Get the most out of a massive hangar brawl with covies and Flood.

Posted June 10th 2007

• The basic idea
• Game behaviour
• Door ambush
• Platform survival
• Sandwich challenge
• Stop the covies
• Back attack
• Recess ambush
• Platform pillar ambush
• Corner shield fun
• Entry catwalk fun
• Sniping from the far end
• Creating a good save
• Eliminating Shade Elites
• Comment on the design

Shortly after re-boarding the Truth and Reconciliation in level 9, you reach the hangar (or 'shuttle bay' as Cortana calls it) on its second level. To start with there are just four Elites near a Shade on the central platform, plus a few spores. But when you advance far enough, you trigger reinforcement Elites and Grunts from the door on the left, plus combat Flood who jump down from the third level. It's a chaotic brawl in the making, and normally you'd probably just head past to safety. But if you care to hang around to get your money's worth, you can have a whole lot of fun, as I'll detail here. The key dynamic is that each time a Flood or reinforcement Elite or Grunt is killed, another spawns to take his place; and this continues until the total spawn count reaches 32 or so. Basically then, the place is one big spawning machine!

Shotgun treat

Shotgun fans in particular will have a field day. One special highlight: blasting 20+ Elites one after another at point-blank range, with barely enough time to keep reloaded! See the Door ambush later.

Handy checkpoint

There's a handy checkpoint as you approach the hangar, making it easy to revert and play things all over again. Moreover, it's possible to have a weapons stash nearby, allowing you to select a new combo each time you head into battle. You can also have an undamaged overshield, and you can arrange to fight without music if you want. See the later section on creating a good save for details. But to begin with I suggest you just fire up the game on Normal or Easy and whizz through until you get the hangar checkpoint, acquiring a well stocked shotgun and pistol along the way. It'll only take a few minutes and you'll soon be able to try out the fun I suggest, plus anything else you can think of.

Difficulty levels

NB: With a lot of the activities suggested here, Legendary would be too tough and you'd likely be dead in seconds. You'll be heavily pressured even on Heroic, when putting yourself in the thick of the action. Actually I suspect most players will have the best fun on Normal or Easy.

Before we get to the fun, let me clarify the game behaviour in this situation. I've put a few reference terms I'll be using in bold.

From where you emerge into the hangar's second level, there's a door over on the left; the covie door as I'll call it. When you're anywhere to the right of that door's opening, or even slightly left of that, you're in what I'll call the trigger area. When you're in that area, reinforcement Elites and Grunts spawn just around the corner through the covie door. The Elites head for the end of the central platform, whilst the Grunts head to near the start of the platform. Also, Flood spawn on the third level. They run along and jump down to land just in front of the platform pillar at the start of the central platform. They'll attack any enemy they see; maybe you, maybe covies.

Now here's the really good bit. Until spawning ends, the game tries to maintain 2 reinforcement Elites, 2 reinforcement Grunts, and 3 or 4 Flood (3 on Normal and Easy, 4 on Heroic and Legendary). This means that each time one such enemy is killed, another spawns to take his place (when you're in the trigger area). Spawning ends once you've had a total spawn count of 32 or so. Expect between 31 and 33.

If you leave the trigger area, spawning is temporarily suspended. It resumes once you return, as long as you haven't been too far into an exit passage.

The original 4 Elites, who I'll call the Shade Elites, stay on the platform and potentially man the Shade, when threatened. It can take a few moments for an Elite to mount up when the seat is available though. Reinforcement Elites and Grunts can man the Shade too.

Covies that end up down below after jumping or getting blasted down will remain aggressive but won't move around, except perhaps to run to man the Shade if it's been blasted down.

Here's something I guarantee will make an immediate impression on you. Preferably armed with a shotgun, run to the covie door and stand just to the right where the covies can't see you until they're emerging. One after another, here they come, and they meet up with the business end of your shotty at practically point-blank range. BLAM! Elite down. BLAM! Grunt down. BLAM! Another squid-face bites the dust. And no kidding, they spawn and emerge so fast that you'll be scrambling to reload fast enough!

It can be quite hilarious at first, but don't get too carried away laughing. It can soon get really tough, even on Normal. When two Elites turn up at once and at least one of them is a nasty red, you can start getting forced back, and it can be difficult to recover.

You can try other weapons too of course. The power and efficiency of the plasma pistol makes it a great choice, and hey, let's not overlook the inviting prospect of drilling covies close up with an AR. That always hits the spot eh?

I suggest you leave the Shade Elites alive so they'll keep the Flood occupied. It might be worth blasting the Shade off the platform though, so you won't take any Shade fire in the back.

Elites only?

If you want to just focus on Elites, let the first few Grunts pass, so you'll now get a flow of mostly Elites, with just the occasional Grunt when the Flood manage to kill one. Alternatively you could let Elites pass, to get a flow of mostly Grunts.

Stepping in

If you watch your motion tracker, you can anticipate when an enemy is nearing the exit (and from the speed, you can even tell when it's an Elite). At that point, it's fun to briefly take a step in and let 'em have it. Feels good, and boy do they get a shock.

Grenade go boom

With all the covies you're dropping near the door (or possibly just inside it, if you've been 'stepping in'), you can build up a huge collection of bodies and loose grenades. You know what's coming next, right? Pick your moment to take out some newcomers in a massive chain reaction that sends bodies flying out into the hangar. Nice.

Body pile fun

Even the body piles themselves can look jolly impressive. Have you ever seen 20+ Elites all lying in the same death pose, close together? You soon will. And when you grenade the pile at one end, you can make them all get blasted along a little, in synchronized fashion. Have a play with 'em! Something else you can do with a big pile of bodies: drop a weapon onto it and watch it bobbling around, trying to find a place to settle. It's alive!

Standing in view

As a variation on positioning, you could stand well back from the wall so you can see fully into the passage. It's just possible to do this yet still be in the trigger area. The covies will be able to see you as soon as they come around the inner passage corner, and you can try to drop them before they get far. It's not a point-blank ambush any more, but they're still going to get a nasty shock. Welcome to the hangar, boys! You'll probably have to dodge around a bit though. In particular, watch out for all the needles heading your way!

With a sniper rifle you can drop enemies as soon as they appear; pretty good fun while your ammo lasts, but the rifle is slow to reload, so you'll have trouble keeping it up for long. With grenades you can sometimes take out enemies even before they've come into sight around that passage corner! You'll just hear the screams…

Here's a fairly obvious thing to do. Run to the central platform and see if you can survive there against the covies and Flood. Actually they'll fight among themselves quite a bit of the time, but you can vary the difficulty for yourself by imposing weapon limitations (e.g. can you survive with just a plasma pistol and grenades?) or by obliging yourself to stand within a certain area (e.g. ahead of the control panel on the platform, so you're near the thick of the action). Lots of possibilities here.

If you want to start off with a nice clear area, eliminate the Shade Elites before you go in. If you want things tougher though, only allow yourself to deal with the Shade Elites once you're on the platform itself. You'll need to polish them off quick, with those extra covies and Flood on the way!

Chain reaction mischief

One thing I like to do is keep killing the arriving Elites in the same area, to build up a mass of loose grenades. Even Flood can contribute, for that matter. When things are looking agreeably catastrophic, take out an arriving newcomer or two in a colossal chain reaction. Hilarious, as long as you stand well clear. You'll have a lot of fun with this; it's practically an art form. I quite like bringing an Elite to his knees beforehand, timing things so he's just starting to growl at me when the reaction goes off. BOOM! Boy does he look foolish.

Shotgun ambush

On the left of the platform as you face your attackers, there's a pair of purple boxes, ideal for hiding behind with a shotgun. Just as an Elite is coming along, step out and let him have it point-blank. BLAM! That's far enough, squid-face! It's also a good position from which to blast Flood as they jump down. On Heroic (or Legendary if you're fool enough), it's hard to survive without using cover, so these boxes come in mighty useful!

Talking of purple boxes, there are quite a few of them around the action area. Instead of using them for cover, try jumping up on top to see if you can survive from there. Not a great idea on Heroic, but it can be fun on Normal or Easy.

Needle delight

The needler can be a lot of fun on the platform, due to the fact that Elites are approaching you without much room to dodge; plus they're often distracted by the Flood. See how many you can take out with pink chain reactions. Plenty of Elites and Flood will drop needlers on the platform, so you should be able to keep your needle supply up. Oh, and don't forget to needle those grunty fools at the back too, once in a while.

The needler is also good fun on covies that end up on ground level, firing up at you. They're nice stationary targets and the needles will pile in a treat.

No Shade please

It's probably a good idea to blast the Shade off the platform sometime before the fighting is in full swing, so you don't end up accidentally yanked into it when trying to reload. I hate that. On the other hand, I suppose you might like to hop aboard and plaster everything with pink plasma. Personally I don't enjoy using Shades much though, as they're so wildly imprecise and you can barely see your targets once you start firing.

Behind the line

For extra challenge, decide on a line past which no Elite reinforcements are allowed to come, and see if you can keep them from crossing it. For example stop them reaching as far as the control panel.

If you really want a workout, try this. Eliminate the Shade Elites, then head in and stand between the covie door and the platform. You're now in the middle of a nasty covie-Flood sandwich! See if you can keep both factions back and hold your ground. There's good scope here for using intelligent tactics in how you split your attention between the two sides. Make full use of your motion tracker to anticipate what's coming up.

You can vary the challenge by imposing weapon limitations on yourself (e.g. see if you can manage with only plasma weapons and grenades), or by obliging yourself to stay within a particular section of the catwalk, rather than allowing yourself to make use of the whole stretch (e.g. oblige yourself to stay about midway between the door and platform).

Here's a challenge with lots of variation. Station yourself somewhere in the trigger area and see if you can stop the covies reaching the platform. Or if you like, forget about the Grunts and just try to stop the Elites. No cheating: you have to stay in the trigger area so enemies keep spawning.

Varying the challenge

You can vary the difficulty according to where you stand and what weaponry limitations you impose on yourself. You could be somewhere between the covie door and the platform like in the Sandwich challenge, and even be right by the door itself, taking a Door ambush approach. Equally however, you could station yourself on the platform itself or somewhere beyond, if you think you can manage. For example, go well past the platform and use a sniper rifle and pistol to take down the covies from distance as they head along.

You can also vary the difficulty according to whether you eliminate the Shade Elites or not. If you leave them alive they'll potentially keep the Flood occupied, which is one less thing for you to worry about, though you might take occasionally fire from the Elites (you may like to grenade the Shade off the platform before going in). But if you eliminate them beforehand, the Flood may be coming your way soon.

Feeling a bit mischievous? Run to the covie door. Briefly move far enough right to trigger some covies, then move left out of sight. As covies emerge, they'll have their backs to you (unless you were slow to hide and they spotted you). Bring 'em down with your method of choice. Step forward to trigger a few more, back off again to be behind them, and bring 'em down. Repeat until light-headed with cyborg glee.

If you like, just focus on the Elites, and let the Grunts run clear. That'll cut down the flow of covies (you'll just get the occasional Grunt when the Flood kill one), making it easier for you to control things and stay undetected. Another suggestion: leave the Shade Elites alive to keep the Flood occupied.

Spawning detail

Here's a pertinent detail about the spawning. When you step into the trigger area to get more covies, it seems that they only spawn at a certain rate (same with the Flood). If you don't stay in the trigger area long enough, the game may not have time to restore the reinforcement count to 2 Elites and 2 Grunts. You can use this fact to deliberately just get one or two reinforcements each time, namely by stepping into the trigger area only very briefly.

Needles in the back

One great way of taking out your victims is to send explosive streams of needles into their backs. You'll have to get more needles occasionally of course, but that shouldn't be too hard with all the needlers getting dropped. You're liable to run into a few covies face to face while doing this, so things might get messy for a bit, but it shouldn't take long to get back into the rhythm.

If you want to go to town with this, you could actually set up a specialized save in which you've already got a pile of needlers with you on the left of the door, ready for use before any spawning has started. You could do it by delaying the starting checkpoint until you've moved needlers into position. The checkpoint will remain delayed while you keep jumping or while the game considers you under threat (from the Shade Elites, in this case), as mentioned near the end of the section on creating a good save.

Mr Shotty gets busy

Cutting them down with plasma is good too. Or if you fancy bringing out Mr Shotty, that should work a treat. I suggest you watch your motion tracker to anticipate arrivals, then briefly step forwards so you can blast them real close.

Whacking and tagging

For more challenge, see how many you can take out with melee attacks to the back of the skull. Another challenge: see how many you can tag with plasma grenades.

Eliminate the Shade Elites and head in. Just before you reach the platform there's a recess in the wall on the left. Station yourself within, hidden from unsuspecting covie reinforcements. Watch for them on your tracker, and let 'em have it with a shotgun or whatever as they come into view. Actually I quite like letting Elites go past, then sending streams of needles into their backs as they head onto the platform. Of course, you'll also have Flood to deal with.

Possibly after eliminating the Shade Elites, run to the platform pillar and stand on its far side, where you'll be out of sight of the reinforcement covies as they approach. From here you can have a great time blasting the Elites as they go past, and blasting the Flood as they land just ahead of you. Lots of loose grenades will build up amid all that carnage you're wreaking, so be sure to set off some nice chain reactions along the way. Grunts may occasionally start needling you in the back or whatever, but you'll soon fix them eh?

Run to the central platform and hide behind the stationary shield at the back left corner; there's just enough room to squeeze around behind it. From there you can enjoy watching the covies take on the Flood, and listening to the Grunts' amusing cries as they stick it to the gurgling freaks. Those Grunts sound like they're really enjoying themselves! You can also sneak a few shots out past the shield if you like. You don't have much room but it's just possible.

You can potentially leave some of the Shade Elites alive, so the Flood really get massacred to begin with. On Normal it's easily possible to skip past all four Shade Elites if you want, but on Heroic you'd best have an overshield for that else they're liable to cut you down before you make it. Once behind the shield, the Elites tend to lose awareness of you. They're real bright like that.

Grenade mischief

You can also have a bit of grenade fun from behind the shield. For one thing, you can lob a plasma grenade so it hits the platform pillar and drops down to where the Flood land, to blast them. Another idea: bounce a grenade off the ceiling so it comes down among the Elites.

Maybe after eliminating the Shade Elites, go to the very edge of the catwalk somewhere near your entry point (staying well away from the covie door). You're actually now just far enough forward that you're in the trigger area. From here you can enjoy watching the proceedings, and attacking covies and Flood as they fight among themselves. All weapons have enough range, including the needler, but the most obvious choices would be the pistol and sniper rifle. The high shot speed of the plasma rifle makes it another good choice.

You might come under fire from Elites on the platform, and on Heroic that's nasty; but you can always take cover for a moment until they're occupied with Flood again.

Grenade mischief

You can have fun throwing grenades too, maybe setting off chain reactions. Plenty of loose grenades tend to build up near the platform pillar where the Flood land. One thing I enjoy doing is bouncing a frag grenade off the back wall of the hangar, to then land among covies and Flood fighting near the pillar.

Flood shoot

One little challenge you might like to try. Armed with a pistol, see if you can kill or at least disarm Flood, before they land on the platform.

Nibbled covies down below

If a covie (probably an Elite) ends up down on the ground below, he'll potentially get attacked by the spores that were originally trying to get at the Shade Elites. It's fun to watch the swarm close in and start nibbling.

Armed with a sniper rifle and pistol, run past the platform, right up to far end of the area, and enjoy some sniping. The pistol has enough range for enemies on the platform, and is also handy for stopping any Flood heading your way. Most of the time you'll be unaccosted though. If you move to the edge of the catwalk, you can just see where the Flood land.

Ok, here's where you invest a little of your valuable cyborg time to create a deluxe save in which you'll start off with a handy weapons stash so you can vary your combo each time you head into battle. You'll also have a healthy overshield if you want one.

Acquire shotty and sniper rifle, and re-board the ship

You'll be wanting a full shotgun on hand for the hangar battle, so I recommend getting a shotgun early and building up its ammo as you go, so it's well stocked by the time you re-board the ship. You can get one before you jump off the ship. There'll be more shotguns when you re-board of course, but it's worth getting an early start to be on the safe side, especially bearing in mind that you may eventually want a second shotgun for dealing with Flood before the hangar.

Also get the sniper rifle along the way. If you use the active camouflage at the start of the level, it's possible to reach practically all the way to it without being held up, if you want to. There's no extra ammo for it (as far as I know), so save its 18 rounds for the hangar battle. Preferably also save your frag grenades, in case later Flood don't drop enough to allow you to stock up fully for the hangar battle. Continue on and re-board the ship.

Preferably acquire a full pistol and spare shotty

Shortly after boarding, you're looking down on a room with a Wraith in it. Rather than jumping down, I recommend heading into the passage that snakes around to the ground entrance. On the way, there's a place where combat Flood and carriers keep dropping out of an opening in the ceiling. This is a good place to acquire a full pistol for your weapon stash, and a well stocked spare shotgun for dealing with some later Flood; plus a bit of spare weaponry for use in the Wraith room. You'll probably meet a few pistols and shotguns later, but this is where I prefer to start, to guarantee that I won't be short. Maybe get a full plasma pistol too; but usually you can get one of those just past the Wraith room.

Reach the hole and prepare to drop down

There's an overshield in the Wraith room, but don't apply it yet. Cleanse the area and head on towards the hole you'll be dropping down through shortly. Kill the Flood there and move around the hole to catch sight of the carriers below. Pop them and their released spores. Now things are clear, go back and apply the overshield (if you want it). From here on, do your best to preserve it of course. With careful play you can keep it fully intact for the hangar battle, even on Legendary. Actually it's quite an enjoyable challenge to do so.

Before you drop down, do any further weapon collecting you want, and drop weapons through the hole. You don't really need to bother with a full plasma rifle, needler and AR yet, as you'll almost certainly be able to get those from the conflicts coming up shortly; but if you want to play safe, that's fine. There probably won't be a full plasma pistol ahead though, and the remaining shotgun and pistol supplies can be patchy.

Drop down and move on

Drop down through the hole. Around the corner there are some Flood, and they'll fight with nearby covies. Finish off the survivors, and scavenge for supplies.

Around the corner just after a handy checkpoint, there's a second group of covies (unless they got dealt with by Flood). They're not very alert, and a few sneaky plasma grenades can take care of them in one go. I normally try to tag the Elites.

Deal with the final Flood

At the bottom of the passage down to those Elites, you'll trigger some Flood. Some spawn behind you around a corner, but the bigger threat is the mass that will drop through the ceiling just ahead. Here are two good methods of tackling things.

Method 1: Hectic blasting (fast and a lot of fun - see Ceiling Flood attack). Preferably armed with a well stocked spare shotgun as primary, and plasma weapon as backup, run past the ceiling opening and turn around. Blast the Flood as they land, or even before they're down. You can use the corner for cover, but don't allow yourself to get forced back far through the door, else you might trigger the hangar checkpoint prematurely. After you're done, scavenge the body pile for any weaponry you want for your stash, before the game makes it vanish (which can happen as soon as your back is turned). These guys seem to drop lots of needlers and full plasma rifles, plus a few ARs. Then go back the way you came, to deal with the other group of Flood. There's just a handful, except for a possible mass of spores. The safest way is to surprise them with a sneaky grenade, as long as you can replace it afterwards. They'll never even see you.

Method 2: Bait and retreat (slow but enjoyably clinical). This method is especially useful if you haven't got a well stocked spare shotgun. Advance until you hear Flood starting to spawn, then retreat back around two or three corners to safety. When Flood come your way (you may need to fire a shot to get their attention), pick them off as they round a corner, so they don't even get chance to shoot. Plasma weapons and the pistol are ideal for this. You should be standing at the next corner back, for cover. When it's clear, advance to trigger more Flood and do the whole thing again. Repeat until spawning stops.

Advance your weapons stash and get the hangar checkpoint

Finish collecting for your weapons stash, and move the weapons forward. Try to avoid bodies as you do this; weapons have an infuriating habit of bouncing off bodies and disappearing through the floor! Through the door just past where Flood came out of the ceiling, there's a loading point halfway along the final purple panel, and you'll trigger the 'hangar checkpoint' a step or so beyond. Before you do that, I suggest you throw your weapons ahead so they're near the corner, more conveniently situated for your save. End up carrying your desired starting combo (maybe hold the sniper rifle, ready to eliminate Shade Elites when you want to). Advance to get the checkpoint, and save. Ok, you're done.

Weapons stash further forward

With a bit of extra fiddling around at the end, you can get your weapons stash closer to the hangar if you want. Personally I like to have it near the end of the recess in the left of the final bit of passage. The recess is handy as cover from the Shade, and I like to be there as my save begins. Here's how you can do it.

As you approach where the hangar checkpoint is triggered, be constantly jumping to delay the checkpoint. For as long as you keep jumping or the game considers you under threat from the Shade Elites (they'll probably notice you shortly), the checkpoint will remain delayed. Keep it delayed until you've moved your stash to where you want it. It takes a bit of a knack to move weapons while repeatedly jumping (if you're relying on that rather than relying on being under threat), but it's doable.

Fighting without music, or without the speech

Here's another option. Just past the end of the recess in the final bit of passage, you'll trigger a few lines from Cortana and Keyes, followed by about four minutes of music. If you like, you can delay the hangar checkpoint in the manner just mentioned, until the speech or music is over, so you won't get it in your save. I expect most players will want to keep the music, but the speech can get a bit repetitive.

If you want to eliminate the Shade Elites before you start triggering newcomers, it can be quickly done with a sniper rifle of course. But if you don't have one or you want to save your rounds, it's also easy with a plasma pistol. Wait for an Elite to man the Shade, then take him down with a few bursts of fire. Repeat until they're all dead. I like to have an extra plasma pistol in my weapons stash for doing this, so I can retain a full plasma pistol for the main battling. You can do it from the entrance passage before entering the hangar, and there's a recess you can duck into when Shade fire comes your way. You could use a similar tactic with a pistol, or even a plasma rifle (though it's not as efficient as a plasma pistol).

You could also use grenades. On Normal, two plasma grenades can quite easily do the job, though you might need to revert for a few attempts before managing it. A shortcoming of using grenades however, is that an Elite may get blown off the platform alive and remain able to attack you later.

Getting rid of the Shade

If you want to get rid of the Shade, do it by landing a grenade nearby. Aimed carefully, a grenade can even blast the Shade off without killing any of the standing Elites, if that's all you want.

This hangar situation seems oddly designed, as it's so easy to just run past the platform and onwards to safety. After all, there's no mission reason to hang around; you don't have to go onto the platform or anything.

Box diversion

However, one thing I notice is that as soon as you enter the hangar, there's a line of purple boxes blocking most of the catwalk. It's easy to jump over, but many players are likely to go around. In doing so, you'll be forced close to the catwalk's edge and you may well enter the trigger area briefly. That triggers some covies and Flood, and you've now got more of a fight ahead of you if you keep advancing. So maybe the boxes were put there deliberately, to encourage such early spawning.

Missing Marines?

Here's another idea. Perhaps at an earlier stage of design, you were going to be able to bring in some Marines by operating a control panel on the platform, like you do in level 3. That would give you reason to hang around, and you'd then find yourself in a big fight. Perhaps Bungie then decided against the idea of having Marines, but didn't bother altering the spawning dynamic. As such, we ended up with the current odd situation, where the spawning is not necessarily going to pose any threat.

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