Passage horde battle
Posted August 13th 2026, using material originally in my Grunt-Jackal spawning trick article
Associated movies
- BCM668 - Heroic; Passage horde battle x3 with 63 covies (6:51)
But see also BCM145
As detailed in my article on the Grunt-Jackal spawning trick, you can build up a big horde of Grunts and Jackals in the passage network running alongside the boarding room. For my money, the best payoff to this is that you can then enjoy some serious combat, trying to kill them all in that network. In other words, you can enjoy what I call a 'passage horde battle'. It's a major combat scenario which you can have a lot of fun with.
You should of course make sure to be fully stocked with grenades, particularly in regard to those fast-acting frags, which are going to be a big help! My policy in the boarding battle is to not use my frags at all. There might be the chance of being able to pick some up from dead Marines, but I wouldn't want to rely on that. You'll also want full health of course. Fortunately there's a medkit you can use after the boarding battle, if you need it.
Note: originally I covered this topic on the trick page itself, but I've now formed this separate article, partly to give the topic greater prominence. But in any case, it's not part of the trick, it's a use of it.
Difficulty level and horde size
In regard to what difficulty level to use, I'd suggest using Normal if you fancy some relatively gung-ho battling to start with, wading into the horde with merry abandon. For a more serious challenge however, I suggest Heroic, as featured in BCM668, my first movie on the topic. You'll need to be a lot more careful about exposing yourself though. As for Legendary, I've yet to give that a go but I definitely plan to, and I expect it to make things rather tough!
As for horde size, keep in mind that with high covie count the game can suffer framerate slowdown, which could be bad enough to make combat too unenjoyable. The exact feel depends on weapon choice and how you're fighting, but with around 80 covies I certainly find the slowdown too bad, and in particular the plasma pistol is sluggish. For reasonably fluid combat I'd suggest not exceeding 70 covies, and if you want to use a plasma pistol a lot, perhaps make that 60.
Standard set-up
By a 'standard' set-up I mean one where, after building a horde, you've checkpointed with the muster bay checkpoint, triggered at the top of the rise. As mentioned on the trick page, this not only terminates the spawning but also causes a behavioural change, giving the covies an instinct to head for the upper level of the muster bay. As such, you now face an advancing horde. And obviously, the idea is to intercept them, slaying them as they come. To make it a bit more formal you can require that no covie must reach the muster bay. That's how I routinely play it, but you can adopt whatever approach you like.
However, the advance isn't a wholesale movement of the entire mob. It's a more gradual affair, with only some covies on the move at any given time. Also, you need to get sufficiently close to prompt such advancing. If you merely stand near the top of the rise for example, you'll soon find that no more covies are coming into view around the bottom corner. You're so far away that the game has effectively frozen them. You'll need to get nearer the corner to get things unfrozen. More specifically, you'll need to get into the lower half of the rise. A little bit lower than the halfway mark in fact. Watch for red dots springing to life on your tracker.
As the covies advance, you can tackle them frontally, or potentially from the side if you pop into one of the three side-passages (one up the rise, two along the main passage). Attacking from the side gives you some cover from enemy fire, as well as the opportunity of taking covies by surprise.
Corner hold-out
One way of battling is to do what I call a 'corner hold-out', an example of which can be seen at the start of BCM668. This is where you try to keep to the lower part of the rise so the covies keep advancing, giving you a steady stream to tackle as they come around the corner (and meanwhile the corner will give you cover from the many covies further back). Obviously though, you may need to back off occasionally, either due to enemy pressure or because you're in danger from some imminent explosion. You especially need to be wary of chain reactions, given how many loose plasmas can accumulate!
Special challenges
There are restrictions you could apply to yourself to make things harder, or just to make for a different style of battling. One enjoyable challenge is to disallow grenades, a major loss of offensive capability. You'll have to work harder with your gunplay, and battles will tend to be longer. If you find it too difficult, an alternative limitation is to merely forbid plasma grenades. So, you'll still be able to use your frags.
Another idea is to fight with a single weapon. In the case of an AR you can take that to mean no top-ups allowed, if you like. That might oblige you to be a bit careful with your firing. Or allow top-ups if you prefer. In the case of using a needler I'd suggest allowing top-ups, as the ammo in a single needler isn't enough to kill a large number of covies.
Another idea is speed plays. I've had plenty of fun with this, pushing against the clock. I record my play, and measure the time from (a) when I start moving or doing something, to (b) when the covies are all dead.
Rear attacks and camo work
There's also the option of circling around to get behind the horde, giving quite a different attack dynamic. Just enter the muster bay, drop down, open the door, and head on through.
You can now surprise the covies from behind, including a large collection you'll find in the first of the two side-passages off the main passage (see pic). It's the side-passage in which covies originally started collecting when you began building your horde. Usually they'll be facing the other way, which is ideal.
There's also the possibility of using the active camouflage that was in the boarding room (assuming you sensibly didn't use it during the boarding battle). This can also help you get right up close to the covie stack where all the spawning occurred, and perhaps lob a grenade or two into it.
If you make stack destruction your first point of business (cloaked or not), you can then enjoy heading up the passage to kill as many covies as still remain. There's often quite a traffic jam up the rise, so that's an area to look forward to.
Note: if you're especially interested in rear attacks, bear in mind that it's possible to delay the muster bay checkpoint until you're nearing the horde from behind. That can give you a set-up specially geared for rear attacks. You won't have to make a long trip for each battle.
Weapon provision
To make things most flexible, it would be nice to have an array of weapons to choose from at the start of your save. You might also like to have spares at certain locations, e.g. extra needlers so you can top up your ammo (bear in mind, none of the Grunts you'll be fighting has a needler). Here's my advice on arranging that.
For starters, make sure you brought the sniper rifle aboard, still unused. You'll have a whopping 68 rounds, and with so many enemies you can sure put them to good use!
During the boarding battle, briefly handle any weapons you might want, to stop the game removing them. Once the fight is over though, don't bother with weapon assembly work yet. Having got the usual checkpoint, proceed with the trick until you've managed to get standoff mode. Then do your weapon assembly work, killing any newly spawned covies so you can work unhindered (remember, spawning is suspended while you're outside the spawn trigger zone). Additional weapon sources are the few covies you kill up the rise. Once you're satisfied with your weapon arrangement, do the usual spawning work.
NB: on Heroic and Legendary, none of the boarding battle Elites has a plasma rifle. So if you want one, which you surely do, you'll need to either bring one aboard with you or get one from the Elite you kill in the passage network later.
Having a static horde instead
Thus far I've focused on having a horde which is trying to advance to the muster bay. That's the standard dynamic. But as mentioned on the trick page, it's possible to instead keep the progression checkpoint delayed, to finally get it when you're happy with how many covies you've got. With such a set-up, you still haven't triggered the muster bay, and the covies therefore won't try to advance to it. This gives you the possibility of attacking a largely static horde. Naturally it doesn't have the same feel as you get when covies are on the move, but it's still combat and you can have fun with it.
A further aspect of such a set-up is that because the muster bay hasn't been triggered yet, it's possible for further spawning to occur (subject to you being in the spawn trigger zone of course). As such, further covies could actually spawn in the course of your battle, prolonging the affair.