Halo Reach (Mission 2) Winter Contingency Walkthrough
Video Walkthrough: (Mission 2) Winter Contingency Walkthrough
Datapad Locations: Datapad #1 Location and Datapad #10 Location
The first mission of Halo Reach begins with you and Noble team being dropped off in a field nearby some houses. When you are playing on Legendary there will be an Elite in this area that's invisible, you'll have to shoot and kill him to retrieve Datapad #10. Datapads are the collectibles that you can find in each level in Halo: Reach. They replace Skulls and Terminals.
I recommend you follow the linear scripted events during the first part of this mission because it's pretty cool to see this stuff in the Halo franchise, it's a total break from the norm up until this point. However, you don't have to do any of the scripted events at the start here. You don't have to stop and "talk" to the citizens or explore anything. To advance the story all you need to do is continue along the path until you eventually run into a building with some Covenant inside and out (pictured below).
This will be the first fight of the game and you'll be introduced to a new enemy - Skirmishers. I guess I would describe Skirmishers as very agile Jackals, they move around quick like Elites and can be hard to hit as a result. Once you clear out this farm house you will want to continue across the river and into the fields.
After clearing out the fields you'll be told to continue east to deal with another group of Covenant. Thankfully this Halo game has a compass on the top which makes it a lot easier to give you guys directions! When you've taken out all remaining Covenant you'll get a HUD update that points you to a nearby vehicle; go there and get inside.
Your team mate, Jorge, will ride on the back of your vehicle with his machine gun - so I recommend you wait around for him to board before taking off. Our destination for right now is to drive around until you get a HUD pop up telling you where to go next. As you're driving around you will get contacted about visiting a nearby distress signal, this can appear in one of two different locations (pictured below).
Regardless of which location your signal is in it'll always play out the same. You defend a group of Marines until evac can arrive for them. There will be a couple waves of Covenant that you need to fight off but all in all it shouldn't be too hard. If you get low on health check the surrounding buildings, there is typically Health Packs to be found on the walls.
Funny enough, the evac that comes is for you and you leave the Marines you were just protecting behind. You take the Falcon to a nearby courtyard that is currently infested with Covenant. There will be a scripted event that takes place in this courtyard requiring you to survive until the door can be closed with your entire team safely inside. It seems like this event is hard but even on legendary your fellow Spartans can not die which makes it rather easy because you can let them take all the hits.
There are DMR rifles you can find around the area and on the weapon rack inside of the room with the door we're trying to close. I strongly recommend you go for a DMR because it's an amazing weapon - definitely the best in the game in my opinion. After you get the door closed head inside and walk over to a body to trigger a cutscene.
When you regain control of your character it will be in a dark room with some Covenant enemies. Right next to you on the wall (to your right) will be a weapon rack with a DMR on it - if you want one (take it). The next part of this mission is pretty much a completely linear scripted event. You will fight a couple groups of Covenant until you eventually fight an entire group of Elites one of which will have a sword and will come running towards you if you happen to get too close.
Once you kill the Elites all that's left is to reset a junction in the room the Elites were hiding in. Doing this will complete the mission.
Continue to Mission 3: ONI Sword Base
Return to Mission 1 Tips, Tricks & Strategies for the Campaign