Ok so whenever I see players in firrefight every now and then I’ll get a group who really don’t know what they’re doing so here some tips and tricks I’ve found when it comes to fighting AI especially prometheans, a lot of people struggle against them and I can see why.
First up, biggest rule of any and every halo game is keep a headshot capable weapon on you.
Now, lets get started with everyone’s favourite.
The Covenant:
Grunts, simple enough, shoot them in face. Often find the magnum or carbine to be most useful due to the fact you start with the magnum and the carbine is only lvl 2. If you’re low on ammo for your headshot weapon then hopefully you either have another or use the AR as it deals bonus damage with headshots and is more accurate than the SMG. However when shielded grunts appear, their shields aren’t particularly high but having a plasma weapon (Plasma pistol and Brute Plasma Rifle work best for shields) often helps. Similarly with Elites but I’ll get to that. Oh and grenades when the grunts are clustered, usually best when they’ve jumped out a dropship.
Bosses! Grunt goblin, raw fire power is often the most popular tactic, personally I like to use weapons over vehicles but tanks and explosive vehicles (Oni hog, ultra ghost ect) works best. When it comes to using weapons I use the Tier 2 plasma caster as it deals rather high amounts of damage when charged. Rockets lack the ammo to be efficient so I wouldn’t rely on them much. Recently I discovered a good way to kill a grunt goblin quickly and is easiest to execute on Skirmish at Darkstar, basically, grab a plasma rifle and shoot the energy shield protecting the grunt, you’ll find that shooting it with anything else isn’t as effective, even tanks struggle against that shield but the BPR just wrecks it. Once that shield is down simply headshot the grunt and no matter what health it’s on the goblin will be defeated with that grunts brains being scrambled.
Jackals, Similar to grunts, just headshot them, “but Mr Banana their shields are so annoying” I know my students I was getting to that, my personal method is AR as it’s petty accurate in close quarters and aim for the hands till they go “ahh my hand” then switch to the headshot weapon, I have the lucky benefit of having the Gunfighter magnum. If the Jackals are grouped together then frag 'em, doesn’t have to be a frag but when they jump out the way their heads are easier to hit, again having a carbine is convenient due to its relatively high fire rate.
Not much else to say for Jackals, personally I think they should more love yknow, vehicle rights, add skirmishers too.
Elites. Plasma weapons are what you want, side note the carbine isn’t technically a plasma weapon and deals no ‘extra’ damage to shields, it’s a radiation weapon like the Fuel Rod Cannon, little lore for you there ;), plasma pistol fully charged or storm rifle are your best bets as you can often claim them from the ground. Once the shield is down headshot, simple enough. You’ll see a little trend. Also assassinations/beat downs are a good way to quickly kill elites but this doesn’t work on bosses when they have shields.
Bosses! Plasma pistol charge doesn’t break the shield immediatly and with lots of minions around its dangerous to try and pop out from the same place, best hope your teammates are doing the same if you want PP to work. If you’re crazy, like me :3 run at one with a sword when they’re all targetting your team, 2-3 swipes then headshot, it takes 2 hits before the one you’re hitting turns around IF you’re quick, you HAVE to be fast in close quarters for this to work. If you’ve run out of headshot ammo from killing minions by the time break the shield, AR/SMG/SAW all get headshot bonus or you have the option to assassinate if you have the chance.
Oh almost forgot players sometimes spawn scout hogs for splattering AI for easy kills.
Hunters, simply getting to their back is most efficient as thats their easiest weak point, neck is another but not as easy to hit. Explosives are good both vehicle and weapon and using boom sticks to break the plate of the back helps a lot. Try not to get too close unless you know you will get away from their melee as the hitbox is bigger than previous games. Always try to stay on the move if you’re in the open, behind cover just keep your eyes and ears open to you know when to duck.
Bosses! Gameplay if exactly the same but their damage output is just… Just don’t get close and be weary of using slow vehicles near them, your scorpion will be wrecked if they focus on you. You can’t assassinate hunters regardless.
Prometheans:
Crawlers, same grunts, aim for the head, when you kill a crawler they deal small explosive damage in a small radius so that helps when you’re getting swarmed a little, doesn’t help much tho. Boltshot and suppressors help as they track, crawlers can be little speedy so this helps, boltshots are stonger than suppressors. No bosses for these guys.
Watchers, same as crawlers but with out any headshot bonuses :’( focus on these guys when they;re near bosses as they can heal bosses…
Soldiers, use kinetic bolt loadout weapons (everyone should have one by now) or use promethean weapons, prometheans dont have shields they have armour and all promethean weapons deal extra damage to armour (not sure about vehicles tho apart form kinetic bolts they definitely do), so use their own weapons against them. One you break the armour you can headshot them
Bosses! Again use their own stuff against them, headshot when able, the difference with these guys and the elite is that these bosses can be assassinated regardless.
Knights, Aim for their should weak points, there’s a little mini game with knights, when you break a shoulder piece they reveal their face momentarily allowing a headshot and a quicker kill. If you miss both times a weak point appears on their back. Knights can’t be assassinated until you break both shoulder plates, this applies to bosses as well.
Bosses! Knight bosses to have a lot of damage resistance and can’t be headshot from the little minigame I told you. You can however physically brake the face plate for a headshot though unlikely. They can be assassinated when you break both shoulders.
Wardens, all Wardens are bosses, best method is raw damage eg tanks, banshees, pheatons, if you’re running low on time get the wardens health as low as you can and have someone assassinate him. If you’ve died enough to not have any REQ points left, kinetic bolt SMG if you have is your best bed, get behind him and just shoot his weak point. Works for me.
