How To Improve Your Esports Skills in Halo: Infinite - Ultimate Guide

Halo: Infinite is the latest entry in the award winning FPS series that has become synonymous with the Xbox platform. This has been the case ever since the original Halo: Combat Evolved revolutionized console shooters as the first Xbox’s flagship launch title.
 
Infinite is the sixth mainline entry in the series, and the third developed by Bungie’s successor studio, 343 Industries. While it certainly hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, with critics and players alike levelling criticism at the game for it’s unfinished state and poorly implemented battle pass system, there’s no denying the fact that Infinite’s core multiplayer experience is the best we’ve seen in a Halo game since 2007’s Halo 3.
 
In fact, Infinite, under the purview of Microsoft’s Halo Championship Series, is now among the world’s most popular esports – and arguably the best example of a console-based competitive shooter out there today. And while OddsChecker, with compares odds and provides offers on esports events, does not yet provide it with the same coverage as top-tier PC esports like CS:GO and League of Legends, many are quietly hopeful that the HCS will come to occupy a preeminent role among console tournaments in the unfolding esports boom.
 
Halo: Infinite’s multiplayer game introduces many new features to the Halo franchise – so much so that even a seasoned Halo player may need to take time to orient themselves to the various new weapons, modes and mechanics on offer. And if you’re wanting to take a run at esports glory in Infinite, you’ll need to teach yourself of the top tips and tricks we’ve got for you below.
 

Get Bumper Jumping

Over time, the Halo series has picked up numerous additional features, from a sprinting mechanism to armor abilities – and all of these must be ascribed a button on the Xbox controller. While controller layouts are largely a matter of preference, it's generally felt that the default layout puts competitive players at a disadvantage.
 
This is largely due to the fact that, in this default layout, the jump action is assigned to the ‘A’ button. This means that to jump, players must first take their thumb off their aiming stick.
 
One popular controller layout you should definitely try entirely circumvents this issue. Called Bumper Jumper, it assigns the jump action to one of the top bumper buttons, meaning that a player engaged in combat is able to shoot, melee, jump and throw grenades without ever taking their fingers off the movement and aiming inputs.
 
 

Hit the Dojo

One of the brand new features Halo: Infinite brings to the table is the ability to compete against AI-powered bots. Playing games against bots is a great way to learn maps in a low pressure environment.
 
While the bots themselves do not pose enough of a challenge to prepare you for human opponents, they represent a fantastic new avenue for intensive training by giving you consistent enemies to measure your abilities against.
 
From aiming accuracy to skill deployment, the ability to run drills of different techniques in a Halo game is an entirely new and highly valuable experience for competitive players.
 

Light ‘Em Up

Halo: Infinite offers players more customization options than ever before, and some of the most seemingly innocuous can have a tangible impact on your performance. Take, for example, the ‘Outlines & Colors’ UI menu.
 
Here, you can change the default color that your opponents get marked as on your HUD. The default legacy colors – red and blue, can be difficult to see on some maps. A much better option is to switch the color to one with high visibility, like yellow or orange. These colors stand out much more against the game’s default palette, and will give you a better situational awareness of enemy movements as you’re traversing the map.
 
Likewise, even though it can be appealing to add on some of the new vibrant unlockable armor effects to your Spartan, these make you much easier to spot from a distance. Camouflage exists in real world combat for a reason, after all – so you’re much better off focusing on cosmetic features that don’t telegraph your location.