**Halo 5 — Guardians: the final intel sweep, Tough Luck, and the two core challenges**

**Halo 5 — Guardians: the final intel sweep, Tough Luck, and the two core challenges** Campaign spoilers. This is Halo 5: Guardians on Xbox, not a Master Chief Collection mission. Guardians has ten pieces of intel and the Tough Luck skull. The important thing here is to finish searching the valley before taking the override route into the final facility. There is a lot of open ground around the five cores, and the objective marker won't take you past every collectible. For the two core achievements, select Heroic or Legendary. If you're collecting on an easier setting, you can still make that a separate run rather than adding the harder combat just for these pickups. **Ten stops for the intel** Use this as a landmark sweep. The numbers below are this route's checklist, not the order of the recordings in the intel menu. 1. In the opening hologram chamber, climb to the console on the right. 2. Cross to the other elevated console on the left before following Exuberant out. 3. In the first outdoor battle, inspect the raised central platform where the snipers are positioned. 4. At Alpha Core, search the crashed Phantom on the left of the area. 5. Check the ice ledge beside the approach to Beta's shielded cave, near the lower tunnel. 6. Above Gamma Core, search beside the crashed Pelican's cockpit. 7. Near Delta, enter the low tunnel containing a Ghost and inspect behind the vehicle. 8. Return outside that tunnel and climb to the ledge above its entrance for a fallen Constructor. 9. Search the higher rocky ledge between Delta and Epsilon for another fallen Constructor. 10. Check Epsilon's side cave containing the replacement Mantis for the remaining data pad. Those last two Constructors are separate pickups. Finding one on a ledge doesn't finish the other stop, and the Pelican's recording is separate from the skull nearby. If you need to match a missing recording to its name, [Maka's mission-specific visual guide](https://t.co/8KMPh8c6RA) provides this chapter index: - 0:07 — Alive 2/5 - 0:24 — Alive 5/5 - 0:44 — Sangheili 881 - 1:11 — Sangheili 709 1/2 - 1:29 — Sangheili 709 2/2 - 1:55 — UNSC Cockpit Recording - 2:26 — Alive 3/5 - 2:52 — Alive 4/5 - 3:17 — UNSC Personal Log - 3:48 — Sangheili 977 That video uses a different order through the valley. Match the recording name to its chapter rather than assuming its seventh pickup is checklist stop seven above. **Tough Luck: cross the Pelican, don't stop at the recording** Locate Gamma Core and the snowy slope running along the right-hand ice wall toward the crashed Pelican. Clear the nearby threats before climbing; having a turret fire into the jump makes this needlessly awkward. Go up to the wreck. The cockpit recording is one stop, but the skull is beyond the Pelican on the other icy ledge. Cross over the wreck and land on that ledge, then collect Tough Luck. [This dedicated skull reference](https://t.co/ZMRo7pQVT3) is useful for identifying the crossing and landing shelf. Check that the pickup registered before dropping back into the valley. A successful jump onto the wreck isn't the same as collecting the skull. **Icy Cool: leave a core standing** The stated challenge is to use a Ground Pound on an exterior power core on Heroic difficulty; Legendary also qualifies. A straightforward approach is Alpha Core, where there are raised rocks and pillars around the objective. Clear the immediate enemies first. Climb above the core, jump out, charge Ground Pound, and aim directly at its glowing center. Landing beside the frame won't give you the same result as hitting the core. If it survives the first hit, get back up and repeat rather than finishing it with the Mantis. I would leave the vehicle parked for this attempt. It's easy to finish the normal objective with a burst of cannon fire and only then remember why you were keeping that core intact. **Double Stuff: prepare both targets before firing** This asks for two cores destroyed simultaneously on Heroic or Legendary. Don't finish four cores and then try to arrange it with the one that's left. In co-op, clear the enemies around two intact cores and put a player at each. Agree on the targets, weaken them carefully, and coordinate the finishing attacks. Save the countdown until both players are actually aimed and ready. For solo play, a documented setup uses the rocket launcher near the Mantis at Alpha, followed by a firing position with sightlines to Epsilon and Delta. Fire at Epsilon, then immediately at Delta. The different travel distances let the explosions arrive close together. Clear the lanes first and make sure the targets are vulnerable enough for those finishing rockets; a fixed number of preparation shots isn't reliable across every difficulty and damage setup. [The achievement's community guide](https://t.co/Qq05LFOkve) covers that arrangement. If one target goes down early, don't destroy the rest out of habit. Check whether another intact pair is available before continuing the mission. **Finish the mission, then check the larger campaign goals** Completing Guardians earns **Sentinels**. It can also finish a campaign-wide difficulty or co-op goal, but only if the other missions already satisfy that goal's requirements. Before leaving the valley, make your last check: ten intel entries found here, Tough Luck collected, and either core challenge you came for completed. Then follow the override objective and finish the final facility. That keeps the last stretch focused on the ending instead of wondering which snowy ledge you forgot.