Reach was hardest, then came CE, then 2, then 3. My vote goes to Reach. I never played ODST on legendary

Reach was pretty hard, and CE

why is H3 tied for leader? It was piss on Legendary, compared with CE and Reach, of course.

I voted Halo 2. I like a pure challenge, although I'd say that Halo 2's Legendary Campaign is the least forgiving campaign out of them all. People will disagree and say CE (for good reasons), but this is an opinion poll... If this was a Mythic poll, Halo 3, no question. Least amount of bullshit while still being fun.

I've only completed ODST on Legendary (with 3 other friends, which was amazing!)... Me and my friend are on "Halo" in Halo 3 on Legendary. Haven't finished CE, 2, or Reach on Legendary yet...

I admire studios of any size that remain stable about not removing features which create depth and complexity for core players. Most high profile games, especially sequels, replace deep learning with high difficulty and complex level design. Excessive combat that is not even fun in the slightest is usually implemented in the games on the theory of appealing to a sub-segment imaginary hardcore audience further pushing the hypocrisy of AAA accessibility. Halo 2's Legendary was ridiculous with the jackal snipers and at moments stupid I had to take a break. Halo combat evolved legendary developed into something special though. I believe it was because a philosophy of empowering the player revolving around 30 seconds of fun over and over again. The pistol damage boost and even the bugs made the game better because of this design. Good design costs just as much as anything else. I freaking love taking out legendary elites at a distance in that game.

When I think of legendary, one shining moment comes back to me. CE, Level 9 on Legendary. Spec Ops Elites are truly one of the most fun enemies to fight in the game because they're so durable, quirky, and in-your-face. Which made certain sections of the level heart pounding. I was doing it in Co-op with my buddy when anniversary came out, and we were trying to get down to the hangar to the banshees, and all these spec-ops Elites stood in our way on the upper platforms. Our first strategy was to send one of ourselves out and lure one over, putting as much fire into it before we died, while the other one of us sniped at the back. Evidently, this did not work. But then, by chance, one of us picked up a needler, and thus forth discovered our key to victory. Although getting past those various sections was still by no means easy, what I liked the most about this one particular encounter was that we were both using a weapon we never thought about, never gave credit to. CE is a true sandbox game in terms of weapons, allowing the player to approach scenarios with whatever they can think of using, and giving them the chance to win. And it made me think afterwards as well. I never liked Reach's legendary at all. Aside from the canon -blam!- and other tripe, what made legendary so boring and lame was that you could only use two guns, and the AI never allowed fun. They knew where you were going in any vehicle, and because of the dumb ass vehicle health system, and the rigged rock paper scissors system, you died almost instantly. Grunts became professional baseball players at the rate they could throw grenades, only slightly moving their arm before the grenade shot out at light speed, attaching itself to you, and then before you even knew what happened, before even the grenade priming sound could be heard, the grenade detonated, instantly. Everyone was jacked up on speed, firing the slowest possible weapon like a mini-gun. Reach's legendary wasn't tough, it was cheap, a good example of artificial difficulty. And it was made worse by the fact that you were only allowed two weapons. A plasma pistol, and a rifle. Using any other weapon was a death sentence and made you look like a dumbass. Remember what happened when you picked up a needler and tried to use it on anything? Two outcomes presented themselves. A) Everything hit the deck in a thousand mile radius, which somehow rendered the tracking of the needles useless. B) A low ranking Elite that didn't happen to hit the deck could have the entire stock of ammo emptied into him, and come out with some shields left. At the very least, Reach made me appreciate the older campaigns, especially CE's after playing through it again. The free weapon sandbox somewhat declined with later halo's but still held some aspect of it's original design. But overall, CE had it best. Good encounters, the freedom of choice when it came to weapons, and the freedom of experimentation to getting through a presented fight scenario. The AI were cheeky buggers, but not so much on the clairvoyent, bullet sponge, mini-gun toting, proffessional baseball player standard of cheap.

I kind of liked ONI sword base on legendary in reach

Halo 4 had the easiest Legendary by far. As soon as I bought it, I took it home and played it on legendary. Six hours later the credits were rolling.

The Jackal alley in Halo 2 immediately disqualifies it. TWO. HOURS.

Best? Halo 1 by a long shot. Even now it's still a balanced challenge that punishes mistakes and rewards skill and tactics. Running in guns blazing won't work but it is possible to have epic moments of combat finesse without dying instantly. The AI still surprises to this day and missions are just..... rewarding. Making it through a level, maybe with a few Marine buddies, is just so satisfying. Battles are large, weapons are well thought out, encounters are intense and dramatic. Waiting for those shields to charge up......... what a rush. Difficult? Halo 2. But Halo 2 on Legendary isn't satisfying, it's just frustrating and relentless. Jackal Alley is just a question of dying in order to find out where the sniper is, and that's not a satisfying way to complete a level or exercise skill.

Oh the nightmares that occurred when I played Halo 2 legendary. Those jackals have some Byakugan mixed with Promethean vision and can see the future. They never miss