5 Iconic Pop-Culture Battle Strategies to Use in ‘Halo Wars 2’

Henry Gilbert
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After some time away from the battlefield, Halo Wars 2 is ready to bring folks back to its real-time strategy world on February 21. You’ll be above the fray, commanding teams of marines or Covenant, and you’ll need to be smart with tactics to stay on top.

Good thing there are plenty of iconic battle scenes from great films and TV series out there to assist with your tactical planning. Let’s take a look at how these five pop culture favorites can help you win the day in Halo Wars 2.

The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers – The Battle of Helm’s Deep

The heroes of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy face many massive battles, but the defense of Helm’s Deep might be the best of them all. In Halo Wars 2, if you find the odds stacked against you, just do what Aragon and his pals did to make it through Helm’s Deep. Know when to retreat and be ready to use entryways to bottleneck your flow of enemies. If only one can get through to you at a time, those large armies don’t seem so big.

The Walking Dead Season 4 – The Prison Battle

A long battle is like a marathon, so you can’t think you’ve got it all figured out just after your first sortie. When The Governor began his siege of Rick and company’s prison home in The Walking Dead, the initial shootout was just the start. You’ve got to be ready for whatever the enemy could surprise you with — even a tank that you couldn’t possibly expect them to possess.

Also, channel your inner Rick and don’t lose focus even if important team members get taken out. The rest of the team is depending on you.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron – Ultron’s Army Invades Sokovia

In The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ultron creates an army of super-powerful robots to invade the unlucky nation of Sokovia. And since The Avengers are just a handful of heroes, they’ve got to focus if they want to take out that horde of robots. In Halo Wars 2, try to follow their example: Stick close to your Captain America, but not so close as you’ll get in the way of your Hulk smashing something. A good, tight flow in a fight will keep things moving better.

Game of Thrones Season 4 – The Battle of Castle Black

This was a fight so big it took up an entire episode of the HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones, and with good reason. Jon Snow and the rest of the Night’s Watch have to defend The Wall from a seemingly unending assault from an army of Wildlings. There are plenty of lessons here for the Halo Wars 2, like knowing when to push your advantage and unload your biggest weapons, and when it’s better to retreat and save a special attack for later. Sure, the Night’s Watch suffered a lot of casualties that day, but they defended their home successfully thanks to that winning strategy.

Rogue One – The Battle of Scarif

The most recent Star Wars film hinges on a massive battle on a beach that’s oddly reminiscent of some Halo settings, so why not take inspiration from it? In the film, the small group of Rebels use their skills to outwit the Stormtroopers, but it took more than that. It was communication between all the heroes that made each sacrifice and attack count. If you’re going to hop into a co-op battle for Halo Wars 2, you’ll need to be just as good at communication to best your opponent. Just be happy they won’t have Darth Vader on their side.

Henry Gilbert
Henry Gilbert is Senior Games Editor at Fandom. He's worked in the gaming press since 2008, writing for sites as diverse as GamesRadar, IGN, and Paste Magazine. He's also been known to record a podcast or two with Laser Time. Follow him on Twitter @henereyg.