Dirty Halo Tricks

Lots of people play nice when they play Halo. They say things like, "Good shot sir! You're as much a marksman as you are a gentleman!" Other players are not so nice. Some players resort to some horrible, horrible techniques to eke out even the smallest margin of victory in Slayer or CTF. Worse yet are players who don't win at all, but continue to harangue and harass good honest folks like yourself, with Halo techniques that are just north of cheating and occasionally a few miles south.

The line between cheating and excellent technique is a fine one, and perhaps a subjective one. In a way, it's like obscenity – you'll know it when you see it. And at a Halo LAN party, you'll certainly hear about it too…

Here, for your edification and disgustification are some of the worst offenders.

 

Dirty Rating Key:

Basically not dirty at all. This is the kind of dirtiness we'd expect from Girl Guides and NPR commentators. Go home and practice being dirty.

Sneaky, not necessarily dirty per se. You would eat the last cookie perhaps, but never put a puppy in a washing machine.

You are reasonably sneaky, but not entirely amoral. You would definitely yell "Fire" in a crowded theater, but probably still let women and children go first.

You're undoubtedly dirty, though not quite entirely satanic. Although you would happily fire a sack of kittens out of a trebuchet, you might not set them ablaze first. But you might.

You are as dirty as a former Poo Salesman who now works as an Entertainment Lawyer in Hollywood representing Amorosa, Pee Wee Herman and Claus Von Bulow.

Shin Splinters

Here's one that works best on Longest, and only in busy games... but then it works really well. It takes advantage of the Xbox Halo bug that a melee attack to the right shin is instant death. You drop down into the wide pits in the away hallways near the bases. You crouch up against the vertical side (not the slanted one). You face the opposing team's base. As attackers pass by (usually over you; in a busy Longest game, most people don't have time to look down), you melee them in the right shin - instant one-hit kill. I've gotten multiple Killtaculars with this technique, on a map where a 16-player game usually means a lifespan of 10 or 15 seconds. You have to alternate this with normal play; it doesn't take very long for the other team to catch on, and a grenade in the pit is all that's needed to end your reign of terror. :)

– Louis Wu, Halo.Bungie.org

Dirty Rating:

Telefragalistic

"The dirtiest tricks always seem to involve teleporters. On Blood Gulch, it has to be parking a Scorpion on either teleporter outlet, a tactic guaranteed to drive the affected team into a murderous frenzy. Great for keeping the enemy cooped up, but also handy for denying the enemy an escape route from your own base. But if you prefer the personal touch, try standing in the teleporter field and looking down. If your screen begins to turn white, indicating that someone wants to come through, immediately jump and throw a melee attack. Your opponent will successfully teleport through, and if your timing is good, catch a melee attack in the back. Of course, a shotgun does the job rather nicely as well."

– Tyson Green, Canadian covert operations

Dirty Rating:

Anti-tank Gunk

"I hate tank campers--especially while defending my base at Blood Gulch. But never fear, there is a great spot to kill these lamos that is almost completely safe from the onslaught of bombshells they are dishing out. All you need is a pistol and a little patience. Creep down either ramp at the sides of your base until you have just enough room to continue firing. After a few reloads, and a few screams from your opponent saying "where the hell is that coming from" the turret will go limp."

– Dave Rees, Disc Editor, Official Xbox Magazine

Dirty Rating:

Big Brother

Really the best way to win is to play somebody that isn't as good as you. Like my brother, for instance.
 
- cj cowan | cinematics | HALO 2 | B U N G I E

Dirty Rating:

 

As CJ mentioned, it's always nice to stack the odds in your favor by ensuring that your opponent is of a lesser skill level than yourself. But why not take it one step further? We've all got one or two controllers lying around that have seen better days - a loose joystick, a button that sticks or doesn't work, or a weird 3rd party controller with a layout that's a little bit off... Of course I'm not going to stick myself with shoddy equipment but I have no problem making my friends use it. If we're system linking, the same rule applies - the guests always get the smallest tv in the room with the most glare. I like to call it home field advantage.

- Brian Jarrard, Community Manager, Bungie

Dirty Rating:

Regular Kind

"Blood Gulch is all about the Sniper rifle.  Go to the spawn point for the sniper at the top of the base, and then take out any newbies who are exposing their head for some quick kills.  Use the teleport if you’re in trouble and then run over and grab the Rocket Launcher on the hill.  When a vehicle comes to run you over, put a rocket under a wheel and it will flip.  If you’re good with close range sniper rifle, fire away, otherwise show them blunt force trauma with the Rocket Launcher."

– Richard Temps – Software Developer

Dirty Rating:

Haunted Base

I don't get too many kills doing this, but boy does it drive the other team absolutely insane when I endlessly circle their base in a Ghost on Blood Gulch. If you stay out far enough and watch out for grenades, you can literally circle for days (good thing the Ghost isn't gas-powered!), lightly peppering the other team with the Ghost's plasma bolts, usually angering them to the point where they'll eventually come after you, freeing up your teammates to march in and walk out with the flag. And even if they don't come after you, once your teammates come knocking at the front door, you can sneak in the back while your enemies' attention shifts to your buddies.

- Ryan McCaffrey, Assistant Editor, Official Xbox Magazine

Dirty rating:

Pillaging Power-ups!

 In Rat Race there is an energy shield power-up as well as an invincibility power-up. Both hover in the center of a rectangular cut-out in the ceiling on opposite ends of the map. Although you can get to both of them by traveling through the tunnels upstairs, who wants to walk all that way? As you’re walking by, underneath these power ups, shoot them with the AR (pistol works well too) and they’ll fall to your feet. Also, on Hang em’ High, you can grab the lonely power-up high above on the upper-most tower by throwing a grenade and sticking it on the platform. When the grenade detonates the power-up will be jerked from where it lies and fall to the floor.

- Tony Ford, TeamXbox Programmer

Dirty rating:

 

Backward Tank Camping

Best spot is on the hill to the side of the (RED  or BLUE can't remember) base. Turn your tank around backwards and you are almost invulnerable to anything but rockets. Grenades bounce off the tank and roll down the hill. Plus you are in a position to destroy anyone on top, in front, behind, and even inside the base. Stay there and deal death until teammates calmly grab flag and return it to base. Laugh as others call you a camper and throw their controller in disgust as you continually blast them as they spawn. Hehehe.

- Mike Salmon, (former) Editor in Chief, Official Xbox Magazine

Dirty rating:

On the Downlow

Park the vehicles on the teleporter receiver pads on sidewinder and BG to prevent the other team from using them. Crouch walk to stay off the motion sensor. When playing Oddball on bottomless levels (Damnation for example), jump off the side with the ball when you’re about to die.  You’ll gain a few seconds and deny the ball to the others for your respawn time.  This is really quite lame but truly effective.

– Ryan Hylland, Bungie

 

Dirty Rating:

Stay at Home Hot Momma

I have a dirty little trick or two to share. These tricks take place in a lovely land called Blood Gulch, inside my base, during CTF with a shotgun. I like to camp right inside by the back door but not so close that I can't get away from a grenade and not so far in so that I'm seen from the top. When I have to move I go super slow so I won't show up on the radar and enemy thinks it's clear to go in. I give them a half second to look down the barrel of my shot gun....BAM...right in the melon. My other favorite is to camp a tank on the highest hill right above the enemies teleporter. There I can pretty much trap them all at their base creating chaos and also keeping them from teleporting past me to get to my base. Lame...yes, but it works.

– Juliann Brown, Art Editor, Official Xbox Magazine

Dirty Rating: ***

Fartron: The Engasinator

“I eat plenty of cabbage before a big LAN.”

– Nathan Walpole, Animator, Halo 2

Dirty Rating:

Ninja Weapon Snatcher

You can grab weapons through a number of floor/wall sections in halo.  For instance, in prisoner, you can grab the rockets from on the central platform from below.  Take a running jump over the invisibility and grab the weapon as you pass under it.  Nothing beats the look on your opponent’s face as they jump for the rockets from above, only to have them disappear!

There are other maps you can do this on – I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out how to take advantage of this on Hang ‘em High, Wizard, Chiron, or Blood Gulch.

- Char, Secret Microsoft Halo and Halo 2 expert

Dirty Rating:

DIRTY HALO 2 TRICKS

Believe it or not, we already have some dirty Halo 2 tricks, but since the game is in development, they're often bugs, exploits or purest bullcrap. Here's one to tide you over 'til the real thing in fall:

Medusa Touch

I can pull up the debug menu and activate "Medusa" which basically kills anyone who sets eyes on you. Makes snipers think twice, that’s for sure.

- Frank O'Connor, content monkey.

Dirty Rating:

 

 

So those are just a few nasty tricks we collected from the office and local drunk tanks, but we're sure you have your own. Why not email 'em to the [email protected], and we might print some of the meaner reader tricks.

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