Clan night tonight. 9pm PT. Halo 3: ODST

Note the slightly later start time. 9pm kids.

No official clan night tonight

Local event conflict, so no official clan night tonight. Would be a good night to sync up ad-hoc for some ODST Firefight. Here are gamertags to look for tonight:

• Beer4Porter
• darknorpo
• FishBone10
• MEAN MR MONKEY
• Mean Mrs Monkey
• Octurian Poon
• UnsavorySamurai

If any of these are not on your friends list, I recommend you add them. Feel free to use the comments section on this post to try and pre-coordinate a meet up time.

Fiesta Double EXP Weekend

For those of you who missed out on your achievements last weekend with Grifball, there's another opportunity to mop up some achievements this weekend with Fiesta Double EXP weekend. It's a FFA playlist that requires the Mythic disk with Slayer, King, Oddball and Juggernaut gametypes. Some of the achievements that should be relatively attainable this weekend:

• Vidmaster Challenge: Lightswitch - Got the rank of Lieutenant in any playlist in the new EXP progression system.
• Killtacular - On a Mythic map, got a Killtacular during a ranked or social match.
• ... Get the Horns - On a Mythic map, got a Bulltrue medal during a ranked or social match.
• Blades of Fury - On Heretic, got a Sword Spree during a ranked or social match.
• Ghost Patrol - On Longshore, got 3 kills with a Ghost during a ranked or social match.
• Awww, Too Bad - On a Mythic map, got a Killjoy medal during a ranked or social match.
• Pull - On Citadel, get a Shotgun Spree during any ranked or social match.
• Alas, Poor Yorick - On a Legendary map, get 3 Oddball melee kills during any ranked or social match.
• Hammer Time - On Assembly, get 5 Hammer kills during any ranked or social match.
• Save This Film - On a Mythic map, get a Perfection medal during any ranked or social match.

Vidmaster Challenge: Deja Vu

Some of us are working on this achievement. Here's a pretty good video walking through how to get it.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Halo 3: ODST.

Happy anniversary to Mean Mr. and Mrs. Monkey. If they choose to spend their anniversary gaming, it's their choice of game types.

Piff! Paff! Puff!

Re-posted from Hawty McBloggy:

Halo fanatic John, better known in the gaming world as gtdroptop, loves his video games, so much in fact that he often coordinates his schedule around many of the bigger releases. Needless to say neither John nor his wife were surprised when their doctor informed them their baby girl was conceived on September 24, 2007 (which, not so coincidentally, was the day before Halo 3 launched). His friends are more than aware of, and equally share, his dedication to gaming so close buddy OmniscientDeath got the brilliant idea of making him special birthday treats that reflect that passion. Crafted primarily from butter, marsh-mallows, and annoyingly vocal breakfast cereal, these delectable Xbox 360 controller-shaped Rice Krispies treats feature M&Ms for buttons and upside down Hershey’s Kisses for thumbsticks. Hopefully they didn’t eat these suckers while they were actually gaming though. Otherwise their controllers may be even stickier than normal.

Covenant Vehicles

You will encounter several different varieties of Covenant in each Firefight match. Each one has its strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness. Some levels have vehicles that appear, here's a detailed breakdown of the different ships:

The Phantom dropship is the Covenant equivalent of a Pelican and transports big groups of infantry. It can also deploy Hunters, Ghosts and Wraiths. The Phantom has a main plasma turret in front, and two smaller turrets manned by Grunts or Brutes on either side. The recommendation is to take cover when Phantoms are in bound. Their turrets are devastating, and can destroy vehicles as well as destructible cover. Though they can be killed in Campaign, they are indestructible in Firefight, so there's no point in wasting ammo on them. The Grunts or Brutes in the turrets can be killed, and the main turret can be taken out with a Spartan laser. The ship itself can not be destroyed, and no other troops inside the body of the Phantom can be hurt until they leave the ship. The only time it makes sense to try and take out the turret is during the Bonus Round on Lost Platoon where the Grunts are deployed underneath it and it doesn't leave. In this case, you have to take out the turret to be able to get at the Grunts. The only other time it makes sense to not immediately take cover is on Alpha Site if the Phantom is deploying troops on the landing pad. In that instance, you can attack the landing infantry from the cover of a fairly small doorway without taking fire from the turret. Phantoms are not worth any points even if you do manage to find a way to kill it.

The Wraith is the main Covenant battle tank. It has an anti-air variant, but that does not appear in Firefight. The regular Wraith lobs huge balls of plasma across long distances and can cover the entire battlefield. On a level like Security Zone, the Wraiths will zero in on anybody camping a stationary turret and kill them almost instantly. Though they do not have to be killed to pass a wave, it is recommended that you try and take them out because of the massive damage they inflict and the general chaos caused by plasma bombs. One Spartan laser shot will usually kill them, as well as a two human rockets. The Fuel Rod cannon is not incredibly effective. Without large weapons, Wraiths can also be boarded and killed with a single grenade. They do come with a Brute in the turret however, so it can be tricky for a single player to get close enough to a Wraith to board it. Two players can play diversion and attack more effectively. Using an overcharged plasma pistol is a very effective way of immobilizing the Wraith so that an ODST on foot can catch it. It can be boarded from either the front or the back. The Wraiths in Halo 3 ODST can not be commandeered for your own use.

The Covenant Ghost is a light attack vehicle with two plasma cannons in front and a turbo boost mode that is very effective at splattering enemies and escaping from trouble. In Halo 3 ODST, it is piloted by Grunts or Brutes. When Ghosts appear, you are not generally required to kill them to pass the wave. They can be commandeered for use and are good for splattering otherwise difficult to kill enemies. They can be killed with any heavy weapon quickly, can be flipped using a Brute Shot, can be stuck with grenades, but are pretty resilient against light arms like the pistol, SMG, plasma guns, etc. The driver is fairly exposed however, and can be taken out with light arms. Like all vehicles, an overcharged plasma pistol shot will immobilize it. In vehicle to vehicle combat, the Ghost will lose out in head-on collisions with any other vehicle that appears in Halo 3 ODST.

The Brute Chopper is a heavier armored attack vehicle that appears on Lost Platoon. It is virtually indestructible from the front due to its massive armor, but is pretty well exposed in the back. It has very poor maneuverability, but it's two front cannons can take out anything on thet map. Its massive front wheel will also mow down anything it splatters. It can not ram a Wraith successfully on its own, but it will drive right through a Warthog, Ghost, turret or any infantry. The best way to take out Brute Choppers is in a Warthog by getting behind it. The Warthog is much more maneuverable so you can zoom past a Chopper and do a handbrake turn to spin around well before the Chopper can react. Brute Choppers can be commandeered and can be very effective.

The last enemy vehicle that appears in Firefight is the Covenant Banshee. It appears on Alpha Site and is little more than a nuisance. It can not be commandeered, can not be boarded, and is not a required kill to finish each wave. It is piloted by a Brute, has two plasma cannons as well as a fuel rod cannon that it can use to launch plasma bombs. It is very difficult, though not impossible, to kill with light arms fire. It is too maneuverable to kill with most heavy weapons. It can be killed with the Spartan laser, but the laser does not appear on Alpha Site. The best way to take out Banshees is with a **mounted** missile pod. Though it only takes two missiles to kill a Banshee, they are very evasive in Firefight, so it may take 10-15 missiles to actually hit it. A detached missile pod only holds 8 and then doesn't respawn until the next round. When the Banshee is flying over the chasm, it can be killed by disabling it with an overcharged plasma pistol shot and letting it fall into the abyss.

Covenant Support Troops

You will encounter several different varieties of Covenant in each Firefight match. Each one has its strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness. Besides basic infantry and Brutes, there are some other characters to be aware of:

Drones (or buggies) are deployed in packs of 10 or more and are difficult to track down because they buzz around in the air erratically. They do not wear armor and can be killed with a single headshot, but it is difficult to do so because they are so mobile. Their bodies can take a decent amount of damage, so a pack of drones can chew up ammo quickly. Precision weapons (human pistol, Covenant carbine, sniper rifles) are generally ineffective because of the headshot difficulty. Heavy weapons (Fuel Rod, rocket launcher, laser) are ineffective because they are fast moving and there's too many. The silenced SMG and plasma rifle are your best handheld weapons, but given the choice, a mounted machine gun turret is easily the best option. Standard Drones carry plasma pistols. Drones can also come in the leader variety, which have a different armor color and carry the Covenant carbine. Drone Leaders are a good deal harder to kill, and effectively invulnerable when protected by an Engineer.

That brings us to Engineers. Engineers only appear in Firefight on Chasm Ten. You can always tell an Engineer is somewhere nearby because all the Covenant will suddenly appear shiny from their Overshields. The Engineers provide this shield to allies nearby, but it has a limited effective radius, so you can usually guess where the Engineer is. It floats in the air and will tend to drift away from fire. It can take massive amounts of damage from all weapons before it dies. The fastest way to kill an Engineer is with a single overcharged plasma pistol shot. One shot is all it takes, except when the harder skulls are on. At most, it should only take two overcharged plasma shots. When an engineer is present, you should make that your #1 priority because it makes all other enemies several orders of magnitude harder to kill. Some are effectively impossible. Engineers do not carry weapons, but they do eject exploding shrapnel when they die, so be aware.

Hunters appear on every Firefight level. They are deployed more as mobile tanks than as heavy infantry. They carry a plasma weapon similar to the Fuel Rod cannon that is permanently attached to their right arm. They also have a double lunge attack that can be devastating and is difficult to sidestep because of the secondary backswing attack after the first lunge. Their heavy armor and shield makes them impervious to most weapons. They do have a weaker area in back represented by the orange coloring on their mid-back. On lower levels, two plasma grenades or 2-4 human sniper rounds to this area will kill a Hunter. 1-1 on however, it is difficult to expose a Hunter's backside, so it's best to take them on teams of 2. On higher levels, it may take several grenades and signficant ammo to take one down. For Hunters, the best weapons are the human rocket launcher or Spartan laser, when available. Because their weapon is permanently attached, they do not drop anything when killed.

Covenant Brutes

You will encounter several different varieties of Covenant in each Firefight match. Each one has its strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness. Brutes are prevalent in the Halo 3: ODST story line, and are the most common "tough" enemies in Firefight. Here's a detailed breakdown of the different Brutes:

Regular Brutes generally travel with a pack of four Grunts. They may carry almost any weapon, but commonly the red Brute Plasma Rifle, and the Brute Shot which launches frag grenades. They wear light armor which must be taken down before they can be killed. The armor is instantly neutralized with an overcharged plasma pistol shot. It will be apparent that the Brute has lost its armor because it will go into rage mode where it yells for a moment, and then starts charging and jumping at anything nearby. It is best to try and get a headshot immediately after the armor has been removed, as that is the easiest time. Headshots are easiest with the human pistol and Covenant carbine. The human silenced SMG can also work, but is less effective. The armor of a regular brute is stickable, so plasma grenades and spiker grenades are also effective. The Brute Plasma Rifle is effective against drones, so is useful to pickup at times. Brutes generally carry (and drop) spiker grenades (especially when the Catch skull is on).

Jump Pack Brutes are obviously distinguished by the fact that they have jump packs and can fly. They are usually armed with the Covenant carbine as well as spiker grenades, like the regular Brutes. Their armor isn't special, so the same combination of an overcharged plasma pistol shot followed by a headshot still works. Both plasma and spiker grenades work as well. Their jump packs are effective until they are killed, so they can still jump around even after their armor has been disabled.


There are three types of special Brutes. They all wear the special Brute headdress pictured on the left, but they have fairly different properties. The first is a Brute Leader. Brute Leaders wear the headdress, have blue armor, and travel with other infantry. They don't carry special weapons, and will be armed with a normal Brute weapon like a Brute plasma rifle, Brute shot, or Covenant carbine. Though they wear the Brute Leader headdress, their armor is not special and they can be killed with the same combo or grenades as a regular Brute.

The second special type is a Brute Hero. Brute Heroes wear the headdress, but have special armor and carry a Fuel Rod cannon. A Brute Hero will not be accompanied by smaller infantry, and will typically hang out in the back of the battlefield and lob Fuel Rod bombs from far away. They have special armor which is NOT disabled with an overcharged plasma pistol shot, and all grenades will bounce off of them. Their armor can take MASSIVE damage, so it is totally pointless to try and shoot them. They are most efficiently killed with a single melee to the back. If there are two players, one player can distract them while the other gets behind for the melee. If you are by yourself, you can get into close quarters. When up close, the Brute Hero will not fire his Fuel Rod cannon due to splash damage and will instead try to lunge at you. The lunge is predictable and can be sidestepped. The Brute Hero will pause at the end of his lunge when he goes past, leaving you a window just long enough to melee him to the back. Sidestepping is better than jumping, because jumping takes too long. The Fuel Rod cannon that the Hero drops is an awesome weapon in Firefight and is great at taking out big groups of infantry.

The final special type is the Brute Chieftain. The Brute Chieftain has the headdress, gold armor, but is most obviously distinguished by the huge gravity hammer that it carries. Like the Brute Hero, it's armor is basically indestructible. Also like the Brute Hero, the best way to kill a Chieftain is a melee to the back. It's a little trickier with the Chieftain because the splash effect of the gravity hammer can knock you too far away to get in a melee. In this case, jumping to avoid his lunge is almost always ineffective because of the gravity hammer splash effect. Sidestepping still works, but it is easier to take out Chieftains in teams of two. The gravity hammer that the Chieftain drops is one of the best weapons in Firefight.

Covenant Characters

You will encounter several different varieties of Covenant in each Firefight match. Each one has its strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness. Here's a detailed breakdown of the common infantry:

The Grunt is the most common enemy in all of Halo. They wield plasma pistols and needlers, and also carry plasma grenades, especially when the Catch skull is on. Because they have no armor, they are most efficiently killed with a single headshot. Use the human pistol, or Covenant carbine. The human pistol is slightly easier to get headshots with, but has less range and less ammo than the carbine. On the earlier levels, Grunts can be killed with a single melee. The Grunt also comes in a "suicide" variety, where it will light a plasma grenade in each hand and charge at you. The grenades will not blow up until it gets close, you kill it, or you throw another grenade at it. Grunts usually travel in groups of four with a Brute or SpecOps Grunt in back. They will turn and run scared if the leader is killed however, which makes killing them harder because their head is no longer exposed. It is most efficient to kill the Grunts first and then work on the leader, Grunts are slow and will often lend themselves to a string of headshots by funneling single-file through a walkway. Grunts are very useful in Firefight because they drop lots of plasma pistols which are of critical importance.

In Firefight, there are also SpecOps Grunts which perform special tasks. They can be identified by a different armor color, but are more easily identified by the weapon they are carrying. They are most devastating when carrying a Fuel Rod cannon, the Covenant equivalent of the human rocket launcher. SpecOps Grunts can also man turrets or drive Ghosts. They are no different than regular Grunts however, in that they can be killed with a single headshot. When carrying a Fuel Rod cannon, SpecOps Grunts should be a targeting priority because they are easy to kill but can inflict massive damage. SpecOps Grunts will tend to linger in the background, lobbing damage from afar.

Jackals are easily distinguished by their very distinct round energy shield. They most often carry plasma pistols. They travel in packs of four and tend to run relatively quickly. Though they can be killed with a single headshot, they are hard to kill while running because their head moves a lot. They are most easily killed when they have taken a defensive position and hide behind their shield. The shield can take tons of bullets without damage, so don't bother. The shield can be destroyed with a single overcharged plasma pistol round, which will stun the Jackal and enable a clear headshot. The shield also has a notch which the Jackal uses to shoot through. A single shot through the notch will also stun the Jackal, causing it to stand up and also enable a clear headshot. In either case, it should only take two shots to kill a jackal.

Jackals also come in a Jackal Sniper variant. Snipers do not carry shields, and can be found at distance by looking for the blue dot of their night vision goggles. In Firefight, a foursome of regular Jackals will tend to be accompanied by a Jackal Sniper carrying a Covenant carbine or Beam Rifle. Because the Jackal Sniper does not carry a shield, it is easily killed with a single headshot. The Jackal Sniper should be prioritized over the regular Jackals in its group because it's the easiest to kill, but can do the most damage with its ranged weapon. On some Firefight levels, Jackal Snipers will spawn in high perches and continually pepper your team with sniper fire. Though they are not required to pass the wave, it is a good idea to take care of them so you don't have to worry about death from above. The Covenant carbine they carry is useful if you run out of pistol ammo. The Beam Rifle may be useful depending on situations.

Firefight Tips Round 2

Time for some more awesome Firefight tips. Read these and take them to heart, or get berated by me in-game. Remember that Firefight is designed to be resource scarce, so if you're a jackhole with the resources, you are directly affecting your teammates.

Understanding supply drops. When you hear the announcer say "Five enemies remaining," that means your team is about to finish a round. There are three rounds per set, and five waves per round. At the end of every round, every player's health and stamina is automatically restored, weapon lockers are filled up, detached turrets are restored, and health packs are replenished. Additionally, all the alien weapons dropped around the map are cleared out for the new round. THIS IS IMPORTANT. When you hear the announcement that there are only five enemies remaining, DO NOT KILL THEM RIGHT AWAY. Fill up on ammo and grab any weapons lying around that you're going to need. When in doubt, check your HUD for the Wave indicator. All five bars need to be filled up to finish a round.

Use health packs sparingly. Each level should start with four health packs. Those health packs have to last all five waves of a round. Remember that your stamina recharges if you stop taking fire, so when your screen turns red, just go hide for a while. It is absolutely inexcusable to use a health pack to restore stamina. Your health (represented by the long horizontal bar below your compass) does not recharge, and it will start to deteriorate if you use up all your stamina and keep taking damage. However, aside from a somewhat annoying beeping, you are in no danger of dying if your health is low, but you let your stamina recharge. In general, it's also a bad idea to use a health pack just to stop the beeping. When should you use a health pack?

1. To keep a streak alive. You get more points the longer kill streak you have. If you're on a long streak and your health is really low, it's not a bad idea to use a health pack.
2. When black eye is on. With the black eye skull on (usually in wave 3), you can only recharge your stamina by melee'ing opponents. This is often a difficult risk-reward proposition, especially when facing drones. If the black eye skull is on, it may be OK to use a health pack. Also, you're halfway through the round at this point, so more health is coming soon.
3. When you're the last man standing. If you're the last one alive, you have to make it to the next wave to bring your teammates back in. In this situation, you should do whatever it takes to stay alive.

Remember: The health packs only respawn after five full waves in each round.

Use ammo wisely. Refer to the previous post with tips about how to take out enemies efficiently. If you empty a rocket launcher on a Brute Chieftain and don't kill him because you could have just hit him on the back of the head without using any ammo, you are hurting your team when you need those rockets for a Wraith or Hunter later on. The tips in that previous post all still apply. Here are some new ones:

• Engineers: One overcharged plasma pistol shot will kill them. You won't see them die instantly, but they will float up and explode within a few moments. Watch out for exploding debris. When the Mythic skull is on, it may take two shots. Engineers should be your #1 priority when you see them because they make all other enemies much harder to kill. Drone leaders, Hunters, and even Brutes become effectively impossible to kill with bullet-based weapons.
• Brute Chieftains: To add on the previous post...Chieftains may carry hammers OR fuel rod cannons. Both variants of Chieftains are immune to the n00b combo (overcharged plasma + head shot) and can sustain MASSIVE damage before dying. Both variants will charge at you in close quarters, however, which allows you to sidestep and hit them on the back of the head for a one-punch, no-ammo kill. There is quite literally no reason to use any ammo AT ALL on Chieftains. Get in close, be quick with your stick, and bop them.
• Banshees: Banshees make an appearance on Windward. The best way to kill them is with a MOUNTED missile pod. There's really no good reason to detach these missile pods on Windward, leaving them attached gives you unlimited ammo so that you can just unload on the Banshees. The Banshees are not required kills to finish a wave, but are a nuisance that should be dealt with.

Learn the spawns. If you understand where the enemies are coming from, you can often wipe them out extremely efficiently. It's typically pretty obvious because enemies will generally come out of "monster doors" or drop down from Phantoms. In both cases, they're start in a tight cluster and can be quickly dispatched with grenade spamming, fuel rods, rockets, or hammers for huge points and medals. As an example, on Windward the Phantoms will often drop off big groups on the landing pads downstairs. Because there's nowhere for the enemies to go but up a very narrow walkway, it only takes one player at the doorway to take out the entire wave. Hello, Killionaire!

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. H3 ODST.

We got a bunch of votes to go into H3 Big Team matchmaking with the big party, so that's what we'll focus on this week. I'll save the achievement whoring for another time unless I get requests for it.