One "side mission", of sorts, in Halo 3 are the skulls. Nine (9) gold skulls and four (4) silver skulls can be found in the game. There are a few reasons to locate the skulls within the game. The first reason is the challenge. They are fun to find, even if you know where they are, they can be a challenge to reach. Secondly, each GOLD skull gives you an achievement worth 10 points. The final reason, and the best reason, is that once you have a skull you can activate it in campaign mode. When activated, each skull adds a multiplying factor to the campaign scoring as well as an effect to the game play. What exactly do I mean by effect? The table below shows each skull’s multiplier value and effect. The first nine are gold skulls, the final four are silver skulls.
Halo 3 Skull Effects and Multipliers
|
|
|
|
|
Iron
|
3
|
If playing co-op and any player dies, everyone restarts from the last checkpoint. In single player, if you die you restart at the beginning of the mission. |
|
Black Eye
|
1.5
|
Shields only recharge by hitting an enemy with a melee attack. |
|
Tough Luck
|
1.5
|
Enemies avoid projectiles, vehicles, gernades, etc with greater success. |
|
Catch
|
1.5
|
Enemies throw gernades... FAST. |
|
Fog
|
1.5
|
No motion tracker for you. |
|
Famine
|
2
|
Dropped enemy weapons have less ammunition. |
|
Thunderstorm
|
1.5
|
All enemy units are upgraded one level. |
|
Tilt
|
2
|
Enemy resistance increased. Armors that was higly resistive to human weapons gets 100% resistance. |
|
Mythic
|
2
|
All enemies have double health. |
| Blind |
N/A
|
Your heads-up-display (HUD) is turned off. |
| Grunt Birthday Party |
N/A
|
Kill a grunt with a headshot and it explodes into confetti and the kids cheer! |
| Cowbell |
N/A
|
BOOOM! Larger explosions in the game. |
| IWHBYD |
N/A
|
Unlocks hidden dialogue in campaign mode. |
So, now you know what they do let’s get to the important part. Where are they? Because most of these are kind of hard to find and it is difficult to describe their locations, I have decided to include videos that have been posted on YouTube showing their locations. I have found that this is the best way to do it. Without further adieu, here is the locations of 12 out of 13 skulls in Halo 3, in the order you can find them.
#1 Blind Skull (Silver)
This is on the first level (Sierra 117) after the covenant ship comes down and unloads at the mouth of the river.
#2 Iron Skull (Gold)
This is in the dam area of the first level (Sierra 117). Stay to the right, and follow the platform around.
#3 Black Eye Skull (Gold)
This is the room you start in on the second level (Crow’s Nest). There are two methods, the one below and going to the right of the air duct instead of the left. There’s a box there from which you can reach a beam.
#4 Grunt Birthday Party Skull (Silver)
This is on the second level (Crow’s Nest) where you drop down after fighting the flying bugs in the air duct.
#5 Tough Luck Skull (Gold)
This skull is on the third level (Tsavo Highway). There are a couple of ways to get it, the video is my preferred method.
#6 Catch Skull (Gold)
This skull is on the fourth level (The Storm) after you kill the wraith tanks. An alternate method to the gernade would be to play in co-op and jump from a teammate’s head.
#7 Fog Skull (Gold)
This is on the fifth level (Floodgate). As you come into the city the skull is thrown from the roof to the right.
#8 Famine Skull (Gold)
This one is on the sixth level (The Ark). The path you follow branches off into two sections (one leading to the area where you need to let the tanks across the bridge, and the other leading towards the area where you meet up with the frigate). Take the right path, as you would if you were completing the mission. Alternate method again instead of the gernade, use a teammate.
#9 Cowbell Skull (Silver)
This in the sixth level (The Ark), fairly far in.
#10 Thunderstorm Skull (Gold)
Level seven (The Covenant) has this one.
#11 Tilt Skull (Gold)
This is on the eigth level (Cortana), in the room where Cortana says that she likes to play games.
#12 Mythic Skull (Gold)
This is at the beginning of the final level, level nine (Halo).
#13 IWHBYD (I Would Have Been Your Daddy) Skull (Silver)
This skull has not been found by the public yet (to my knowledge). Bungie says, “…IWHBYD is hidden in ways you cannot yet even imagine. It’ll be a while, unless someone at Bungie leaks it. Good hunting, gentlemen.”
Good luck on finding those skulls everyone!
