Gonak (A.K.A. Just Press B) gives us our first run on the level ‘Pillar of Autumn.’
Wait what? Oh Bungie! Re-using level names again! Anyway, this is an easy difficulty speedrun on PoA (Reach) and its just 10:11 by the in-game timer. The level is very long, and sprint obviously plays a big role in cutting that length down to size. He’s only really slowed down by the fighting near the end on the landing pad.
– Talkthrough –
Right at the start he lands an absolutely monstrous slide-jump after leaping from the cliff. Its so good, watch the run for that if nothing else! With it, and a little more sprinting, he’s right past the first lot of enemies and hops straight into the Mongoose.
At the Two Scarabs, he more or less drives straight down the right side of the area, down two huge drops, lands them well, and adds a (totally intentional) wheelie for epic style points.
Moving on to the Wraith area, he squeezes his Mongoose between and underneath the barriers blocking the road, hangs a right up onto the rocks and drives past the entire area. If he weren’t as speedy, he would have been in danger of getting pincered by the suicide Grunts!
After picking up a DMR, its back to tapping that Armour Ability button; all the way through the caves, all the way through Boneyard. In the caves he skips down the rocky ridge, then in Boneyard cuts across the ground, underneath the Frigate, and enters the Core building from the left front door.
In Smelting Room 1 he pops the glass and jumps through, allowing him to get onto the outer catwalks before the Phantom has come down.
He uses the Rockets and a couple of grenades to soften up the Hunters, then finishes them with the DMR.
In Smelting Room 2, its straight up the stairs, smack a couple of Grunts from the doorway down, and keep on sprinting.
He grabs a Grenade Launcher just before the Landing Pad and uses it to great effect on the dropped off Brutes.
Wave 2 he has a little trouble with the Chieftains; good thing he’s on Easy otherwise those FRG rounds would have ended him! He scoops the FRG up straight after and uses it himself on the Captains.
He then uses the other Cheiftain’s weapon, the hammer, to pound away the opposition in Wave 3.
After handing off the package, he sprints straight inside, and up towards the Mass Driver, triggering the Cruiser to come down immediately.
He is initially cautious in using the Mass Driver due to the FRG Field Marshall behind him, but he soon remembers he’s on Easy. He hops back in, and lays waste to the inbound aircraft, including the cruiser.
– Could it be done faster? –
Well yes! As a matter of fact I know a few of our runners are already working on improvements to this run. For one, he didn’t need to deal with the Hunters; you can jump through the glass next to the door to get into Smelting Room 2.
Written by: RC Master
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