So I decided to play all the main Halo games on Legendary (Besides Halo Wars, 4 and 5, though I might get around to it some day just don’t have the motivation to) which it’s about time I did as I’ve been a Halo fan since I was little and I’ve never played the campaigns on Legendary only easy, normal or heroic. So I started with Halo Reach, and so far it’s majorly kicking my -Yoink-, like MAJORLY, each mission I have to be spending somewhere around 1 hour - 2 hours on. So Far I’ve gotten through “Winter Contigency” which took me 40 minutes, 32 seconds, ONI - Sword Base took me 1 hour 46 minutes, Nightfall took me altogether (As I took a break in between it so I have two separate times) 1 hour, 57 minutes, 43 seconds.
I can only imagine it gets harder from here, definitely with Halo CE and Halo 2. So I was wondering what are some tips for each Halo game, I have some basic ones from my brother who said to try and kill the grunts and jackals first then move on to the elities which is helping along with using semi-auto weapons and getting headshots which I am decent at.
So, please throw some more tips my way it would be greatly appreciated! 
Hopefully I don’t get discouraged and give up as I want to finish them all before Halo Infinite comes out!
Edit: I Also understand that Halo on Legendary is meant to be really hard but I just think these times are way too long and I will get burnt out really quickly if I keep it up like this so I need a little bit of help.
I’m thinking about doing something similar to get me really hyped up for Halo Infinite this fall. I’ve come to realize that Legendary campaign has continued to increase in difficulty as you play along the games in release date order. Halo CE was a breeze playing split screen with my brother. Halo Reach, being a newer Halo it has a higher increased level of difficulty. Regardless, stick to it and don’t burn yourself out! Enjoy the process!!
The noob combo is your friend here. Charge the plasma pistol, shoot it at a shielded enemy, switch to a precision weapon like Carabine, BR, Magnum etc… and shoot them in the head. And they are dead just like that. This alone should make things a lot easier.
Halo 2 has the hardest legendary by far, Bungie simply did not have time to balance it properly, so we are stuck with it.
A lot of sections can be skipped too, in case you find any trouble. Watching speedruns can help with that.
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> I’m thinking about doing something similar to get me really hyped up for Halo Infinite this fall. I’ve come to realize that Legendary campaign has continued to increase in difficulty as you play along the games in release date order. Halo CE was a breeze playing split screen with my brother. Halo Reach, being a newer Halo it has a higher increased level of difficulty. Regardless, stick to it and don’t burn yourself out! Enjoy the process!!
Have fun with your playthrough! .3.
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> The noob combo is your friend here. Charge the plasma pistol, shoot it at a shielded enemy, switch to a precision weapon like Carabine, BR, Magnum etc… and shoot them in the head. And they are dead just like that. This alone should make things a lot easier.
> Halo 2 has the hardest legendary by far, Bungie simply did not have time to balance it properly, so we are stuck with it.
>
> A lot of sections can be skipped too, in case you find any trouble. Watching speedruns can help with that.
I didn’t really think of that… I always saw the plasma pistol as kind of hard to use right so I just never used it but I’ll try it! I’m about to hop back into rn and play “Tip of the Spear.” I’ve definitely been having problems with elities so far I’ve just been trying to use a sniper, shotgun, dmr and melee to put them down but come to think of it plasma pistol, dmr/magnum combo is prob a good idea as the other way obviously isn’t working definitely as meleeing is practically a death sentence against elities…
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> I didn’t really think of that… I always saw the plasma pistol as kind of hard to use right so I just never used it but I’ll try it! I’m about to hop back into rn and play “Tip of the Spear.” I’ve definitely been having problems with elities so far I’ve just been trying to use a sniper, shotgun, dmr and melee to put them down but come to think of it plasma pistol, dmr/magnum combo is prob a good idea as the other way obviously isn’t working definitely as meleeing is practically a death sentence against elities…
Never thought of that either until I played H2 on legendary for the first time. Before that I thought the plasma pistol was a useless weapon. Oh boi how wrong I was…
I was stuck halfway through Cairo Station. I simply did not have enough bullets to take all the Elites out. And the more I played, the more I realized that something was definitely wrong with this legendary difficulty. I had to watch speedruns on youtube in order to progress.
Before all this, I completed all the other Halos outside MCC on legendary no problem. No noob combos or speedrun strats. I never tried H2 because I lost my copy long ago and I did not have the possibility to play it until I got the MCC several years later.
Also a tip for CE: you can kill the Hunters with a single Magnum or Sniper shot. You have to shoot them in the back, in the orange part if you will. It won’t be the case in the other games.
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> > 2533274945369965;5:
> > I didn’t really think of that… I always saw the plasma pistol as kind of hard to use right so I just never used it but I’ll try it! I’m about to hop back into rn and play “Tip of the Spear.” I’ve definitely been having problems with elities so far I’ve just been trying to use a sniper, shotgun, dmr and melee to put them down but come to think of it plasma pistol, dmr/magnum combo is prob a good idea as the other way obviously isn’t working definitely as meleeing is practically a death sentence against elities…
>
> Never thought of that either until I played H2 on legendary for the first time. Before that I thought the plasma pistol was a useless weapon. Oh boi how wrong I was…
> I was stuck halfway through Cairo Station. I simply did not have enough bullets to take all the Elites out. And the more I played, the more I realized that something was definitely wrong with this legendary difficulty. I had to watch speedruns on youtube in order to progress.
>
> Before all this, I completed all the other Halos outside MCC on legendary no problem. No noob combos or speedrun strats. I never tried H2 because I lost my copy long ago and I did not have the possibility to play it until I got the MCC several years later.
>
> Also a tip for CE: you can kill the Hunters with a single Magnum or Sniper shot. You have to shoot them in the back, in the orange part if you will. It won’t be the case in the other games.
Wow, honestly the plasma pistol worked like a charm, practically halfed my time from around a little under 2 hours to a little under 1 hour I did have some trouble here and there but other then that had a much easier time then before, it felt like I was getting decent sized bits of the mission done instead of every little tiny bit with every checkpoint. Now I’m probably going to try not to use it all the time but for the most part if I find myself in a horde of elities I’m definitely going to use it. I mostly just want to be challenged while being able to say I did it and even with the plasma pistol it’s still quite a challenge as just a simple group of 5 grunts can really screw you definitely if you don’t have a lot of health. So thanks I really appreciate the help!
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> Wow, honestly the plasma pistol worked like a charm, practically halfed my time from around a little under 2 hours to a little under 1 hour I did have some trouble here and there but other then that had a much easier time then before, it felt like I was getting decent sized bits of the mission done instead of every little tiny bit with every checkpoint. Now I’m probably going to try not to use it all the time but for the most part if I find myself in a horde of elities I’m definitely going to use it. I mostly just want to be challenged while being able to say I did it and even with the plasma pistol it’s still quite a challenge as just a simple group of 5 grunts can really screw you definitely if you don’t have a lot of health. So thanks I really appreciate the help!
See? That is great. But yes, I agree that once you know about it, the sandbox quickly devolves into plasma pistol and Carabine/DMR/Magnum or whatever precision weapon you can get to. So I understand why you do not want to use it everytime.
I’ve beaten every Halo game on LASO (Legendary All Skulls On) and here are some of the biggest tips
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If your looking for the easy route I recommend watching Halo Completionists LASO guides as the level skip tricks work on any difficulty, so for just legendary it will be a breeze. There are many levels (especially in Halo 2) where you can skip almost everything on the level and turn a 2 hour grind into a simple 10 minute walk to the end.
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As mentioned above the plasma rifle is the best gun in the game for halo 1,2 and 3. It’s funny you started with reach as you don’t need as much for that game considering there’s brutes but for the brutes the needle rifle is a must. A needle rifle will explode a brute if you hit him 3 times in quick succession. So especially when your doing the final level of REACH save all of your needle rifle ammo until the firefight at the end and all those millions of brutes will be a breeze. Plasma rifle and DMR/BR/needle rifle all halo games when u can.
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just run it. This may sound odd but a ton of hard sections in halo games can simply be ran past with a little bit of luck. Especially if your on legendary and not LASO just sprint past (in REACH) or fast walk by in halo 1,2,3 for almost all of the game. Enemies take a while to notice you as long as you don’t walk up to their face so the game becomes a light jog to saving the galaxy. lol
As I have done Legendary on all Halo games, I do have some tips here and there.
Halo CE: The Plasma pistol is a homing beacon like the needler, but faster. Followed by the god almighty magnum. In CE you can hold the charge forever, until you spot an elite and send it flying. Followed by the headshot (Since I read the comments you don’t use it to much from Reach, they are very different. Elite are agile in their own way, but usually won’t avoid the homing missile of a plasma pistol.) Grunts and jackals you can just dump a grenade at their feet, or simple headshot (Hand shot and head for jackal) Hunters are a spooky but easier foe, walk close, watch it go for you, sidestep and 1 shot kill. The flood in the later levels, you’ll have to stay around the corner and have them walk up to you. Only to give them the shotgun treatment (Watch out for the blob carriers.) Pistol 1/2/3 shots flood. (Just remember in Halo CE they play dead, and might come up)
Halo 2: Has nightmare levels on their own, where luck is everything. In legendary, enemies you’d never seen in other levels, exists now (so be alert). Ultra elites go from rare as diamonds, to an uncommon foe. And Gold elites also exists now, but their shields is like Major level, usually carrying a sword belining for you. They might add the panic, but they are the weakest and easiest in my opinion, they don’t shoot back, only sword. Halo 2 you can skip quite a bit of maps. 1 spesific, the first level on Earth, you can pass through the area, skipping probably 15 snipers. Which is the problem in itself. Jackal snipers are everywhere on the map in a large amount. Flood levels you can mostly skip with arbiters camo. You will hate Gravemind, not much I can help with, except. Shoot that needler like God commanded you and get to cover as quickly as possible.