Honestly this thing is broke as hell, every single game it’s pretty much all I can think about is how OP it is whether I’m using it or being killed by it, and I know some long time Halo fans that have ditched this game because of how OP it is and how it takes a lot of the skill out of the game.
As of right now there is no downside to using the AR as it is incredibly easy to use, extremely powerful, and has for some reason gotten like a 4x range buff since Halo 3 and is probably why free for all used to be one of my favourite game modes and is now my least favourite because the AR can cleanup and steal kills from across the map. At the very least it needs a range nerf whether by reducing its accuracy or by having damage falloff at farther ranges. I think it also needs a nerf on how fast it kills unshielded players because it basically kills just as fast as headshotting them with a precision weapon which is just stupid because that’s where the advantage of using a more skillful precision weapons gains it’s advantage.
There just needs to be a downside to using a less skillful weapon over a precision weapon which is why the AR was a lot weaker in Halo 3 but would still easily beat the BR in close range when chained with a melee.
14 Likes
The AR melee combo in Halo 3 was super OP.
The AR here in Infinite to me feels at a good place overall.
18 Likes
I guess it wouldn’t hurt to cut its range down, but overall I think it’s mostly ok.
7 Likes
I believe there are only 4 weapons in the game that have a slower TTK than the AR when used optimally:
- Mangler: ~1.35s
- Hydra: ~1.55s
- BR75: ~1.70s
- Disruptor: 2.00s (1.35s for a DoT kill)
The AR’s optimal TTK is 1.25s, however bloom / spread will realistically make that number lower. Every bullet missed adds ~0.08s.
The Mangler can beat an AR if you weave in and out of cover, timing shots. Same with the Hydra, although it’s main function is to destroy vehicles anyways. The BR75 is a ranged laser beam that will beat the AR outside of close ranged encounters. Lastly, the Disruptor has a bunch of utility (chain damage and EMP).
It seems to me that the AR is in a good spot. If there is one change I would advocate for it would be reducing the magazine capacity from 36 to 32 in order to limit its multi-kill potential. This would encourage players to incorporate grenades, melee, and secondary weapons… players would have to use more tools to be successful.
12 Likes
I feel like both the AR and sidekick makes most other weapons pointless to pick up. Sidekick in a m&k player’s hands is basically a power-weapon
11 Likes
I had to do a challenge this week:
- Get 10 kills with the Commando
This was like forcing me to play with a disadvantage because the Sidekick is just straight up better, not to mention I have to go out of my way to find a Commando.
It’s really ridiculous when you compare the Commando and Sidekick. IMO, the Sidekick is a bigger problem than the AR.
10 Likes
I think the AR is in a good spot.
No need for a nerf.
15 Likes
No it does not. When the pistol is the most powerful weapon in the game the AF is the least of our problems. I despise the pistol and hate even more than it is what we start with. Since Halo 5 is has infurated me we don’t start with rifle instead.
2 Likes
See i find the AR to finally be decent. Nothing better nothing worse. At closer ranges it loses to a lot of the map weapons and and longer ranges it easily gets outranged (people really need to give up on the trope that the AR is beaming people cross map, thats not happening. What is happening is the AR is finally not absolute worthless trash like it has been in every previous iteration where most if not all guns killed faster than it.)
In ranked i never see an AR get used because the BR is still so dominant and i would argue needs a nerf because i find no need to go for any other ranged weapon when i spawn with a BR and can easily outrange all close range weapons when spawing with a BR too.
It is:
-perfectly accurate
-has no bloom
-long range
-a good scope
-large mag (can easily get multiple kills per mag)
-near hitscan projectiles
-no recoil
-best ranged weapon for descoping enemies
-large ammo pool (that is basically infinite when its a spawn weapon)
On top of all of this its pretty easy to aim in Halo in general so the BR is just too easy to use and too useful especially as a spawn weapon.
I think its dang near impossible to have a fun well rounded sandbox when one weapon has as much power as the BR. Just a couple minor nerfs would bring it inline and allow other ranged weapons to flourish outside of super niche circumstances.
TLDR: The AR is not OP, its just decent for the first time in Halos history and people are upset about that and if anything the BR is still OP.
5 Likes
The issue here is how easy to use the AR vs basically every other weapon in the game. It is much harder to get the optimal time to kill with a precision weapon when the enemy is good and is strafing, whereas strafing is useless if the enemy is using an AR because of how easily you can stay on target. I’m fine with the AR being easy to use but there needs to be a drawback to using a weapon that doesn’t take much skill to use, which is why in Halo 3 it wasn’t very powerful but could still easily beat the BR in close quarters.
3 Likes
If i remember correctly the BR still outkilled the AR in H3 at close range. I don’t ever remember getting kills with the AR in H3 unless its all i had and i shot the person first by a good margin. The BR is not hard to use, its probably the easiest precision weapon to use and getting kills with it is too easy seing as it works at basically all ranges. The AR can easily be beat by most close range weapons and gets outranged so i think its at the perfect spot right now.
1 Like
The draw back is a slower TTK. Yes other weapons may be harder to use than the MA40 AR, but if you are good with them you will beat the standard AR user. It isn’t like every other weapon requires a high degree of skill.
The Needler literally homes in on targets. The Pulse Carbine & Plasma Pistol will beat the AR in combo with a Sidekick. The Sentinel Beam takes some aiming control however it shreds compared to the AR. Bulldog and Heatwave also dominate the AR in close quarters.
Commando, Stalker Rifle, and Shock Rifle can all win vs an AR but it requires high skill because these are ranged weapons… which naturally should be less useful at close range.
The rest are power weapons. The AR isn’t a problem, as others have said for once it isn’t useless.
2 Likes
Assault Rifle feels fine to me. It’s decent enough that I can defend myself with it upon respawning in, but there are better options out there to swap it out for within every map.
It’s pretty much in set up rather perfectly where it needs to be.
So no, it doesn’t need to be nerfed…
2 Likes
TLDR both are broken and bad weapons and have been better in prior games, look to Halo 3 for how to design these two weapons.
1 Like
Increase Damage
Reduce RoF
Reduce Magazine
Remove Headshot Multiplier
Increase base spread
Decrease max spread
Make it a close quarters titan, but have it struggle beyond that range. Like it should. Beats BRs and such at close range, so long as it perfects - and it will with a steadier RoF, higher damage and more stable behavior. But have it punish the user for using ot too far outside its range.
Yeah Halo 3 is the worst example for a well balanced AR. It was so bad i think you would be better off with just a plasma pistol. The BR outkilled the AR at close range and the AR had abysmal range and lost to so many short range map weapons. H3 had the worst AR in the series and we should never look to it for balancing an AR as it was basically unusable.
3 Likes
Tell me you didn’t play Halo 3 without telling me you didn’t play Halo 3, also skill issue.
Good, skill weapons should always win at close range on the account of needing skill.
Good, it’s the default starter gun so there’s no reason it should directly outwin other guns unless the user is actually good at the game.
It was legit the best balanced AR in the franchise, you are just bad at Halo 3 and think it’s bad because you can’t hold RT while running directly at someone.
3 Likes
I agree with your Hyper. The AR is a great weapon to utilize and strategize in Halo Infinite.
6 Likes
We have had this conversation multiple times before. You think everything but the BR should be borderline trash outside of super niche situations and i think the AR should be a decent starter weapon and that the BR could use a nerf or 2 because it is so dang easy to use and easy to counter almost all other guns in the game with and needs to be pulled into a roll instead of being the “utility weapon”.
Every other shooter would call its equivalent of a “utility weapon” OP because it is used too much and is too strong and too easy to use. For some reason some Halo fans like this and i get it. It makes map weapons less meaningful while allowing people to always be able to fight back effectively even if they chose the wrong tactics/enganged an enemy with a weapon that should be more suited for the occation.
You can like that if you want but trying to say the H3 AR is how its supposed to be done is just crazy. Just argue for taking every weapon out of the game that “takes less skill” than the BR to use out of the game.
What are we left with?
-BR
-commando
-mangler
-shock rifle
-sentinel beam
And thats about it. Everything else is easier to use than the BR so should they also be trash/nerfed too?
4 Likes
It’s a very straightforward gun. Just point and shoot.
Doesn’t have too much range or too little. It just gets the job done granted if you have a good handle on the game.
3 Likes