Halo Reach Guide

[toc]

Firefight has been pumped up since Halo ODST. If you’re playing custom games you now have tons of options to make firefight more fun. You can play with three other friends on splitscreen or playing online firefight.

Firefight is a horde mode where you fight tons of covenant. You usually have infinite lives and a set time limit to complete your objective. The game is divided into sections with their own names. Each wave has tons of covenant. It changes depending on how you choose it or the wave you’re playing. There are 5 waves for each round, 3 rounds for each set, and then you can choose how many sets you want to play. After you finish a set you get a bonus round. The default bonus round is usually 60 seconds of grunts. You get bonus points for taking out hordes of grunts! In multiplayer firefight, you usually only go with a time limit, lives, objective, or one round. Complete one of those and you win…or lose.

In matchmaking you have infinite lives, 30 minute time limits, the mythic skull is turned on after the first round, and the cloud skull is turned on after the second round.

Playlists

You can choose some of these playlists in custom or matchmaking firefight. Most are basically the same. Firefight playlist include the following:

  1. Firefight
  2. Rocketfight
  3. Sniperfight
  4. Generator Defense
  5. Score Attack
  6. Mythic Attack
  7. Sniper Attack
  8. Gruntpocalypse
  9. Crashsite (No Longer in Rotation)

The details of the playlists are like so:

Firefight

Waves:

  1. Grunts and Jackals
  2. Grunts and Elites
  3. Jackals and Brutes
  4. Grunts, Elites, and Hunters
  5. Elites and Grunts
  6. Grunts and Jackals
  7. Jackals and Brutes
  8. Jackals and Elites
  9. Grunts, Elites, Hunters, and a Wraith
  10. Grunts and Brutes
  11. Grunts and Jackals
  12. Jackals, Brutes, and a Wraith
  13. Grunts and Elites
  14. Grunts, Skirmishers, and Brutes
  15. Grunts and Brutes (The Highest Ranking Brutes Only)

Skulls Active

  • Catch
  • Tough Luck
  • Mythic (After Round 1)
  • Cloud (After Round 2)

Details
Fight 5 waves of covenant with up to 3 other friends online with a 30 minute time limit and infinite lives. If the time runs out or you complete 1 round then you win.

Rocketfight

Waves:

  1. Grunts and Jackals
  2. Grunts and Elites
  3. Jackals and Brutes
  4. Grunts, Elites, and Hunters
  5. Elites and Grunts
  6. Grunts and Jackals
  7. Jackals and Brutes
  8. Jackals and Elites
  9. Grunts, Elites, Hunters, and a Wraith
  10. Grunts and Brutes
  11. Grunts and Jackals
  12. Jackals, Brutes, and a Wraith
  13. Grunts and Elites
  14. Grunts, Skirmishers, and Brutes
  15. Grunts and Brutes (The Highest Ranking Brutes Only)

Skulls Active

  • Catch
  • Tough Luck
  • Mythic (After Round 1)
  • Cloud (After Round 2)

Details
Rocketfight is the same as firefight. 30 minute time limit and infinite lives. The only exception is you and your team mates have a Rocket Launcher and a Magnum as your default weapons. Those weapons have infinite ammo.

Sniperfight

Waves:

  1. Grunts and Jackals
  2. Grunts and Elites
  3. Jackals and Brutes
  4. Grunts, Elites, and Hunters
  5. Elites and Grunts
  6. Grunts and Jackals
  7. Jackals and Brutes
  8. Jackals and Elites
  9. Grunts, Elites, Hunters, and a Wraith
  10. Grunts and Brutes
  11. Grunts and Jackals
  12. Jackals, Brutes, and a Wraith
  13. Grunts and Elites
  14. Grunts, Skirmishers, and Brutes
  15. Grunts and Brutes (The Highest Ranking Brutes Only)

Skulls Active

  • Catch
  • Tough Luck
  • Mythic (After Round 1)
  • Cloud (After Round 2)

Details
Sniperfight is the same as firefight. 30 minute time limit and infinite lives. The only exception is you and your team mates have sniper rifles and magnums as your default weapons. Those weapons have infinite ammo. If you pick up any other weapon they will have infinite ammo too.

Generator Defense

Waves:

  1. Grunts and Jackals
  2. Grunts and Elites
  3. Jackals and Brutes
  4. Grunts, Elites, and Hunters
  5. Elites and Grunts
  6. Grunts and Jackals
  7. Jackals and Brutes
  8. Jackals and Elites
  9. Grunts, Elites, Hunters, and a Wraith
  10. Grunts and Brutes
  11. Grunts and Jackals
  12. Jackals, Brutes, and a Wraith
  13. Grunts and Elites
  14. Grunts, Skirmishers, and Brutes
  15. Grunts and Brutes (The Highest Ranking Brutes Only)

Skulls Active

  • Catch
  • Tough Luck
  • Mythic (After Round 1)
  • Cloud (After Round 2)

Details
You and up to three friends face waves of covenant and defend four generators. You will have an overshield and no extra lives. Just like the other firefight modes, you have a 30 minute time limit. Click a button on the generator to lock it. When it’s locked it will not take damage. After about 30 seconds the generators will overheat and open back up. When it’s open it is prone to damage from you or the covenant. If all the generators are destroyed then you will lose the game.

Score Attack

Waves:

  1. Grunts
  2. Jackals
  3. Brutes
  4. Skirmishers
  5. Elites and Hunters

Skulls Active

  • Cloud
  • Catch
  • Tough Luck

Details
Score attack is basically firefight. The exception is you are all alone and you have a set number of extra lives. You have 10 lives and a 15 minute time limit. There will be a score limit on the screen that shows the highest score a player on your friends list has reached on that particular map. It will be that particular player’s highest score, but the lowest score out of the rest of your friends who have played on that map. If you beat the score then it will show the next player on your friends list that did better until there are no better scores than yours.

Sniper Attack

Waves:

  1. Grunts
  2. Jackals
  3. Brutes
  4. Skirmishers
  5. Grunts, Elites, and Hunters

Skulls Active

  • Cloud
  • Catch
  • Tough Luck

Details
Sniper Attack is the same as Score Attack. The exception is you have a sniper rifle and magnum as your default weapons. Your weapons have infinite ammo. A new patch makes it impossible for you to pick up enemy weapons. 12 Minute time limit and 10 extra lives.

Gruntpocalypse

Waves:

  1. Grunts Infantry, Specialist, and Heroes

Skulls Active

  • Cloud
  • Catch
  • Cowbell
  • Grunt Birthday Party

Details
Gruntpocalypse is the same as score attack except you face nothing but grunts. There are three ranks of grunts. The higher rank grunts will have armor and better weapons. You are given a DMR and Magnum, with limited ammo. 12 Minute time limit and 10 extra lives.

Crashsite

Waves:

  1. Grunts
  2. Jackals and Skirmishers
  3. Brutes and Skirmishers
  4. Skirmishers and Elites
  5. Elites and Skirmishers

Skulls Active

  • Cloud
  • Tough Luck

Details
Crashsite is the same as Generator Defense. The only difference is you are alone and you only have one generator to defend. The generator is chosen at random in one of four spots on the map. 12 Minute time limit and 0 extra lives. You have a DMR and Pistol with infinite ammo. If you pick up any other weapon they will have infinite ammo too.

Mythic Attack

Waves:
6. Grunts
7. Jackals
8. Brutes
9. Skirmishers
10. Elites and Hunters

Skulls Active

  • Cloud
  • Catch
  • Tough Luck
  • Mythic

Details
Mythic Attack is exactly the same as Score Attack. The only difference is the Mythic Skull is active, giving enemies 2x health.

Custom

There are 8 maps you can choose to play through. In custom games you can choose between the four difficulties that Halo usually has: Easy, Normal, Heroic, and Legendary. This is the basic customization. After that you can go into Game Options and choose from tons of things. You can choose what enemies you fight in each wave, how how you can jump, the amount of shields you have, friendly fire, and more! Look through them all and have some fun! You can earn firefight achievements here, but the difficulty must be on Normal or higher. You do not earn any commendations on Custom Firefight.

Matchmaking

In matchmaking firefight you get to play online. Unlike custom games, if you pause the game it will keep going. All your commendations for firefight are recorded ONLY in matchmaking firefight. Matchmaking’s Firefight difficulty is set to Heroic all the time. There are two sections of firefight matchmaking:

Firefight
1 team of 4 takes on the standard firefight experience.
Team Size: 2-4
Max Party Size: 4
Max Local Players: 2

Game Types
Firefight
Rocketfight
Sniperfight
Generator Defense

Maps Playable
Overlook
Courtyard
Waterfront
Corvette
Beachhead
Outpost
Holdout

Score Attack
Put your friends to shame with a high leaderboard score in this Firefight playlist.
Although this is in the cooperative playlist you’re actually alone. You fight against waves of enemies with a 15 minute time limit and 10 lives.
Team Size: 1
Max Party Size: 1
Max Local Players: 1

Game Types
Score Attack
Sniper Attack
Gruntpocalypse
Crashsite

Maps Playable
Overlook
Courtyard
Waterfront
Corvette
Beachhead
Outpost
Holdout

For more information on each game mode, look in the firefight playlist section.

Skulls

While playing firefight you can add skulls to increase the difficulty and points you gain. There are some skulls that don’t add difficulty but add some fun. In custom games you can turn on any you like. In matchmaking and original firefight, skulls get turned on after each round. The skulls and descriptions are like so:

Mythic
Enemies are more durable. Twice as durable, in fact.

Catch
Enemies throw more grenades.

Tough Luck
Enemies are unusually good at dodging and saving

Famine
Weapons drop with less ammo

Cloud
Your motion sensor is hidden from view

Tilt
Shields shrug off bullets, and armor laughs at plasma

Black Eye
You must melee enemies to recharge your shields!

Grunt Birthday
Headshot grunts to make them pop into confetti and hear kids scream yay!

Cowbell
Things flip or fly further when you melee or blow them up.

IWHBYD
“But the dog beat me over the fence!” Covenant say different, rare dialogue.