Reach hardest legendary campaign?

Games Other Halo
1

The view that Reach had the hardest legendary campaign of all Halos is a view I have seen expressed a lot online, and often in Halo legendary difficulty ranking threads it gets number one.

I don’t understand this whatsoever…

First I just assumed ‘Oh, it’s just a bunch of noobs who have only played Reach and think it is the hardest’, but then further developments really confused me… in a lot of the threads, people who had played all Halo games on legendary (if that is to be believed) still would say Reach was the hardest, and even in Bungie vidocs and articles from game reviewers, they too would say that Reach had the most challenging legendary mode yet. This REALLY perplexes me how anybody in their right mind could claim that Halo CE, let alone Halo 2, was easier than Reach. This is how all the games were on legendary to me:

CE- First time I tried this on legendary, I couldn’t even beat the second level. I had to watch a walkthrough to beat the whole thing, and even now after beating it once I can complete the first half with no help but I still need to watch walkthroughs to beat from when the Flood appear onwards.

2- Wow… just… wow. 2 on legendary is like Reach with mythic, tilt, and famine on. I couldn’t even beat the second hangar in the first level on legendary, and after beating some of the later levels on normal I can’t even IMAGINE them on legendary. The only level I beat on legendary was the one where you land on Delta Halo, and that was brutally hard. There was one area where I literally spent three hours before I beat it by speedrunning through.

3- This was the first one I beat on Legendary, so I wasn’t amazing at the time, but this game still had some insanely hard checkpoints. It would have taken me forever to beat it without the Official Guide, if at all. Cortana I couldn’t even beat on normal legitimately playing; I had to speedrun it. On legendary I can’t even imagine legit playing- I speedran it, and that in itself was brutally hard.

ODST- Meh, easy

Wars- This is harder than 2 IMO, but I suck at strategy. I got to a level where you had to protect dropships that would evacuate civilians and couldn’t even beat it on normal. I had to switch to easy to continue, and then there was a later level where you had to destroy this big scarab that was being built, and I just gave up there. I can’t imagine this game on legendary.

Okay, so I have beaten ODST, 3, Reach, and CE on legendary, and played 2 on legendary, and played Wars. Out of all of them, Reach was by far the easiest besides ODST, which was slightly easier. In the entire Reach campaign the only part I remotely had trouble on was on Long Night of Solace where you first drop down into the ship, and that only took a dozen or so tries. Reach was a cake walk compared to Halo CE and 2, so I am hoping that anyone (hopefully someone who thinks Reach is the hardest)can shed light on how the bloody hell people found Reach harder than anything besides ODST…

2

Reach? Hard? … That made me laugh. I’ll sleep easier tonight.

Halo: Combat Evolved or Halo 2 has the hardest Legendary (I can’t decide). Halo 3: ODST then Halo 3 … Then Reach Legendary feels like Halo 3 Casual :slight_smile:

Also if you need help beating Halo Wars on Legendary let me know … I did it solo (pain in the bum!)

3

I don’t think it’s the hardest but I can see why some people might there is some really hard parts I play legendary all skulls(except blind/iron/blackeye) and at some points the elites are way to tough in Reach if you didn’t prepare for them.
(I’ve had to reset a whole level because I couldn’t get past a couple ultra elites after a checkpoint)

4

Did you ever stop to think that you have just gotten more skilled?

In my opinion, Halo 2 and Reach have the hardest legendary mode.

5

Halo2 was appaling on legendery…

Bloody Jackals!!

lol but seriously Reach had the easiest campaign.

6

People thought Reach was hard because the AI was much better than Halo 2/CE. In Halo 2, the AI often camped and had crazy amounts of damage boosters whereas Reach they actively pushed forward to kill you.

7

> Did you ever stop to think that you have just gotten more skilled?

Yeah, but the thing is I didn’t beat CE on legendary for the first time (where I had to watch walkthroughs to get through the whole darn thing) until AFTER I beat Reach on legendary. I started trying to beat CE on legendary due to the announcement of CEA at E3.
Halo 2 I started trying to beat on legendary after I beat Halo CE, so wayy after E3.

8

levels of difficulty:

CE - 100
2 - 95
wars - 95
odst - 90
reach - 75
3 - 40

IMO

9

Reach was the second easiest on legendary, only halo 3 was easier.

10

The thing with Reach is that the AI is actually quite cheap, especially when using weapons like Concussion Rifles and Fuel Rod Guns, which they spam as fast as possible and don’t need to reload or cool off. The Repeater actually works backwards in the hands of the Elites.

11

Halo reach has one of the easiest legendary campaigns, considering you can run past 70% of all missions.

12

The hardest Halo is of course Halo 2 hands down. Newer players may argue this to a point, Legendary runs (no matter the game) are tough regardless but Reach doesn’t have one hit kill jackal snipers and there are ALOT of jackal snipers in Halo 2.

I’ve been with the series since it’s inception back in CE and Halo 2 still remains the only main Halo game i haven’t beaten on Legendary. Won’t even bother with CO-Op Legendary, i’ve heard the stories…hell experienced it myself for bit.

Then again, i didn’t use the plasma pistol/BR combo back in those days either…

For Reach? Well considering the short cuts discovered by the lovely Mythic community and the fact that you can skip a lot of things in the campaign, it’s one of the easier ones. Nightfall, ToTS, Winter Contingency, and New Alexandria are prime examples of this.

13

I agree. With my buddy, we have beaten every single Reach Laso there is. Generally takes us about an hour and 30 minutes, sometimes less. Difficulty rating for me is:

3:The easiest for me.

Reach:Barely edges out 3 in difficulty for me.

CE:Has its moments(especially the level Two Betrayals), but is overall not too bad.

ODST:I never actually beat it solo. I personally think its fairly hard.

2:Dear god in heaven y?! This game on Legendary is insanity. Considering I have beaten the whole thing on Heroic, but can’t even beat the first level on Legendary says alot.

Wars:Never played it.

14

> I agree. With my buddy, we have beaten every single Reach Laso there is. Generally takes us about an hour and 30 minutes, sometimes less. Difficulty rating for me is:
>
> 3:The easiest for me.
>
> Reach:Barely edges out 3 in difficulty for me.
>
> CE:Has its moments(especially the level Two Betrayals), but is overall not too bad.
>
> ODST:I never actually beat it solo. I personally think its fairly hard.
>
> 2:Dear god in heaven y?! This game on Legendary is insanity. Considering I have beaten the whole thing on Heroic, but can’t even beat the first level on Legendary says alot.
>
> Wars:Never played it.

Same, i played Wars and wasn’t very good at it ;/

As for ODST, once you know your character limitations as an ODST, noob combo, and the levels themselves, it should be easier to get through. Still, it was good challenge for me. Halo 2 however…

15

> Halo2 was appaling on legendery…
>
> Bloody Jackals!!
>
> lol but seriously Reach had the easiest campaign.

There is no enemy I despise more than those stick-legged, dead-eyed freaks! Nothing ruins a romp through ODST on Legendary more than a campy little bird-mouthed panzy insta-killing you!

I gave up on CE Legendary because of how stupid Keyes is.

16

On first play-through: Halo2.
On repeated plays, Reach.

Halo2 sucks for the “shoot you in the toe and die” jackals, but once you learn about skull hunting, the knowledge one gains for “breaking the maps” leads to many of the levels being very easy.
Eventually you learn the range of the enemies’ sight and you exploit it in combination with very strategic jumping. Then by jumping on top of almost every level, it is like walk on pie.

17

The Halo 3 campaign was the first campaign I beat on legendary, then ODST, then Reach. I am a slave to bumper jumper and wouldn’t make it through a Halo campaign without it, I still love CE and H2 though. But not for more than a game or 2.

Out of the 3 I listed I think ODST is by far the easiest, then H3, then Reach.

18

To be honest in my opinion Halo CE’s legendary was perfect. Reach is crap. Halo 2 is definitely the hardest, but Reach is definitely second hardest. Now, don’t get me wrong I hated Truth and Reconciliation but besides that, sure it was a challenge but if you made smart choices you can get through everything easily. The only bullcrap nonsense was the entire mission of the Truth and Reconciliation and the rocket flood’s existence. That last fight in Two Betrayals sure looks extremely difficult but you can skip the entire thing if you sneak around back with the Ghost (you can push a ghost through the broken doors with a Banshee) and grab the Banshee. Sure the Library is repetative and challenging at first but if you know what you’re doing it isn’t that hard once you get past the beginning and grab a shotgun. Halo 2 is so absurd it is a meme so I don’t need to comment. Now, let’s get to Reach. Enemies are, at least from what I have experienced, far more aggressive. A single grunt catching you off guard can strip your shield and take away half your health in a second. Sure the DMR and needle rifle existed, but they were no CE pistol, and the plasma pistol’s nerf to homing range really makes it harder than CE. The fact that skirmishers go so fast makes it hard to hit them in the head, and those annoying ones with the two small shields are killers. Their hitboxes are weird. The thing about Reach is that if you’re patient, sometimes you can let your invincible allies put in some work but still they are extremely passive.

19

Halo 2 is the hardest Halo game on Legendary. Period. Don’t try to deathless it, it is INSANELY luck-heavy.

Reach and CE are around the same level IMO. For similar reasons that play out really differently in both games, the AI intelligence, and health. Reach AI is extremely aggressive, and will flank and rush you if you aren’t careful. CE AI is the opposite, extremely DEfensive. And AI in both, particularly high ranking Elites, have unreal amounts of health (they do in Halo 2 too, but in Halo 2 AI is even more agressive than Reach, and can kill you in half the shots which is why it’s tiered so high). If you ask me, Reach and CE are the perfect difficulty for Halo Legendary. Clearing these two games deathless requires very little luck, but with skill and level knowledge you have all the tools at your disposal. (Unless you’re playing the Saber section of LNOS on MCC. They broke the AI in MCC during the space battle and it’s now reminiscent of the Jackal Snipers in Halo 2)

Halo 3 and 5 are in the middle. Most of the time it’s not too challenging to make your way through. But both feature sections that almost feel Halo 2 hard at times so they get credit where it’s due. Deathless runs are certainly a realistic goal with these ones.

Halo 3: ODST and 4 are walks in the park. 4 especially. ODST at least has Coastal Highway to give it one difficult level. But that one level doesn’t make up for the rest of the game being so simple. Aside from Coastal Highway, I think your average player could deathless these two games.

I leave all the spinoff games unranked, since you can’t compare difficulty in a strategy game to a first person shooter. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Halo Wars on Legendary isn’t really that bad compared to others in the RTS genre, especially with mouse and keyboard.

20

> 2535464225406778;18:
> To be honest in my opinion Halo CE’s legendary was perfect. Reach is crap. Halo 2 is definitely the hardest, but Reach is definitely second hardest. Now, don’t get me wrong I hated Truth and Reconciliation but besides that, sure it was a challenge but if you made smart choices you can get through everything easily. The only bullcrap nonsense was the entire mission of the Truth and Reconciliation and the rocket flood’s existence. That last fight in Two Betrayals sure looks extremely difficult but you can skip the entire thing if you sneak around back with the Ghost (you can push a ghost through the broken doors with a Banshee) and grab the Banshee. Sure the Library is repetative and challenging at first but if you know what you’re doing it isn’t that hard once you get past the beginning and grab a shotgun. Halo 2 is so absurd it is a meme so I don’t need to comment. Now, let’s get to Reach. Enemies are, at least from what I have experienced, far more aggressive. A single grunt catching you off guard can strip your shield and take away half your health in a second. Sure the DMR and needle rifle existed, but they were no CE pistol, and the plasma pistol’s nerf to homing range really makes it harder than CE. The fact that skirmishers go so fast makes it hard to hit them in the head, and those annoying ones with the two small shields are killers. Their hitboxes are weird. The thing about Reach is that if you’re patient, sometimes you can let your invincible allies put in some work but still they are extremely passive.

Please don’t revive old threads, even if it might be preferable for it to be 2011 rather than 2020