5. Act V: Desperation

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DESPERATION - SPECIAL DELIVERY

Get to the train boarding platform.

Take out the two snipers on the bridge. Kill the wretch and then head to the overturned dumpster on the right side of the area. From here, you can locate the next sniper who will appear in the bombed out building in the corner (you'll get a "Y" icon), and you can shoot the enemies who come out of the emergence hole in the building across from you. You can find some grenades near a dumpster in the middle of this area. If you have a grenade, then right after you kill the first two snipers, wait in front of the building to the left. Toss a grenade into the emergence hole as soon as it opens. Then, head to the opposite side and when the emergence hole opens here, toss in another grenade. One more emergence hole will open. You don't necessarily have to seal all of the emergence holes. As soon as you can cross over to the train platform, go ahead and do so...see next paragraph.

Soon you'll start hearing a "buzz". This means that you can now cross onto the train platform. Don't worry about any more enemies. Head to the left side of the train where you'll see some boards/planks. Cross the planks and you'll get a cutscene of you jumping onto a speeding train.

DESPERATION - TRAIN WRECK

Get nav data to the Lightmass bomb.

Move forward killing grubs and theron guards as you go. There's nothing tricky. Just take cover and dispose of the enemies. Eventually you'll reach a green button door. Activate it. It doesn't work. Flying robot Jack will come in. While Jack is working on the door, you have to work on the berserker!!!

Eliminate the Berserker.

Go through the now open door. Directly to the left of the door is a COG TAG (28 of 30). Fight your way forward. After a few cars-worth of progress, Anya will tell you that there are chain guns on the roof. In the train car where she tells you about the chain guns, locate the COG TAG (29 of 30) on the right side of the car. Go through the green button door. As soon as you get through the door, look left to find a ladder. Go up.

Destroy the attacking Reavers.

Oh cry me a reaver...sorry. Man either of the chain guns (troikas) and start shooting. Try to hit either of the two pilots of the reaver in order to quickly destroy a reaver. You may have to switch between the two chain guns, or go it alone and simply use your assault rifle on them if they get too close. Also note that you can aim better by pulling "LT" while shooting.

Keep the train from stopping.

Great, lambent wretches. Remember these guys? The exploding wretches? Work your way forward killing them as you go. You'll soon come to a car with a green button on the right and a green button on a door. There will be reavers on your right. Press the green button on the right to release cylinders so that you can pass. Before you move on, however, press the green button on the door. Here you are safe from the reavers, but will have to take out a wretch and a theron guard. There is ammo in this train car. The reason you'd do this is to get the torque bow from the theron guard to use on the reaver. Use whatever you'd like. When the reaver is dead, continue along the right side of this car.

Enter the next car and you'll hear the wretches scream. They have such lovely singing voices. There is a shotgun in this room, in the back left corner. I recommend you grab it and stay in that corner. You are safe here and you can one-hit kill the wretches as they approach you. They'll come from all over, including the roof of the room you're in.

Once they're all dead, you'll get a 45 second countdown. At this point, it's not worth killing any more wretches. Instead, you should make a run for it to the end of the next train car where you'll see a green button on a door. When you get to the door press the button to activate it. The motion of you going near the door will complete the task of keep the train from stopping.

Get nav data to the Lightmass bomb.

Press the button again to open the door. Go through and locate the button on the right side which will dump the cylinders. Push the button and head along the right side of the car. When you get to the end of the car, instead of going into the next car, use the door to the left (thus going into the car that you just ran along the right side of). Go through the green button door to find a COG TAG (30 of 30). Then, resume the plan of moving forward.

DESPERATION - PALE HORSE

Kill Raam

This is a very difficult battle. Here are some rules for the fight. One, don't enter the dark. The Kryll will instantly kill you if you are in a dark area. Two, you can't do damage to Raam when the Kryll shield is around him. The exception to this is grenades...eh?...see where I'm going with this? Three, you can effectively use either the sniper rifle or the torque bow (or both) for this battle. Get very good at perfect active reloads. It'll help you reload faster and do more damage. Four, you're going to die many many times before you succeed. Know this going in and don't get discouraged. I don't want to hear about any walls being punched or untethered 360 controllers flying around the room. Five, there will be various reavers flying by as you're fighting. Ignore them. Every once in a while they'll kill you. Just accept it and try again. Six, Dom is no help. When was he ever of help? You've done this on your own and you'll take down Raam on your own. Okay, on to the battle!

Preferred Method

Here's how I recommend you are equipped. First, quit the game and load "Act 5 > Pale Horse". This will cause you to begin with the assault rifle, the torque bow, two grenades, and the pistol. In the room before the battle begins, switch out the assault rifle for the sniper rifle. Fill up on ammo. Across from the sniper rifle, against the wall, are six more rounds of torque bow ammo. Therefore, you'll be heading into this battle with 23 or 24 rounds of sniper rifle ammo, 12 rounds of torque bow ammo, and 4 grenades. Alternatively, you may use the assault rifle instead of the sniper rifle if you so choose.

Go up to the lighted concrete barrier in front of you. Fire a torque bow arrow at Raam. This will cause the Kryll shield to disperse. Take cover. Switch to the sniper rifle and fire as many head shots as you can at him. Do your best to get a perfect active reload so that you not only reload faster, but your sniper round will do more damage. When the Kryll fly back to him, fire another arrow. Keep up this process until he gets near to you. When he does, lob grenades at him (you can blind toss the grenades, meaning, just pull "RT", so you don't aim). When he starts to come around to your side of the cover, get ready to run.

When you make a run for it, make sure you hold "A" so that you're actually running. Start off on the outside and quickly head back to the middle. If you stay in the dark too long you know what'll happen. Your run will succeed about fifty percent of the time. However, once you get some practice at it, you'll improve your odds. Your goal is to get behind the area where the troika is mounted. This area is lighted and you can do a swat turn between the two columns where you can take cover. Keep up the onslaught of sniper fire and arrows. This is also a good position to lob grenades at him. If he gets near you, run back to your original position.

Slight twist on this method.

Use your torque bow arrows more as grenades. That is, use your sniper rifle when the Kryll shield naturally goes away, don't use the arrows to make it go away. Stick to the sniper rifle unless he is close to you thus ensuring a well placed hit with the torque bow.

Alternate Method

For this method, equip yourself with the sniper rifle and assault rifle. Grenades are a given.

Continue to repeat this process. Sometimes Raam will stay back, sometimes Raam likes to move toward you more quickly than other times. As long as you can fire sniper rounds into his head, do so.

Grenades? you may ask. Yes, grenades. I found the grenades to be most effective when Raam is about halfway between where he began and you. When he is in this middle area, toss a grenade a few feet in front of him (in case he walks into it). If it's thrown correctly, you'll do damage to him AND break up his Kryll shield. Therefore, as soon as you toss the grenade, switch to the sniper rifle so that you can follow up on it with at least one head shot. If Raam is content to stay in this middle area, do this with all four of your grenades.

If Raam has come all the way up to you and is directly on the other side of the cover then you should do a blind throw of the grenade or grenades. To do so, simply pull "RT" without aiming. Doing this means that you don't pop up your head to have it instantly riddled with bullets. Instead, you stay behind cover. You'll see the grenade flop over the cover and land near Raam. When his shield gets broken up at this point, you can blind fire your assault rifle at him or run away.

In all honesty, if he gets this close to you, you're probably going to die. Still, if he invades your personal space, make a run for it. Stay in the lighted areas of the middle and run to the lighted barrier on the other side of the train car. Take cover here and continue the same process.

Tips, Advice, Suggestions

It takes approximately 8-10 head shots with the sniper rifle and four to five hits with a grenade and/or torque bow to kill Raam on Hardcore difficulty.

This fight really comes down to how quickly Raam comes up to you. If he stays back for a while, you stand a much better chance at succeeding. I have yet to discover anything that definitively keeps him back, however.

I recommend reloading your current weapon before switching to your other weapon. This way, the weapon is always ready when you switch back to it.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could man the troika? Alas, it's in the dark.

If you get really frustrated, put the game down for a while. Just turn it off, grab a snack, pet your dog, meditate, or do whatever it is that you do. You'll find that you are in a much better place mentally upon returning and will greatly improve your odds.

Act IV