**Halo Wars 2: Fighting Retreat — hold long enough, then get Pavium out**

**Halo Wars 2: Fighting Retreat — hold long enough, then get Pavium out** **Awakening the Nightmare, mission two. Story spoilers.** This is not a mission about saving every base. You are buying time, opening an escape route and keeping Pavium alive. When the order changes from hold to retreat, the position you spent resources defending has done its job. The challenge is using each preparation window well enough that the next Flood wave hits a functioning defense rather than a construction site. **Opening position and first withdrawal** Keep the infantry firing from useful cover while Pavium handles the immediate pressure. Clear infection forms before they reach isolated squads. Keep the force compact enough to support itself, but leave space to move the hero out of concentrated damage. Gather the nearby salvage during safe moments. Those resources pay for the next defenses, and collecting them now avoids leaving useful supplies behind when the route closes. When the bridge withdrawal is ordered, move the surviving force across. At the first defensive line, immediately queue turrets and barricades, then add production and healing support. Use the preparation timer for building, not for waiting beside the objective marker. **Protect the Goliaths while they open the route** The Goliaths are clearing the obstruction. Your army's job is to stop the Flood reaching them. Put the defensive fire between the incoming waves and the workers. When a new approach becomes active, shift the mobile units rather than leaving the Goliaths exposed while everything shoots at the old entrance. Pavium can absorb substantial pressure, but his survival is mandatory. Pull him back for healing and shield recovery before he is surrounded. A damaged hero standing behind the line is still useful; a dead mandatory hero ends the attempt. When the barrier is cleared, take the retreat promptly and prepare the next position. Repeat the construction-and-cover routine there. The early defenses are temporary, but they also count toward the twenty-defense bonus, so skipping every available slot makes later cleanup harder. **Rescue teams before the final defense gets crowded** The first salvage team is beside the second defensive line, off to the right. Clear its attackers and bring the rescued units back into the force. After reclaiming the main Banished base, use the preparation period to recover the remaining teams and the three Blisterback crews. Sweep the marked crew positions, then inspect the paths near the power nodes. One salvage group is reached across an activated lightbridge. Send a real escort. A lone hero running between objectives may survive, but the units you are trying to rescue still need protection on the way home. Keep production going while the rescue group works. Wraiths give you useful ground damage, while Engineers help preserve expensive units. Defenses should cover the back of the base as well as the obvious front approach. **Spend resources where the next wave will land** At the main base, build and upgrade the available defensive positions, including those around the rescued Blisterback areas. Check the twenty-defense counter before the last phase. Keep a mobile reserve near the base rather than distributing every unit permanently among the outer turrets. That reserve can handle a tentacle eruption, support threatened artillery or stop infected vehicles that survive the initial fire. If a wave pushes deep into the base, concentrate on opening a safe path for Pavium. Avoid chasing one enemy into an unprotected area while the rest of the Flood comes through behind it. **Side objectives and logs** For the full objective run: - Rescue three Blisterback crews. - Rescue four salvage teams. - Recover 3,000 resources. - Build twenty defenses. - Kill 1,200 Flood Pod Infectors. Read the counters before the final withdrawal. The kill objective may fill naturally during a thorough defense, but check it rather than relying on the size of the swarm. The two logs are: - **Brothers in Arms I:** on the lower ridge near the northern end of the first defensive-line area. - **Brothers in Arms II:** near the southwestern Blisterback crew. Get these while you still have control of their section. A retreat mission is much less forgiving about backtracking than an ordinary base-building map. **Final escape** Once told to abandon the base, leave. Move Pavium and the surviving combat force along the available route. A large tentacle blocks the direct approach to the destination. Follow the alternate path around it instead of repeatedly ordering the army through the obstruction. Clear the enemies directly blocking movement, then keep going. Holding a narrow passage briefly can help the rear units catch up, but avoid turning the escape into another permanent defensive stand. Reach the extraction route to complete **The Wave Breaks**. **Hold the Line(s)** additionally requires Gold and all objectives in the same run; it does not specify Legendary. Separate that cleanup run from your hardest-difficulty clear if trying to do both together is making the rescue objectives unreliable.