MULTIPLAYER: General tips and tricks
- Learn to love the Battle Rifle: Most experienced players agree that the battle rifle is an essential piece of kit in the online Halo world. Effective from close to mid-long range, this weapon should be in your hands most of the time. While other weapons may be more powerful or be better at certain ranges, the battle rifle is able to pick off enemies at long range with ease, swapping instantly for a close range kill in the hands of a skilled player. Definitely consider spending some time getting to know this versatile weapon.
- To scope, or not to scope: While scoping may make for generally better shots at range, the animation to raise the scope and lower it takes time. In close to mid combat, skilled players will often not use the scope, instead using their expertise to line up enemies using only the basic cross-hair on the screen. Doing so gives them more time to fire off shots and can be equally as accurate with most weapons (thanks to the relatively small bullet spread of most guns). Consider giving it a try when you get a few kills under your belt in the multiplayer modes. You'll be glad you did, that extra sliver of time can be the difference of squeezing off an extra shot or two.
- Head-shots are vital: Getting consistent head-shots is more important in halo than almost any other multiplayer game. You'll find that enemies in the Halo universe are more sturdy in general than in most other online shooters (thanks to having to chew through a shield and health bar while the enemy player is moving rapidly and firing back at you). This means you NEED the extra damage of head-shots whenever you can get them to quickly bring down an opponent. The battle rifle mentioned above is one of the most lethal and useful tools for this task, so take the time to practice those head-shots with it and watch your kill count start to rise.
- Learn the maps and main movement areas in each: While sounding basic, you'll find that taking the time to know the maps and their dangerous areas (kill-zones) will help your survivability immensely. It will also allow you to take advantage of these areas, using blind spots, overwatch positions and cover locations to kill players who move through these kill-zones. It also allows you to know likely ambush areas and powerup/ weapon placement for the maps, giving you and your team a tactical advantage and additional opportunities for coordinated strikes on valuable positions. Speaking of which:
- Work and communicate as a team: While not important in every mode, a large number of players play in the team playlists. Everyone knows the frustration of having a player who ignores the rest of the team and just runs out trying to shoot other players, dying instantly to a dug in sniper on the other side that you just warned him about. A team has more pairs of eyes than one person, making intelligence information and rapid communications vital, empowering players to perform multi pronged ambushes, successfully defend objectives and overall function more effectively than a lone wolf ever could.
- Sidearm swap: One thing that gets a lot of less experienced players killed is waiting for weapons to reload when they have a perfectly valid secondary weapon sitting there. "Hmm, I'll just sit here reloading my shotgun shells, oh no an enemy". "Almost finished reloading". *Dead*. This ever happened to you? Swapping to your secondary weapon is generally twice the speed of most average reloads (unless you are swapping to the rocket launcher or spartan laser with slower animations), so take advantage of this rapid change to quickly jump back into the fight.
- Empty the clip: While not essential, this is another aspect that can make the difference between a kill or a missed opportunity. Some more experienced players will deliberately not reload their main gun during combat (due to the lost time of the reload animation) unless they have to, instead chasing after the opponents with a sidearm or changing to another nearby target if the first flees, counting off their shots and only reloading when necessary. You'll see a large number of less experienced players waste time in a firefight reloading after every few shots, losing possible attack opportunities when they could be firing at the enemy. It's tough to explain the usefulness of this approach, but if you see a veteran player in action, you'll see exactly what I mean.
- Crouching and assassination – More experienced players will likely begin to use crouching to prevent themselves appearing on the radar. This can be used to help you regain shields/ health safely, get the drop on enemy players rushing past, or even allow you to sneak up behind enemy players to perform humiliating assassinations (RB when behind an unaware enemy). While useful, mastering the timing of when to use this is essential, but keep it in mind as it is a handy skill. Especially against novice players.