It's just a good job these ARs don't overheat!

(7:38) Level 3 ('The Truth and Reconciliation') on Heroic. Continuing with the same Hunter-enhanced 52-covie passage horde battle set-up, this movie shows five increasingly fast speed plays using my AR. Lots of highly intense explosive action here, including a great deal of Hunter dodging in the narrow confines!

Released August 26th 2026, gameplay recorded August 23rd-25th 2026.

00:02 (Play 1 - 110.1 seconds) I start this first play with a quick frag throw down the main passage, hoping to intercept a bunch of Jackals. Not sure how well it did. When the first Hunter comes after me I do some good dodging, and there are a few Grunts in the mix as well. Talking of which, there's a later bit in the main passage when the second Hunter whacks a few Grunts, sending one flying (the one I'd just whacked myself). Always amusing to see.

01:59 (Play 2 - 97.3 seconds) At the start here, I quickly advanced to the side-passage to throw a grenade into it. A fairly obvious tactic to try, because there's a good cluster of covies there to hopefully wipe out.

Later there's some entertaining stuff in the main passage, especially the bit starting around 3:11 where, after some explosions send a load of bodies flying and kill the nearest Hunter, I jump over the second Hunter and whack a Grunt who tries to grenade me. After that bit, I remember thinking "That really needs to be in the movie", and I was keen to remain alive so I could do that. Lost a few seconds with the two orange Grunts who were right up close at the end, but never mind.

03:40 (Play 3 - 89.7 seconds) As in the first play, I start with a quick frag down the main passage before tackling the two Jackals up front. My time ends up being about 20 seconds faster though.

Around 4:31 I go on a charge down the main passage to try and slaughter most of the remaining Grunts. After that there's some good Hunter dodging, though I do take a whack around 5:00. I could see that coming, but I just wanted to keep drilling that guy close up, thinking he might be about to go down. Besides which, I knew I could afford to take a whack. I'll sometimes do that, on a speed run. In the event, he went down within half a second of my getting hit, so my judgement was pretty close.

05:14 (Play 4 - 73.4 seconds) This time at the start, I quickly bounce a frag off the far wall of the side-passage to try and take care of the cluster there. Some good grenade work down the main passage follows, taking care of a load of nasty critters.

Then around 5:48 I make a charge towards the end. The stack is almost gone but I throw a plasma into the last few Grunts there anyway, before about-facing to make an escape. As I head back, the Grunts are on the receiving end of a few Hunter shots. Sounds like the first shot kills a few. I manage to dodge the first Hunter but I get hit by the second (should've dodged right). That takes me down to only one health bar and with a bleeping shield, but the closely pursuing Hunters shelter me from grunty fire, and I'm able to recharge.

I eventually have to do some tricky dodging to shake the Hunters, but it works out well and one of the Hunters later sends the final Grunt flying. At the time I didn't know it was the last one, which is why after killing the second Hunter, I quickly turn to face any Grunts. But there were none.

06:35 (Play 5 - 55 seconds) This final play is radically faster, and that's because of my stack-buster tactic, which is to quickly get a grenade all the way down to the stack, to wipe it out while it's still big. It's a bit dangerous to advance far enough to make the throw of course, but if you succeed, the covie count is greatly reduced. I use a frag here, though a plasma is also viable. As for the leading two Jackals who I passed on the way, the front one got tagged, and that took care of both.

About 21 seconds after I throw the stack-buster grenade, the 50 Grunts and Jackals have been wiped out, leaving just the Hunters. The first one goes down pleasingly fast, and happily I do good work on the second too.

Closing remarks Just to clarify, the plays aren't in chronological order. Rather, I did some sessions of playing and basically put together five of the most entertaining plays, with successively faster times.

Incidentally, that 55-seconds job at the end wasn't quite my fastest using the stack-buster tactic. I managed 53.6 on another play, but my handling of the Hunters wasn't as pleasing (e.g. I took a whack). I'm confident that I could go sub-50 with further playing (things would just need to go unusually well), but I wasn't fussed about trying for that. I had an pleasing fast play, and that was enough.

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