Halo 2 vehicles. By Shinigami Note: This guide is for personal use only, it may not be reproduced, re-posted or republished without the authors permission. Contents: I. Intro. II. Covenant vehicles II.1 Ghost II.2 Banshee II.3 Spectre II.4 Wraith II.5 Shadow III. Human Vehicles III.1 M12 Warthog LRV III.2 M12G1 Warthog LAAV III.3 M808B Scorpion MBT IV. Boarding V. Final comment I. Introduction. Vehicles. You know, those things randomly placed around the game, the things that can speed you on your way, provide awesome firepower, some used simply for transport, others to get to high up areas. The following guide includes a list of the vehicles found throughout halo 2, their armament and the best way to destroy them. For more info on the weapons of the vehicles contained in this guide please check out the Weapons Guide by Drugmunnky. II. Covenant Vehicles. The covenant use boosted gravity propulsion drives to power their vehicles. All of the following covenant vehicles, excluding the banshee, hover a small distance off the ground, making them very maneuverable over most terrains. All of the following covenant vehicles also have the boost ability. II.1 Ghost. The Halo 2 ghost is basically a remake of the original ghost from the first Halo. The ghost only holds one occupant, the driver/pilot, and is armed with twin plasma cannons. Unlike its original, this new ghost has the boost ability, giving it an extra spurt of speed, while unfortunately having to take power away from the steering and all the power from the weapons system. This ability can be quite useful for rushing to get somewhere or something, or simply to flee. I find that the ghost is an excellent anti troop vehicle, as its plasma cannons can rip through enemy ground forces without reloading or overheating, and the boost allows you to splatter enemy troops if they get too close. Probably the best way to take out a ghost would have to be the fuel tanks on the sides of the ghost. One shot from the sniper rifle or about 3 shots from the battle rifle to these fuel tanks should take out the ghost instantaneously. II.2 Banshee. The Banshee is the covenant, low altitude fighter jet. Like the Ghost, The Halo 2 Banshee is a remake of the one in the original Halo. It can carry a pilot and no other crew or passengers. It's primary weapon is its twin plasma cannons, and secondary weapon is its fuel rod cannon or "Banshee Bomb." The fuel rod can only be used in campaign, where it can annihilate enemy troops and vehicles. While on multiplayer the twin plasma cannons rip through enemy shielding. It can also be an invaluable tool for getting to high up sniping positions. The Banshee's weak point lies in its fuel pods, one the end of each wing. Although i find that the best way to take banshees out is the rocket launcher, the Scorpion or human turrets. II.3 Spectre. The Spectre is the covenant equivalent of the human warthog, It can hold a total of 4 occupants, a Driver, a rear gunner, and 2 people can ride on the side wings. The Spectre is armed with a rear mounted plasma cannon turret. It is quite slow and only really effective as a troop carrier in small areas. In a large area its slowness added to the fact that everyone, except the driver, riding or gunning have no cover and are easy targets for enemy snipers. It is extremely effective in small areas as it has a turret + 2 armed passengers. Spectre's slow speed and openness makes the best way to take them out with a sniper. Attacking from behind on foot can be effective as long as the gunner is quickly terminated, as the side passengers can't rotate fully. II.4 Wraith. The wraith is the covenant artillery piece. Heavy and slow moving, it is still an excellent vehicle as it makes up for its speed with its awesome power and excellent armor. Added to this it has a boost, allowing it to dodge, or crush. The wraith can only hold a driver and is armed with a primary weapon, a plasma mortar, and two secondary weapons, two auto firing plasma cannons, that are only active in campaign and only when driven by an enemy pilot. The secondary weapon only activates if you get too close to the wraith. The best ways i've found for taking out wraith's are, rocket launchers(it takes a minimum of 2 rockets), another wraith, a scorpion or a banshee as it is very maneuverable and because it is a flying target, make it hard to hit with a curving, mortar shot. II.5 Shadow. The shadow is the covenant apc. It can hold 1 pilot, 1 gunner and a maximum of 8 passengers, depending on their size/race. Shadows only appear in the campaign level Outskirts, where one of your objectives is to destroy them. Hence, you can't at anytime in the game pilot them or ride in them, but in this level you can jump on top of the shadow and usee the turret. The shadow is armed with a fore-mounted plasma cannon. III. Human Vehicles. The human vehicles are powered practically the same as today's vehicles. The warthogs have wheels, like most vehicles now, and the scorpion has treads, like today's tanks. These vehicles are extremely maneuverable, as they were designed to be used on terrains like earth's. The warthogs are 4x4 all terrain vehicles, although you'll find them hard to control on ice. III.1 M12 Warthog LRV. The M12 warthog can carry a driver, a passenger and a rear gunner. It is armed with a rear mounted 12.7mm, 3 barrel machine gun, which fast small projectiles at high speeds, doing great damage in a small amount of time. It is extremely fast and maneuverable over most terrains, and coupled with that, the ability for a passenger makes this the ideal vehicle in capture the flag games. The rear mounted turret is great for taking out infantry, and i find is also extremely useful against banshees and ghosts. III.2 M12G1 Warthog LAAV. This version of the warthog carries the same occupants as the LRV, a driver, a passenger and a gunner. The only real difference bbeing in the type of rear mounted weapon. The LAAV uses a 25mm Gauss or MAC, (Magnetic acceleration cannon,) gun. Which fires a single, armor piercing round at high speed. Extremely effective against energy and armor shielding, this Warthog is awesome against vehicles and infantry, although the pause between shots makes it less effective against multiple enemies, without some sort of backup. Note: Having your team use both the LRV and LAAV warthogs together can be extremely effective as one shot from the LAAV at a group of enemies will either kill, or destroy shields, leaving them defenseless against the LRV's machine gun fire. III.3 M808B Scorpion MBT. Ahh the Scorpion, my personal favourite, has many of the same qualities as the origional from Halo 1, but most of them have been improved, like the armor, the rate of fire, the accuracy of its secondary weapon and the driver can no longer be taken out with a head shot from a sniper. The scorpion is the human tank. Like the wraith it is slow and heavy, with excellent armored plating, and awesome fire power. The scorpion can carry 1 driver and up to five marine passengers on the side. Unlike the original, the Master Chief can no longer sit on the side, my theory for this is that it would have stuffed the boarding system up as the 5 spots are too close together. The Scorpion has two weapons, the primary weapon firing a 90mm high velocity shell, which unlike the Wraith's curved shot, flies straight at the target. And its secondary being a 7.62mm armor piercing tracer, firing small projectiles acurrately at mid-range with a high rate of fire. The Scorpion is extremely effective against both infantry and vehicles. I find that the scorpions are extremely tough and the best ways to destroy them would have to be with rockets, wraiths or another scorpion. IV. Boarding. Boarding is a useful new feature that the people at Bungie decided to add to the world of Halo for Halo 2. Boarding allows you to remove an enemy from a vehicle and take whichever part of the vehicle they were using. In order for an enemy vehicle to be boarded it must be moving very slowly or not at all. For the Ghost, Banshee, Warthog, Gauss Warthog and Spectre all you have to do is get close to the slow moving enemy vehicle and hold "X". The enemy should then be taken out of the vehicle, and you should get in. With the Scorpion and the Wraith you have to get close and hold "X" like with the other vehicles but instead of the enemy automatically being taken out of the vehicle, you have to kill him, either by continually pressing the melee button or the grenade trigger while on the vehicle. After you have killed the driver, you have to press the action key again to get off the tank, then Hold it down again to drive it. Note: You can't board any of the covenant vehicles when they boost. Note: If you use the grenade on a tank you should hop off the tank after you plant it, as the explosion will hurt you as well if your too close. Well, thats it from me. I hope this guide helped you or at least interested you.