Last Exit

Mission 08: Last Exit

Fight at the End of the Road

The entrance to the Uplift Reserve national park is closed. The ticket office building is now a place where you can grab weapons and health before venturing outside to the main steps. On either side of the main steps, there is access to an upper parking lot and an upper stone balcony above the ground entrance. A central lower courtyard allows access down to the coastal highway entrance (now sealed by an energy wall), while the upper parking lot provides helpful views and low wall cover.

Data Stream

Expected Enemies

Grunts
Jackals
Brutes
Brute Chieftains
Jump-Pack Brutes
Brute Stalkers
Drones
Hunters

Special Enemies

Ghosts

Expected Vehicles

Covenant Phantoms
Covenant Ghosts

Optimal Weapon Combinations

Rocket Launcher & Sniper Rifle*
Magnum & Plasma Pistol*

*For early sets; † for later sets.

Preferred Weapon Combinations

Carbine & Magnum
Carbine & Mauler
Gravity Hammer & Plasma Rifle
Magnum & Rocket Launcher
Rocket Launcher & Silenced SMG

Par Score

200,000 Points

Notable Offense

Weapons: Rockets and Sniper Slugs

The Rocket Launcher and the Sniper Rifle are usually recommended but this combination pays dividends incredibly successfully during the early sets. The Rocket Launcher is located on the concrete hut to the right of the spawning room, at the parking lot entrance; extra ammunition is in the middle gazebo. The Sniper Rifle is located on an identical-looking hut to the left of the spawning room. They make quick work of the initial waves of enemies and allow you to stay on the parking lot balconies at a distance from your foes, keeping your height advantage. You also have the protection of the low walls, and foes can’t easily reach you. The only time you’re ineffective with this weapon combo is during Drone swarms, so move to either of the Turrets or wrench a Turret off its base and place it where you’re camping, and use this weapon. During later sets, when more skulls are active and there are foes with harder overshields to shoot through, try replacing either the Rocket Launcher or the Sniper Rifle with a Plasma weapon to remove the shields first, then follow up with either original weapon to finish the foe. This allows you to focus on collecting only the specific ammunition you need.

Weapon: A Ghost of a Chance

This mission offers a unique piece of equipment to those ready to defeat the Covenant riders manning Ghosts. The most adept way to part a Brute from his vehicle is to charge your Plasma Pistol and fire it at the Ghost’s rider. Then hop on, easily hijacking the craft. Once you’re driving the Ghost, your top priority is running over foes; this leads to fast round completion. However, careful driving is necessary, as you have confined spaces, such as stairs up to the parking lots, to navigate; failure to smoothly scrape through here leaves you a sitting target. Ghosts become very useful just after a Phantom drop; as soon as a group of foes lands on the ground, Boost straight through them, punishing them all in a single burst of acceleration. This tactic depends on you having good cover, such as low walls, concrete planters, or the opposite side of the middle gazebo, while you wait for the perfect ramming opportunity. Afterward, you must retreat quickly, relying on other teammates to mop up after your charge.

Weapon: Turret Techniques

There are two Turrets on this map, and both are half-hidden on a grassy concrete planter near stairs up to the main spawning building, overlooking each parking lot. The Turrets are easily overlooked but extremely important, and it is wise to man them when you have numerous smaller enemies (Grunts, Jackals, and Drones) to deal with, especially as it’s very difficult to outflank you on this planter. The only problem is you can’t see much of the lower courtyard area, which nullifies the Turrets’ use during certain waves. Negate this shortfall by making every weapon drop count; before the end of each round, wrench each Turret off its base, and drop them near cover points that your team uses, such as low walls overlooking the central courtyard or behind the spawning building’s entrance doors. When the next round starts, the two Turrets respawn, effectively doubling your Turret total. Now all four of you can assist during Drone takedowns, which can be extremely difficult the longer your Firefight lasts.

General Plans

Tactic: Incursion Points—Phantom Drops

There are three Phantom drop points in this mission; one is on the lower-level courtyard near the central gazebo bus-stop structure [1], and there are two above the parking lot [2], one on each side of the map. Pay particular attention to the incoming flight paths of the Phantoms, as those that deposit their troops on the parking lots fly in at a low level, passing you at slow speeds and delivering heavy damage to anyone standing in the open, thanks to the ships’ Plasma Turrets. Stay in cover for best results, or face extreme stamina damage and possible death. If you’re in cover (either full or partial), you can race close to the Phantom’s drop point and lob in a Grenade at the Plasma Turret, the bay doors, or the ground where the enemies fall to; as always, taking care of as many foes as early as possible during a round helps your entire team.

Tactic: Incursion Points—Monster Closets

There are nine monster closets from which entities appear on this map. On the lower level, the energy wall leading to the inaccessible coastal highway is one such location, as are the garage doorways on either side of the gazebo, under the parking lot wall [1]. The remaining six are two garage doors on each perimeter side of either parking lot, and a ramped, covered area leading into the parking lot interior [2], which is inaccessible. Both the Phantoms and the energy walls that prevent you entering the closets have an associated “hum” to them. Listen for this hum to predict where your attackers will be coming from. Then get in position to view the closets and strike immediately as the foes emerge; a Rocket, Fuel Rod shot, sniper fire, or Grenades are all excellent for hitting bunches of foes as they emerge.

Tactic: Multitiered Strategy

To survive and thrive, utilize the high ground around the edge of the parking lot and the multilevel platforms of concrete planters surrounding the golden zebra statues near and above the spawning building. Positioning yourselves on the platforms forces your foes to cover a large amount of ground from any of their entry points in order to reach you, thus giving you more opportunities to cut down their numbers or their shields. As the interior of the spawning building is useful only for racing back for health or caches, there’s limited interior cover; for instance, the two-floored building has an airlift that prevents you from being cornered and allows quick access between floors. The airlift is easily missed, so watch for it. As for cover, try the ticket counters, concrete huts, planters, zebra statues, and pillars as you navigate this open space, especially when Phantoms are dropping in new waves.

Cooperative Plans

Tactic: Your Plasma Pal Is Back!

This is another mission in which pairing off into one team of two (with two players) or two teams of two (with four players) is advantageous: The first team member needs to be armed with a Plasma weapon (such as the Plasma Rifle or Pistol), while the other should employ regular bullets. The Plasma-weapon wielder whittles down an opponent’s shields, while the other finishes them off with a headshot or two. The Plasma specialist won’t accumulate many points, but their assists are just as important. Remember to specify a team member to grab all Plasma-based ammunition so you don’t run out once the Famine Skull is active.

Tactic: Four-Player Foresight

When working well with others, a major part of your tactics involve figuring out a great place to stand. As with many other maps, it helps to give each team member a separate zone to “guard,” but with the flexibility of leaving that zone to help another squadmate who is being overrun, which, alas, happens almost all the time on higher settings. For this mission, the left upper parking lot is one zone, and the right upper parking lot is the second [1]. The lower, circular gazebo and courtyard is a third zone [2], where two teammates should guard. This zone has two fallback positions—both toward the stairs up to the spawning building—with one player covering each of them. Now the players covering the parking lots can quickly snipe from height or jump down to assist the courtyard zone. Unfortunately, it’s more of a slog for the lower-zone players to reach the parking lot, which is why the fallback positions on either side of this courtyard allow the closer two players to head up to help a friend on the parking lot.

Bonus Round Plans

Tactic: Preventing a Sticky Situation

Expect Grunts to pour out of numerous monster closets during this round. The chosen openings are random, so spread your team out to gain as much coverage as possible, then move your team in to focus on the openings that actually spawn Grunts. Due to the endless supply of Plasma Grenades the Grunts lob, and the Fuel Rod Cannons some are carrying, you’d be wise not to get pinned into a corner, as you’ll be facing multiple Grenades lobbed from different angles. Although Boosting through a Grunt cluster in a Ghost seems like a fine plan, it only pays off (and does big-time) if you can avoid the Grenades, sticky or otherwise. For the safest way to rack up bonus points, choose your faithful Magnum and continuously attempt headshots. Before Grunts appear, you can quickly line up your target reticle at Grunt-head level. With one bullet equalling one kill, your ammo expenditure is minimal compared to the massive points you’ll accrue.