The Halo games are known for some of the best campaigns in the first-person-shooter genre of video games. The stories are good, the mission design is excellent and the campaigns are the hardest in the genre when played on legendary difficulty. Just look at Halo 2, that game is nearly impossible to complete without exploiting the levels because an elite can kill you in four tenths of a second. This list could just be all Halo 2 levels but that wouldn’t be very fun. These ten Halo missions are the most difficult to complete on legendary difficulty across the franchise.

10. Halo 3: The Ark

Halo 3 is one of the easier games to complete on legendary because Bungie was able to balance the enemies to fair encounters unlike Halo 2. However, there is one frustrating type of encounter in the game that The Ark showcases best. Enemy vehicles completely melt you and are able to take you down in just a few seconds. Being in a vehicle also makes it hard to avoid enemy vehicle fire because you’re such a large target. The Ark utilizes vehicle gameplay more than any other level in the game and you’ll find yourself having to re-try almost every single vehicle encounter numerous times.

9. Halo 5 Guardians: The Breaking

Halo 5 has this annoying feature where promethean guns have homing bullets that change direction in the air to hit you. The Breaking exclusively features promethean enemies and gameplay is close quarters for most of the level. Avoiding enemy fire has never been a bigger challenge and you’re faced with a grueling boss fight at the end.

8. Halo 4: Midnight

Promethean knights in Halo 4 are the most unfair enemies that have ever been in a Halo game. Their random teleportation and quick shield recharge rate makes them annoying to take down. Close-range combat isn’t an option with them because they have melee attack that instantly kills you and is nearly impossible to dodge. This mission is full of them and they don’t hold back for the finale of the game.

7. Halo Reach: The Pillar of Autumn

This mission was Bungie’s goodbye to the series and they went out with a bang. Just about every single enemy encounter is in this mission. The challenge to this level is that you will face multiple high-ranking elites and they always travel in groups of three or more. These elites typically have powerful weapons, tons of shield capacity and advanced A.I. There’s no easy method to defeat them unlike most enemies in every single Halo game.

6. Halo: Combat Evolved: The Truth and Reconciliation

Every gamer knows how powerful the Halo 1 magnum is. It is your best friend in the game and should always take up one of your weapon slots. The Truth and Reconciliation is the only level in the game that doesn’t have any magnum available to use. Instead, you’re given a sniper rifle with a quite a bit of ammo. On legendary difficulty, you’ll be running low on ammo before you even get to the second half of the mission. The absence of the magnum makes the close-range encounters in the second half of the mission extremely difficult because taking down hordes of enemies with a sniper in alien corridors isn’t exactly ideal. Once you make it to the end, you have to escort Captain Keyes and he’s about as tough as a grunt.

5. Halo 3: Cortana

Speed-runners usually find this to be one of the easier levels in Halo 3 because you can skip almost every single fight if you know the tricks to the level. For those that don’t know how to speed-run, get ready for the most gross and overwhelming level in the game. Flood swarm you in every direction and ranged flood pure forms will halt your progress at every turn.

4. Halo 2: Regret

This level can be summed up in two words, jackal snipers. On legendary, jackal snipers in Halo 2 travel in packs and kill you with one shot that rarely misses. They always see you before you see them and they spawn in random locations. This level is cluttered with them and when they’re combined with the difficulty of normal enemy encounters, this level is impossible to complete without memorizing spawn locations for the jackals.

3. Halo: Combat Evolved- The Library

The most infamous Halo mission of all time is The Library. This level excels at overwhelming you with an army of flood that attacks without relent. Having success in Halo usually relies on intelligent weapon choices and utilizing cover and shields. The Library breaks the rules of Halo’s gameplay by forcing you to move constantly. Stopping for any reason during this level will probably result in your death. The Library is a grind because it’s one of the longest levels ever in a Halo game and it uses repetitive structures. It’s a test of mental endurance and player skill.

2. Halo: Combat Evolved- Two Betrayals

There is one enemy that challenges the jackal sniper in how much rage they have caused players over the years. That is the rocket flood. The rocket flood is simply a flood combat form that has a rocket launcher as its weapon. The problem with this is that the flood have no sense of self-preservation in Halo 1. They will fire at you at point blank range in tight corridors before you even realize they’re holding a rocket launcher. This level features tons of rocket flood and you will be victimized by them every time you play this mission. Don’t forget about the army of covenant that stand in between you and three main objectives of the mission either.

1. Halo 2- Gravemind

The hardest level across the entire Halo franchise sets the tone of difficulty within the first couple of seconds. As soon as the level starts, you are immediately shot at by enemies. On legendary difficulty, you are likely going to die before you even flee to the nearest piece of cover. The covenant throw everything they have at you and the introduction of the unbalanced brutes gameplay-wise make this level the hardest in the entire franchise.