Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

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H:CE Button Combos, Tricks, & Nuances
By tom homan's boywife and 1 collaborators
Combat Evolved may seem very simple compared to other halos. But along with H2C it actually has the highest skill gap in any halo game. Thankfully you don't need a controller to do any of these combos like you would for Halo 2C. Hopefully by the end of this guide you will be encouraged to queue for CE more often to stomp on players who are unaware of the tricks that high level players use.
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Important Differences

Before these strategies can be learned you have to understand a little bit about CE's traits that differ from other halo games
3 Shot
Most people know that the magnum is a 3 shot, but did you know that only the 3rd shot has to land on the head? It's actually safer to hit the first 2 shots center mass and hit the last shot on the head as a finisher.

If you only land body-shots it will take 5 consecutive body-shots to kill a full health opponent.

OG Bloom
Did you know that H:CE has bloom? Yep even before Reach there was already a few weapons with bloom in the franchise.

For the uninformed; bloom is a mechanic in the halo series that punishes players who dont feather the trigger, and rewards players who time their shots. Halo CE has 3 Weapons with bloom
  • The Magnum
  • The AR
  • The PR


All of these firearms are highly inaccurate when holding the trigger - most especially the AR. So remember to tap fire very quickly instead of holding the trigger. Here is a simple demonstration of semi automatic firing vs fully automatic with weapons that bloom.


SEMI AUTOMATIC

FULL AUTO
Static Spawns
You'd be surprised how many people don't understand static spawns in CE so I'll explain it for the newcomers.

In other halo games the rate at which weapons spawn is tied to when they're empty (halo 2) and when they're first grabbed (halo 3 and reach) in CE none of these confusing things must be taken into account. All you have to do in CE is check the timer periodically. In your settings you can also change how the timer behaves in CE to give you a slight advantage.

^^I do recommend using this setting.^^

Included here is a simple table showing the spawns on each map. Take note of the power-ups (Camouflage & OS). The standard mantra you can follow is every 1 minute some kind of power-up will be up for grabs(with the exception of a couple maps), rockets every 2 mins, everything else is 30 sec. Pretty much all that matters is OS,camouflage, and most importantly... ROCKS

Here is an example of weapons spawning in based on the static timer (as opposed to player interaction)
Share Powerups
With the knowledge of static spawns you should know when to wait for powerups/weapons now. If your team mates are nearby and they also know exactly where the items spawn you can share the powerup with them if they stand on the same exact place that it spawns on the same tick that it spawns. Give it a try, you'll seriously tilt your enemy team!

Tele-fragging
An old school FPS classic, the tele-frag! Only H:2C and CE have tele-fragging. In CE when you're blocking an exit for 5+ seconds your screen slowly turns white and you will die. The player who tele-frags you will earn a point for your murder if its done in slayer.

No gif this time... sorry.
Tracking/Magnetism
Every Halo title has magnetism and its a very well known feature in the other games. Again as always CE does it slightly different. In other titles magnetism is generally only active if you are within RRR (red reticle range), but in CE this is not the case. Some weapons have very strong magnetism in CE.

below is a table of the most 'magnetized' weapons in CE:



As you can see, these weapons will track enemies even while out of the 'RRR'



Apologies for the lack of examples for the Magnum, PR, & Snipe, but it would not show well on a compressed GIF.... trust me on that xd
Juggle Weapons
Ever wanted to take that 3rd weapon with you to the next battlefield? It's lucky that Master Chief went to clown college! This trick is present in all halo games.


To perform this trick literally just hold [E] or [X] and let go of it for a short moment when you pick up the weapon. Once you get a feel for it and try it a couple times it will feel 100% natural to do this constantly as you're playing.
Grab Weapons Through Ceiling
On certain maps you can grab important weapons through the ceiling of where they spawn.
Give it a try sometime on 'Hang 'Em High' or 'Prisoner'

Frag Grenade Physics
Who doesn't love carrying 4 small nukes in their pocket?

H:CE's human frag grenades are an amazing resource, capable of 'nading weapons to you and killing trapped enemies alike! However they can be confusing for players new/inexperienced to CE.

H:CE's frags do not start a timer after a bounce/second bounce like in other halo titles. They only detonate approx 0.25 seconds after coming to a complete rest. Well informed players can take full advantage of this feature in PvP combat by throwing 'nades against corners or anywhere that causes the 'nade to come to rest as soon as possible - leaving enemies little chance of fleeing from its massive blast!

I've recorded an example of 2 frags thrown at around the same time; both exploding at very different times

'Nade Weapons to the Player
There's not so much to explain here. This is something you can learn yourself with a small amount of practice and experience. If you're sitting in the MCC menu right now just open a CG on your favorite CE map and try to 'nade rocks to yourself


https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2360594007
^^^ also give this guide a look-over for more specific instructions for those who want to really get into this skill
Reduce Fall Damage/Movement Reduction
Do you hate dying to fall damage? Want to stop looking stupid? Well have I got the solution for you! Crouching 2/3rds of the way through your fall will soften the blow and you will take a fraction of the damage. Also when you fall from high distances without crouching your spartan is immobilized for a small time which is not fun!
Avoid all of the hassle and crouch before you land.


Plasma Rifle/Pistol Freeze Effect
~THIS FEATURE IS NOT IN THE SINGLE-PLAYER CAMPAIGN~
The Plasma Rifle and Plasma Pistol get heavily overlooked in multiplayer for the power of the Shotgun or the hitscan of the AR. But these two plasma weapons do have a very special role that sets them apart! Any enemy that takes fire from these 2 weapons is severely limited in world movement and cross-hair movement. If you catch an enemy from behind with the PR and double melee them its much better than the magnum's 3 shot. It's always advised to drop the AR for the PR when you come across it because it will give you a great advantage at close-mid range. Especially since the AR is only really viable for extreme CQC scenarios.

Over-Shield FULL Invulnerability
When the OS is first picked up and charging you are technically invulnerable for that 2 second period so its really important to push ahead the moment you grab it. You can also do some cool tricks on maps like Damnation. Here you can see me grab OS when it spawns and 'nade-jump to rocks as it spawns also without losing any of my OS in the process!

Quick Camouflage
~THIS FEATURE IS NOT IN THE SINGLE-PLAYER CAMPAIGN~
Did you know that attacking with certain weapons in CE reduces the time to cloak by more than half? Allowing you to disappear near instantly after killing an enemy!

Once you know how to abuse the weapon spawn times and grab them the moment that they spawn you can start to heavily abuse CAMO/ROCKS on their spawn cycle, and quick camo to safety.

To perform the trick you must have one of the quick camo weapons. I've made a table to show which weapons are eligible for quick camo




After cloaking or revealing yourself through the cloak attacking with quick camo weapons will set you back to invisible very very quickly

You actually don't even need to fire the weapon if you've recently use another weapon. As long as you're holding an applicable weapon shortly after attacking your camouflage will set in 2-3 times faster than normal. This is best abused with Rocks + PR/PP/AR/SG to blow someone away and instantly disappear.
CE is not a 2 melee kill game
Unlike all other titles, in CE you cannot kill a full health opponent in 2 melees. First they must be softened up slightly, if not it will take 3 consecutive melees to kill an opponent.

Silent Re-Spawn/Weapon Swap Combo
This trick is fairly straight-forward. When a player spawns they pull out their AR/PP which makes a distinct noise and allows cunning enemies to listen for the precise location of re-spawning enemies (this is something I recommend everyone learns btw). Thankfully if you know the correct button combination you can escape being spawn trapped by silencing the equip sound of your weapon.


Upon spawning immediately melee and this will cancel the equip animation/sound byte. In most match-made game variants of CE you will spawn with an AR primary and Magnum secondary. In these situations you should press 1[or Y] then Q[or B] to swap to your Magnum and melee to cancel the equip sound byte. The faster you press the buttons the more effectively you can mask the sound from your opponents.

Double Melee Combo
This is a very easy (AND IMPORTANT) combo that can be learned with little practice. To perform the button combination you must press your melee key [Q or B], followed by your grenade key[F or LT], and melee key[Q or B] again all as fast as you can. This is what it should look like:



I don't recommend attempting a double melee on an opponent that you know is at full health. First shoot them once with the magnum, or a very short burst with the AR/PR. This will bring their shields low enough to take them down quicker than they could 3-shot you with their magnum.
Melee Range
Something else important to note is that all weapons in CE have a different melee range. If you are about to double melee someone its recommended to switch away from your magnum to your AR to have a better chance of connecting the melee. CE also has no lunge like the other titles which makes connecting a melee is even harder if you don't have fast mouse movement
I've made a chart to illustrate the ranges for the different weapons:


'Nade Reload Combo
The grenade/reload combo is a fun & easy but unimportant combo to learn. Its purpose is to cancel the grenade throw animation so the player may reload. This combo is easily combined with the backpack reload ('nade, reload, reload, swap, fire). To perform the combo quickly throw a grenade [F or LT] then reload immediately [R or X]. This gets your spartan back to reloading their weapon sooner. Example:

Backpack Reload Combo
THE MOST IMPORTANT AND OVERPOWERED TRICK IN HALO COMBAT EVOLVED. SO IMPORTANT IN CAMPAIGN ALSO....

THE BACKPACK RELOAD

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2221418538
^expand me!^
To perform the backpack reload you press R two times very fast then tap 1 to switch to the other weapon on your pocket. After you switch your previous weapon will be reloaded while you can do other things like melee, shoot, and throw 'nades. Its really overpowered on flood missions and multiplayer. Give it a try.
Infinite Ammo Button Combo
~THIS GLITCH DOES NOT WORK IN MULTIPLAYER~
To use infinite ammo on weapons we need several things:
  • 3 weapons to switch between
  • Target for infinite ammo to have 1 full magazine in reserve
  • Proper knowledge of backpack reload

This glitch is practically essential knowledge for LASO to keep your last few snipe shots/rockets to make 'em count. LASO without infinite ammo is unfathomable to me.

To perform the infinite ammo combo you want to hold your target weapon in your hand and have any random weapon on the ground to swap to. After you have emptied the mag in your weapon double tap R as if you are going to do a backpack reload. but instead of switching to your sidearm instead hold E to pick up the weapon on the ground you left near your feet. The target weapon will backpack reload ON THE GROUND and will not use any of the ammunition left in the reserve. Essentially for spending a little bit of time you can get free ammo forever.

A couple tips:

Immediately after emptying the magazine double tap R very quickly and grab the 3rd weapon of the ground

If you continuously fail the infinite-reload glitch you may be picking up the weapon too quickly before it finished reloading. Make sure you listen for the sound queues carefully before you pick it back up. That's a common mistake with executing this fun trick.

Need to abandon your 3rd weapon on the ground to take a shot? Scared your weapon's last magazine is going to get used up? Switch away from it quickly before it reloads in your hands (DO NOT PRESS RELOAD), then later switch back to it to after you find a new weapon on the ground to 'infinite-reload' with.




This video I found might describe things better because this would be a lot to type out and some people might get lost, and a GIF will not do well enough without sound, so watch this dudes explanation if you need more info:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr1PyGloMAg&feature=emb_title
Plasma 'Nade Fireworks
bottom text
Thanks
Thanks to Emma (fiffy326) who helped me make parts of this guide. Also thanks for checking it out! Extra thanks to the people who thought it deserved an award <3

And if anyone wants to use any of the gifs or images I made for this guide you can feel free, whether or not you credit me. I dont mind :D
41 Comments
NinjaHamsters101 31 May, 2024 @ 1:12am 
Loved this guide! Thanks so much for creating this!
dwarf_toss 19 Apr, 2024 @ 6:19pm 
English is a language, english is spin on a ball. Nice guide. :parachute:
Hank J Wimblton 5 Nov, 2023 @ 2:38am 
Everyone from halo knows its called bloom. Even the gametypes in game refer to it as zero bloom slayer Ect... Everyone in the comments saying otherwise, your just incorrectly correcting other people so shut your trap. Welcome to english where we have multiple words for the same thing. Great guide btw.
EliteSpecOpsAlan 30 Oct, 2023 @ 12:01pm 
Accurately speaking, it's also called "weapon" bloom, aka "weapon" spread.

Anyways, interesting guide
Grif 28 Apr, 2023 @ 12:04pm 
Bloom is a visual effect. I think you mean "Spread"
Kel 17 Nov, 2022 @ 10:43am 
reading this made me feel like i was back in like 2009 or 10 playing H:CE online on the pc port
zeo1337 31 Oct, 2022 @ 7:31pm 
The plasma rifle has magnetism? And it's stronger than the needler???
Centurio Populari 28 Jul, 2022 @ 9:36am 
Great job. Not seeing the charts though - bug or not uploaded yet?
HyperCynic 3 Jun, 2022 @ 10:59am 
Damn dude, I played Halo 1 for so many hours back when it came out, I can't believe I was unaware of most of these tips. Really cool stuff, thanks for the info!
shmorgus 20 Apr, 2022 @ 1:16pm 
How dare you share the holy scriptures..... damn you for helping new players, damn you!