If you didn’t already know, Halo 3: ODST includes an amazing game mode called Firefight where up to 4 players pit their wits against the Covenant forces. We Monsters thought it would be a great idea to have a compilation of great tips and ideas from our forum to help everyone out there beat the Covenant. I bring to you, Console Monster’s Guide to Firefight!
“There’s no ‘I’ in team…”
Pre-Firefight
Team size
First things first. If you want to achieve any sort of realistic high score don’t play Firefight on your own. If you do, this is what is globally known as suicide. Instead join up with a minimum of 2 friends (although 3 more friends would be better) and your off to a good start. Having more people in your game allows you to access more lives after each round, which will prove vital in the later stages of the game. This also allows you to help your team-mates when they are in need, and of course the same goes for when you are in trouble.
Know your maps
The best thing to do before playing a serious Firefight game is to learn the maps. More so learn where the enemies can come from. It’s always good to have a head start knowing where the enemies will drop, allowing you to gauge how much time you have to go and grab ammo or weapons before being stuck in the middle of a Covenant drop ship. It’s also good to know where weapons spawn, and most importantly, it’s important to know if there are any areas where you can hide-out while you create a new plan, or just get your breath back.
Time
If you are wanting to try and achieve the 200,000 points achievements, or just want to have a really high scoring game then remember to give yourself plenty of time. At least leave yourself 2 hours worth of gaming to obtain around 700,000 points, although the more players playing (max 4) the easier it is to gain points. It took me and a friend 97 minutes to obtain just over 350,000 points and that felt like a long time, so be prepared for square eyes.
Health & Safety Notice: Console Monster does not condone the playing of Firefight for long periods time in order to achieve a gigantic Firefight high score. Gamers play Firefight for long periods of time at their own risk!
“Spartan Laser will come in handy in the later waves….”
During Firefight
Waves
The first 2/3 waves will generally consist of smaller enemies like grunts and jackals with the occasional brute thrown in for good measure, but it’s the latter waves 4 and 5 where the real test comes from. These waves are littered with brutes and, when your far into the game, brutes that love to use the hammer as their choice of weapon. That’s why it’s best to save all heavy weaponry (rockets, fuel rod cannon and sniper) until those waves. After each round these weapons are all re-spawned back to its location where they await their pickup for use again.
Weapons
Weapons are almost the most important part of Firefight. Having the right weapons at the right time means everything. On levels with machine guns, use them. When on Lost Platoon get two players driving around on the Warthog to cause havoc. Run over enemies as the driver and spray your unlimited machine gun bullets everywhere. It’s the fastest way to gain points on Lost Platoon and it also means if your other team-mate needs help, you can quickly drive to their location. Watch out however as when the ‘Catch’ skull is turned on your Warthog is under great danger to being destroyed. When Catch is on, you’re best to take cover and shoot from a distance while always moving.
On other maps, utilise the rockets and spartan laser, as these can take enemies out in 1 or 2 well placed shots. The sniper is also great for taking enemy armor off and the most fun of all weapons, the plasma stick grenade. Grenades are perfect for taking out multiple enemies as well as using the plasma sticks to take out a brute. It’s also great fun this way and you can’t help but smile when you stick an enemy.
Finally it’s worth reminding you that all the power weapons will re-spawn after each round (not wave) so use wisely.
Communication
Firefight isn’t all about choosing the right weapons at the right time however, as you will also need excellent communication skills. This means shouting out call signs to team-mates; for example, shouting “Wraith dropping North West”, “Chopper North East” or “I need help on low spawn”. Simple shouts like that allow your team-mates to come and help and kill the Covenant quickly and efficiently. It’s also good to go around in pairs to try and pick enemies off as this too will allow you to gain more points quicker.
Cover
Cover is also very important during a game of Firefight as a dark corner shielded by an inch of cement could be your saviour. Know where to run when under attack and while your running shout for help. Failing that just bow out kicking and screaming… I mean gracefully.
“What your typical Hunter looks like when ready to attack…”
Enemies
Here’s a mini guide on how to kill the main enemies that you will encounter during a game of Firefight.
Grunts – Simply use your pistol to shoot them. A sticky grenade thrown into a bunch of grunts should get you some bonus points. Melee attack is also very useful here, although not when the Catch skull is on.
Jackals – To get past their shields use the plasma pistol or grenades, then pick them off with an SMG, pistol or anything in your itinerary.
Engineers – These enemies do no harm to you, but they do provide with all enemies close to them with overshields, which as you can imagine, not something you want. Just shoot them like crazy with any weapon at your disposal to take these bad boys down.
Brutes – This is where you should be using your power weapons. Rockets, spartan laser, sniper, stick grenades, hammer etc
Hunters – As soon as you hear the powerful charge sound followed by an ever closer green light, then you know you’re about to meet your fate. Power weapons are a must here, and the faster you use them the better. These are big tough enemies in which usually hunt in packs of 2. Don’t get to close as they have a devastating melee attack.You have been warned.
Drones (annoying flying things)– SMG or any gun that can spray bullets. Also get in cover and shoot like crazy. These enemies are probably the most annoying enemies out of the lot, and watch out for the red buzzers as they take longer to kill.
Vehicles – Ghost, Chopper and Wraith being the main culprits. To kill of these annoying vehicles use power weapons rockets and spartan laser. Job done. Failing that just stay high and try and shoot the driver out of the vehicle, and with the Wraith get someone with an awesome grenade throwing arm to launch a couple over in its direction.
“The skulls you will be facing…”
SkullsbyJon Evans (Glitch100)
Aside from the difficulty you play on, there are other difficulty multipliers to worry about. Just when things are going well for you and your 3 ODST chums, the game goes and gives you a poison pick and mix of skulls just to make that Firefight experience just a ‘little’ bit more difficult. Okay I lied, your going to hate some of these skulls!
So to get you ready to rock and roll we are going to just outline what these skulls do, and a quick remedy to surviving each skull. There are 7 skulls that can be activated throughout your session of Firefight, and here they are:
TOUGH LUCK – This is the first skull which is activated as soon as you start. But what does it do I hear you cry? Why it makes the enemy not run into your bullets and grenades. Most would call it, giving the enemy ‘common sense’.
CATCH – This nasty piece of work usually comes on in the early part of a set. It simply makes enemies throw grenades like they are going out of fashion. With this skull on you will usually see a squad of enemies all throwing grenades simultaneously, and they won’t stop until you catch’em! Our biggest warning here is to watch out for the grunts, as they are now more dangerous than ever before!
BLACK EYE – A horrible skull! Upon losing all your stamina (screen is red) you won’t regain it unless you punch up a few enemies. So your going to be constantly vulnerable once you’ve taken a few hits. We recommend dealing with the larger enemies, whilst utilising cover, then running out and bashing the grunts!
TILT – One of the more difficult skulls as it effectively makes all the shielded enemies, such as the Brutes, higher-tier enemies of other classes, e.g. be ‘bulletproof’ to a certain extent. About 50% of your bullets will bounce off, but only when shooting bullets (mostly human weapons). As soon as this one turns on, get your grubby mitts on some Covenant weapons, carbine or needler being the recommended weapon of choice.
FAMINE – What this skull does is simple, but can cause you some trouble. It just makes all the dropped enemy weapons have half as much ammo as they would’ve normally had. So when you go to pick them up, you won’t be using them for long.
MYTHIC – When this skull goes on, be prepared to find some more ammo, as the enemies just got health insurance. This new insurance doubles up their health, further doubling up the amount of ammo required to kill them. This skull is utterly annoying as those small grunts can now seem like such a pain.
“Grunts hard at work…”
Bonus Round
At the beginning there’s just one skull on, but as your progress through rounds and sets on Firefight the game will chuck another one into the mix, making some combinations pretty nasty; for example, TILT, FAMINE and MYTHIC. It doesn’t matter in as sooner or later all those skulls are going to be on. This special round happens once a set until you reach about Set 4 Round 3.
That’s right, THE BONUS ROUND! The part of Firefight for all you Grunt haters who like to destructively exploit the little crustaceous creatures! Well they wont be so easily killed now. These are no standard grunts; as in this intense 60 seconds of grunt genocide all the skulls are turned on, so those once so easily killed Grunts are now made of steel and their onslaught of grenades and fuel rods will keep you far away…If not dead.
Finally, have fun!
Finally the thing to remember is to have fun. That’s why we play after all. Hope this custom created guide can be of use to some of you gamers out there. If you think of something else that is helpful drop us a comment below. The more hints and tips the better.
Mentions: Many thanks to our forum members Glitch100 (Skull Guide), Phatmuther, RaisedbyFlames and Pokemeharder who have helped contribute to this guide. Much appreciated!
