**Spartan Strike: Operation D — Adamantine Shield**

**Spartan Strike: Operation D — Adamantine Shield** Mission spoilers. Objective overview and achievement strategies; complete navigation for D-1 through D-4 and D-6's exact interaction order remain unverified. The campaign is back on Earth, but this is New Phoenix rather than another trip through New Mombasa. The Conduit has to reach the researchers who can use it to shut the portal. Clearing the operation earns **Home Sweet Home**. It does not automatically open Operation E: that requires gold stars across all 24 missions in A through D. **The first four missions** **D-1, The Way Home:** deliver the Conduit to the research team. If you are collecting Assault Ops along the way, this mission includes Scorpion kills on Knights, SMG kills on Crawler Alphas, and Battle Rifle kills on Watchers. Use the tank for its assigned targets when you can, but do not expect its kills to satisfy the two infantry-weapon requirements. **D-2, Serve and Protect:** escort the ONI research team to the inner campus. Keep the escort objective separate from an optional kill grind. Magnum kills on Crawlers, SMG kills on suicide Grunts, and incendiary-grenade kills on Focus Turrets are the mission's cleanup tasks. **D-3, We Need to Talk:** restore communication with the team. Its Assault Ops all use the Kestrel: Ghost destruction, enemy kills, and Knight kills. If you are working on those, preserve a usable vehicle instead of getting out at every opportunity and doing all the damage with handheld weapons. **D-4, Reverse Course:** override the security lockdown. The challenges distinguish Crawler Snipers killed with a Binary Rifle, Covenant killed with a Wraith, and enemies killed with a Grenade Launcher. Check the target type as well as the weapon; an ordinary Crawler is not the same requirement as a Crawler Sniper. Those are the objectives and challenge pairings. This guide does not pretend to give the location of every switch or the route through every building in those four missions. **D-5, The Lion's Den: Beam Dance** The mission objective is reaching the Forerunner device. **Beam Dance** adds a much stricter condition: finish without being hit by a Focus Turret. Surviving a beam and recovering your shields does not restore the attempt. The first important turret section comes with the objective to kill the Watchers. Clear the turrets from cover before walking into their firing lanes. Grenades are useful because you can attack without spending as long standing in front of the weapon. Do not step out merely because a turret looks nearly destroyed; finish it from safety if possible. The next major danger is the inner-campus holdout, where turrets appear around the circular area. Watch for their positions while also managing the moving enemies. Removing a turret when it appears prevents it from becoming another beam crossing your escape route later. Teleport can help you reposition behind a turret, provided you know where you are going. It is not a reason to teleport blindly into a different firing lane. Airstrike is another option for attacking dangerous groups without exposing yourself for sustained gunfire. Choose the ability you can use reliably rather than expecting a particular purchase to complete the challenge for you. Keep grenades available for the turrets instead of spending the whole supply on ordinary infantry. Damage Boost can shorten these fights, but this is still a no-hit attempt: do not turn a faster kill into an unnecessary gamble. If a beam catches you, either restart deliberately or finish the mission for ordinary progress. There is no benefit to treating a visibly failed attempt as though it is still clean. **D-6, End of the Line: Vidmaster Challenge D** The final objective is deactivating the portal. For the Vidmaster, start with **Famine and Thunderstorm** enabled. You are dealing with tougher opposition while enemy-dropped ammunition is less generous, so the useful preparation here is identifying reliable resupply. Weapon crates are available by the upper-left and upper-right pillars, with another position along the left side between the upper and lower pillars. The available weapons include the Battle Rifle, Assault Rifle and Shotgun. Return to those supplies when needed rather than chasing an enemy drop through a crowded arena because your current gun is nearly empty. Keep a weapon suited to the distance you are fighting. A Shotgun is useful when enemies close in; it is not a good reason to abandon a safe position and charge every distant Knight. Damage Boost can help reduce the ammunition spent per enemy. Watch your ammunition before beginning a long exposed exchange, not after the weapon runs dry. Complete the mission with both required skulls active for **Vidmaster Challenge D**. This is a completion challenge, not a requirement to reach gold during the same attempt. After the operation, check the mission screen for any missing gold stars in A–D. Finish those before looking for the six Operation E missions. A complete story run and a complete gold-medal run are different checkpoints.