Things are heating up at the grav-lift now, on Legendary!

(7:34) Level 3 ('The Truth and Reconciliation') on Legendary. Here are two grav-lift battles with ten fresh Marines, using a set-up created the same way as seen in the second part of my tutorial BCM633, except that I also took the time to assemble some alternative weapons at the start, ready for potential pick-up. I've initially got Stacker. The first battle is heavy on the sniping, while the second one steps up the adrenaline with closer action!

Released May 19th 2026, gameplay recorded May 18th 2026.

00:02 (Sniping, with plasma rifle back-up) At the start of this play I trigger the reinforcements the quickest way, just needing to get near the entrance around to the left. Continuing up, I start my sniping, with 65 rounds to play with.

That area has been a favourite of mine for dealing with the waves. Gives a very nice view, and if you stand on the edge you won't have Marines running in front of you. There's some nice grenade work here, the highlight being my 2:14 throw in anticipation of the fifth wave, which takes out the Elite and a few minors very nicely. Needed to kill one of the two Jackals to trigger that wave (triggered by the enemy count falling below two). It's tactic I cover in my Grav-lift battle tactics article.

A few notes on particular things. At 1:32 an Elite dives clear of my plasma on the grav-lift. He can subsequently be seen running towards the right. He must be the guy whose death cry is heard off to my right at 1:59. I think he'd boarded the Shade there, and I presume he got shot by a Marine. Meanwhile a frag had been throw by Johnson (you can hear his cry of "Catch!"), and evidently sent the Shade off the edge.

At 2:46 when a wave comes down, it looks like a Jackal doesn't quite reach the platform, but instead settles on top of his Jackal buddy. But whatever, I take him out instantly with a sniper round.

04:13 (AR & plasma pistol) This time I trigger the reinforcements by reaching a rock on the right of the lower area. As for the battling, I'm going for a more close-range experience, with a lot of AR use.

Again there's some nice grenade work included, starting with my 'welcoming pressie' at 5:21. I was also pleased with the sequence of three frags starting around 6:22 when I frag a bunch of covies who've got down onto the ground. That one (and the AR drilling finishing the Elite) was very satisfying, and the subsequent two frags needed to be just right to land on the grav-lift.

When the Hunters turn up, I come close to being killed. A blast sets my shield bleeping around 7:04, and I immediately start moving away because I know a second blast would likely kill me. The same Hunter rapidly follows with a second shot, and you can see the blast. Good job I wasn't there any more!

Closing remarks As mentioned, I had 65 rounds in my sniper rifle, having only used up three during my set-up work. Those were namely used in the first area, in connection with the Elites. Naturally, the set-up was quite a lot tougher than on Heroic. Took me a number of tries before I managed to clear that first area with only a few sniper rounds used up. Later on, I got Stacker as one of the guys arriving at the dustbowl via Pelican. I was able to deal with the passage guards before these reinforcements closed in; so none of them took any damage.

In both of these battles, it was Johnson who happened to be aboard the Pelican. As such, I had both Stacker and Johnson, which is what I ideally wanted.

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