One major error that’s prevalent in this video that some people pointed out is that Sentinels aren’t actually 4x weak to plasma_slow. Sentinels use a variant of hard_metal_thin that’s specific to Sentinels, so it also accounts for that 65% damage resistance. So 4 x 0.35 = 1.4x effectiveness vs Sentinels, not 4x. Still very effective vs them, regardless.
can you please make a video or post detailing exactly which enemies are made up of which materials? im trying to get into modding and i cant find this info anywhere for some reason
I never knew that weapons in Halo had the ability to scare enemies. Enemies would run away, but I never knew it was tied to my weapon. That's honestly really cool and makes me like Halo even more.
The AI in these games is fenomenal and underrated. Part of the game skill ceiling is understanding the many things that can affect enemy behaviour and emotional state, and taking advantage of that by predicting their reactions. To master the battlefield you have to start thinking like the enemy, thinking about them being actually real living things and not just targets. This makes the game much deeper than it looks.
@@xScruffyDaSasquatchxThey should’ve only kept the penalties for multiplayer. Let the player have their power fantasy in the campaign. And modern halo games should do this too. I know people complain about duel wielding. Okay fine let us only duel wield in campaign. It’s simply too cool to not be in the game
I think that the halo 2 weapon sandbox had so much missed potential, it could have been one of the best (and i still think it is) if bungie had more time to balance it
I blame brutes and flood being resistant to so many damage types. It's basically headshot or cutting/instakill melee with the rare needler(gravemind) or go home. And also dualwielding for forcing alot of the weapons to be nerfed single wielded in order for them not to be "OP" when dual wielded.
@@AKThompson I think the problem was more with bungie being a bit disorganized and end up redoing the game, which let to lots of oversight (And yet, despite its flaws, this is my favorite halo). Still, i think a way to rebalance would probably be better to buff the base damage to some (smg, shotgun), take off damage reduction while dual wielding, re-escale the HP for brutes (doesn't make sense that brute majors are weaker than minors. Honor guard is ok because of headshot immunity) and increase shields for player.
Only use the answer. But tbh i really like halo 5s unique weapons. Tartarus gavel is hella fun, as is the aforementioned the answer, and river of light amongst others, like the black hole plasma pistol
We use it to our advantage - when we do prison skip, we pull an intimidating beam rifle out at the right moment and it causes a brute to punch us instead of shooting.
Nice video, Vadam. I'd just like to offer a few corrections/addons that you overlooked (and that I can remember): *You placed Sentinel Eliminators next to the regular Sentinels in your "returning enemies" section, which just isn't true. (: *Allied AI are arguably better with off with the Sniper Rifle instead of the Beam Rifle since they don't have to crouch to use the Sniper Rifle (limiting movement). Of course, AI have more max range with the Beam Rifle, so again, it's arguable. *The most important oversight is how plasma_slow interacts with Sentinel and Enforcer materials. Again, plasma_slow only does 0.35x to hard_metal_thin, which is what Sentinels and most sections on the Enforcer use as a primary armor type. You won't see this when directly looking at the materials in the globals tag, but due to inheritance, they use this armor type. The sentinel and sentinel_enforcer armor types are just specific damage types that multiply with the main armor type. So that means that plasma_slow weapons do 1.4x damage in the end to Sentinels and 0.7x damage to the Enforcer's side parts (Their hull has hard_metal_thick armor and doesn't use the sentinel_enforcer specific armor. Shields use energy_shield_thick armor and again don't use sentinel_enforcer specific armor). Plasma_fast (and plasma_vehicle) does 1.0x damage to hard_metal_thin and thus does their full 2x damage vs. Sentinels and Enforcer side bits. If there's anything else I can remember being wrong, I can let you know. Otherwise, nice video as always. Seems to have been one hell of an effort. :)
1. While that's true, I also did that for the other returning enemy types (Elite Ultras, Heretics, Jackal Snipers, etc). It was to save time tbh. 2. That's cool, and didn't know that. 3. Yeah, that's a pretty big miss on my part lol.
No joke, I rewatched the CE tier list video at exactly 2:14PM EST today. Checked the channel, saw this guy hasn't uploaded one of these in four months, got disappointed but subbed anyway. And then a few hours later this drops. What timing.
The point you made about the Plasma Pistol being changed to "do 1 thing and 1 thing only" is what makes me think Halo CE had the best weapon sandbox of any Halo game, period. Every other Halo pigeon holed a bunch of its weapons into only being usable in 1 scenario, and that's just less interesting if you ask me.
You'd think in a game where you can only hold two guns at a time, you'd want to make more of then generally effective to allow freedom with mixing and matching.
@ Nah, the MA5B is the one in Halo CE and is the go to weapon for the S-IIs. The downscaled one you’re referring to in Halo 3 is actually called the MA5C. The one from Reach is called the MA37
Honestly despite the lower range it atleast kept the 12 shell capacity to help keep follow up shots and melt an Elite's or Spartan's shields. Halo 3 upped the range slightly with half the capacity to boot.@@airraid1266
@@airraid1266the shotgun being so good in ce works when the sandbox is limited. When you have a decently big sandbox, you need to have a good reason to use other weapons, both for balancing and variety sake.
I think h3s shotgun is way better then h2's lol, that thing feels like ass to use on most enemies, h3s at least feels consistent when you do a shoot and melee combo
My favorite part about your videos is that you are extremely thorough in detail. When you bring up a mechanic or something you tell us everything about it. Example being when you mentioned that MOST ai don’t use the charge shot on the plasma pistol and then tell us jackals would be the exception, even though it’s hardly relevant. Very cool.
Heck yeah! Great tier list, I love that you actually take your time to talk about the weapons individually instead of just assigning them a tier in 2 seconds, good stuff.
These are incredible. You give so much detail to the actual "science" behind the weapons that there's very little room for personal bias to affect the ranking. This is as close to factual ranking as you can get.
The SMG is my favorite weapon in the franchise not because of it's power, but because of how satisfying it feels to shoot and how it handles. I like it far more than the AR just because of how fun it is to shoot
'Vadam you've knocked it out of the park with the Needler. I must admit, during multiplayer it's no as viable compared to H1 and H3's version, but after playing through campaign. You were right, the needler is pretty good in campaign! I kinda was harsh on it on the CE video regarding H2's needler, but in campaign it's certainly a must have. I can see why some speedruns utilize it. It's a monster of mopping up enemies with the supercombine. Though some of the flaws you've already mentioned. It's good with duel wielding, but not good as a 'duel wield' weapon. It only works with itself. Which is sad! Sucks you couldn't duel wield it in H3, sigh, if only you could in the regular game. I can only imagine Alpha's/Beta's H2 Needer with duel wielding in the retail version. It would be INSANE!
There is a covenant weapon crate in the arena of the Tartarus fight. It has 2 brute plasma rifles that can be used to absolutely shred Tartarus. Its one of my go-to strategies to kill him super fast
I'm surprised nobody else mentioned this; it's by far the best way to kill him, especially given how little time you have to shoot him between bouts of invincibility. Brute plasma rifles are also amazing for killing the hunters on Gravemind, which I think was somewhat downplayed in the video.
I've never had a desire to do a legendary run in Halo 2 before but learning the different usecases of the weapons as well as their effective matchups really makes me wanna try it now
Nice work, I’ve been looking for a thorough stat analysis on H2 weapons since the H2 days as a kid. One comment is that I remembered each melee damage also has three damage models (Standing melee, running melee, and jumping melee). For example, I think a jumping brute shot melee could nearly or outright kill enemies in multiplayer. I also remembered “heavy” weapons like the rocket, fuel rod, sentinel beam, do more base melee damage, and produces more “force” from the melee. For example, jump meleeing a dead grunt body would flip it while a regular br melee won’t. RIP H2 shotgun. I remembered people calling it the “slotgun” b/c of how inconsistent it was. It won’t be until Reach where the shotgun becomes decent again. 😢
Oh. My. God. You have revolutionized my understanding of the saying "dog water". I always assumed it was just a fairly nasty term for something bad, but it's HOTDOG WATER which obviously makes more sense than water that a dog drinks. Ah. Thanks, that makes a lot of things make more sense now.
This is the first video I watched of yours, and I'm going to sum up my thoughts using a quote everyone's favorite half jaw, but use it in a VERY different meaning: "That STENCH. I've smelled it before..." and the stench I'm referring to is the FAR to rare nowadays: Quality Content. I shall be watching some more of your content before I commit to a sub, but this is a strong start!
The Halo 2 magnum is underrated as an anti flood weapon. The fast fire rate really helps when you're fighting combat forms. If you miss the infection form once with the BR you're pretty much dead because of how fast human combat forms can close the distance on you. The magnum fires so quickly that that isn't a problem. It's definitely a very niche weapon, but it's not entirely useless
Even though the Plasma Rifle is alright in 2, it’s surprisingly powerful in 3. I swear they had to have buffed it there. It especially shines in ODST where the weapon sandbox’s power creep went down.
The projectile velocity is faster (at 25 WU/s), but the spread is higher (0.5 - 1.25 degrees). AI also drop less charge for the weapon as well (generally. Weapon isn't as common either.). Dual wielding isn't as penalized on paper (compared to Halo 2), though, with the damage being higher (at 0.8x) and the spread being lower (0.75x - 1.5x). Combined with the faster projectile velocity in 3, it's definitely better dual-wielded than before. (Also, keep in mind that several weapons, like the BR and Carbine, have lower projectile velocities in 3, among other things.)
@@kingferaligatr7994 Very interesting, thank you for the stats. While it doesn’t reach the heights of the BR and Carbine, it’s certainly a solid choice.
Can’t believe someone pointed out the weapon respect thing. I remember old Gamefaqs post about it and even tried it, was cool on heroic. Such a neat little gimmick
I find it so cool that Ultra Elites will drop their weapons and dual you if you have an energy sword. I never even noticed that was a thing until watching this
I fully agree with all the rankings. And I like that you put Scarab Gun out of tierlist. Not only does it symbolize how to obtain the weapon, it also demonstrates how immensely broken & powerful it is. These crisp details are why I love your videos! Also is the weapon scare mechanic present in all Halo games? I'm only able to play CE & H2 so I dunno D:
Great video! One thing I would have factored into the weapons is their Melee damage and Halo 2's melee mechanics (specifically for the Rocket Launcher / Fuel Rod Cannon). This might not have influenced any tier placement - and the Brute Shot melee was highlighted - but that's always been a piece of Halo 2's sandbox I've loved. Moving onto the Multiplayer video now!
The carbine is also lethal in the hands of marines. In the prison break mission, if you manage to give all the marines a carbine before reinforcements arrive, you can sit back and enjoy as they headshot all the brutes and grunts.
Also with the Neddler, if you spam the trigger, you can increase the rate of fire of the weapon - In that case I do consider it to be an exploit Mainly because that mechanic was patched and corrected for Halo 3
"Jack of all trades, master of none" is NOT how I would describe two of the Halo's best weapons in the BR and the CE: Magnum. They are quite literally the jack of all trades, master of most.
very well researched video. the depth of the halo games really amaze me of how much bungie spent on, especially 2. i sometimes wonder if certain glitchs were intended but just never admitted to the public so as to let players figure it out. like how the glyphs in odst dont serve any purpose at except to arouse curosity in them, they are the surplus which mean nothing but make you enjoy the journey to it all the more
Great video. I know the world of work these videos are but if you can in the future do a Halo 3 and Halo 3 OSDT weapon tier list it would be awesome. This is by far the best weapon tier list I have seen.
Im surprised you put the sentinel beams so low. They carried me in the flood levels cause they had more range than other options and still melt flood pretty good
Nice video. Very insightful. I thought for sure the sword was gonna be rated Rex, but everyone plays the game their own way; S: Sword, Battle rifle, Beam rifle, Brute shot, A: Plasma Grenade, Frag Grenade, Covenant carbine, Sniper rifle. Everything else.
I love how none of this info is directly stated in game, but you can *feel* it all. And, 15:45 I've always wondered why there's so few magnums in H2. I love the pistols in every game, so it made me really sad when I couldn't complete a magnum only run in 2...
Awesome video ! If i may, a cool video series on caracters stats could be just as good and informative as this. Like what differ a heavy grunt from a major one. Or what is stronger between halo ce zealot or spec ops elite. A full breakdown. It has always been a whish to my nerd me
26:06 If I remember correctly, the H2 Needler is not the only one without a buildup fire rate in the series. The H4 and H5 Needlers also had flat fire rates I'm pretty sure. I do know for a fact that the CE, H3, and Reach Needlers all had build ups. Other than that though, great video, looking forward to part 2
Thanks to this video I finally got the courage to play Halo 2 on Legendary for the first time and I managed it without much difficulty. I thought I would have a horrible time but that wasn't the case
I can see damage thresholds being an issue with the difficulty settings, if a weapon cant kill a sniper jackal without reloading on legendary but can on heroic then where does that leave the weapon? Those are 2 wholly separate experiences for the player.
I know what you’re saying, but Halo 2 doesn’t really have that with its enemies. Maybe the Brutes, but even on Normal, you’re still better off using headshot weapons to kill them faster anyway. Even the SMG can kill an Elite major on Legendary with one magazine.
Halo 2's sandbox is really well done, but I feel like that's underappreciated because of how weak you are in Legendary. Instead of picking up whatever and going to town like you could in CE (even on Legendary if you were careful), you have to stick to two or three weapons in order to survive in H2. I'm especially looking forward to the ODST tier list. I want to know why the AR in that game doesn't do squat against Brute shields despite being fairly reliable against them in H3.
Currently doing a Halo 2 legendary playthrough and I agree. Most weapons simply don't do enough dps to ever be useful on legendary. I would disagree with this list a bit in legendary. The BR and Carbine are not S tier. Their damage is too low and can't even outdamage a normal eliter. You can kill them but need to move around and take cover. The are only good if you combine it with a plasma pistol tbh. The sword is also not very useful on legendary as its simply to risky to go into close combat in any scenario when you die so fast. The needler is S tier though. If you learn to fast tap the trigger and get a dual wield, it is the only "normal" weapon in the game that actually outdamage elites reliably. Not to mention you can fire a few shots and quickly take cover from a distance with it it. It's so good and fun to use. Ammo is a bit of a problem but it's not too bad.
Carbine is also a pretty good ally weapon imo, usually plenty laying around in Arbiter levels to kit out your Elites with. You can also give it to the jackals in sacred icon which I've always found interesting since I don't think they ever spawn with it anywhere in the campaign.
Fun fact: the Carbine is my favorite weapon in all of Halo. Fun fact number 2: The first enemies equipped with the COVENANT Carbine are HERETICS who were stranded after Installation 04's battle. This means 1: it's an ironic name at the outset, and 2: the fleet that chased the Pillar of Autumn had the Carbine, but didn't use them on Halo, where it would maybe have given them an edge against the UNSC.
The fact that it took FIVE GAMES for Bungie/343/Halo Studios to address the BR Ammo Reserve issue completely is insane IMO. 108 was WAY too little ammo for a gun that fires THAT FAST. Yeah, it was a way to balance how OP it is, but they could have easily given the weapon more mag reserves in the Campaign while keeping the 108 max rounds in Multiplayer
One major error that’s prevalent in this video that some people pointed out is that Sentinels aren’t actually 4x weak to plasma_slow. Sentinels use a variant of hard_metal_thin that’s specific to Sentinels, so it also accounts for that 65% damage resistance.
So 4 x 0.35 = 1.4x effectiveness vs Sentinels, not 4x. Still very effective vs them, regardless.
Awesome list man! I learnt a lot! Never knew about these things! A definitive guide too! I wish you could do the later games! Very useful too!
make a halo 3 beta mod man :D
Correct me if I’m wrong, I thought that Halo four and five didn’t have a built-up fire rate for the needler as well
can you please make a video or post detailing exactly which enemies are made up of which materials? im trying to get into modding and i cant find this info anywhere for some reason
@@larsescalante3293 They don't
Elite ultras brandishing their own sword when they see chief pull one out is just so freaking cool.
So fitting to how elites are
It's like they want to have a duel to death like Samurais
They'll do the same with other weapons that have a scariness factor, like the Rocket Launcher and Fuel Rod Cannon
@@Nin10do0014They're so goddang vain and I love it
This is why these games were so great. Bungie is always 5 steps ahead. Great subtle design.
@@Nin10do0014 I just imagine them yelling "I'm ready! How bout you?!" like Emile did 😂
I never knew that weapons in Halo had the ability to scare enemies. Enemies would run away, but I never knew it was tied to my weapon. That's honestly really cool and makes me like Halo even more.
The AI in these games is fenomenal and underrated. Part of the game skill ceiling is understanding the many things that can affect enemy behaviour and emotional state, and taking advantage of that by predicting their reactions. To master the battlefield you have to start thinking like the enemy, thinking about them being actually real living things and not just targets. This makes the game much deeper than it looks.
The Warthog horn is the least intimidating "weapon" in the game, its value is 1.
He brought it up in the Halo 2 Uncut videos, but this feature is also why you never fight Hunters in a Scorpion Tank, since it's main gun scares them.
343rd like.
@@highlordlaughterofcanada8685ironic since in Halo Wars, Hunters are anti-vehicle specialists. I always found that a weird decision
explosion_largw my beloved
Please keep this for halo 2 rebalanced 4.0
He's largw and in chargw.
larg W
I don't know why, but using an SMG in the right hand and plasma rifle in the left one feels so powerful
You're not wrong. I dubbed that the "Hell Combo" back in the day. It works wonders for CQB base defense
H2 weapons don't get dual penalties to damage and spread if you mix and match
@@xScruffyDaSasquatchx yeah they do, my PR gets more inaccurate when firing with an SMG
@@xScruffyDaSasquatchxThey should’ve only kept the penalties for multiplayer.
Let the player have their power fantasy in the campaign.
And modern halo games should do this too. I know people complain about duel wielding. Okay fine let us only duel wield in campaign. It’s simply too cool to not be in the game
@@TheVengefulVadam oh neat, then either damage isn't affected or the implementation in h2amp is bugged
I think that the halo 2 weapon sandbox had so much missed potential, it could have been one of the best (and i still think it is) if bungie had more time to balance it
I blame brutes and flood being resistant to so many damage types. It's basically headshot or cutting/instakill melee with the rare needler(gravemind) or go home. And also dualwielding for forcing alot of the weapons to be nerfed single wielded in order for them not to be "OP" when dual wielded.
@@AKThompson I think the problem was more with bungie being a bit disorganized and end up redoing the game, which let to lots of oversight (And yet, despite its flaws, this is my favorite halo).
Still, i think a way to rebalance would probably be better to buff the base damage to some (smg, shotgun), take off damage reduction while dual wielding, re-escale the HP for brutes (doesn't make sense that brute majors are weaker than minors. Honor guard is ok because of headshot immunity) and increase shields for player.
Fortunately there's mod's like Ruby's (and to toot my own horn, my own indev Halo 2 mod) to address this. :)
They nerfed way to many things and buffed others, way too much.
And brutes, fuck the brutes in legendary
What is your opinion on the halo 2 shotgun out of the original bungie games I believe halo 2 has the weakest shot gun out of any of the original
How could you forget the best weapon in all of H2, the Scarab Gun 😂
SO OP it broke the tier list barrier
@@TheVengefulVadam S+ tier fr
I’m actually curious what the damage model and stats are
@@commanderowen5143Probably 999 give or take
Explosion larg- waltuh
Cant wait for the 10 hour long one for Halo 5's Warzone
💀
The Answer is S Tier
Bold of you to assume it'd be so short in length
@@highlordlaughterofcanada8685 like ur weiner
Only use the answer.
But tbh i really like halo 5s unique weapons. Tartarus gavel is hella fun, as is the aforementioned the answer, and river of light amongst others, like the black hole plasma pistol
In the words of count Dooku "I've been looking forward to this."
This is where the fun begins.
now this is podracing
30:51 20 years later and I had no idea this was a thing in the game!
We use it to our advantage - when we do prison skip, we pull an intimidating beam rifle out at the right moment and it causes a brute to punch us instead of shooting.
Nice video, Vadam. I'd just like to offer a few corrections/addons that you overlooked (and that I can remember):
*You placed Sentinel Eliminators next to the regular Sentinels in your "returning enemies" section, which just isn't true. (:
*Allied AI are arguably better with off with the Sniper Rifle instead of the Beam Rifle since they don't have to crouch to use the Sniper Rifle (limiting movement). Of course, AI have more max range with the Beam Rifle, so again, it's arguable.
*The most important oversight is how plasma_slow interacts with Sentinel and Enforcer materials. Again, plasma_slow only does 0.35x to hard_metal_thin, which is what Sentinels and most sections on the Enforcer use as a primary armor type. You won't see this when directly looking at the materials in the globals tag, but due to inheritance, they use this armor type. The sentinel and sentinel_enforcer armor types are just specific damage types that multiply with the main armor type. So that means that plasma_slow weapons do 1.4x damage in the end to Sentinels and 0.7x damage to the Enforcer's side parts (Their hull has hard_metal_thick armor and doesn't use the sentinel_enforcer specific armor. Shields use energy_shield_thick armor and again don't use sentinel_enforcer specific armor). Plasma_fast (and plasma_vehicle) does 1.0x damage to hard_metal_thin and thus does their full 2x damage vs. Sentinels and Enforcer side bits.
If there's anything else I can remember being wrong, I can let you know. Otherwise, nice video as always. Seems to have been one hell of an effort. :)
1. While that's true, I also did that for the other returning enemy types (Elite Ultras, Heretics, Jackal Snipers, etc). It was to save time tbh.
2. That's cool, and didn't know that.
3. Yeah, that's a pretty big miss on my part lol.
@@TheVengefulVadam On 1, yeah, you're right. Don't know why I was hung up on just the Eliminators specifically.
No joke, I rewatched the CE tier list video at exactly 2:14PM EST today. Checked the channel, saw this guy hasn't uploaded one of these in four months, got disappointed but subbed anyway. And then a few hours later this drops. What timing.
That "ARRRRRRR" intro is so iconic and I've only just started watching this channel.
Been playing Halo 2 since I was six and I didn’t know Sentinel Majors existed until I watched this. Great video, very detailed and fun to watch.
Yeah, the shielded gray/silver Sentinels are considered majors in Halo 2 (and 3). The gold ones are internally referred to as Eliminators.
@@kingferaligatr7994
Interesting. Thanks.
My spreadsheets shall guarantee my remembrance
There is the man, excellent work today sir🖖
The point you made about the Plasma Pistol being changed to "do 1 thing and 1 thing only" is what makes me think Halo CE had the best weapon sandbox of any Halo game, period. Every other Halo pigeon holed a bunch of its weapons into only being usable in 1 scenario, and that's just less interesting if you ask me.
You'd think in a game where you can only hold two guns at a time, you'd want to make more of then generally effective to allow freedom with mixing and matching.
Agreed. CE guns just feel more satisfying to use too. The MA5B is my beloved.
@AwFiddleStickss I thought the MA5B was the sequel version that downscaled the cartridge. Is it not the MA5A in CE?
@ Nah, the MA5B is the one in Halo CE and is the go to weapon for the S-IIs. The downscaled one you’re referring to in Halo 3 is actually called the MA5C. The one from Reach is called the MA37
I like the H2 magnum for the style and sound effects.
I really hope that ruby rebalanced mod gives the shotgun back its crown, makes me so sad seeing it like this, and it gets even worse in 3
Personally the shotgun in CE was kind of a problem lol; I think 2 had a decent balance
Honestly despite the lower range it atleast kept the 12 shell capacity to help keep follow up shots and melt an Elite's or Spartan's shields. Halo 3 upped the range slightly with half the capacity to boot.@@airraid1266
@@airraid1266the shotgun being so good in ce works when the sandbox is limited. When you have a decently big sandbox, you need to have a good reason to use other weapons, both for balancing and variety sake.
Went on a Rampage with the H3 shotgun on an open BTB map recently. So it definitely isn't bad.
I think h3s shotgun is way better then h2's lol, that thing feels like ass to use on most enemies, h3s at least feels consistent when you do a shoot and melee combo
My favorite part about your videos is that you are extremely thorough in detail. When you bring up a mechanic or something you tell us everything about it. Example being when you mentioned that MOST ai don’t use the charge shot on the plasma pistol and then tell us jackals would be the exception, even though it’s hardly relevant. Very cool.
I've been defending the H2 PR for years, I couldn't imagine doing a legendary run without dual PRs
Heck yeah! Great tier list, I love that you actually take your time to talk about the weapons individually instead of just assigning them a tier in 2 seconds, good stuff.
These are incredible. You give so much detail to the actual "science" behind the weapons that there's very little room for personal bias to affect the ranking. This is as close to factual ranking as you can get.
All i remember using was plasma pistol and carbine. Sometimes rockets and beam rifle. The BR is there for only like the first 4 levels.
It’s pretty common during the second pair of Arby levels.
The SMG is my favorite weapon in the franchise not because of it's power, but because of how satisfying it feels to shoot and how it handles. I like it far more than the AR just because of how fun it is to shoot
Saaaame
Especially dual-wield
Dual smgs make brain go brr
Never have I seen a more wrong opinion. How the actual f can you prefer the sound of the smg's fingernail tapping to the AR's BRRRRT in CE??
@@protonjones54 fair point on the CE AR
'Vadam you've knocked it out of the park with the Needler. I must admit, during multiplayer it's no as viable compared to H1 and H3's version, but after playing through campaign.
You were right, the needler is pretty good in campaign! I kinda was harsh on it on the CE video regarding H2's needler, but in campaign it's certainly a must have. I can see why some speedruns utilize it. It's a monster of mopping up enemies with the supercombine. Though some of the flaws you've already mentioned. It's good with duel wielding, but not good as a 'duel wield' weapon. It only works with itself. Which is sad! Sucks you couldn't duel wield it in H3, sigh, if only you could in the regular game.
I can only imagine Alpha's/Beta's H2 Needer with duel wielding in the retail version. It would be INSANE!
The ce needler is way worse in multiplayer it's basically unusable
Punny88 here, Great video Vadam! I know this one will pop off as well!
There is a covenant weapon crate in the arena of the Tartarus fight. It has 2 brute plasma rifles that can be used to absolutely shred Tartarus. Its one of my go-to strategies to kill him super fast
I'm surprised nobody else mentioned this; it's by far the best way to kill him, especially given how little time you have to shoot him between bouts of invincibility. Brute plasma rifles are also amazing for killing the hunters on Gravemind, which I think was somewhat downplayed in the video.
I prefer bringing Elite PRs to do that since they don’t overheat before his shield goes back up
@@tylerellis9097 You just need to let off the trigger a fraction of a second before they overheat, and it lets you get more damage out in total.
These video are so well done bro
I've never had a desire to do a legendary run in Halo 2 before but learning the different usecases of the weapons as well as their effective matchups really makes me wanna try it now
I just watched the halo Ce one and to see this immediately after was crazy
Luckyyyyyyy
Nice work, I’ve been looking for a thorough stat analysis on H2 weapons since the H2 days as a kid.
One comment is that I remembered each melee damage also has three damage models (Standing melee, running melee, and jumping melee). For example, I think a jumping brute shot melee could nearly or outright kill enemies in multiplayer. I also remembered “heavy” weapons like the rocket, fuel rod, sentinel beam, do more base melee damage, and produces more “force” from the melee. For example, jump meleeing a dead grunt body would flip it while a regular br melee won’t.
RIP H2 shotgun. I remembered people calling it the “slotgun” b/c of how inconsistent it was. It won’t be until Reach where the shotgun becomes decent again. 😢
Oh. My. God.
You have revolutionized my understanding of the saying "dog water". I always assumed it was just a fairly nasty term for something bad, but it's HOTDOG WATER which obviously makes more sense than water that a dog drinks.
Ah. Thanks, that makes a lot of things make more sense now.
God damn. I've watched the other one so many times. I CANNOT WAIT to watch this one. Thanks buddy.
This is the first video I watched of yours, and I'm going to sum up my thoughts using a quote everyone's favorite half jaw, but use it in a VERY different meaning:
"That STENCH. I've smelled it before..."
and the stench I'm referring to is the FAR to rare nowadays: Quality Content. I shall be watching some more of your content before I commit to a sub, but this is a strong start!
The Halo 2 magnum is underrated as an anti flood weapon. The fast fire rate really helps when you're fighting combat forms. If you miss the infection form once with the BR you're pretty much dead because of how fast human combat forms can close the distance on you. The magnum fires so quickly that that isn't a problem. It's definitely a very niche weapon, but it's not entirely useless
It *does* use bullet_slow instead of fast, so it does more damage to their body than the BR/Carbine, so you've a point there.
@@kingferaligatr7994 Yeah, but since it’s a 25% buff, it goes from 8 to 10 damage. Barely makes a difference lol
My problem with the magnum besides the low damage is the fact that they arent even that common.
"Needler Gang"
...That's an immediate thumbs up, doesn't matter what else he says about the weapons. =P
I just started playing through the campaigns in these games and these videos help a lot with getting through higher difficulties. Thank you.
Even though the Plasma Rifle is alright in 2, it’s surprisingly powerful in 3. I swear they had to have buffed it there. It especially shines in ODST where the weapon sandbox’s power creep went down.
The projectile velocity is faster (at 25 WU/s), but the spread is higher (0.5 - 1.25 degrees). AI also drop less charge for the weapon as well (generally. Weapon isn't as common either.). Dual wielding isn't as penalized on paper (compared to Halo 2), though, with the damage being higher (at 0.8x) and the spread being lower (0.75x - 1.5x). Combined with the faster projectile velocity in 3, it's definitely better dual-wielded than before. (Also, keep in mind that several weapons, like the BR and Carbine, have lower projectile velocities in 3, among other things.)
@@kingferaligatr7994 Very interesting, thank you for the stats. While it doesn’t reach the heights of the BR and Carbine, it’s certainly a solid choice.
The H3 Plasma Rifle is honestly my favorite of the series because of how it shreds flood combat forms when dual wielded they fall to it’s might.
Brute Shot is probably my favorite weapon in the whole game. There's nothing quite as fun as a really well-designed grenade launcher in an FPS.
Hell yeah. Now awaiting the definitive 3, Reach, 4, 5, and 6 tierlists.
Can’t believe someone pointed out the weapon respect thing. I remember old Gamefaqs post about it and even tried it, was cool on heroic. Such a neat little gimmick
I find it so cool that Ultra Elites will drop their weapons and dual you if you have an energy sword. I never even noticed that was a thing until watching this
Great vid and solid tier list. I agree with all your points made. Great work Vadam.
I fully agree with all the rankings. And I like that you put Scarab Gun out of tierlist. Not only does it symbolize how to obtain the weapon, it also demonstrates how immensely broken & powerful it is. These crisp details are why I love your videos!
Also is the weapon scare mechanic present in all Halo games? I'm only able to play CE & H2 so I dunno D:
It's not in CE, I don't know about 3/Reach though
Fantastic work. Always fun to go back and analyze anything H2
All of CE weapons felt heavy and powerful. Halo 2s weapons felt a bit too plasticky for me.
Agreed. Love Halo 2 but it’s my least favorite of the Bungie titles due to its weapon sandbox being a bunch of nerf guns
The transition from CE's AR to 2's SMG was the biggest fall from grace for any Halo weapon
Shotgun nerf from CE to 2 was worse imo
True that
@@QuarrelsomeLocalOaf To add to that, Plasma Pistol was also nerfed a lot
Everything suffered from CE to 2.
@@HorglerExcept the Needler that thing actually got buffed.
Great video! One thing I would have factored into the weapons is their Melee damage and Halo 2's melee mechanics (specifically for the Rocket Launcher / Fuel Rod Cannon). This might not have influenced any tier placement - and the Brute Shot melee was highlighted - but that's always been a piece of Halo 2's sandbox I've loved. Moving onto the Multiplayer video now!
This way has no right to be so detailed. I've played h2 since 2004 and I didn't know 70% of this video. Beautiful.
You think you've played a game to death and 20 years later you still learn new things.
I absolutely loved hearing you go over the Halo 2 weapons! Never knew about the "scariness" factor with weapons, that's such a cool detail.
The carbine is also lethal in the hands of marines. In the prison break mission, if you manage to give all the marines a carbine before reinforcements arrive, you can sit back and enjoy as they headshot all the brutes and grunts.
YOOOOO I REMEBER COMENNITING ON YOUR CE VIDEOO TO MAKE ONE ON HALO 2 AND TOU ACTUALLY DID IT, LETSSS GOOOOOOO
Also with the Neddler, if you spam the trigger, you can increase the rate of fire of the weapon
- In that case I do consider it to be an exploit
Mainly because that mechanic was patched and corrected for Halo 3
Ayyy, I watched your Halo 1 video just a days ago. Glad to see this pop up.
I learn a lot from these vids man, keep up the good work.
Loving this series!
This is incredible. Only partway through the vid so maybe you say, but I hope a Halo 3 vid is in the works!
Ah, the Halo 2 magnum.
I managed to beat the level Sacred Icon on Heroic with just two of them. It was an experience.
Brute shot carried my halo 2 solo legendary playthrough, same in Halo 3. Nothing beats bashing something with it.
back in the halo 3 days, the Needler was my choice of weapon in mp. everybody gangsta until you cross someone who has mastered the Needler.
Definitely keeping making these halo weapon tier list videos. They’re great
I couldn’t focus on the first part of the video because of the absolute banger playing. Love peril, H2 has the best ost
I have been waiting for this my whole life
Awesome vid as usual homie!
"Jack of all trades, master of none" is NOT how I would describe two of the Halo's best weapons in the BR and the CE: Magnum. They are quite literally the jack of all trades, master of most.
Just found these videos, please continue. It tickles my brain
very well researched video. the depth of the halo games really amaze me of how much bungie spent on, especially 2. i sometimes wonder if certain glitchs were intended but just never admitted to the public so as to let players figure it out. like how the glyphs in odst dont serve any purpose at except to arouse curosity in them, they are the surplus which mean nothing but make you enjoy the journey to it all the more
This was incredibly insightful! Thanks!
I really want to see a series of this, man! 😊
Very informative video, I've been playing Halo 2 for 20 years and never knew the plasma sword caused fear in enemies.
I remember when i first played halo 2 i never liked it but going back recently to MMC it really grew on me. Its fun factor is massive
Thank you for a the incredible work you did for the video
First was really impressive, entertaining and intriguing. So im all set for another ^-^
Great video. I know the world of work these videos are but if you can in the future do a Halo 3 and Halo 3 OSDT weapon tier list it would be awesome. This is by far the best weapon tier list I have seen.
Im surprised you put the sentinel beams so low. They carried me in the flood levels cause they had more range than other options and still melt flood pretty good
this is f ing brilliant well narated, good voice for this kinda thing , have not finished it yet , but had to comment
Really nice. Can't wait for you to do a tier list video on the Reach weapons.
Nice video. Very insightful. I thought for sure the sword was gonna be rated Rex, but everyone plays the game their own way;
S: Sword, Battle rifle, Beam rifle, Brute shot,
A: Plasma Grenade, Frag Grenade, Covenant carbine, Sniper rifle.
Everything else.
I love how none of this info is directly stated in game, but you can *feel* it all.
And, 15:45 I've always wondered why there's so few magnums in H2. I love the pistols in every game, so it made me really sad when I couldn't complete a magnum only run in 2...
Awesome video ! If i may, a cool video series on caracters stats could be just as good and informative as this. Like what differ a heavy grunt from a major one. Or what is stronger between halo ce zealot or spec ops elite. A full breakdown. It has always been a whish to my nerd me
26:06 If I remember correctly, the H2 Needler is not the only one without a buildup fire rate in the series. The H4 and H5 Needlers also had flat fire rates I'm pretty sure. I do know for a fact that the CE, H3, and Reach Needlers all had build ups. Other than that though, great video, looking forward to part 2
love your videos
Thank you, that means a lot
Thanks to this video I finally got the courage to play Halo 2 on Legendary for the first time and I managed it without much difficulty. I thought I would have a horrible time but that wasn't the case
I can see damage thresholds being an issue with the difficulty settings, if a weapon cant kill a sniper jackal without reloading on legendary but can on heroic then where does that leave the weapon? Those are 2 wholly separate experiences for the player.
I know what you’re saying, but Halo 2 doesn’t really have that with its enemies. Maybe the Brutes, but even on Normal, you’re still better off using headshot weapons to kill them faster anyway.
Even the SMG can kill an Elite major on Legendary with one magazine.
I don't think rarity should be considered. When you do find it, you should be glad to have an S their weapon
Great! I've been waiting for this video :)
Halo 2's sandbox is really well done, but I feel like that's underappreciated because of how weak you are in Legendary. Instead of picking up whatever and going to town like you could in CE (even on Legendary if you were careful), you have to stick to two or three weapons in order to survive in H2.
I'm especially looking forward to the ODST tier list. I want to know why the AR in that game doesn't do squat against Brute shields despite being fairly reliable against them in H3.
Currently doing a Halo 2 legendary playthrough and I agree. Most weapons simply don't do enough dps to ever be useful on legendary.
I would disagree with this list a bit in legendary. The BR and Carbine are not S tier. Their damage is too low and can't even outdamage a normal eliter. You can kill them but need to move around and take cover. The are only good if you combine it with a plasma pistol tbh. The sword is also not very useful on legendary as its simply to risky to go into close combat in any scenario when you die so fast.
The needler is S tier though. If you learn to fast tap the trigger and get a dual wield, it is the only "normal" weapon in the game that actually outdamage elites reliably. Not to mention you can fire a few shots and quickly take cover from a distance with it it. It's so good and fun to use. Ammo is a bit of a problem but it's not too bad.
i just started playing halo, so this came to me at the perfect time
Good luck! I hope you like it
Somehow it took me over 10 years until seeing this video before I realised that there were gold Sentinels in Halo 2 called Sentinel Eliminators
To be fair the game itself never says their name
Carbine is also a pretty good ally weapon imo, usually plenty laying around in Arbiter levels to kit out your Elites with. You can also give it to the jackals in sacred icon which I've always found interesting since I don't think they ever spawn with it anywhere in the campaign.
Fun fact: the Carbine is my favorite weapon in all of Halo.
Fun fact number 2: The first enemies equipped with the COVENANT Carbine are HERETICS who were stranded after Installation 04's battle. This means 1: it's an ironic name at the outset, and 2: the fleet that chased the Pillar of Autumn had the Carbine, but didn't use them on Halo, where it would maybe have given them an edge against the UNSC.
the halo 2 magnum is so fun to hammer the trigger with tho love the fire rate
There is also this exploit that if you stick a Plasma nade to a hunter or time right a UNSC nade, it stuns lock them for a while
amazing video. people are not often this smart with their tier lists
I remember back in the days doing a glitch in the first arbiter mission that made the plasma sword last forever, so good
Carbine is my favorite campaign weapon. Shooting grunts with it just feels so good and not wasting much ammo
The fact that it took FIVE GAMES for Bungie/343/Halo Studios to address the BR Ammo Reserve issue completely is insane IMO. 108 was WAY too little ammo for a gun that fires THAT FAST. Yeah, it was a way to balance how OP it is, but they could have easily given the weapon more mag reserves in the Campaign while keeping the 108 max rounds in Multiplayer
You can also shotgun 2 hunter at the start of regret before the first gondola.
Pretty sure in the unpatched Halo 2 original, elite ultras can survive 2 plasma grenade sticks