Solo Player Walkthrough for: Written by Cuzit Version 1.0 (This guide has been reprinted and reformatted by Candied Skull with written permission from (Cuzit) Matt Silvey. All text remains in its original form as written by the author.)

Act 4

Navigation Instructions: Click the link below to get to the place on this page you want to be. Click on any of the cog symbols () to return to this list.

The Long Road Home Overview

Now your objective is simple. Go to Marcus's house. If this is your first playthrough, you might be thinking, "OMG! I get to go to Marcus's house! Whee!" Well, you won't be having a tea party there, but you will probably f**k up where he grew up pretty bad.

The Theron Guards are everywhere in this chapter. For some reason, they seem a LOT easier in this chapter, but don't underestimate them. You have a lot of fighting to do, complete with a Berserker, between here and Marcus's house. When you get there, it isn't going to be pretty. And neither is the last thirty seconds of this Act....

Campus Grinder

Alright, after a long time with no updates, it's time for me to wrap this guide up, so let's get into Act 4 and Act 5, the shortest but by far not the easiest Act.

Immediately head up and to the left and take cover. Longshot all enemies you can and shotgun any that get close. This is the place to use the Torque Bow if you decided to pick it up (I didn't, and again, wouldn't recommend it, unless you want practice for the "The Nuge" AChievment) earlier. Move into the building you come across following this path and snipe all enemies in the courtyard.
When the Boomers come out, make sure you snipe the sniper in the building above where the Boomers come out before he snipes you, and Torque the Boomers if you have the Torque Bow. If not, snipe one (doesn't take that much ammo, and there is plenty around) and shotgun the remaining one.

There's a set of Cog Tags (CT25) in this area. For ease of instructions, head all the way back to where you started. Head down the ramp and up the first set of stairs you see on your right. You should see the Cog Tags in this area.

Cog Tag Location #25

You're not coming back, so pick up all the ammo you can and move towards the area where the Boomers appeared.

INSANE NOTES

Definetly stay back when the Boomers appear. It's even smart to stay back with the Theron Guards, with their deadly-accuracy-one-hit-kill-Torque-Bows. Revive any dead teammates and kick ass otherwise!

There's also a Boomshot in the shed where the sniper usually resides, just in case you need it.... ;)

Alright, you immediately have to split up. If you have the Longshot, pick the Left Path. If not, it might be better for you to go with the right. Longshot or not, I personally think the Right path is easier, BUT it is up to you, and you may think the left path is easier. I'll start with the Left.

LEFT PATH

As soon as you round the corner, head left for some Lancer ammo and grenades. Turn around and head up the stairs.

At the top, keep your chainsaw revved if you have the Lancer, or shotgun ready if you have the Longshot/Shotgun combo, to massacre the one Theron Guard up here and around the corner. Now head into the next room and start slowly picking off all enemies on the ground with whatever mid-long range weapons you have preferably of course with the Longshot. They mainly shoot at your allies below so you shouldn't have a problem here.

Hop over the low wall and take cover behind the pillar here. Shotgun all Wretches. If your health gets low from people on the ground shooting you, quickly hop back over the low wall and let your health go back up. There's one more Locust in the next room to kill, along with any Wretches you failed to kill. Pick up the Hammer of Dawn next to the window and use it on the seeder while keeping an eye out for any Wretches that decide to come from the hallway to your left that you need to head down after switching the HoD back for whatever weapon you switched out for it.

Help out your allies below if you want (or don't, they can handle themselves) and head to the end of this hallway and twist the valve. Follow this new door to the very end where you finally come outside again (or, not really, but you can see the sky ^_^). Destroy the Wretches and snipe everyone down below. Have your shotgun ready to blast the Wretches that come up when you go down the
stairs to the bottom. Destroy any remaining Locusts either with the shotgun or by falling back and sniping them and head across the street and into this building. Head to the left once inside and head outside and take cover. If on co-op, wait for your ally to take out all the enemies on the Troika. If by
yourself, try to snipe everyone. Remember that once you hop over the cover, you can't go back and there's not much cover, so be patient.

Once you do hop across, head inside the house and pick up any needed ammo. Blow the propane tanks in the back of the truck and head through the gate.

RIGHT PATH

Now it's time for the easier, IMO, of the two.

Take cover and snipe all enemies in the courtyard. Easy as that. If you don't have Longshot, use Lancer or Torque Bow. After the first wave, there's another this time with a Theron Guard or two. After killing them all, pick up ammo and head through the doorway on the left on the opposite end of where you started.

Now it's time to tackle the Corpser. You have to get the HoD. It's on the pathway, about in the middle of it but more so on the opposite end. Try to run in and grab it and fall back without getting killed. Take out the Seeder and all opposition with it. Grab your Longshot, plug the Locust hole, and wait for Dom to open the gate so you can proceed forward.

Head through the building until you get outside again. There are no enemies. Once outside, take cover on the wall. It's kind of hard to describe, so here's a diagram:

[Note from Candied Skull - Cuzit's diagram, while cute just as he said, was originally done for the text format walkthrough using a method that doesn't work in HTML. What that means for you is that you get images instead, which is even better!]

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 1 shows the location where you are to take cover, only in that image, Baird is standing where you will take cover.

Fig. 2 shows your view once you are in the correct position of cover.

The reason you take cover here is because it provides a decent snipe spot and a good place to blind-fire-shotgun those pesky Wretches. Do this. Take care of everyone and cross the area. Head inside the building. Inside the "Lecture Hall," head up to the door at the top and take cover on the right side of it. Shotgun the Locusts if they run up to you but otherwise snipe them, which is easy to do on Casual because any shot is a one-shot kill. Head across here and to the left, picking up the grenades if needed. Drop one down on the Troika to end things quickly or snipe them. Either way, once all enemies are killed, find the staircase and head down it, pick up ammo, shoot the propane tanks in
the back of the truck and head through here.

INSANE NOTES

To me, the right path is easier on Insane. That's just because I don't like Wretches, and the one part with them is easy because of that one cover spot I mentioned above. However, it's your game. On the left path, the Troika is really hard but can be finished quickly with a Torque Bow if one was picked up somewhere along the way (which is something I wouldn't do, but if you just can't beat it, sometimes you have to do drastic things). At the beginning, Torque Bow the Boomers for easy kills if you can't snipe them. There is one in the open door directly across the courtyard from the Sniper's nook or you can pick one up from the Theron Guards in the area. Nothing else much to say, but the Longshot comes in handy on several occasions here.

Bad To Worse

Head straight forward from where you start and look at the corner of the building for some Cog Tags (CT26).

Cog Tag Location #26

After picking them up, make a two lefts and head towards the doors. Try to kick them in, and you can't. Marcus calls for Jack, so you know what that means....

You have two options here. They are both kind of random and work equally well, no matter the difficulty. If you can't do one, try the other. Take cover somewhere, anywhere close to the doors and snipe all enemies, shotgunning the Wretches. You're alternative is to run near the Cog Tags with a grenade and try to plug the hole. If you do this, have your shotgun ready to take out any enemies that managed to climb up. When the Locust hole is sealed (all enemies dead or not) two Boomers appear up near the doors. Find the Hammer of Dawn near the door and use it. Pick up whatever weapon you switched out for it and head through the door that's finally open.

Now here's a note. When I played through the game my first time, I switched out my Longshot for the Hammer of Dawn for the upcoming Berserker fight. That was a mistake, as I soon found out, because things seal behind you during the fight so you can't go back. During the writing of this guide, I held off on switching out until the very last minute, and just as I expected, there is a HoD at the very last possible moment to pick it up, and since it's in the room with you, you can go back and pick up whatever weapon you switched out for it. This is good if going with the Longshot/Shotgun combo because - even though the HoD makes an easy Troika kill a little bit later on, it's just not worth it, in
my opinion, because you can't get a Longshot until the very end of this Act. So don't switch out your weapon for the HoD until I tell you, but I suppose it really doesn't matter if you don't plan on keeping that weapon.

Now head into the building and head through it until you reach the first area that resembles a greenhouse (if it isn't one, btw). When you start to head through the exit on the other side, a Berserker appears....

Just dodge his attack and head through the door he came out of. Head down the hallway until you get to the next greenhouse area. If you want to risk it, try to get him to knock the tree directly in front of where he bursts out out of the way. Whether you do it or not, keep heading forward as if it were another hallway like the one you came out of. Head to the middle and directly up it. At the bloodstain is the Hammer of Dawn, so switch out for it.

Well, this will be easy, won't it? I can see the sky above me, so I can use the Hammer of Dawn, right?

...well... not really. The glass above keeps you from using the Hammer of Dawn because it technically makes you inside a building... so let's knock the glass down!

You see all the green pillars? You have to make the Berserker run into them all and knock them down before you can use the Hammer of Dawn on her. This isn't that hard; just get her into a position so a straight run will cause her to hit a wall and do a little on spot "dance" that will lure her toward you better than bullets. Then dodge out of the way. If you die here when you're trying to lure her into a pillar, you can't hit the A button and the analog stick to the right or left, lol. Just repeat on all pillars (notice that one falls down and knocks a hole in the wall... hm...)

Once you get them all down, break out the Hammer. Try to get her after she stops or when she runs into something and she's temporarily stunned. Just repeat that twice (three times on Insane) and you're done with her; on to the next chapter....

After she's dead, head directly up the middle to find a valve to turn. This opens up some water on the fire in the hole in the wall made from the falling pillar. When the fire is extinguished, head through.

INSANE NOTES

The Berserker is no problem. There is no difference on Insane than there is on Casual except the number of HoD bursts it takes to kill her. If you get up close when the beam is about to die and quickly switch your shotgun you may be able to get enough damage in to kill her with two HoD blasts. However, this isn't really recommended as it is an ammo waster.

The bit before this isn't hard at all if you RUSH and get to the Locust hole early enough to plug it before you even have to worry about the enemies. And the Boomers are nothing if you simply use the Hammer of Dawn.

All in all, this is a pretty easy chapter, and you should have no problem with it.

Hazing

Head to the left in this big area to find a doorway. Head down this hallway and peek around the corner. If you have the Hammer, use it on the Troika to finish this part easy. If you did what I do and don't have the Hammer, try to snipe the Troika before he becomes a problem. Work quickly and he won't be. Take out the Troika before anything, even if you have to waste grenades to do so. When the Troika is dead and the first Emergence hole appears near where you entered the area, try to plug it if possible. If you can't, get on the opposite side of it and be ready with the shotgun. Hell, go for the Troika if you feel like it. With them dead, kill the Locusts and Wretches that emerge and hop over the low wall in the doorway over on the right side (from where you entered). The Hammer of Dawn is gone because the satellites go offline, so if you had it, head to the left of where you come out at the end of this hallway and look for a Lancer. Take cover behind the flower box and start sniping/
Lancering and mid-range targets and shotgunning the long range ones. Advance on the bench at the far end where most of the time a Locust is taking cover. Fall back here and snipe all enemies that appear on the other side until a Boomer appears. Shotgun him. There are occasions when he will shoot the Boomshot at close range even though I don't think he's supposed to, but these are rare, so if you're outside of his melee distance but within shotgun distance you shouldn't get hurt. Head through the door he came from. Down the hallway and through the door is a Lancer and a Wretch. Don't bother if you don't need the Lacner or ammo for the Lancer. Outside in front of the giant not-so-dead Seeder is some grenades. The only other door in this area is the one you have to go through.

Follow the Theron Guard that you see in the distance. When you see a closed gate to your left, head off to your right and take cover behind the diagnol low wall. Snipe all enemies you can until the Boomer appears. Take him out with the Longshot if you left enemies around. Use your shotgun to clean up and pick up ammo (I was bone dry at this point). Head to the right and make a left. To your right is a dresser. Blow it away to find a Torque Bow if you want it (I know I don't). Head to your left and make a right. May seem complicated in text but translated to screen it's not. Follow this path to an archway and a checkpoint. Take cover beside the stairs and start sniping (there's an ammo box behind you if it is needed). Be careful of the Theron Guards on Insane. When they're all dead, head down to the middle. To your left from the entrance is a doorway that you can kick open to get some ammo box if it is needed (and if you look in one of the bathroom stalls, you know that dude had one hell of a sh*t, lol!). Head across from where you came to find some stairs. Head up them and take cover behind the large building thing here. Snipe everyone you can and when you can't no more, move up to the tombstones. Snipe every last Locust and finally move up to the stairs to exit this area.

As soon as you enter this new area, swing around to your right to find a Torque Bow. Switch out whatever weapon isn't your close range weapon for it and take cover behind the small garden box thing. Torque the Troika, then move back and switch out the Torque Bow for the Longshot (or whatever you switched it out for). Now move slowly pass the gates, sniping everyone you can and shotgunning the close ones. Head up the stairs and make sure there's no one left up here. Now head down the stairs (not the ones you just went up, the other stairs that head down) and shotgun the guy manning the Troika here. Unless you make your presense obvious, he won't turn around, so you can move in to get an easy shotgun/chainsaw kill. When the Theron Guard blows the gate open, head in and take cover immediately. Longshot him unless he decides to get close. Pick up the ammo box (I was so low on ammo at this point, I made out with the ammo box on my screen, lol) and head to the end of this area. Kick open the gate, and say hello to one less chapter....

INSANE NOTES

Ammo is hard to come by on this part for the Longshot. Conserve any ammo boxes you see until every enemy is dead, that way you can make the most out of them. It's not really that hard. The only hard parts I found was the area right after the HoD's satellites go offline. Nothing to say here except remember to stay in cover and don't get too frustrated. If you're smart about the way you play the Boomers won't be a problem for you.

Close To Home

Yes, we are aware that this chapter is missing. It'll be here, we swear . . .very soon!

Imaginary Place

Recognize this area? Play much multiplayer and you probably do.

Anyway, stay down low and snipe and gradually make your way up top. After the first Locusts with Theron Guard, move up and shotgun the Boomer. Now, if you feel like being risky, run 'n gun the Theron Guards with your shotgun. However if you want to play it safe stay back and snipe. Doesn't matter where as long as you can't be hit with the Torque Bow. When you get up top, watch the cut
scene, and after it, head inside the house.

Once inside, head to the stairs but not up them. Head to the left and look for the area where the Locust hole appears. Plug it and then head back and up the stairs. Now the Locust always appear on the opposite side of whichever way you go up here. I find it easier to take them on the left side, so head around to the right. You see that little room on your left? Back into it but barely until you hear Locusts. Now head over to the Left side of the manor where the Locusts appear and run 'n gun them. That's right, I said it; run 'n gun them. With the shotgun. Not hard at all, and I usually don't find myself dying. Whatever; if you do, stay back, I guess, but you should be able to rush them with the Shotgun. When they're all dead, head downstairs and take cover behind the dresser on the right side. Wait for the Locust to bust down the door. Shotgun him. If you have the Lancer simply wait by the door with your chainsaw revved. Head through this door and down the hallway. Take cover beside the door and start sniping until the hole on the other end of this room closes. When it does, wait a moment for a door to bust open with some Locusts. Take him out and move on through the door he opened for you.

Head down to the very end of the hallway and make a right. Chainsaw the lone desk in here (or shotgun in, grenade it, whatever) to find a set of Cog Tags (CT27).

Cog Tag Location #27

Head up the small set of stairs and down the hallway. Go through the door at the end and twist the valve. Head down to the bottom of the stairs (blast the wooden boards over the one door on your way down for four grenades if they are needed) and kill the two Locusts down here.

Bust open the door and head to the right or left. Over the low wall on either side is a Longshot if needed. When you get to the end, go down the stairs on the left. The farthest wine shelf on the far left on the north wall is actually a door, so open it. Open the door inside here to find out Jack will have to rip it... so guess what's about to go down....

INSANE NOTES

Stay back and snipe to make the first part easy. The part where the Locusts bursts through the door in the Main Hall got me a lot for some reason because I couldn't chainsaw, only shotgun, and for some reason the shotgun never works until he gets all the way into the room and stops, which is usaully too late. If you can't beat this part, load it up and stay WAY back and try to snipe him, I guess. The next part is easy with the Longshot, and the two guys at the bottom of the stairs are nothing if you just shotgun randomly into the room.

Entrenched

Thought I left you, didn't you? I couldn't leave you hanging when a fight's about to go down! =P

In the room where you kicked the door open, turn around. Head up the first set of stairs and take cover behind the first pillar on your left. Now wait for the grenade to land at the gate's door and blow it open. Some Locust will start coming through. Start sniping/Lancering them. If they get too close, shotgun them, and if things get desperate, run down into the water and take cover down there. Wait for the Locusts to come to you or poke their heads out instead of running towards them; they have a tendency to hide, and their one-hit kill punches (on Insane, anyway) hurt! There may be one more that you have to hunt down; just keep exploring the basement until you stumble across him.
He doesn't like to leave what is probably his spawn point for some reason occasionaly. :S

When the door opens, head back inside it. After the cutscene ends, start heading back upstairs. When you head down the hallway most of the previous Locust probably hid in, there will be two Wretches, so watch out. Take either path back - picking up the respawned Longshot ammo if it is needed - and take out the Locusts down at the door. Head upstairs.

There's about to be a big Wretch fight, and I'm going to tell you how to make it easy. Head out in the hallway and just far enough to make the Locust shut the door. Wretches will start coming out of the holes, of which there are four in the room where you chainsawed the desk to get the Cog Tag. You can stay down here and fight them if you want, or you can do it the easy way and go back into the room with the thing you had to turn to open the gate to the basement. Stand at the door with your Gnasher and blow anything away that tries to come through. When you kill all Wretches, the Locust opens the door back up, so snipe him from the hallway or close-range him with the Gnasher or Chainsaw or whatnot.

Head through the hallways. There are no surprises. When you get back in the main hall, head upstairs and to the right. Head toward Dom and Cole in the window.

Snipe a few outside if you want. The Boomer will come - he is invincible - and blow the door open. Now, what you do next depends on your weapon choice and difficulty level.

If you picked the Lancer, and it's on Casual, just go take cover next to the door (not the one that was blown open). Shotgun, Lancer, whatever. Retreat if necessary.

If you picked the Lancer, and it's on anything harder than Casual, stay up top and try to pick them off from mid-distance. Either that or take cover on the pillars on the staircase. Shotgun them if they get close.

No matter what difficulty, if you picked the Longshot, take cover upstairs, on the pillar or rafters, and snipe them when they come through. It's not hard at all, even on Insane. There's plenty of ammo upstairs if you need it, too, just watch out for the Theron Guards.

If the Boomer is your last enemy, it may not be wise to shotgun him. We're in extremely close quarters here, so you may not have room to roll away. Your best bet is to Lancer or snipe him, which can be done before killing all of the Grubs.

When you get the radio transmission from Baird ("More Locusts in the back of the house!") load up on ammo and head downstairs. Another door will be busted open by a Locust most easily taken out with the Chainsaw. Eliminate him and go to the back of the house. Try the door. Locked. Head upstairs, dodge all of the debris, and head to the end of the hallway and kick open the door. Take
cover behind one of the windows and start sniping. Alternatively, try to throw a grenade in the Emergence hole. When everyone is dead, take out your pistol of choice and start shooting for the planks that are holding the door below shut. Pick up ammo and head back to that door, which should now open. Take cover and snipe the Locust with the magnum that comes in here to meet you. Head inside the door the Locust came out of and prepare for hell if your on Insane mode. I'm going to go into further depth in the Insane Notes, what follows applies for Casual and Hardcore.

You have thirty seconds to get to the APC. Two Boomers and an Emergence hole stand in your way. The thirty seconds doesn't activate until the Emergence hole activates or one of the two Boomers falls. On Casual or Hardcore, just head outside through either door and make a huge freaking run for it. If you run quick enough, you can get to the APC before the Emergence hole appears, saving you a lot of trouble. That's the only strategy; run like hell.

INSANE NOTES

On Insane mode, things change. You will get frustrated at this part; don't give up. It can probably be easy with skill, but it's not all skill; I'm going to be honest - it takes a good bit of luck.

What I did, and what you can attempt, is to head out to the right and take cover. Sacrifice yourself one time to get an estimate on how many Longshots it takes to kill a Boomer. Now do the same thing again, except this time, put one less bullet in it. Get as close as you can to the halfway mark that makes the Emergence hole appear and shotgun the Boomer until he falls. Now you only have one Boomer shooting at you. Now run along the cover on the right side. This may take some luck. Just run and cross your fingers. When your watching the cutscene, have a cookie. ^_^

As far as the rest of the level goes, the Longshot strategy works best.