The resurgence of players in Halo Infinite in season five has renewed discourse around the 343 game’s social loadout—and one gun has fans divided. There’s a general sense in the community that the Sidekick is too strong to be a starting weapon.
The only problem? Nobody seems too sure how to fix it properly.
One Halo fan, Haijakk, suggested on Reddit on Nov. 15 that it was time for Infinite to look at a new starting loadout for its casual four-vs-four modes.
In many Halo players’ eyes, a gun like the Sidekick being kept in check with “unfun mechanics” like bloom is harming the consistency of the gameplay experience. Worse, this comes only a day after the release of the Halo 3 Refueled playlist, which utilizes Assault Rifle and Sidekick starts despite many expecting it to feature the Battle Rifle.
Bloom has always been a contentious topic in Halo since it first became a prominent mechanic in Halo: Reach via the DMR. The addition of some amount of randomness in gunfights can lead to frustrating inconsistencies for many—after all, it never feels great to lose a duel because your opponent got luckier.
“Bloom on a weapon creates frustration,” read one response, “because there are moments when you die and question ‘How did he kill me so fast at range? How were they shooting so quickly at range that they killed me but I didn’t kill them despite being on target?'”
That frustration is palpable throughout the fandom, but the divide couldn’t be greater on what players think works as a solution.
Some voiced support for Assault Rifle-only starts. Others argued the Sidekick should be nerfed to need a “few bullets more per kill” even though just as many believe any reduction in the pistol’s lethality would completely gut its value. Excluding a total rework to the weapon that removes the bloom, “it’s still just a brainless spam weapon” in the eyes of many. “A weapon like this doesn’t belong in Halo,” one player asserted.
There is support for Haijakk’s solution of replacing the Sidekick with the default Bandit too. Unlike its Evo counterpart, the original Bandit rifle has a short range similar to the Sidekick. With a slower fire rate and zero bloom, it’s inherently more consistent.
It helps it also saw widespread support as a starting weapon when an Assault Rifle and Bandit loadout was tested in Big Team Battle.
“If they actually brought in the Bandit as a starting weapon, I’d probably be close to Halo 3 levels of hooked again,” wrote u/calb3rto. “As of right know [sic] I just can’t force myself to play more than a couple of games.”
At this point in Infinite’s lifecycle, it could be time for some experimentation on this level. The Halo Championship Series got its first major sandbox shift this season to revitalize the competitive experience, with Battle Rifle starts being replaced by the Bandit Evo. There’s no reason casual playlists can’t undergo a similar treatment too.
At worst, players will realize they preferred the Sidekick starts and the changes can be reverted, but this level of frustration at the state of Halo’s social modes isn’t sustainable without at least some attempt to find a better solution.
