The Ark

The Ark

Why didn't the forerunners just go to the ark...?

Information

• Game: Halo 3
  

Beginner Goals: Easy: ~10:40; Legendary: ~14:00


Intermediate Goals: {{{time2}}}


World Class Goals: {{{time3}}}


IL Records: {{{time4}}}


Segmented Times: {{{time5}}}


Halo 3 level navigation

Floodgate - The Ark - The Covenant

This level has two video tutorials on Legendary. This Basic Tutorial by Paradoxxic which goes over easier strats for completing the level, and This advanced tutorial by Sorix

The Ark is the sixth playable level in Halo 3. See The Ark (Halo Nation) for general information.

Click here to go to a table which shows the WR times and video links for this level on both Easy and Legendary.

Version Differences

This is the level with arguably the biggest subtle differences between versions. The differences are outlined below.

• The first two enemy encounters are easier on OG than on MCC for Legendary runners. There is a jackal carbine atop the AA gun during the second encounter that will commonly kill you on MCC if you don't take him out first, but can be ignored on OG.
• At the crashed pelican, if you are taking the mongoose on either legendary or easy, you will have a much tighter timing window to reach the closest ghost before the grunt does on MCC than on OG, owing to the faster reaction time of enemies.
• While doing ghost strats after dawn fight as you head back to spark door, you will encounter significant frame drops. The lag is lessened on MCC which makes driving the ghost well through the frame drops much easier on MCC than on OG.
• As you make your way down to do scarab board on Legendary, there is a grunt with a Fuel Rod Gun (Grunt of Doom) in the centre structure where you typically pick up a gravity lift. He can kill you easily on MCC but is almost never a problem on OG.
• After killing the scarab on MCC, it is possible to get a delayed load where the pelican will not load in until 2 enemies on the ramps leading up to the spire are dead. This can cause significant time-loss if you aren't paying attention. To avoid this, easy runners should stay with their chopper down in the scarab area until they see the "loading...done" text on screen after the scarab dies before moving on with the level. It is possible to get this delayed load on OG, but it is far less common.
• There is a strategy on OG that allows you to do the entire interior of the spire section and reach the button cutscene without alerting any enemies with about a 50% success rate. No viable method for this has been found for MCC.

Easy

At the very start of the level, hold your action/reload button to get out of the Pelican as soon as possible. There are some jumps that can be done on the cliff to the left to cut corners as you approach the first encounter. When you reach the first enemies, jump onto the wall from the rock to the far right. Immediately snipe the 2 Brutes in the center of the area and keep walking to the cave. Grab the Deployable Cover or Flare if either was dropped.

In the second area, if you have a DC or Flare, jump onto the Covenant crate at the cave's exit, grenade jump, then equipment jump on top of the cliff to the left. If you did not get either equipment, continue forward, hugging the left cliff, until you reach the support beam. Jump onto it, then turn left and jump onto the cliff. You need forward momentum for the jump, so take a step or two before jumping. When doing this jump, you need to walk along the edge of the cliff for a bit to avoid hitting a very long string of loadzones that causes a lot of lag. Continue to the hallway, ignoring the Grunts and the Brute.

In the Mongoose area, snipe the Brute that is straight ahead near the Mongooses. Jump down to the right of the crashed Pelican and swap your BR for the Rockets on the ground. Make sure you picked up the rocket crate that is right next to it (you should have 4 rockets). Take a Mongoose and drive up the hill. Stay to the right as you approach the jump to avoid getting hit by the incoming Prowlers. Do not hit the tree as you jump. Continue driving through the middle of the area between the 2 rocks and take the nearest Ghost before the Grunt reaches it. If you mess up, you can keep going and take the 2nd Ghost farther back. Boost through the mission until you reach the AA Wraith area.

When you reach the cave just before the AA Wraith area, get out of the Ghost, pull out your Sniper, and zoom towards the rock structure between you and the AA Wraiths. You can barely see the legs of a Brute there. Move your reticule onto the Brute's leg, switch to your Rockets without moving, and fire. This will clear all the enemies there. From now on, keep the Rockets with you, as they are needed at the end. Now you can get back into the Ghost and boost to the Wraith. Destroy it via boarding, then reenter the Ghost. Shoot the Grunt in the tower near the AA Wraiths with your Ghost, then kill the drivers of the 2 other Ghosts. Finally, destroy the AA Wraiths by shooting the circular vent in the back with the Ghost. At this point, the Forward Unto Dawn is on its way. While you're waiting, swap you Sniper for the Fuel Rod Gun in the ammo crate. Get your Ghost again, and wait in the rock structure. Make sure you don't get pushed backward as FUD arrives. You will be forcibly ejected from the Ghost; get back in. Now, wait just to the right of the rock structure until the cue for the next chapter appears ("Forward Unto Dawn").

Boost to the cave from which you entered, avoiding the Ghosts and the Prowler that come out. Continue past everything until you reach the large area with the bridge. Here, you need to hug the left side of the area and head towards the nearest Wraith. Take it and use it to destroy the other one nearby. Keep moving to the bridge, and kill every enemy on it with your Wraith. Once you reach the closed door at the end, get out and take the nearest Chopper parked on the bridge. Wait in front of the door until it opens (this can take quite a while). You can barely drive the Chopper through the door. Drive to the end of the hallway and turn your camera into the back right corner for a few seconds. This spawns 343 GS to open the door for you (the game will not spawn him if you are looking at the door). Keep driving your Chopper through, get out, push the button, and meander through the next 2 rooms to the next area outside.

As you exit the structure, immediately drive as fast as you can straight to the flat area to the back of the level. It is important that you don't flip along the way. Drive into the little building in the middle of the flat area. Slow down as you take the jump to avoid letting the Chopper go too far and dismount it. Grab a Grav Lift to your right and drive to the back right of the area. Throw down your Grav Lift (see vid for specific location) and jump into it the moment the Scarab hits the ground. You need to wait a few seconds before destroying the core with your FRG. All of this needs to be done before the Scarab spawns and jumps down. In the case that you flipped or something on your way to the Scarab, you can opt to skip getting the Grav Lift to save enough time to FRG jump onto the Scarab instead. If you still do not have enough time, you can grab a Grav Lift, drive on top of the building, place it on top, and drive your Chopper over it to jump onto the Scarab.

Once the Scarab is destroyed, get back your Chopper and drive up the ramp to the right side of the flat area. The Chopper is no longer needed. You need to kill at least 2 Carbine-wielding Jackals and reach the top of the ramp to trigger the Pelican to come. While you're waiting for it, go back down the ramp a little and see if you can obtain a Deployable Cover from one of the 3 Brutes there. It is not absolutely necessary, but it saves a fair bit of time later. When the Pelican arrives, wait for Arby and Marines to get out and throw a plasma grenade at them. You want to kill both Marines in order to skip some dialogue while waiting for Guilty Spark to open the door inside the structure.

Run through the first room without waking the sleeping Grunts. You can do a small slide jump in the next hallway, but make sure to jump a little down the ramp to avoid hitting the ceiling. Stay to your right in the next room, then drop down through the beams and descend the staircase. Go to the door to the back left of the Brute room. If you did not obtain a DC before, now is a good chance to get it. Keep going and activate the cartographer.

Turn left after the cutscene and run back to the door you came from. Walk straight ahead to the door near the Jackals and avoid the Brutes in the staircase there. In the next room, you need to quickly kill the Chieftain by firing three fuel rods before he activates his Invincibility. Drop down to the door. Turn around and block it with your DC after walking through. This blocks all the Stalker Brutes and allows you to skip killing them (the door locks later). Sometimes, one does not despawn and makes the level impossible to complete, but that is very, very rare. Kill the 2 Jackals with your FRG and descend to the last area. Now, pull out the Rockets you've been carrying this whole time. Fire the first rocket between the 2 rightmost Brutes. Fire the second between the next 2. Switch to your FRG and kill the last 2. Quickly turn around and try to throw a grenade at the 2 Jackals that spawn in the back. If you miss, you have to get to them and kill them yourself. Once all the enemies are dead, you'll hear Johnson say he'll be there "damn quick." Walk to the back of the area and wait near the edge for the Pelican. Do not stand right on top of the edge; stay a few steps back. Otherwise, you miss the trigger to end the level.

Legendary

For the first 20-30 seconds of the level, you will be, just like on Easy, sitting in the Pelican with nothing to do. Once Johnson says "Stand to, Marines," hold Action/Reload to exit the Pelican 2-3 seconds earlier than usual.

Moving ahead, move towards the left rather than the normal path to the right. Jump over the first rocky ledge and jump onto the rock ahead. From there, couch-jump to the ledge above and jump across the gap to the next rock. Afterwards, move forward a few paces and try to do a slide jump towards the right. There will be a rock that you can use to get onto the ring for the first fight.

First Fight

In this area, there are 3 Brutes, one of which is a Captain with a Brute Shot, and several Grunts and Jackals. Your primary target is the Captain. There are two routes to dealing with this area.

The safe strategy is to snipe the Captain with your Sniper Rifle 2-3 times and reload. Move towards the right and there will be two Grunt Heavies. Take them out with your Battle Rifle and move along. If you require ammo, there is a Weapon Pod with a Sniper Rifle. Ahead, there are two more Jackals before entering the Cave. Take them out with the Battle Rifle and move into the Cave, where there are two Jackal Marksmen; take them out as well. This route takes about 5 seconds longer than the risky strategy for this area.

The risky strategy instead would involve moving forward instead. Once you jump onto the ring, shoot the Brute Captain. He will usually flinch backwards, and the Brute next to him will line up with you, setting up a 2-for-1. Try to line up both the Captain and the Brute next to him, and you should be able to take them out with one clip of the Sniper Rifle. If they drop grenades and equipment, it is recommended to pick them up if possible, especially if there is a Deployable cover, and there is time to reload your Sniper Rifle if these two Brutes have been killed properly. Moving ahead, there are two Jackals; take them out with the Battle Rifle. If you managed to reload your Sniper Rifle in time, you can pick up some ammo in the nearby Weapon Pod. Going into the cave, take out the two Jackal Marksmen and move to the AA Gun section.

AA Gun Section

Your next destination upon entering this section is a door above you on the left. Though there are quite a number of enemies here, it is possible to skip them all with tactical jumps.

The safest way to deal with these enemies is to skirt around the perimeter, maximizing distance between you and the enemies. While this is arguably the easiest way, it takes a considerable amount of time to take this route.

The next easiest way is to move towards the left, where there is an antenna-like structure. Crouch-Jump to this structure and jump forward to the rock ahead. Keep moving ahead towards the leg of the AA Gun, and do a slide-jump from the base of the leg to the slope. Then move up the slope to your next destination. This will take about 10 more seconds to do than doing the Antenna Jump.

One of the quickest ways is to do the Antenna Jump. Again, on the left, there is the Antenna-like structure. Jump on the right part of the antenna. Look to the left, at the cliff, move forward slightly, and jump. This jump is quick, but it will require extensive practice. Upon getting up to the cliff, it is strongly advised to take out the Jackal in the AA Gun.

At the top of the cliff, there will be a Brute Captain, with a Brute Shot, and 7 Grunts. The safest and most consistent way to take them out is to take out the Grunts with the Battle Rifle while keeping one Grunt between you and the Brute Captain as you approach the Captain. Approach the Captain and melee him to stagger him for 2-3 seconds. During this time, you can either run past him or run around him to back-smack him.

After dealing with the group, move along towards the Crashed Pelican area.

Crashed Pelican Area

The Crashed Pelican area is quite a simple area, though getting out will require luck. Your objective here is to pick up the Rocket Launcher under the crashed Pelican and to get to a Ghost in the next area as fast as possible. Coming into this area, there are plenty of Plasma Grenades on the ground; pick them up if you do not have any.

There are quite a few enemies in this area, but the only concerns here are a Brute on the far side and some Grunts under the downed Pelican. The typical way of approaching this section is to take out the Brute on the far side. The Brute can be killed with a long-ranged Plasma Grenade, 2-3 Sniper shots, or 1 Sniper shot with 2-3 Battle Rifle shots. After killing this Brute, move to the downed Pelican, where there are a few Grunts; take them out with the Battle Rifle. Then, swap the Battle Rifle for the Rocket Launcher, and make sure to pick up the nearby Rocket Launcher ammo. Make your way towards the Mongoose and drive onto the next section. Initially, take a hard left and then drive to the next area to minimize time spent driving uphill. Pray to RNGesus that the 2 Prowlers along the way do not start shooting you as you jump the cliff.

Alternatively, if the player has a Deployable Cover, it is possible to launch from this section to a Ghost in the next section. As usual, pick up grenades going into this area. However, it will not be necessary to take out the Brute on the far side. Make your way to the downed Pelican, dispatch any Grunts, and take the Rocket Launcher. Turn right and move up the hill. Aim in the direction of where a Ghost is in the next section. At the top of the hill, launch from there to the next section.

Vehicle Section

If you exited the last section on a Mongoose, there will be a Chopper in the area. Try to make it to the downed Longsword as fast as possible since the Chopper can shoot the Mongoose and cause it to spin out or to flip. As you approach the crashed Longsword, there is debris near the left wing through which the Mongoose can drive. Drive through this debris, but slow down before going through as there is a panel on the ground that can mess up everything if the Mongoose is going at full speed. Ahead, there is a Grunt about to board a Ghost. Make your way to this Ghost and hijack the Ghost. Then drive on to the cliff area.

If you did a DC Launch from the last area, you will typically land near the Ghost parked by 2 Choppers. If the enemies in this area are not active upon landing, revert to the last checkpoint or the game will softlock later on. If the Brutes are approaching their Choppers, then board the nearby Ghost and drive to the left side of the downed Longsword. Unlike the Mongoose approach, drive over the debris rather than under it. The Grunt in the next area will have likely boarded his Ghost so try to move past him as soon as possible. If your shields are down, shoot a couple shots towards the Grunts near the downed Phantom to get one Grunt off his Turret; this will reduce incoming fire and increase chances of survival.

Regardless of how you acquired a Ghost in this section, you will be approaching a cliff. Instead of driving off this cliff, drive up the slope to the right of the cliff. Hold Jump to make it easier to climb the slope as you boost onto it. After boosting up the slope, there will be a steep slope towards the left; descend slowly down this slope and use your boost upward to maintain stability. Once about halfway from the top of the slope to the ground below, there will be another sloped area. Boost along this area towards another hill ahead and climb the hill, but avoid driving too far to the left as you are climbing or a set of enemies will spawn.

After boosting off this hill, make your way to the AA Wraith Section.

AA Wraith Section

Ahead, there is a cave leading to an area with 3 Wraiths (2 Anti-Air Wraiths and 1 Standard Wraith). There are multiple ways to tackle this section.

The safe method is to swap out your Ghost for a Chopper before heading into the cave leading to the AA Wraith Section. Then boost into the Cave, but stay in the cave. Get off and take out your Sniper Rifle. In the distance, there is a cove. Zoom into the cove and target the thigh of a Brute. Next, take out your Rocket Launcher and shoot; the Rocket will hit the Brute and kill all all enemies in the cove. Get back on your Chopper and target the Wraith towards the right side. The cave will protect you from any mortars that the Wraith sends. Kill the Wraith and the nearby Shade Turret. Once those two targets are down, get off your Chopper and take out the nearby Grunt who is on a Plasma Turret and the 4 Brutes on the left side. Get back on on your Chopper and make your way towards the AA Wraiths. Along the way, there will be 2 Ghosts; dispatch them and move on. Once you see the 2 AA Wraiths, take out the nearby Sniper Tower and Grunt or their Turrets will kill you. Once these two threats are gone, target the cores of each AA Wraith and take them out. The trigger for the Forward Unto Dawn landing should occur once both Wraiths are destroyed.

The risky method of this section is to keep your Ghost and boost into the cave. Like the safe method, target the distant Brute in the cove and fire a Rocket to dispatch a group of enemies there and reload your Rockets. Then, target the group of enemies on the right side. Kill the Grunt on the Turret and the Brute on the Wraith Turret. Next, focus on the 4 Brutes on the left side. Kill 2 of those Brutes and weaken the other 2 if you wish, but do not take out a third Brute or 2 Ghosts will spawn early and make killing the Wraith very difficult. Get back on your Ghosts and head towards the Wraith and Shade Turret. Ram into the Shade Turret to kill it and board the Wraith. Kill the Wraith and then stick your Ghost to prevent the remaining Brutes form boarding it. Make your way to the AA Wraiths and snipe the Grunt in the Sniper Tower; if you have bullets left in your clip, shoot the remaining 2 Brutes if possible, but do not take too long. Afterwards, there will be a Grunt on a Plasma Turret to your left; throw a grenade to kill him. Take out your Rocket Launcher as 2 Ghosts approach you and take them out. If you killed only the drivers, you can use the Ghost to kill the AA Wraiths; else, board the Wraiths.

Once everything is dead, pick up a Fuel Rod Cannon and ammo at the cove and scour the area for grenades. At this point, you should at least have a Fuel Rod Cannon with 22-24 shots in the reserve.

Forward Unto Dawn

At this point, the Forward Unto Dawn will land, dropping off 3 Scorpion Tanks and a Warthog. A Pelican will also arrive to drop off 4 Marines. If you need extra ammo for your Rocket Launcher, trade with one of the Marines who gets off and kill him/her. Alternatively, you can also trade with or kill a Marine to get a Battle Rifle.

Afterwards, board the closest Scorpion Tank and make your way back to the cave, where you entered this section. As you approach the cave, 4 Ghosts will come out of the cave. Attempt to blast each of them with one direct hit. Then, a Prowler will emerge with 2 Brutes riding; 2 direct hits will destroy it. Then, 2 more Ghosts and 2 Hunters will come through the cave. Kill all of them with 1 direct hit each.

After getting through the cave, there will be quite a few enemies, including the set of enemies that were skipped on the way to the AA Wraith section. There is a Phantom deploying a Sniper Nest; destroy the turret and the Sniper Nest as soon as they are visible. Then, there will be 3-4 Jackals on the left side. They are top priority due to their ability to disable the tank. Shoot 1-2 shots at the group of Jackals to kill them and move along. As a safety tactic, kill the Brute Captains, who wield a Brute Shot and a Fuel Rod Cannon, so your allies behind you will join you in the next section.

Moving along, drive the Scorpion Tank down the valley. Around the corner, 2 Ghosts will confront you so take them both down. Up ahead, there is a Wraith. Though it takes 4 shots to completely destroy the Wraith, it is faster to take down the driver with 3 shots and let your gunner finish it off. At the top of the hill ahead, there is a camp with a Sniper Nest with 2 Turrets and a group of Grunts and Jackals near the bottom-right base of the tower. Additionally, 4 Ghosts will start to approach. Prioritize the Ghosts if they are closing in, but try to send a shot into the group of Grunts as soon as possible as there are Grunts with Fuel Rod Cannons in that group. The Sniper Nest is the last priority as the turrets will not shoot until you are relatively close to it.

After everything is dead, move onto the Ark Door section.

Ark Door

This area has several vehicle enemies, including 3 Wraiths, 2 Ghosts, 2 Choppers, and several Shade Turrets. The terrain of this area features 2 cliffs on the left side; one upper-level and one mid-level. The upper level is safer but a bit slower while the middle level is more direct but slightly riskier.

As you enter this area, there are 2 Wraiths being dropped off in the distance. Target the one on the left first and hit it with 4 direct shots. There is a tree that can block your shots; this can be remedied by aiming slightly below and the lowest branch. After killing that Wraith, focus on the other Wraith and shoot 4 direct shots at it. Shoot 3-4 shots at any nearby enemies and then look to the right and above the wall. A Phantom will spawn in the sky with a third Wraith; kill this Phantom with 5 direct shots (though it's possible but more difficult with 3 shots). If done correctly, the Phantom will explode and the Brutes in the Wraith will die. Make your way to the platform and kill anything in the way. Once on the platform, make your way to the door and kill the Shade Turret there. At this point, get out of the Tank and switch to a Chopper while Guilty Spark unlocks the Ark Door. If Guilty Spark is still saying "Reclaimer, come to the upper doorway; the others can take the lower route," then shoot him to skip a bit of dialogue and save about 6 seconds.

Once Guilty Spark unlocks the door, drive your Chopper through the door and boost down the ramp. Once down the ramp, there is a locked door to your left. Turn your camera away from this door for a few seconds and Guilty Spark will spawn there to open the door. After Spark opens the door, drive to the middle of the next room, but do not drive onto the circular platform. Get off and activate the panel to unlock the door on the far side. Get back on the Chopper and drive through the next 2 rooms. In each of these rooms, there are two nodes; driving between the closest node and the wall is the fastest way of navigating these rooms while driving between the nodes is usually easier.

As you navigate the second room, get ready to boost into the Scarab Section.

Scarab Section

This is one of the more brutal parts of the mission. Dying or making mistakes here can cost potentially entire minutes. Your first objective in this section is to destroy the Scarab which appears on the very far side of this whole area. Afterwards, you will need to head up a spire to the chapter "Real Men Don't Read Maps."

Immediately as you exit the previous section, turn about 30 degrees right and boost to the right of a tree. Then turn slightly to the left and go down the cliff. Once you reach the bottom of the cliff, boost off the ledge and stay near the right towards the rock wall. Drive along the shadow and turn left to boost off the next ledge. Go under the rock arch and head to the structure with a flat roof. Inside, drive slowly up the ramp and pick up the Grav Lift to the right if you choose. Regardless of whether you chose to pick up a Grav Lift or not, get out of the structure and head to the right, where the Scarab will spawn.

If you have a Grav Lift, boost into the shadows and park your Chopper there. Find a little wedge in the shadow and plant your Grav Lift close to the peak of the wedge (about 1 meter/3 feet to the left or 2 meters/6 feet to the right). The Scarab should be coming down in a few seconds, and the core will appear on your motion track. Once the red dot moves past you on the motion tracker, move forward and jump as the Grav Lift boosts you up to the Scarab Core. The core will be invulnerable for about 3-4 seconds; wait for that to pass and then destroy the core with 2 Fuel Rod Shots and get back to your Chopper.

If you do not have a Grav Lift, a Fuel Rod Jump is possible to board the Scarab at the boarding deck. Like before, park your Chopper in the shadows. However, position yourself at the edge of the shadow and look for the Scarab Core on your motion tracker. Once the red dot passes you, run forward and do a Fuel Rod Jump to get into the boarding deck of the Scarab.

If neither one of these options is appealing, drive the Chopper to the roof of the structure instead of going to where the Scarab will spawn. Place your Grav Lift there and wait for the Scarab to come. Line up your Chopper with the Grav Lift and Scarab. Then, boost onto the Grav Lift, and you should land on top of the Scarab. Get off the Chopper, find the Scarab Core, and destroy it. Jump off the Scarab and find the nearest Chopper without dying.

After destroying the Scarab, you will need to get to the top of the Spire. The safer and most common way of doing so is to drive back up the area. Turn your Chopper so you are going uphill. Drive to the right of the flat-roof structure and past 3 outcrops. Then, turn left and you should see a grey and beige rooftop. There is a rocky ledge from which you can boost onto the roof. Once you're on the roof, keep driving along the grey portion of the roof and boost towards the end. Once you are close to the end of the rooftop, drop through the gap on your left, but get off your Chopper halfway through the drop or the Fall Timer will kill you. Find your way to the door to the building and kill the nearby Jackal Sniper with your Fuel Rod Cannon.

The riskier way to get to the top of the Spire is to charge up the ramp with your Chopper. After getting off the Scarab, boost towards the ramp leading to the top of the spire. The Choppers in the area may prove to be a threat, but if you can make it up to the ramp in time, you should survive. Go up the first part of the ramp, but conserve your boost as you're going up to boost once you reach the top of this ramp. Line up your reticule between the Covenant Crate and the wall at the top of the second part of the ramp. Then boost up this ramp; boosting prevents the nearby Fuel Rod Brute Captain from killing you. At this point, get off your Chopper and kill some of the 4 Jackal Marksmen at the very top of the area. Keep moving to the top and kill the Jackal Sniper to the left once you reach the top.

If time permits after doing the risky method, pick up the Beam Rifle and kill enemies that you passed on the way up. There will be 1 Brute just below you with Camo. Kill him for Incendiary Grenades and possibly a Cloaking or a Radar Jammer. On the level below, your Chopper should be parked there, and there will be 3 Brutes and the Fuel Rod Captain. Your goal here is to kill them and hopefully pick up a Bubble Shield. The Fuel Rod Captain will have most likely boarded the Chopper, but sniping him should be very easy. However, at the very bottom of the spire, there will be enemies firing Fuel Rods at you so be careful. Use whatever equipment you have to help you kill the Captain and the 2 nearby Brutes for a Bubble Shield. Then, after getting a Bubble Shield, if you have obtained one, go back up the ramp, where a Pelican drops off 2 Marines.

Before entering "Real Men Don't Read Maps," a Pelican will drop off the Arbiter and 2 Marines. Kill the Male Marine to skip about 15 seconds of dialogue during "Real Men Don't Read Maps."

Real Men Don't Read Maps

Once you enter the Spire, you will be waiting for about 15 seconds as 343 Guilty Spark unlocks a door. There are 2 Plasma Grenades on the ground; pick them up if you need them. Once Guilty Spark opens the door, proceed to the far right corner of the room, where there is the Pissing Brute Easter Egg. Backsmack him so he does not alert anyone in the room and for a Bubble Shield if you have not gotten one already. Go through the nearby door and attempt a slide-jump down the ramp. Go through the door at the bottom of the ramp and head down the hall.

After the end of the hall, you will be in a room where there is a door ahead of you, another door down below you, and a ramp to your left. If you have a Bubble Shield, drop down and head through the door below and proceed through the next room without getting spotted. If you do not have a Bubble Shield, you may want to stick to the upper level and assassinate the Brute for another chance at getting a Bubble Shield. Sometimes, regardless of your path, you will get spotted by the Brute. Should this happen, you may wish to kill most of the enemies in the room before going into Hell Room. Else, you will not get a checkpoint prior to going into Hell Room, and all the enemies in Hell Room will be alerted. If you managed to not get spotted, you will receive a checkpoint just before going into Hell Room, and the enemies in there will not be alerted.

Hell Room

This room is quite dangerous. There are about 5 Brutes in here, and 4 of them wield Brute Shots. Your objective here is to get past everything and go through the door on the far side of the room. You will likely die multiple times in this section, though running through and dying multiple times is still much faster than taking out every enemy in the room.

Before you enter this room, a Brute will spawn at the entrance to Hell Room. Unless the enemies in the previous room are still alive and alerted, this Brute will not be alerted yet, even if you are in front of him. As you enter the door, the Brute will try to melee you. Side-step to the left and bypass him. You may wish to turn around and stick him with a grenade, but this is just a matter of preference.

From here, there are multiple tactics as to getting to the far side of the room. If the Brutes have just become alerted, move forward past 2 small pillars and past another large pillar in the middle of the room. After passing that large pillar, turn left into an alcove and make your way towards the door. However, 2 Brutes with Brute Shots are in your way. In order to get past them, either throw down your Bubble Shield (though this makes getting past Hell's Hall harder) or approach both Brutes as you go to the door in order to make the Brutes melee instead of shooting you.

If the Brutes are already alerted before you entered the room, then you may wish to go towards the left immediately rather than going straight forward. As you go forward, there are 2 Brutes wielding Brute Shots in your way. Spam Fuel Rod Cannon shots, grenades, and Rockets (if you have Rockets) towards them. If you have your Bubble Shield, you may want to deploy it, but doing so will make getting past Hell's Hall much more difficult.

After getting through Hell Room, make your way to the Cartographer controls and activate the panel.

Hell's Hall

After activating the Cartographer, you will be making your way back into Hell Room, though Hell Room will not be as difficult as it was on the way to the Cartographer. However, in the hall before getting back into Hell Room, a Brute with a Brute Shot may appear. Pay attention to your motion tracker, and if he is going into the hall, blast him with 2-3 Fuel Rods.

Once you are in Hell Room, there will be 3 Grunts towards your left. Though it is tempting to kill them, it is safer to run past them while holding the Fuel Rod Cannon out as having a heavy weapon out will cause Grunts to panic. On the far end of the room, there will be 4 Jackals. Take them out with your Fuel Rod Cannon and make your way into Hell's Hall.

In Hell's Hall, there are 2 Brute Bodyguards with Maulers and a Turret Chieftain. Getting through here depends on what resources you have (weapons, grenades, equipment).

If you have a Bubble Shield, you can simply drop it towards the top of the ramp and run down. The Bubble Shield will protect you from the front Brute Bodyguard, and you will be able to close in on the second Brute Bodyguard to melee him. Run past the Chieftain and make your way into the Camo Room.

If you do not have a Bubble Shield, your strat will vary depending on what weapons you have. If you have Rockets, you will want to blast the Bodyguards with a rocket and follow it up with several Fuel Rods and Grenades. If possible, pick up a Regenerator from one of the Bodyguards and deploy it immediately to provide yourself some shield regeneration against the Chieftain. If you have brought a Sniper weapon in this area, stun the 2 Bodyguards with a shot in each of them. The stun will render them harmless for about 2 seconds so move quickly past them before they shoot you. If you have neither a Rocket Launcher or a sniper weapon, run past all of them and hope that the Bodyguards try to melee you rather than shoot you.

Camo Room

This room has 4 Brute Stalkers with Spikers. While they have low shields, they are hard to spot, and they can dish out a lot of damage in a short amount of time. This room has an upper level with 2 Brutes and a lower level with 2 more Brutes. Additionally, there will be 2 Jackals that will come through a door on the lower level. Your main weapon in this area will be your Fuel Rod Cannon. It is strong enough to kill each Brute Stalker in 2 hits, and it can kill Jackals in 1 direct hit.

Upon entering this room, have your Fuel Rod Cannon out and move towards the right. There will be a Brute Stalker right in front of you. Blast him with two Fuel Rods or hit him with a Plasma Grenade to kill him quickly. Then, strafe left to drop down to the lower level. There will be another Brute Stalker in the corner so kill him. The Brute Stalker on the upper level will drop down. Find him and kill him. After that, there should be only 1 Brute Stalker left; use your radar and listen to your surroundings to kill him.

After all the Brute Stalkers are dead, 2 Jackals will come through a door. Use a Plasma Grenade or your Fuel Rod Cannon to kill them. Then move towards the door from which they came. Before entering the door, if you need Plasma Grenades, jump to pick up 2 Plasma Grenades through the floor of the upper level. Then proceed to the final fight.

Final Fight

In the last area of The Ark, there will be a Hammer Chieftain accompanied by 6 Jetpack Brutes. However, each of the Jetpack Brutes will remain in place until the player starts fighting them. This gives ample time to get into position or to pick up another weapon if needed.

Upon entering this area, the player has quite a few options before the enemies become active. If need be, there is a weapon crate on the left side of the area with Carbines. This may be useful if the player is low on ammo or grenades.

Upon starting the fight, you will want to have your Fuel Rod Cannon out. Approach the nearest Jetpack Brute and stick him with a Plasma/Spike/Incendiary Grenade. If you have a Cloaking, activate it to keep the Brutes inactive. Move to the next Brute and repeat the same process; however, be careful about the Hammer Chieftain. Do this until either you have no more sticking grenades or until all the Jetpack Brutes are dead. If there are still Jetpack Brutes alive, blast them with your Fuel Rod Cannon.

Once all the Jetpack Brutes are dead, deal with the Chieftain. If he does not activate Invincibility, then he has a Flare; simply blast him with 4 Fuel Rods. However, if he does activate Invincibility, either wait for it to expire or assassinate him. Due to the terrain of this area, he may not do his signature lunge attack needed to assassinate him so keep moving around and wait for him to lunge at you.

After killing the Chieftain, face the area from which you came. Then, look towards the left, and 2 Jackal Marksmen will come out of a door. Kill them with any means possible, and the level will end 20 seconds after you kill the last enemy in this area.