Plasma pistol sniping

Use a plasma pistol as an amazingly long-range sniping weapon.

Introduction

Various levels include areas where you can have fun killing enemies using the amusing technique of plasma pistol sniping. See how many enemies you can kill with this technique, preferably firing from extreme range to remain undetected by your targets. Explore and find good places to snipe from. In some situations you may like to kill Marines so all the slaying is left to you.

On this page I'll give some specific advice on the levels worth considering, though maybe you'd like to go exploring for yourself first as it might be more fun that way. I particularly recommend the cliffside survivor area of level 2, the outside of the island in level 4 (either from ground level or on top of the island), and sniping bridge enemies from above in level 5 (courtesy of a stolen Banshee).

Level 2: Halo

Good potential here. Get a first plasma pistol by quickly killing a Grunt before he's left the dropship, then get clear. From here to the underground bridge, you can snipe everyone, often remaining undetected. Stay away from the structure where you meet (and maybe kill) Marines; sneak around on the periphery looking for good sniping positions. At the bridge, you can get some enemies undetected.

Cliffside survivor are

The cliffside survivor area is great. In particular you can snipe from up on the hill as detailed in Cliffside hilltop fun, which is where I first used the technique. From up there you get the most amusing targets of all, namely some Jackals right on the cliff edge, who stumble off when you nail them. Ho ho ho! You can also get those Jackals from the leftmost entrance, or from over near the cliff edge on the far side of the main structure. There's also some great sniping to be had from the top of the rightmost entrance.

Rockslide survivor area

The rockslide area is also good. One thing you can do is first eliminate all enemies except the group of Elites and Grunts that likes to hang around near the lifeboat, then snipe them from extreme range. Another thing you could try is to let a rockslide megabattle form. Drive in to lead everyone towards the plateau, then whizz off to a distant spot near one of the entrances. Hopefully the enemy loses track of you, and you can get some good sniping opportunities while remaining undetected (for a while at least).

Hillside survivor area

The hillside survivor area has some potential, but enemies move around quite a lot and it's hard to get as distant as you'd like. However, one nice sniping position to try is at the rightmost entrance, high up. That's also a nice place from which to snipe any enemies that get dropped over near the waterfall (after you've cleared the hillside area).

In the valley

Out in the valley you tend to get a few enemies here and there, which are excellent targets.

Level 3: The Truth and Reconciliation

There's a bit of potential in the outdoors section, but it's not very satisfactory as you're generally too close to targets to remain undetected. Still, I did enjoy making a Jackal stagger backwards off the cliff; namely one of the reinforcements that approached the first area after a while.

Level 4: The Silent Cartographer

Great potential around the outside of the island, either from ground level or from on top. Be sure to give both methods a go! But there's no sniper rifle for 10x pre-aiming. You'll have to make do with 2x, so I hope your eyesight is good.

From ground level

From the ground you can get pretty much everyone around the outside, usually remaining undetected. I suggest you immediately kill the Marines, then get your first plasma pistol either from a Grunt on the left, or by running off leftwards around the island to get one from one of the Jackals you'll eventually see getting dropped from a dropship.

From up top

From the top of the island, some enemies will be obscured but others make fantastic targets. See On top of the island for advice on creating a good save to use.

Level 5: Assault on the Control Room

Good potential in normal play, and great potential with some special situations you can arrange. Details follow.

Normal play

In normal play there are some good targets outdoors, and also at the underground bridge. I especially enjoyed repeatedly rousing the sleeping Grunts there. They'll leap up and panic for a bit, then go back to sleep. Aw, cute.

After the underground bridge, getting the Jackals in the rising tunnel is good fun. Some other fine targets are the enemies from the tower's front door. Once you trigger them, try sniping from way back near the tunnel exit, standing on a slope at the base of the cliff on the right hand side of the exit as you look at it. After that group, note that you can pile in the plasma to blow up a distant stationary Ghost, and the Wraith.

Later on, if you snatch one of the two Banshees on the rock bridge, you can fly up to the high platform (or the top of the zigzag structure) and land to snipe enemies on the bridge as they pace around; excellent. You can do something else with that Banshee. When you trigger the door at the top of the zigzag structure, quickly fly off and land on the bridge. The gold Elite seems to patrol very slowly, and makes a good target.

Using a stolen Banshee

For the best plasma pistol sniping in this level, you should set up some of the situations described in Fun with a stolen Banshee, where you're way up high sniping enemies down below. Best of all is being up on a ledge sniping enemies on the twin bridges (Twin bridges, death from above) or the first bridge (Backtrack to the first snowy area).

Cavern megabattle

The cavern megabattle has great potential. See my section there on long-range mischief.

Using spiral path megabattle work

You can get some good plasma pistol sniping with a shooting gallery, but there's a drawback, namely that enemies tend to gradually move towards the pass. There's a remedy for this however. If you've gone on to get the zigzag path checkpoint as described in Horde boosting, enemies outside the pass seem to lose the inclination to head towards it. As such, they're much more suitable targets, and you've got some of the richest ground-based plasma pistol sniping in the whole game. The remedy does have an unwelcome side-effect though. Grunts and Jackals no longer seem to panic as normal when bad things happen, which greatly reduces the comedy element.

Level 7: The Library

In a few places you can enjoy popping distant stationary carrier forms, but that's about it. Most of the time enemies are heading your way, which is hardly ideal. And for things which are often without heads, the Flood are unreasonably good at spotting you!

Level 8: Two Betrayals

Some good potential here.

First outdoor area

There's plenty of sniping to do in the first outdoor area, though you'll probably want to silence the Wraith first. Try to bypass as many enemies as you can (even ones behind the door you open), so you can potentially snipe them later. Get the sniper rifle from the tower, for your zoomed view. Ideally snatch the Banshee, which can be used to drop yourself in good sniping positions. One place to snipe from is on the ground at the far end of the snowy area, but visibility isn't great and enemies do move around quite a bit. I found things better up on the long 'spine' that slopes up towards the top of the structure. From up there you've got lots of targets down in the snow. Another place you can drop yourself is on top of a bridge door frame, to get a shot on some of the enemies that were behind the door you opened.

After destroying the first pulse generator, enemies emerge onto the bridge down below, making great targets from the platform. The fuel rod Grunts make particularly appealing targets, in view of the blasts that follow. See if you can get a blast to take out nearby targets.

Banshee tower

When you get to the area with the huge central tower and you've eliminated any Banshees, you can land on the empty platform to snipe enemies on top of the tower and on the opposite platform. That distant platform is a great target. There's a fuel rod Grunt there taking pot-shots at you, and when you kill him, there's often enemies nearby. A couple of times I've seen an Elite go up nicely in a chain reaction blast.

Final battleground

The final snowy area has good potential. You can snipe from up on the lower tier of the bridge if you like, shooting almost straight down. I suggest you initially enter the area with a pistol and rocket launcher. Use the former to eliminate the Flood as soon as they appear, and use the latter to destroy the Wraiths. Then go back for your plasma pistol and sniper rifle. If you want to snipe from the bridge, you can get a Banshee by whizzing through the enemy in a Ghost.