Halo Tips

December 9, 2004 4:15 PM

I am going to be participating in a Halo 2 Kill-A-Thon tomorrow night. I do not own an Xbox myself, so i don't get much practice time. I am getting better at Halo, but i still seem to be an easy target for experienced players. Are there some basic techniques that i should know or other tips that will help me be a little more of a threat and less of an easy mark?
posted by mudhouse to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (19 answers total)

Use grenades liberally. The blue (plasma) grenades will stick to people. Left trigger throws grenades.
Don't conserve any weapon because you're only going to last 30 seconds anyway.
The shotgun is a terrific weapon if you're new to the game, but you need to be close. And it takes forever to reload.
Reload when you can (no one near you), not when you have to.
You can dual-wield some of the smaller weapons. They say to only use one at a time, but I don't have that kind of impulse control. The submachine gun has a tendency to climb, so it can be hard to keep on target.
Try to learn the maps. You won't be able to memorize the whole thing, but find spots you're comfortable with.
posted by yerfatma at 4:28 PM on December 9, 2004

Never run away; always face your attacker (backing up is okay when under attack and your weapons and your opponent's favour keeping your distance).
It may be cheap to throw a grenade in the middle of two people fighting it out, but it scores points.
You don't lose points when others kill you and you only get points when you kill others: throw yourself into the action with abandon (on games with unlimited deaths).
Watch your motion tracker like it's your rearview mirror.
posted by cardboard at 4:38 PM on December 9, 2004

Keep moving:

- When you're dueling with someone, try to master the technique of keeping your aim on them while you're sliding from side to side.

- When you're just moving from one place to another, jump as much as you can along the way, but not in a steady rhythm. (Once you leap, you're trajectory is totally fixed, just like in real life--a veteran who can predict when you're going to jump again can draw a bead on where you're going to land, and nail you every time.)

And what the others said...
posted by LairBob at 4:50 PM on December 9, 2004

the plasma rifle + SMG dual wield mix is good. use the plasma to take off his shields fast, and then the SMG to finish him off.

plasma pistol + SMG is even better. charge the pistol and fire off to immediately disable opponents shield, then finish off with the SMG.
posted by lotsofno at 4:57 PM on December 9, 2004

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

sorry, couldn't resist. uh, I'll second "keep moving" and say that means don't ever stop, even if you've not got a clue where you are on the map.
posted by dragstroke at 5:03 PM on December 9, 2004

Learn to circle strafe. Pick a favorite, easy to aquire gun combination and practice with that. (Plasma/SMG, Magnum/SMG, etc.) If you have a sniper weapon, don't stay zoomed in. When you have zoom on, you can't see your radar, so someone will almost always punch you in the back of the head. Learn to run in packs and surround individual players. Reload every chance you get, because running out of ammo in a fire fight is instant death. Use your melee attack when you're in close, it does a lot of damage and can end a fight quickly. Fear the person with the sword. In a tight level, run like hell. In an open level, run backwards while maintaining constant fire on the sword carrier, then take his sword and insult his mother.

There's a Halo 2 game going on in my house about %40 percent of the day. Three Xbox live accounts and two Xboxes make for some lively play.
posted by PantsOfSCIENCE at 5:26 PM on December 9, 2004

It's the cheapest weapon in the game by far, but if you're new and want to rack up some points, use the Energy Sword. Practice getting lock-ons with it. I for one hope that Bungie patches (er, "nerfs") the Sword in multiplayer games so that it has limited energy/ammo, like in the Campaign mode, cause right now most online Slayer games should really be called "Who Can Get to the Energy Sword First" games.

And always keep moving (echo, echo.)
posted by robbie01 at 5:34 PM on December 9, 2004

Remember, the motion tracker is not a traditional video game radar. Enemies only appear on it when they are moving (or talking, in the case of online games.)

So keep moving, yes... but if you're trying to sneak up on an enemy, running at him will light up his motion tracker like a Christmas tree. Instead, you can push the left thumbstick in (it will click, if you're not familiar with Xbox controller) to crouch. Keep holding the thumbstick in and move with it to creep towards your enemy. This cannot be picked up on the motion tracker.

Obviously, you'll want to be careful about when you do this, but it can be very useful. Since your opponents presumably know the maps better than you do, doing everything you can to stay off of their motion tracker is in your best interest.
posted by Fourmyle at 5:56 PM on December 9, 2004

Melee attacks are super useful when you run out of ammo, and I don't see people use them when they count. Close in on your attacker and try to land a hit, and if you've landed many shots on your clip there's a solid chance that you'll kill them.

Stay out of the Wartjpg unless you're with somebody who can crew it well with you, or you're wasting your time. Ghosts, the one-man alien hovercrafts, are quite good, though. Use the left trigger to boost (at the expense of firing your weapon) and don't be afraid of running people over.

Conversely, if somebody's trying to run you over, zig and zag until they're close, then jump. You can survive and manuever to safety this way or even board their vehicle.

I would also advise staying away from dual wielding. The recoil will probably be a bitch to handle if you're not comfortable with Halo 2's controls. For a beginner, I think grenades would be far more potent.
posted by rfordh at 6:15 PM on December 9, 2004

Frag grenades are far more effective than plasma grenades.
Never stop moving for any reason.
Never turn your back on enemies ore wide open spaces for that matter.
Vehicles are overrated, if you are playing against experienced players do not even bother with them.
Learn to always be aiming at the most probable doorway for an enemy to appear, no matter which direction you are travelling.
The art of HALO is one that takes time to master. We all got killed a lot at first.
posted by mervin_shnegwood at 6:29 PM on December 9, 2004

And you WILL be inviting us to play with you online at the Kill-a-Thon, right? Add my GamerTag: Mr Robbins
posted by robbie01 at 6:36 PM on December 9, 2004

In a close fight, when someone's facing you and shooting at you, it's a natural tendency to back away. Don't. Run at them, and past them. It'll break their lock on you. If it looks like they've got you, try to dump a grenade; they may kill you, but they'll die too. This is a particularly infuriating thing my friends do.
posted by atchafalaya at 7:08 PM on December 9, 2004

My suggestion is that you just stand in the middle of the map so that you are an easier target for the people who want to practice their sniper skills can.

And remember, if you run around the corner and have a rocket launcher and someone is right in front of you, do not fire! Use the melee attack, it is much more satisfying.
posted by GrumpyMonkey at 7:23 PM on December 9, 2004

See if you can dig up a keyboard and mouse like I hear about that work with the X-Box. Instant win.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 8:49 PM on December 9, 2004

If you end up playing King of the Hill type games (funnest mode in Halo 2 multiplayer I think), this is my strategy:

Let one of your team mates stand in the circle to claim it, and you stand off to the side, behind some column or something. You don't get points, but the other team is going to come steamrolling in to get the circle back, and all they'll see is your team mate. Meanwhile, you can plug them all in the back, and save the day. Yay!
posted by Hildago at 9:42 PM on December 9, 2004

See if you can dig up a keyboard and mouse like I hear about that work with the X-Box. Instant win.

Definately -- learning the stupid, ugly, annoying controler is the key to success. It's damned hard to manipulate skillfully, and takes patience and (above all) practice to master. If someone's got a few hundred hours "under the stick" on you, you're no match, no matter how c00l your weapons are.

I second the grenade-before-you-die approach (a-la Aliens). If you can't beat 'em, fuck 'em up real good.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:24 PM on December 9, 2004

I don't believe Halo 2 for Xbox allows native keyboard control, even with an Xbox-compatible keyboard. You need a SmartJoy FRAG, which sits between the keyboard & mouse/XBox and emulates an XBox controller. There's a preset "translation" for popular games like Halo/Halo 2 and it should be easy to use. Of course, you might get bounced from the event for winning too much. Even a great player with a gamepad is no match for a decent player with mouse & keyboard.
posted by rxrfrx at 4:28 AM on December 10, 2004

The one thing that improved my Halo 2 game 100% was learning not to lean on the trigger with the SMG. Short burst works much much better. Somehow the accuracy of the weapon becomes much better. Start while aiming at the body to break down the shields then slowly move up to the head. I believe you can kill someone in 2-3 seconds like this. You'll definitely beat anyone who's just trying to unload their SMG on you as quickly as possible.
posted by soplerfo at 8:27 AM on December 10, 2004

If you drop a grenade between you and your opponent on a close fight, he may die but you will as well. Suicides give you a negative point, which can make all the difference in close games.

Also, watch the edges of the terrain. You can, and will, fall off while dodging fire.

If two people are battling it out, rush the winner before their shields come back to full strength.
posted by haqspan at 1:59 PM on December 10, 2004