Chieftain challenge
Posted May or June 2008 I think
Introduction
Fellow cyborg SS_Zag1 emailed me in connection with his forum thread at bungie.net, about getting the hammer-wielding Chieftain to chase you all the way through the level - the Chieftain you meet in the motor pool just after rally point alpha. He was trying this with cohorts SadistikN2k and El Roboto, and for reasons that are unclear to me but which I think could most readily be explained by excessive medication, they'd chosen to use Legendary with the Tilt and Mythic skulls on. Ouch!
Well, I wasn't about to subject myself to pain like that, plus I didn't have any cohorts handy anyway, so I fired up single-player Easy to give it a go and managed to get hammer-boy all the way to the end of the level, right into the lift. If you fancy giving it a go, here are some tips based on my experience.
General tips
Face him when he swings
Here's the first thing to remember. Whenever the Chieftain is swinging at you close enough to make contact, don't have your back to him or it's likely to be instant death for you. If you're going to get hit at all, try to be facing him. On Easy you'll just take a bit of damage - not too bad. Most of the time you should be able to dodge him pretty well though, once you've picked up the knack.
Keep fairly close
Another important thing is that once you're past the motor pool section, the game has a tendency to remove the Chieftain if you ever get too far from him and he's out of sight. Evidently the game thinks he's just some old bit of trash that can be removed; and whilst I agree with that general sentiment, it's a bit annoying to turn around and find that he's gone. So try to keep him fairly close.
Help him stay alive
To help stop the Chieftain getting killed, eliminate Marines as you encounter them. There are also times when you might want to try to lead him away from the Arbiter - or lead the Arbiter away from the Chieftain - for fear that Arby might otherwise kill him.
Try to get checkpoints
Try to get checkpoints as you go along, so that whenever you or the Chieftain gets killed, you won't lose too much progress. I think the game tends not to give checkpoints if it judges you to be under immediate threat, which is often the case if you've got the Chieftain near. Therefore, try not to be too close to the Chieftain in places where you're normally due a checkpoint. A bit tricky, but doable. On my Easy run I got several checkpoints as I took him through the level.
Cowbell consideration
I had the Cowbell skull on but that probably made things slightly harder because I got knocked further by the hammer. Good for a laugh though - nice to see Arby go flying about!
Area-specific tips
Now here's some specific advice as you move through the level. This also partly doubles as a report on some aspects of my Easy run.
In the motor pool
In the motor pool at the start, you'll want to kill all of the other Brutes. You can potentially do that with a battle rifle without even going through the door at the bottom of the ramp. You can get more ammo by going back up the ramp then downstairs. By staying back, hopefully the Chieftain won't be tempted into charging you for a good long while. However, you could also just pile in and do things at close range with SMGs or whatever. When you've killed all the other Brutes, you can lead the Chieftain on a merry dance on the upper level to try to briefly get well clear of him, then head through the door and along to the hole in the floor. You'll hopefully get a checkpoint there (after killing a bug perhaps), partly thanks to the Chieftain not being too close. That's very useful because the next section may well require multiple attempts to get through intact.
Down the hole
Getting the Chieftain down through the hole at the end of the corridor is quite easy. The best way I found was to move around to the far edge and let him jump at you. Just as he's coming down, backstep and he'll probably fall straight through. Big idiot! He'll wince as he lands; I suggest you jump down right after him. After the Cortana interruption, run to the far end and kill any remaining bugs. The Chieftain tries to come after you but has a tendency to get a bit stuck and you may need to backtrack to tempt him along. Eventually though, be standing at the edge as he takes a leap, then move forward to let him fly past you and down into the cylindrical compartment. Jump down to join him, and stand at the edge. My tactic there was simply to let him take a swing. He usually ended up down on the ground with me. You can sometimes get a checkpoint down on the ground, but probably not while he's coming after you. Maybe you can get one if he's distracted by the Arbiter, or obstructed by objects he's disrupted (in my case it was the latter). As before, it's very useful if you do get a checkpoint here.
Brutes in the barracks
Next off, you battle a load of Brutes who've been giving the Marines a rough time. I don't have any particular tips for that section, but I remind you that should try not to get too far ahead of the Chieftain. I lost him a good few times here and had to take increasingly more care to keep him close.
Up in the lift
A lift takes you up to the next section, and you have to get the Chieftain inside. Being sealed inside a steel cage with a disgruntled hammer-wielding space gorilla isn't terribly high on my wish-list, but on Easy at least, it was no trouble to survive. I forget how much swiping was going on, but Arby was probably getting the worst of it. What a shame eh?
Jetpack Brutes
Try to get out of the lift quick and distance yourself from the Chieftain, and hopefully you'll get a checkpoint. I got one a few seconds after getting out. Now you get to play with some jetpack Brutes (this was as far as SS_Zag1 & co managed to get, on Legendary). I found the best tactic to be to simply pile into the central area and kill the Brutes at close quarters, simultaneously keeping aware of where the Chieftain was, so he never swiped me by surprise (remember, try to face him as he swipes). Keeping on the move, I mostly used a plasma rifle, often finishing off Brutes with a good firm whack (which also gave the rifle a moment to cool down). At the end, try to lead the Chieftain up some stairs away from the direction of the Marines, otherwise they might kill him (they did that a few times, which is when I formed my leading-away tactic). When the coast is clear, lead him onwards.
Jackals and Grunts
Next up, a grunty fool on a plasma cannon! Then some patrolling Jackals, more Grunts and a couple of sniper Jackals, though on Easy they thankfully only have carbines. No special tips here, except to say that you can get a checkpoint after polishing off these enemies. I got one when I was heading up towards the next door, at which point the Chieftain was back around the corner. However, I found that if I went for the door then went back, he was gone. So, I had to instead first get him to chase me, then I opened the door as he was closing in. A trifle uncomfortable, but on Easy you can survive plenty. Actually I was often able to get though the door before he got close enough to clobber me.
Motor pool revisited
In the next area, I realized that the Chieftain had a tendency to go back down the ramp and into the motor pool - like it was 'home sweet home' to him. I lost him that way a few times (i.e. the game removed him). So keep a good watch on him, and if possible try to lead him well into the next area - the place where you disarm the bomb. If he does wander back to the motor pool though, and he's not removed, it's easy to lure him back.
Final section
From there on I found things relatively plain sailing and didn't lose him once. It was a bit awkward getting him through the narrow door leading to the hangar though (the door that comes off a small circular area with a shaft running up through it). I had to let myself get swiped at quite a bit to get him through. You can get a checkpoint on the other side of the door though (as you near the hangar), which can be handy.
Further remarks
Thanks for the heads-up Cortana
One thing I found quite amusing. Heading along a corridor in the final stages with the Chieftain in tow, Cortana pops up to say "There will be a great deal of hardship on the road ahead". So I'm thinking, "Yeah, there's been a fair bit of hardship behind me too, and it's currently closing fast with a king-sized hammer. What's new, sweetcakes?". It's nice to know she's there to cheer you up eh?
Over the edge
Rather than taking the Chieftain into the lift at the end, let me suggest that you instead lead him over to the balcony, let him take a swing at you, and watch him fall to his doom. Now that's what I call a satisfying conclusion! It's not easy though, because he likes to stay well back from the edge. I had to make several attempts before I eventually got him over - and a couple of times I ended up going over myself! Actually I deployed a grav lift and managed to get him to enter the updraft, which took him way up and over the edge. Ho ho ho. No more bananas for you, monkey boy! If you want to get him over the edge, it would be useful to have a fuel rod gun or Brute shot, so that if he ever ends up just near the edge, you can blast him off - hopefully still alive.
Hilariously fun pain in the head
SS_Zag1 described things glowingly as a "hilariously fun experience", but I'm tempted to put that down to the afore-theorized excessive medication. Me, I'm thinking more along the lines of "pain in the head", and that was just on Easy! I'd consider it more a challenge rather than outright 'fun' - partly due to the game's annoying tendency to remove the Chieftain if you ever get too far from him. But at least it taught me a bit about dodging hammers!