HALO 3 101- Tips to Not Play Like a Noob

1. Learn to use the Battle Rifle. I put this as #1 because I believe it’s the most important thing to learn if you’re gonna get any better at HALO. The Battle Rifle, or BR, is one of the most effective weapons on the map. You’re not going to get a kill shooting at someone across the board with the Assault Rifle (AR). It may be frustrating at first because you can’t hit anyone, but with a little bit of practice you’ll notice your kills going up and it’ll soon be the first weapon you go for. It is a 4 shot weapon, which means you can get a kill with 4 well placed shots. It takes 3 shots to bring down the shields then 1 head shot for the kill. A lot of people are really good with the BR, but even the best don’t 4 shot every time so don’t get discouraged.
2. Crouch walking. If you walk while crouching you don’t show up on the enemy’s radar. Use this to sneak up behind someone camping. This is especially helpful if you have a close range weapon like shotgun (shotty) or sword.
3. Don’t complain about your teammates stealing your kills. When I first started playing with my friends it seems like all we did was cuss each other all game for stealing each other’s kills. In time you’ll learn it’s not about getting the most kills- it’s about winning. You should be thanking them for having your back. Sure, there’s going to be times when your teammates kill someone that you know you would have killed, but there’s going to be a lot of times that they save you from dying. If you see your friend in a 1 on 1, go ahead and try and get some shots in on the other guy. You might “steal” the kill, but you also might be saving your friend from dying. If you play with the same guys a lot and you all do this, it will all even out and no one will worry about “kill stealing”.
4. Social Sucks! That’s just my opinion. If all you play is Social Slayer it’s going to take you a lot longer to get better. For one, the better plays usually play ranked games. You’re just going to pick up a lot of bad habits playing with other noobs all the time. Another reason I believe it hurt me when I first started playing is that you can hear the other team after they kill you. If you’re a noob, you are going to die a lot and die often. And hearing someone talk junk every time you die is only going to frustrate you and make you play worse. You can’t hear the other team in Ranked until after the game. Also, ranked games are 4 on 4 or less instead of 5 on 5. The less people there are on the board, the more time you have to work on strategies and learn the maps. It’s not just running straight out with an AR right after you respawn and dying again like a lot of people do on social. Plus, on social, a lot of people don’t care about winning. They are just there to betray their team or do whatever stupid stuff they do that pisses everyone off. On ranked, people are trying to increase their skill level so they are trying to win.
5. Learn the maps and use a headset! There’s nothing worse than playing with someone who doesn’t talk during the game. Tell your teammates where the other team is if you see them. Tell them if they have rockets, shotty, snipe, etc. If you know someone on the other team is around the corner with rockets, tell your team so they don’t go that way and get killed. Also, learn the nicknames (callouts) for the areas on the map so they know where you are talking about. This is one of the hardest parts of HALO because a lot of people don’t know callouts, but if you are on a team and everyone knows them, your team will do much better overall. 
6. Learn how to snipe. If you have a good sniper on your team you will have an easier time controlling the map. By controlling the map, I mean being able to hold down the best areas of the map, such as the rocket, snipe, camo, and overshield spawns. You can totally throw a team off their game plan. If they like to rush top center of a map they’re going to think twice before going out in the open once they’ve been sniped a couple times. The sniper rifle if probably the hardest weapon to learn how to use. Unless you play Team Sniper you don’t get many chances to use it. The quickest way to learn is play a bunch of custom games with friends. You could play Sniper but then you’ll have those people that get mad because you aren’t getting many kills. They forget they were noobs once too. If you play custom, try to mostly play the maps that the sniper is on so you get used to using it when you play a Slayer game.
7. Strafe. Strafing is moving back and forth or sidestepping. If you are in a 1 on 1 and you both have BRs, strafe side to side to create a harder target. Don’t stand in one spot hoping to kill the other guy first. You will be a sure 4 shot kill, or easy snipe. Use short strafes and long strafes. Mix it up so you don’t become predictable. You can also jump or crouch to avoid that last head shot. This also helps when using the sniper rifle. Besides being a harder target to hit, you can move right or left to make that slight adjustment to your aim instead up trying to move the right joystick which is much more sensitive.
8. Learn when and how to use close range weapons. Don’t walk across the middle of a map with shotty or sword when no one is around you. Keep your BR out and wait to use your other weapon in close quarters or when sneaking up on someone. Also, if you pick up rockets don’t think you are invincible. Again, use your BR until you are above someone or they are coming around the corner. On larger maps like Standoff, you will get more kills with the BR. Save the rockets for their Warthog, or if two or three guys are standing beside each other. Also, if you know the other team has rockets don’t all camp together. It’s an easy extermination. When using the shotty wait until they are almost right up on you and pull the trigger, then melee just in case. With the sword, point your aimer (reticule) at the center of the target. When it turns red pull the trigger. You can do this from a pretty good distance and it will lunge forward once locked on. But watch out for shotty. Even if locked on, the shotty will beat sword every time.
9. When not to use weapons. NEVER mount the machine gun turret and just stand there (unless the other team really sucks). The BR or snipe will get you every time. The Needler sucks in open areas. All you have to do is walk sideways and the needles will never hit you. Don’t get in the Warthog or Ghost if you know the other team has rockets, laser, or missile pod and knows how to use them. Take those guys out first then try the vehicles. Don’t shoot up in the air with the Brute Shot. There’s a lot of explosions but it’s not really doing that much damage unless each shot is hitting the other player which is not likely shooting up at them. Use it for narrow tunnels like under Snowbound and when creeping. One shot and a melee will kill.
10. Know when to use power-ups. Power-ups are an important part of each map. Camo (invis) and overshield can help you get some extra kills, and help you take out people with power weapons, but don’t just get them because they are there. Wait until it’s going to really help you. Wait until people are coming for you to get overshield. Then you have a big advantage. Don’t get it when you don’t see anyone then run around and waste it. Also, the first 5 seconds you get it you are invincible unless you get assassinated. Nothing will take down your shield so you can make people waste rockets and sniper ammo, but only for 5 seconds. Use camo to help you sneak up on the sniper, or if you have shotty, but watch out. Someone with a good eye (and TV) can still see you.

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