Spartan Ops vs. Campaign
Spartan Ops is a continuation of the Halo 4 campaign, taking place roughly 6 months after the end of the story. Similar to the campaign, you and up to 3 teammates fight against Covenant and Promethean enemies in order to complete objectives and progress the story. However, unlike in the campaign, you play as your Spartan IV character and gain XP, allowing you to level up. Therefore, Spartan Ops is very similar to Firefight from previous Halo games, and it is often considered a replacement.
Although Spartan Ops is very similar to the campaign, there are some key differences that you should keep in mind when playing. The major differences are as follows:
1. You are able to use your Spartan IV load outs, which means that you can develop your own loadout to match you play style. These are the same loadouts that you use in War Games.
2. When you die, the game does not revert to the last checkpoint; rather, you respawn at a far corner of the map. When you respawn, the game is not changed in any way (just like in War Games), meaning that all of the enemies that you killed in your previous life will remain dead. You are unable to choose your spawn point, so you often spawn in a poor location.
3. Especially in the later missions, you will encounter much larger groups of enemies than you do in the campaign. It is quite common to encounter multiple Promethean Commanders in the same room, or to find over 20 Grunts in a group.
4. In general, enemies are much more aggressive in Spartan Ops. In the campaign, enemies usually fire at you from a distance or slowly advance towards you in small groups. In Spartan Ops, large groups of up to 10 elites may rush your position at one time, which can be very overwhelming.
5. You gain XP points from playing Spartan Ops and you progress Spartan Ops commendations. This means that you can level up your Spartan IV, allowing you to unlock new weapons and items for both Spartan Ops and War Games.
6. Spartan Ops missions are shorter than campaign missions. In general, the early missions take around 10-15 minutes, and the later ones take around 20-25 minutes. There are a total of 50 Spartan Ops missions, making it much longer than the campaign.
Loadout
Because you can choose your own loadout in Spartan Ops, it is very important that you take full advantage of this and develop the best possible loadout for multiple situations. I strongly suggest that you make two loadouts that you use solely for Spartan Ops: one for fighting Prometheans and one for fighting Covenant. When you first start playing, you will have very few weapons and items available. Once you play a few games on Spartan Ops or War Games, you will level up your Spartan IV and unlock new equipment. I suggest that you create the following loadouts as soon as you unlock all of the required equipment (you will have most of these items available before level 10):
Covenant Loadout:
– Primary Weapon: Carbine
– Secondary Weapon: Plasma Pistol
– Grenade: Plasma Grenade
– Armor Ability: Promethean Visions
– Perk 1: Armor Ability Regeneration
– Perk 2: Extra Ammunition
In my opinion, this loadout is the best possible loadout for fighting Covenant enemies. However, feel free to customize it to your own personal play style. The Carbine is the fastest firing headshot weapon and has the largest magazine, so you can use it to easily kill Grunts and Jackals with headshots. You can overcharge the Plasma Pistol to stun and jack vehicles and also to remove Elite’s shields, allowing you to then kill them with a Carbine headshot. Promethean Vision is especially useful in Spartan Ops because it will help you get headshots and see enemies before they can see you. It will also provide you with early warning when the enemies charging you. Plasma Grenades are the best grenades for Spartan Ops because they deal the most damage and stick to their target. This is especially useful if you play on Legendary. For Perk 2, it is very important that you choose extra ammunition so that you do not need to scavenge for new weapons. This perk gives you more Plasma Pistol energy as well. It is not very important what you choose for Perk 1, but I personally prefer Armor Ability Regeneration.
Promethean Loadout:
– Primary Weapon: Battle Rifle
– Secondary Weapon: Plasma Pistol
– Grenade: Plasma Grenade
– Armor Ability: Promethean Visions
– Perk 1: Armor Ability Regeneration
– Perk 2: Extra ammunition
As you can see, I only change the primary weapon for the Promethean Loadout. It is important to use the Battle Rifle instead of the Carbine against Prometheans because it deals the highest damage of all of the headshot weapons. This makes it much easier to kill watchers, allowing you to kill them in only 3-5 shots on Legendary. Because the Battle Rifle fires 3-shot bursts, it is easier to get headshots with it, making it easier to hit the small heads of the Promethean Knights. With this loadout, you can kill Crawlers with Battle Rifle headshots, Watchers with 3-5 Battle Rifle shots, and Knight with an overcharged Plasma Pistol and a Battle Rifle headshot.
Tips and Strategies
1. Both the Battle Rifle and the Carbine are very accurate and have 2x scopes. Be sure to use this to your advantage by picking off light infantry from a distance with headshots instead of engaging them up close.
2. If you have any UNSC weapon (other than a Rocket Launcher or Spartan Laser) equipped, you will gain full ammo if you touch a UNSC crate. Therefore, keep your eyes open for UNSC crates if you are using the Promethean loadout, as you can use them to refill your Battle Rifle.
3. Keep an eye out for weapons on the map. Each mission is scattered with weapons crates filled with high powered weapons. Swap your Plasma Pistol for some type of rocket launcher or other high powered weapon when fighting Hunters, vehicles, or many Elites or Knights at once. You may also wish to swap your Plasma Pistol for a SAW when fighting Knights.
4. In outdoor maps, there are often available unoccupied vehicles. Although I suggest against using Ghosts or Mongooses, I highly suggest that you use available Mantises, Scorpions, or Wraiths. If you are playing Co-op with a friend, you can uses Warthogs as well.
5. If you do not already have a vehicle, consider jacking enemy Wraiths instead of destroying them. Kill all of the enemies around the Wraith and then EMP it with you Plasma Pistol. Enter the Wraith’s turret, and the driver will exit, allowing you to take control of the Wraith.
6. When fighting Knights up close, consider removing their shields with a Plasma Pistol and killing them with a Plasma Grenade. This is usually a lot easier than the Plasma Pistol and headshot method, as Knights have helmets and tiny heads. When fighting Covenant, save your Plasma Grenades for Hunters.
7. When fighting Hunters on foot, try searching for heavy weapons such as some type of rocket launcher or a Spartan Laser. If you cannot find any, weaken the Hunters with Plasma Grenades and finish them off with a shotgun or fully automatic rifle (such as the SAW, Assault Rifle, or Suppressor). Be sure to aim for their weak spots on their backs.
8. In some situations, you will need to seize an area filled with a large number of Elites or Knights. When doing so, do not rush in; you will be overwhelmed and will most likely die before you can kill any of them. Rather, pick off all of the light infantry from a distance with your headshot weapon, then slowly approach the area. When you see an Elite or Knight far away from his allies, take him out with a Plasma Pistol and headshot combination. Continue eliminating the stragglers around the area until a much more manageable number of enemies remains. Whenever possible, avoid engaging many Elites or Knights at once, because after you remove one enemy’s shield, he will retreat and the others will provide him with covering fire until his shields regenerate.
9. In certain missions, a large group of enemies (usually Elites) will charge towards you. Unlike in the campaign, they will not approach you one at a time; they will instead try to overrun your position by charging in a single wave. Take cover in a good choke point such as a doorway so that you can fight them one at a time. If you feel that you are going to be overrun, retreat back the way you came and try to hold them at another choke point. Repeat this process until only a few Elite’s remain.
10. There is no safe-spawn system in Spartan Ops. This means that you might respawn right next to a group of enemies. If this happens, the enemies will most likely not notice you until you shoot, so try sneaking away to a safe distance before you engage them.
11. Throughout Spartan Ops, Miller and Commander Palmer will often make it sound that you need to do something quickly. However, this is almost always a plot device; there is usually no time limit for completing an objective. The one exception to this is when you need to defend an objective that has a health bar. In these situations, you will lose if the objective dies, so be sure to protect it.
12. If you are having trouble with a mission, try playing it with friends. The levels do not get any harder with more people, and having more people to draw the enemies’ fire is always useful, no matter how bad they are.