Learn how to make your spiral path megabattles even more intense!

Posted January 12th 2006

• The basic idea
• Zigzag path trigger point
• Zigzag path checkpoint
• Door checkpoint
• Adapting normal saves
• Fun with blockades
• Spare weapons
• Sealing off the Marines
• Extra Marines
• Underpass attack

In a normal spiral path megabattle there are three groups of territorial enemies that remain pretty much where they are (occasional wandering aside), obliging you to go up to kill them. Specifically, there's an Elite with Grunts near the top of the path by a tree, then some Jackals near the cliff-edge rock by the pass exit, and some Grunts near the pass exit. Also, quite often there will be other enemies who despite having no such territorial limitation, hold back from the initial attack, probably hanging around in or near the pass. They might form a second attack down the path at some point, or they might just stay up top until you come up to get them. This is all good fun and gives you some variety, but it also lessens the intensity of the main attack down the path. This page is about getting potentially everyone to join in one massive attack, or to accumulate behind a blockade if you've set one up. These boosted hordes can give some fantastic battling or cyborg mischief, particularly with blockades. The method is simply to start from a later checkpoint than normal, causing a change in enemy behaviour that makes everyone want to head down the path towards the underpass.

There are other benefits too. In particular, the changed enemy behaviour allows some novel battle plans, you can bring extra Marines to the party, and you can arrange to play without music if that's what you prefer.

The one drawback is that with these exceptionally large active hordes, you may get some noticeable framerate slowdown, particularly when close up to the enemy. Bungie probably never expected you to be fighting off fifty-odd Covenant at once! A degree of slowdown may also be arising from having triggered later areas, even if you kill the enemies there. Overall though, things are usually not too bad.

Origin

The idea of starting from a later checkpoint was originally used in Ice horde carnage, to get a huge mass of enemies packed behind a blockade down on the ice, ready for a spot of cyborg treatment. But then I realized it had a lot more potential and created this page to talk about it more generally.

Once you've triggered any guards (cloaked Elites) at the underpass, it's possible to get what I call the 'zigzag path trigger point', by reaching the short zigzag path up into the next snowy area. On foot it suffices to reach the start of the path. In a Banshee it suffices to fly low over the path. This trigger point is usually followed by what I call the 'zigzag path checkpoint' within a few seconds, but I'll talk about that later.

Altered enemy behaviour

The significant thing about the trigger point is that it alters the enemy's behaviour. Consider first the enemies that have come through the pass entrance or who materialized beyond it.

Prior to getting the trigger point, you tend to get a free-roaming mass that chases after you, plus lots of enemies who hang back, either in the pass or up on the cliff, but who may come down the path eventually, perhaps forming a secondary attack. There are also some very territorial groups of enemy which tend to stay in their own territories: some Grunts near the pass, some Jackals at the cliff edge near the pass, and an Elite and some Grunts by the tree near the top of the spiral path. After the trigger point however, there's a general desire to head for the underpass, though some enemies in the pass may not move (particularly Hunters). In heading for the underpass, enemies will happily attack you on their way, but will generally keep moving and go past you if they can. You can see how this is going to change the nature of the battle, yes? The attacking horde is going to be larger, giving a less fragmented battle. You could potentially end up with everyone piling down the spiral path, making one big stream of battle fodder.

There's also a change in behaviour for any enemies that were outside the pass. Prior to the trigger point, enemies outside can easily be tempted into the pass, either by your proximity or by flying beyond them as if leaving the coast invitingly clear for them to advance. After the trigger point however, they seem to have little inclination to move into the pass.

In view of all this, it's best if everyone has already been tempted into the pass and preferably right through it, so they'll be part of the mass that heads for the underpass.

Enemies you can kill before the trigger point

Other than underpass guards, there are some enemies you can kill before proceeding to the zigzag path trigger point, if you want to. There's a Shade gunner above the underpass, and a few enemies just past the zigzag path (who sometimes even come down the path after you). You can blast them with your Banshee from high up. Actually, in regard to the gunner, you could already have blasted his Shade over so he won't be able to use it on you.

Killing most of the new enemies you're triggering is probably a good idea. It should give the game less to have to deal with, which may lessen any framerate slowdown you might get in the subsequent battling.

The zigzag path trigger point is usually followed by a checkpoint within a few seconds, giving you a potential save point for the start of your battle. You don't have to wait at the path for the checkpoint though; you can immediately head back to battle, getting the checkpoint on the way. Usually you should be able to get back in time for the incoming attack, though you may not be able to take up as advanced a position as you might like. Of course, if you've arranged a blockade to stop the enemy in their tracks, you won't have to worry about getting back quickly at all; you can take your time.

Stopping the music

If you've just flown low over the zigzag path to get the trigger point, and (like me) you fancy battling to just the desolate sound of the swirling wind, don't turn around immediately. Do so only after continuing on a short way, far enough to trigger more enemy. It should be enough to fly around the big tree straight ahead. This second trigger point causes the music to stop within a few seconds.

Checkpoint delay

I've occasionally had times when the checkpoint has been delayed a long time after the trigger point, which is generally not what you want as the battle could be partly over by then. The delay could be because the game considers you under threat, or because of Marines fighting. If the delay is continuing for too long, just revert and try again. Usually I'd expect no trouble though.

Speed tip

Here's a speed tip for getting the checkpoint if you use a Banshee. Fly over the underpass and land just past the exit. Dismount and briefly enter the underpass to trigger any guards. Kill them (if you want to), then fly on to trigger the checkpoint and return for battle, possibly blasting a few newly triggered enemies on the way.

Twin bridges Banshee pilot trouble

If you did some rearranging earlier and took the Banshee from the back of the twin Bridges area, remember that the pilot has the ability to materialize inside it if it's empty when he's triggered. You need to plan accordingly if you don't want him to steal his machine back.

If you've got a blockade to hold back the enemy, you may like to start your battle from the even later 'door checkpoint', triggered by approaching the door beneath the twin bridges (behind which are two Elites). This way you can give the enemy more time to reach the blockade, saving you from potentially having to wait around for that each time you restart the battle. On the other hand, there's an advantage to using the zigzag path checkpoint as your save checkpoint, mentioned in Specialized battling later.

If you do choose to trigger this checkpoint, I suggest you do it by flying past in a Banshee with the door on your left, so you'll be heading back for battle when the checkpoint occurs within a few seconds. I also suggest that you first kill all the earlier enemies you triggered in the area, as it may lessen any framerate slowdown in the subsequent battling. Of course, killing enemies also saves your Marines from any harm if they've had time to follow you into the area (which they normally would).

Checkpoint delay

The checkpoint is sometimes delayed for longer than normal after you've flown past the door, perhaps due to the amount of action going on with the Marines. If you find yourself back in the spiral path area and the checkpoint still hasn't occurred, just hover for a bit or land by the ammo supplies, and it should occur shortly.

If you've got an old save starting with the underpass checkpoint, and you now want to try it out with this horde boosting method, but not all enemies were tempted into and through the pass, ideally you'll want to fix that so they'll be inclined to head for the underpass when you get the zigzag path trigger point.

If there are no Marines (perhaps because you deliberately killed them), it's easy to spend a while flying around trying to do that. If you've got Marines it's more awkward because they'll flock after you (or at least, they will whilst you remain in the spiral path area) and potentially get into a premature fight with the enemy. If you've got a blockade however, you can get around this by sealing off the Marines behind the underpass. Or you could lead them deep into the twin bridges area, then fly off to do some tempting, knowing that they'll take quite a while to get back to the spiral path area.

Blockade set-ups are the most convenient to use for horde boosting, as you can take as much time as you want to prepare things before getting your final checkpoint. They probably also give the best battling, namely when you blow the blockade and defend against the suddenly released horde (something probably best done with a blockade which is quite a way back, to give you enough time to work on the advancing mob). And they certainly give the best opportunities for mischief.

Aside from all the usual fun, you can now also attack from the rear, and the enemy won't chase after you (except for Elites and Hunters in rage mode) as they have an instinct to head for the underpass. It's great fun to send rockets skimming in low across the ground, taking out whole waves of enemy in one go. For more on this and other fun, see Ice horde carnage, the original situation in which I used horde boosting. Much of that applies to blockades in general, not just ones down on the ice.

Specialized battling

If you're interested in doing specialized battling, i.e. fighting a selected clientele, there's an advantage to using the zigzag path checkpoint as your save checkpoint, rather than the door checkpoint. Namely, it makes things handy for repeatedly fighting a specialized battle. Loading up your save, you'll start by doing the special preparation you want, then you'll fly off and get the door checkpoint. You now fight your specialized battle, and when it's done, you can revert to fight it again, and so on. You won't need to do that potentially time-consuming preparation work each time. You do it once, and then it's fun all the way.

Bringing in a Warthog

If you're interested in bringing in a Warthog so it'll always be available for a spot of chain-gunning, it's easier than normal. Once you've got the zigzag path trigger point, you can fly off and fetch it. When you return, the enemy will be packed behind the blockade, and you can drive the hog off the cliff or the edge of the spiral path to get down into position, without having to 'run the gauntlet'. Spin as you go off the edge, to stabilize the hog, so you land on your wheels rather than your head. You'll then complete your set-up by getting the door checkpoint.

Grunty collective

One thing you'll probably notice about a blockaded horde is that the Grunts tend to be collected towards the rear, sometimes almost in one big gaggle. Cute! And what a target. Rocket launcher maybe? A pistol perhaps? So many fine choices.

6-Ghost blockade on the cliff

One of the best situations I've had with horde boosting was with a 6-Ghost blockade on the cliff. Once I'd tempted everyone through the pass and gone to a later checkpoint, everyone accumulated behind the blockade (about 40 on Heroic; a few enemies had already been killed), and what fun we had! Well, me and the Marines that is. The Covenant didn't have much fun at all.

I'd blast the blockade with a Banshee bolt, then quickly land down on the ice somewhere and get ready to hold back the horde; maybe at the bottom of the spiral path, maybe at the corner of the ice path, maybe right back near the underpass (perhaps standing on a small rock there so you don't have to worry about idiotic Marines jumping in front of your sniper rifle or rocket launcher), or maybe up on a low ledge or something. There are so many weapon combos to choose from too, giving all sorts of different battles. As usual, you should kill your sniper if you want to make life much tougher. All this is just the sort of thing you'd do normally of course; it's just that you're up against more nasties this time, heading for you in a relentless stream.

I also enjoyed doing a ground attack from the rear whilst Marines were busy heading along, starting from the underpass. I had just a short while to work on the enemy, usually whittling down the Elites and Grunts with a pistol and dodging around, often causing Jackals to hit friendlies in the back with plasma balls. Don't you just love it when an Elite catches it in the back? Once the Marines got close, the enemy started turning around to face them, which was generally when I sent a few rockets skimming along the ground. Pure carnage. You can have plenty of fun with two-sided attacks like this.

Another little bit of mischief I had with this blockade was to try to mow everyone down with the Banshee, coming in just below cliff level then rising at the last moment, to minimize the amount of enemy fire. On Heroic it's possible, but you're sure living dangerously! As a variation on this, leap out of the Banshee before it blows, and drop a frag grenade to set off what will probably be a huge chain reaction. Oh, and then run!

I've already mentioned a general early method of arranging spare weapons. But if you've done horde boosting and you've got a blockade holding back the enemy, you've got another opportunity. You can take all the time you want, before triggering your final checkpoint. And by now there are also UNSC spares you could move about, including weapons from earlier areas.

For example, if you plan to do a lot of defending from the corner of the curving ice path (a favourite location of mine), move a selection of weapons over there so you can always pick up what you fancy. You could even have a spare rocket launcher for all that Covenant scum heading your way. Seems a pretty appealing idea to me! You can never have too much rockety goodness.

If you want a plasma pistol, you can surely find one from a dead Shade Grunt. I quite like putting one by the active camouflage, ready for when I fancy doing some mischievous cloaked whacking (usually of enemies behind a blockade, prior to setting off a huge chain reaction).

In the case where you're going to be starting from the door checkpoint, enemies killed just past the zigzag path are further weapon sources. However, if you're going to want weapons from here, be sure to pick them up fairly soon after the enemies are killed, so the game won't make them vanish while your back is turned.

If you've got a blockade to hold back the enemy, you have the option of sealing off the Marines behind the underpass before triggering your final checkpoint, by placing a Ghost across the exit after leading them through. The point of doing this would be to make it convenient to fight alone when you want to, namely by leaving them there (rather than having to kill them). When you want the Marines, you can easily free them as you return from getting your final checkpoint, by blasting the Ghost away with a Banshee bolt at one end (place the Ghost slightly away from the exit to make that easier). However, they'll take a while to file through and join you, which is a disadvantage to consider.

Getting a Ghost

If you haven't already placed a Ghost nearby in advance when setting up your blockade, you can go and get one from the twin bridges area. However, if your final checkpoint is going to be the zigzag path checkpoint, preferably do this before triggering underpass guards, so you can't trigger the checkpoint yet. You'll need to fly over the underpass. Actually, even if you have triggered underpass guards, you could still get a Ghost back by blasting it along with Banshee bolts, allowing you to remain high up when over the zigzag path.

Check for leaks!

When you arrange a seal, you'd best check that it really is a seal. Go to the other side of the underpass and hang around for a bit to check that no Marines are coming through. I had one case where they surprised me by being able to get through a gap I thought would be too narrow.

If you've got a suitable blockade to hold back the enemy, the horde boosting method makes it possible to bring in Marines from earlier in the level, giving up to eleven roughnecks down on the ice, ready for battle at the start of your save. Quite a novelty! Stop press: actually, I've later realized that if you get an extra few Marines and an extra hog near the start of the level, you'll potentially be able to get up to thirteen in the megabattle; but I'll leave that elaboration of the plan to you.

The basic idea is this. After getting the zigzag path trigger point so the enemy accumulates behind the blockade, you then go back to bring along some Marines using the Scorpion; Marines you left blocked off somewhere so they couldn't advance. Crucially, the enemy stay at the blockade, so as long as it's not too close to the pass, that leaves you with a clear route down to the ice without taking heavy fire, even though it means driving off the cliff or the edge of the spiral path. If there were further Marines to bring along, you can potentially ferry in two more in a similar way but using the Warthog. The door checkpoint completes your save. Here's a more detailed step-by-step plan if you want one.

Prepare blockades and more

In the spiral path area there are three things to arrange. Build a blockade away from the pass, for holding back the enemy. Place a Ghost near the underpass exit, for sealing off Marines later. You're also going to need Banshees or Ghosts near the underpass to get you back past collected enemies. A single vehicle will suffice if you're planning for at most four extra Marines, but you'll want two vehicles if planning for up to six extras. Banshees are preferable.

Build a 'Marine blockade' earlier in the level to hold Marines back until you want them. Build it in the tunnel that leads from the underground bridge, at the corner just before where you meet some Elites and Grunts. I put mine at the bottom of the ramp up to where the snoozing Grunt will be. Four overturned Ghosts will do, but you could also use Shades and the Scorpion. Actually, the Scorpion plus one Ghost will suffice (maybe have the Scorpion at an angle to utilize its diagonal length); but later on when driving the Scorpion away, you'll need to be careful not to squash any Marines, as they tend to cluster very close to the blockade. Don't use the two Ghosts outside the top of the rising tunnel, as the game later moves those under the dropship. Overturn Ghosts to avoid potential problems with Elites driving part of your blockade off. If you use any Shades from the underground bridge area, Grunts will go running off to man them later (an amusing phenomenon explored in Grunty fun with Shades), and you should preferably stop them; easy work with a sniper rifle.

Tech note: there's a reason why I put the Marine blockade so far forward (basically the furthest it could be). A short way back in the tunnel, there's a load point, and I was worried that if the Marines stayed behind it they might end up 'frozen', or that the game might even remove them (the latter can certainly happen). Actually, I tried this and they didn't freeze, but something else happened. The Marines I eventually took into the spiral path area with the Scorpion exhibited no MC-homing behaviour there. After dismounting, they just stood still, which wasn't much good. I suspect that the load point business was responsible.

If the Scorpion isn't already part of your Marine blockade, at least leave it close by. Place a Banshee by the door in the first snowfield, for immediate use.

Play through to the Marine blockade

After emerging into the first ground battle later, play through to the Marine blockade, doing the best job you can of keeping Marines healthy. You can minimize Marine damage in the first battle by using the Banshee to divert and destroy the enemy, and you can aid the three Marines in the crashed Pelican area by blitzing the enemy with the Banshee or with various other tactics. In fact, apart from the earliest Marines taking fire for a few seconds before you've diverted the enemy, you can avoid Marines taking any fire at all if you work thoughtfully. You can end up with Marines in perfect or near perfect health.

Have the Marines close to you as you come through the loading point just before the blockade, else they might freeze behind you.

Fly on through and do the usual work

Fly on through, with the enemy chasing up after you. Be off quickly to minimize any possibility of the Marines diverting the enemy into a fight. You're now back on track with the usual set-up work. Continue with that, up to the zigzag path checkpoint. Enemies will now be collecting behind the blockade in the spiral path area.

Bring in extra Marines with the Scorpion

Lead the spiral path Marines through the underpass and seal them off with the Ghost you left handy.

Use a Banshee or Ghost to get back past the enemy. Flying is best, but bear in mind that you ideally want to keep a Banshee for later, for conveniently triggering the door checkpoint and potentially using it in battle. You can actually get over a Ghost blockade simply by driving at it in a Ghost. You don't even have to raise the nose (using the 'A' button); it seems to go over fine, without disturbing the blockade. However, the enemy is likely to suffer some friendly fire, possibly even killing a few. You could also get past with the active camouflage; but you'll surely want to save that for potential mischief later.

At the Marine blockade, pick up outriders on the Scorpion and ferry them to the spiral path area. To get them past the enemy you'll need to drive off the cliff or the edge of the spiral path, depending on where the blockade is. If you spin as you go off, it can stabilize you enough to land on your tracks (you may want to practice this beforehand). Even if you topple over, Marines tend to take little or no damage except if they're actually squashed. Be careful if you have to flip the Scorpion back over; lead the Marines away from it first.

If you're bringing in a sniper (Sarge!), try to make sure he's riding on the side away from the enemy; you don't want him killing enemies yet.

Maybe bring in further Marines with a Warthog

If you left any Marines at the blockade, they've potentially run after you as far as the pass (unless you managed to leave the Marine blockade intact to keep them blocked). You can ferry in as many as two, as follows. First get the new Marines sealed off safely with the others. Get back past the enemy a second time, and fetch the Warthog from earlier in the level. Pick up Marines and get down onto the ice you did with the Scorpion, spinning as you go off the edge. Try to minimize any chain-gunning.

If you didn't want to bring further Marines along, they'll potentially attack the enemy later if you get near enough for them to home in on you. That can actually be fun, because whilst the main Marines are coming up the spiral path, you can be with the other Marines attacking the enemy from the rear, having flown up to them!

Finish off

Now you've got all your Marines, finish off pretty much as usual, ending with the door checkpoint. That's it. One extra-rowdy battle coming right up!

The altered enemy behaviour allows a novel battle plan. Let the enemy accumulate at the underpass they were so keen to reach, and attack them from whichever side you fancy.

You tend to get a big bunch of Grunts clustered around the entrance. Give them a rocket and listen to the delightful sound of multiple screams as they spray out in a big grunty fountain. Aw, that's cute. Incidentally, there may also be a few Grunts that stop at the corner of the ice path, as if providing a miniature enemy outpost. Oh I'm scared, real scared.

Sneaky tactics

There's plenty of evil fun to be had here with rockets and grenades. You could also walk in amongst the enemy whilst cloaked, to do suitably evil things. If you're attacking from the exit side, one thing you can do is briefly pop your head around a big rock in the underpass to tag an unsuspecting enemy. The blast will usually take out a load of his colleagues too; it's pretty crowded in there!

With Marines

Attacking from the exit side, you can potentially have some Marine back-up if you want it, namely if you made sure to lead the Marines through the underpass before the enemy started arriving there. Enemies sometimes get provoked into coming out to get you, where they run into a barrage of fire from yourself and the guys. Good fun with an assault rifle.

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