trigger, pilot snipe) This time I'm on foot, and after sniping the pilot with a tricky headshot, I get a running Grunt for good measure, which was rather easier of course.

06:50 (Tunnel trigger, pilot tag) Finally, an outrageous pilot tag. For making tries at this, I'd re-checkpointed, ready to throw the grenade. That allowed me to hone the aim and timing, to give me half a chance at scoring a hit. As you see, the grenade briefly pops back out of the Wraith after the pilot is inside. That's an effect I've shown before in another situation. See BCM108, and delve into its written commentary for details.

Closing remarks There was a lot to try and cover here, but I think I managed to cram in a good amount, while also including bits of post-launch combat for fun. Various aspects could do with more detailed coverage later, but this will do as a start.

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