Drive an AA Wraith

Player piloting an AA Wraith.

This is a guide on How to pilot an AA Wraith in any level it appears in. Follow the steps below to achieve this task. It is to be noted however that the Wraith will self-destruct once you leave it.

Walkthrough

1. Find an AA Wraith.
2. Take out the gunner if necessary.
3. Stand on the hatch (the door) of the Wraith and melee it off (Weapons like Rocket Launchers or Spartan Lasers with a good melee force will smash open the hatch in one hit and not kill the driver). Or, on higher difficulties or with the Tilt skull on, you will probably have to board the Wraith and melee the hatch until it falls off, as a normal melee attack won't even dent the hatch.
4. After the hatch is off, hit the driver with a melee attack so his helmet is knocked off.
5. If you boarded the Wraith, get off and get on (not board) the Wraith. Once you see the drivers head, crouch and position yourself so you do not see "Hold RB to board Wraith".
6. Holding RB, shoot the driver in the head until he dies (it's better using an Battle rifle or Covenant Carbine), once he does you will automatically enter the Wraith. Have fun.

Multiplayer Walkthrough

1. Find an AA Wraith
2. Get player 1 to board the Wraith, with player 2 holding RB at its front or side.
3. Get player 1 to melee the driver and gunner normally.
4. As soon as the driver and gunner are killed, player 2 will automatically get inside.

Video Walkthrough

A video to help show you how to drive the Wraith using the directions from the above walkthrough. 425px The important thing which is difficult to notice in this video is that you need to crouch, then start holding RB, then shoot the Brute in the head. If you do not crouch it is very difficult to actually get in the AA Wraith, even though it may not say "Hold RB to Board", you may simply just destroy it. Crouch to the left of the auto cannon and then shoot the Brute in the head.

Explanation

A player-controlled AA Wraith engages another Wraith in battle.

The reason you can't pilot this Wraith variant is because of a rule Bungie included in the development; and that rule is when the driver dies, the vehicle explodes. As you may have noticed, if you attempt to kill the driver in order for it to be unoccupied so you can use it, it will self-destruct when the driver is dead. If Bungie hadn't included this, you could just get in and out of the vehicle as much as you want. This is where the glitch comes into play. When you kill the driver while holding RB, you are quick enough to bypass this "rule" and get in the Wraith, tricking the system thinks that the driver never left the vehicle. The rule also explains why the Wraith will self-destruct when you leave it; as you have left the vehicle, the system now realizes that the driver is absent from the vehicle, so it carries out the correct action, thus destroying the Wraith.

Trivia

• When piloted, the vehicle uses a temporary reticule that seems to be used for vehicles that do not yet have a reticule of their own. This same reticule could be seen in several ViDocs and in the Beta when using locked vehicles like the standard Wraith. It is unknown whether Bungie ever intended for the player to use this vehicle and decided to remove this capability due to its over-powered nature or it is using an edited Wraith, and found it easier not to take away the driving ability but to make it explode. Another thing of note is that there is an animation that is seen only when the player gets out of the vehicle - the turret being contracted into it's compartment.

• The plasma cannon of the vehicle has no targeting reticule. It is also of note that it does no damage, and Arbiter's arms go through the base of the turret.

• Marines will board the turret when you pilot the tank. Note: If you leave the Wraith with a marine still on the turret, they will die from the explosion and other allies in the area will react to his death as if you had betrayed him (friendly killed).

• If hijacked, the main weapon can be fired at a rate much greater than is seen during normal gameplay, all one needs to do is button-mash on the Right Trigger. This is most likely because there was no wait between shots programed, since it was not intended to be driven.

• This is easier on the level The Storm.

• When driving, an AA wraith can easily destroy any other vehicle in the game, Warthogs, Ghosts, other Wraiths, and even Scarabs will fall due to its button mashing fuel rod cannons.

• On Xbox Live, this glitch will not work except for the host, but on rare occasions the other player attempting to drive will get into the destroyed Wraith as if it were still working, however it is immobile and cannot fire. This is possibly due to lag, as the aforementioned rule cannot be bypassed quickly enough.

• On the level The Covenant, two Anti-Air Wraiths are non-drivable and are not boardable via RB. The two Wraiths can be found at the 3rd tower which Sergeant Johnson was captured.

• A good way to do this is take a Battle Rifle, melee the hatch off, then shoot the Brute while holding RB.(Good for the Covenant level)

• It helps to use a charged plasma pistol shot to disable the vehicle while trying to perform this glitch. Since the driver AI will sometimes continuously spin the Wraith in an attempt to run you over. This causes you to move to a position where you board the Wraith, instead of hijacking it.

• If you use a Spartan Laser to shoot the AA driver's head then the shot may rebound and kill you.

• If you want a long term of play in the AA then the best level to do it on is The Covenant.

• This glitch does not always work on the level the Ark. Additionally, when doing this glitch on The Ark, be sure to stay clear of the Forward Unto Dawn, as the wind created by its landing can easily flip the Wraith, which will eject you and destroy the vehicle.