Basics
Enemy Types
GRUNT |
The most common enemy type in Halo is the lowly grunt. Grunts are weak. They make funny noises. They even run away from you if they think the tides of battle are leaving their favor. But don't take these guys lightly. A grunt with a carbine can decimate your shields, and one with a plasma grenade can kill you as quickly as anything else in the game. Generally, you want to kill grunts first before anything else, as they're easy kills; a single headshot from a carbine or pistol will kill a grunt and remove a potential stream of enemy fire. |
JACKAL |
Typically, jackals are better-armed than grunts, though they're just about as weak when it comes to withstanding fire. Jackals frequently play the part of sniper, keeping a distance and firing with beam rifles or carbines from behind the cover of their energy shields. You can destroy the shields with sustained fire (or an overcharged plasma pistol shot), or shoot around it. A well-aimed shot through the small hand-hold holes on either side of the shield will cause a jackal to stand up straight and drop the shield, letting you follow with a quick one-shot headshot. |
BRUTE |
Brutes most often command small teams of lesser enemies, and killing the brute leader will frequently send the weaker dudes into a panic. Brutes can deal some serious damage, either with their weapons or fists. Typically, they're protected by shields that you need to cut through before you can damage the brute's health. Launch an overcharged plasma pistol shot to completely drain their shields and then follow with a pistol or carbine shot to the heads for very quick kills. If a brute loses his shield, he'll often get aggressive and try to melee you. Dodge his attempt and hit him from behind with a melee of your own. |
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HUNTER |
These dudes should strike fear into your heart. Hunters take tons of damage before they die, and they carry powerful weapons. From a distance, the hunters will sit back behind their shields and launch fuel rod shots or a stream of green crap at you. The splash damage from these attacks makes it difficult to avoid. Get in close and hunters resort to slow melee strikes with tons of range. Generally, you're best off moving in close and landing a sticky grenade. Or let a hunter whiff a big melee attack to get behind it and target the weak spot on the spine of his back. |
ENGINEER |
They're only enemies because they can help the guys that try to kill you, but left to their own devices engineers would just as well ignore you completely. They take a load of damage to destroy, if that's your aim, though a well-aimed plasma grenade will do the trick. When engineers are around brutes, the floating creatures regenerate the brutes' shields and make it very difficult to kill 'em. Either try to separate the brutes from the engineer or destroy the engineer before you move in for the attack. |
DRONE |
So annoying. Frequently referred to as "buggers," drones fly around and unload endless streams of plasma shots at you from all angles. Though they're very weak (a single headshot from a carbine or pistol will kill 'em, like a grunt), they can be a serious danger when they swarm you. Try to keep your back to something solid to prevent the drones from surrounding you, and work to pick 'em off. Let the game's auto-aim guide your SMG (or other rapid-fire gun) and fire off quick bursts to drop the buggers...like flies. |
Weapons
USNC weapons
AUTOMAG PISTOL |
What's old is new again, and we think that's just fine in this case. The pistol has kinda stunk in the past couple of Halo games, but in ODST's Campaign and Firefight modes, the gun is back to its old form. The pistol is deals solid damage, especially if you can get headshots. It kills grunts in one head shot, and with its built-in zoom it's very effective at getting through jackal shields and following with a headshot for another quick kill. If you just unload rounds willy-nilly, you'll find the gun is a bit inadequate and will likely run low on ammo before you kill anything. But pair it with precision aiming (and an overcharged plasma pistol) and the gun becomes hugely effective. |
SMG |
With loads of bullet spray and a handy zoom, you'd think the SMG would be a good weapon. Sadly, the gun is weak as snot and even carefully aimed bursts of headshots don't do much to kill. The power wouldn't be so bad if the clips were larger. But they're not. Almost every other gun you can pick up is better than the SMG, so ditch it early. |
ASSAULT RIFLE |
The assault rifle is more powerful than the SMG and its clips don't run dry as quickly, so it's infinitely more useful in close-range combat. But the rifle doesn't have a zoom of any sort, so its long-range use is limited to benign tickling. It's a solid gun, but you will go through lots of ammo and without a stock to replenish it you'll probably have to ditch the gun sooner than later. |
SNIPER RIFLE |
If sniping is in order, you can't do better than the standard sniper rifle. It does great damage and will kill most unshielded enemies with a single shot to the head. It'll even drop lesser baddies, like grunts and jackals, with a shot anywhere to the body (or appendage). Against brutes with shields, expect your first shot to bring down the enemy's shield. A second headshot will drop a brute in his tracks. The limit to the sniper rifle's dominance is the small four-bullet clip. Make your shots count, 'cause reloading while you're trying to kill something will often give time for the enemy to regain his shields. |
SHOTGUN |
As with basically every shotgun in the history of videogames, ODST's shotgun is very powerful up close but completely useless from afar. You can drop a lot of enemies in a single shot, but shielded brutes will be tougher. When up against brutes, move in close for a single shotgun blast and then immediately follow with a melee punch for a quick one-two combo that should be enough for a kill. |
ROCKET LAUNCHER |
You can kill basically anything short of a hunter with one shot from the rocket launcher. Ammo is typically very scarce, so don't go wasting it on grunts unless there are a bunch of them tightly packed together. The splash damage from the rocket launcher can wipe out small armies in a single blast, but otherwise you're better off saving the rounds for hunters and Covenant vehicles. |
SPARTAN LASER |
You need to charge the Spartan laser to shoot it—just tapping the trigger will yield no shot—and it's devastating. Better yet, the laser has a zoom that makes it perfect for dropping Covenant vehicles like Wraiths. Spartan lasers usually come with plenty of ammo, but they're still not very good against groups of small enemies. The shot is very precise (it doesn't have the blast range of a rocket launcher) and it takes time to charge between shots. If you need to shoot something in the middle of a bunch of crossfire, you can start charging the gun while behind cover and then peek out when the gun is prepped to unload the blast on its target. |
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Covenant weapons
PLASMA PISTOL |
On its own, the plasma pistol is mostly terrible. You can unload a series of shots without really hurting a lot of enemies. What makes the plasma pistol so useful is its overcharge feature. Hold the trigger down and you'll build up a nasty shot that tracks enemies and instantly breaks down their shields. After hitting a brute with this charge, you can switch to another gun like a carbine or UNSC pistol for a one-headshot kill. Be careful while holding the charge, though, as the ammo will continually deplete until you release the overcharge shot. |
PLASMA RIFLE |
The plasma rifle is good for tearing through shields, but otherwise deals only moderate damage to health. It's a decent gun, especially since you'll never need to reload—just watch the heat gauge and don't overload it. There are a couple variations of the plasma rifle, including the basic version (it's blue-green) and a special version (red) that does a bit more damage but overheats more quickly. Ultimately, the biggest problem with the plasma rifle is that it's hard to kill things expediently, which can be an issue when you're crowded by enemies. |
SPIKER |
Somewhat of a hybrid plasma-assault rifle, the spiker does solid damage but has a typical clip so it needs to be reloaded. It's more accurate than a typical assault rifle so it's even decent at range, but ammo is generally pretty scarce and it burns through clips like Snoop Dogg burns through...sneakers. |
MAULER |
This is the Covenant equivalent of the shotgun. It's similarly powerful (though not quite as), and similarly terrible at anything other than close range. |
NEEDLER |
It's actually useful! The needler does solid damage when you unload at least a half a clip, and it's great for taking down brutes with quickness. The shots track but can be dodged, so it's best used at medium range. Point it at a brute so that the aiming reticule turns red before unleashing a stream of pink. We generally save the pink stuff for taking down brutes—it's too powerful to waste on grunts—so it's a good secondary weapon to carry. |
CARBINE |
The carbine is essentially the Covenant version of the UNSC pistol...except that it's better. Dealing more damage and zooming in even further, the carbine is not just better than the pistol, it's better than almost every other standard weapon in the game. You can get one-shot kills by hitting grunts and jackals in the head, and the carbine is even good for quickly bringing down brutes, though you'll burn a lot of precious ammo if you don't drop their shields first. |
BEAM RIFLE |
In some ways, the beam rifle is better than the sniper rifle. For one, it doesn't have a limited clip of ammo so you won't get knocked out of your zoom while chasing around (and missing) a wily enemy. Also, it looks cooler. It doesn't seem to do as much damage as the sniper rifle, especially once past shields, but a headshot against almost any unshielded enemy means instant death. Watch the ammo, as it drops faster than you'd expect (a full beam rifle with "100" ammo yields 20 shots). |
BRUTE SHOT |
Brute shots give you a solid explosive at range that doesn't come with the slowness of tossing a grenade (and waiting for it to explode). The little explosives fly in essentially a straight line and go fast, which means even smart enemies won't be able to dodge it. The power is obviously not as good as a real grenade, but it's rapid-fire and good for taking out clusters of enemies from afar. Ammo is typically an issue, so use it quickly and ditch it for a more reliable weapon. |
FUEL ROD CANNON |
Similar to the UNSC rocket launcher, the fuel rod cannon fires powerful, slow-moving rockets (or boogers?) that explode and deal loads of damage. The damage of a fuel rod is less than a rocket launcher (especially splash damage), but it's got bigger clips and can thus fire off myriad shots where the UNSC rocket launcher would have to reload. Save your fuel rods for taking out vehicles and hunters 'cause it's a bit overkill against anything less. Not that we're totally opposed to overkill. |
GRAVITY HAMMER |
The gravity hammer is a nasty weapon. Hit any enemy less than a hunter and they'll die in an instant, so long as your hit is flush. Obviously, this is a close-range weapon, but the lock-on range isn't shabby if you can worm your way in close to an enemy. It's certainly no primary mode of attack, but it's never bad to have a gravity hammer in your back pocket. |
FLAMETHROWER |
Range is the flamethrower's great weakness. As in, it ain't got none. You need to be pretty close to your target to hit it, though once you do land a burst of flame the enemy is likely toast a second later. Typically, you don't need sustained fire to kill an enemy, even a brute—just a quick puff of flamethrower will do the trick. You can extract some range from the device if you're patient; after squirting a puff of fire, it'll float forward a short distance, slowly. If you can predict where the enemy will be a second later, you can extend the working range, though it's still not great. |