Getting some help now from a certain special Grunt!

(5:18) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Heroic. Continuing with the same spawn-launched Wraith, one of the set-up options I described in my article is to arrange some automatic checkpoint delaying, to avoid getting the battle start checkpoint in the first few seconds after it's triggered. That's what I cover here.

Released January 15th 2026, gameplay recorded January 14th-15th 2026.

00:02 (Set-up work) A sequence of clips illustrates the moving of the Shade to a particular locale on the battlefield, and then (0:45) there's a short clip showing the conclusion of the set-up work, some minutes later.

00:56 (Triggering on foot) In this first demo I trigger the battle at my usual spot near the rock, standing near enough to the Shade that the Grunt won't fire. Thanks to his presence though, I don't need the usual grenade throw for initial checkpoint delaying; enemy threat takes care of it. The Wraith pilot gets sniped; 2 shots, 2 hits. I let the play continue a short while longer, before cutting things off for the next demo.

01:49 (Triggering in the air) This time I'm triggering up high in my Banshee, but the Grunt still provides enemy threat and hence the initial checkpoint delaying I want; so I don't need to bother with prompt firing.

I'm using a particular way of triggering here, which I thought worth showing. If you start at the back ledge then fly at the Wraith, your Banshee will be on a line to enter the battle trigger zone fairly near the end of it. An advantage of doing things this way is that at the moment of triggering, you're already cruising forth at speed.

As the battle unfolds, things seem to be going well. But there's a sting in the tail. When I destroy the final Ghost with a Banshee blast at 3:22, I get caught when one or more plasma grenades detonate in mid-air. Nasty. I believe those were from the Ghost pilot himself, detonating in mid-air.

03:27 (Triggering on foot again) Back to the rock again, but this time I score a rocket strike on the boarding pilot (which you can tell by the purple blood cloud). It was quite easy to learn a good aim and good timing. Not surprisingly, there's heavy damage to the Wraith too, as it subsequently blows up with only one more rocket.

Closing remarks With this set-up I again had Marines as you saw, but this time I made a point of eliminating Johnson, preferring not to have a sniper.

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