Twitch Streamer Beats Halo 2 Challenge

The Twitch streamer beats Halo 2 challenge is one of the most record-breaking things in gaming right now. Here’s why.

After weeks of grinding the Halo 2 campaign, Twitch streamer and Halo speedrunner JerValiN has finally accomplished something the internet thought was impossible: a complete run of the game on Legendary difficulty with all Skulls on (except the Envy Skull, which provides Master Chief with active camouflage) and no deaths. No other player has ever accomplished this feat, so JerValiN has officially made gaming history.

Twitch Streamer Beats Halo 2 Challenge

The community-wide race to complete Halo 2 LASO without dying began in late June, when popular Twitch streamer MoistCr1TiKaL offered a $5,000 bounty to complete the challenge, which was later increased to $20,000 in July. JerValiN completed the challenge after attempting it dozens of times over the course of 40 days, using expert knowledge of Halo 2’s campaign systems, clever use of glitches and skips, skillful and methodical play, and a dash of luck.

Notably, in the game’s final moments, a shotgun-wielding Brute managed to dodge two grenade throws from allied Elites (grenades that almost always knock the speedrunner off the map in these LASO runs) and charge towards JerValiN as he was getting in a Banshee. Thankfully, JerValiN was able to turn the Banshee’s armor towards the Brute in time to protect himself, using the craft’s plasma weapons to eliminate the threat.

The Halo 2 LASO campaign is notorious for being significantly more difficult than any other Halo LASO campaign, owing to the fact that with all Skulls activated on Legendary difficulty, enemies do insane amounts of damage and have significantly more health, while the player has almost no health at all.

Furthermore, the combined effects of all of Halo 2’s skulls severely disadvantage the player by removing their HUD and weapon viewmodel, preventing them from recharging their shields without getting melee kills, and reducing the amount of ammo they can carry.

Meanwhile, all enemies gain active camouflage, a higher rank, a faster fire rate, and the ability to recklessly spam grenades. Halo 2 is also widely regarded as being unbalanced for Legendary difficulty in general (you’ve probably seen the Sniper Jackal memes).

Another difficult aspect of the challenge is that Halo’s AI can be unpredictable, even for masters like JerValiN who have extensive knowledge of their behavior patterns. In normal playthroughs, this unpredictability is seen as a good thing because it keeps players on their toes and makes for good moment-to-moment gameplay, but in challenges like this, where death is only a few Plasma Rifle shots away, it’s terrifying.

Part of me seriously doubted that this challenge would ever be completed, so seeing JerValiN do it live was incredible. Halo 2 LASO deathless without the Envy Skull is arguably the most difficult feat in gaming — it hasn’t been done in 18 years, and the vast majority of people attempting it couldn’t even get past the first few rooms of the game’s first level — but one man has proven that it’s not impossible in a dazzling display of skill and finesse.

The successful run lasted six hours, 29 minutes, and 44.17 seconds. In the VOD above, you can watch the full VOD directly from JerValiN’s Twitch channel.