I’ve seen a lot of people gravitate towards the gate next to the Medicae in the Carnival 1 (also known as Mercantile HL-70-01) finale and I just don’t agree with it. There are a few problems with holding in this position that I want to highlight here, and give an alternative position to hold out.
Note that the following screenshots were taken in the middle of the finale so they aren’t going to be perfect but I hope they give the general layout of the area.
Hadron here. Pay attention to these screenshots. Notice a few things:
- Enemies from long range have free reign to snipe you without much risk of return fire
- Enemies are funneled into one direction, but it is a very wide direction
- You constantly have to keep tabs on the gate behind you, otherwise you get sandwiched
- A single bomber can easily doom you all if the hordes are dense enough
- Disablers can round a short corner and easily jump you
This all points to a bad holdout spot and I’m not sure how it became meta and commonplace. I’ve seen people argue over not using it which annoyed me enough to make this PSA.
My ideal holdout spot is seen if you take a direct 90 degrees to the right, up the staircase next to the dropdown into the finale arena, and another right next to the dumpster. This spot is great:
Notice a few key points:
- Ranged enemies still have relative impunity, but there is cover in the form of the dumpster, pillar, and stairs
- Trash mobs like to spawn in the doors which makes them easy pickings before they come out, and only ever run in from one direction, the small chokepoint next to the exit of the stairs
- You have an escape route via direct dropdown into the middle of the arena
- EDIT: This escape route drops down directly next to player respawns
- Disablers have a longer distance to travel before they get in range, giving you more time to shoot them
It’s good, try this one. You may be surprised at how effective it is.






