Halo: The Master Chief Collection – The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide

Halo: The Master Chief Collection – The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide 1 - steamlists.com
Halo: The Master Chief Collection – The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide 1 - steamlists.com
So, you wanna clear Halo 2 on Legendary difficulty? Maybe you want to get the Legend achievement, and this game is your biggest roadblock. Perhaps you want bragging rights. No matter the reason, these are essential tips for the entire experience along with individual-level tips and tricks.

 
 

Disclaimers

 
Before we start, it’s crucial to keep in mind that not all the tips and tricks listed here are intended. If you are determined to complete this game entirely the way Bungie intended, this isn’t the guide for you. However, a trickless playthrough can make each mission last hours and is frankly not fun for most people. That being said, I won’t go over every trick used for Halo 2 legendary, as many of them are far too arduous to learn for the purposes of this achievement. No button combos, sword flies/cancels, and no skips that are inconsistent or impractical for the Legendary Anniversary achievement. 
 
It’s also worth noting that skulls will be used for all the levels, and I’ll clarify which ones to use where. However, 0x score modifying skulls cannot be used for the purposes of clearing levels. Luckily, there are 1x skulls that will help make each level significantly easier. I’ll list each skull I use for each level when we get to them, and you’re free to add and subtract however you wish for your playstyle. Just don’t add Scarab, Envy, Bonded Pair, or Bandana; activating these skulls invalidates level clearing achievements. 
 
Also, minor side note: all the footage I’ve captured for my strats were done on Heroic difficulty for the sake of getting this guide out at a reasonable time. Halo 2 not having a rally point system makes capturing these a lot more annoying, and I didn’t want to be recording for too long. I will likely update the guide with Legendary recordings at a future time. Pulling off these tricks on Legendary isn’t too different than doing them on Heroic, however. Even so, it’s only fair if I update them when I have more time and better equipment. 
 
 

General Tips

 
Note: This is assuming that you are new to Halo 2, or at the very least inexperienced. Some of these tips may seem obvious to an experienced Halo/Halo 2 player, but these are bases that should still be covered. 
 
First off, DO NOT PLAY ON LEGENDARY ON A FIRST PLAYTHROUGH! Playing on Heroic is a far more effective way to get yourself ready to get the Legendary Anniversary achievement than just jumping right into it. Not only to get familiar with the levels but also the encounters. Most encounters keep the same enemies between both difficulties, just with the enemies buffed. Mastering Heroic difficulty makes Legendary far less of an endeavor, especially with memorization of enemy placement. You want as few one-shot Jackal Sniper surprises in your playthrough as possible. Besides, Halo 2 is a fun game, and it’s worth experiencing the intended difficulty before letting the challenge go off the rails. 
 
Another thing to consider, every Halo game’s Legendary is made much easier on co-op, except for 2’s. The game enables the Iron skull by default in Legendary co-op. If one person dies, both players revert to the last checkpoint, and so it doubles the number of factors that can go horribly wrong. It’s still possible for co-op to make levels less of a challenge. However, it requires so much coordination and skill from both players that it makes getting the Legendary Anniversary achievement far more painful than it needs to be. Save your friendships, and play this one alone. 
 
The remaining tips are much less extensive, so I’ll list them out: 
 

  • Noob combos (overcharged plasma pistol followed by headshot) are vital for taking out elites. This is true for Halo: CE, but especially the case for 2. Not only does it take them out quickly, but the overcharged shot stuns them, and the fewer projectiles firing at you, the better. 
  • Adaptation, while not as big of an asset in 2 as it is in CE, is still a vital skill to learn for Legendary. Enemies will behave in different ways in every playthrough and in every restart. In most cases, you can use death to take a better route upon a revert. 
  • Turn on original graphics. Many of the tricks require you to see the original geometry. Only original graphics geometry matches collision no matter which setting, so set those anniversary graphics to the side for this playthrough. 
  • So long as you’re in the settings menu, turn on the Time HUD. As said earlier, RNG is a factor when playing legendary due to enemy behavior. If you’re experiencing brutal RNG with enemy behavior in the first ~5 minutes and it’s getting you stuck, nothing wrong with restarting! 
  • Be careful when navigating the pause menu. If you’re a frequent reverter like me, revert to last checkpoint and restart being right next to each other is a pain. Even though restart gives you a warning message beforehand, it’s easy to accidentally lose all your progress. 
  • Despite how fun dual-wielding is during casual playthroughs, dual-wielding is wildly inefficient and not suggested for almost all of the game. In this guide, you’ll only be dual-wielding three times in the entire run, and only once will it be for clearing out enemies. 
  • Plasma rifles and SMGs are next to useless. I advise getting rid of them whenever you can. Only use these if you have no other choice. The weapons you’ll be using most often are the Battle Rifle and Carbine, and the more headshots, the better. 
  • Don’t feel obligated to do every single level in order. You can do each mission in any order you please; the achievement will pop either way. If you go out of order, I’d suggest not reserving the hardest levels like Regret and Gravemind for the end. 
  • Most importantly of all, remember to keep as calm and clear-headed as possible when playing. Halo 2 Legendary is often frustrating; most people can agree with that. Nevertheless, try not to let it overwhelm you; the more frustrated you become, the worse you’ll play. Take breaks if needed too. Mental wellbeing always comes first.

 
 
 

Cairo Station

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - Cairo Station 
 
Skulls: Boom, Grunt Funeral, Piñata, Sputnik 
 
A simple level hiding underneath an unforgiving exterior, Cairo Station for new players often takes them somewhere between 1 hour to 2 and a half if they aren’t prepared. However, turning on Boom and Grunt Funeral while keeping your distance removes most of the challenge. Because of the enemies being close together, all it takes is headshotting one grunt to kill/significantly weaken a cluster of enemies. The boarding craft sequences are particularly easier with this setup, considering Grunts and high-ranked elites are squished together before entering the hangar. 
 
That being said, noob combos are still crucial, especially after the hangar section. Grunts become far less frequent after the second hangar, but luckily you don’t need to adjust your weaponry. Battle Rifle and Plasma Pistol should be the only weapons you’re using throughout this entire mission. I’d also recommend saving plasma grenades for the very end just in case you run out of plasma pistol ammo fighting the elites. Plasma grenades are always a good backup if you can’t take down shields. 
 
As for other strategies, Halo Completionist has an excellent video guide for this level in particular. While he doesn’t use Grunt Funeral as I recommend for whatever reason, he explains other useful strategies and shows them off as well. The most critical to keep in mind is the frag grenade usage. The grenade jump is actually made far easier with Sputnik. Also, the second grenade that wipes out the drones makes that entire sequence far easier. Just keep in mind that you should throw the grenade as soon as you approach the stripe. 
 

 
It’s also worth noting that I’ll largely be refraining from Monopolized achievement guides. Many of them require using strats that are inconsistent or too difficult for non-speedrunners. Luckily, the strategies used in this video aren’t too complex and almost always work; combine them with Grunt Funeral, and you’ll have a relatively painless Cairo run. 
 
 

Outskirts

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - Outskirts 
 
Skulls: Boom (Optional), Piñata 
 
It’s worth noting that Outskirts is one of few levels in Halo 2 where I advise not turning Sputnik on. While Sputnik makes getting across the rooftops much easier for new players, it also makes driving through the tunnels nightmarish. Due to Sputnik’s effect on gravity, it’s nearly impossible to go through that section without losing momentum, flipping, etc. More often than not on Legendary, if any of those things happen, you’re instantly dead. Not to mention, the main benefit of Sputnik in Halo 2 is that smacking most enemies causes them to turn around on contact, allowing for easy assassinations. With this guide, Outskirts has the second least amount of ground combat in your playthrough. 
 
For those of you struggling with jumping across the rooftops without Sputnik, you can either try using Boom skull to increase blast radius or just practice crouch jumping. An easy way to practice is to go for other achievements you can get, such as the Rex Sword easter egg or that dreaded IWHBYD skull. With how many times you’ll need to restart to get it, you’ll no doubt get some practice out of it. 
 
Unlike the IWHBYD skull, you don’t need to load in the jackals to progress through the level, so just go straight to Hotel Zanzibar. After emerging through the hotel, get right to the beach and grab a Ghost. Don’t even bother with the Warthog. From there, the only enemy you’ll need to kill is a Grunt on a turret. There is a slight chance you can get sniped by Jackals, but if you boost the entire time and hold down the jump button, they can’t get a hit in. 
 
Once you’re in the tunnel, wait until the Warthog arrives and drive that instead of the Ghost. Marines in this game are far tankier than Chief for whatever reason, and you can exploit that when playing Outskirts. With the Warthog, you can stay on the sides and drive through the entire level without sustaining much damage. Make sure to watch for debris though, some of it will explode upon contact and often results in instant death. 
 
 

Metropolis

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - Metropolis 
 
Skulls: Boom, Grunt Funeral, Piñata, Sputnik (Optional) 
 
I won’t lie; Metropolis is a level that I’m awful at. I’ve gotten better at it over time, but I’m far from an expert. Still, these tips are worth noting – if they can help me, they can help you. For starters, grab the marine’s Rocket Launcher and drive away on a Warthog as fast as you can. As tempting as the Scorpion is, you’ll never be using one throughout this playthrough as they’re actually less safe. 
 
The entirety of the bridge is just avoiding as many projectiles from enemy Ghosts as possible. Outside of one Wraith, no other enemy vehicles spawn so long as you keep a decent pace. From there, you’re welcome to try bringing your Warthog through the tunnels, although it’s risky and tricky to pull off. I’d stick to fighting enemies on the ground if your attempts don’t go well, especially considering this level is one of the most stingy with its checkpoints. Driving through enemies on a Warthog often voids checkpoints that would be very nice to have going forward. Just be warned that there’s a Zealot exclusively on Legendary in the tunnels, be ready to stick him or noob combo him! Also, feel free to empty all your rockets on the enemies beforehand. The only time you’ll need rockets again is for the Scarab, and you’ll have more than enough at that section. 
 
That being said, after clearing out the enemies in the tunnels and getting a checkpoint, get back on your Warthog and drive to the level transition. Be warned that you may only get a checkpoint during the level transition, which you won’t be able to see. As I said, this level’s finicky with its checkpoints, possibly more than any other level in the game from my experience. Try to be as careful as possible until you get through the park to Sector B; you’ll almost always get a checkpoint by then. 
 
Now for where I struggle the most, the Wraith section. A lot of this comes down to me using the Boom skull for sure, but it’s far too useful for the upcoming Scarab section to disable. If you’re up for trying to take out the Wraiths the intended way, take out the Jackal Snipers and gun it in your vehicle of choice to the faraway Wraith. The marines like to go for the one in front, which makes its behavior even more erratic. When boarding, don’t bother throwing a grenade; keep meleeing it until the driver dies. It takes a while, but you want to get in the Wraith to destroy the other. Also, make sure to hit the landing Phantom before it drops reinforcements; that’ll kill them all before they land. 
 
Now, if you’re like me and find taking out the Wraiths too hair-splitting, I’ve got you covered. Kill the Jackals, make sure all your Marines die, drive through the entire section the Wraiths are in before retreating. From there, just wait for several minutes, and the game auto-resolves the Wraiths. As for why this happens, I have no idea. There aren’t any equivalents that I know of in the other levels, but it works consistently. 
 
Now onto the Scarab, not quite literally because you shouldn’t board it right away. While talented trick jumpers can use the introduction of the Scarab to board and load it early, I’d prefer showing off a far easier and similarly safe strategy. Grab rockets and stay on the walkways, firing down on the Scarab with your Rocket Launcher to clear out all the enemies. This is where Boom and Sputnik come in handy, as the former gives more opportunity to kill weaker enemies, and the latter can send elites flying off the Scarab into a death barrier. 
 
Keep following the Scarab on the walkways, even after all the enemies on top die. There’s an extra checkpoint that triggers if the Scarab makes it to the end of its path, and it’s nice to have for safety due to how dangerous it is to fight Elites in such a confined space. From there, kill all the remaining Elites, and the level will end. Even if you die, the revert will be far less punishing with that safety checkpoint. 
 
 

The Arbiter

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - The Arbiter 
 
Skulls: Boom, Grunt Funeral, Piñata, Sputnik 
 
The Arbiter is by far the most inconsistent level in the game. Sometimes it’s a cakewalk, and sometimes it’s one of the hardest in the run. I’ll try my best to give consistent tips, but overall this is a level you’ll have to use adaptation above all else. Personally, if you’re doing these levels out of order, I’d do this one first due to all the RNG that goes into it. 
 
Luckily, the Grunts you’re fighting during this level also suffer the same effects as Grunt Funeral. Any time there’s a cluster of enemies, a dead Grunt can be used to your advantage. Also, the non-sword Heretics rarely do any melee damage due to a strange oversight. As a result, this is one of few enemies that are better to engage up close. Of course, a noob combo will work just as well. 
 
Sentinels also patrol the level, and they love to melt your shields at a moment’s notice. Luckily they aren’t very durable, and a few Carbine shots will take them out. Personally, I recommend having a Carbine and Plasma Pistol throughout the entirety of this level. As cool as the Energy Sword is, it’s rarely necessary due to Sputnik’s effect of turning around enemies after smacking them. 
 
It’s also worth noting that Arbiter’s camo is really poor on Legendary. Not only does it last for a pitiful amount of time, but sometimes enemies will notice you regardless if you’re camouflaged. The only times I use camo during this level is when I need to regain my shield, often combined with cover. It’s not worth trying to stealth through this level; you’ll get caught 99 times out of 100. 
 
While there aren’t any skips in the first half of the level, you can take a sigh of relief once piloting the Banshee. What would traditionally be a rough vehicle section is trivialized by going right to the ending door. Take out the four turrets, all the Fuel Rod Grunts, and the two Heretics, and you’re done! A theme for this Halo 2 Legendary guide is a distinct lack of Banshee combat, at least where you’re supposed to. 
 
 

The Oracle

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - The Oracle 
 
Skulls: Boom, Grunt Funeral, Piñata, Sputnik 
 
Remember how I said that you won’t be playing these levels the way Bungie intended? The Oracle is the prime example of that. Unfortunately, you have to get through the tedious first half, and there are almost no tips I can give in terms of tricks. You can get out of the elevator early, but only when it’s already near the end of its descent due to a death barrier, so it’s hardly worth it. Instead, I’ll give you some pointers in terms of staying alive against the Flood. 
 
The Flood in Halo 2 are by far the hardest iteration of them, and they’re also the least fun to fight across the entire series. While The Oracle doesn’t go too absurd with the Flood difficulty, it’s still annoying to fight them for as long as this level demands. The best two weapons to fight the Flood are the Carbine and Energy Sword, and those are the weapons I recommend sticking with throughout this level. If you want, you can sometimes use the Sentinel Beam to save Carbine ammo, as it’s decent at fighting Flood and Heretics. 
 
Beware of staying too close to Flood, though; only approach them with a sword lunge. For whatever reason, Bungie decided to give enemies the ability to assassinate the player, which isn’t too big of a deal on its own. However, much of the time, melee hitboxes overextend to the player’s back, causing instant death even when getting hit from the front. The Flood, especially the Elite combat forms, cause this more than any other enemy. While the sword lunge is a one-hit kill, only perform this against a Flood that’s by itself. 
 
Throughout the first half, you have AI companions. Usually, AI companions in Halo 2 are surprisingly helpful compared to the rest of the series. Your companions in The Oracle are quite the exception. Most of my deaths come from my comrades, either getting smacked in the back or stuck with a plasma. Their only use is diverting the attention of all the enemies. If they die, nothing is really lost. 
 
Even though the first half of the level is a tiresome endeavor, keep pushing through until you make it to the station exterior; things get more interesting once you do. Take the left path once exiting the interior. If you time it right, you can camo past the Heretics traveling the opposite direction. Even though your camo runs out by then, you might be able to squeeze past the next group if you’re quick enough. Leave a grenade behind you to distract them if you attempt this! 
 
Whether or not you sneak by or kill all the enemies, you’ll have to kill the enemies inside the heart of the installation to continue. Once you do, this is where the level gets silly. Make your way up to the elevator, but do not get on! Get behind the button, and you’ll be able to press it without being on the elevator. Once it’s traveling up, get back in front of the button, and press it again. It looks like the elevator is gonna crush you, but stay put. Once the descending elevator collides with you, it suddenly shoots you upward to the cables. Not only that, but you are invincible for the rest of the level! There’s only one easy way to die, and that’s by jumping down the elevator shaft too soon. 
 
If you want a visual reference for this trick, follow below: 
 

 
From there, feel free to progress through the cable cutting section without a care in the world. I’d only suggest killing enemies to try and get a checkpoint before a semi-precise fall down the elevator shaft. Once you are done with cutting the third cable, immediately get to the elevator shaft! If you take too long, there’s a chance of softlocking the level, but the time you’re given is so generous that it’s tricky to mess up. It’s also a good idea to descend down at a specific time due to a strange glitch resulting from this exploit. Follow the video below for the timing. 
 

 
Once the next part of the level loads, it’s clear why I want you to time your descent. For some reason, this invulnerability glitch causes another glitch where the gravity gets unstable beyond belief. It doesn’t matter if Sputnik and/or Feather are on or off; this happens regardless. Luckily, the timing should prevent you from being stuck in the shaft for too long. You can still make it down no matter what, but this level has enough waiting in it already. Be wary that the extent of the nearly zero-gravity tends to be RNG dependent, so use sword lunges to help navigate if you can. Luckily, once you get in a Banshee and load the following sequence, the zero-gravity goes away. 
 
After a 100% necessary Banshee sequence, keep progressing through the level. By now, I bet you’re loving this newfound invulnerability! Don’t get used to it, though. After this level, you’re back to your fragile self. Backtrack through sections of The Arbiter that could’ve given you trouble earlier, making sure you’ve got a usable Energy Sword until you make it to the Heretic Leader! 
 
The Heretic Leader boss fight is an absolute nightmare under normal circumstances, but wait, you’re still invincible! From here, it’s just a matter of either unloading on him with bullets or slicing him with the Energy Sword until he dies. He’s very durable on Legendary, but you can’t take damage whatsoever, so he never stood a chance! 
 
 

Delta Halo

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - Delta Halo 
 
Skulls: Boom (Optional), Grunt Funeral (Optional), Piñata, Sputnik 
 
I briefly mentioned the original graphics in the general tips, but they’re vital for Delta Halo. One of the best parts of Halo is the lack of invisible walls and the ability to explore all over the terrain. If you haven’t done this before, you’ll be doing it here. Immediately switch out that useless SMG with the ODST’s Battle Rifle, and then kill all the Grunts toward the right. While the game tells you to neutralize the turrets and clear the area, all you’ll be doing is taking out the turrets that prevent you from getting out of the intended map. 
 
Explaining where to go for the first third of Delta Halo through text is a mind-boggle, so I’ll let the video below do the talking. Excuse the sloppy gameplay. If the crouch jump near the beginning is giving you trouble, a grenade launch works just as well. 
 

 
While going outside of the intended path, you noticed that I went down to spawn the Jackal Snipers before going back up. Unfortunately, this level isn’t quite like Outskirts; these Jackal Snipers need to load in, or else the level end trigger won’t work. Don’t worry though, these Jackal Snipers haven’t ever noticed me in any playthrough. Also, if you haven’t gotten any checkpoints since the start of the level, I’d suggest restarting and trying again. Sometimes doing this trick breaks the checkpoints, and other times they work perfectly fine. From my experience, whether or not it’s one or the other purely comes down to RNG. 
 
It’s worth noting that once making it to the Temple, you could try grabbing a Ghost immediately and launching to the Forerunner ruins with a grenade. Attempting this Ghost launch is very tough to perform; even worse, it could also damage the Ghost that you’ll need to be in good condition. Follow the strategy in the video if you prefer the safer route. After all, the trick in the video despawned the Wraiths, so why not? Also, if you are worried about an Elite grabbing one of the other Ghosts, it’s super rare. If an Elite approaches the bridge, fire away at him. 
 
Alright, all the hard-to-explain tricks are dealt with. What’s not hard to explain is navigating the ruins. As frustrating as this may sound, all the ruins come down to is holding the boost button and hoping for the best. Sometimes you can get through without much damage taken; other times, your Ghost gets shredded instantly. Adapt to the enemy behavior the game gives you and try to press forward until you make it to the structure ahead. 
 
Thankfully, you won’t need a Ghost for the rest of this level. Boost to where the turrets are located and get out, killing hostile Grunts and hiding from enemy Ghosts. If you are familiar with where the Envy skull is placed, you’ll want to hop and grenade jump over to it. Unfortunately, you cannot pick up the skull and gain its effects, but it does grant you a free achievement! Furthermore, you can melee the Elites worshipping the skull to grab some plasmas if you’re running low. While on the platform, you’ll notice an opening up on the top; you’ll want to grenade jump on top of it. That allows you to cut right to the cave and into the last part of the level! 
 
The title card doesn’t lie; there are a lot of Jackal Snipers in this section. Assassinate the one walking in front of you and take his beam rifle to deal with the rest. If you’ve played this level on Heroic, you should know where all of them are. Take them out one by one, hiding out of range anytime you fire a shot. More headshots with that Beam Rifle, the better! From here, cut through the left of the creek while killing any enemies that get in your way, taking extra caution while killing the Jackals. Make sure you replace the Beam Rifle as you go, especially once the Drones flood in. If you can’t take them out with a grenade, a Beam Rifle hit will kill a Drone in one hit. It’s frustrating how tanky Drones are in this game, especially in comparison to 3 and Reach. On the bright side, if you’re going in order, this is good preparation for far worse encounters down the road. 
 
From here, grab a fresh Beam Rifle and go through the narrow crack to the last structure in this level. Immediately take out the Jackal Snipers and the Drone reinforcements. If you’re running low on Beam Rifle ammo, feel free to grab another before going inside. The Honor Guards are one of the trickiest enemies to fend off in the game, and you’ll want as much to throw at them as possible. Plasmas, Beam Rifle shots, even rockets if you so choose. Once they’re dead, you can sigh in relief and check this level off. 
 
 

Regret

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - Regret 
 
Skulls: Boom (Optional), Grunt Funeral (Optional), Piñata, Sputnik 
 
I would like to preface this by saying that Regret is the first of what I like to call the “Tumultuous Two.” Each game in the original trilogy has two levels that are disproportionately harder on Legendary than all the others in their respective games. Regret is no exception, but there are tricks to make things a lot easier on yourself. Furthermore, if you’re doing these levels in order, once getting to this level, immediately quit and manually select this level from the menu. The game carries over your loadout and grenades from Delta Halo, and you might not have the gear to get through this first chunk. 
 
As soon as you start this level, switch to frag grenades and grenade jump. You can almost make it to the top, but not quite. Wait for your shield to recharge and then grenade jump again, and you’re at the top of the structure! Here’s a video to see it in action. 
 

 
Now you have to take out a lot of Jackal Snipers. There are five of them, and they can spawn in six different positions. Deaths aren’t too costly here, so long as you’re able to relocate the Jackal Snipers and kill them all upon a revert. Make sure to take out all the enemies below you, preferably by luring them out and killing them on higher ground. There’s another structure ahead separated by a gap; use Sputnik to grenade jump across painlessly. 
 
Now you’ll want to hop over to the stationary gondola. The leap is precise and will no doubt take some practice to get right. What’s worse, you need to walk to the adjacent platform, spawn all the enemies, and quickly make it back to the gondola without dying. My best advice is to throw a plasma the moment you spawn the enemies and hope that’ll distract them enough for you to reach safety. Kill all the enemies left on the platform with your Beam Rifle. 
 
The hope is that the enemies will die fast enough that the following Phantom will despawn and deload lots of enemies. Odds are that this won’t happen, and you’ll have to switch to the other gondola and activate the button if it doesn’t despawn on the platform. As a result, the enemies spawn as usual, including the onslaught of Drones on the gondola ride. As frustrating as these sections might be to pull off, it’s still far easier this way than attempting the intended path. Use up all your Beam Rifle ammo if you need to; the upcoming section is the only time you might be okay with using the SMG for a short time. 
 
Once you approach the far structure, take cover to prevent the turrets and Jackal Snipers from seeing you. If you have Beam Rifle ammo at this point, you’re free to try and take them out, but odds are you don’t. If you managed to despawn the Phantom, these guys can’t spawn, but odds are that didn’t happen either. Once the gondola reaches its destination and the bridge extends, rush in and fight those Jackals as aggressively as possible. Melee them, light them up, anything to take them out until you can get a better weapon. Your best bet is to navigate up the ramps and get the Fuel Rod on top. Don’t blow all the ammo in this room, though. Make sure you have a fuller Beam Rifle than the one you’ve got before continuing. 
 
Look down the elevator shaft once Cortana starts her dialogue. Once she finishes, throw a plasma grenade down the elevator shaft. Jackals will spawn in the elevator, but the grenade will instantly explode and kill all of them. It allows for an easy entry to the scenic, underwater elevator. It’s a total timewaster, but it also gives you room to breathe before entering the corridors. 
 
The first room isn’t so bad, just a bunch of Grunts. If you have Grunt Funeral on, it makes this room even easier to clear out. Unfortunately, this is the level Grunt Funeral is the least helpful in, so it’s entirely optional if you find yourself dying to this skull in other levels frequently. As for the large room, always enter from the middle. As weird as this sounds, you have a lesser chance of alerting the enemies by entering this way and staying in the lower right section. You may have to use some adaptation if you get frequently spotted, as this room tends to be RNG heavy. Once the Hunters enter, try to sneak past them and enter the doors they came from. Hopefully, they won’t suddenly melee and instakill you. 
 
Get to the room with cloaked Elites and Grunts as fast as you can. The Hunters can follow you if you take too long, and you do not want that to happen! Luckily cloaked Elites are weaker than others, and you shouldn’t need to waste Beam Rifle ammo on the Grunts. They usually don’t kill you and if they do, melee or pick up the Elite’s weaponry to take them out to spare ammo for your better weapons. An Elite wielding an Energy Sword will approach you, be sure you have enough ammo to take him out too. If you’re out of Fuel Rod ammo, take the Energy Sword and move to the second elevator. 
 
After another scenic underwater elevator ride, sneak past the two Honor Guards, and you’ll find yourself back out in the open. Try to jump your way up to the higher ground and immediately drop down to avoid all the enemies, outrunning enemy spawns in the process. Whatever weapon you have that’s not the Beam Rifle, replace it with the Rocket Launcher and get as much ammo as possible for it. You’ll need it to take out the inconsistently durable Banshees. A gondola full of enemies will close in full of Fuel Rod Grunts and Ranger Elites. Kill the Fuel Rod Grunts first; they’re by far the gravest threat (especially with Boom on). Kill the Ranger Elites next, and then clear the rest. By now, you’re either almost out or out of Beam Rifle ammo entirely. Grab the UNSC Sniper Rifle to take out the enemies on the faraway structure. Don’t worry; it’s not that big of a waste to shoot Sniper rounds at faraway Grunts during this section, as you won’t be using this Sniper Rifle for very long. 
 
Step into the structure and deal with the rest of the enemies with whatever you’ve got left. The only thing I wouldn’t use is plasmas. You’ll need as many Plasma Grenades as you can spare for the Regret boss fight. Once the room before that is clear, grab a fresh Beam Rifle and a secondary weapon of your choice. Plasma Pistol or Energy Sword are my two weapons of choice. 
 
While I have a way to make every other boss fight in the game way easier than intended, Regret is one where there are no easy ways out. It sucks because Regret is the most frustrating of them all. Getting through this fight is essentially praying to RNG to be kind to you. There are ways to negate the pain of this fight, though. 
 
The reason why you want to save those Plasmas is for the Regret fight. If you press the button to throw a grenade while boarding Regret, it’ll stick a plasma onto him while you punch him in the face. Not only does this speed up the process, but it can also alter the path that Regret drops you off. That’s a good thing, as Regret loves to drop you off in front of Honor Guards under normal circumstances. Also, Regret on Legendary requires five rounds of punching him in the face. The moment you finish the third, immediately exit through the door you came in and walk around. You should get a safety checkpoint, and that’ll save you a lot of stress. The fourth and fifth rounds are the most RNG in the entire fight, and the last thing you want is to die near the end and start all over. 
 
Once you’ve got your safety checkpoint, make it through the fight while adapting to where the enemies are. Considering you have a safety checkpoint, deaths are nowhere near as costly. Once you’ve killed Regret, none of the enemies will attack you. You can just let the end play itself out and be happy that you’ve completed one of the most brutal Legendary missions in the series. 
 
 

Sacred Icon

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - Sacred Icon 
 
Skulls: Piñata 
 
I hate Sacred Icon. I despise Sacred Icon with a passion, and it’s easily near the bottom of the Bungie levels in terms of enjoyability on any difficulty, let alone Legendary. Take the worst parts about The Library, now combine it with the frustration of Halo 2 Flood, and you’re in for a disaster. Chances are many of your deaths will come from faulty level design, so be prepared to experience some level of frustration here. Luckily this level’s one of the shorter ones. 
 
There’s one benefit though, this is the first time you’ll get to dual-wield since Cairo Station! That doesn’t mean much though, you’re only dual-wielding to release pistons faster. Grab a pair of Plasma Rifles and get used to firing away. 
 
Thankfully, Halo Completionist’s Monopolized guide for Sacred Icon can be used for completing the level in a non-speedrun. It’s a relief for me; trying to describe where to go playing this level is as much of a chore as completing it… okay, not really, but still. You’d probably have better luck with a visual guide here. I will give some pointers, though; keep them in mind while playing. 
 

 
First off, if you’ve already played The Oracle and expecting the Flood to be of similar difficulty, you are in for a nasty surprise. The Flood combat in this level is absolute agony, especially in the first half. If there are any shotgun Flood that spawn, those are your main priority. The range of their shotgun blasts is remarkable. If you’ve ever played Team Muskets in CE multiplayer, imagine that but in a campaign mission and giving you inferior weapons. The shotgun is only up to its CE heights in the hands of the Flood, don’t even bother using it yourself. It’s bad. 
 
In terms of other grievances, cloaking in this level is very inconsistent. For whatever reason, the Flood are ridiculously observant, and they often find you regardless if you’re cloaked or not. The pistons also don’t stay open forever, so don’t try to open one in advance and then try to sneak your way to it. You’ll make everything much harder on yourself. 
 
Beyond that, I hope the Halo Completionist guide helps. I’d love to give a thorough guide like the rest here, but it’s Sacred Icon. If you’ve played this level, I’d be shocked if you could describe any section of this level in detail. It’s identical rooms with Sentinels, then identical rooms with Flood, then identical rooms with both until making it to the snow. And yet, I’ll still have more to say here than I will for the following segment for similar reasons. 
 
 

Quarantine Zone

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - Quarantine Zone 
 
Skulls: None 
 

 
Honestly, just watch this video here. The entire mission is driving on a Ghost and cheesing an autoscroller. All sorts of speedrun guides are made for this level, all using nearly identical strategies. You can employ those same strategies yourself! It’s far harder to do this level any other way than the speedrun route. So hey, you get to feel like a Halo 2 speedrunner for a while! The only difference is that you can lay off the restarts if you’re only going for Legendary Anniversary. 
 
The only thing worth noting is that the Ghost tricks are way more challenging than they actually look. The Ghost physics in Halo 2 are inconsistent, and are made even worse with gravity-altering skulls, hence the lack of Sputnik. You should also be wary of any Flood wielding rocket launchers. For whatever reason, they’re able to lock onto vehicles instantly and pretty much kill you on sight. How Bungie managed to make Rocket Flood worse than the ones in CE, I don’t know. 
 
Anyway, follow the video guide, and you’ll make it through. It’s also worth noting that if you’d prefer going through video guides rather than use this written guide, that’s fine. Use what’s best for you. I can say from experience that Halo Completionist has made getting through the series’ roughest challenges so much easier. If you’d prefer to stick with his guides, you’re in good hands. 
 
 

Gravegrind – Part 1

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - Gravegrind - Part 1 
 
Skulls: Boom, Grunt Funeral, Piñata, So Angry, Sputnik 
 
Strafe backward. Duck and weave. Fire at the Brute standing to the left. Hope for the best. 
 
That’s the best guide to give for the first few seconds of Gravemind. It’s a level where you can die before getting a chance to process what’s happening. I’d advise holding down the inputs for strafing back before the mission finishes loading and carefully skip the cutscene. Do not spam the skip cutscene button, or you will die. You can also repeatedly restart to try and get better RNG with enemy behavior. 
 
Gravemind is the longest and hardest level in the game; anyone with a cursory knowledge of the Halo 2 campaign knows this. Don’t be surprised if this level takes you well over an hour to conquer, as Gravemind is widely considered the most brutal Legendary mission in the series. Personally, I don’t know if I can agree, but the sheer chaos of this mission puts it up there. Luckily, there are several ways to make this mission easier. 
 
With Grunt Funeral and So Angry on, the firefight in the Council Chamber is a lot more manageable. Plus, this is the only chance you’ll have to dual-wield the intended way! Until you’ve got the Carbine, use the Brute Plasma Rifle against the Grunts and the Needler against the Brutes. When it comes to cover, you’ll want to either hide behind the pillars near the door or parkour your way to the top. Combine the effectiveness of your current weaponry along with letting the enemies blow up each other, and you should make it through after some trial and error. 
 
It’s worth noting that there are ways to skip waves of enemies in this section, one of which isn’t too troublesome to do. The only problem is that one of the skips spawns a Grunt right in front of you after pulling it off, and it’s tricky to take him out without dying to Grunt Funeral. You could go without this skull, but I find it far too helpful for this level. If you want to learn how to skip these waves of enemies and try this out for yourself, check out the linked video below. 
 

 
It should be mentioned that there’s another way to trigger the second despawn not listed in the video above. You can hide up close to the holographic camera used in the cutscene facing the door. That despawn trigger can also work depending on what’s closest. It’s still a precise alignment, though, and I’ve never been able to trigger it. 
 
Whether or not you fought through every wave or despawned most of them, make sure you’ve got plenty of Carbine ammo before moving forward. Compared to the Council Chamber firefight, the next room is a piece of cake to clear out. The Grunt Funeral skull especially makes this easy, as it’ll clear out many of the enemies for you. 
 
Before opening the next door, get a plasma grenade ready and throw it at one of the Brute Honor Guards. If you’ve watched the cutscenes, you’ll recognize this section as the same area the Arbiter got branded the Mark of Shame. You’ll have a fate far worse if you stick around long enough, but luckily you don’t need to wait for that gravity lift. Carefully navigate to the other side and drop down on one of the massive support structures underneath the gravity lift platform. Take out the enemies below you, prioritizing the Jackal Snipers, and progress forward. 
 
From here, most of the rooms are what you’d expect. A couple enemies spawn, and you kill them as you go. Brutes are the biggest threat, especially considering a direct hit from the Brute Shot often instakills. Luckily the Carbine is your friend against all the enemies, as it can easily headshot every enemy you fight. Before you make it to the central gravity lift, focus your attention on getting as much Carbine ammo as possible. 
 
While the Brutes are a threat in terms of the damage they can do, they still aren’t that dangerous overall if you can consistently land headshots. Even on Legendary, consistently landing Carbine headshots will take out a Brute fast. Not to mention, the So Angry skull removes almost all the danger of a berserking Brute. Their AI isn’t the best either, and more often than not, a berserking Brute will help you rather than hurt you. Speaking of dumb AI, if any of the enemies are troubling you here, you can always smack one of the weapon racks into the path and use it for cover. Most enemies lose all sight of you when you hide behind movable map elements such as these. 
 
Now for the central gravity lift. There are a few ways to skip the prison that the gravity lift leads to, but all the tricks are troublesome in their own way. The traditional way of bringing a Brute into the gravity lift with you is very inconsistent, especially with Sputnik enabled (which you’ll want for weapon rack strats and grenade jumping). The other tricks involve launching yourself with Sputnik and even Feather, which are also inconsistent but can also alert enemies below you if you fail. Personally, you should only attempt prison skip on Legendary if you’ve practiced it on other difficulties. 
 
When it comes to entering the gravity lift as intended, make sure all the enemies in the room are dead before you jump in. Once you do, don’t fire a single shot as you descend down, don’t melee, don’t do anything that would draw attention to yourself. You do not want to alarm any of the enemies below you. Why? Here’s why. 
 

 
Despite how this may appear, this isn’t a softlock. If you die enough times, the game will revert you back to the checkpoint before this one. Even so, no one wants to go through this! You certainly don’t, so don’t touch any buttons as you’re going down the lift. Once you’ve made it down safely, assassinate one of the Brutes and drop to one of the lower levels as soon as possible. The less time spent in the center, the better. You can also jump down to one of the lower levels right away if you’d like to take out the Brutes later. 
 
Now, this is where the Grunt Funeral and Boom skulls are going to do some work. Make sure you’re grabbing Carbine ammo as you go while headshotting as many enemies as you can. The dead Grunts will help clean up after you, making it easier to clear enough enemies to start rescuing marines. I recommend staying on either the middle or lower levels before you get tasked with rescuing marines. 
 
The first brig has four sleeping Grunts and a (typically) unobservant Brute. While you can go for an assassination, sticking the Brute with a plasma grenade and then clearing the Grunts is more consistent. You can also let the chaos of Grunt Funeral take out all the enemies instead. Either way, use what tactic works best for you to free all the marines. 
 
Once you’re done, you’ll have even more enemies to kill before the next brig. You’ll find that your marine buddies aren’t doing a whole lot to help, but it’s worth keeping them alive to escape the prison sooner. It’s not too punishing if enemies kill them, though. 
 
Now for the second brig, which is a lot more dangerous than the first. Ideally, what you wanna do is throw a plasma grenade to take out the Jackals right away, so you can focus all your attention on the Brute Shot wielder. Don’t focus your attention on the Brute Shot wielder only; all three enemies will melt you fast. Through trial and error, you’ll rescue the next set of marines and get ready to leave the prison for good. 
 
I recommend getting to the gravity lift right away while getting ready to jump down to the second level. Once Cortana announces that hostile reinforcements are coming down the lift, jump to the middle floor. Stand where all the lifts going up and down are located. If you hear explosions from the central gravity lift, you’ll know you’ve done this trick right. For some unknown reason, this simple trick kills all the reinforcements instantly, allowing you to swiftly leave the prison. 
 
 

Gravegrind – Part 2

 
Unfortunately, this is only the beginning. Now there are Elites, and worse of all, an onslaught of Drones in the next room. Each person’s strategy is different from another’s. Typically what I like to do is spawn the Elites and Drones. Immediately, I navigate underneath the door the Elites came from. Sometimes I throw plasma grenades depending on what I’ve got left after the prison section. Believe it or not, Drones are the biggest threat. They come in droves, and it only takes three of them to melt you fast. Spawn them, find cover, and take them out as best you can. There are times they’ll all hard target you and melt you almost instantly, and there’s not much you can do if that happens. That’s just what Gravemind does. I also recommend having a Beam Rifle alongside your Carbine for the rest of Gravemind. 
 
Also, from here on out, factions of enemies will be fighting each other in the Covenant Civil War. You can use this to your advantage and drastically reduce the number of enemies you need to face, similar to Two Betrayals in CE. The problem is, much like that level, sometimes RNG doesn’t go in your favor, and the enemies you want to keep alive lose the fight horribly. Take this one point of mercy this level gives you to your advantage, and be opportunistic if dangerous enemies are distracted or weakened from fighting other enemies. For the rooms with Brutes and Honor Guards fighting, you want to help the Brutes win the fight. They’re far easier to handle. Just try not to get too close; you will be noticed. 
 
Once you make it to a room with two Hunters, run past them. You do not have the equipment to fight them, don’t even try it. If you die, try running past them again and again until you’re out. You will not be able to take out these two Hunters without losing precious resources. Once escaping, you’ll find yourself in the first of two Valley of Tears. If you try to progress as intended, you’d know why this section is called that, so I’ve got a better way. Once entering, immediately go to the right and kill that Jackal Sniper in the tower. Avoid as many enemies as you can while killing any you can’t avoid. If you know where the Anger skull and Cortana toy are located, you’ll be going to that high platform. Except instead of going to those collectibles, you’re going to progress forward and drop down. Do not jump into the next room; you will die. 
 
Go down the slope, grabbing Carbine ammo on the left side. You’ll take the first of many gravity conveyers to the other side. Be wary of a Jackal Sniper that can spawn on either the left or right side. Once he’s dead, grenade jump up to the top of the hanging gardens if you’ve got grenades left. The game essentially hands you a bridge to take when you’re up there! If you don’t have grenades, either try to parkour across the sides of the hanging gardens or use Piñata to get some grenades from approaching enemies. 
 
Instead of taking the upcoming gravity conveyor, I would either take the route above or below the conveyor. Below is the safest path. While a direct Brute Shot hit is devastating, some decently quick reflexes should allow you to dodge them without too much hassle. Above keeps you safe from any Brute Shot projectiles but leaves you in harm’s way of Ranger Elites that will smite you at a moment’s notice. 
 
Pass through the doors, letting the Drones pass you by, and you’ll make it to the Mid Tower. Grenade jumping up to the top and dropping down to the door is the safest way, but it’s a good idea to grab some ammo and a fresh Beam Rifle before going forward. A similarly safe strategy is to drop down to the lower level once you’ve got some ammo and navigate to the door that way. You can also kill some Drones from the entrance if they’re giving you trouble. 
 
Before you make it to the next conveyor, you’ll find yourself face to face with two Brutes. This is the only time a berserking Brute is likely to give you trouble in the run. Make sure to headshot them both before they kill you, or use plasma grenades if you’ve got some to spare. From here, the level’s merciful up until the next Valley of Tears. You’ve got a hanging garden with nothing but Grunts as the So Angry skull will kill the Brutes. Grab a fresher Beam Rifle if needed, and after another conveyor, there’ll be another sloped room with three Brutes wielding a Brute Shot. Just stand outside of the door while keeping it open, and they shouldn’t even notice you. Easy kills! 
 
Now for the next Valley of Tears, you’ve got two options to make this section a breeze. You can either take a left, jump on the weapon rack, and jump to a safe zone similar to the last one, or get on the arch of the door and launch yourself over it. The latter despawns all the enemies, but it’s trickier to pull off. Either way, you should be able to get to the next section without much hassle. Stay to the left and out of harm’s way if you’re taking the non-despawn route! 
 
You’re nearing the homestretch here; hang in there! You’ll see one Elite that you can either try to beat down or just shoot him down with the Beam Rifle, and Grunts will follow. Kill one or two with the Carbine and let Grunt Funeral take care of the rest. A cloaked elite awaits on the other side of the door, shoot him down with the Beam Rifle also, and you should be fine. 
 
The next room is a nice way to test your ability to throw plasma grenades, as that’s the easiest way to clear out this room. Even if you can’t, you can always resort to using the Beam Rifle. Hopefully, you will have plenty to swap between coming up. Before entering the bridge, I would highly recommend starting to juggle the Fuel Rod from the other room and the Carbine, as you’ll want all three of these weapons. Don’t use the Fuel Rod yet; stick with the Beam Rifle and Carbine when dealing with the bridge. 
 
Much of the time, the enemies will help you out by killing each other, but if they don’t, then feel free to unload all the ammo in Beam Rifle to take out the first wave. Swap out the Beam Rifle from the Jackal Sniper and walk over to the center of the bridge. Take out the Grunts and retreat; Elites and Drones are approaching from opposite sides. Hopefully, they engage each other, and you can take out what’s left pretty smoothly. If not, throw all the Carbine and Beam Rifle ammo you’ve got. 
 
Once this wave is down, pick up that Fuel Rod Gun. Take out all the enemies coming from the door, including the Hunters, and then progress to the final room. Hopefully, you’ve got some Beam Rifle ammo, Fuel Rod ammo, and plasmas left! 
 
An easy way to get in a better position for this fight is to let the Brutes approach from the left to the right. Wait by the entrance for about 10-20 seconds, and let the two groups engage. Doing this leaves the left side vacant, and you can start picking off the enemies. Use that Beam Rifle to take out all the Elites in the room, or at least take out their shields to help the Brutes. Focus on that Elite wielding a Fuel Rod; he can ruin everything. 
 
Once the Elites are dead, you want to kill the Hunters. Hopefully, you have enough Fuel Rod ammo to take them out swiftly. Finally, take out the Brutes. Make sure you have around 4-5 Fuel Rod shots left once the room is all cleared out, as that’ll make the final encounter much less of a pain. You may need to improvise with Brute Shots or Carbines if your Fuel Rod ammo is scarce. 
 
You would expect this chaotic room to be the finale of such a nightmarish level, but Gravemind wants a little overtime. Open the door once Cortana stops talking and high-ranked elites come around and will kill you if you’re unprepared. At this point, throw everything you have to take them out. Grenades, Fuel Rod ammo, Beam Rifle shots, anything you can get your hands on. Once you cross that bridge on the other side and Cortana’s dialogue finishes, the most brutal mission of the entire game is finally over with. If you’ve been going in order, what remains is trivial by comparison. 
 
 

Uprising

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - Uprising 
 
Skulls: Boom, Feather, Sputnik 
 
You know how I said I won’t make you do any inconsistent tricks and exploits that are a pain to pull off? Well, Uprising is one exception to this. All the other exploits only allow you to skip chunks out of a level. The one I’m going to teach you here lets you bypass all of it. Like Delta Halo, you’ll be navigating the outer boundaries of the map, so don’t even try this with anniversary graphics. 
 
Also, this might be your first introduction to the Feather skull. As hilarious as this skull is, it’s only practical for this one level and this one trick. Leaving Feather on for other missions is a horrible idea for one main reason; if you get shot while in the air, you stay suspended. Enemies fire at such a rapid rate in Legendary that the instant you get hit in the air, you’re dead. Luckily the path for this level only requires you to kill one enemy, and that’s by smacking him in the back. 
 
From here, I’ll show you a video reference of what I do to clear the level. Note, you will most likely not get this on the first try. The Brutes are very random, and sometimes smacking one in the back doesn’t register properly, and you die. Sometimes all the other Brutes notice you and shoot you while trying to grenade jump. Sometimes you just don’t land from a grenade jump and get killed by the fall timer. These things happen; keep restarting until everything aligns into place. 
 
This video is of a playthrough on Legendary difficulty for maximum accuracy of what a successful run looks like. Don’t worry about failing. I failed to get this to work many times recording this, so try not to get too frustrated. 
 

 
Of course, if you want to speed things up, you’re free to try throwing some extra grenades if you have any and let them launch you forward. I choose not to do that, so I know exactly where I’m going, but you do you! You can reference the video to know which direction to go once you’re outside the map or follow the landmarks. Whatever works best for you, just be sure to not accidentally set off the fall-timer once out of bounds, and you’re golden! 
 
 

High Charity

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - High Charity 
 
Skulls: Boom, Grunt Funeral (Optional), Piñata, Sputnik 
 
Hey, look, more Flood. Thankfully this the last time you need to worry about the Flood in this game, but that doesn’t mean they’re out of surprises to give. You can also take a sigh of relief knowing that this mission is short, but it’s still a mediocre level. Don’t you worry, you can get through this! 
 
Before anything else, though, this is by far the darkest mission in the game. If you’re playing on original graphics, as I advise doing, you may need to turn up your brightness by quite a bit before starting the mission. Do a test run through the level on an easier difficulty to ensure that you can comfortably see everything before doing this mission on Legendary. 
 
Start by charging up the Plasma Pistol and taking out the Flood in front of you. You’ll notice that one of the Flood running at you has shields. Why did Bungie think shielded Flood was a good idea? I don’t know, but kill them and replace your Plasma Pistol with the Energy Sword. Most likely, a second wave of Flood will come rushing at you after that, so get your Carbine ready and start firing away. You can try to use the fleeing Grunts to kill them should you have Grunt Funeral on or keep your distance. 
 
Once entering the room, you’ll be met by four Brutes. You’ve already got a Carbine, so just shoot away at them while throwing plasmas to keep them at bay! You can also try running past them if you want, but make sure you have a checkpoint on hand. Go through the gravity lift and juggle your Energy Sword with a Beam Rifle from the weapon rack on the right. You can also punch that weapon rack over for cover against the Drones if you’d like. 
 
Once you’re in the wide-open area, you’ll want to focus on killing the Drones above all else. Either shoot them right away while they’re approaching or let them engage the Flood and shoot them from far away, either work. You want to make sure all the Drone reinforcements die before crossing over the conveyor, using what remains of your Beam Rifle ammo to take down the shields of the shielded Flood. Make sure you have a Carbine and Energy Sword before crossing, as you can’t go back. 
 
Kill off all the Flood at the left platform, and take the next conveyor. Stockpile on enough Carbine ammo before progressing to the next section. Once you’re across, immediately jump into the door and lung at the farthest Flood form, and from there, kill off any Flood that you find with either the Carbine or Energy Sword. 
 
From here, a good chunk of the level up until you reach the elevator is much of the same. Either try to kill enemies or sneak by them. There aren’t that many tricks I can give between now and the Sanctum. I will suggest that the large chambers are ones you should try to run through, as it’s a lot easier than trying to kill all the enemies in them. The enemy placement is random, and sometimes they’ll spot you instantly, which is annoying. Adapt and react accordingly, and you should be fine. You can also try to kill the Rocket Flood in the second chamber and take his rocket launcher, as you won’t be needing the Energy Sword afterward. Be careful though, he could be in an unfavorable position or just quickshot you. 
 
Now for the Sanctum. Right away, you want to kill the Grunts and then hop your way into one of the two doors. These are where the Flood spawn, which sounds like an awful spot to be in, but it actually ensures that the Flood and Covenant engage each other more often. Carefully poke your head out every now and again, and help pick off the Brutes if you can, as they’re preventing you from running right to the door. You’re free to try being more aggressive if you have a rocket launcher, but it’s still worth being cautious. 
 
Be careful though, not only is there a Jackal Sniper, but there’s a high chance that there’s a Flood Sniper too, which is arguably worse. They’re only on this map, but they’re harder to see and are also an instakill. Wait until you get a checkpoint before you poke your head out for these guys specifically. Should you die and revert, you’ll be able to roughly know where they are and take them out. 
 
The door out of the Sanctum opens at a snail’s pace, so it’s best to kill all the enemies before deciding to leave unless the enemies generously left movable map elements in front of the door for cover. Once the door opens, replace whatever weapon that’s not your Carbine and go up the gravity lift. Might as well grab that Iron skull while you’re at it; it’s a free achievement. 
 
Once you’ve made it to the top, you’ll notice that green conduit above you. Turns out it has collision, so jump on top of a weapon rack and jump on the conduit. Kill off the Jackal Snipers, as they are the most severe threat present, and then make a dash to the end. Far from the best level in the game, but at least it’s short, right? 
 
 

The Great Journey

 
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide - The Great Journey 
 
Skulls: Piñata, Swarm 
 
If you’ve been playing in order, you’re at the home stretch! The Great Journey, usually a tedious level to get through, but I’m going to make it significantly easier! Right away, get on the Spectre and start driving down the left path. While a Ghost would be better, hijacking one is way more brutal than boosting away from everyone on the Spectre while letting your fellow Elite fire at the enemies. He won’t do much damage to them at all, but hopefully, he’ll take some damage for us. 
 
Right away, there’s a trick you want to do to get the faraway door opened quickly. You want to make sure Boom and Sputnik are off for this in particular, as a Wraith or Brute Shot could knick your Spectre and send it flying, maybe even destroy it. Follow the video below to despawn the enemies, as the door won’t open unless they despawn or die. Excuse the god-awful quality of the videos used in this mission. 
 

 
If you follow that exact path, they should despawn. If not, restart the mission and try again. The enemies almost always despawn, though! Now from here, this is where the Swarm skull will be your saving grace for much of the level. Typically on Legendary, your companion Hunters crumble right away but turning this skull on gives them much greater survivability against the Brutes. 
 
I’d still support them by headshotting and throwing grenades, but you’re free to keep your distance while helping out your Hunter comrades. Be careful not to get accidentally killed by a Hunter, and watch out for Brute Shot Brutes. Outside of that, you should be fine for the first two rooms. Next is the Jackal room, where you’ll want to kill the Jackal Sniper immediately and hopefully cloak through the rest of the enemies. 
 
Now comes the detention center. Approach from the right, and you’ll see that there are buffed Hunters waiting to be freed. Immediately shoot the forcefield keeping them in place, and let them annihilate the Brutes! You can free other prisoners, but the Hunters are almost all you need. Once they’re all dead, go through the doors and make it to the platform. All that’s left are the Brutes here, and then we get to my favorite part of the mission. 
 
Playing this level the way Bungie intended would be a nightmare on Legendary. All the Wraiths that need to be destroyed, enemy Spectres and Ghosts shredding your health and Banshee, and everything following the Banshee sequence! Well, follow this video guide, and everything gets a lot more interesting. 
 

 
Not only does going back into the previous loading zone and coming back despawn the Wraiths, but you can progress right to the end! Johnson’s Scarab will slowly follow your way over to you, and if you follow what I did once he blasts open the door, the Banshee will have quite the unintended use. The frustrating and unbelievably tedious Tartarus boss fight can be fought with a Banshee! 
 
I am aware that you can do this with a Spectre as well, and the Spectre is a lot better at making the Tartarus fight easier due to a strange cloning glitch. The problem is that the Spectre doesn’t like staying on the ledge you have to bring it to, and taking it into the loading zone is more precise. The Banshee strategy isn’t as effective, but it’s consistent and still cuts back on the Tartarus fight by a lot. 
 
Once you’re in the Banshee, you can actually dock on the middle level, and Tartarus shouldn’t approach you. He’s programmed to fight against people out in the open, not anyone in vehicles as far as I know. Keep shooting away at him, and Johnson will eventually get his shield down for you. After the third Beam Rifle hit, use that Banshee Bomb! After a while, reinforcements will arrive. You want to kill these for safety, and it’s not tricky to do so on a Banshee. Take these guys out before they wreck your Banshee, dock again, and continue firing away. Eventually, Tartarus will die, in which case you’re free to get out until the level ends. Do not get in contact with Tartarus’ body and/or punch him; he can still kill you for whatever reason! 
 
The cutscene is unskippable, so let it play out. I advise not switching the graphics for safety, as I’ve heard the cutscene has a chance of locking up. After Chief delivers that iconic line, that’s it. If you played these in order, the achievement should pop, and you can be happy knowing that you’ve got Legendary Anniversary over with! If not, that’s one less mission for you to do, and I hope that this guide will help you through the rest! 
 
 

Closing Statements

 
Phew, that’s it. Thank you for going through this absurdly long guide. I hope it helped you either get past levels you were stuck on or get through the entirety of Halo 2 Legendary. As this is my first guide for any game, please give me feedback and let me know if this helped you out in any way! Do not hesitate to ask questions in the comments below! I’d love to help you if there’s anything I’ve missed or if I should elaborate further. 
 
I don’t have the intricate knowledge I have for other Halo Legendaries as I do for 2. Even so, I’d still be willing to try out similar guides if this gets support. I’ll also still be improving this guide over time, making it more appealing and hopefully more helpful too. 
 
That’s all, happy achievement hunting! 
 
Guide’s Planned Updates: 

  • General word choice changes and rewrites for better clarity. 
  • Add more images/screenshots where needed. 
  • Rerecord videos once getting better equipment.

 
 

Written by GugsSuggs

This is all about Halo: The Master Chief Collection – The Extensive Halo 2 Legendary Guide; I hope you enjoy reading the Guide! If you feel like we should add more information or we forget/mistake, please let us know via commenting below, and thanks! See you soon!
 
 
 
 


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