Now I make it no secret that I'm not good at Halo, but I have been playing the series for a couple years now, and I think it's safe to say that I'm not a complete noob when it comes to Halo. With Halo 4 just around the corner, I have decided to write up a list of some very basic tips that can improve your Halo game drastically if you're just a beginner and can be applied to any installment of the Halo series.
1. Control the high ground - In my freshman year of high school, a friend of mine told me how he learned to control the center in chess while we were playing a game. He was taught to believe that chess board is like a mountain that slopes upward towards the center, making the center the "peak". Being the peak, pieces in the center have the most power because they can see more of the board from there than they could anywhere else (control more squares). Similar to how you want to control the center in a game of chess because your pieces have the most range and presence from there, you want to control the high ground in Halo. Those who control the high ground dictate the pace of the game because they can see the most area and leave enemies' line of fire more easily. For example, Pink 2 was the most vital location on Midship because it was high up and had a good amount of cover (Pink 3 was higher up but had no cover). A person who's at Pink 1 is at a disadvantage when fighting a person Pink 2, because the person Pink 2 can merely recede back into Pink 2 if he/she starts losing while the person Pink 1 can't really hide and has to shoot from an awkward angle.
2. Chase conservatively - From what I've seen from any first person shooter or game in general, people hate it when they are unable to finish their kills. For a lot of people, when they start a kill, it's automatically "theirs", which is why it's "stolen" if a teammate finishes it for them and why they chase it down to hell and back if their enemy tries running away. I've often times grappled with this mentality, and from my experience, this mentality is never beneficial. This mentality will force you into "tunnel-vision" and make you more prone to errors. While chasing is sometimes right, it very rarely is. First of all, when you're chasing down a kill, it's easy for the "escapee" to predict your behavior and ambush you. The most common trick is to just run around a corner and grenade it, picking off your chaser as he comes around. About halfway through Halo 3, people started replacing the grenade with a "ninja" assassination. Second, if the person you're chasing down has any brains whatsoever, they're going to beeline straight for wherever their team is, dragging you into an awkward position so that it's easy for them to pick you off if you ever do get the kill. In the end, you should only chase if you got the guy really weak and your team is pretty far ahead, making the 1 for 1 trade perfectly fine (especially in Team Slayer). If your team isn't that far ahead, go for it if you don't have to overextend very much to finish the kill. In all other situations, let it go and call it out for your teammates.
3. Always be near cover - Halo, like real life, has the tendency to go south a lot, so always have a Plan B. In most cases, your Plan B should simply be: Have something that you can hide behind if the situation goes bad. I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen someone go Top Mid on whatever map I'm playing on for no reason. Take Lockout for example. If you're running from BR 2 to Snipe tower by just running across top mid, you're just stranded (a.k.a. dead) if someone starts shooting you from say, Snipe 2. However, if you run through Bottom Mid, you will always have cover somewhat near you, and you can also minimize your time out in the open by going from library entrance to Top Mid to shortcut jump. Post-shortcut jump, you can hide from the Snipe 2 guy by going Snipe 3 and having your teammates who are still at BR tower support you.
4. Always be near a buddy - Halo is a team-game, so strength in numbers applies. If you really know what you want to do (happens a lot in random matchmaking games where you don't know your teammates and they don't really communicate with you), just follow a teammate around and help him out with whatever he's doing. Of course, you don't want to stay very tightly bundled, making you and your buddy very vulnerable to an explosive (grenade, rocket) or a half-decent sniper, but you want to make sure that you can help out your buddy in a pinch and vice-versa.
5. Strongside away from all the fights - "Strongsiding" is a very simple trick pioneered by MLG pro Strongside. When you're running away from an enemy, simply duck your head down and look at the ground as you're running away, putting your back to whoever is shooting you. This way, it is harder for you to be headshotted, making you more difficult to kill.
6. Gandhi hop everywhere - This is a technique that I really like and one that I use quite a lot. Gandhi hopping is another very simple technique that makes you more evasive. In order to Gandhi hop, simply hit crouch a lot as you're jumping. If you're not in a situation where it can hurt you (like shortcut jump for example), just spam crouch. When you're crouched, it minimizes you as a target, and it's really aggravating for the enemy player to see you expand and contract repeatedly when you're in their sights. Many people have told me that the tactic is incredibly annoying, but it's fair game in my eyes (isn't "cheap" like camping) and it really does throw people off sometimes.
7. Pre-nading - This was more relevant before they dropped the grenade carry limit from 4 to 2 and before grenades became mini-nukes in Halo: Reach, but I still think that this trick can still come in handy sometimes. Anyways, this is a tip that I think I picked up from a Karma commentary, and it simply involves throwing grenades blind into an area where you think a person might be. For example, if you have a lot of grenades in a Halo 2 MLG FFA on Midship, it's usually right to grenade Pink 2 even if your radar doesn't show that anyone is in there. Given how powerful Pink 2 is, there is often times a guy hiding there, weak from a battle, and I got many kills this way back when I played Halo 2.
That's all I have for now. As always, thanks for reading and take care.
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