343 Industries’ next major update for Halo Infinite has today gone live across Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. This past week, 343 informed Halo Infinite players that a massive patch was on the horizon that would bring some big changes to features that fans have been requesting. Now, that patch is available to download and it should notably improve the multiplayer component of Infinite in a big way. 

Headlining this new update to Halo Infinite today is an overhaul of the game’s network infrastructure. 343 says that this change will lead to “less instances of rubberbanding movement, taking damage around corners, and other issues caused by becoming desynchronized with the multiplayer server.” In tandem with this, a new “Easy Anti-Cheat” system has been added to the PC version of Halo Infinite so that players can easily report those who might be using illegal mods or hacks. 

Outside of these new features, 343 has also balanced some of the biggest weapons seen in Halo Infinite. All versions of the Gravity Hammer have notably been reworked, as these items previously dealt out improper damage due to a bug. Other weapons that have been tweaked include the Heatwave, Stalker Rifle, and VK78 Commando Rifle, to name a few. Other than this, the patch obviously includes some major bug fixes as well. 

To get a look at the patch notes for this new Halo Infinite update, you can find them below. Conversely, you can learn more about the new features that have been brought to Halo Infinite today by heading to the official Halo site right here. 

Halo Infinite Update March 2024 Patch Notes

BALANCE CHANGES

WEAPONS

Gravity Hammer (all variants)

A bug that affected the Gravity Hammer’s damage and knockback values has been resolved, however, its new damage and knockback values will remain higher than they were in pre-Season 5 updates.

Gravity Hammer

• Instantaneous Acceleration: 5 (applied 10) >> 7.5
• Alt. Instantaneous Acceleration: 7 (applied 14) >> 10.5
• Prop Instantaneous Acceleration: 1 (applied 2) > 1.5
• Damage Lower Bound: 320 (applied 640) >> 480
• Damage Upper Bound (low & high): 395 (applied 790) >> 592.5

Diminisher of Hope

• Instantaneous Acceleration: 5 (applied 10) >> 7.5
• Alt. Instantaneous Acceleration: 15 (applied 30) >> 22.5
• Prop Instantaneous Acceleration: 1 (applied 2) > 1.5
• Damage Lower Bound: 320 (applied 640) >> 480
• Damage Upper Bound (low & high): 395 (applied 790) >> 592.5

Rushdown Hammer

• Instantaneous Acceleration: 7 (applied 14) >> 10.5
• Alt. Instantaneous Acceleration: 15 (applied 30) >> 22.5
• Damage Lower Bound: 400 (applied 800) >> 600
• Damage Upper Bound (low & high): 400 (applied 800) >> 600

Bandit Evo and M392 Bandit

Based on community feedback, the reload speed has been increased for both the Bandit Evo and the M392 Bandit.

• Reload speed increased 10%.
• Reload speed while empty increased 10%.

VK78 Commando Rifle

The VK78 Commando Rifle’s bloom now resets slightly faster.

• Lower bound deceleration time decreased 0.22 >> 0.21 seconds.
• Upper bound deceleration time decreased 0.22 >> 0.21 seconds.
• Magnetism near fall off range increased 0 >> 1 wu.

Heatwave

To reduce its long-range viability, the Heatwave’s aim assist has been decreased.

• Aim assist angle decreased from 5 >> 4.
• Aim assist range decreased from 12 >> 11.
• Aim assist falloff range decreased from 7.5 >> 6.5.

Stalker Rifle

The Stalker Rifle now takes longer to vent once overheated and will require less shots before it overheats.

Developer Notes

• Aim assist angle decreased from 5 >> 4.
• Aim assist range decreased from 12 >> 11.
• Aim assist falloff range decreased from 7.5 >> 6.5.

Plasma Pistol

The Plasma Pistol has received multiple changes: its rate of fire has decreased, it now overheats faster than before, and it now requires less time to fully charge up.

Developer Notes

• Rate of fire for single shot trigger decreased from 10 >> 6.75 rounds per second.
• Overheated threshold decreased from 1 >> 0.8.
• The amount of time for trigger to fully charge decreased from 1.6 >> 1.2 seconds.

SYSTEMS

Bandit Spawn Influencer

The development team resolved an issue caused by the Bandit Evo and the M392 Bandit’s spawn influencer that resulted in players experiencing disadvantageous respawns in the Ranked Arena playlist.

Developer Notes

• Adjusted weapon spawn influencer for Bandit EVO to match BR75.
• Adjusted weapon spawn influencer for M392 Bandit to match Assault Rifle.

Bandit Fire Volume

The M392 Bandit and Bandit Evo’s firing sound effects are now quieter.

• Lowered Bandit player fire volume >> -3dB.

GLOBAL

• Improved stability for Halo Infinite on both Xbox consoles and PC. 

MULTIPLAYER

Gameplay

• Resolved an issue that unintentionally increased the knockback and damage of the Gravity Hammer and its variants.
  • For more information on this change and the Gravity Hammer’s new knockback and damage values, review the Balance Changes section above.
• Equipment dropped upon death will no longer become stuck underneath the map’s playable area.
  • Due to this fix, Equipment Pads in the Ranked Arena matchmaking playlist will now enter the “red rack” state when players pick up their equipment. 
• Picking up Equipment just before being killed is now less likely to result in a crash.
• Walking or jumping into the side of a Cone object placed in Forge no longer results in player movement becoming unpredictable.
• Opening the scoreboard while loading into a multiplayer match no longer allows players to move during the match’s non-interactive intro sequence.
• The spectator camera is now more stable when the spectated player is killed.
• Resolved an issue that sometimes caused Extraction Devices to be planted in inaccessible areas while standing on dynamic map objects.

New Networking Model

The improvements in this section come from feedback and Halo Support tickets submitted by our community. Thank you for participating in the Combat Workshop playlist and please keep submitting tickets!

• Pinging enemies or locations on a map will now work consistently.
• The Banshee and Wasp’s aiming reticles no longer rapidly swap between their two firing modes while being piloted.
• Banshee bombs now fire immediately after switching weapon modes while holding the fire button or key down.
• When looking at a vehicle being driven by another player, it will no longer appear to turn in unintended directions.
• Wraith mortar shots now fire at their intended targets more consistently.
• Vehicle Pads will now push players obstructing the spawn area out of the way when spawning a new vehicle.
• Grenades are now picked up consistently when throwing grenades when standing near a Grenade Pad.
• The Warthog and Chopper no longer appear to turn in unintended directions when their drivers use the A or D keys.
• Grappleshot charges are now counted correctly when they detach shortly after latching onto their original target.
• The Repulsor no longer has a chance to consume 2 charges at once.

Menus

• The post-match New Rank splash screen no longer displays an incorrect rank emblem.
• The initial Operation Pass purchase menu will no longer allow players to purchase either premium offer while its price is loading.

Custom Games

• 343 bots will now deal the appropriate amount of damage when playing a Forge map with the AI difficulty node set to Legendary.

Customization

• Addressed various customization combinations that resulted in “Profile Sync” error messages or players becoming locked out of the Armor Hall menu.
• Applying an Armor Emblem to an Armor Kit released since the Season 5 update then changing the Emblem Palette to a non-default option will no longer result in the Armor Kit being unequipped.

Visual

• Firing a weapon mid-sprint no longer has a chance to show the weapon’s projectile emitting from an incorrect location.
• The text size for both match time and team score on the heads-up display (HUD) has been increased.

Audio

• The Thruster’s sound effects now play as intended when the Ark Reaction Mythic Effect Set is equipped.

Observer Mode

• The Observer scoreboard no longer highlights two players at the same time.

FORGE

Edit Mode and Creation Tools

• Improved stability when spawning and placing multiple objects in quick succession.
• Leaving a Forge session via the pause menu while objects are selected is now less likely to result in a crash.
• Improved stability when loading into Forge maps created on the Void or Ecliptic canvases.
• Halo Infinite is now less likely to crash after placing multiple Biome objects in a row.
• Player collision for the Leafy Bush A, B, C, and D objects is now aligned with their appearance.
• Script Brains that grant Equipment charges upon use of existing charges no longer cause player movement to become unpredictable.
• The “Get Random N Objects” node no longer returns an incomplete list of objects.
• Selecting the Eye icon in the Folders menu will now hide and unhide FX objects as expected.
• Removed two non-functional camera objects that appeared on all Halo Infinite Forge canvases.

File and Map Publishing

• Resolved issues that allowed players to edit and save Copy Protected maps and Mode Prefabs.

KNOWN ISSUES

With this update, the team has added multiple new issues to our Known Issues lists:

MULTIPLAYER

• Vehicles may play their “doom state” sound effects when they’re approaching the doom state but prior to it actually triggering. When this issue occurs, observe whether the vehicle is glowing red to confirm whether it is about to explode.
• When leading in score in a match of Free-For-All (FFA) Escalation, the mini-scoreboard along the bottom center of the Heads-Up Display (HUD) may show the incorrect player in second place.
• On the map Deadlock, Pelicans only deploy Scorpion and Wraith tanks when playing non-Heavies variants of Big Team Battle.
• Rarely, EAC is not installed preventing players from launching the game.
  
  • Workaround: If Halo Infinite was installed via Steam, use the “Verify integrity of game files” option to resolve this issue. If this does not resolve the issue or if Halo Infinite was installed via the Microsoft Store or Xbox app, uninstall then reinstall Halo Infinite to re-trigger the EAC installation process.”
• When Halo Infinite is installed via the Microsoft Store or Xbox app on PC, Comodo Antivirus may block Halo Infinite from launching.
  • Workaround: Manually add Halo Infinite to the Excluded Applications list in the Comodo Antivirus client to allow Halo Infinite to launch as expected.

FORGE

• The Snapped Log A, B, C, and D objects appear as solid black models.
• When its Object Mode setting is set Dynamic, the Broken Stump A object’s Physics dropdown does not list an option for Normal physics.
• When two or more Script Brains approach their max node capacity and a caution symbol appears in its Budget meter, all scripts on that map will not function as expected.
• When a player joins an in-progress Forge session where two objects have been welded together, the joining player will not see the two objects as welded and may experience “rubberbanding” or jittery movement when moving near the objects.
• After placing a saved Prefab object, deleted gameplay objects may still appear in Forge’s Play Mode.