Beating Halo Infinite On LASO

Back in January I mentioned that I managed to continue the tradition of beating Halo on Legendary with the release of Infinite. At the end of that post I also mentioned that I was contemplating whether I want to do a Legendary, All Skulls On (also known as LASO) playthrough. Well, it so happened that I managed to get through this part of the experience as well this past weekend:

I am not a LASO purist, and as I talked about it before - I will use every trick in the book to go through the campaign successfully, bugs be damned. During the LASO playthrough, I did rely on the Scorpion Gun, which, apparently, will be going away with the Halo Infinite’s Season 2 update.

Lessons learned #

Aim is harder #

There is no reticle to aim, but if you’re close enough to a wall, you can see a little yellow dot in the middle. That helps tremendously when it comes to long-range shots. Alternatively, you might have a monitor that puts a crosshair in the middle of the screen on-demand - you could use that functionality to make it easier to place your shots.

Scorpion Gun is only half the battle #

Scorpion Gun makes things a lot easier, but not that easy. There are a lot of rooms with Banished hiding behind pillars, where it’s impossible to get them until you’re close enough to them and are exposed to more fire. Also, Scorpion Gun is completely useless when it comes to Sentinels and Skimmers - they are too mobile and too small of a target to aim properly. Double that up with the fact that the Scorpion Gun shoots from the foot, so you need to jump to even aim at anything above your immediate range, and you’re in for some pain.

Upgrades and secondaries are not important #

If you are using the Scorpion Gun, the secondary weapon is irrelevant. Some folks might recommend keeping an energy sword or a beam rifle in your backpocket to remove enemy shields, but after passing the entire campaign without using those, I am convinced that you don’t need it at all if you’re comfortable enough with the gift you get from Outpost Tremonius. You also don’t really need to upgrade the Spartan Cores, since you have enough range and deployment frequency with your grappleshot to get wherever you want quickly.

Grenades are still helpful #

Learn to quickly switch grenades - it’s hard without the HUD, but also very useful. Dynamo grenades are your best friend, especially early on before you get through Outpost Tremonius and can grab the Scorpion Gun. You can just spam entire areas to clear them out. It’s not a quick method, but it’s a reliable one if you don’t have enough health or don’t want to risk exposing yourself to a Brute Chieftain.

Skimmers have rocket launchers #

The projectile is slower than the Scorpion Gun, but their aim is very good. By that I mean that they will hit you directly in your helmet from across the room, anticipating the direction in which you are moving. Plus, on LASO the blast radius from rockets is higher as well, so any wall hit will cause an explosion that is bound to end your progress until your last checkpoint. The best way to avoid those that I’ve found is to just grapple your way through walls instead of sticking close to the ground, since that moves you out of the danger radius quicker.

Checkpoints can be painful #

Yeah, so - somehow, it took me longer than necessary to learn that unless I have full health and shields, the checkpoints will not trigger. That is, I’d clear room after room without punching any Banished guest on the ring, only to be sniped by a jackal and reset my progress an hour back. From then on, after ever room cleaning effort, I got into the habit of punching an enemy before waiting just a bit to make sure that there is a checkpoint triggered (there is no notification for that, so it’s a best guess effort).

Clearing the third wave on Harbinger stage is frustrating #

First two stages are a-OK. You’re dealing with some brutes and grunts. The third wave has quite a few skimmers with rocket launchers (see above for why that’s a problem), Elites that are very precise when aiming their grenades and rifles, a Brute Chieftain, and a grunt mule that just happens to randomly pop up from behind a pillar and gift you a plasma charge. I recommend starting by focusing on the skimmers first, because those rockets are beyond annoying - you have to move quick through the room, and will just hear the sound of a rocket whooshing by before you look back and lose your progress.

As it turns out, hugging the wall with the grappleshot was the solution, and then occasionally look down and blast things from the Scorpion Gun. Oh, and if you hang out too close to the Harbinger, she’ll just slide her arm over you and destroy your progress once again by sending you to your previous checkpoint. The lesson on this level is to always be on the move.

Banished Space Program extended to bosses #

On LASO, the blast power from rockets is much higher, which means that sometimes you get some truly comical cases of stuff being propelled into orbit. Sometime, it gets propelled into the geostationary orbit, apparently. Ghost as a space station? Don’t mind if I do.

Grunts have surprisingly good aim #

To the point of Master Chief being snapped with a Disruptor from a mile out. Seriously, I haven’t seen a mission where I could just walk in the open without someone aiming at me from afar. Which, in turn, means that I am less likely to get proper checkpoints quickly. Learn to duck and learn to hide behind pillars.

Hunters are still strong - you need to move #

So the Scorpion Gun doesn’t really do significant instant damage to Hunters. And if you’re with two of them in close quarters, you better know your way around the room or you’ll get zapped quickly by their plasma cannons.

Grunts are funnier #

There’s a skull for that - I Would Have Been Your Daddy (IWHBYD). What that means is that sometimes you will hear dialog that you haven’t heard before - I know I certainly haven’t.

I mean, watch this:

“At least he was wearing a mask” - the timing here is impeccable. I like to think that by the time Halo is a reality we’re out of this pandemic.

Surprising glitches are plentiful #

One of my favorites through this run was getting Tremonius stuck in the building after using a SPNKR rocket launcher. Whatever compelled the blast to propel this boss in between support beams - thank you for that. Using spike grenades after that was extremely easy.

You don’t need to recruit soldiers to tag along #

They’re just useless in LASO. Even if you hand them powerful weapons, you’re still pretty much clearing levels solo.