Hey there! Welcome to my guide to gruntpocalypse. Gruntpocalypse is a great way (one of the fastest in fact) to level up in reach, earning you just over 1000 credits in one very short game. Most people who you see that are high ranks at the moment use this method constantly. The game works like this: it’s pretty much like standard Firefight except you get only get a DMR and a magnum and only fight grunts, 120 of them to be precise, which come spread randomly over five separate waves (which don’t necessarily increase, the second wave might have more than the fifth, it just has to add up to 120). Some skulls are also active: Grunt Birthday Party, Catch, Cowbell, Red and Cloud. There are three classes of grunt, infantry, specialist and hero, and each has individual traits and weapons. All grunts throw plasma grenades with deadly accuracy, so watch out because the catch skull is on! Every grunt also has a random chance of his gas canister shooting off when shot and causing a minor explosion. Grunt Varieties Infantry Infantry grunts are the basic grunt cannon fodder, lowest of the low. The come armed with only a plasma pistol or needler. Nice and easy to headshot and only a problem at close range or in groups. Specialist Now specialists are a bit trickier, similar to the infantry grunt but they carry a more deadly arsenal of heavy weapons which can be fuel rod launchers, plasma launchers, needlers or plasma pistols, which they have an annoying fondness of overcharging you with. They still take one shot to kill however, but these should be a priority if they are carrying heavy weapons such as the fuel rod launcher which is extremely powerful and the plasma launcher which can be fired at you from nearly any range. These are the only grunt that comes with different looks, some have rounded canisters and some have pointy canisters. Hero Hero grunts are more of an annoyance than anything. They are much like infantry with the exception that they have a masked helmet covering their heads and faces, meaning you can’t headshot them without shooting the mask off first, requiring you to land two straight headshots on it. It can be done with technique though, when you shoot it’s mask, it will cause the grunt to stop and flick it’s head back, giving you time to headshot it as its head is on its way back down. Easy with a bit of practice, don’t try shooting its body. Remember conserve ammo! Grunt heroes carry plasma pistols, which they will try to overcharge you with very often. Heroes are easily identifiable by their white armour and bigger canisters. So how do you do gruntpocalypse? Well, you load up reach and select: Matchmaking > Cooperative > Score Attack Now, the map you want to be doing it on is “Corvette” due to its small size, so you can get kills quicker and don’t have to run around – the grunts come to you. To select corvette, once the map selection loads up vote for a new selection of maps repeatedly until you get the one you want. This can take a few seconds as the map you get given is random, and you may have to cycle through the whole map list, but that doesn’t happen very often. Once it appears select the second option down: gruntpocalypse. Right, so the game has started. Make sure that you choose the “sprint” loadout, as it comes in handy when you need to make ammo refilling trips, and spawn into the “spawn room” area. As soon as you spawn be sure to grab some ammo from the cabinet right in front of you as the DMR you start with has half the maximum amount in. Head out of either the left or right door, it’s your choice. I personally prefer the door on the right as you spawn, but as I say, it’s up to you. In the picture you can clealy see the five spawn room doors that the grunts come out of, but don't worry, you wont have to watch all of them. the top three door's grunts will all bottleneck down the stairs into one stream, so you only really have to deal with three. I'd reccomend concentrating mainly on the door closest to the slope you've chosen, so if you took the right door out of the spawn room, it'd be the one to the left of the picture. This is simply because they will get to you faster, and if the closer they get, the deadlier they get, trust me. Now you will need to camp it out on the slope up to the balcony (pictured). Don’t go and stand at the top, you’re only making yourself a target, and besides, when you stand on the slope, half the grenades and fuel rods that get shot at you will hit the edge of the slope, not you (like in the bottom picture) which is a good thing right? So just start picking off the grunts, and I can’t stress enough, aim for the head! A standard grunt takes four shots to kill without a headshot, that’s using up you ammo four times faster and taking you twice as long. Also, try to string together some chain kills for a few hundred extra Cr. Save those grenades for if the grunts overwhelm you and start heading up the slope towards you. You should know when they’re getting too close for comfort, you’ll either hear them shouting or feel a plasma grenade get slapped on your face ). Just keep an eye out, and if things get a little tough, just retreat up to the top of the slope and wait till they come round the little corner, then throw some grenades and dome ‘em straight away if the get past them. When the time comes that you run out of ammo, wait until there’s a lull in the amount of grunts, which is usually towards the end of the wave but before “reinforcements” is called. Use your pistol if you have to, it’s not that bad, just a little shorter range than the DMR. When it’s semi-clear sprint like hell back to the safe room and grab ammo and a health pack if you need it. Remember to press reload when stocking up so that you get an absolutely full gun. Now sprint back. If you had a load of grunts following you as you went in, chances are they haven’t gone on vacation, so head out the other door and onto the other slope if you find yourself fighting a hoarde coming into the safe room. You’ll probably have to do two or three ammo runs a game so get used to them! the bottom picture shows what you don't want to happen when leaving the spawn room. An average game should last around seven and a half minutes and get you just over a thousand credits. Below I’ve compiled a list of stats from some games I’ve played and recorded my scores, and because I’m nice, I’ve worked out the averages for you guys too. For the first few i didn't record the amount of grunts or headshots, sorry! Score_______Time_______Infantry_______Specialist_______Hero______Headshots 1008_______7:51________________________________________________ 1059_______7:30________________________________________________ 1048_______7:56________________________________________________ 982________7:26________________________________________________ 1046_______7:19________________________________________________ 1083_______8:03________________________________________________ 1277_______7:58_________38___________51___________29_________102 1035_______7:56_________36___________53___________30_________110 1021_______7:47_________31___________59___________30_________110 1006_______7:42_________37___________52___________30_________112 1035_______7:14_________35___________54___________30_________105 1076_______7:36_________33___________56___________30_________108 1083_______8:05_________37___________53___________30_________113 1039_______6:46_________36___________54___________30_________115 1038_______8:30_________35___________54___________30_________111 1032_______6:58_________40___________50___________30_________111 1054_______7.66_________35___________53___________30_________110< AVERAGES Well, that's about it for this guide. I hoped you learned something! Good luck powerlevelling! - Danny
I've found that playing on Beachhead is easier... You can just stand on top of the green cover over the stairs and see the entire map. I always use the Jetpack loadout. This makes it easier to dodge oncoming fire, especially fuel rods.
I usually go for… whats that map called again? oh well it's the one that looks like boneyard. I go for this one because the room you spawn in is a great camping space. It has two entrances and most grunts use the top. It has an ammo container and a health pack, so you don't need sprint. I usually use drop shield if I play on that map. thats a good one too. Edit: did we get a fix to double posting again? I thought that we got rid of that? well thats kool
Actually for Gruntpocalypse, it doesn't get much easier than Courtyard. I use the Sprint loadout for this. When you first spawn, immediately grab ammo and head out the upper level door to the middle of the bridge. Score headshots on any grunts to the north. When you reload your first clip, go all the way across the bridge and to the far south catwalk overlooking the south courtyard. From this spot, you can clear out all grunts through the gaps in the catwalk rails. At the same time, any leftover grunts in the north courtyard will come down the catwalk single file towards you... making for easy headshots. As soon as you clear the south courtyard and part of the grunts from the north courtyard that head towards you, head towards the ammo supply and restock during reinforcements. After restocking with ammo, sprint back to your spot and repeat. The great thing about that spot is that it's right above two grunt spawn spots, so you can get overkills chucking plasma grenades in the middle of them all. When you near the end, it's pretty easy to just clear out the south courtyard and work north. Plus you usually end up with a nice pile of plasma grenades at the end of your catwalk to chuck towards the north courtyard. This method gives perfections nearly every time.
Yeah, well, I would probably have to agree with Shroomz method. I've used both the OP's and Shroomz's before, and his is much better... No offense OP.
personally i find beachhead to be the best for gruntocalypse. if you camp the spawn then you will be good because you can get a pretty decent shot across the entire field and if you need to take cover you can run up the stairs and onto the glass canopy where they can't get you.
Just pointing out that your average time of 7:66 is immediately questionable because it doesn't exist. I'm thinking you didn't factor the 60 seconds thing into your average, and that it is not 8:06 but something more like 7:45. Might want to try recalculating.
I actually prefer multiplayer matchmaking over corvetter/beachead/oter, because you actually have fun!
Thanks for the positive feedback. I'm not just telling people how to kill grunts, im showing one of the most effective ways to do it. You can go running into the middle of them and die twenty times a game if you like, but you're not making the maximum use of your time. Score attack is by default on heroic, which you can't change. I think (but don't quote me on it) it gives you a 1.50 times multiplier. Yeah, sorry about that, nightmare trying to convert it because it's time, im not that great at maths either . i'll try to recalculate it. I can see the reason why many people prefer different maps, and if you feel you play better at the other maps, go ahead. but i just personally prefer corvette due to it's size. Ive tried all the other maps and ones like beachhead may have a better camping spot, but it takes longer for grunts to get to you, and if you're losing time, you're losing exp i guess. The loadout you choose also depends on the map you're on. Sprint works best for corvette because you don't need to dodge enemy fire as much with a jetpack due to the ledge taking most of the fire, and the ammo station is more or less sprinting distance away.
corvette is the best map for this, no matter what anyone says. sometimes you can finish with half the time left because its so small, and time does equal more points. my tips don't stay in scope too long. don't face one direction for too long. kill the fuel rod bastards first. they are easy to spot with the big yellow thing over their shoulder keep your distance, or you WILL be stuck.