Terminus Firefight

Terminus Firefight in Halo Wars 2.

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In addition to the Banished campaign, Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare introduces a brand new cooperative experience to the Firefight family. In Terminus Firefight, up to three players amass armies to defend both their bases, and their Forerunner terminus node against an ever-increasing and intensifying hoard of attacking enemies. Battle against UNSC, Banished, and voracious Flood forces while fighting for survival. With the ability to construct new defense measurements such as spike floors and barricades alongside classic Halo Wars gameplay features like base-building, tech trees, and Leader power usage, Terminus Firefight adds an entirely new tower defense-style twist to the beloved wave-based Halo mode.

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Terminus Firefight is a cooperative gametype introduced in the Awakening the Nightmare expansion for Halo Wars 2. The mode is similar to the Firefight wave defence modes of prior Halo FPS titles, in which the player must build both bases and armies to defend and survive against an onslaught of enemy forces. Unlike the similar Blitz Firefight mode also featured in Halo Wars 2, Terminus Firefight is centred around more traditional Halo Wars real-time strategy gameplay as opposed to card deck-building.

Overview

In Terminus Firefight, 1-3 players are tasked to defend against an ever-increasing and intensifying horde of attackers. Unlike the existing Blitz Firefight mode in Halo Wars 2, Terminus Firefight focuses on gameplay similar to traditional Halo Wars; base-building, economy management, research, leader powers, and tech trees are all present in the game just as they are in conventional skirmish multiplayer. The health and damage output of enemies in Terminus Firefight adjusted based on the number of players in the game, making it more challenging with a full roster.

Players start with a single Tier-2 Combat Station or Stronghold (depending on chosen faction) with five building slots available, 600, 400, and a few basic infantry squads (2 Marines, 3 Grunts, or 5 Cannon Fodder for UNSC, Banished, and Yapyap players, respectively).

Map and features

The Last Bastion.

Terminus Firefight can only be played on the map The Last Bastion, which features a unique building at its centre: the Forerunner Terminus. The map consists of multiple paths that converge at this centre point (though if played with fewer players, some paths are locked off), with the players' base build sites located there too. The paths extending out from the centre of the map have construction points for various fortifications unique to Terminus Firefight, giving the mode some similarities to tower defence games. The Terminus building itself provides a healing aura to player units near it, giving them a much-needed boost in defensive scenarios.

Minibase construction sites can be found around the map further away from the Terminus and can be claimed by the player, allowing them to expand their economy. Claiming a minibase provides the player who owns it 10 population, a score multiplier, and the ability to construct turrets. More minibases will increase the pop count and score multiplier. There are nine total minibases on the map, three for each player. 1-slot minibases can be found next to the Terminus; 2-slot minibases further away, and 3-slot minibases on the outskirts of the map near enemy spawn points.

The paths leading to the Terminus feature fortification building slots unique to the mode. These fortifications consist of barricades and traps that help player armies delay the onslaught of enemy units. If a fortification is constructed, enemy units will attempt to pathfind around it and take an unobstructed path to the Terminus; should all paths be blocked, they will attack and destroy fortifications. Fortifications include:

UNSC Fence - 150. Barricade - an upgrade of the Fence, 200. Bunker Barricade - upgrades the Barricade with a garrisonable bunker that can allow up to three infantry squads to enter. Tech 1, 300, 100. Fortified Barricade - upgrades the Barricade's health. Tech 2, 600, 100 Regen Barricade - upgrades the Barricade to heal itself and nearby friendly units. Tech 3, 300, 400. Electric trap - 350, 200. Lotus minefield - 100, 50.

Banished Floor Blades - 200. Shield Barrier - Tech 2, 200, 200. Enhanced Shield Barrier - upgrades the Shield Barrier's health. Tech 3, 200, 300. Reflection Barrier - allows the Shield Barrier to reflect a portion of damage inflicted back at an attacker. Tech 3, 50, 500. Unstable Barrels - a stack of explosive barrels that can be manually detonated at any time. 100. Unstable Barrel Stack - doubles the amount of explosive barrels. 50.

Waves and rounds

Terminus Firefight is structured into waves. At the start of the round, players are given 30 seconds to assemble their defences before the first wave begins. Each wave consists of a random assortment of enemies that can be of either UNSC, Banished, or Flood in origin. Every five waves, a special wave is sent from one of the examples in the tables listed below. Waves are deployed regularly regardless of if the player has finished the previous one or not, which can quickly lead to snowball scenarios where players are overrun with enemies: if a wave is defeated before the next one spawns, players are awarded more points. The quicker waves are dispatched, the more points are awarded. For every five waves completed, the player(s) are awarded with bonus items that can include Supplies, Power, Healing Drones, reinforcements (which deploys a dropship and deploys a unit without taking up any population) or Veterancy bonuses - the latter of which increases all owned units' Veterancy rank by one. Bonus resources are spawned in destroyable canisters around the map, requiring players to hunt them down.

Unlike regular Firefight, Terminus Firefight is not endless, and ends once the player has survived Wave 100. The AI progressively gets stronger as the game goes on, with both their damage and health increasing alongside the numbers, and composition, of their waves getting more difficult.

When the player(s) start the game, they will need to fight their way in order to reach and pass wave 100, Before they can reach wave 100, the game will choose a faction and will start waves the certain faction uses. The A.I will commonly start at their weakest state (25% on damage and health) and progressively upgrade their stats according to the below statistics. Every five waves, the AI are also granted upgrades to their units, granting abilities such as Smart Missile or Grenade Throw.

• Wave 25: 100% damage and health
• Wave 50: 200% damage and health
• Wave 75: 300% damage and health
• Wave 100: 400% damage and health

Each wave, the AI chooses an enemy faction to spawn (UNSC, Banished, Flood, or Sentinels) and then spawns a wave from the tables below. Due to their stronger units, the UNSC and Banished can spawn fewer units than the Flood or Forerunners; the UNSC AI can use a maximum population count of 400, while the Banished can use 300.

UNSC waves

Wave	Details
Light Infantry	Marines and ODSTs
Light Vehicles	Warthogs, Wolverines and Jackrabbits
Light Air	Hornets
Light Ground	A mixture of units from Light Infantry and Light Vehicles
Light Army Mix	Light units aided by Nightingales
Medium Infantry	Cyclopes and ODSTs
Medium Vehicles	Warthogs, Wolverines, and Scorpions
Medium Air	Hornets and Vultures
Medium Ground	A mixture of units from Medium Infantry and Medium Vehicles
Medium Army Mix	Medium units aided by Nightingales
Anti-Tank Infantry	Cyclopes
Heavy Vehicles	Warthogs, Wolverines, and Scorpions
Heavy Air	Vultures
Heavy Ground	A mixture of units from Anti-Tank Infantry and Heavy Vehicles
Heavy Army Mix	Heavy units aided by Nightingales
Unique Waves
Snipers	Extremely rare between waves 1-25, includes UNSC Snipers
Anti-Turret	Rare between waves 1-50, includes Hellbringers
Anti-Air	Slightly rare between waves 25-75, includes Wolverines
Scorpions	Common between waves 50-100, includes Scorpion tanks armed with canister shells
Special Waves
Direct Air	Consist of Hornets that ignore the standard paths and instead fly straight to the Terminus
ODSTs	ODSTs drop anywhere on the map to destroy player units or buildings
Bandit Air	Pelican Gunships attack and extract player resources, depleting them to 0
Boss Waves
Condor	A Condor Gunship is deployed
Army	Various units and heroes are deployed
Heroes	Spartans are deployed, carrying either a Spartan Laser, Rocket Launcher, or Machine Gun
Grizzlies	Grizzly tanks are deployed

Banished waves

Wave	Details
Light Infantry	Grunt Squad, Elite Rangers
Light Vehicles	Choppers, Ghosts
Light Air	Banshee
Light Ground	A mixture of units from Light Infantry and Light Vehicles
Light Army Mix	Light units aided by Engineers
Medium Infantry	Hunters, Grunt Squads, and Elite Rangers
Medium Vehicles	Choppers, Ghosts, Reavers, Marauders
Medium Air	Banshees and Blisterbacks
Medium Ground	A mixture of units from Medium Infantry and Medium Vehicles
Medium Army Mix	Medium units aided by Engineers
Anti-Tank Infantry	Hunters
Heavy Vehicles	Wraiths, Marauders, and Reavers
Heavy Air	Blisterbacks
Heavy Ground	A mixture of units from Anti-Tank Infantry and Heavy Vehicles
Heavy Army Mix	Heavy units aided by Engineers
Unique Waves
Melee Infantry	Extremely rare between waves 1-25, includes Jump-pack Brutes
Anti-Turret	Rare between waves 1-50, includes Locusts
Anti-Air	Slightly rare between waves 25-75, includes Reavers
Special Waves
Direct Air	Consist of Banshees that ignore the standard paths and instead fly straight to the Terminus
Suicide Grunts	Suicide Grunts deploy onto the map to destroy player units or buildings
Bandit Air	Spirit Gunships attack and extract player resources, depleting them to 0
Cleansing Beacons	Engineers spread around the map and self-destruct over player-owned units/buildings, calling in a glassing beam
Boss Waves
Scarab	A Scarab is deployed
Army	Various units and heroes are deployed
Heroes	Brute Warlords, Atriox's Chosen, and Honour Guardsmen are deployed

Flood Waves

Wave	Details
Light Infantry	Infected Brutes, Elites, and humans. May be armed or unarmed.
Light Vehicles	Infected Choppers and Warthogs
Light Air	Infected Banshees
Light Ground	A mixture of units from Light Infantry and Light Vehicles
Light Army Mix	Light units aided by Nightingales
Medium Infantry	Infected Brutes, Elites, and humans. May be armed or unarmed.
Medium Vehicles	Infected Choppers, Warthogs, and Marauders.
Medium Ground	A mixture of units from Medium Infantry and Medium Vehicles
Medium Army Mix	All Light units.
Heavy Vehicles	Infected Marauders, Scorpions, Wraiths, and Warthogs
Heavy Air	Infected Blisterbacks
Heavy Ground	A mixture of units from Heavy Vehicles
Heavy Army Mix	Heavy units aided by Nightingales
Special Waves
Anti-Air	Seeder infectors attack aircraft accompanied by infected aircraft.
Anti-Vehicle	Infester Forms attack vehicles accompanied by infected ground units.
Anti-Infantry	Infection Forms attack infantry accompanied by infected ground units
Boss Waves
Hive Commander	An Abomination is deployed
Armies	Flood units are deployed and accompanied by Spawners

Forerunner Waves

Wave	Details
Light Air	Aggressor Sentinels and Protector Sentinels
Medium Air	Aggressor Sentinels and Protector Sentinels
Heavy Air	Protector Sentinels
Special Waves
Bandit Air	Aggressor Sentinels attack and extract player resources, depleting them to 0
Boss Waves
Retriever	A Retriever Sentinel is deployed

Bonus Waves

• Healing - Every unit and building will be healed and also damaged Terminus & Spires will slowly repair themselves
• Veterancy - Random units will be granted Veterancy
• Reinforcements - Players will be awarded certain units depending on the waves

Strategies

The player is usually focused on placing units inside healing area around Terminus during early wave to prevent losses. Focusing on upgrading the base to full capabilities (Full Upgrade and Research) is very reccomended to prepare for the later wave and it's better to finish all the upgrades before Wave 20 so player can focus on spending resources on defenses to delay and prevent them from reaching Terminus such as making traps, upgrading it and using leader powers.

UNSC

UNSC mainly favors Kodiak and Siege Turret for ground defenses and Wolverines for Air Defenses on late wave. Nightingale plays a very pivotal role in order for player to divert the resources to leader power and defenses, using Healing Drones as last healing resort.

Captain Cutter

• Jerome-092 is highly recommended to hijack any vehicle so it can be effective at Vet 6.
• Jackrabbit is very useful in scout to expand the base quicker and also helping teamates to build bases and plots.
  • Also, try to the "UNSC Raid" to help infantry move faster to get resources.
• His 'Close Air Support' is helpful to defend the Terminus in "Direct Air" Waves.

Isabel

• Alice-130's minigun is very effective at frontlines.
  • it's highly recommended to hijack any vehicle so it can be effective at Vet 6.
• Her Ghost in the Machine would help her and the team to turn the enemy against themselves and it's very useful at wave "Heavy Air", " Scorpions", and "Heavy Vehicles".
  • This doesn't effect flood vehicles nor aircraft.

Professor Anders

• Douglas-042's Rocket Launcher has great AOE and effective against a group of small air units.
  • it's highly recommended to hijack any vehicle so it can be effective at Vet 6.
• Protector Sentinels plays a critical role on early-mid game, with upgrades the Sentinels is one of the lethalest defenders.
  • Build a decent amount of Kodiaks in order to mass spawn Sentinels at the enemy, this would not be effective to air waves.
• R&D also serves as one of the best Leader power, stacking up with Logistics research player can reinforce the defenses quicker than other leaders.

Sergeant Forge

• His 'Rolling Economy' would help him save resources and upgrade his base to get 2 & 3 tier faster.
• His Warthog's aura helps his units to be more tougher & faster, including his team.
  • The Defense aura also effects the Terminus.
• Grizzlies are recommended for head-on defenses, using as a tank for defending Kodiaks. Use Nightingale to assist Grizzly.

Morgan Kinsano

• Her damage boost can help her units to fight better and stand a chance against heavy units.
• Kinsano is great to take out infantry and is a great unit to put in Garrisons.

Sergeant Johnson

• Since bunkers can be dropped anywhere on the battlefield through Leader Powers, utilize it to the fullest for defense advantage.
  • If the player unlocks 'Remote Sensors' he will provide the team with great Line of Sight.

Jerome-092

• "Recon Trains" helps all is units to shoot further and to see further.
• Omega Team is highly efficient in late waves and his a huge recommend to let all 3 of them hijack late wave heavy units, such as Vultures and Gydrozka Workshop Blisterbacks since they can get to Vet 6 and receive damaged boost.
• Mastodon garrisoned with proper infantries should be able to deal with the hordes of enemies with ease.
• It is recommended to set up defenses on the last line or close enough to Terminus, especially on late wave due to maximizing the efficiency of Mastodon and defenses.

Serina

• Chill effect makes the enemy slower to reach Terminus. Added with Kodiak's firepower, it was a devastating ground defense combination.

Banished

Banished mainly favors Blisterback for ground defences and Reavers for Air Defenses on late wave. Engineers plays a very pivotal role in order for player to divert the resources to leader power and defenses, using Atriox's Bulwark as last healing resort.

Atriox

• The Chosen has great range and aoe.
• His economy leader powers will help fortify bases, turrets, and plots.

Decimus

• Boundless Fury & Siphon will help his units to be more effective.

Let 'Volir

• His advanced cloaking abilities & units' long range can be helpful to deal with mass units with no "detect" units.

Colony

• Vehicle Symbiote can help his base and turrets to have more line of sign and also a slight armor boost.

Ripa 'Moramee

• His leader powers can be spammed for his units to deal more damage.
• His Stasis leader powers allow players to establish kill zones and buying enough time for other players to finish enemies on another side of the map before reinforcing the player's side.

Yapyap The Destroyer

• Due to Yapyap's Cannon Fodder that does not consume resources, player can divert the resources to research and preparing defenses faster.

Pavium

• Mega Turret serves as a best form of defense. Players usually places Mega Turret at minibase at early wave and co-op with other players, it gives a lot of benefits for defenses on the last line.
  • Creating Blisterback is optional since the Mega Turrets are a unique siege building that don't cost any population.
  • Having 9 Mega Turrets at your base can be very effective. (Note: send resources to Pavium as he will hardly have resource generators)
• Just like "Close Air Support" the "Lich Vanguard" is helpful on Direct Air waves.

Voridus

• Always use incendiary gel whenever the cooldown is completed. Although not much handy at later wave, it will at least give the enemy some damage to slow their progress.

Gallery

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  Concept art of Terminus Firefight.

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  Commander Jerome-092 and his troops engage a Flood wave.

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  Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee and his troops engage the Flood.

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  Commander Jerome and his troops fire upon the Flood.

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  Pavium and his troops face a Banished wave.