Sloppy Potatoes

Halo 3: Multiplayer tips

General Multiplayer tips

Halo 3 multiplayer, whether playing locally or on Xbox Live can be a brutal experience. Hopefully these tips can help. Many of these sound like common sense — don’t die — but concentrating on them while playing can pay big dividends. Hopefully this will help newbies and experienced players alike. I like to read/see other players strategies/ideas. They don’t always lead to me dominating, even though they sometimes do, but I’ll always try them just to see if they can help. A lot of times a very minor change will lead to getting three or four more kills/less deaths which also leads to more wins.

1. Don’t die. It sounds simple, but use your recharging shields, try to avoid a fight you can’t win because of a bad weapon matchup, don’t keep running to the guy with the shotgun/sniper/sword just to get killed again. Kill/death ratio is big in both team games and free for all action. Don’t give away free kills.

2. Headshots. I’ve had people tell me “well I’m just not good at headshots.” If you’re not, work on it. It’s the single biggest difference-maker in a one-v-one encounter. The player who aims at the other’s noggin most consistently will win. Every. Single. Time. Get better at headshots and you’ll realize the virtues of the weapon combo in my next tip.

3. BR/AR is a great combo to have. Not everyone can have a power weapon or even a sub-power weapon, like the Mauler or Needler. Having a Battle Rifle and an Assault Rifle as your two main weapons is a real killer. The AR itself is a strong weapon from short to mid-range and, as the default starting weapon, has made Halo 3 a more competitive game in my opinion. The Battle Rifle is a perfect mop-up weapon and at mid-to-long distances will drop most anyone with four headshots. I’ll get into this more in my weapon comparison, but when picking weapons always have one or both of these bad boys on your side.

4. Don’t be so quick on the B button. Yes, the melee is still a powerful weapon and wielded well it dominates. But take heed, you don’t lunge nearly as far as you did in H2, and the winner of a simultaneous melee goes to the player with more health (the stronger/fitter attacker). Don’t rush someone just to try for a melee, maneuver and keep your sights tracked on your opponents head. If they charge you, they’ll have less health and will fall to your melee.

5. Experiment with your control settings. This is one of the most important and overlooked parts of playing games like Halo 3. If you’re having trouble with headshots adjust your look sensitivity. The default is 5, with 10 being very fast and 1 being very slow. Yes it’s nice to wheel fast (10) to counter an attacker from behind, but it doesn’t mean anything if you can’t hit your target when you spin around. You can also change controller layout, invert the controls, etc. Be sure to check these options out.

6. Know the maps. Check out the multiplayer maps before you get real serious about playing them. Play a couple social games and have an idea where the power weapons, power-ups and equipment are on every map. Know where bottlenecks, open spaces and corridors are. I perceive many areas in Halo’s maps to be carnage pits. They’ll be outlined farther down on this page.

7. Don’t rush. Strategy, as much as skill in combat, wins in Halo. Ever play against a team that controls a map well and communicates? They are unbeatable unless you work as a team against them. In FFA (free-for-all) play, take a similar but scaled-down approach. Know where you are on a map and what you have to do to win battles with the weapon(s), equipment or powerups you have and/or can control. Always stay to the high ground and try to be in a position where you can’t be ambushed.

8. Have fun. Remember this is a game, not life or death. You’re not getting paid to play, you’re doing it for enjoyment or recreation. If people talk smack, don’t talk back — silence makes many of the angry, angry folks on xBox Live even more angry. It’s deliciously enjoyable to hear them keep calling you out and not get a response. Absolutely delicious. Coordinate with teammates during team games and let out a simple good game after the contest is over.

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