343 Industries surprised us all by releasing the Halo Infinite multiplayer on November 15, almost a full month before the game’s single player campaign launches. While the campaign will continue the epic story of Master Chief, the multiplayer brings back the hugely popular online game modes fans have come to love over the series’ 20-year history — like Slayer, Capture the Flag, Oddball and Strongholds.
Halo Infinite is published by Microsoft, meaning it’s available on Game Pass and can also be played on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. With Windows 11 , you’ll also have access to some features on your PC that were once reserved for the Xbox. Plus, the multiplayer is also free to play!
Halo Infinite multiplayer has been met with critical success, with many reviews calling it the best Halo multiplayer ever. However, people have also noted that it can be pretty unforgiving, so we’ve pulled together some tips and tricks to help you style on your opponents. If you’re jumping into the multiplayer for the first time since 2015’s Halo 5: Guardians, still play the multiplayer to this day or have never played a Halo game before, here’s everything you need to know to play Halo Infinite multiplayer on EZ mode.
COMBOS, COMBOS, COMBOS
One of the pillars of any Halo game is your melee ability. It’s effective on its own — one hit will take out a shield and two hits on the same enemy is a guaranteed kill — but a popular tactic is to combine it with your gun for devastating effects. First, tear away an enemy’s shields by peppering them with your gun, then leap into melee range and strike. Just be careful if your shields are also low — you might end up killing each other at the same time!
USE YOUR GRENADES
There are four kinds of grenades in Halo Infinite: frag, plasma, spike and dynamo. Frag grenades can be thrown long distances, have a tendency to bounce — which you can use to your advantage — and do big damage. Plasma grenades can stick to enemies to deal extra damage. Spike grenades stick to walls and vehicles, and the explosion will deal scatter damage, and dynamo grenades cause electrical damage over time to anything nearby.
Each grenade is suited for a different situation, and you can equip two at a time, so spend a few games learning when to use them and which ones suit your playstyle.
PING!
One of the most useful additions to Halo Infinite is the ping system, which you can use to alert your teammates to things on the map. See an enemy hiding out in the distance with a sniper? Ping their location to rob them of the element of surprise. Is there an empty vehicle nearby? Ping it as you hop in to get some buddies riding with you. You can use the ping system to point out anything you think your teammates should know about, so remember to use it liberally — without spamming it, of course.
Similarly, if you’re in a Warthog and there are empty seats, you can now beep the horn twice to let your teammates know. In most cases, they’ll jump in with you to cause carnage as you drive across the map.
BE SNEAKY
You’ll see a motion tracker on the bottom left of your screen that alerts you when enemies get within range — and will give away your position to enemies, too. But if you crouch while moving, you won’t show up on anyone’s tracker.
Stealth isn’t the aim of the game in Halo Infinite multiplayer, but you can use it to your advantage when the moment calls for it. Try crouching just before you reach an objective point to ambush your enemies, or crouch in a corner and melee any enemy that doesn’t see you as they run past.
AIM FOR THE HEAD
In Halo Infinite, headshots matter — but only when shields are down. A headshot won’t do any extra damage if your enemy has full shields, but a single headshot or a melee hit will kill anyone if their shields are down.
It’s also worth remembering that different kinds of ammo are more effective against shielded and unshielded enemies. Plasma guns like the Plasma Pistol and Needler deal extra damage to shields, while Kinetic ammo is more effective against unshielded enemies. Make sure you have a loadout with both kinds of ammo so you won’t be caught in a situation where you’re barely doing damage to an enemy while they’re tearing through your defenses.
It’ll take some practice to get good at switching between weapons like this, but pretty soon you’ll be doing it so quickly, your enemies won’t know what hit them. Halo Infinite multiplayer is fast-paced, and it’s also the most gorgeous Halo game ever made. Don’t worry about it lagging or loading textures too slowly, though — Windows 11 introduced a new feature called DirectStorage, which is already in use on Xbox consoles, and streamlines how game data is processed. It gives you super-fast load speeds without any texture pop-in. You can spin to get a headshot without worrying about missing textures throwing you off, and you won’t be taken by surprise from snipers across the map because DirectStorage dramatically enhances how graphics in the distance are loaded.
Head to the here to upgrade and learn more about the features of Windows 11.
