like, I still think Halo CE’s weapon and powerup sandbox is the simplest and most coherent of the bunch for competitive multiplayer. pretty much every weapon is useful in a competitive 2v2, except maybe the needler - and there’s three items, all valuable.
| weapon | short | mid | long | spawn | role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pistol | x | x | x | default | utility weapon, but with some random spread and relatively low autoaim compared to others in the series. three shot kills are montage-worthy in themselves due to skill required |
| AR | x | default | backup weapon, does high damage to health, can really mow people down if they have no shields. fast melee for the double melee glitch (you can destroy somebody at close range with two whacks by throwing a grenade to cancel the animation). oh yeah the automatic weapons in this game have headshot capability, both AR and plasma rifle. I think they brought that back for reach haha. | ||
| sniper | x | x | power weapon | an incentive to go get it / nade it to yourself, low autoaim but high rate of fire incentivizes skill in aiming | |
| rockets | x | x | x | power weapon | the most valuable item on most maps that have it, an immediate field of conflict. slow projectile velocity, very visually ‘trackable’ in a way doom projectiles are, huge splash damage. like the sniper, a locus of conflict whenever it spawns |
| plasma rifle | x | x | on map | its freeze capability and high damage to shields makes it super unique in the series and valuable for use. freezing another player makes them a sitting duck in this game. they tried to bring it back in reach but it gets crowded out by many other weapons in the sandbox. | |
| plasma pistol | x | on map | like the AR, fast melee for BLB glitch. relatively strong tracking compared to later plasma pistols and it doesn’t drain the battery when you hold it charged. | ||
| needler | x | on map | slow projectiles, highly visible, but can be effective in close range / needle explosions. | ||
| frag grenade | x | x | x | default | many. use nade tricks to nade weapons to yourself. huge splash damage and 4x carrying capacity means it’s effective for area denial. grenades on ground cause chain reactions. grenade must settle before exploding, allowing creative uses of nades e.g. wall bouncing to manipulate the timer. |
| plasma grenade | x | x | x | on map | similar to frag nades except with a slightly longer fuse (iirc) and ability to stick to players |
| overshield | power weapon | locus of conflict, invincible while charging the shield. can be grenaded to yourself. | |||
| camo | power weapon | you can fire an AR bullet for ‘quick camo’ to cancel the cloaking animation. very effective in comparison to other camo in the series. can be naded to yourself. | |||
| health pack | on map | one thing to note is that there is significant ‘bleedthrough’ in halo 1 making health packs and health overall a very important game mechanic. |
this turned into a longer post than i expected but I think it’s a testament to the game that you can just start up a 2v2 with default settings and that is basically The Gametype for competitive gameplay going on 20 years now.