A new Halo Infinite update is here, bringing a slew of exciting changes and features to the game on both Windows PC and Xbox. The latest patch notes reveal a host of additions that will enhance your gameplay experience, from new operations to improved stability and bug fixes.

NEW OPERATIONS

The Banished Honor Operation, which launches alongside this update, features a free 20-tier reward track themed around the Banished.

The in-game user interface for selecting a premium Operation Pass offer, which depicts Spartans wearing the Premium-exclusive Fuego Flame Armor Coating.

As with previous Operation Passes, this Operation's reward track will be available to all players for free during its 5-week duration. Players can progress through the reward track by earning Match XP in multiplayer matchmaking or Custom Games. The following premium offers are also available:

• For 500 Credits:
  • Permanent access to the full Operation pass.
  • An exclusive customization item.
  • When the Operation Pass is equipped, an extra Challenge slot.
  • While the Operation is active, bonus Match XP during multiplayer matchmaking.
• For 2,000 Credits:
  • Everything listed above in the 500 Credits offer.
  • Instantly unlock all 20 tiers of the Operation Pass.

Once the Operation's 5-week window has concluded and it is no longer available for free, the Operation Pass will be accessible via the two premium offers outlined above.

View the trailer below to see some of this Operation's rewards in-game:

NOTE: The Datacore Administrator visor seen in this trailer is not a reward in the Banished Honor Operation Pass. The Essence Decompilation Visor is included in this Operation's reward track.

Upcoming Operations

Looking ahead, the next two Operations that will be active after Banished Honor are:

• Tenrai IV
  • Active between June 4, 2024, and July 2, 2024.
  • Free 20-tier Operation Pass featuring new Yoroi-themed rewards.
• Spartan Surplus
  • Active between July 2, 2024, and July 29, 2024.
  • Free 20-tier Operation Pass featuring a variety of new rewards based on various previously released themes.

Spartans wearing various customization items from the Banished Honor, Tenrai IV, and Spartan Surplus Operations. 

SPARTAN POINTS & THE EXCHANGE

A new form of in-game currency, Spartan Points (SP), can now be earned by completing Daily Challenges, Ultimate Challenges, or leveling up new Operation Passes. Spartan Points can be used in the new Exchange shop, which features a mix of previously available limited time offers (such as Event and Ultimate Challenge rewards) and new items. All items in the Exchange can only be acquired with Spartan Points.

Some items in the Exchange may appear to rotate out alongside the release of a new Operation, however, these items will become available via the Customize menus in the future.

Screenshot of the Exchange menu in Halo Infinite.

Players can access the Exchange shop by navigating to the Shop menu in-game then selecting the tile in the top left of the Shop labeled, "Visit the Exchange Shop." Your current Spartan Point balance is listed in the top right corner of the Shop menus alongside your current Credits balance.

Spartan Points can be earned through any of the methods outlined below:

• Daily Challenges: Complete a match of multiplayer matchmaking to receive 250 SP each day. This challenge resets every day at 10am PT.
• Ultimate Challenges: After completing all available Weekly Challenges, the Ultimate Challenge will become available. Completing this Ultimate Challenge will reward 1,000 SP. Weekly and Ultimate Challenges reset every Tuesday at 10am PT.
• New Operation Passes: Starting with this update, all Operation Passes will include 15,000 SP distributed throughout various reward tiers.
  • Spartan Points earned through the Operation Pass will not expire once an Operation ends, meaning earned SP can be carried over between Operations. Spartan Points have not been added into previously released Operation Passes.

Daily Challenges now award 250 Spartan Points. As seen above, Challenges with Spartan Point awards have a yellow "SP" banner on their left side. 

WEEKLY PLAYLIST REFRESH

Alongside this update, multiple matchmaking playlist slots updated today:

• Firefight: Legendary King of the Hill rotated in.
• Ranked: Ranked Snipers replaced Ranked Tactical.
• Arena: Rumble Pit replaced Free-For-All Slayer.

For more information on this week's playlist changes as well as the maps and modes included in all matchmaking playlists, visit aka.ms/HaloInfinitePlaylists.

UNEVEN RANKED MATCHES NOW END AUTOMATICALLY

Matches in all Ranked matchmaking playlists will now end automatically if the match starts with the two teams having an uneven number of players. When this occurs, a full screen message will appear to inform players that the match is uneven and will be ending shortly. Players will not lose any Competitive Skill Rank (CSR) points when this occurs, nor will it count as a loss in their match history. 

Screenshot of the error message that will appear when a Ranked match has uneven teams.

This new feature does not apply to matches where players load into the match then leave the session after it starts. If players leave the session after the match starts, the protections and penalties outlined in the December Mid-Season Update patch notes will be applied. Additionally, matches with smaller than expected but even teams (such as a 3 vs 3 match) will not be ended automatically. 

AIM MAGNETISM TOGGLE

A new Aim Magnetism toggle is now available in both the Controller and the Keyboard/Mouse settings menus. This toggle is set to enabled by default and it is separated per input method, meaning that disabling it for one input method will not disable it for the other method.

When this toggle is disabled, the reticle on the Heads-Up Display (HUD) will still turn red when an enemy is in-range, and players can still dash towards enemies meleeing. Additionally, aim magnetism for Equipment like the Grappleshot and the Threat Sensor will not be disabled by this toggle.

The Aim Magnetism toggle can be found under the Movement & Aiming header in both the Controller and Keyboard/Mouse tabs of the Settings menu.

DEATH CAM IMPROVEMENTS

The following improvements have been made to the spectator camera used while respawning in a multiplayer match, also known as the “death cam”:

• The death cam now starts facing the same direction that the spectated teammate is looking.
• The death cam can now be rotated when spectating your own body.
• Rotating the death cam is now faster than before.

IMPROVED ASSISTS & MEDALS IN FIREFIGHT

Players will now be awarded Player Score for assisting other players who take down enemy AI units, including when driving a vehicle with a passenger who is eliminating AI units. Regular on-foot assists will award players with 5 points while assists as a driver of a vehicle will award 10 points.

Additionally, players can now receive the following medals when their unlock criteria is met in a Firefight match:

• Blind Fire: Kill a distant enemy by shooting them from inside a Shroud Screen.
• Bomber: Kill 5 enemies with launchers in a game.
• Boxer: Kill 5 enemies with melee in a game.
• Breacher: Kill 5 enemies with SMG weapons in a game.
• Grenadier: Kill 5 enemies with grenades in a game.
• Gunner: Kill 5 enemies with mounted turrets in a game.
• Gunslinger: Kill 5 enemies with pistols in a game.
• Heavy: Kill 5 enemies with detached turrets in a game.
• Marksman: Kill 5 enemies with tactical rifles in a game.
• Mounted and Loaded: Earn a Double Kill with a stationary turret.
• Pilot: Kill 5 enemies with aircraft in a game.
• Rifleman: Kill 5 enemies with assault rifles in a game.
• Scattergunner: Kill 5 enemies with shotguns in a game.
• Sharpshooter: Kill 5 enemies with sniper rifles in a game.
• Tanker: Kill 5 enemies with siege vehicles in a game.
• Warrior: Kill 5 enemies with melee weapons in a game.
• Wheelman: Earn 5 Driver Assists in a game.

MULTIPLE ACTIVE SITES IN EXTRACTION

The Extraction game mode, which was introduced in the Season 5 update, now supports having multiple active Extraction sites at once. When enabled, several Extraction sites appear on the map at the same time and the teams must race to extract more of them than the other team. Additionally, the new Sites Spawn in Sets option determines whether the mode will wait for all sites to be extracted before activating a new site. 

Screenshot of the Active Sites and the Sites Spawn in Sets options, which can be found under the Extraction tab of the Custom Games Mode Editor menu.

The Active Sites option allows for up to 10 active sites at once, however, this depends on the number of Extraction sites placed on each map. This setting will not place additional Extraction sites beyond those placed by the map creator.

MATCH SETUP OVERRIDES

The new Match Setup Override options allow players to set a starting score for each team or a certain amount of time left on the clock. These settings can help tournament organizers reset a match after an unexpected disconnect or even the playing field in a social setting by giving one team a head start.

The settings included in this section are:

• Round Start Time
• Eagle Team Rounds won
• Cobra Team Rounds won
• Eagle Team Starting score
• Cobra Team starting score

The Match Setup Overrides can be found under the Round Setup header within the Match tab of the Custom Games Mode Editor menu.

IMPROVED EASY ANTI-CHEAT ERROR MESSAGES

Players are now informed when they're booted from an active multiplayer match due to a failed Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) integrity check. When this occurs, players will receive an error message stating, "You have been removed from gameplay because your client failed an integrity check. Please ensure you have the Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) service enabled and relaunch the game."

FORGE

New Forge Objects: Flood & Alien Planet

Players now have access to two new palettes of various Forge assets and visual FX: Flood and Alien Planet. The Flood palette contains objects from and inspired by the Flood's appearances in previous Halo titles as well as entirely new Flood-themed objects. While other Forge palettes have focused on environments and factions from previous Halo titles, the Alien Planet palette contains all-new biome and structure designs for Forge creators to experiment with.

Screenshot of various Flood objects placed on the multiplayer map Oasis.

These two palettes include the following object types:

• Flood 
  • 80 structure objects
  • 92 accent objects
  • 12 decals
  • 12 FX
• Alien Planet
  • 146 biome objects
  • 106 structure objects
  • 21 decals
  • 6 FX

Screenshot of various Alien Planet objects placed on the map Forest.

New Scripting Nodes

Several new nodes are now available in Forge's Node Graph menu, most of which are for the Extraction game mode. The new nodes included in this update are:

• Extraction game mode
  • On Extraction Zone Arming Completed
  • On Extraction Zone Arming Interrupted
  • On Extraction Zone Arming Started
  • On Extraction Zone Conversion Completed
  • On Extraction Zone Conversion Interrupted
  • On Extraction Zone Conversion Started
  • On Extraction Zone Extraction Completed
• Last Spartan Standing
  • On Player Level Up
• Clone Object
• Object Filters: Nodes that apply filters to restrict usage of interactable objects.
  • Does Player Pass Object Filter
  • Remove All Filters on Object
  • Set Player Filter on Object
  • Set Team Filter on Object

New Generic Objects

Players will also be able to access four new Generic Game Mode Objects via Forge, along with 18 new nodes that make implementing these objects much more efficient. These objects and nodes include:

• Generic Delivery Point
  • Activate Delivery Point
  • Deactivate Delivery Point
• Generic Flag Spawn
  • Activate Flag Spawn
  • Deactivate Flag Spawn
  • On Flag Dropped
  • On Flag Picked Up
  • On Flag Reset
  • On Flag Scored
  • On Flag Spawned
• Generic Seed 
  • On Power Seed Picked Up
  • On Power Seed Dropped
  • On Socket Planted
  • On Socket Removed
• Generic Shrinking Zone
  • Activate Shrinking Zone
  • Deactivate Shrinking Zone
  • On Shrinking Zone Start
  • On Shrinking Zone Stop
  • On Shrinking Zone Tick

Screenshot of the Generic Delivery Point, Generic Flag Spawn, Generic Seed, and Generic Shrinking Zone objects on the Institute canvas map. 

New Restrict Capture Logic for Zones

Forge creators can now set which players or teams may capture the Generic Capture Zone object introduced in the Season 4 update. The Restrict Capture setting can be found in the Object Properties window when a Generic Zone is selected, and it can be set to the following values:

• Default
• Enemy Teams
• Nodegraph
• Owning Team

Screenshot of the Restrict Capture property, which can be found under the Capture Logic header of the Object Properties menu when a Generic Zone object is selected.

New Base Modes in Mode Brains

The following game modes have been added as base modes for the Mode Brain object in Forge:

• Extraction
• Firefight: King of the Hill
• Last Spartan Standing
• Minigame Free-For-All (FFA)
• Ranked: Attrition
• Ranked: Slayer
• Ranked: 3 Flag CTF
• Ranked: Doubles Slayer
• Ranked: Doubles Oddball
• Ranked: Elimination
• Ranked: FFA Kind of the Hill
• Ranked: King of the Hill
• Ranked: Land Grab
• Ranked: Oddball
• Ranked: One Flag
• Ranked: Strongholds
• Ranked: Tactical Slayer

Follow the steps below to select a base mode for a Mode Brain object in a Forge session:

1. While in a Forge session, open the Object Browser and navigate to Gameplay Scripting.
2. Spawn and place two Mode Brain objects.
3. Select the two Mode Brains and create a Mode Prefab using the Action menu.
4. With the Mode Prefab selected, open the Object Properties menu.
5. Navigate to the Base Mode option and select the preferred game mode.

BANDIT EVO NOW AVAILABLE IN WEAPON DRILLS

The Bandit EVO can now be picked up and used during the M392 Bandit Weapon Drill in the Academy.

The Bandit EVO can be found leaning against the wall to the right side of the M392 Bandit's weapon crate.

BALANCE CHANGES

PLASMA PISTOL

Fully charged shots from the Plasma Pistol will now temporarily disable vehicles.

Developer Notes

Return of the King! We've heard your feedback regarding wanting the plasma pistol having the capability to EMP vehicles and we are giving you just that! Considering the plasma pistol's functionality in past Halo games, we believed this update was something our players would recognize and enjoy. Also, we are hoping to see the plasma pistol find more use cases in BTB and Arena environments.

• Enabled "EMP" side effect for the Plasma Pistol’s fully charged shot.

Screenshot of the EMP effect indicating that a vehicle has been temporarily disabled by a Plasma Pistol's charged shot.

MK50 SIDEKICK

The Mk50 Sidekick's rate of fire has been reduced slightly.

Developer Notes

We know the rapid-fire functionality feels great and is a core identity to the weapon, but we wanted to address player feedback on the time to kill when on the receiving end of sidekick encounter. A side effect of this is slightly less blooming which will result in a more consistent time to kill when wielding the sidekick.

• Rounds per second decreased 6.6 >> 5.6.

GRAVITY HAMMER

The range at which the Gravity Hammer can eliminate an enemy has been reduced.

Developer Notes

After our most recent tuning update, we receive additional feedback that the Gravity Hammer was too strong. To address this feedback, we slightly brought in the range in which an enemy can be eliminated from the shockwave effect. Jump in and give it a swing...or two and let us know how it feels!

• Radius low 1.25 >> 1.75.
• Radius high 2 >> 2.5.

CINDERSHOT

The Cindershot's projectiles will no longer cause players or vehicles to move upon detonation. The Cindershot's rate of fire has been slightly decreased as well.

Developer Notes

The Cindershot is a fun and powerful weapon to use, but we acknowledge it can be frustrating to be redirected by the impulse of the explosion. To eliminate that frustration and address player feedback, we eliminated the gravity effect that would pull players around and slightly reduced the rate of fire. We hope this will improve both sides of the combat experience while still maintaining the Cindershot's effectiveness as a power weapon.

• Instantaneous acceleration -4 >> 0.
• Alt instantaneous acceleration -3 >> 0.
• Rounds per second decreased 1.33 >> 1.1.

S7 SNIPER RIFLE

The S7 Sniper Rifle will now be ready to fire upon pickup faster than before.

Developer Notes

The Sniper Rifle's ready-up time after being picked off the ground or a power-weapon pad felt too lengthy. In order to help the sniper feel snappier we wanted to address this by increasing it's ready-up time when being picked up. We hope this will allow for more sniper highlights when a player picks up the sniper off the ground or from a recently slain player.

• Ready initial playback speed scale 1 >> 1.2.

SPIKE GRENADES

The Spike Grenade's detonation timer now starts upon sticking to a surface or player rather than upon being thrown. Additionally, the detonation timer's length has been reduced.

Developer Notes

Spike Grenades have been underperforming in the core gameplay loop, and we felt a change in detonation behavior may improve its viability. The first step we took was to ensure the Spike Grenade reached its intended target by preventing its detonation midair. Additionally, once the spike grenade does reach its intended target it will detonate more quickly - similar to other grenades in the sandbox. These updates should help with zone control and better reward skillful grenade placement.

• Detonation timer starts changed from immediately when at rest.
• Timer decreased (low & high) 1.8 >> 1.2 seconds.

RESOLVED ISSUES AND BUG FIXES

Many improvements come from Halo Insider and Halo Support tickets submitted by our community. Thank you for participating and please keep submitting tickets!

Halo Support tickets help the team here at 343 Industries understand what issues you would like to see addressed in future Halo Infinite updates. The development team is actively working on a variety of game updates and improvements based on both player feedback and bug report tickets.

If you experience a crash in Halo Infinite, please include as much of the following information as possible:

• Step-by-step instructions on what caused the crash. The more specific, the better!
• Attach an up-to-date DxDiagfile. To create a DxDiagfile, type "dxdiag" into the Start menu's search bar, press the Enter key, then click "Save All Information" when the DirectX Diagnostic Tool pops up.
• Include the Problem Report from the Control Panel app. To find this, open the Control Panel and enter "problem reports" in the search bar. Click "View all problem reports" then locate the recent Halo Infinite report. Double click on this Halo Infinite entry then use the "Copy to clipboard" button near the bottom of the window. Finally, paste this text into your ticket's comments.

GLOBAL

• Improved stability for Halo Infinite on both Xbox consoles and PC. 

PC

• Restored functionality to the Limit Inactive Frame Rate option for newer NVIDIA graphics drivers.
• Swapping between the Lore and Attachments tab of a helmet in the Armor Hall no longer results in a framerate dip on PC.

XBOX

• Improved stability when navigating through the Armor Hall menus on Xbox consoles.

MULTIPLAYER

Gameplay

• Dropping a weapon is no longer faster than swapping between weapons.
• Vehicles no longer play their "doom state" sound effects prior to reaching the actual doom state.
• Scorpions will no longer be dropped off by Pelicans on the map Deadlock.
  • Developer Notes: "Players gave us feedback that the Pelican vehicle drops on Deadlock did not feel good when dropping off Scorpions and Wraiths. We liked the focus on tanks, but agreed that the power of the Scorpion was too much and noticed it could dominate matches. To help address this, we've updated to vehicle drops on Deadlock to only bring in Wraiths, while the rest of the vehicle pads still spawn in their normal vehicles."
• The Skewer has received improvements to improve its feel on higher latency.

Menus

• Using the Clear Filters shortcut listed along the bottom of a menu will now consistently result in the onscreen filters being cleared.

Custom Games

• When setting up a Custom Game with the Firefight: King of the Hill game mode, adjusting the Auto-Revive Timer option in the Firefight tab of the Mode Editor menu now functions as expected when selecting a value below 10 seconds.
• The Ranked: CTF 3 Captures game mode no longer requires teams to capture the flag 5 times to win when played in a local offline match.

Customization

• The standalone version of the OpTic Gaming visor is now the same shade of green as the visor seen in the OpTic Gaming Armor Kit.
• 54 Multi-Use Armor Coatings have been updated to work with all available Armor Cores and Armor Kits. Open the accordion below to view the full list of updated Armor Coatings and the Armor Cores and Kits they are now compatible with.

Visual

• The Mirage IIC and Rakshasa Armor Core no longer appear distorted when using the To The Front stance.
• The upper arms of the Mirage IIC Armor Core no longer appear to stretch or distort.
• The UA/Viator, SAP/Recon, and SAP/MT Shoulder pads are now consistently visible at any distance in gameplay.
• Players can no longer look through the Mark IV Armor Core's legs when the Field of View (FOV) setting is set to 78.
• Reduced instances of secondary weapons clipping into the back of the Mark V Armor Kit for the Mark VII Armor Core.
• Small gaps are no longer present in the shoulders of the Mark IV Armor Core.
• Selecting a Transhumeral prosthetic arm on the Mark IV Armor Core no longer results in the equipped Shoulder Pads becoming misaligned.

FORGE EDIT MODE AND CREATION TOOLS

• The Infected Energy Sword is now localized in the Object Browser menu for non-English languages.
• Setting the Squad Intensity value to 1 in the Override AI Spawner node will now result in AI units spawning.
• Improved performance when viewing a map's Nav Mesh on Xbox One consoles or PCs with lower quality video settings enabled.
• The Get All AI Units on Team node will now function as expected after an Elite is added to a squad of Marines.
• Rapidly duplicating objects in Forge is now less likely to result in a crash.
• The Cycle Parent option in the Object Properties menu now works as expected when used on a Prefab containing duplicated objects.
• The Round Platform object no longer has a chance to change from Static mode to Dynamic mode when a Forge map is loaded.
• Improved stability when using the Delete All map property and the Undo function in Forge.
• Created or placed Prefabs are now automatically selected when playing with a mouse and keyboard.

KNOWN ISSUES

With this update, the team has added multiple new issues to our Known Issues lists:

MULTIPLAYER

Gameplay

• Players are unable to respawn in any Free-For-All (FFA) game mode on the multiplayer map Argyle.
• When starting a Free-For-All (FFA) match on the multiplayer maps Dredge and Houseki, two players may spawn next to one another.
• Occasionally, firing sound effects may continue to play if the melee button is pressed while firing the VK78 Commando Rifle. When this issue occurs, bullets are not being fired while the melee animation plays.
• Headshots with the Stalker Rifle Ultra variant are not tracked in the killfeed or scoreboard and they do not count towards any Medals or Challenges.

Menus

• The Banished Honor Trailer and promotional images depict the Datacore Administrator Visor as being included in this Operation's reward track. The Datacore Administrator is part of the Facing Firewall Shop bundle while the Banished Honor Operation includes the Essence Decompilation Visor.
• Using the shortcut button listed along the bottom of the Exchange menu to purchase an item may result in a prompt to use or purchase Credits. Attempting to use Credits when this issue occurs results in the item not unlocking and no Credits being consumed.
  • If you encounter any errors when attempting to purchase a customization item in the Exchange menu, view the item's Inspect menu and attempt to purchase the item again. If errors continue to occur, submit a ticket so the development team can investigate.
• The items available for purchase in the Exchange appear as "currently unavailable" and "Vaulted" in the Customize menus.
• If all Battle Passes and Operation Passes are completed, the Daily Custom XP Cap will incorrectly be listed as a "Daily Custom SP Cap" in both the Custom Games and Customs Browser menus.
  • XP will continue to be awarded when this issue occurs; SP will not be awarded for any completed Custom Games.
• The Spartan Points balance in the top right corner of the post-match rewards menu does not increase after completing a Challenge that awards Spartan Points.
  • The Spartan Points balance listed in this menu already includes the Challenge's awarded Spartan Points. No Spartan Points are lost when this issue occurs. 
• The post-match rewards menu may occasionally show XP values or gains from a previous match rather than the most recent match. When this issue occurs, the correct amount of XP is still awarded on the backend.
  • If you are experiencing this issue, submit a ticket so that the team can investigate. If possible, please include any match information such as the map, mode, and/or a rough timestamp of when the match occurred.

FORGE

• When using the Deactivate Shrinking Zone node, the Shrinking Zone stops and no longer does damage to players but the Zone boundary remains visible.

With the latest Halo Infinite update, 343 Industries continues to deliver exciting new content and improvements to the game. From new operations and rewards to gameplay enhancements and bug fixes, there's plenty for Spartans to look forward to. So gear up, hop into the action, and experience the enhanced world of Halo Infinite with this latest update!

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