Halo Reach: LASO Guide – Part 1: Winter Contingency

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Joy riding...

At the start of this level, you will be riding in a Falcon with Carter and Jun.  Once you land you do not need to stop at any of the locations.  You can simply keep sprinting.  If you have a team mate, or are a really good shot at distance, with the pistol, without a reticule (I severely doubt anyone is), you can try to take out the Cloaked Elite at the very beginning of the level for a datapad.  He is cloaked and running from the burning Warthog as you near the area.  Do not worry if you miss him though because he is not vital.  

Down

 Once you reach the area where the Covenant reveal themselves, go down the stairs and then go right back up.  The point is to trigger the rest of Noble Team to go down and wipe out the Covies for you.  Always remember that the AI members of Noble (A.K.A. not you) are invulnerable and cannot be killed.  Treat them like tanks; they plow through and you follow behind.

Trailblazing

Once the Covies in the courtyard have been wiped out, leave the courtyard and go as far right as you can.  Keep sprinting by whatever enemies you see and hide if necessary.   

The Path

You want to avoid the fight with the Elites at the top of the hill because they will cause you a lot of headaches.  Once you reach a small ledge, jump down and get in the vehicles.  Carter and Jorge will either spawn near you or run through the Elites.  Try to wait for them since you will not be attacked in that area.

Jorge on his way.

Now you will start driving and head straight.  Turn left and head through a small residence and then, after heading straight, head right.   

Here.

Then here.

Skim past all the enemies and keep driving till a Spirit transport is landing in front of you.  Carter and Jorge will jump out a tad bit prematurely, but try to drive all the way to the marines.  In truth, you can go any manner of ways, but this particular path brings you to marines where you have to most cover.

Just hide.

Now you have to hold off three transports full of Covenant troops.  As expected, let Carter and Jorge do all the work.  Also, keep good distance between you and the Elites, because their grenade throws are fast and accurate. 

Road kill.

Once most of the Grunts have been taken out, take your vehicle that you rode in on and circle around behind the Elites.  Splattering them is very easy since they are distracted.  Clean up whatever is left and jump onto the Flacon.

Hide behind Kat.

Now you will head to the penultimate section of the mission.  You will circle the courtyard once in the Falcon and then you will jump out.  Run straight to the area where Kat is hacking the door and wait.  Eventually the doors will close and you can start the final part of the mission.  After the cut scene comes what is easily the most frustrating part of the mission.

Go up here to make Jorge kill everything.

Now you have to pursue three Elites and all Grunts and Jackals in front of them.  As you start this section, pick up the DMR on the side of the wall in place of your pistol.  The enemies will come from the left after an Elite pops up and apparently taunts you.  Toss a grenade at him and get him to run away or else he is quite bothersome.  Go to the far side of the room and let Jorge kill most of the Grunts as you hide around the boxes.  You can put some shots on Covies, but if you lose shields you will have to get close and melee to get them back.

This hallway sucks.

Once the initially area is cleared you will see a long corridor full of shield bearing jackals.  You can try to leave these all to Jorge but he takes forever to eliminate them.  Your best chance is to hide off to the side and melee the enemies as the exit the hallway.  After the initial enemies are cleared, more will come.  You might have to run up and trigger them and once you do, run back so you have cover.  There will definitely be plasma grenades on the ground so you have plenty of ammo to throw.

And run...

Once you have cleared the hallway you will go down a small ramp into a large room.  This is the last room of the level and you have to play it just right.  There are really to strategies to this area.  Once you headshot the four Grunts you can plasma pistol the three Elites, which is difficult and time consuming, or you can try another method.  There will be on Elite with an Energy Sword.  Get him to chase you and then sprint up to where Jorge is.   

Assassin.

Go back up the small ramp and the Elite should attack Jorge instead of you.  You can simply keep meleeing the Elite or sneak around and assassinate it.  Then pick up its Sword and you can take out the other two Elites with three hits each.  Hit the “X” button on the panel and celebrate.  You just beat Winter Contingency on the hardest possible difficulty (if you did it solo, that is.)

Sword that punk.

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