During the Weekly Challenge to complete Winter Contingency on Legendary with All Skulls On, I completed this 12 minute, 8 second run of it. Half to get the challenge, half to beat my previous best on this level of 13:19.

– Talkthough –

Between completing this level on Mythic, and seeing Cody Miller's Legendary run of this level with the Falcon, I knew I had to try and put both of these together. Thats obviously the big-ticket thing in this run. If you've any experience speedrunning this level or playing it on SLASO, the rest is largely just standard fare.

I tried to do some slide-jumps at the start but ultimately failed. They can grab you enough extra speed to catch up with that Spec-Ops Elite if done right. Round the corner, a little sprint-jump over the gap saves a couple of seconds.

I need a Plasma Pistol to down the Falcon so I cut through the basemement and come out the far exit to engage the Grunts. My aim was a little off unfortunately. Nevertheless, by the time I've grabbed a PP, Noble team are already providing ample distraction for the rest of the enemies and are pushing them back out of the courtyard, leaving me free to run across.

Going up the left side of Overlook gets too hairy when you get close to the SPADE truck. On the right behind the barriers is nice and safe. Always a boon on Mythic.

Grabbing the Falcon can sometimes be impossible due to Jun sitting in there. Other times, like in this run, it weird outs and hovers there on the first overcharge! Flipping the Falcon the right way up always frustrates me; it seems to spin the opposite way to that which would make most sense!

Sometimes I've had trouble with the Concussion Turret on the Spirit seeming like it would knock me out of its arms. I destroy it this time to make sure I'm safe. The exact path the Spirit takes is sometimes a little random; sometimes it'll try to fly through rocks and will knock you out! Came close to that at one point in this run but fortunately I was safe.

At the courtyard, its just standard killing until I'm prompted to go inside. I go for Jackals and Grunts first to get the numbers down quicker since the Elites have ridiculous shields!

After the cutscene, I rush up the left side to make the Zealot back off and Jorge to move up ASAP. In hindight I should have grabbed a DMR quickly before going over there. The next hallway can get quite dangerous with the Grunts throwing their Plasma Grenades!

In the final room, that last Grunt would have ideally come straight out after the other three. Had to spend a little time finishing him off. I'm a bit sucky with staying on the beam that goes over the room, but getting up there is worth it for the angle you get on the Zealots through the door. Applying liberal Plasma Peppering takes down their shields reasonably quick. Considering they die with only one headshot, they take a surprising amount of damage to their legs to die!

– Could it be Improved? –

Only with the fighting at the end really. You could be a bit more aggressive with those Zealots. Perhaps drawing out the Sword one first, and then using the Sword to kill the Concussion Rifle one. Other than that it'd only be minor refinements along the way.

 

Verifier Notes:

12:08 by HSH standards. Film attached to stats is named incorrectly.
First timebar appear: 00:13(0:09 already in-game), disappear 9:13. Elapsed 9:09
Reappear 9:16. Disappear 12:15. Elapsed 2:59.

9:09 + 2:59 = 12:08.

Watch this Speed Run