Now that the pleasentries are out of the way, maybe I can get a little more on-topic. Im a member/benchwarmer of the site challenge team, a collection of some of the best Halo 2 players affiliated with 2old2play. Other than the chance to meet great players that I other otherwise wouldnt have known, the best part about being on the team is the weekly practices. In what will hopefully become a semi-regular part of this page, Ill take you into a game to review some of the map strategy for a specific gametype that we worked on. Hopefully you can pick up some information to try in your custom games or to work the Timmies in matchmaking...

Last week we ran through team slayer on my favorite map, Lockout. Keep in mind that every game we play uses MLG-style setup (essentially BR starts & no radar). Ill also make references to code words we use (some generally common, others not) to describe different areas of the map which is important for calling out enemy locations. Below is an overview shot of one of the games, while its not a great vantage point (its hard to pinpoint the exact locations) itll do. Note that every icon shown below represents a player death, lets take a look...



The first thing to note is how the deaths are essentially clustered around a few prime areas of the map. When playing Lockout team slayer in at least a semi-strategic fashion, the teams will find themselves sticking to a certain base area (either the BR Tower or the Sniper Tower) and much of the game plays out by trading BR potshots & tossed grenades back & forth.

The BR tower is the preferred location to lock down because it has locations with good firing lines, decent cover, & access to the Library (the room above the sword spawn). Usually youll have a player on BR one (the lowest level where the plasma nades & needler are) to guard low, one on BR two (the midlevel), one in the aformentioned library, and someone that roams the back ramps of BR3 (the top level where the BR spawns).

On the flip side is the Sniper tower, where things are a little more claustrophobic (which is bad with all the incoming grenades). Usually youll put someone on the ramp to Sniper 3 (where the human sniper spawns), someone on Sniper 2 (the second level ledge), one in Sniper 1 (the enclosed room where the plasma rifle spawns), and one that roams the elbow (the outer ramp where the bomb is planted). Depending on the scenario, the Sniper 1 player can roam to the elbow while the 4th player goes to the blue lift building.

As the game plays out, its important to gain control of the Blue Lift building (especially if youre Sniper side). While people get picked off shooting from tower to tower, much of the fighting takes place in the lower level below glass (the courtyard glass square, above the shotgun spawn). From the lower lift building you can take shots at BR 2 & 3, not to mention thrown nades in BR1, BR2, & the Library (note that a great player can throw those nades from the elbow as well, but the throws are harder).

On the flip side, the same position can hit the elbow as well as Sniper 1 & 2 with fire/nades for the other team. Brave players can also go up to Blue Lift 2, to fire into the Library or BR 2 & 3 which helps even the map for the Sniper side team. If the BR side team gets a hold of it though, they really force the issue for the Sniper side because it essentally backs them into a small corner.

When playing MLG-style games, communication is even more important because theres no radar to show the enemy locations. A bold player can grab the sword and try and sneak behind your team (say from going from the Library up to Sniper 3) to catch you off guard. This can be easy to accomplish without radar and when team members dont have properly designated roles/firing lines.

A good team will also call out locations as well as shots left when fighting an enemy. Since an enemy can be taken down in 4 BR bursts, after you trade fire with an opponent who has retreated you should always pass the weakened enemys location to the rest of your team. A teamate with a different vantage point might be able to quickly finish him off.

Heres a link to the game, which was the middle out of three. You can take a look at other views of the map or view the other two gamess below:

Link to games on Bungie.net