HALO question.

Cafe Society
1

I borrowed Halo from a friend and he didn’t give me the instructions so I have a couple questions.

Is the pistol the only gun that can zoom in? I try to zoom with the assault rifle but can’t for some reason.

The enemies that have shields shoot green beams at me that seem to deactivate my shield immediately. Is this normal and is there a way to stop this from happening?

Will my shield ALWAYS fully recharge if I give it enough time and do I need to stand still in order for it to charge?

I find that butting the enemies in the head with my rifle seems to be an effective way to kill them quickly. Basically I run at them while firing off the assault rifle and butt them in the head as soon as I get close enough. Is this a standard strategy?

2

There are three guns in the game that zoom: the pistol, the sniper rifle, and the rocket launcher.

The shield bearing enemies usually (but not always) have plasma pistols. Plasma pistols do minimal damage normally, but can be “supercharged” to fire a massive energy bolt with limited tracking ability. To stop them from instantly depleting your shield, do not let them shoot you. Keep in mind, their shields are immune to Terran projectile weapons, and will reflect you bullets back at you. You can snipe around the shield’s borders with the pistol or the rifle, though. Also, the little guys with the high pitched voices also frequently have plasma pistols, but are less likely to use the supercharge them.

Your shield always recharges after about thirty seconds, as long as you don’t take any hits. Even if you’re moving.

Using your gun as a bludgeon only works really well on normal difficulty. Anything higher, and you’ll get your ass handed to you. However, if you can sneak up on an enemy and club him from behind, it’s usually an instant, and silent, kill.

3

Actually, Jackals (the shield-bearing aliens) do always have plasma pistols. Grunts (the little guys who scream a lot) can carry plasma pistols or needlers (and plasma grenades), and Elites (the tall leaders with energy shields) carry plasma rifles (these have blue shots, whereas the plasma pistol’s are green) or needlers (which can fire several purple tracking shots very rapidly).

A charged-up plasma pistol will take down any shield in one hit, whether it’s a Jackal’s shield or the energy shield that Master Chief and the Elites use. This includes an OverShield. This can be very handy because it means you can take out any Covenant you run across with just two shots: a charged-up plasma shot followed by a single pistol shot to the head (this particular technique doesn’t work against the big Hunters, but they can still be easily dealt with using only the pistol). This works in multi-player as well, if you’re quick enough.

For the scoped weapons: the pistol and the rocket launcher both have 2x zoom capability, while the sniper rifle has both a 2x and a 10x zoom. In single player or co-op, the sniper rifle also has night-vision capability.

4

Thought the jackals sometimes used needlers, but I’ll defer to the guy who actually knows the names of the bad guys.

5

Dump the Assault Rifle, it’s the worst gun in the game. A charged plasma pistol is the best gun for Jackals - one charge to kill their shield and another to kill them. A head shot with the pistol is the best gun for grunts. And the needler is the best gun for Elites (besides the sniper rifle)

6

The assault rifle is the worst? It the coolest looking I think. I guess I do need another gun because I am trying to get all the life pods and am getting my ass handed to me because I keep running out of ammo on the energy shield guys.

7

The assault rifle - along with every other weapon - has it’s place in HALO. You just may not have met the enemy you need it for - yet…

The ‘melee attack’ or ‘Rifle Butt’ is most effective if you sneak up behind an enemy - but by far the most satisfying moment in (a staggeringly brilliant) game is waiting for an Elite to charge you - then sidestepping and turning to smack it on the head and kill it in a single blow :slight_smile:

You’ll be grinning for hours :slight_smile:

TTFN

JP

8

The Assault Rifle is absolutely necessary in Flood-heavy levels. When you’ve got a swarm of jellyfish-thingies comin’ after you and your shields aren’t recharged, there’s no better weapon. And against regular Flood, the AR is second only to the Shotgun (which is, most definitely, THE best weapon in the game). Sniper Rifle shots go straight through them, and Plasma weapons do jack. Needlers are all right, but those always have too little ammo to be effecitive in prolonged firefights.

9

Well I didn’t want to bring up the flood in case stinky hadn’t hit that part yet but… Yea the assault rifle is ideal for the pods but certainly isn’t necessary. I never use the AR and I’ve beaten the game on Legendary.

10

All the weapons have great uses in single-player. In multi, the needler is undoubtedly the worst, followed by the AR, but both have great use in the single-player mode.

Miller, I have to correct your claim on shields. 30 seconds to recharge?! That’s a bit too high. It’s more in the area of 5 to 10 seconds, as long as we are talking about real seconds here. One… Two… Three…

It just feels like an eternity waiting for that thing to recharge when you’re being attacked.

11

Tip: the assault rifle is more accurate if you fire in short bursts instead of holding the trigger for a prolonged time. It’s also more ammo-efficient.

12

And another tip: there are only three “instantaneous effect” weapons: the pistol, the assault rifle and the shotgun. All others take time for the projectile to travel to the target (including the sniper rifle; though it does travel very quickly, you still have to lead a moving target). Of course, the shotgun and AR are useless at range.

The pistol is probably the best overall weapon in the game. It does good damage, can fire fairly rapidly, head shots kill, projectiles are instantaneous, and it has the scope. Just don’t smack anyone upside the head with it if you’re in a hurry - the recovery animation is too long. The best weapons in hand for smacking are the AR or the Plasma Pistol. With the PP, you punch (rather than actually hitting with the weapon) and it has a good recovery time so you can punch again quickly if you need to.

Needlers can be quite deadly, but typically only in open areas. In narrow areas or areas with a lot of cover, it’s too easy to dodge the needles. And if you can get seven needles into a target, they explode nicely, taking anyone around them out as well. One of the better weapons to use against Elites, in my experience. They don’t work at all against a defensive Jackal or a Hunter.

Also, Stinkpalm, in case you haven’t already noticed, plasma weapons cannot be reloaded. You have to ditch a used weapon for a new one. Plasma weapons work well against most Covenant, and have a stun effect. Just don’t lay on the trigger or they’ll overheat.

Another heads-up about Elites: their shields recharge just like yours. So if you are plinking at them with the AR, you will use up a lot of ammo with little effect. If you’re going to fight them, don’t play the “fire, duck behind cover, repeat” game (a game which they are very good at, by the way). In Normal difficulty, you can usually get away with just charging them with the AR, so long as there aren’t a lot of other Covenant in the area. Also try to sneak around behind them if they are hiding behind cover - they don’t have motion trackers, so if you are fast you can catch them flat-footed.

13

Also, be sure to stock up on headlight fluid. You wouldn’t want to get stuck in the middle of Blood Gulch without any.