Halo Infinite has a vast yet rewarding ranked system that leaves players coming back for more each day to climb to the next rank.
Right now, you can play four multiplayer modes on rotation, each having its rank: Slayer, Capture the Flag, Oddball, and Strongholds. Earning a rank in Halo is simple: complete 10 ranked games, also known as placement games, before being assigned your rank.
Let’s take a look at how the ranked system works:
Halo Infinite ranks
There are six tiers of ranks currently in Halo Infinite: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Onyx. Each set has 15 smaller ranks you must climb through to progress to the next tier. It gets slightly confusing for newer players, as within those 15 smaller ranks, you must advance through what Halo calls “grades.”
Each smaller rank will have three grades, and you must reach the third grade before advancing to the next rank. For example, if you’re Bronze Cadet 1, you must reach Bronze Cadet 3 to move to Bronze Private 1.
Halo Infinite offers multiple ways to show off your shiny new rank. Here are a few common ways to display your rank:
- Your rank will be displayed above your spartan in the match intro screen.
- Player profiles will display ranks on them.
- Inspecting a player in the Post-Game Carnage Report will show your rank.
Additionally, grinding through the ranks will also earn you customization options. Nameplates, armor, and weapon and vehicle emblems are available to players to sport on their Spartans while playing ranked.
How matchmaking works in Halo Infinite ranked
There’s an open queue and a solo/duo queue. Open queue lets you play in a player pool with either controller or mouse/keyboard inputs and allows you to queue with a full fireteam of four. Solo/duo queue requires you to select a specific input.
Halo Infinite ranked modes, explained
As mentioned above, there are four ranked modes players can choose from. Each mode offers the players a different way to play the game. Let’s take a look at how each Halo Infinite ranked mode works:
Slayer
Slayer is by far the most simplistic mode of the four in the sense it’s only about your gun skill. Killing an enemy will grant you one point for your team. To win a game of Slayer, a team must reach 50 points or have more points than the enemy team when the match timer runs out.
Oddball
The Oddball itself is a skull that players battle for control over. The rules of Oddball are simple: Hold the ball. Players earn a point for each second they hold the ball. To win, score 100 points or have more points than the enemy team by the end. Unlike in Slayer, Oddball is a best-of-three game due to its shorter length. The team that scores two rounds first wins the game.
Capture the Flag
Capture the Flag is an old-school FPS game mode featured in several titles, Halo included. To score a point in CTF in Halo, you must steal the enemy flag from their base and bring it back to your own. Remember that your flag must be in base to score a point. If both flags are in play, one of the teams has to return the flag before scoring a point. To win CTF, you need the most captures by the end of the time limit or reach the maximum points. What’s cool about Halo Infinite is that you can use the Grappleshot to pick up the flag from a distance.
One cute tip when playing Capture the Flag is learning to juggle the flag while sprinting. If you watch competitive Halo, you often see the pro players pick up the enemy flag and still move at speed. When picking up the flag, your running is slower than naturally sprinting. With flag juggling, you can move quickly. To do this, sprint with the flag, drop it in front of you, sprint, and pick it up again. Unfortunately, this alerts the enemy team where you are, but running with the flag the traditional way will likely get you killed.
Strongholds
Strongholds is a game mode with zone-capturing objectives. For any Call of Duty players, think of the Domination mode. Teams earn points by capturing one of the three zones located on the map. You get awarded a point each second that zone is under your control. Control all three, and those points will double per second. The winner is the team that scores 150 points. Like in other modes, this is a best-of-three, so the first team to win two rounds wins the match.
