Editing Legendary

{{Status|Gameplay}}

[[File:MCC - Legendary symbol.png|150px|thumb|The Legendary shield, as per ''[[Halo: The Master Chief Collection|Halo: The Master Chief Collection's]]'' release.]]

{{Quote|Tremble as teeming hordes of invincible alien monsters punish the slightest error with instant death... again and again.|Description from ''[[Halo 3]]'', ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'', ''[[Halo: Reach]]'', and ''[[Halo 4]]''{{Ref/Note|The ''[[Halo 4]]'' description is the same wording, however it ends with an [[wikipedia:exclamation point|exclamation point]] rather than a [[wikipedia:full stop|period]].}}}}

In the original ''Halo'' trilogy, legendary difficulty is symbolized by an [[Sangheili|Elite]] skull with a bullet pierced on the cranium, two crossed [[Combat knife|combat knives]] and a shield bearing the ''[[Marathon]]'' symbol, though the symbol is not visible behind the skull. In ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'', the symbol is adjusted to a [[human]] skull with two crossed [[M7S Caseless Submachine Gun|Suppressed SMGs]] in front of the same shield with the ''Marathon'' symbol, now slightly visible behind the skull. In ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' and ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]'', the original legendary symbol returns, but these games, along with future titles, lack the ''Marathon'' symbol on the shield. In ''[[Halo 4]]'', the shield and the combat knives have been redesigned while the skull of a [[Promethean Knight]] replaces the previous skulls.

Legendary is regarded as a significant challenge, even for veteran players. Overwhelming enemy firepower, superior enemy numbers, and increased enemy intelligence make up most of the challenge, but several specific changes, varying throughout games, also add to the difficulty. Most allies are practically useless aside from creating distractions. The player must play cautiously and conservatively to succeed, but even with appropriate tactics and practice, the player will die very often and may require some luck to succeed. The increased difficulty does not come without rewards; many details, such as pieces of dialogue, cutscenes, and music, can only be heard or seen on Legendary; in particular, most Halo games feature an additional scene in the ending cutscenes, which is only shown on Legendary, often referred to as "Legendary Endings". ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', ''Halo 3'', ''Halo 3: ODST'', ''Halo: Reach'', ''Halo 4'', and ''Halo 5: Guardians'' feature such endings. Several [[achievement]]s, [[challenge]]s, [[commendations]], and [[Halo Waypoint#Awards|career awards]] reward players for accomplishing various tasks on Legendary difficulty in addition to the achievements for simply completing every mission on Legendary.

In the first ''Halo'' game, the differences between Legendary and other settings is relatively numeric. The player does not face unique or different enemies yet they face many more enemies who are tougher to defeat and endure. Many of the same strategies that work on other settings work on Legendary in this game except that the player has to be extremely careful of his/her own weaknesses. This is where the [[Noob combo]] comes in handy, with use of the [[Type-25 plasma pistol|Plasma Pistol]] and [[M6D magnum|M6D Magnum]].

*'''[[Sangheili]]:''' Twice as many Sangheili appear as on the Normal difficulty. [[Sangheili Major]] are encountered at a ratio of about one of every three Elites encountered, improving enemy forces. An area that had two [[Sangheili Minor]] on Normal should have four to five Elites on Legendary with one or two of them being Majors. Their shields can take 28 rounds from an [[MA5B assault rifle|Assault Rifle]] before lowering.

*'''[[Unggoy]]:''' Twice as many Unggoy appear than on the Normal setting. Around half of the Grunts encountered are [[Unggoy Major]].

*'''Firing Rate :''' All enemies fire their weapons much faster and more accurately. In particular, [[Kig-Yar]] will fire long streams of 10-15 shots with high accuracy. Kig-Yar will also charge their plasma pistols much more often proving deadly in combat.

*'''Agility :''' All enemies move much faster and will rarely allow a player to stick them with [[Anskum-pattern plasma grenade|grenades]]. Sangheili will often do their dodging maneuver immediately if hit, making it very difficult to make consistent hits on them to drain their shields.

*'''[[Stealth Sangheili]]:''' They are always encountered in packs of four to six with few exceptions.

*'''[[Flood]]:''' The Flood are now armed 90 percent of the time. Their deadly melee attacks will drain shields by half. Many more of them wield [[M90 shotgun|Shotguns]] and [[M41 SPNKR|Rocket Launchers]] than before. Only a couple of Infection Forms can completely drain your shields, and an explosion from a Carrier Form can kill you instantly if your shields are completely or partially drained.

* [[Sangheili Zealot]]s appear more frequently throughout the game. Incredibly, it takes 21 shots from an M6D Pistol to remove their shields alone.

**The player has immediate access to the [[motion tracker]] and [[M9 frag grenade|Frag grenades]].

**Upon entering the loading bay, 4-6 Sangheili Zealots will ambush the player and the Marines in addition to the standard waves of Unggoy and Kig-Yar which pass through the hallways. There will also be a couple of [[Mgalekgolo]].

**The player only has five minutes to get to the [[GA-TL1 Longsword|Longsword]] fighter after destroying the ''Pillar of Autumn''{{'}}s engine core as opposed to the usual six minutes.

In one of the [[Bungie]] Updates, [[Frank O'Connor]] describes ''Halo 2''{{'}}s Legendary as:

*Both players have "linked lives". That is, when one of the players dies, both are sent back to the last checkpoint regardless of whether or not only one of them died (Possibly to prevent players from easily reaching the status of beating Legendary on their profile or to enhance it with the general knowledge of the above statement). This effect is similar to enabling the [[Halo 2 skulls#Iron|Iron Skull]].

*Enemies will tend to use more powerful weapons earlier in the game or more often, such as [[Sangheili Ultra|Ultras]] and [[Sangheili Zealot|Zealots]] with [[Type-1 energy sword|Energy Swords]], [[Unggoy]] with [[Pez'tk-pattern fuel rod gun|Fuel Rod Guns]] and [[Type-33 needler|Needlers]], and finally [[Jiralhanae]] with [[Type-25 Brute Shot|Brute Shots]].

*Virtually all Sangheili encountered are Majors. Unggoy  Majors are also far more common.

*Elite Ultras are now a very common sight. The player will encounter up to four in some parts of the game. They have the most powerful energy shields in the game and can survive four head shots from a [[Sniper Rifle System 99C-Series 2 Anti-Matériel|Sniper Rifle]] or a [[Sulok-pattern beam rifle|Beam Rifle]].

*When playing as the [[John-117|Master Chief]], the player has to face large numbers of Sangheili  Zealots. They always wield Swords and can slaughter large groups of Marines with ease.

*Unggoy retreat less often when a leader is killed.

*Enemies normally have upgraded weapons. For example, Jiralhanae that usually had [[Kewu R'shi'k-pattern plasma rifle]]s would now carry [[Vostu-pattern carbine]] or have the deadly Brute Shot equipped.

*[[Kig-Yar Sniper]]s will appear more often than on any other difficulty. They can kill the player with only one shot regardless of where it hits. Players should think twice before sticking themselves out into the open.

[[File:Halo 3 ODST - Legendary Symbol.png|150px|thumb|The ''Halo 3: ODST'' Legendary shield.]]

*Enemies are much more resistant to damage. (E.g. The player needs three body shots or two headshots for a fully shielded [[Jiralhanae Captain|Jiralhanae Captain]] to take it down instead of one headshot or two body shots with a sniper or beam rifle).

*Nearly all enemy forces are promoted by one rank. This can be changed with the effects of the [[Halo 3 skulls#Thunderstorm|Thunderstorm Skull]], which promotes enemies even higher. In addition to this promotion, Brutes will not carry [[deployable cover]]s.

*Kig-Yar Snipers, one of the rarer enemies in ''Halo 3'', will appear with greater frequency, though not nearly as much as in ''Halo 2''. Similar to ''Halo 2'', being shot by a Kig-Yar Sniper armed with a beam rifle results in instant death.

*Turrets, such as [[Rizsheda-pattern Shade|Shades]], are frequently encountered, even in places in which they did not appear in lower difficulties. Gunners will also fire more aggressively.

*Jirlahane will wield Brute Shots more often. They will fire them faster and more accurately. They will also frequently go berserk.

*The "linked lives" system from ''Halo 2'' is removed but can be achieved with the [[Halo 3 skulls#Iron|Iron Skull]] activated.

**In the level ''[[Prepare To Drop]]'', a photo of the [[Rookie]]'s girlfriend can be seen in his [[M8900 drop pod|drop pod]].

*Extra enemy units which normally don't appear on lower difficulties are present: Shades, stationary Jackals and sometimes even {{Pattern|Emp'seam|Antlion}}s. In Flood missions, there are more [[Flood launcher]]s, [[Flood spores|spores]] and [[Flood blister|blisters]] than usual.

[[File:HR Legendary Icon.png|thumb|The ''Halo: Reach'' Legendary shield.]]

* [[Sangheili General]] appear more often, usually wielding Covenant heavy weapons.

* [[Sangheili Minor]]s seldom appear; less than five are encountered in the entire campaign, with the exception of Banshee pilots.

* Similar to Elite Minors, very few [[Kig-Yar Minor]]s appear through the whole campaign.

[[File:Halo 4 - Legendary symbol.png|150px|thumb|The ''Halo 4'' Legendary shield.]]

* [[Crawler Snipe]]s are more dangerous as their built-in [[Z-750 binary rifle]]s almost always kill the player in one hit, regardless of where it hits.

* Promethean Knights' and [[Promethean Watcher]]s' shields recharge much faster.

* '''[[Forerunner (level)|Forerunner]]''':

** Playing on Legendary allows access to two [[Incineration Cannons on Forerunner|Easter]] [[Hidden weapons caches on Forerunner|eggs]] allowing the player to spawn nine [[Z-390 incineration cannon|Incineration Cannon]]s and two Forerunner heavy weapons caches for use in the mission, respectively.

* '''[[Shutdown]]''':

** A new Legendary-exclusive easter egg allows the player to [[Gravity Hammers on Shutdown|spawn]] four [[Gravity hammer (fiction)|Gravity Hammer]]s for use in the mission.

* '''[[Midnight]]''':

** A Legendary-only easter egg allows the player to [[Secret Gravity Hammer on Midnight|spawn a second Gravity Hammer]] for use in the mission.

[[File:Halo 5 Guardians - Legendary symbol.png|150px|thumb|The ''Halo 5: Guardians'' Legendary shield.]]

 

* Enemies deal more damage and are more resistant to damage. Two shots from an enemy wielding a [[Z-250 lightrifle]] will down a player.

* [[Armiger Soldier]]s use slipspace translocation even more often to confuse or avoid players and throw [[Z-400 splinter grenade|Splinter Grenades]] more often.

* '''[[Osiris (level)|Osiris]]''':

** The [[Flaming knives on Osiris]] easter egg becomes available. If successfully triggered, it will result in an oversized Promethean Knight and [[Warden Eternal]] spawning in the final room, as well as the player getting the ''[[Prophets' Bane]]''.

* '''[[Blue Team (level)|Blue Team]]''':

** Jackal Snipers will spawn in the reactor room. In addition, Elites will be seen manning the [[Shea'p-pattern plasma cannon|Plasma Turrets]] instead of Grunts.

** The [[Halo 5: Guardians skulls#Iron|Iron]] skull becomes available to unlock in this mission by shooting down the pursuing [[Phaeton]] towards the end of the level.

* '''[[Genesis (level)|Genesis]]''':

** Near the [[Gateway]], there is a dead [[Promethean Crawler]]. If the player [[Corpse humping|teabags]] this Crawler 117 times in the same spot, [[031 Exuberant Witness]] will be able to shoot gauss beams, extending her combat capabilities, which then makes her useful in the double Warden Eternal boss fight at the end of the mission.

* The [[Harbinger (achievement)|Harbinger]] achievement is awarded for completing [[The Breaking]] on Legendary without all members of [[Blue Team]] dying.

[[File:Halo Wars 2 - Legendary symbol.png|150px|thumb|The ''Halo Wars 2'' Legendary shield.]]

* In ''Halo 2'', Legendary is the only difficulty in which the player can find the hidden skulls, except for the [[Halo 2 skulls#Blind|Blind Skull]] and the [[Halo 2 skulls#Assassins|Assassins Skull]]. However the Assassins Skull does not give the player the effect when not on Legendary.

{{Ref/Notes}}