Four Arbiters
Posted September 5th 2010
Introduction
Back in 2008 I described how to get two Arbiters, though it turned out I wasn't the first to encounter that novelty. A few years on, it seems that folk have by now managed to get four of the squid-faced blighters, something I was alerted to by a video from Sliding Ghost which showed the Arbiters fighting Brutes inside the Citadel. I'm not sure when and where it was first described how you can get four, but getting two goes back to at least October 2007 and I guess things developed from there, probably involving contributions from multiple people (it's a little hazy). I found a description on Halopedia which helped get me started, and I also had a few pointers from Sliding Ghost who'd put quite a bit of work into refining his own method, not just of getting four Arbiters but also getting them into that Brute battle, and even getting them to fight the Flood during the escape. He subsequently uploaded some 'how to' videos and I also learnt that he was actually one of the contributors to the Halopedia article (the latest revision of which you can find here).
Having now spent some time exploring for myself, this is my account of the trick, including simplifications of the work compared to what I'd read or seen. The matter of getting your Arbiters to fight against Brutes - surely the best use of the trick - is covered separately as part of Citadel Brute battles, an article I'm posting at the same time, and which also concerns battling without any extra Arbiters. I'm likewise simultaneously posting Escaping the Flood with four Arbiters to cover the Flood fighting.
The trick
This is my recipe for getting four Arbiters efficiently and reliably, and I've also included a few remarks about giving them weapons, for the case where you're planning to get them fighting in the Citadel.
Hello Arby 1
When you reach the third tower you get the first Arbiter - we'll call him Arby 1. Before you head inside you should make sure to get a fuel rod gun if you don't already have one, because you're going to want one when you come back out. I recommend taking it inside with you, because if you leave it outside the game may remove it. Aside from fuel rod guns earlier in the level, there's one in a weapon case at the back of the grassy area on the right of the tower, and one wielded by a Brute on the high platform.
Getting Arby 2
When you get back down in the lift, initially stay off the ramps leading into the raised 'lobby' inside the tower door. Kill Arby 1 then step on a ramp before he has time to reanimate (you can can continue to the door; no need to pause on the ramp). As you do that the game creates a new Arbiter outside - Arby 2. How you kill Arby 1 isn't important, but a good way is to first bring down his shield (e.g. with melee or a plasma ball) then headshoot him. If no headshot weapon is handy, you could finish him off with plasma (maybe using the chieftain's plasma cannon) or use a needler explosion. Once you're outside, make sure to give him enough time to exit the tower else he can get cut off by the door, which locks when you move a short way past the top of either ramp outside.
Retaining Arby 2
To stop Arby 2 flying off in the Phantom, destroy it with a fuel rod gun. As few as four blasts to the tail fins can do the job, and if you go for those rather than the frontal engine area, your allies may be less likely to turn on you (or at least, that's what some of my testing suggested; I'm not sure how representative it was). It's easy to run up and deliver the shots quickly at close range and it wouldn't matter if Arby 2 is aboard when it blows, but here's an alternative. Near the bottom of the ramp that leads down towards the Phantom, there's a loading point (just over halfway past the structure projecting up out of the ramp). If you avoid crossing it the ship won't be triggered to leave yet, and you can fire your shots at leisure from distance, which would be beneficial if your allies turn on you.
All aboard!
Your next goal is to be driving off with both Arbys in the Warthog, though you may want to get them equipped with particular weapons first, for potential use along the way or in the Citadel. Killing them also stops them being passive against Brutes in the Citadel, though that's immaterial to the trick itself. To get them in with hopefully a minimum of effort, kill one of the Marines aside from the rocket guy, then briefly enter the Scorpion's driving seat to trigger Marines to board it. Switch to the hog and you'll probably get both Arbiters as passengers. But the rocket guy or sergeant may man the gun, and it's also possible that one or both Arbiters man the Mongoose; so you might have to fiddle around a bit more, or you could just revert and try again, perhaps with some modification like killing an extra Marine (Sliding Ghost kills the rocket guy and sergeant, but you do run a greater risk of being turned against by killing two). If you prefer not to kill any Marines, take the hog's driving seat and let Marines board. Drive them clear of the area, make them dismount, then speed off to pick up Arbiters instead.
Tactics for the journey
Head for the Hornet landing zone overlooking the Citadel. Enemies along the way don't need to be killed and you could potentially just whizz past the lot, but if you want to clear the way for safety or whatever, there's nothing to stop you switching to the Scorpion occasionally, leaving the hog behind for a while. Your Arbiters won't go anywhere, even though the seated passenger will switch to the driver's seat. If you prefer to stay with the hog, it would be handy if the seated Arbiter has a rocket launcher. The gunner might not start using the Gauss gun until some way past the turret that comes into view with the Citadel, which can be a bit frustrating.
Getting Arby 3
Switch to a Hornet, leaving the Arbiters waiting in the hog. They should be pretty safe, though they may get attacked by Banshees and could later get attacked by bypassed enemies who make their way down the path - notably the chieftain with a fuel rod gun. I never found those things a problem though. Head into battle. My advice on rapid Scarab destruction may come in handy! When the Scarabs are destroyed, in comes Arby 3 on a Phantom (which you blew up earlier).
Altering Arby 3 and moving all three into the Citadel
The next task is to alter Arby 3's scripted nature and move all Arbiters through the Citadel door. Return to the hog, get the Arbiters out, then drive to Arby 3 at the platform. When he's at least half way across the bridge, drive to the door and let him take the seat. Turn the hog to face the start of the bridge, and back it up to the door. Dismount and kill him where he sits with one or more headshots (you could optionally bring down his shield first with melee). Speed off before he reanimates, so he won't start chasing you. Pick up the first two Arbys and bring them to the door. If Arby 3 isn't already through the door, push him through - either in person or gently with the hog. Now position the hog diagonally so that when you then tag and destroy it with a grenade or two (spike or plasma, which can be replaced later), the passengers leap off through the door. If anyone needs a final push to make sure they're fully inside, do it.
If you wanted to give Arby 3 a weapon, you can modify the work as follows. After speeding away from his briefly inanimate form, dismount once you're at least half way across the bridge, and run back to him to do it. Alternatively you could do it after returning with the first two Arbys.
Getting Arby 4, and your final squad
Head into the Citadel. The game will give you Arby 4 at the start of Revelation, and as long as you make sure all enemies on the first bridge get killed, you should get the previous three Arbys at the end of the third bridge, magically transported there. So, four in all! Incidentally, if you don't want Flood swarming around that area, you can go over the roofs of the two rooms to avoid triggers which make new Flood spawn; details in Citadel Brute battles.
Simpler work outside the Citadel
In the method given, the first three Arbiters were moved through the Citadel door (with the third having lost his scripted behaviour), which seems to ensure their subsequent materialization at the end of the third bridge later. However, it's possible to leave them outside and still get them at the end. That's actually how I was doing things at first, until I eventually experienced a failure. That's the catch. Leaving them outside saves you some work but there's a degree of unreliability - unless perhaps there's some fix I'm unaware of. It's not severe though (failure seemed rare), so it's still worth describing this variation. I'll say more about the unreliability afterwards.
The simpler work
After the Scarab battle, return to the hog, get the Arbiters out, then drive to Arby 3 at the platform just like before. As soon as the light-bridge is up, drive to the end (within two hog's length will do), wait for him to man the gun, then kill him any way you like. My favourite way is make him dismount to his death after backing the hog up so the rear is at the left edge of the bridge (the fall is more severe on that side; no sloping ground). He's now been altered from his scripted behaviour. If you wish to give him a weapon, go and do it now. Then head into the Citadel, leaving your Arbiters outside.
Incidentally, note that none of the Arbiters was left manning a vehicle. My testing suggests that if you leave an Arbiter manning a vehicle when you head inside, you won't get him as an extra later.
The unreliability
As I said, you may get a failure. Specifically, when the Cortana moment starts, you see the triangular indicator vanish (always a bad sign), and you subsequently end up with no extra Arbiters. I did a lot of testing to try and find a cause for this unreliability, hoping to perhaps then be able to fix it. Based on the results, I think that when you cross the loading point on the journey to the Citadel (just as it's coming into view), all uncertainty is resolved, and that no matter how you play from this point onwards, either the simpler work will always suffice - I'll say the situation is 'amenable' to the simpler work - or it will always fail as described.
Starting from a Journey's End checkpoint I saved, I did many plays from there, as far the checkpoint just past the loading point. Each time, I'd save that checkpoint then test that state for amenability. Things looked to be amenable over 80% of the time. I couldn't see anything different that I was doing to end up with a non-amenable situation, so I think this could be something out of our control; i.e. with no fix for the unreliability. There might be something simple you could do earlier to guarantee amenability, but that's just speculation and I have my doubts.
In the save I mentioned, both of the Arbiters had been killed after the Phantom departure loading point, to give them certain weapons. I later did similar tests with a few Journey's End saves in which I hadn't killed them, and this time amenability seemed rare. This suggests that for the highest chance of amenability, you should make sure you do that killing.
Trying the simpler work
Usefully, you can give the simpler work a try without losing significant progress. When the Cortana moment starts, watch the triangular indicator for whichever Arbiter it's over. If it remains, things should be ok. If it vanishes, revert before Cortana stops speaking, and you'll get back to the platform checkpoint. You can then switch to the slightly more time-consuming work in the original method.
Note: If you find it hard to see whether the triangle has vanished (the Cortana moment is quite bright), you can wait until Cortana is about to stop speaking, then jump repeatedly to delay the checkpoint while you have an unobscured look.
Explanation
In this section I explain and/or theorize about what's going on in some parts of the trick.
The creation of Arby 2
Why does the game create Arby 2? When you go up the ramp into the lobby, I suspect the game does a check for whether there's an active Arbiter in the area - presumably out of concern that your Arbiter could've got lost or trapped along the way, or something like that. There isn't one (Arby 1 is temporarily down), so it creates a new one to make sure you've got his support outside and he can engage in the scripted events to follow. Trouble is, you do still have an Arbiter, soon to reanimate! It's a possibility which the programming doesn't seem to've considered. As such, I think we can thank careless programming for the creation of this second Arby.
When Arby 2 is created, I'd say he becomes the game's official Arbiter since he's the one who'll board the Phantom if you don't destroy it. Arby 1 is like a bogus remnant, though he does sometimes deliver the later line "To the top of these hills Oracle, no higher". The triangular indicator usually (but not always) switches to Arby 2, and if you were to avoid killing him for the remainder of the trick, it would actually remain there. However, any time you kill the 'indicated' Arbiter, the indicator moves to another if there is one. So if you're going to be doing some work equipping your Arbiters with weaponry, the indicator will shift around a bit. A corollary to this is that the indicator doesn't necessarily indicate the 'official' Arbiter (i.e. the one who does the scripted things, and who isn't like a bogus remnant). Talking of which, once you've stopped Arby 2 flying off in the Phantom, he becomes bogus like Arby 1.
Work outside the Citadel
Arby 3 (the new official Arbiter) gets altered by letting him board the hog then killing him. That combination of actions seems to be enough to remove his original instinct for heading into the Citadel, which is what you want. If you were to let him run in, I believe you'd find that you wouldn't get any extra Arbiters. The way I see it, the alteration caused the game to stop recognizing him as the official Arbiter (in some way), and it therefore doesn't remove him when it gives you an Arbiter at the start of Revelation. Arby 3 becomes bogus like the first two.
In Sliding Ghost's method for doing the trick, all three Arbiters get knocked or pushed off the light-bridge, then they're pushed into the Citadel, which is quite a pain. Happily I managed to replace all that with a simpler procedure that gets them in with little or no pushing. Incidentally, there's a bit of a trick to that pushing, which I didn't realize at first. To get an Arbiter moving fast, start pushing him then give him a whack. Strangely, the whack frees him up to skim along rapidly as you push. With this whack-assisted pushing technique, you can manoeuvre your Arbiters quite quickly - though it's still a pain.
As I mentioned in my section on simpler work outside the Citadel, originally I wasn't moving my Arbiters into the Citadel at all. I already knew that an Arbiter left outside could materialize inside later, something mentioned in my old article on getting two Arbiters (in the subsection 'Both inside the Citadel'). Obviously that could save you some time, so I developed a routine that didn't involve having to move any Arbiters inside. That seemed to be working perfectly, but then I got a failure and had to reconsider the business of getting Arbiters moved inside. But at least I speeded up that task.
Magical transportation of the first three Arbys
When exactly do the three Arbys get transported to the end of the third bridge? At the doorway after the Brute bridge, there's a checkpoint trigger (and a loading message a short way post that). That seems to be the earliest time at which transportation can occur. You can see when it occurs by looking back to see when the triangular indicator vanishes from where it was. However, the game seems to avoid doing the transportation when you're looking in the direction of where they'll materialize. If you are looking in that direction, transportation is postponed until you're nearing the platform, at which point they'll materialize off to your side or slightly behind, so you don't actually see it happen. There's one other factor though. The transportation can be affected by the state of Arby 4. While enemies remain alive on the first bridge, he dawdles ineffectively in the first room and is unable to transport, and your extra Arbiters won't appear at the end.
Now the big question. How come the three Arbys are transported to the end? I'm theorizing here, but it might be working something like this. Imagine the game maintains a list of the personnel currently in the game (this is plausible). Once you've hit that checkpoint trigger, the game may begin doing checks for whether "Arbiter" should be transported to the end, to be sure he's present for the scripted events. It might be doing this by checking through the roster for anyone listed as Arbiter, and transporting that individual if appropriate (mostly depending on where you both are, and where you're looking). However, the roster unexpectedly has some bogus Arbiters on it, and accordingly, each of them gets similar treatment.
Applications
Getting four Arbiters is all very well as a novelty to see, but I'd say the real payoff lies in making them do stuff! Here are the options.
Arbiters vs Brutes
With a little extra work it's possible to get your Arby squad fighting a bunch of Brutes plus maybe a few Grunts, something I saw in a video by Sliding Ghost (which is what alerted me to this whole four Arbiters business). The Brutes are namely the guys you meet on the second bridge inside the Citadel, including a chieftain at the far door. What you need to do is bypass them as best you can, then head over the roof of that room. If you then jump down and continue on to your Arby squad, the Brutes will pursue and attack (which aside from the chieftain, they wouldn't have if you'd taken the normal route through the door). And hey presto, you've got your battle to enjoy watching and maybe joining in with - though you'll need to've killed your first two Arbys earlier to ensure that they'll actually fight. See my article on Citadel Brute battles for details.
Arbiters vs Flood
As Sliding Ghost found, it's also possible to retain your extra Arbiters across the cutscene by killing them just beforehand. This allows you to get them fighting the Flood all the way back down the bridges. See Escaping the Flood with four Arbiters for details.