Halo: Infinite new weapons & guns guide: Grappling hook, DMR+AR & more

Halo: Infinite has lots of new toys to play with, including an awesome new tactical rifle that's one part AR and one part DMR. We take a look at all the new guns, weapons, and equipment shown off during today's campaign reveal (the battle rifle is back!

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Today we finally got to see Halo: Infinite gameplay in action, and the results were pretty surprising. As we predicted, Halo: Infinite is a huge open-ended and sprawling experience, not a linear and segmented game. You'll be exploring a huge open-world full of objectives and stuff to do. Halo: Infinite is basically and RPG now, but we'll have more on that later.

The real meat and potatoes of Halo is combat. And you can't have good combat without new weapon innovations. Overall the gameplay reminded me of Halo 5 with one big exception: The grappling hook. Yes, Halo 6, aka Halo: Infinite has a grappling hook and it changes the game forever.

You can use it to swing up to high ledges for more verticality, traversal, and access, and even use it to hook onto weapons or fuel cells to blow enemies up. And you can also hook onto enemies themselves and fling yourself towards them to dish out a devastating killing melee blow, a shotgun blast to the fast, or a well-timed sticky.

There's also a bunch of new guns, not to mention the MK50 Sidekick (Infinite's version of the magnum) and the awesome VK78 Commando, which is basically an automatic DMR.

One interesting thing I noticed is the weapons are all designated with elemental affinity notifications. For example, the basic UNSC weapons are designated as Kinetic weapons with regular ammo.

Weapons now have 3 parameters: weapon type / damage type / firing type. here's two examples:

• The new VK78 Commando is desginated like this:Tactical Rifle / Kinetic / Auto
• The plasma pistol is designated like this:Pistol / Plasma / Charge

Here's a list of the weapons shown during the gameplay footage:

Halo: Infinite Weapons:

Energy Sword (shown in separate trailer, no parameters revealed)

BR55 Battle Rifle

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Assault Rifle (Rifle/Kinetic/Auto) - 36-shot clip, your standard AR from Halo, but this time it seems to be have less bloom and more stability, leading to more accuracy.

MK50 Sidekick (Magnum, no scope, Pistol/Kinetic/Single-shot) - 12-shot clip, no 2x zoom-in scope from Halo CE, ODST, or Halo 5. Seems to be a mix of high damage output and accuracy.

VK78 Commando (Tactical Rifle/Kinetic/Auto) - 20-shot clip, basically a SAW with a scope on it. Acts like a DMR + AR.

Ravager (Brute weapon, Launcher/Plasma/Burst) - Fires 3-shot plasma bursts, overheats before it needs to be reloaded.

Pulse Carbine (Rifle/Plasma/Auto) - The classic covenant plasma rifle outfitted into a more stable rifle shape. Similar to Halo 4's and Halo 5's Storm Rifle.

Mangler (Brute weapon, Pistol/Kinetic/Single-shot) - 8-shot clip, basically the Brute Pistol-shotgun from Halo 3 that's evolved through the games. Has more distance this time.

COS48 Bulldog (Shotgun/Kinetic/Spread) - 10-shot clip, has surprising range and devastating spread damage.

Other weapons that were shown but not used:

• Needler (SMG/Kinetic/Auto)
• Plasma Pistol - (Pistol/Plasma/Charge)
• Brute Launcher (shown in screenshots, not gameplay

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New equipment

Grappleshot - The new star of Halo: Infinite that changes gameplay forever. Chief can now hookshot to overhanging buildings or outcroppings, yank himself to enemies Scorpion-style, or even pull nearby objects to him including weapons and fuel cells, which can be thrown at enemies or vehicles.

Drop Wall - Basically a bigger version of the deployable cover from Halo 3 that you can shoot through, but not be shot through.

Shockball - Similar to the energy drain in Halo 3, this equipment will stun unshielded enemies with electricity.

Halo has always been defined by its "sandbox" - the collection of weapons, vehicles, and characters that fuel emergent gameplay and freeform encounters throughout the campaign. In Halo Infinite, the team is building on the legacy of this iconic sandbox while evolving and infusing it with new offerings. The campaign demo showcases two pieces of new equipment that the Master Chief will be able to deploy on the battlefield - a portable shield and a grappling hook.

The "Drop Wall" is a fast deploying cover that can be used to fend off enemy fire or even deflect a grenade as we saw in the demo. The "Grappleshot" opens up new traversal options while also providing new ways to engage enemies. Get up close and personal by grappling into an enemy for a satisfying melee, pull a Fusion Coil to yourself and throw it at your target, or grapple to a ledge to rain fire on enemies below.

This new equipment, along with various new weapons, open up more freedom and flexibility for players to showcase their own playstyles. And yes, these new additions to the sandbox will also carry over to multiplayer, however they'll function a bit differently as equipment items that can be picked up on the map. We look forward to talking more about multiplayer details soon.

Other details:

• Grappling hook is coming to multiplayer, but it'll be changed
• Clamber spartan ability from Halo 5 is still in
• Health bars return
• Brutes now have energy shields
• Warthog apparently can't be damaged but may require fuel
• Brute grenades, sticky grenades, and frag grenades are in

Halo: Infinite releases November 2020 alongside the Xbox Series X, and on PC via the Microsoft Store and Steam. It will also launch on Xbox Game Pass for both PC and console.