Skedar Ruins: Battle Shrine

Skedar Ruins: Battle Shrine is the seventeenth and final mission in Perfect Dark. The level is set on the Skedar homeworld and involves Joanna Dark destroying sacred Skedar objects and killing the Skedar King to bring ultimate peace.

It is set on a large, mostly arid planet, orbiting three Sun-like stars.

Cheese

When you first enter the area, where you blow a hole in the wall with the Devastator, there is a little Alleyway that leads to a room with two Skedar, with a shield. Continue on the level as of normal until you reach the room with two Skedar with the Slayer. Kill or disarm one (But it's better if you kill so you would not have to worry about a Skedar following you and trying to kill you.) And then after you do this, backtrack to the room with the opening you made with the Devastator. Go through the alleyway and kill the fist Skedar, then the Skedar by the shield. Then once you've killed the two Skedar pull out the Slayer. Shoot it through the "S" crack with its Secondary mode (Fly-By-Wire). Go in the crack and look down at the floor (Try not to hit anything while in FBW mode). Then you will find the piece of cheese. If you have the sniper rifle cheat on, you can zoom at it also. Whatever suits you best.

Walkthrough

Objectives:

• Identify temple targets
• Activate bridge
• Gain access to inner Sanctum (Secial and perfect Agent Only)
• Destroy secret Skedar army (Perfect Agent Only)
• Assasinate Skedar Leader

Objective 1: Identify temple targets

This level is filled with cloaking enemies. Be very careful and look around. Fortunately, cloaked enemies won't attack while cloaked and there is enough time for them to uncloak and attack.

Since you begin the level with the Callisto NTG, the first thing to do is switch it to its secondary mode High Impact Shells. You will need to conserve ammo for better results in the long run. Make sure you active the R-Tracker to locate the targets you neeed to go to.

Straight ahead, you'll get charged by a Skedar. You need to get used to moving back while firing as most of these enemies will see you, get a slow start, and then charge you. Also, pay attention on hearing your surroundings for any nearby Skedar. If you plan on using the Falcon for the scope features, go for it. The uncloaked ones should be taken out at a far distance. If Joanna says "This must be one of the special pillars," equip a Target Amplifier and attach it to the spire.

As you progress, a Skedar will approach from behind. Slay it, then turn around and track forward. Another Skedar will materialize in front of you. Kill it. At the next intersection, a Skedar will either appear in front of you or to the right. Kill it.

If a temple target is not special, blow it up.

If you're having trouble finding the last obelisk, chances are it is up a narrow set of steps partially blocked by a horizontal slab. This pillar room is the most dangerous of all. Two cloaked Skedar patrol below. However, you need not enter the room to mark the pillar. Just equip the Target Amplifier (or Devastator, depending) and shoot it from a distance.

After all of the target amplifiers have been placed correctly, the Maians will start dropping bombs on the targets. Stay away from these pillars. When the bombing is complete, the obective will be complete.

Objective 2: Activate bridge

If you destroyed all of the odd obelisks, you'll be rewarded an extra Phoenix, making you dual-weild them.

From your position atop above the gorge, look across at the Skedar below and to the left. Using the left rock face as cover, take him down with the Callisto, dodging to the left when he begins firing on you. When he drops, look down and to the right. There is a Skedar hiding down here. You may have to back up to the left side of the path to see him. Drop him with the NTG, then peer across the gorge once more. Equip the Phoenix (or Wall Hugger). To the right of where you killed the Skedar is a cracked wall. Blast it once with the Explosive Round to blast a path to the ladder.

Then take a running start and push forward, barely dropping over the canyon gap. Climb the ladder you cleared to the next area. Face the left wall and drop off the edge of this path. A cloaked Skedar will charge you. Back up and pump him full of NTG rounds. Search the rock face near where you dropped in for a small channel into the rock. Follow this back, peeking around the first corner to drop a Skedar. Once it's dead, move through the area, using cover and creeping to the right. Drop the distant alien, then move ahead and cross a small gap in the rock. Here, you'll discover a Shield. Grab it and head back to where you dropped in.

Now fit your IR Scanner and take a look around. When you see an area that glows brighter red, you will have found the weak point in the wall. Back uo and use either the Phoenix or Devastator (Wall Hugger) to open a hole into the Skedar ruins. In the next hallways, there are a series of miniature Skedar who run at you. If they get close, they will leap at your face and cause grave injury, so keep them at bay with the rapid-fire Callisto.

When you come to a door on the right, open it and fall back, dropping the lil' Skedar inside. Move into the room and push the textured brick on the floor onto the textured floor panel near the window. This will extend the bridge across the gap, and complete the objective.

Objective 3: Gain access to inner Sanctum (Special and perfect Agent Only)

Note: Even though Agent doesn't require you to complete this objective, the same strategy below applies.

The Sanctum is hard to see. Approach this area very carefully. Mini-skedars will be jumping around, so prepare to get rid of them quickly. The doors inside may take a few times to open just to fully open them. The IR Scanner Might be useful here.

Once you get far enough, you will see enemies that use the Slayer. These enemies are very dangerous and must be approached carefully. The Slayer Skedars will not leave their spot. They will also not use the secondary homing function, so rockets will go faster. The best trick against them is to side step and use the Phoenix explosive shells against them; not only does this conserve ammo, but the mini explosions trigger a chain explosion to their rockets, so the moment they shoot their rockets, it explodes in their face, instantly killing them.

On Special and Perfect Agent Only, you are forced to sacrifice a weapon to open the door. Pick a weapon you are no longer going to use and place it in the shelf. The door above will be unlocked. On Agent, this is not required as the door is unlocked entirely.

Objective 4: Destroy secret Skedar army (Perfect Agent Only)

This room is filled with Skedars shooting you with the Mauler. If you are in Agent or Special agent, you can skip this area unless you are low on ammy and need to refill for the next room. For Perfect Agent, this is a required objective, so read below.

Only one of them will fight you at a time, so take advantage of the surroundings to dodge and kill each Skedar one-by-one. Pay attention to which door may open next. Try not to get hit too much here.

Objective 5: Assasinate Skedar Leader

The Skedar King is the final boss of the game. He will use the Slayer against you. Unlike most enemies, his character programming differs that of a regular enemy. There is a specific strategy to deal with it, so thinking of just unloading recklessly will not work.

The Skedar King has a permanent shield. If enough damage is done to it, the shields will be green and it will retreat to the central area. A very good trick is to shoot it with Phoenix explosions right when he shoots the rocket; the rocket will explode in its face and instantly get the green shield. During the retreat time, shoot and destroy side prongs directly; do not attack the center prong yet.

After a while, he'll come down to your level and chase you. Run away and shoot from a distance. He can shoot a rocket and still kill you. He will also send his other minions that will chase you, so kill them fast.

Once all the side prongs are gone and the center remain, ikes, only the center one will remain. Get it back to green shield and then finally destroy then center prong. The center prong will impale the Skedar leader and you have finished the mission.

Gallery

Skadar trenches XBLA

Beginning of level XBLA

N64

N64

N64

N64

Leaderboard Crown

Rocked - To earn this Crown, you must complete Objective 1 (identify temple targets) within the first 30 seconds of the mission, on Perfect Agent difficulty. This Crown will take a bit of practice, as the three pillars you need to mark must be in these specific points:

-The first hallway.

-The lone pillar to the right of the path leading to the canyon.

-The tall pillar just over the wall of the lone second pillar

When you start, turn on your R-Tracker to help find each pillar. When attempting to mark the third pillar, try throwing a Bug over the wall to mark it instead of walking over to it, otherwise you will have to fight the Skedar with Reapers, which will waste time.

Cheats

To unlock the "R-Tracker/Weapons Cache Locations" Cheat, beat the mission on any difficulty. This Cheat, when activated, allows you to start any mission with an R-Tracker which when worn will allow you to see secret weapon cache locations. To unlock the "All Guns in Solo" Cheat, beat the mission in under 5:31 on Perfect Agent difficulty. As the name implies, this Cheat, when active, allows you to start any mission with every gun immediately available in the game (Except the Slayer). However, ammo is not included.

[Note: The "R-Tracker/Weapons Cache Location" and "All Guns in Solo" Cheats are two of the four Cheats that can be unlocked through the N64's Transfer Pak and the Game Boy Color version of Perfect Dark (N64 Version) or by installing Perfect Dark Zero on your Xbox 360's HDD (XBLA Version)]

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