Borderlands 2 - Hunting the Firehawk

You get this mission after completing "Plan B", which ends just after you pick up the first Audio Log inside Roland's House.

After you've picked it up, head up stairs and check inside the safe to find another Audio Log. This one will be from someone called the "Firehawk" who has taken Roland captive. The Safe is yours now though so if there's anything you'd like to store, you can do so now. Do as the Firehawk says and head to Frostburn Canyon.

To get there, leave Sanctuary and head South across the Three Horns Divide. You'll have to cross a bridge over to the Marrowfields and you'll almost immediately bump into a Bandit Camp. You'll have to work through this bandit camp to get where you're going.

The best bet is to tackle this Bandit Camp as best you can from outside. The front of the camp is well blocked off by a giant skull and some blocks. If you can lure the enemies to the front, you can likely kill them using your 'Ride but you'll receive less experience. All of the enemies (mostly Nomads, Psychos, and Midgets) are flaming in some way. This does mean that the Nomads will have to be very close to you to attack you so if you can keep a medium distance from your enemies you should be pretty safe.

Once you've fought your way through this camp, go to the next area and you'll find a little hut on the left with Vending Machines and checkpoint. Go up past that checkpoint and you'll see a Psycho nailed to a board. Turn right here and make your way into a small camp with some loot and a toilet. Loot that and then drop off the right side of the camp.

You're going to be on a cliff side with a frozen lake below to your left. You'll encounter more Flaming Enemies as well as Psycho Badasses and your first Goliaths. This can be rather daunting so if you need to retreat, do so.

Most of these should be familiar but the Goliaths require a bit of an explanation. At first, they will start with heavy weapons and move pretty slowly. They can deal a lot of damage but it's nothing compared to what happens if you shoot their mask off. If you shoot the mask off, their head will be exposed though it's hard to hit. They become much faster (about as fast as a Psycho), they can leap to almost any elevated point and can kill nearby enemies to level up and become tougher. All of this is in addition to the strong melee attacks. For that reason, I would generally recommend that you use a rapid fire weapon from range and drill their large torso.

There are several points of cover on this cliffside so set up at one of them and try to kill the enemies as the come up the ramp. As you clear them out, work your way down to the larger camp area below. Take yourself to the edge of the camp and maybe jump onto one of the higher levels of the buildings below.

Make your way over to the hanger style building in the distance and use this for a staging point. This fight can be a little tough because there's not a whole lot of decent cover but climb to the top of the building and use the building itself for cover. For the most part, enemies aren't going to come up to the top so take your time and kill enemies from this height. When you've cleared the enemies below, grab the loot from the chests in this building and then head for the cave to the South.

In the cave, you'll encounter a Nomad on the edge of a camp. The camp is going to have both Bandits and Spiderants. The Spiderants have a hard shell front but the back is soft. If you let the bandits and spiderants fight, it will give you a good chance to capitalize on this soft spot. When the Spiderants are dead, focus on the Bandits (which are primarily Psychos and Nomads) but you've got plenty of room behind you to backpeddle.

Go through the camp and up the stairs. You'll come out into a snowy valley and be attacked by a Psycho and a Badass Psycho. As soon as you see them, start back tracking down the stairs into the camp in the cave again. You can use the buildings as cover. Kill them and then move back up to the snow. You may encounter another Badass Psycho. Just treat this as the previous one (if he appears) and then get through this little valley.

Ashmouth Camp

The area will open up into a large Oil Refinery. There will be some Spiderants at the front of the Refinery. If you need to, put a powerful shot on their front side (from something like a sniper or shotgun) which will stun them and allow you to get around behind them for a critical attack. You can also try to aim for the areas between the legs or just under their front armor as they move.

Just past them as you make your way into the Oil Refinery proper, you'll start encountering bandits. Lure the first few out of the Refinery, kill them and then make your way into the camp. Stay on the catwalk to the right and you can attack from here. Try to move up slowly though or you'll attract the attention of a lot of enemies. If you have a Sniper Rifle, you can clear a good number of enemies from up here but when you've exhausted this position, walk down the right side to the lower level.

When you start encountering the Goliaths in this area, try to look around a little because most of them spawn or patrol near the purple oil cans which are Slag Barrels and will cause them to take double damage. Work your way through this camp and then head to the valley to the North. Inside the cave will be a couple of Badass Psychos. 

Once you get past the Psychos, you'll have to walk through a booby trapped cave with different pipes that will spew flames as you walk by them. Keep your eyes peeled for the pipes sticking out of the walls, particularly near doorways. The cave will lead to a warehouse structure with Vending Machines inside. Empty your backpack because you're going to have the chance to pick up a lot of loot coming up. Also stock up on ammo because you're going to need it.

The Firehawk

You'll meet the Firehawk here and it turns out they are on your side. You need to grab some Eridium for them from one of the two round areas here. Grab it, hand it to them, and then you'll be attacked. Enemies will drop in from the two round areas attached to this middle section. You'll be attacked by Psychos and Marauders at first but later you'll be attacked frequently by Badasses as well.

The Firehawk is quite powerful and will help you throughout the fight. In fact, for the first part of the fight, you're really not in any significant danger. There's really not a whole lot of cover so you're going to have to keep shooting and use your Action Ability as frequently as possible. Thankfully, the Firehawk's attacks seem to be almost perfectly spaced so that you can alternate the attacks with your Action Ability for maximum effect.

If you start running low on ammo, there will be a lot of weapons on the ground so find a different weapon and swap that into your rotation. This will let you use different ammo. The shotguns that get dropped all over will likely be pretty useful for this fight since the combat is so hectic and close. Eventually, you'll have to grab more Eridium for the Firehawk again and you'll be teleported out of the area. If you don't want to teleport just yet for any reason, don't talk to them just yet. When you do, you'll complete the mission.