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Their impact on Halo’s sandbox can be felt to this day with Halo 4 expanding on the system and Halo 5 adding Spartan Abilities to the core game. With the announcement of Halo: Infinite going back to Halo 3’s Equipment system, now would be a good time to look back on Reach’s controversial Armor Abilities and see how they fair against one another. Here are all seven of Halo: Reach’s Armor Abilities ranked from worst to best.
7 Hologram
Throwing off an opponent’s aim is a powerful skill in virtually any competitive shooter, which should mean that Halo: Reach’s Hologram should be rated higher. The issue is Hologram has too many distinguishing traits that make it easy to notice for the enemy.
Holograms don’t emit a red dot on an enemy’s radar, nor do they cause an enemy’s reticle to turn red when aiming at one. This would be enough on its own, but Hologram also flickers periodically, can be seen through thermal scopes, and will continue to run regardless if it hits an obstacle unless told to stand still on activation. It can be useful in niche scenarios with baiting out shotgun or energy sword users, but these moments are far too infrequent to make this Armor Ability a top-tier choice.
6 Armor Lock
Depending on the type of player, Armor Lock is seen as either the strongest skill in Reach or a death sentence to its user. Like most things that divide players so heavily, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
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Armor Lock is a phenomenal way to counter rockets or vehicles that would otherwise be a death sentence, but these moments are much less frequent than players would think. In most situations, players will plant themselves to the ground only to gain the attention of one or multiple opponents. Exiting Armor Lock is a serious risk that can guarantee death when used poorly. If its shinning scenarios weren’t so uncommon, Armor Lock would be a much more frequent choice amongst Halo players.
5 Drop Shield
Halo 3’s iconic Bubble Shield Equipment item has returned better than ever. Drop Shield deploys an impenetrable dome with a large health pool that also heals players inside, friend or foe. It works exactly as the Bubble Shield and Regenerator rolled into one ability.
This is incredible in single-player and Firefight, but the ability is both an uncommon pickup and has niche uses in multiplayer. Players standing in a Drop Shield waiting for their health to regenerate are asking for aggressive foes to push them.
4 Jet Pack
Jet Packs are a great addition to Halo: Reach that add a degree of verticality to the campaign and multiplayer that was seldom seen in previous titles. Players can use their Jet Pack to bypass entire chokepoints on maps or throw off a player’s aim for a shot of two.
It leaves players exposed while flying and it has little fuel, meaning it is best used as a traversal tool instead of a means to dominate foes from above. Still, that type of mobility can swing entire games if used properly.
3 Active Camouflage
Despite this Armor Ability rarely appearing in core playlists, Active Camouflage is an incredibly strong ability in the right hands. While active, it will drain energy to turn the player character translucent while scrambling enemy radar. The scrambling effect can tip-off to opponents that an invisible foe is nearby, but this also has its advantages.
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Active Camo is great for gaining the jump on foes or forcing them to become defensive. Waiting to ambush opponents with this ability makes it a devastating tool in any playlist. It’s especially useful for countering power weapon holders such as energy swords or rocket launcher users. Use Active Camo to make them warry then strike when they least expect it.
2 Evade
Evade is arguably the rarest Armor Ability in the game. This ability is typically reserved for Elites, but Spartans can use it in certain modes such as Griffball or custom Forge maps. With how strong this ability is, it’s easy to see why it is so seldom seen.
Activating Evade will cause the player to combat roll in whatever direction they’re moving in, gaining great speed temporarily while making headshots much harder to land. Players can do this twice in a row before cooldown to aggressively push opponents or escape combat faster. It’s objectively better than Sprint in almost every way, but its rarity in most playlists prevents it from taking the top spot.
1 Sprint
This single Armor Ability caused a massive divide amongst the Halo community as to whether sprint belongs in Halo. Nearly a decade has passed since the Sprint Armor Ability was released in Reach and players are still divided on the issue. Nothing is remarkable about Sprint on the surface, granting a burst of movement speed while sacrificing strafing, jumping, and weapon readiness.
In practice, Sprint caused nearly every map in Reach to have open hallways or areas that were built around this ability. Since maps were balanced around it, nearly everyone was forced to use it to stay competitive, hence why it is such a popular choice and hotly-debated topic. Closing the gap on retreating foes or running away from combat is incredibly strong which was much harder to achieve in previous titles. This ability not only had the largest impact on Reach, but it influenced every Halo game to release since.
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