Halo Infinite

Introduction

In the latest update for Halo Infinite, players can expect some exciting changes to the game's sandbox. These changes, as detailed in the Sandbox Balance Updates February Update blog, aim to improve gameplay and address player feedback. One notable change is the adjustment to weapon swapping, where dropping a weapon and switching between them now takes the same amount of time. This change will surely have a significant impact on combat strategies and weapon management. Additionally, the accuracy of the Sniper Rifle has been increased when firing without zooming in, providing players with more precision and rewarding skilled marksmanship. The explosion radius of the Frag Grenade has also been slightly reduced, ensuring a more balanced and fair experience in explosive encounters. Furthermore, in Ranked Arena and HCS playlists, Weapon Racks will now enter a "Red Rack" state after a weapon is picked up, preventing the spawning of another weapon until the original is depleted or despawned. This change adds a new layer of strategy and resource management to competitive play. Be sure to check out the full patch notes for more details on these changes and other exciting updates coming to Halo Infinite.

BALANCE CHANGES

As mentioned on Halo Waypoint in November, some changes are being made to the Halo Infinite sandbox in this and future updates. To learn more about these changes and other sandbox changes planned for future updates, visit the Sandbox Balance Updates February Update blog. The blog covers all the changes listed below, as well as an additional change regarding ammo reduction of certain weapons during Ranked matches.

“DROP SHOT”

Dropping a weapon and swapping between weapons now takes the same amount of time.

SNIPER RIFLE

The accuracy of the Sniper Rifle has been increased when firing without zooming in.

FRAG GRENADE

The explosion radius of the Frag Grenade has been reduced slightly.

WEAPON RACKS

In the Ranked Arena playlist and HCS, each Weapon Rack will now be set to a “Red Rack” state after the weapon is picked up. This means once a weapon is picked up, the Weapon Rack won’t spawn another weapon until the original has despawned or the ammo has been depleted. Once the original has despawned, the light bar at the top of the Weapon Rack will countdown to the new weapon’s respawn. Reference the table below for each weapon type’s default respawn length in Ranked multiplayer playlists:

30 seconds after ammo depletion or expiration	60 seconds after ammo depletion or expiration
Pistols (Disruptor, Plasma Pistol, Mk50 Sidekick)	SMGs (Needler, Sentinel Beam)
Assault Rifles (MA40 Assault Rifle)	Shotguns (CQS48 Bulldog, Heatwave)
Tactical Rifles (BR75 Battle Rifle, VK78 Commando)	Non-Power Weapon Snipers (Stalker Rifle, Shock Rifle)
	Non-Power Weapon Launchers (Hydra)

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.

GLOBAL

Further stability improvements to prevent crashes similar to the crash resolved on December 6, 2022.

MULTIPLAYER

Sandbox

Rapidly firing the Plasma Pistol or the Battle Rifle will no longer result in the weapon "jamming" and not firing on every pull of the trigger.
Semi-automatic weapons, such as the Sidekick, now appear to fire at a correct rate from the perspective of other players.
Players using Active Camo will now consistently appear visible while sliding or sprinting.

Matchmaking Playlists

As announced via @HaloSupport on Twitter on February 14, 2023, multiple map and mode combinations were removed from matchmaking playlists based on usage data:
- Rumble Pit
  - Oddball on all maps
  - Slayer on Empyrean
  - Slayer on Detachment
  - Slayer on Launch Site
  - Fiesta on Empyrean
- Team Slayer
  - Slayer on Launch Site
  - Slayer on Behemoth
- Social Slayer
  - Slayer on Bazaar
  - Slayer on Argyle
  - Slayer on Detachment
- Team Doubles
  - CTF on Argyle
  - CTF on Bazaar
- Quick Play
  - Slayer on Detachment
  - Slayer on Catalyst
  - CTF on Argyle
  - CTF on Bazaar
- Ranked Doubles
  - Attrition on Argyle
  - Attrition on Detachment
- Bot Bootcamp
  - Slayer on Catalyst
  - Slayer on Behemoth
- Team Survivors
  - Attrition on Detachment
  - Elimination on Streets

Menus

The appropriate subtraction and addition symbols now appear whenever players lose or gain CSR during Ranked matches.

Custom Game Browser (CGB)

Players are now less likely to experience a looping "Unable to Connect to the Fireteam" error message while joining or playing a Custom Game Browser session.

KNOWN ISSUES

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

MULTIPLAYER

Ranked

Due to a bug affecting Power Weapon spawns, Recharge & Detachment have been removed from the Ranked Arena playlist.
- These maps will return to the Ranked Arena playlist when the bug is fixed in the Season 3 update.
- This change was made on February 14, 2023, and announced via @HaloSupport on Twitter. Stay tuned to @HaloSupport on Twitter for the latest news on upcoming updates.

Custom Games

In Custom Games, players can get suspended in mid-air after jumping upwards where gravity is set to 30% or lower.
- Workaround: Move the character in any direction to fall back down.
When playing King of the Hill (KOTH) on any Big Team Battle map in Custom Games, multiple weapon racks, vehicle, grenade, and Equipment pads do not function.
If players exit a Custom Game and rejoin on the opposite team, the scoreboard will display incorrect Gamertags.
If players swap from Forge mode to Custom Games, the Custom Game menu may display inaccurate information about the selected Forge map and mode.

Menus

After updating Xbox privacy settings while running Halo Infinite, players are required to restart Halo Infinite for the updated settings to take effect.
After navigating to the Match History menu in Theater mode and selecting a Filter option, players may be unable to navigate back to the Match tiles.
- Workaround: Select a Filter, use the Refresh shortcut, or use the Clear Filters shortcut to return to the Match tiles.