Im about 40 years old and I have experienced and understand the concepts of Bungie’s invention of the Golden Triangle; my understanding is not through your typical internet research but from the good old fashion way, “actually playing all the halos”.
My interpretation may be different from yours so please, feel free to share your opinions.
Remember “3” is the magic number. 3 weapon options (magnum,BR,DMR) 3 range options (close,mid,long), 3 tools of destruction (melee,gun,grenade); think of “Rock Paper Scissors”:
-
At close range, your magnum is highly effective on the offense with only “3” shots to the head followed by a single melee attack or vice-versa= instant kill
-
At mid range, 3 quick burst with Battle Riffle then grenade= instant kill
-
At long range, DMR’s are simply deadly with 3 well placed shots to the head alone= instant kill
Other weapons such as Snipers, rocket launchers, dual wielding, covenant/promeatean/brute weapons, and shotguns are considered “power weapons” I don’t really classify these weapons as part of the Golden triangle because it would be a privilege and advantage to have these weapons during standard combat. However, what actually breaks the golden triangle is special spartan abilities. Reach started with Armor Lock, this provided Noob enabling counter-measures so that can avoid the wrath of legendary players who were highly skilled at using the Golden triangle method. later in halo years we get golden triangle breaking abilities such as spartan charge and evade. Some people in this new generation think the Golden Triangle is only simply melee,gun and grenade, because maybe they saw a video that gave only a brief description? But I’m happy to inform you that it goes a little further down the rabbit hole.