Halo Infinite Update Is So Big It Requires A Table Of Contents

Image: 343 industries

Halo Infinite’s second season kicked off today, ushering in a handful of new maps, modes, and cosmetics for the popular multiplayer shooter. Developer 343 Industries has detailed all the minor changes in patch notes that are so long they come with a table of contents in six chapters.

They are so long you – by that I mean my colleague Zack Zwiezen, thanks Zack! – can turn it into a GIF:

Some of the stuff inside isn’t new. We knew, for example, that Second season of Halo Infinite would add a variety of modes—King of the Hill, the return of attritionand the introduction of battle royale-ish Last Spartan Standing– since the first day. We also knew it would nerf the arguably overpowered but fun mangler in the ground, a move the pros are thrilled about but I’ll never personally recover from.

But we had no idea how much 343 would nerf it. In addition to reduced melee damage, her ammo magazines have also been reduced by 25%. On the plus side, the Ravager, which 343 previously said he was considering upgrading, has been upgraded to useful: you can now kill enemies with two standard shots. And the weapon’s alt-fire, a kind of charged burst, is now more than twice as powerful.

Halo Infinite’s less useful vehicles have also been seriously buffed. On the one hand, the banshee, a fragile and difficult to control flying vehicle, which players often jokingly refer to as the “badshee”, has been completely overhauled. You actually have control over its speed now. His bomb cooldown has been reduced, along with his standard plasma cannon. On land, the helicopter is also more powerful: you can destroy any vehicle (well, except for a tank) by ramming the helicopter grid into it. Speaking of vehicles, bots, apparently, will now automatically jump as “passengers or gunners”.

Yes they become even more human.

Gear has also received a handful of buffs designed to keep players alive longer. The portable drop wall, one of the most valuable pieces of equipment in the campaign, will now spawn faster and can absorb more damage. And the already damn powerful overshield now adds a full half shield bar on top of what it already added.

All of these changes are in addition to some notable quality of life improvements:

You can now change the thickness of player outlines, a boon for visually impaired or visually impaired players. The Rocket Launcher no longer takes 47 seconds to switch. (Also, shooting a warthog’s windshield no longer deals bonus damage.) When boarding an enemy tank, planting a grenade will instantly kill the pilot. For the 11 of you who complained, the left shoulder pad of the hyper-specific Jorge -052 Armor Kit now displays the correct texture.

For the most part, the changes are more than welcome. But the update has already irked some corners of Halo Infinite’s most dedicated community, thanks to two errant lines: “Speed ​​gained from landing in a slide on a ramp has a proportional reduction based on drop height” and “Remove or adjust collision on small props and thin edges.”

In other words, Halo Infinite’s so-called “skill jumps” – essentially, using not-quite-official movement cheats to traverse the map – are now in limbo. For example, on the street map, you can jump onto what appears to be a purely cosmetic awning and climb up a path that would otherwise require a loop halfway around the map. (Optic Gaming’s Tommy “Lucid” Wilson used this trick frequently with great success in this weekend’s exciting Kansas City HCS Major championship event for Halo Infinite.) That one is apparently no more. Others, like an electrical box that served as a ledge on the Live Fire map, also left.

Halo Infinite’s most skilled players are apoplectic about change. “Does 343 want Halo to fail?” a player asked in a tweet about removing skill jumps. Another called the “puzzling” choice. Halo esports commentator Alexander “Shyway” Hope, who specializes in researching and detailing these skill jumps, tweeted that the change was “extremely disappointing” and called for 343 to hold a public discussion with players about this.

Even if skill jumps don’t return, players will no doubt find new traversal tricks over the coming days and weeks, and find even more creative ways to make the most of the season. In the meantime, you can read the full season patch notes here. Bring a bookmark.