Halo Infinite is a game with a lot of mechanical depth. Professionals use numerous small and large tricks to be among the absolute best in the shooter. MeinMMO author Marko Jevtic reveals to you the 8 most important tips to instantly improve your game.
Update from April 30, 2022: In line with the HCS Kansas City Major, we are bringing this article back up and updating it regarding the latest balancing updates.
Especially for beginners, Halo Infinite can be challenging to play. The combination of slow time-to-kill, unique shield mechanics, a particular community, and many niche weapons makes it very difficult to get started in this arena shooter.
However, if you know a few important things, you will immediately improve your gameplay. I will show you the most important ones here.
The tips and tricks mentioned here, I mostly learned over the years by watching the tournaments and streams of the biggest Esports professionals in Halo. YouTuber StandardAce has also created a playlistt with over 70 short videos that showcase tricks that are both helpful and effective.
Thanks to these techniques, I play Halo at a very high level. If you follow them, you too will instantly improve your gameplay.
1. Shoot for the chest, then aim for the head
This trick is one of the absolute basics of Halo, but it can be very hard to unlearn basic shooter rules.
Due to the shield mechanics, headshots in Halo only deal more damage when the shield is broken, or if you have the sniper or shock rifle. That’s why it’s important to shoot as much for the chest of your opponents as possible, especially with weapons like the assault rifle and battle rifle.
This maximizes your hit rate on the shield until it is broken. Only then do you aim quickly for the head and kill with many weapons with a precise headshot. This trick is one of the fundamental rules in Halo that every player must know.
With the next trick, you can enhance this technique even more.
2. Learn the hidden strengths of the weapons
In Halo Infinite, some weapons have hidden strengths that you should know and utilize. The pistol, for example, has one of the fastest TTK in the game, killing with just one headshot; the assault rifle, on the other hand, requires 3 headshots but makes destroying shields easier. Therefore, you should break the shield with the assault rifle, and then quickly switch to the pistol for that one lethal headshot.
The same goes for the pulse rifle. On its own, it is not a good weapon because it only excels at breaking shields. However, when combined with a headshot killer like the battle rifle or the pistol, you can have a very quick victory over your opponents.
3. Throw away your weapons for a quick kill
One of the oldest tricks in the shooter genre is that switching weapons is always faster than reloading. This is also true in Halo Infinite, but there’s another aspect to consider:
Throwing away weapons is even faster than reloading and even faster than switching weapons. How much faster, you can see in this video:
If you combine this trick with the knowledge from Tricks 1 and 2, you will immediately be better than most of your opponents. Break the shield with body shots from the assault rifle, throw the weapon away, and quickly shoot with the pistol at the head. This way, you will become a dominant force in Halo Infinite.
Therefore, we recommend setting the “Throw Weapons” function in the options menu to a convenient button:
- My recommendation for PC: “T,” because it’s right next to the reload button, plus you can easily remember it as “T = Throw.”
- My recommendation for the controller: D-pad down or D-pad right. The standard inputs there are not relevant in multiplayer. With the paddles from the Elite controller, throwing away weapons works even better.
4. Running is almost always better than sprinting
One of the most common mistakes that players make in Halo Infinite is that they sprint almost constantly across the map. While this enables strong slides, it has 3 major disadvantages:
- Your footsteps are louder
- After a sprint, it takes you longer to fire
- With a flag in hand, opponents can see your position
If you run instead of sprint, you are quieter and can shoot faster. This makes it easier to surprise your opponents and land the first shot – giving you a significant advantage in a fight.
Furthermore, sprints are only about 9 – 10% faster than running (via YouTube). Especially if you expect to see an opponent soon, you shouldn’t blindly sprint around the corner.
To better combat this bad habit, it may be helpful to turn off the “Maintain Sprint” setting in the options menu.
5. Look down to survive
If your shield is broken and you want to run away, you should definitely look at the ground. Because as soon as you aim at the ground, your character also lowers its head. This reduces the target area of your hitbox for the opponent. Professionals call this trick “hitbox manipulation”.
This is what the difference looks like in-game:
Especially when you are only showing your back, your opponent has a significantly harder time hitting your head. By simply adjusting the camera movement, you have made your hitbox much smaller, greatly increasing your chances of survival.
6. Pull your legs up while jumping
This trick is also known from games like Half-Life or Counter-Strike. Basically, it works like a box jump in the gym: you pull your legs up while jumping to reach a high platform.
You do this by pressing the crouch button while jumping – ideally at the highest point of your jump. This way, your Spartan pulls up his legs and lands acrobatically on a ledge.
With this technique, you can avoid the slow and dangerous climbing animation in many situations in the game. This video shows what a big difference it can make.
I therefore also recommend turning off the “Auto Climb” setting in the options menu.
7. Make your opponent more visible with weapon offsets
In the options menu, you will find a setting that can be extremely important. Since your weapon in the HUD in Halo Infinite by default takes up a lot of space, there is a chance that it may hide an opponent. With the right settings, you can clear your screen, so to speak.
These images exemplify the difference with the repulsor equipment that can be found on this map in front of the building entrance.
These settings can make a huge difference. This way, you reduce the chances of your weapon hiding an opponent.
Select the following settings in the options menu under UI → Weapon Offset for each weapon type. Note that the values for vertical and depth offsets are negative:
- Horizontal offset: 100%
- Vertical offset: – 100%
- Depth offset: – 100 %
8. Learn “Flag Juggling”
In Capture The Flag, many players make the same mistake: they grab the flag and then just run straight ahead. Much faster and safer, however, is the so-called “flag juggling”.
With “flag juggling,” you repeatedly throw the flag forward by pressing the “switch weapon” button at the highest point of a jump. This way, the flag flies at high speed in your running direction so you can repeatedly pick it up and throw it again.
This is not only a faster method but also a safer one because you keep your weapon in hand. An impressive example of this technique can be seen in this clip from Halo professional Eric “Snip3down” Wrona:
This technique is not complicated. With very little practice, you’ll be significantly better in this important game mode. This benefits not only you but also your team.
These are the 8 most important tricks and tips that will make you immediately better in Halo Infinite. Did you already know all of them? Or maybe you know even more? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
Another important thing to keep in mind is your preferred control method. Because although Halo Infinite can also be played easily and very well with mouse & keyboard, controller players have a significant advantage. Why that is proven, you can learn here:
Fan proves: As a controller player, you have a huge advantage in Halo Infinite
