Boltshot**:**
Now I know many people hated the pocket shotty Boltshot in Halo 4 because it’s secondary firing mode was a 1 hit kill, plus you could spawn with it since it was a loadout weapon. This alone really screwed up matchmaking and it’s no wonder that so many people hated the thing. However, in Halo 5, there are no loadouts and everybody always spawns with the same weapons (with the exception of Warzone). So there was no need to remove the shotgun ability, because in Halo 5 it is now considered a power weapon, just like the Shotgun. Not to mention that in Halo 5, it doesn’t even behave like the name suggests. It’s not an actual bolt shot. It’s like making a Light Rifle shoot bullets or having a Spiker shoot plasma. Like at this point it is a completely different weapon. The only change to the Halo 5 version that I thought was actually good was the ability to actually aim. In Halo 4, the Boltshot was absolutely terrible as a precision weapon. It was inaccurate and did very little base damage, plus you couldn’t aim with it. The only things it was useful for was the secondary ability and it’s ability to clean up kills. The only changes I would make from the Halo 4 version is that I would give it the aiming ability from Halo 5, make it more accurate, increase the damage of the primary function by 85%, and reduce the range and damage of the shotgun ability.
EDIT- Just to point out, the damage nerf would no longer make the shotgun ability a 1hk. All it will do is pop your shields and will ONLY kill you if your shields are at half health or less. I would also make it require at least 5 shots to use the shotgun ability.
Suppressor:
I completely understand the reason they changed the Suppressor in Halo 5. In Halo 4 it was basically an SMG but worse. Everybody hated it. But I believe that most people only hated it because they never used it properly. Most people tend to view this thing as the Forrunner version of the Assault Rifle, which it wasn’t, at all. Many people tried to use it at medium ranges because the Assault Rifle works there, but they would fail miserably. Every. Time. It was the counterpart to the SMG, which has a much shorter range than the Assault Rifle. The proper way to use the Suppressor is to use it like an SMG, rather than an Assault Rifle. It absolutely dominates at close proximity, but is absolutely useless anywhere else. The issue, however, is that a Boltshot, Shotgun, Scattershot, Energy Sword, or Gravity Hammer would completely nullify the effectiveness of the Suppressor, and since you could spawn with a Boltshot, it really wasn’t even worth grabbing. It was definitely in need of a buff, which Halo 5 provided, but Halo 5 gave it the wrong kind of buff. Again, the entire weapon was completely changed functionally, requiring the user to relearn the weapon. In Halo 5, the thing isn’t really a suppressor anymore. It’s an entirely new weapon that just shares the model and name of the actual Suppressor from Halo 4. Changes I would make to the Halo 4 version to make it perfect in my eyes would be to increase the projectile speed by 40% and increase the base damage by 15%.
Light Rifle:
Ok, so if you were to look at my Halo 4 service record, it would tell you that my favorite weapon is the Light Rifle. However, it’s not just my favorite weapon in Halo 4, the Light Rifle is my favorite weapon in the entire franchise. When scoped in, it fires only 1, high damage shot, making it very effective at longer ranges. When descoped, it burst fires 3 low damage shots, making it highly effective at closer ranges. It was just the perfect precision weapon for me, and it also had these beautiful red lights inside it and it produced just a satisfying and smooth sound when you fired it. The only thing about the Light Rifle that I didn’t absolutely love was the fact that you went through ammo pretty quickly. I know many people argue that this weapon is just a copy of UNSC weapons. I disagree completely. The DMR is a highly accurate long range precision weapon that deals out moderate damage. The Light Rifle (scoped) is a less accurate shorter range precision weapon that deals out high damage. The difference there is the same as the difference between the Carbine and a DMR. The Battle Rifle is a mid range precision weapon that deals moderate damage and fires in bursts of 3. The Light Rifle (unscoped) is a short range precision weapon that is slightly more accurate and deals slightly less damage. Still quite a bit of difference there. In Halo 5, the Light Rifle loses everything that I loved about it in Halo 4. The sounds, the red lights, the burst fire feature, the rate of fire, and they even -Yoinked- up the scope and made it look hideous, and they put ugly things on the bottom of the barrel that float around when scoped in just like everything else. I could go on and on as to why I hate the Halo 5 iteration. The perfect Light Rifle imo is a strait up copy/paste of the Halo 4 version that has a 4 shot burst rather than a 3 shot to make it even more different from the Battle Rifle.
Scattershot:
The issues I have with the new Scattershot is very similar to the issues I have with the new Light Rifle. Most of it is just nitpicky stuff like the new sounds, but what I really hate about it is the insane inconsistency and the lower rate of fire. I know many people say that the Scattershot in Halo 4 was pretty inconsistent aswell, but it wasn’t as punishing because of the high rate of fire. In my experience, the Halo 5 Scattershot is WAY more inconsistent than the Halo 4 version. In Halo 4, I would take the Scattershot over the Shotgun any day of the week, but now in halo 5 I would rather use the Plasma Turret. Changes I would make to the Halo 4 Scattershot to make it perfect imo is make the damage more consistent and make it shoot 6 projectiles in the same patterns as the emitters are.
Binary Rifle:
The Binary Rifle definitely has the least worst change of all the Forrunner weapons in Halo 5. They didn’t botch up the model or any of the animations and it still has roughly the same damage output. Really the only difference is that is shoots a continuous beam rather than a single shot. I don’t really have much of an argument for the Halo 4 version other than me just saying I think it would have been better if this new functionality was a completely different weapon altogether. Perhaps a second Forrunner sniper that doesn’t have a targeting laser. Anyway, what I would change on the Halo 4 Binary Rifle is make the targeting laser visible to yourself while scoped in like it is in Halo 5, and reduce the size of the reticle while unscoped by about 50%.
Incineration Cannon:
Do I even need to explain myself on this one?? Comparing the Halo 5 Incineration Cannon to the one in Halo 4 is like comparing “fresh” lobster from a gas station in northern West Virginia to actual fresh lobster from an expensive restaurant right off the coast of the Boston Harbor. Like, IT’S A FRIGGEN INCINERATION CANNON, not a handheld pumpkin chucker!!! Even when you don’t compare the Halo 5 version to the Halo 4 version, it is objectively bad. The Fuel Rod Cannon is a better anti vehicle weapon, and it is inefficient as an anti infantry weapon. Also, having orange lights rather than red just makes it look rubbish. In order to make the Incineration Cannon actually useful and worthy of the name, I would straight up copy/paste the Halo 4 version but make it be operated on a battery with only 4 shots rather than actual ammo.