Valhalla

Valhalla is a multiplayer map in Halo 3. A from-the-ground-up level, it is said to be 'the new Blood Gulch'. It is a sparsely forested valley with mountains in the distance, featuring a river, rocky outcroppings, a large reduction in size, and hills. Bungie added these new land features to help balance the action between snipers and on-foot travelers, whereas in Blood Gulch and Coagulation, those players were easy prey. These minor alterations cause drastic changes in gameplay.

In a recent FAQ, Bungie has replied to this question, "Who said [Valhalla] is anywhere near a Halo? The Galaxy is a big place, and there are only six Halos left." The FAQ can be seen here. In the final version of the game, if you go out into the water as far as possible and look to the horizon, you can see one "spoke" of the Ark. You can't see more than one because of mountains and clouds, but Valhalla is most likely located on the Ark.The map is very large. It has a canyon with hills, lots of trees, cliffs, a very large Forerunner wall on one side, and a river running through.

• Valhalla is one of the three mutiplayer maps that was featured in the Halo 3 Beta.

Layout

A birds-eye view of Valhalla.

The map is similar in shape to Blood Gulch but has unique elements of its own. Valhalla is not a remake of Coagulation, nor is the newly downloadable Standoff either. Valhalla also has features from the Halo: Combat Evolved level; Halo. The most obvious feature is both the river and the bases themselves. The river starts in the mountains behind blue base, and comes out at a waterfall. The river then flows in front of the base, into a cave, then down between the two prominent hills on which players find the Spartan Laser, and the AIE-486H Heavy Machinegun. Finally it bends around the base, and empties into a large lake. There is also another cave in the map, which goes through the hill between the crashed pelican and blue base.

A player fires a Spartan Laser towards Blue Base in Valhalla.

The distinguished beam emitter bases are Forerunner technology. They are similar to the structures seen in the Halo PC multiplayer map Infinity and Halo, while the lower portion is reminiscent of the bases in Blood Gulch. There are three entrances to the inside of the base; two on the sides as seen in many screenshots, and another located behind. Replacing the teleporters are the Man Cannons. The largest one, on the front of the base, will send you out into the main battle, while the smaller ones on the side of each base send you a short distance to the nearby cliff for a quick getaway. The bases feature a shiny glass floor on the interior. As previously stated, there are two similar hills on either side of the river. On one spawns the Spartan Laser, while the other holds a AIE-486H Heavy Machinegun. Each base holds a Sniper Rifle inside the rear entrance, a pair of Fragmentation Grenades and Plasma Grenades. The third grenade type, the Spike Grenade, is not present on this map. Numerous Battle Rifles spawn around the map: two on top of the base next to the smaller Man Cannons, two underneath the base alongside each entrance along with two Plasma Pistols, and two that spawn in each cave. One M90 Assault Shotguns spawn inside each of the caves as well, and Spikers spawn all around the map. Two each spawn on the bases near the Missile Pod.

The Missile Pod spawns inside each base in the Halo 3 Beta but was moved to the top in the full game. The current vehicle set per base is a Banshee, Warthog, Wraith, and two Mongooses. However, in the Matchmaking playlists the vehicles are limited to a Warthog, a pair of Mongooses, and a banshee per base. The Power Drain spawns on top of each base next to the missile Pod, while the Bubble Shield spawns at the neutral Mongoose near the Forerunner wall.

Like the Halo Installations, the Ark is populated by a mixture of flora and faune, some unique and others peculiarly similar to Earth classes.

Areas

The Layout of Valhalla

1. Lake Base
2. Waterfall Base
3. Waterfall
4. Canyon Bend
5. Ravine
6. Turret
7. Turret Side
8. Pelican
9. Pelican Rear Cave
10. Pelican Nose Cave
11. Center Ridge
12. River

There are also points on the top of the spires which cheaters or hackers use but these areas will NOT be listed.

Tactics

• For a team slayer game, it is important to control the middle ground (where the Spartan Laser spawns ) with Battle Rifles, Sniper Rifles, and the Spartan laser, this allows your team to fire on the enemy base from a distance, or kill them coming down from the man cannon stopping them from being able to fight with much room to breathe, but be careful as a way of countering this is to simply go to the turret and flank the enemy team, allowing the others to take the middle ground.
  • There is an easy way to deal with the turret, however, if the Sniper is in the base, he does have a view on the mounted turret, if the turret user is foolish enough to keep it on its stand.
• For a CTF or Assault game type, whether it is Multi or Single, organization and team work is the key to victory.
• Try not to use the Spartan Laser on lone targets such as one person charging the hill with no back up.
• Try to secure the Spartan Laser first and foremost to allow you to take out infantry and vehicles with ease, if you're on defense fall back to the base and use it on assaulting vehicles, using a BR or similar to take out distant-enemies before they reach the base. If on you're on offense, use the Spartan Laser to cover the rest of your team, then you should to help retrieve the flag or protect the bomb from being disarmed.
• For territories sticking together is the best way to win, usually, an offensive team will stay in one large group moving from territory to territory, making it hard for a team to defend all of the territory's at once, so for defense, move up to the bases that will be easiest for the attackers to capture (The crashed pelican, the shotgun spawning points) and try to protect those with a larger group, and keep a few of the back ready to move to another territory while the rest deal with other attackers. For offense, move as one group, have BRs and/or Snipers cover the ARs as they rush the territory to capture it. if you must, leave on person to capture a territory further back as the rest rush the ones closer to the enemy base, then have him/her move with any players that had to respawn after they died.
  • As a note, Territory 4 is a very dangerous Territory due to the fact it is in a cave, and multiple grenades can be thrown in to kill the attacking force. Try to always bring a Bubble Shield and/or Regenerator.
• As in any Team Slayer game, move as a pack, and do not get separated. Controlling the Spartan Laser and the Missile Pods are the key to this level because vehicles will not have to worry about getting destroyed so easily.
• In BTB try to control the tunnels near the pelican and the pelican, the highground in the middle of the map, the far right side where the mongoose spawns and the turret, and control the river under the rock formation and in font of each base.
  • But as note, this is not best attempted while there is an enemy at the Spartan Laser spawn. This is because they will have a good view of you going to and past the Pelican. If this can be achieved stealthily, the enemy's base we be within reach easily.
• If you are in the Coastal Base and you use the Man Cannon, you can actually jump across the river from where you land, with at least some momentum left from your launch. You must land pretty much on the edge of the land before you would fall into the river, if this can be done right, it may be helpful to get closer to the Spartan Laser on the hill.
• In Capture The Flag, if the flag carrier has no one to carry him home from within the enemies base, it is a wise tactic to take the Mongoose from the far right and drive where they will land on the Man Cannon, this can be used for a clean getaway.
• At the start of the game, if you are going for the Spartan Laser, pick up the Power Drain and throw it as you mancannon towards the hill, this should deter, weaken, or at least hold back the enemies while you pick up the Laser, and also have a Sniper in the base and/or other players to protect as you get to a safe distance with the Spartan Laser.

Trivia

File:Killroy Valhalla.jpg

Kilroy on the Forerunner Wall.

File:ValhallaTombstone.jpg

The tombstone on the Forerunner Wall.

• If you shoot a Machine gun turret into the river, and view it in Theater from under the water from a distance, you can see blood where the bullets hit the water.
• On October 31st (Halloween), a Tombstone with the letters "RIP" appeared on the Forerunner Wall near where the Neutral Mongoose spawns and on a rock close to Red base. Also, on November 11th (Armistice/Veteran's Day) , a drawing of Kilroy, a popular graffiti character during the 1940s and throughout World War 2, appears on the Forerunner Wall and on a rock just close to Red base. It also bears the writing, "Killroy was here". There are different images for many different days. The image seems to be locally generated-changing your Xbox clock will show an image for any given date On January 1st (New years day) the words "make love not war" appear by the rock at the red base.
• Valhalla (Old Norse Valhall, "Hall of the slain") is Odin's hall in Norse mythology, for those slain gloriously in battle. This map's name has nothing to do with blood, unlike its two predecessors. But it is related to MJOLNIR, as they are both of the same mythological origin.
• The D-77 TC Pelican Drop ship Victor 398 mentioned in the map description can be seen to have crashed along the shadowed cliff between the bases. Weapons canisters from the drop ship appear to be scattered across the battlefield.
• The map's general layout and design bears a startling resemblance to the level Halo in the first game, and may have been inspired by it, incorporating elements from Blood Gulch/Coagulation and Containment as well.
• This map was named "Riverworld" and then "Curious Gorge" before Bungie finally settled on Valhalla.
• This map was used as PSAs for Rooster Teeth's widely known machinima series, Red vs. Blue.
• In the Halo 3 beta you could fly in to outer space by a glitch in a banshee.
• You can fly to the top of the towers using a Banshee and then wait for a few minutes before being killed by the Guardians (the laser fires up and hits you).
• Another way to get on top of the towers is shorter, but takes two people, and is done on forge. Have one person become a monitor and fly inside of the crack and have the second person also becomes a monitor, and then spawn a radio antenna and then stick it inside the crack vertically, below the first person. Next, have the first person turn into a person, and then the player should land on the antenna. Have the second player slowly push the antenna up and push the first player onto the tower.
• During the Halo 3 Beta, each base spawned a Trip Mine. Unfortunately, using it as an ambush for unwary enemy team members often resulted in the deaths of those friendly units still around it, and so it was removed from the final game.
• During the concept of this map, Bungie intended to make the map more of a snowy map than a forest one. Because of Snowbound, Bungie decided to make a forest map instead. However, some snow can still be seen near the base located near the waterfall. There is also snow atop the cliffs surrounding the majority of the map.
• Some players have claimed to have seen what appears to be "The Ghost of Valhalla", a cloaked Spartan with an Energy Sword that roams around the crashed Pelican. It has been mainly reported seen in Ninjanaut type matches.
• The river that runs through the center of the map has a fully functional current. A light enough object, including a dead Spartan, will flow down the river from the waterfall towards the lake. If the object floats far enough in the lake, it will drop underwater when it reaches the "death border".
• On the cliff to the left of blue base (opposite the cliff next to the wall) there is a face.
• Butterflies can be seen near the weapon canister opposite the Pelican.
• Looking closely at the edge of the platform where the Banshee spawns, you can see the texture of the metal resembles the face of Ling Ling, Bungie's dog.
• Valhalla appears to be the location for Rooster Teeth's new project: Red vs Blue: Reconstruction. The Pelican appears to be crashed either by the same person who attacked Agent Washington in the Recovery One series, or Agent Wyoming (this is unlikely as he is thought to be dead).
• Halo 3 has a lot less red and blue colour coordination compared to Halo and Halo 2. But there are dim lights inside each of the bases, giving the room a red or blue ambiance. However, the default and matchmaking spawn points in team games (CTF, Assault etc) spawn red team in the blue base (Lake Base) and blue team in the red base (Waterfall Base).

Sources

[1][2] http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/03/30/snow-is-brought-to-valhalla/

Images

• 

  The Forerunner wall.

• 

  A battle on Valhalla

• 

  A player fires a Spartan Laser towards Blue Base in Valhalla.

• Pelican in red .jpg

  The crashed pelican is clearly seen in the red box

• Pelican Shadow.jpg

  A Pelican seen in the shadows of the trees of Valhalla

• Chad1.JPG

  The picture of Kilroy on the rock.

• 

  The waterfall on Valhalla. Unfortunately, you cannot access it.

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