While the release of a pair of new multiplayer maps and campaign co-op are the big headlines, the folks at 343 Industries are also adding several new multiplayer modes in Season 2.
In a fresh blog post, 343 goes on a deep dive into several new modes and the design inspiration behind them. Before we dive into some of these, here’s a list of the confirmed modes coming in Season 2.
- King of the Hill
- Land Grab
- Last Spartan Standing
- Rumble Pit
- Social Skirmish
- Social Slayer
- Team Snipers
- Team Doubles
- Ninja Slayer
- Vampireball
- Rocket Repulsors
A quick note here: not all of these modes will be available when Season 2 hits on May 3. In the blog post, the devs confirm King of the Hill and Last Spartan Standing will be there on day one. Land Grab will come as part of the Fracture: Entrenched event a month after Season 2’s launch.
Rumble Pit will also be there on day one and is described as a “mashup of ‘base’ modes alongside variants with a twist.” Social Skirmish, Social Slayer, Team Snipers, Team Doubles, and more will be rotated throughout the season.
Ninja Slayer (Energy Swords and Grappleshot loadouts), Vampireball (Oddball where the Skull Carrier can one-hit kill and gain 50% shield), and Rocket Repulsors (Rockets and Repulsor loadouts) are examples of some of these variant modes. Finally, a few more modes to just goof around in. Ranked is fun, but sometimes you want to kick back and relax.
Let’s take a deeper look at the two modes coming on day one: King of the Hill and Last Spartan Standing.
Halo fans are no stranger to King of the Hill, but in Halo Infinite, it’s going to be a little different. I’ll let 343 explain:
A neutral hill spawns on the map and two teams battle it out to control the hill and earn points. When a player enters the hill uncontested, it is captured and begins earning 1 point per second into a capture bar. When a team’s capture bar is full, they score 1 point and a new hill spawns somewhere else on the map.
Last Spartan Standing is the one I’m most excited about. It’s a 12-player free-for-all mode on Big Team Battle maps. Players get 5 respawns, and each kill gives players the option to upgrade to a different weapon. Similar to how gun game works, except you can decide when you want to upgrade to the next weapon.
So instead of upgrading automatically to a Sniper Rifle after getting a kill, you’ll now receive a “level up” prompt, which gives you the option of when you want to go to the next loadout. That way, you’re not stuck switching weapons when fighting multiple players.
Last Spartan Standing also adds modified AI bubbles that drop bonus XP when a player dies. Interacting with them nets you 300 Personal Score (three times what a kill is worth).
And a closing zone (similar to what we see in Battle Royale games) will keep the action going.
Check out the full blog post where 343’s Zach Boyce talks about the challenges with designing Last Spartan Standing and how they tried to address them. It’s a fantastic peek into what goes on behind the scenes when creating new modes like this.
Halo Infinite’s Season 2, Lone Wolves, launches on May 3.