**Spartan Assault — Operation B: Tempered Shield**

**Spartan Assault — Operation B: Tempered Shield** Solo campaign missions B-1 through B-5. Tempered Shield starts with enemies trying to break through your defenses and ends with you driving a tank through theirs. In between, there is a Jackal achievement that is easy to spoil without noticing. I would separate that attempt from the score run rather than trying to keep track of everything at once. **B-1: Siege of Faraday** Your job is to stop the Covenant breaking through the doors. Protecting Palmer alone is not enough. Suicide Grunts are the immediate problem: kill them before they reach what you are defending, rather than chasing a tougher enemy while the runners slip past. Keep both doors in mind. Moving to one side should not mean abandoning the other until you happen to notice damage there. The Sprint pickup near the assault-rifle supply north of the starting position can help you change sides. Shock Burst can slow the rush, but do not assume it affects only enemies; it can interfere with your Marines too. Once the main assault stops, clear the remaining enemies to finish the mission. An empty lane does not necessarily mean the final Elite elsewhere has been dealt with. Leave the Suicide Grunt melee challenge for a dedicated replay if it is making the defense unreliable. Getting yourself into an explosion for a challenge counter is not a sensible first-clear strategy. **B-2: Reactor Field Relief** There are two Wolverine positions to reach and defend. From the opening ruins, advance north through the Marines' fight to the first group. Stop there and protect it; do not immediately run onward because you can see more map ahead. The attackers include Suicide Grunts, so cut them down before they reach the vehicles. When that defense finishes, head west, then work through the supply-crate route toward the next group. The second position is beyond that route in a field of wrecked UNSC vehicles. Again, settle into defending the Wolverines rather than chasing every spawn away from them. Elites arrive by drop pod during this fight. Keep ammunition available and use dropped weapons when your starting guns run dry. For challenge cleanup, this mission has shotgun kills against Elite Minors, SMG kills against Suicide Grunts and incendiary-grenade kills against Covenant enemies. Those call for different tools. Check the counter you are targeting before replacing a starting weapon simply because another one feels more comfortable. **B-3: Hunt for the Sangheili Command** Find and eliminate the six Elite commanders, then return to the extraction Hornet. Their guards are obstacles, not six extra mandatory objectives of their own. Work around the forest systematically rather than crossing the middle repeatedly. Commanders occupy separate guarded clearings, with Shades and Jackals protecting several positions. Follow the remaining objective markers after each kill, and use the ammunition near the landed Hornet when you reach that clearing. Once all commanders are down, the return-to-extraction objective is the finish. **Nowhere to Hide** The requirement is to finish without a Jackal regenerating its shield. **It is not a requirement to kill every Jackal on the map.** If you do break one's shield, finish that enemy immediately instead of switching targets while it retreats. Your Marines can cause trouble here by stripping a Jackal's shield and then failing to finish it. Watch the enemies they are shooting, not just the one under your reticle. An untouched Jackal you avoid is different from a damaged one you leave behind. The assault rifle, close-range shotgun attacks and grenades are practical tools for finishing a damaged Jackal quickly. Avoid spraying distant Jackals through awkward cover if you cannot follow up. There is an Active Camouflage pickup near the opening Hornet that can help you approach a target, but camouflaging Palmer does not make the Marines' gunfire irrelevant. Finish damaged Jackals promptly; do not rely on counting a regeneration delay. If you see a shield return, finish the mission for ordinary progress if you want, but consider that achievement attempt failed and replay it deliberately. **B-4: Battle for Epsilon Expanse** This mission requires planting bombs on two Antlion artillery pieces. Shooting at them from the bridge is not a substitute for reaching their bomb interaction points. Move east from the starting supplies and take the unmanned Wraith on the approach. Use it to clear the bridge and its defenders. Another empty Wraith near the far end gives you an alternative if the first has taken too much damage. Past the bridge, fight through the enemy Wraith and toward the ridges. Roadblocks eventually stop the vehicle route. Get out and continue on foot through the Jackals and turret defenses to the artillery positions. Plant the first bomb, then get clear of the blast. Deal with the reinforcements before standing at the next interaction point. Plant the second bomb and move clear again. The final objective sends you back toward the friendly Scorpions at the bridge; retrace the route instead of searching for another artillery target. **B-5: Battle at Red Slate** Start in the Scorpion and destroy seven Wraiths. The opening infantry includes Suicide Grunts, so do not let the tank's firepower convince you that nearby enemies can be ignored. Work through the plateau in a broad circuit. The early targets lead west and northwest, then north; later targets lie farther east and southeast. Use the objective markers to account for remaining Wraiths instead of assuming every large explosion was one of your seven targets. There are spare unmanned Scorpions along the route, including one in the northwest area and another later toward the southeast. Change vehicles before your current tank is destroyed if you have a safe chance. Clear nearby enemies before stepping out; a replacement tank is not useful if Palmer gets killed reaching it. The Scorpion and Ghost Assault Ops here are separate cleanup jobs. A Scorpion completion does not satisfy a challenge that specifically asks you to destroy Wraiths while using a Ghost. Get the reliable clear first, then change the vehicle plan for that replay. Completing the operation earns Switched On.