**Halo Infinite Connections: southern Spartan Core and armor-locker route**

**Halo Infinite Connections: southern Spartan Core and armor-locker route** This sweep covers **five Spartan Cores and seven Mjolnir lockers** around Echo, the western river, the Spire and the southeastern mountains. The companion northern sweep supplies the remaining nine cores and seven lockers for Connections' **14-and-14** total. Outpost Tremonius has its own three cores and one locker; those are separate from this regional count. The Redoubt core below is a cross-check of the outpost guide, not an extra fifteenth core. If you already collected it while freeing the Marines, tick that stop off without repeating the fight. Start from Echo with its nearby activities cleared. A precision weapon is useful for the outdoor stops; save a close-range option for the southern cave. The higher mountains and the cave approach are easier to revisit with aircraft, but the ordinary outdoor lockers do not require a special weapon, skull or mission trigger. **Echo and the western river** **1. Banished Deception Ridgeback locker** From Echo, head south/southwest toward the ridge beside the bridge leading back to The Tower. Search among the trees on the Connections side of the crossing. The locker is on the wooded height, not on the bridge deck and not inside The Tower's compound across the gap. Use the locker icon as a waypoint once the FOB has revealed it, then scan at the trees rather than walking straight over the ridge. Opening this supplies the Ridgeback vehicle coating; it is not an equipment upgrade for Chief. **2. Western beam-tower core** Travel west of Echo, toward the Forerunner beam structure north of Ik 'Novus. Enter the structure's lower room on its southern side. The core is inside near a dead Brute. Climbing onto the top of the beam tower is unnecessary for this pickup. If you approach after fighting Ik 'Novus, do not confuse his reward-weapon location with this separate upgrade box farther north. **3. Warmaster's Prize Bulldog locker** Move toward Bluebell's road, then follow it northwest to the branching paths and bridge. Go **under the bridge** to find the locker. Stay on the lower bank while checking: crossing the bridge above it can leave you almost directly over the marker with no locker in sight. **4. Banished Weapon Emblem locker** Continue north from Bluebell toward the stream and waterfall west of Forge of Teash. Search beside the water below the surrounding slopes. This is a different river stop from the bridge locker; opening one does not account for both nearby icons. **Back across Echo's northern side** **5. Escape-pod core** Return toward Echo, then travel northeast to the crash debris on the shelf above the base. Look inside the wrecked **Bumblebee escape pod** for the core. Check the pod's interior rather than searching only the loose crates around it. The location is northeast of Echo but still southwest of the large eastern mountain route. You do not need to climb all the way to the Foxhound summit for this box. **6. Infinity Nameplate locker** Head northeast of Courier's distress-call area to the foot of the ridge. The locker sits on the lower slope near the mountain's base, south of the central Charlie/Excavation area. Approach along that contour instead of assuming the marker means the summit. This is the **nameplate** locker in Connections. Do not substitute the similarly named Infinity armor-emblem pickup from the later Reformation region. **7. Redoubt of Sundering core — already counted in the outpost route** At Redoubt, check the eastern yard beside the containers near the prisoner position. The box is outside the holding building. If the core icon is already completed from your prison rescue, leave it ticked off and continue; this article is reconciling the same physical box, not adding another one. **The eastern mountain pair** **8. Blood Shadow armor-coating locker** From the Thunder cave area, climb south onto the mountain overlooking the Spire side of the region. Search the high western/northwestern face of the mountain mass, west of the Wild Kovan locker. Grapple in short stages and stop on actual ledges before attempting the next rise. This is not the locker at the mountain's far eastern edge. Read the reward when you open it so you can distinguish the two stops. **9. Wild Kovan armor-coating locker** Work across the high mountain toward the southeast of Foxhound's rescue position. The locker is in the rocky notch on the eastern side of the high ground, north of Delta. Use the terrain around the waypoint rather than jumping off the region's outside edge. Blood Shadow and Wild Kovan are a sensible pair to collect in one climb. If you are using an aircraft, land on a broad surface and walk the final stretch; a vehicle sliding down the slope is a nuisance you do not need. **Spire and the southern edge** **10. Shadow Sorel armor-coating locker** Descend toward the Spire, then follow the **base of the mountain northeast of it**, northwest of Delta. Search the sheltered slope/overhang at the mountain's foot. This is below the high Blood Shadow/Wild Kovan route, so climbing back toward the summit is the wrong response to a seemingly nearby marker. **11. Spire wreck core** On the western approach to the Spire, inspect the crashed Pelican for the core. Check the wreckage itself. The Spire-area audio recording is a separate collectible; hearing or collecting a pad nearby does not replace opening the upgrade chest. You can collect this during the first Spire visit or return later. There is no need to replay the boss fight simply to inspect the exterior wreck. **12. Southern cave core** Go to the southern tip of the Connections landmass, southeast of the Spire and south/southeast of Delta. The entrance is **down in the outer cliff face**, among the hexagonal ring foundations, facing the gap toward Graveyards. Standing directly over its map icon on the plateau will not reveal the chest. An aircraft is the simplest way to inspect the face from outside and line up with the cave mouth. Find the opening before leaving the vehicle; do not jump blindly into the void. Land or grapple onto the entrance ledge, clear the Banished inside and follow the passage through to the core at the far-end ledge. Recheck your exit route before leaving the safe cave floor. **Southern sweep tally** You should now have accounted for **five cores**: western beam tower, escape pod, Redoubt, Spire wreck and southern cave. The **seven lockers** are Ridgeback, Bulldog, Banished Weapon Emblem, Infinity Nameplate, Blood Shadow, Wild Kovan and Shadow Sorel. The northern sweep handles the remaining boxes, including the two Excavation cores and three other outpost cores. Audio pads, artifacts, towers and skulls have their own physical-stop routes; these twelve pickups alone do not finish Connections.