How to Use It Effectively - The Ghost

The ghost is designed for quick travel and great agility. Whilst being effective against single and multiple infantry opponents, it is not advisable to engage other vehicles, especially tanks or aerial vehicles. The ghost is an infantry superiority vehicle.

A common feature of ghost users is to engage the boost action to mow down unsuspecting victims for an instant splatter kill, however you need to be aware of armour lock users, as hitting a locked infantry at full speed will result in you being destroyed.

 The ghost's primary plasma canons are fast firing and never overheat. The ghost naturally provides the driver with cover from the front, but tends to be exposed from the back and sides. Always try to face your opponent to reduce damage to your person.

If you are taking too much fire, rush away with the boost function. Note that the ghost is somewhat fragile and can be flipped easily or blown up by grenades. When deciding to use a ghost, if the vehicle looks wrecked avoid using it altogether.

When using the ghost attacking a single infantry opponent strafe around the target in circles or at a distance away from grenades to bombard him with continuous plasma fire. If he does not have armour lock consider the possibility of a splatter.

When engaging two or more opponents at once, who are not aware of you, consider going for a splatter. However if they are aware of your presence, the safer option may be to fire from range to weaken them.

Never be ashamed to run away if you are outmatched. When engaging any opponent(s) always be aware of obstacles or buildings to use for cover.

Good use of the ghost, shows that keeping on the move and being selective of when to splatter an opponent tends to work out better for the driver.

This second video shows that getting a bit too greedy and moving slowly in a more enclosed space allows opponents to hi-jack the ghost.

How to Use It Effectively - The Scorpion Tank

Here is an 8 minute video of the scorpion in action on Hemorrage, however note that the latest updates have changed this to the wraith now.

The Scorpion tank is the most effective vehicle you can use in Halo Reach. Because of the destructive force and direct shot of the main canon a driver can easily kill and infantry and vehicle targets usually in one shot, with the exception of other tanks.

However one particular weakness with the scorpion is the ease with which the vehicle can be hi-jacked, particularly from players using sprint or evade. Because of this a driver will need to be aware of approaching and rushing infantry.

Another issue with the scorpion is space. The scorpion's footprint is huge (the largest in the game). Because of this huge footprint the scorpion easily gets affected by changing terrain or caught up in smaller obstacles. Terrain will affect the angle of you shot, causing you to miss. And getting a tread caught in nearby obstacles can hold in place allowing nearby enemies to attempt a hi-jack.

Its always a good idea to have a secondary gunner around to provide extra defence against infantry attackers.

The main focus for a scorpion driver is to watch for enemy vehicles, in particular other tanks and enemy air vehicles (banshee or falcons), then to take care of infantry. The scorpion can run head on into battle to rack up several kills quickly.


Care needs to be taken when going tank vs tank. The best strategy to adopt is hiding the tank beding cover (like a hill or other obstacle) and poke the main gun over the top. Avoid missing shots as the reload time can mean the difference between staying alive or not. Other tanks generally take two shots to destroy, sometimes three. Beware that the canon can be destroyed by a good shot, rendering the tank unable to attack. If this happens just abandon the tank before it gets destroyed.

How to Use It Effectively - The Falcon

The "Warthog of the skies" truly lives up to it's name. Instead of having one gun turret (like the warthog), this time you have two. Which means you need three players to use it fully. And if you have read the previous article about using the Warthog, then a lot of that ability translates into using the Falcon.

Instead of having one gunner with a 360˚ turn, you have two gunners which roughly have a 180˚ firing arc each, one for the left side and one for the right.

The driver needs to have the same awareness, being alert to possible dangers like in the warthog. Is there an enemy air threat approaching, a scorpion tank, or anti-armour infantry shooting you? The Falcon is capable of hovering in place, but it can move around fairly quickly too.  The primary role of the Falcon is to support ground units, rather than take on fights against all odds.

Don't expect the falcon to smoothly dodge locked on rockets either. Like the warthog you are large (compared to a banshee) and far less agile to evade attacks. And if a scorpion tank spots you, opt for getting out of his sights as you will be shot down instantly.

Check out these videos:

This first one is from the gunners perspective and you can see how he only has a 180˚ field of fire but still manages to get a kill frenzy. You will also see that the falcon is effective at taking out enemy infantry and an enemy falcon too.

This second video show how well a good pilot and gunner combination works together along with map knowledge of weapons and spawn locations, resulting in dominating the other team and the gunner obtaining a rampage.

In both of these videos the pilot always keeps on the move, strafing ground units for the best effect.

Don't drive the falcon alone.

That was in a paragraph of its own because it is just a waste of vehicle power. Actually you should always look to get 2 gunners inside a falcon quickly, as one gunner can only shoot on one side of the aircraft. Sometimes a second gunner may not be spawned nearby, but make it your first priority to pick up a second gunner asap, as long as it is safe to do so.

How to Use It Effectively - The Warthog

The first video shows you how a well co-ordinated team can score a flag capture very effectively.

The second video, although taken way back in the beta, shows how the warthog operates effectively against infantry, but can get destroyed quickly by a wraith tank.

The Warthog can be a potent weapon in the hands of a skilled solo player (or duo of players). On the other hand it can be a death trap for lonely and untrained drivers. We will briefly look at why this is the case and how you can learn to distinguish the right situation to use the warthog.

First things first, the warthog is a bulky jeep that swings around and draws lots of attention when sighted and by it's distinctive sound.

To use this vehicle effectively both the driver and gunner need to possess strong awareness skills, particularly so with the driver. The driver needs to be aware of armour lock users, the person carrying the rockets or other anti-vehicle weapons, if any tanks or banshees are on the battlefield, where his gunner needs to focus fire, objective carriers etc etc...

But the driver also needs to make life easy for his gunner. Only the gunner can attack, but he is much more exposed. Because of this the gunner and will be targeted first. A driver needs to help point the gunner toward his target(s), and to circle around them maintaining a good distance so as not to be under immediate threat.

At times the vehicle and/or players need to heal up, so retreating or fleeing can be the safer option. Along with evasive driving to avoid armour lockers, grenades and sharpshooters.

In battles which involve the warthog as the main fighting force versus infantry (foot soldier), the driver should focus on keeping at a sensible distance and always staying on the move. If you stay still for too long, grenades will hit, flip or destroy the warthog quickly.

In battles involving tanks, the best idea is to keep away from enemy tanks, and support your own tank guarding it from infantry attackers.

If negotiating with a banshee, drive directly underneath the craft to avoid it's shots. This enables the warthog gunner to attack the aircraft without recourse.

Avoid using the warthog on your own, and always try to team up with a player who communicates so you can coordinate your efforts when in combat.

Avoid using the warthog if the opposing team are capable of destroying any/all of your vehicles quickly, this may be because they have an excellent banshee or tank player, or someone who hordes the anti-vehicle weapons constantly throughout the match.

As a warthog gunner, try and focus shooting at short and mid range targets. And always take every opportunity to let the chain gun cool, rather than overheat. Because without being able to fire you could panic and die. Remember to prioritise your targets, if you run head-on into a battle and encounter another warthog, take them out first, mopping up the infantry later. If you have a tank shooting at you retreat and target other infantry instead.

Remember the warthog's primary role is to support a team, not be the focal point in a battle. Just because you are fairly quick does not mean you are indestructible. You are not a tank.

As with any vehicle, practice playing around with it on your own. Try to get a feel for how it handles, then try using it with a cooperative teammate. That's when there will be lots of fun to have using it!

How to Use It Effectively - The Mongoose

The first video demonstrate the ability to splatter opponents who don't watch their radars (of course good players would have killed the driver). At around 1.03 the mongoose driver does some evasive wobbling to avoid getting head-shotted by DMR fire, and he takes cover behind the base itself.

In this second video the mongoose driver assists the flag carrier to quickly return the flag. This is one great feature of the mongoose because it is a smaller target than all other vehicles and is the quickest too.

Effective Use

It's quite a short story when it comes to using the mongoose effectively. Most times you will utilise the mongoose to quickly collect power weapons or to transport an objective like the flag. Because of having no firepower and being exposed from every angle, if you get fired upon your best option is to flee behind cover, out of range or to bail out and start shooting back.

In rare cases you may be approaching an opponent and may be able to attempt a splatter. But this could prove dangerous as the mongoose tends flip over instead of killing your opponent. Think of the mongoose as a quick transportation tool only, and you can't go far wrong with it. The mongoose is a means to an end, the end being a quickly obtained power weapon, an advantageous position or a flag capture.