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Halo Infinite Weapons Tier List: Best & Worst Weapons

Patrick Bonifacio

Much like its predecessors, Halo Infinite is a fast-paced arena shooter which emphasizes weapon control as one of the keys to victory. As there are no customizable loadouts in Halo Infinite, players instead start with a default set of weapons and pick up others on the map during a match.

Halo Infinite Weapons plash art

Not all weapons in Halo Infinite are made equal, with several being head and shoulders above the rest. (Image Credit: 343 Industries)

Therefore, it’s important to know which are the best weapons for Halo Infinite multiplayer, and which ones you should probably skip altogether. We’ll be listing the best and worst weapons in Halo Infinite Season 2 in this weapons tier list.

Halo Infinite Weapons Tier List for Season 2

S-Tier: BR75 Battle Rifle // Energy Sword // M41 Spnkr // S7 Sniper

A-Tier: M40 Assault Rifle // Gravity Hammer // CQS48 Bulldog // Cindershot

B-Tier: Sentinel Beam // Shock Rifle // Hydra // MK50 Sidekick // Heatwave // Skewer // Needler

C-Tier: Mangler // VK78 Commando // Disruptor // Stalker Rifle

D-Tier: Plasma Pistol // Ravager // Plasma Carbine

S-Tier

The cream of the crop. These Halo Infinite weapons excel in many areas, and it is always a good idea to pick them up when you find them. Games can often be decided based on who has control of the spawns in this tier, so be sure to coordinate with your team to dominate these points on the map.

BR75 Battle Rifle

Halo Infinite Weapons BR

Image Credit: 343 Industries

The standard issue weapon in Ranked Arena, the BR75 Battle Rifle is extremely reliable and highly devastating. It is one of the few weapons in the game where using ADS (aim down sight) is actually a good idea thanks to its incredible accuracy, especially at mid-range.

If you can land headshots with this weapon consistently, you’ll be a serious force on the battlefield. Coordinated fire between you and your teammates is also very effective, particularly in Ranked Slayer where you all start with a Battle Rifle anyway.

Energy Sword

Halo Infinite Weapons Energy Sword

Image Credit: 343 Industries

The Energy Sword needs very little introduction. It’s a melee weapon that greatly extends your lunge distance, while absolutely eviscerating anything that you touch with it. Maps with narrow corridors and tight spaces will make good hunting grounds for those that do well with the Energy Sword.

Combined with the Grappleshot, this thing can give you and your team a huge lead, or help close out games in which you have an advantage. Season 2 also made this weapon a lot better, thanks to the changes that make melee kills more consistent. Snapping to enemy targets while lunging with the Energy Sword just feels so much better now.

Look for this thing every chance you get, lest it fall into your opponents’ grasp.

M41 Spnkr

Halo Infinite Weapons Spnkr

Image Credit: 343 Industries

The M41 Spnkr, or the Rocket Launcher as it was known in previous Halo titles, is exactly what it says on the tin. This weapon is unbelievably lethal, both to vehicles and other players in your lobby. Multikills become much easier with this thing around, especially in close quarters.

Though it has a small magazine of just two shots, one rocket is more than enough to instantly kill anyone — provided it lands close enough to them. Otherwise, there’s always the second shot. Of course, the reload time is quite long, so make sure to retreat after you run out of rockets in the tube.

S7 Sniper

Halo Infinite Weapons Sniper

Image Credit: 343 Industries

Virtually unchanged in its many years of existence, the S7 Sniper (or simply the sniper rifle) is one of the deadliest Halo Infinite weapons. Two shots to the body, or one to the head are all it takes to put someone on the floor with this gun. Sure, it does take a lot of skill to use, but the sheer power of this weapon is enough reason to simply keep it out of the enemy team’s hands.

The S7 Sniper is also very valuable in maps with light ground vehicles and/or aircraft like the Wasp or the Banshee. Shooting the drivers on stationary vehicles becomes child’s play, while clipping the wings of flyers can be done even without using the scope.

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A-Tier

While these Halo Infinite weapons aren’t necessarily game-breaking, they are nonetheless highly reliable and still very much strong enough to make use of in every game you play. Definitely worth picking up when you pass by them.

M40 Assault Rifle

Halo Infinite Weapons AR

Image Credit: 343 Industries

Yes, Halo veterans, you’re reading that correctly. While the default Assault Rifle was kind of a joke in previous Halo games, it’s actually much better now in Halo Infinite. Its overall DPS is much improved compared to its previous incarnations, and can even beat Battle Rifles at close range.

Its spread is easy enough to control and holds its own against other weapons in this tier. If you’re more of a Quick Play kind of person, you’ll want to get to grips with this gun as soon as possible.

Gravity Hammer

Halo Infinite Weapons Grav Hammer

Image Credit: 343 Industries

Capable of wiping out entire enemy teams if they foolishly clump together, the Gravity Hammer’s power is reined in only by its slow attack animation and drastic falloff at a distance. If used on an unsuspecting pack of opposing players, they will quickly find themselves kissing the floor before they even have a chance to react.

But the Gravity Hammer doesn’t dole out this kind of reward without the consummate risk. Its slow swing leaves users open to counterattack from different angles, and sometimes the wielder can simply die before they can even get an attack off properly. Still, in cramped maps like Recharge, the Gravity Hammer can be very difficult to deal with.

CQS48 Bulldog

Halo Infinite Weapons Bulldog

Image Credit: 343 Industries

This weapon serves as the default kinetic shotgun in Halo Infinite, and boy is it great. Assuming you’re able to land most of the pellets onto a target’s body, three shots are all but guaranteed to bring them down from full shields and health. This won’t be the case against someone who has Overshield, of course, but other players will quickly learn to respect you and keep you at arm’s length otherwise.

Naturally, the Bulldog is nearly worthless in wide-open maps like Deadlock, but absolutely homicidal in places like Live Fire or Streets. It’s very easy to control short corridors with this gun in tow, as it easily stomps on other weapons in short range except for the Energy Sword and the Gravity Hammer.

Cindershot

Halo Infinite Weapons Cindershot

Image Credit: 343 Industries

One of the more powerful anti-personnel weapons in the game, the Cindershot is crowd control at its finest. Its bouncing grenade rounds can be confusing to control at first, but what most people don’t know is that this weapon actually has a useful ADS mode. With ADS, players can control the trajectory of each grenade as it leaves the barrel, by moving the reticle while the grenade is in the air.

Used properly, this mode can help one clear out a tightly packed room from a relatively safe distance. Trust us, it’s fantastic for hectic engagements against multiple targets, if you take the time to practice.

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B-Tier

The weapons in this tier are middle of the pack fare, which means that they are good — it’s just that they have some flaws that prevent them from being must-use Halo Infinite guns.

Sentinel Beam

Halo Infinite Weapons Sentinel Beam

Image Credit: 343 Industries

If you’ve ever played as Zarya in Overwatch, you’ll know how to use the Sentinel Beam. It’s a pinpoint beam of energy that emanates from the barrel of the weapon, and must keep contact with the target in order to deal damage over time. Curiously, unlike Zarya’s weapon, the Sentinel Beam seems to have a much longer effective range.

The Sentinel Beam is honestly great if you have the tracking to use it. Keeping it under control is hard due to its recoil, but if you manage to tame it, it can burn shields like nothing else in the game. The real downside to this weapon, though, is its high ammo consumption. Don’t be fooled by its three-digit magazine — each second that the beam is active takes away quite a large chunk of the available ammo.

As a bonus, this weapon is also great against light vehicles. Ghosts and Warthogs will melt under continuous fire from the Sentinel Beam. It’s also great for just taking drivers out, as it’s easy enough to track them if they’re moving in a straight line while inside a vehicle.

Shock Rifle

Halo Infinite Weapons Shock Rifle

Image Credit: 343 Industries

The Shock Rifle is the poor man’s equivalent of the S7 Sniper. While it does kill from full with a headshot quite reliably, body shots with this thing are rather unimpressive. The chain lightning effect (it being a Shock weapon) is a novelty at best, and it would be foolish to rely on this mechanic when taking on multiple targets at once.

If you can land headshots with the Shock Rifle on a regular basis, though, it can be almost as effective as the S7. But where it does truly shine is in maps with vehicles in them. Shock weapons can disable vehicles for a short duration, which can buy your teammates time to either kill the driver or hijack the vehicle for themselves.

Hydra

Halo Infinite Weapons Hydra

Image Credit: 343 Industries

Originally from Halo 5, the Hydra is a rocket launcher with a lock-on function courtesy of its secondary firing mode. The rockets fired from the barrel home in on the current target, though they don’t go around walls or obstacles on the way there.

Honestly, the Hydra is one of the weaker weapons in the game — if you use it as a long-range weapon against other Spartans. It’s pretty useful for hitting fast-moving vehicles, but where it actually shines is in close quarters. The Hydra practically replaces the Mangler in terms of one-shot beatdowns, where you can simply use its secondary fire at point blank range and follow up with a melee attack for a quick kill. Otherwise, it’s not that great.

MK50 Sidekick

Halo Infinite Weapons Sidekick

Image Credit: 343 Industries

The standard pistol in Halo Infinite, the MK50 Sidekick is nothing quite like the fearsome M6D Magnum Pistol from Halo: Combat Evolved. While it does pack a punch when used against unshielded targets (especially when taking headshots into account), its waning accuracy at full blast means that it becomes less reliable in drawn-out engagements.

Still, it’s not a bad weapon at all. When paired with another gun that can quickly cut through shields, the Sidekick can easily finish the job before your opponent can mount a counterattack. It also has a fairly decent range, so you can pretty reliably gun down stragglers at a distance if they’re retreating from a fight.

Heatwave

Halo Infinite Weapons Heatwave

Image Credit: 343 Industries

One of the more unique non-power weapons in the game, the Heatwave’s versatile reticle (switches from horizontal to vertical and vice versa with secondary fire) and wall-bouncing rounds actually make it feel like the best weapon in this tier. It does a ton of damage as a shotgun weapon should, but it is worth noting that it fires far fewer pellets than the Bulldog does.

This just makes the Heatwave straight up harder to use in comparison. All that damage doesn’t really mean anything if you can’t land the shots in the first place, so some practice will be required to make the most of this Halo Infinite gun. Nevertheless, it’s nothing that you should scoff at when you pass by it during a match.

Skewer

Halo Infinite Weapons Skewer

Image Credit: 343 Industries

In the right hands, the Skewer can be absolutely menacing. One hit from this weapon will kill any opponent instantly, even with a mere body shot. The problem with it, though, is that it only has one round per magazine, and its extremely long reload animation doesn’t do it any favors in this department. It’s also projectile-based and not hitscan, which means players will have to lead their shots if firing from long range.

It’s very valuable when playing against vehicles, though. Most vehicles just blow up instantly after one shot, with only the toughest ones in the game surviving the first blast. Look out for this when enemy Ghosts or Warthogs are giving you and your team a bad day.

Needler

Halo Infinite Weapons Needler

Image Credit: 343 Industries

The classic Needler makes a return as a Halo Infinite weapon. Capable of killing anyone instantly assuming you stick enough rounds in them, the Needler can be shockingly lethal in close quarters. Anyone unfortunate enough to run into a Needler user in a tight space probably won’t live for very long.

But the weapon does have glaring weaknesses that keep it in check. The tracking on the needles themselves has been weakened compared to its previous incarnations, so it’s basically dead weight beyond close range. We’d say this is a situational pickup for those that like to play in narrow areas.

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C-Tier

Weapons in this tier have serious flaws that make them noticeably weaker or less reliable than the rest. Most of these are difficult to use properly, yet offer little reward even when handled well.

Mangler

Halo Infinite Weapons Mangler

Image Credit: 343 Industries

The Mangler is the big bore revolver of Halo Infinite, and it really shows with its massive damage per bullet. This hand cannon is comparable to Cassidy’s Peacekeeper revolver from Overwatch, in the sense that each shot is quite accurate at close to medium range. Its rate of fire is much slower than that of the MK50 Sidekick, though, and its eight-round magazine means that you really need to make your shots count.

The Mangler used to be much better than it is now in Season 2. Prior to ammo count nerf and the general nerf to melee damage, the Mangler was notorious for three-shot kills with two to the body and one to the head, as well as instant melee kills after a single body shot. Even pro players called for 343 Industries to knock the Mangler down some, which they did with the Season 2 patch.

But if your aim is really good, there’s still reason to pick the big iron from time to time. Just don’t expect it to be nearly as reliable as before.

VK78 Commando

Halo Infinite Weapons Commando

Image Credit: 343 Industries

Boy, this weapon was so much better in the Flights. The VK78 Commando is meant to be a precision semi-automatic rifle — which it still is — it’s just that the kick on this gun is so hard to control past the first three shots. Normally, this would be fine as long as you have good trigger discipline in order to reset the recoil. But with the maps as they are in Halo Infinite, your targets can just use the downtime to hide behind walls.

If you have no better options to use at long range, sure, pick this thing up. Otherwise, just move on.

Disruptor

Halo Infinite Weapons Disruptor

Image Credit: 343 Industries

The Disruptor is essentially the Shock Rifle, but in pistol form. Its rate of fire is much higher as a consequence, but trades damage per shot for it. It’s great at disabling vehicles just like the Shock Rifle and cuts through enemy shields like a hot knife through butter.

But with such a small magazine, you’re not going to reliably bring someone from 100 to zero with this weapon. The Disruptor is probably best left on the floor in most cases as a result.

Stalker Rifle

Halo Infinite Weapons Stalker Rifle

Image Credit: 343 Industries

The Stalker Rifle takes the place of the old Beam Rifle, serving the role of a semi-automatic sniper rifle. It has a much higher rate of fire compared to both the S7 Sniper and the Shock Rifle, but its DPS is quite low because of this.

It’s pretty useful when laying down covering fire against opponents at long range, but its lack of overall lethality puts it lower on this tier list.

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D-Tier

You’d essentially be griefing yourself picking weapons from this tier. They’re irredeemably bad, and should only be used when you’re rolling the enemy team as it is. Avoid at all costs.

Plasma Pistol

Halo Infinite Weapons Plasma Pistol

Image Credit: 343 Industries

The Plasma Pistol used to form what Halo veterans called the “noob combo”, which involved running around with a fully charged Plasma Pistol in Halo 2, removing someone’s shields with the charged blast, then finishing them off with a pistol.

This still works to an extent in Halo Infinite, but is way, way less reliable than it used to be due to the Plasma Pistol’s god-awful tracking. This weapon isn’t the most useless in the game, but it’s pretty close.

Ravager

Halo Infinite Weapons Ravager

Image Credit: 343 Industries

On paper, the Ravager should be a good area denial weapon thanks to its effect creating semi-persistent carpets of fire on the floor, but its projectiles come out far too slowly for it to cause any havoc. It did pitiful amounts of damage in Season 1 as well, making it one of the most useless Halo Infinite guns.

343 Industries recognized just how pointless this weapon was in Season 1, and gave it a tiny bit of love in Season 2. The Ravager’s primary fire is now capable of killing someone in two bursts, making it slightly more reliable in terms of crowd control — particularly in tight spaces. 

But even then, this means that the Ravager is still severely limited in the number of maps where it’s remotely effective.

Plasma Carbine

Halo Infinite Weapons Plasma Carbine

Image Credit: 343 Industries

Finally, we come to the absolute worst Halo Infinite gun. The Pulse Carbine is a mangled version of what used to be the Covenant Plasma Rifle, with the plasma projectiles being way too slow-moving to get anything useful done. Seriously, we think this is 343 Industries’ idea of a bad joke.

Someone can outrun the projectiles just by sprinting, in fact. The use of the Thrusters or the Grappleshot isn’t even required for this to happen. Just pick up any other weapon, to be honest. Leave this thing in the dumpster where it belongs.

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Patrick Bonifacio

Patrick Bonifacio

Patrick has been playing Dota since the dawn of time, having started with the original custom game for WarCraft III. He primarily plays safe lane and solo mid, preferring to leave the glorious task of playing support to others.

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