Tackle the final bridge run aided by four squid-faced wonders.

Posted September 5th 2010

• Introduction
• Retaining the extras across the cutscene
• More on respawning
• Equipping your squad
• Further remarks

If you've got four Arbiters at the end of the third bridge in Revelation, it's possible to then tackle the 'Escape the Flood' section with their support. It's something I learnt of when picking up on that four Arbiters trick, courtesy of Sliding Ghost. As well getting his Arby squad into a nasty Brute battle, he'd found a way to retain the extras across the cutscene to give them some further work to do! I went exploring for myself and came up with a few ideas and developments to throw into the pot, so here's my account.

The key to retaining the three extras across the cutscene is to get them killed just before the cutscene starts up, something Sliding Ghost achieved with a gravity hammer. Fortunately the chieftain on the previous bridge had one, so you don't need to bring one along to the Citadel. I'll elaborate in a moment but I'm also going to be talking about other methods here, so first let me cover some generalities.

Generalities

Regardless of what method you use to attempt the killing, here's the general picture and routine. When the extras assemble on the platform and ramp, you can expect two in front on the platform and one behind on the ramp, quite near the top. When the official Arbiter turns up, he'll typically slot into the empty place if you give him a moment, though you don't necessarily have to wait for that (it's not him you're trying to kill, and he's presently unkillable anyway). Do your killing method then activate the bridge. When the cutscene ends (feel free to skip it), your three extras will hopefully respawn on the bridge. Some may appear to either side of the ramp, others at the far door. The game won't respawn them where you're looking however. Initially you're looking back along the bridge, which is preventing the respawning. If you briefly turn to the side, that'll give the game a chance to respawn them without further delay.

In case something goes wrong and you don't get all three extras back, it's a good idea to've saved your last checkpoint prior to the cutscene. If you fail to get all three, you can exit to the dashboard then go back in and resume from that checkpoint for another go. The most convenient checkpoint would be the one triggered as you either entered the room or got up onto the roof. It's good to've wiped out the Brutes before triggering that checkpoint, otherwise it could end up getting cancelled. Optionally, you could delay the checkpoint by jumping a few times so you only actually get it when past the room. Best not to risk jumping more than four times, else the checkpoint could get cancelled.

Hammer method

Sliding Ghost's hammer method, for which you want the Cowbell skull on, is basically to knock the Arbiters into the void with an almighty whomp from a gravity hammer. Easy huh? And satisfying too! However, I was finding that I often didn't get all three extras back, so I experimented with more precise recipes to try and make things more reliable. Here are two I found highly reliable, both assuming you've got the normal 'square' arrangement with two extras in front.

Recipe 1: Stand in the centre of the ramp. Look at the ground midway between the back two Arbiters then rotate right about 30 degrees - or just look at a spot between the feet of the back right Arbiter (it amounts to much the same). Deliver a blow to the ground. Because of how the hammer swings down and to the left, the shock wave ends up on the centre-line of the ramp, just behind the back two Arbiters. After the blow, activate the bridge without delay (there's no huge rush though). With this recipe I was always getting two respawners near the ramp, the other at the door.

Recipe 2: Push the back two Arbiters up a bit so they're at the top of the ramp (not quite on the platform), then follow the directions for recipe 1. The shock wave will end up in the centre of the top half of the ramp (something you can see in Theater mode). With this recipe, usually all the respawning was near the ramp.

Fuel rod gun method

Again with Cowbell on, here's a fairly reliable alternative method I developed using two blasts from a fuel rod gun. As you near the base of the ramp, blast the rearmost extra. That sends the front two extras off the platform but the rear one needs an extra shunt, so blast him again. However, you don't want that second blast to give the front two any extra impulse, else it can raise the chance of losing them. So instead of firing the two shots as closely together as possible, leave a very slight delay. It can't be much of a delay though, else the rear extra will be starting to run back from the edge as you fire again, and he may not get sent off. After the second shot, move to the switch panel promptly then wait for a second or so before using it. As you wait, look downwards in the direction of the falling extras.

Note: If the second blast gets felt by the front two extras, the guy ahead of the one you blasted could end up landing alive on the circular platform, while the other guy could get enough sideways speed to end up bouncing off a sloping side-surface, delaying his death too long.

Investigating the workings

When I was initially trying to retain extras with a hammer, and subsequently trying things with a fuel rod gun, there were plenty of times when I didn't retain all three. Sometimes I'd lose one or two, sometimes the whole lot. I wanted to know what was going on there so I could perhaps make things more reliable, so I used Theater mode to help me investigate. Starting from a saved checkpoint I'd got just past the room, I'd go to the ramp and do something to try and retain the extras. After letting any respawning occur after the cutscene, I'd sign out, sign back in, then go to the Theater lobby where there was a film of the proceedings waiting for me (apparently a film gets saved even when you sign out in the middle of play; but beware - the game sometimes does an automatic save too!). Watching the film, I could examine what was going on with the Arbiters after I'd sent them off the platform. After a lot of experimenting and watching, here's what I learnt.

If you're looking away from a falling extra, the game is apt to remove him, instantly respawning him somewhere out of your sight (fading back into visibility). As such, he's still alive when the cutscene starts, hence you lose him. So try to keep looking in the general direction of the airborne extras.

If an extra gets sufficient sideways speed he can end up bouncing off a sloping section of the side wall. That delays his death (presumably it cushioned him a little) and he can thus end up still alive when the cutscene starts, hence you lose him. He could also land alive on a small recess just past five sloping windows. So try not to send the extras flying sideways too much.

I implied earlier that to retain an extra, he needs to be killed just before the cutscene starts up. To be more precise, I think he needs to be dead when the fade-to-black completes.

Doing without Cowbell

Without Cowbell to make the extras fly off from a hammer blow or a few fuel rod blasts, it's much harder to work things but it's not impossible. For starters you can use more hammer blows and still get things to work, and likewise you can increase the number of fuel rod blasts. There's also the possibility of adding grenades to the mix. Things are probably going to be awkward, but perhaps you could develop a reasonably reliable method with a bit of experiment. I didn't put much work into that as I quite like fighting with Cowbell. However, I think your best bet will be to just do some rapid whomping with the hammer. Ideally, the first few whomps will drive them towards the edge, and then you can send them off with one more. I was able to retain all three extras that way. Other ways too, but that was the neatest.

Explanation for getting the extras back

As for why you get the extras back, here's some theorizing on what might be going on. When the cutscene starts or ends, the game replaces the old Arbiter with a new one (killable, and with altered behavioural scripting). Possibly it does the removal by going through a list and removing anything identified as a living Arbiter. But at any rate, it doesn't bother removing anything in this area marked as dead (and it knew the Arbiter it recently gave you wouldn't be dead, because he was unkillable). Your extras are currently dead, so they don't get removed. When the cutscene ends, the normal dynamics of gameplay resume, and as part of that, each dead Arbiter becomes free to respawn when given the chance.

Some of your extras may be able to respawn to either side of the ramp if you turn away within about two seconds of regaining control after the cutscene. If you don't give them that early opportunity, they'll only be able to respawn at the far door or beyond, like other extras.

Reappearance

When you give your extras a chance to respawn, it's easy to see them fading back into visibility, and they'll be leaping up off the ground if you gave them an early chance. Intriguingly, extras respawning near the door seem to initially be merged. I had one situation where all three extras were respawning there. Watching in Theater and slowing things down, there was initially just the shape of one Arbiter, but as the fade-in proceeded, it quickly spread out into three. That Arby is a spooky guy!

Delaying

If you keep looking towards the door or thereabouts, you can delay all respawning until near it if you like. About a metre back from the ramp leading up to the door, there's a trigger point for triggering your support to advance. If you stay back from that then look aside then swivel back, you can see your extras fade in at close quarters (of course, you could always use Theater mode to see fade-ins as close as you like). If you cross the trigger before allowing them to respawn, they potentially respawn at the end of the next bridge - unless you're looking that way, in which case you can keep them delayed even longer. Right to the end in fact.

The three extras respawn with carbines - hardly the best thing for use against Flood - while the 'official' Arbiter (the one you got at the start of Revelation and who's with you after the cutscene) has a sword and plasma rifle. But I found a way to get all four Arbiters equipped at your leisure before you return down the second bridge. In particular you could give the three extras back their original weapons if you want; weapons you may've given them earlier.

Preparation

The key to this is to block your squad with a deployable shield or a weapon crate so they won't be able to advance past the nearby room until you're ready. You could use either doorway but I'd recommend the one which is going to be your exit, so they end up inside the room where there's plenty of space. If using a shield it'll be easiest if you deploy it sometime prior to the cutscene, but you could leave it until afterwards if you like. The drawback of doing it late is that when you get within about a metre of the ramp leading up to the room, your squad will be triggered into advancing and they may get into the room ahead of you. However, you could probably be the first into the room if you make them dive clear of a grenade; and even if you do end up behind an Arbiter, it's possible to deploy a shield ahead of him. If you don't have a shield (Brutes don't drop any if Thunderstorm is on), a weapon crate can do but it's far from idea. As a barrier it's rather shaky, and the Arbiters will have an inconvenient instinct to try and clamber on top of it.

Prior to the cutscene, you should also move any desired weapons to a handy location - such as the room itself. Those could include ones currently carried by the extras; just kill an extra then quickly move the weapon away. But you could also retrieve weapons from anywhere along the three bridges. Fuel rod guns, Brute shots, shotguns, even a plasma cannon on Heroic or Legendary. You've potentially got quite a choice! While doing all this you may spawn a few Flood, but you can easily get rid of them afterwards.

After the cutscene

After the cutscene, deal with the initial attack. When you near the door, the Arbiters are triggered to advance but they get blocked, and you can now get them equipped. It would be handy if you've got a headshot weapon other than a carbine, for finishing off a carbine carrier then doing a weapon swap. However, it's not required. Some other ways to finish off an Arbiter after bringing down his shield (which you can do with melee) is to use a grenade tag, needle explosion (I used those quite a bit, and there's a needler on the third bridge), plasma or spikes.

If you want a carbine Arbiter to use a sword, he'll first need to've been provoked into drawing it, something you can encourage by bringing down his shield in battle. A plasma pistol is very handy for that, and there are a couple on the bridge. When he switches back to his carbine, you'll see that he now wears the deactivated sword on his thigh. When you kill him, he'll drop the carbine and sword (he wouldn't have dropped a sword if he'd never drawn it). Quickly move the carbine clear if it looks like it's closest to him. As long as the sword is sufficiently close to him, which is very likely if you killed him non-explosively, he should pick it up. If it's not sufficiently close, he conjures another carbine out of thin air (a phenomenon you can use repeatedly to build up a collection of carbines to look at, if you're that way inclined).

Warning: Once your squad has been triggered to advance into the room, don't wander back too close to the light-bridge (looking for weapons or whatever), else when you return and look away from the Arbiters, they can get suddenly transported to the end of the next bridge! To be more specific, don't go more than about two-thirds of the way back. One other thing. Sometimes when I killed an Arbiter in the room, he stayed down, and when I wasn't looking he transported to the end of the next bridge. So, there are a few quirks here.

Incidentally, if you're deploying the shield in advance, another good reason for using the far doorway rather than the near one is that the shield is less likely to get accidentally destroyed by fighting between the Arbiters and the Flood - especially some Flood who spawn in the room itself.

Equipping earlier than the room

If you want to get an Arbiter equipped earlier than the room, one thing you can do is try and kill him while the action is going on, and quickly do the weapon exchange. Easier said than done though! Sliding Ghost suggested to me that if you see him engaged with the Flood you should stick him with a spike grenade, which will either kill him or bring his shield down so you can finish him off with a headshot - for which he recommends bringing along a battle rifle.

However, there's something you can do to get your official Arbiter equipped before he even crosses the light-bridge. When the cutscene ends, deploy a shield to block him from using the bridge. You can now get him equipped, then destroy the shield. If you need to get past the shield to fetch anything, that's no trouble. If you want to make sure he only uses his sword, just kill him and move his plasma rifle away if it's closer to him than the sword.

Here are a few miscellaneous remarks to finish off.

Combative Arby 1 and Arby 2

For the squad version of the Citadel Brute battle, it was necessary to kill your first two Arbiters sometime after the Phantom departure loading point, to stop them standing around passively in the fighting. That doesn't seem to be the case for this Flood battle. I tested it, and they fought even though I hadn't done that killing. Apparently they respawn with the appropriate combat behaviour - not to mention the instinct to head along the bridges.

Brute elimination

Bear in mind that all Brutes need to be dead before you can activate the light-bridge. Yes I know it doesn't make sense, but there you go. Sometimes a Brute may've got blocked (perhaps by a deployed shield) or had navigational problems, in which case you'll need to go and sort him out. The jet-packers are especially prone to such trouble, often ending up running endlessly into a girder across the last roof - a failing which really should've been spotted and addressed.

Weaponry for the battle

If you're using Sliding Ghost's hammer method, that doesn't mean you'll be stuck with the hammer for the Flood fight. All you need to do is leave a replacement weapon where you can quickly retrieve it after the cutscene; e.g. a few metres back from the ramp (far enough not to get sent flying by the hammer blow). In my case that would probably be a Brute shot or fuel rod gun, as I'm no great fan of the hammer. Incidentally, you could also have placed ammo sources or other weapons along the bridges, to help keep you happy!

Skipping the Cortana moment checkpoint

Unfortunately the fight along the bridges includes one of the annoyingly unskippable Cortana moments which blight the game so badly, taking away your free movement and tediously interrupting the gameplay. Terrible design from the point of view of replaying. You're also due a checkpoint after that, but you can cancel it by jumping for a while; five or six jumps should do. By cancelling it you'll retain the ability to revert to the start of the run, i.e. the cutscene end checkpoint.

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