Halo 2 in MCC: Outskirts achievements, the Rex Sword and the cloaked Elite

Halo 2 in MCC: Outskirts achievements, the Rex Sword and the cloaked Elite Outskirts encounter and hidden-item spoilers. Halo 2: Anniversary in The Master Chief Collection. Outskirts has a few achievements that sound related until you start working on them. Rooftop Runner is a time target, not a requirement to use a particular rooftop route. Rex Sword does require finding a hidden weapon, but it doesn't mean picking up any sword an Elite drops. And sticking a Stealth Elite is its own challenge, not part of the IWHBYD skull's spawn conditions. Here's how I'd separate them so a missing unlock doesn't turn into replaying the entire level without knowing what went wrong. **The eight main checks** - **Outskirts:** finish the mission. - **Rooftop Runner:** beat the **15-minute** par time. - **Objective Secured:** beat the **8,000-point** par score. - **Inquisitive:** activate terminal 2, in the beach structure before the highway tunnel. - **Skulltaker Halo 2: Blind:** collect the skull above the opening passage. Any difficulty works. - **Skulltaker Halo 2: IWHBYD:** collect the skull in its Sniper Alley room on Legendary when it spawns. - **Rex Sword:** pick up the specific hidden energy sword above the streets. - **Betcha can't stick it...:** stick a Stealth Elite with a plasma grenade on Outskirts. That is the mission-focused checklist. Other general combat or dialogue achievements can happen here, but they don't add requirements to those eight. **Betcha can't stick it...: save a plasma grenade** For the conventional, unmodified route, play on **Heroic or Legendary**. Those are the difficulties documented for the naturally appearing Stealth Elites in Sniper Alley. Heroic is the less demanding choice if this is the only achievement you're after. Collect plasma grenades during the earlier fighting and keep at least one for the alley. A frag grenade won't do, and throwing a plasma grenade beside an Elite isn't the same as attaching it to him. After the Hunters open the gate, continue to the Pelican rendezvous where Johnson leaves. Clear the Jackals covering the next approach, then move down the alley and turn left. Deal with the elevated snipers before trying to line up your throw. A recovered beam rifle is useful here, but don't use it to kill the target you're saving for the grenade. Look for the cloaked Elites in the alley encounter. The distortion around their bodies and the visible glow of their energy swords help distinguish them from scenery. Let the target settle into a readable position rather than throwing blindly into a whole group. Aim to attach the grenade to the Elite himself, then move away. There's no fixed aiming height that works from every distance, so adjust for the arc instead of relying on an instruction like “always aim exactly this far above his head.” If you miss and still have another plasma grenade, try again while the target is alive. If the Elites have been killed or you're out of grenades, a checkpoint from before that opportunity can let you retry. Don't continue all the way to the tunnel expecting another copy of the same encounter. Some MCC guides document an alternate **Assassins-skull** method that makes ordinary Elites cloaked, with Envy used to approach them. That is a separate modified setup, not proof that the natural Stealth Elites always appear on Easy or Normal. The route above doesn't require those modifiers or any attack on your Marines to obtain grenades. **Rex Sword: the hidden room matters** This is the sword in the rooftop room marked **REX**, not a sword dropped by one of the Stealth Elites. You need to **pick up the weapon**. Simply looking at the lettering doesn't complete the achievement. It can be done on an easier difficulty. Keep it separate from a timed run while you're learning the rooftop navigation. The route starts with the familiar climb near the beginning: use the light fixture above the first doorway, then crouch-jump onto the roof. Blind is a nearby detour from that starting area, but the sword is farther across the rooftops. Continue toward the roofs overlooking the Sniper Alley area. The documented route crosses a bridge-like roof connection, then gains the higher building with a grenade-assisted jump. From that higher roof, look for the cutout/opening into a small room below. Drop into that room and collect the energy sword beside the REX marking. That description identifies the route and destination, but the roof-to-roof alignment is the awkward part. For that stretch, use [Maka's dedicated Rex Sword route](https://t.co/LwONbXHNQD) rather than guessing which of several similar rooftops is meant. Take it one jump at a time; this isn't a promise that one throw from an unspecified spot will land you correctly. Don't confuse this with CE's **T-Rex** achievement on The Maw. Different game, different location, different action. Here, the hidden sword pickup is the check that matters. **Blind, IWHBYD and Inquisitive** **Blind** is the simple opening stop: climb above the first doorway and take the narrow passage on the left. Pick up the skull at its end. Collecting it doesn't require completing the level with your HUD hidden. **IWHBYD** needs a dedicated Legendary attempt. Reach and load the Sniper Alley encounter, then check its upper room near the sniper ammunition. An empty room can be a failed random spawn, not evidence that you missed a supposed seven-checkpoint ritual. Don't turn this achievement into a guaranteed-percentage claim or an exact number of attempts. For MCC, the collectible achievement is for claiming the skull. Surviving the older game's entire subsequent Elite-wave challenge is not an extra condition for that unlock. Record the pickup separately from what happens afterward. **Inquisitive** is much later, on the ground floor of the small ammunition building in the final beach section before entering the highway tunnel. Use Anniversary visuals and activate the incoming-message screen. It isn't hidden somewhere along the tunnel's walls. **Time: under 15 minutes** Rooftop Runner allows any difficulty. Easy is a sensible choice after you've learned the route. The name doesn't require rooftop travel. A rooftop skip is one speed strategy, not the achievement's rule. If you aren't comfortable with the jumps and encounter transitions, practicing the conventional path can be more useful than repeatedly falling off a route you haven't learned. Leave the sword, terminal and random skull attempt for another visit. Once you're on the vehicle section, know the route through the beaches and highway rather than stopping to explore every structure. Finish below 15 minutes with some room to spare and verify the recorded mission result. **Score: more than 8,000 points** Objective Secured is a different run. Turn scoring on and watch the total. Skipping the opening defense through the rooftops can remove encounters you would otherwise use for points, so don't assume your fastest route is your best scoring route. Pick a difficulty you can finish consistently, then consider eligible score modifiers only if needed. Higher multipliers aren't useful if deaths and lost time keep undoing the benefit. Avoid friendly-fire penalties and keep your vehicle encounters controlled rather than parking in front of several guns. Finish the mission with enough points; seeing the threshold during a fight isn't the final recorded result. Read modifier warnings and complete an individual score or time attempt in one session. Helper skulls that are usable for a collectible should not automatically be treated as valid scoring settings. Once those records are checked, leave the completed targets alone. If only IWHBYD remains, you don't need another full beach-and-tunnel run every time its room is empty.