With the addition of the Promethean eniemes in the reclaimer saga from Halo 4, they brought us some very interesting looking weapons that were originally designed to fight the flood. In the hands of players they were meet with mix reception with some hits (Light Rifle, Boltshot,Incineration Cannon and Binary Rifle) and some misses ( ScatterShot, Suppressor, Pluse Grenades and maybe the Auto Sentry).
A common complaint was that some of the weapons were not “unique” and were just copycat of the UNSC and Covenant variations. While I don’t necessarily agree that some identical functions render a weapon a reskin, some points have validity in regards to balance and aesthetic. So 343 took note and made the Promethean’s arsenal stand out a bit more in regards to balance and lethality. The following are a list of changes that I have observed from watching countless gameplay videos from campaign and multiplayer.
Light Rifle: A interesting weapon that is more powerful when zoomed in. 343i bumped it up from loadout weapon to mid tier power weapon. The have decreased the shots to perfect kill someone by 1 in both unzoomed (4 from 5)and zoomed (3 from 4). They did away with the ammo stacking so it now fires one shot of hardlight instead of 3 unzoomed and 1 column zoomed. There appears to be less difference in firing speed between the two know.
Suppressor: The sole automatic of the bunch. In Halo 4 it had the fastest TTK of the autos minus the SAW and HMGs, but took the most amount of shots to kill in pre (19) and post patch (16). Was also hampered by slow projectile speed even at close range and unforgiving bloom. Now, it is probably the most accurate auto with a slow build up to max firing rate and a smaller reticle. Also appears to have slight homing capabilities and benefits form the new smart-link zoom and crit damage on unshielded headshots.
Boltshot: Well someone got changed around. After wreaking havoc in Halo 4 with its shotgun secondary feature, it appears to be a weaker but still trustworthy sidearm. With a 3 round automag like feature as its normal firing mode and tracking capabilities like the Plasma Pistol. It previously could not kill a target in its normal firing mode without reloading. Now it can and it is outfitted with smart link zoom. Unknown if can still headshot.
Scattershot: The first Promethean weapon shown to us a little over 3 years ago. It appeared to have potential with its unique bouncing projectiles and faster rate of fire than the shotgun. But was lacking in terms of consistency and stopping power. So it now has tighter spread in both normal and smart link aiming, more bouncing and lethal damage range. Including an increase in 5 rounds for ammo reserves.
Incineration Cannon: The most lethal of the bunch out side of the BiRi, when you saw this weapon and its pulsing cannon heading your way you know you had a look of " I’m/ We’re screwed". Almost impossible to escape the blast radius of both the main explosion and its other 4 mini bombs with out taking major damage. Now it appears to have been changed in functionality. Now sporting a charge meter instead of a single cannon. The cannon cannot duel out kills with a single shot, it must be charged to reach maximum potential. But it has to recompose after a fully charged shot similar to the plasma launcher of Halo:Reach.
Pulse Grenade (now called Splinter Grenade): probably the most oddball of weapons. This grenade was tossed aside in favor of the power of the frags and stickes. But in the hands of a good player, it was an effective tool to weed out campers and provide area denial for points of contention. It successor appears to have more bang for your buck with a immediate explosion and like the Cannon in the previous game has residual blasts that can take an opponent off guard and cause panic.
( Special note: I have not seen footage of the Binary Rifle in action to judge and did not count the new Splinter Turret. Although it appears to be a buffed up hand held version of the auto sentry).
In the interest of a viable sandbox, 343 have done good justice to the Promethean weapons by improving the flaws that some of them had. Setting them apart and making them appear to be more powerful versions of true forerunner weapons. Can’t wait to get my hands on them, can you?
