Solarii Fortress - Defeating Nikolai

As Lara emerges outside the palace, Nikolai, the tattooed Russian, spots her. He orders his men to go and search for Sam while he deals with Lara. He grabs onto a mounted machine gun and starts shooting as Lara scrambles for cover.

Even the cement walls are no match for Nikolai and his machine gun. If you stay here too long, the wall crumbles, leaving Lara exposed.

So move out to the right and immediately run forward and hide behind the next wall, in the middle of the courtyard.

Again, bullets quickly rip through the wall, so don't linger.

Scramble around the right side of the wall, to the small, stone wall with the wooden structure on top, just ahead on the right.

Pause here briefly to recover Lara's health if necessary.

Then scramble to the left to crouch behind a second low, stone wall.

Finally make a dash to the left, up the steps and into the corner of the building. Lara is safe here temporarily.

Use your climbing axe to scale the rough stone wall.

At the top, immediately move forward and jump up to grab the zip line.

At the top, immediately move forward and jump up to grab the zip line. Lara barrels down on Nikolai, knocking him off balance. She grabs hold of the machine gun, but it's too big for her to control. The Russian gets to his feet and knocks Lara and the gun off the ledge. She hits the ground hard but manages to roll to one side as Nikolai pull out a pistol and starts shooting again.

As she scrabbles along the ground, she discovers a GRENADE LAUNCHER, which was probably dropped by some soldier. When you regain control of Lara, you'll see a targeting reticle already positioned above Nikolai's head. An icon on screen prompts you to press the Alternate Fire button (Middle Mouse Button/R2 or R1/RB) to launch a grenade. Do that now to take care of Nikolai once and for all.