Unbeknownst to some Halo Infinite casual players, all Halo series weapons fall under different damage categories. Recently damage types have been brought to light for some causal players due to some of Halo Infinite’s Weekly Challenges requiring you to get kills with Kinetic weapons or other types. We will explain what weapons fall underneath each weapon type while explaining their strengths and weaknesses.
Kinetic Weapons
Weapons: MA40 Assault Rifle, MK50 Sidekick, VK78 Commando, BR75 Battle Rifle, Mangler, CQS48 Bulldog, and Hydra.
Kinetic weapons usually fall underneath the aesthetic of standard military weapons. It’s a good guess that if the gun shoots bullets, it falls underneath the Kinetic weapon damage type. The weakness of using Kinetic weapons is they all do less damage to shields. The strength of Kinetic weapons is they are stronger against non-shielded targets.
Halo Infinite has a headshot multiplier. Thus, even if Kinetic weapons like the VK78 Commando Rifle are weaker against shields, they will do more damage if your shots land on your opponent’s head. Most Kinetic weapons also can headshot, except for the Assault Rifle and the Hydra in Halo Infinite.
However, even if a gun cannot headshot, it doesn’t mean the headshot multiplier doesn’t work. All shots that land on your opponent’s head do extra damage regardless of whether the weapon can get a headshot or not.
Plasma Weapons
Weapons: Plasma Pistol, Pulse Carbine, Needler, Ravager, and Stalker Rifle
Plasma weapons have the exact opposite function of Kinetic weapons. Plasma weapons in Halo Infinite do more damage to shields. However, slight exceptions exist with the wide variety of how plasma weapons work.
The Stalker Rifle is the only current Plasma weapon capable of headshots, making it a competitor to the BR75 Battle Rifle for TTK (Time-to-kill). The Needler does do more damage to shields, but its killing power comes from its unique ability to super combine needles to cause an explosion. The initial damage is higher when the target does have shields, but since the damage comes from the explosion rather than the individual projectile, it’s one of the few Plasma weapons that doesn’t suffer from many drawbacks.
The rest of the Plasma arsenal does suffer from the downside of dealing less damage to non-shielded targets, often suggesting to switch to a Kinetic weapon to headshot once shields are down.
Shock Weapons
Weapons: Disruptor and Shock Rifle
Shock weapons are the newest damage type added in Halo Infinite. The goal was to add a weapon variant like plasma weapons yet have other strengths. The most controversial part about shock weapons is they have inherited the Plasma Pistol’s ability to EMP enemy vehicles.
Sadly, the Plasma Pistol can no longer EMP. Yet, all Shock weapons now apply this effect. Both Shock weapons can headshot, EMP, and apply a DOT (damage over time) if multiple shots land.
The new Shock Rifle in Halo Infinite can headshot without needing to drop an opponent’s shields like the S7 Sniper Rifle, but it isn’t considered a power weapon. Both the Shock Rifle and the Disruptor are weak at destroying shields and don’t have any extra damage against non-shielded targets. Their power comes from their ability to have a chain lightning effect, allowing for more damage in big crowds. Their EMP ability also now chains to nearby vehicles.
Hard Light Weapons
Weapons: Sentinel Beam and Heatwave
Hard Light weapons are powerful in a multitude of ways. This type of damage is strong against both Shields and non-shielded targets, making them a threat at any stage of a fight. Hard Light feels like a 50/50 split in strength, not shredding shields faster than Plasma, but not quite hitting as hard as Kinetic against non-shields.
However, their drawbacks are often discussed in their functionality or how they are fired. The Sentinel Beam in Halo Infinite shoots a single ray of Hard Light but has a lot of recoil. The Heatwave fires a line of Hard Light shots but interchanged from being shot horizontally or vertically. Hard Light weapons have more of a learning curve in comparison to other weapon types in Halo Infinite, but they are always strong in any situation if used properly.
Power Weapons
Weapons: S7 Sniper, M41 SPNKR, Skewer, Energy Sword, Gravity Hammer, and Cindershot
All power weapons in Halo Infinite have a limited amount of ammo but deal a ton of damage. They are located at predetermined spawn points on different maps. While the damage type still applies, power weapons do so much damage that the downsides of the weapon type don’t always matter.
Lunging with the Energy Sword is always a one-hit kill on a full shielded target unless they have Overshield. The Gravity Hammer is like the Energy Sword but requires a suitable range to kill your opponent instantly. The S7 Sniper always takes two shots to the body to kill or one bullet to the head. The Skewer & M41 SPNKER always kills if it directly hits the target.
The Cindershot has the most ammo but requires two or three shots to kill a target. Like the other Hard Light weapons, it has a unique firing mechanic. The Cindershot launches a grenade of Hard Light, which bounces off surfaces and explodes. When aiming down sights, the shot will track your cursor, allowing you to guide the ball of Hard Light around corners.
Sadly, there is currently no Shock Power weapon in the game, but more classic and new weapons can be added in the future.
Grenade Damage Types in Halo Infinite
Weapons: Frag, Plasma, Spiker, and Dynamo Grenades
Even if they are underneath the grenade category, we would still like to mention that all grenades in Halo Infinite do fall underneath the different damage types in Halo Infinite. Frag and Spike grenades deal Kinetic damage; Plasma grenades deal Plasma damage; and Dynamo grenades deal Shock damage.
Wrapping Up the
That’s our breakdown of the different weapon damage types in Halo Infinite. Hopefully, this guide has helped explain what weapons will make a more significant impact during certain situations or moments in a fight. Hopefully, 343 will continue to add additional weapons to the sandbox and more vehicles. As always, good hunting, Spartans!
Feel free to check out some of our other guides for more great Halo Infinite tips and tricks!
