Halo Campaign Evolved: Keyes Skulls & Terminal Locations

Halo Campaign Evolved Keyes Skulls & Terminal Locations include one of the most unique and demanding collectible unlocks in the entire game. Keyes is Mission 9 — the penultimate mission — and it features the Catch, Blind, and Piñata Skulls alongside the Consumed Terminal. The Catch Skull alone has conditions that no other Skull in the game shares: it only spawns on Heroic or Legendary difficulty, with no other Skulls active, and only if you reach the grav lift within five minutes. Miss any one of those requirements and the Skull simply will not appear.

• TL;DR
• Keyes has 3 Skulls and 1 Terminal to collect.
• The three Skulls are: Catch, Blind, and Piñata.
• The Terminal is called Consumed — found in a side room off the shuttle bay.
• Catch is the most restricted Skull in the game — it requires Heroic or Legendary difficulty, no Skulls active, and reaching the grav lift in under 5 minutes.
• The Catch Skull floats inside the grav lift and is collected automatically as you beam up.
• The Blind Skull is behind a Covenant tank in a large room — crouch under it and follow the hallway.
• The Consumed Terminal is through a side door off the shuttle bay — fight two Hunters to access it.
• The Piñata Skull is dropped by Captain Keyes himself — melee his Flood form 4–5 times after the cutscene.
• Collect in this order: Catch → Blind → Consumed Terminal → Piñata.
• ⚠️ Story spoiler warning: The Piñata Skull section contains major campaign spoilers. Read with care.

This guide covers all four collectibles in the exact order you encounter them. Get the game on Xbox, PlayStation, or Steam. If you just finished Mission 8, our Two Betrayals Skulls & Terminal Locations guide covers everything from that mission.

Critical Note Before You Start: The Catch Skull Requirements

The Catch Skull is the only Skull in the entire game with locked unlock conditions. Before loading into Keyes, you must meet all three of the following requirements or the Skull will simply not spawn:

• Difficulty: Heroic or Legendary only. Easy and Normal do not work.
• No Skulls active: You cannot have any Skull modifiers turned on for this run. Having any Skull selected at the mission start screen prevents Catch from spawning.
• Speed: You must reach the grav lift within five minutes of the mission starting.

You can jump directly to this mission using the Rally Point Alpha checkpoint from the Campaign menu to attempt it without replaying the whole game. Select Keyes, choose Heroic or Legendary, confirm no Skulls are active, and start the timer the moment you load in.

Collect in this order: Catch → Blind → Consumed Terminal → Piñata.

For difficulty setting details and how they interact with Skull requirements across the campaign, see our Halo Campaign Evolved difficulty differences guide.

Skull #1: Catch — Location and Effect

Where to Find the Catch Skull

With the correct difficulty and no Skulls active, your only job now is to reach the grav lift in under five minutes. Speed is everything.

When the mission starts, do not stop to fight enemies. Avoid all Covenant and Flood engagements completely — run past them, sprint around them, and push straight toward the objective. The five-minute window is tight enough that stopping for combat almost always costs too much time.

Keep running until you reach the grav lift. Once there, you cannot simply step in and ride it — the grav lift starts deactivated. You need to kill the Covenant enemies at the grav lift itself to trigger its activation. Use grenades and your weapons to clear the Covenant targets as fast as possible. Once they are eliminated, the grav lift activates.

Stand in the lift and spam the interact button while you are being beamed upward. As you ascend, the Catch Skull is suspended inside the grav lift beam. You will pass through it on your way up and collect it automatically — interacting while rising makes sure it registers. Once you land inside the ship, the Skull is permanently yours.

Catch Skull Effect

• Enemies throw significantly more grenades during combat.
• The frequency and volume of incoming grenades increases dramatically — from all enemy types that use them.
• Combined with Tough Luck (enemies never dodge), the grenade spam becomes absolutely relentless.

Catch is a LASO-relevant Skull and one of the most impactful pure-challenge modifiers in the game when stacked with others. The grenade pressure it creates forces constant movement and punishes any tendency to hold position. For achievement and trophy implications of collecting this Skull, see our Halo Campaign Evolved achievement and trophy list.

Skull #2: Blind — Location and Effect

Where to Find the Blind Skull

After riding the grav lift into the ship, the mission continues inside the Covenant vessel. Follow the main objective toward the shuttle bay. Along the way you will fight through several corridors and rooms full of Flood and Covenant.

Push through until you reach the first large open room inside the ship — a significant combat area with a mix of Flood and Covenant vehicles including a Ghost and a Wraith. Drop down into this large room and engage or bypass the enemies.

Once in the room, head to the back left corner. There you will find an entrance to a side area that is partially blocked by a Covenant vehicle — the tank is parked in the doorway, obstructing the entrance. Crouch down and walk underneath the tank. It is tight but passable.

On the other side, follow the hallway as it bends to the left. Walk down the corridor to the far end. The Blind Skull is sitting on the ground near a locked door at the end of the hall. Interact with it to collect it.

Blind Skull Effect

• Your entire HUD is disabled — no health bar, no shield indicator, no ammo counter, no motion tracker, no objective markers, no crosshair.
• You are playing completely without any on-screen information.
• Arguably the most immersive and disorienting Skull in the game.

Blind removes every piece of UI information at once. You have no idea how much ammo you have left, how damaged you are, where enemies are on the tracker, or where the objective is. It rewards map knowledge and makes every encounter feel genuinely tense. Combined with Fog (also disables motion tracker) from Mission 6, the two Skulls together create a true no-HUD run. For more on Fog, see our 343 Guilty Spark Skulls guide.

Terminal: Consumed — Location and Lore

Where to Find the Consumed Terminal

The Consumed Terminal is found shortly after the Blind Skull area, when you finally reach the shuttle bay. Pay attention to the objective update — the moment you step into the shuttle bay, your goal changes to “Ascend to the upper deck.”

Do not go up yet. The Terminal is on this level. As soon as you enter the shuttle bay, look to your left. There is an open door there. Go through it and follow the hallway inside.

Two Hunters will emerge and attack you — clear them. Once both are down, enter the room they came from, which is to the right. The Consumed Terminal is inside that room. Interact with it to unlock the lore entry.

Once you have it, head back to the shuttle bay and continue upward to the upper deck as the objective directs.

What Does the Consumed Terminal Contain?

Consumed is the ninth Terminal in the campaign. Like all Terminals, it contains classified lore and story context that expands beyond what the main campaign shows on screen. Given where the Keyes mission sits in the story, this Terminal carries significant emotional and narrative weight. It can be read anytime after collection from the Collectibles section of the main menu.

For the wider story context of the Halo Campaign Evolved narrative, our Halo Campaign Evolved review guide covers the full picture.

Skull #3: Piñata — Location and Effect

⚠️ Major story spoiler warning. The Piñata Skull is tied directly to a key story moment at the end of the Keyes mission. If you have not finished the main campaign yet and want to experience the story unspoiled, skip this section and come back after completing Keyes.

Where to Find the Piñata Skull

Continue through the mission after collecting the Terminal. Push through the upper deck areas of the Covenant ship, fighting through Flood and Covenant until you reach the area where the mission’s main story objective takes you — locating Captain Keyes.

A cutscene will play when you find the Captain. After the cutscene ends, you are left facing what remains of Captain Keyes — now fully integrated into a Flood Proto-Gravemind form. Your objective will direct you to retrieve his command codes.

Once the codes are retrieved — which happens automatically after the cutscene — do not leave the area. Face the Flood form of Captain Keyes and begin meleeing it repeatedly in the head. You will hear a wet, fleshy impact sound with each strike — this confirms you are hitting the right spot.

After four to five melee strikes, the Piñata Skull will physically drop from the Flood form onto the ground in front of you. Walk up to it and interact to collect it.

Note: the melee strikes do not register as damage — the Captain’s Flood form will not flinch or react. Just keep hitting in the same spot until the Skull falls.

Piñata Skull Effect

• Enemies drop grenades when hit by melee attacks.
• Every melee strike on an enemy causes them to shed live grenades.
• Can be used offensively — meleeing an enemy near a group causes the grenades to damage the surrounding enemies.
• Also creates serious risk of self-damage if you melee at close range without moving back immediately.

Piñata is a chaotic and entertaining Skull. Combined with Black Eye (shields only recharge via melee), Piñata creates a very dangerous loop — you need to melee to restore shields, but every melee drops live grenades at your feet. It rewards aggressive, mobile play and punishes stationary combat hard. For co-op strategies on running these stacked Skull combinations, see our Halo Campaign Evolved co-op players guide.

Tips for Getting All Collectibles in Keyes

• Start the Catch Skull attempt on Rally Point Alpha. You do not need to replay from Mission 1. Jump straight to Keyes via the Campaign menu, set Heroic or Legendary, confirm zero Skulls are active, and begin the speedrun from there.
• Avoid all enemies until the grav lift. The five-minute window for Catch does not leave room for combat. Run past everything — only stop to kill the Covenant directly at the grav lift itself.
• Spam interact in the grav lift. The Catch Skull is suspended inside the beam. Holding interact as you ascend guarantees you collect it on the way up.
• The Blind Skull is behind the tank. In the large open vehicle room, find the back left corner. Crouch under the Covenant tank blocking the doorway and follow the hallway left to the locked door at the end.
• Clear the Hunters before grabbing the Terminal. The Consumed Terminal room is past the two Hunters that spawn in the shuttle bay side hallway. You cannot safely access the Terminal with them active.
• For Piñata: melee Keyes right after the cutscene. Do not get distracted by combat or leave the area. Face the Flood form immediately after the cutscene ends and melee the head area four to five times until the Skull drops.
• All Skulls are permanently yours once grabbed — even the Catch Skull, which is collected mid-air in the grav lift. If it registered, it is in your collection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Other Halo Campaign Evolved Guides

Looking for collectible guides across the rest of the campaign? Here are the most useful ones:

• Halo Campaign Evolved: Two Betrayals Skulls & Terminal Locations
• Halo Campaign Evolved: The Library Skulls & Terminal Locations
• Halo Campaign Evolved: The Silent Cartographer Skulls & Terminal Locations
• Halo Campaign Evolved: Assault on the Control Room Skulls & Terminal Locations
• Halo Campaign Evolved: 343 Guilty Spark Skulls & Terminal Locations
• Halo Campaign Evolved Achievement & Trophy List
• Halo Campaign Evolved: How to Fly (Acrophobia Skull Guide)
• Halo Campaign Evolved Beginner’s Guide

Keyes is the penultimate mission and its collectibles reflect that — the most restricted Skull in the game, a hidden room requiring Hunter kills to access, and a Skull literally beaten out of a Flood-infested captain. With this guide, you can plan and execute a clean run of all four collectibles without wasted attempts or replays.