BCM297 - Wandering Banshees, raising via sniping

(6:35) Level 2 ('Halo') on Heroic. Hot new discovery! Originally I thought a wandering Banshee down low was probably stuck down there for good. But shortly before releasing my last instalment, I realized I could actually get such a Banshee back up! Amusing stuff, and it makes a fun challenge too. Here are three examples, all done that day. They're in chronological order and my technique gets better as we go.

Released July 5th 2018, gameplay recorded July 1st-3rd 2018.

Commentary

00:02 (Bottom of the valley) I started trying this technique at the bottom of the valley. I can't remember if this example was the first success or was instead the first success with a nice ending (I wanted a tag of course), but at any rate it was certainly an early success. Being such early work, my technique was less than optimal here, with some of my shots being much closer to the Banshee than they needed to be. At that time I wasn't just sure how far away from the Banshee it was okay to aim, and consequently I wasn't getting as much travel from the Banshee as I could have.

00:34 I've inserted this bit of footage (from a few days earlier) showing the diversion tactic applied to ground, a few examples of which appeared in the previous movie, BCM296. At that time I'd already realized a Banshee could get diverted by wall hits too, but I hadn't yet thought of using that to make it climb.

02:17 (Top of the valley) Afterwards I went up to the top of the valley (triggering a checkpoint when passing the entrance to the survivor area, enabling me to keep retrying) and got this nice example. My technique is better here; I'm making the Banshee travel more with most shots.

03:30 After a reload I see that the Banshee has come away from the wall. It doesn't immediately home in, but at least it's pretty high. Eventually it gets its bearings - which I thought it would - and is soon attacking me. I throw three plasmas but only the first hits, and I finish off with a pistol shot. The third plasma looks like it should've hit - the Banshee was very close by then - but it somehow just misses.

04:10 (Survivor area) Finally, I did some work to get an example in the survivor area. There's a comedy start in which I get way too cavalier with my hog near the cliff edge, and nearly go over. The hog was surprisingly grippy! My raising technique is the best here. I'm putting my shots a good way off from the Banshee and getting more travel out of it. The climb takes about 45 seconds, from the time the Banshee reaches the wall.

06:10 Afterwards I had the idea of ramming the wreckage off the cliff. I also exited the hog so maybe the hog would go over too (I forget whether that was planned or was a last-second decision). I try to tag the wreckage as it begins to fall, but I miss, and follow the Banshee down for fun.

Closing remarks I had plenty of failures by the way, but I elected not to bother showing any of that. It's quite easy to lose the Banshee's attention, and then it flies off. Also, my 16 sniper rounds weren't as many as I would've liked, and things felt pretty tight.

I may well return to this enjoyable activity later for some more examples, including at least one where I use the cliff wall rather than the invisible wall. I already got a few examples of that actually, but I can probably get better ones. Besides which, I'd like to have a new set-up in which I have more ammo. Here I was using the set-up seen created in BCM293, during which I'd used up ten of my 26 rounds. At that time I hadn't realized how useful sniping could be with wandering Banshees.

This movie jumped the queue somewhat. I had something else lined up for my fifth instalment, but after making this raising discovery it made sense to cover that pronto, especially as it related quite well to the previous movie, which ended with a very low Banshee. I guess the movie that got ousted will now be the next one. Coming soon!