Part 1: Weapons

The Pistol

The pistol is arguably the best overall weapon in the game. Extremists love it, noobs hate it. 0If you find a pistol lying around, pick it up and use it! Good in almost all situations, long range or short. Once you get those shields off your opponent he's as good as dead. Go for head shots! Practice keeping the pistol sight at opponent head level during game play, and head shots will become more natural. Remember, the pistol has a zoom, but it takes time! Try to keep a longer range on other players when using the pistol. Full auto is not as accurate as single fire, so "vid" the pistol: squeeze the trigger for each shot. You'll be much more accurate that way. The only downside of the pistol is the relatively slow melee attack, but don't discard an empty pistol too quickly; ammo from dead players is often abundant.

Assault Rifle

Because it's one of the weaker guns in the game, you might want to stay away from the assault rifle unless you're sure you need it. (There are those who would melee with an empty pistol rather than pick up the AR). If you must use this weapon, don't use it at long range. If you HAVE to use it at long range, use burst firing for a slight increase in accuracy. The AR is only decent at a short to mid range unless you're just trying to scare someone. Go for full auto when in close range. It is weak against shields, but good to have in a combo with a plasma weapon (drop an enemy's shield with plasma fire and flip to AR to finish them off). Melee attacks with the AR are relatively quick, and it can be a good close quarter weapon choice for full auto fire and melee attacks. Also, remember to reload at every quiet opportunity.

Shotgun

Like the pistol, the shotgun is a choice weapon. Relax that itchy trigger-finger and hold off until you're close to your target, then go for the head. At close range a shotgun can kill in one blast.

Don't waste your shotgun ammo on long-range targets, as the shotgun is so ineffective in these situations that you may as well be shooting them with marshmallows. For this reason, the shotgun is good to have in tandem with a scoped weapon (rocket launcher, pistol, or sniper rifle) so you can deal effectively with long- or short-range targets . The shotgun is also effective against vehicles - when they're in range. Melee attacks are slow with the shotgun, so be sure you have a shell in the chamber before approaching your enemy!

Sniper Rifle

Take your time, aim for the head, and conserve ammo. Contrails will instantly give away your position if you miss your target, so keep a steady hand and a cool head. Use the 2X zoom to find a target, then zoom in with the 10X scope when you have it in your sight. If your target is moving, don't waste time and effort trying to track them; place the reticle in the target's path and let your enemy move into your sights. Keep moving when you have the sniper rifle; it's possible to concentrate so deeply on what you see in the scope that you lose track of what's going on around you. If you are playing with motion trackers, remember to glance at yours regularly. People will see your contrails and use them to figure out where you're hiding. Melee with a sniper rifle is slow, and should only be done if you have no other choice. The shotgun and sniper rifle make a brutal combo.

Even if you don't fire it at all, the sniper rifle is valuable as a spotting scope. It's very useful for watching an enemy base as you approach on foot, or for helping coordinate a team assault. This is true of any scoped weapon, but the sniper rifle is especially useful because you can also pick people off without being 'in' the fight.

When playing against snipers, moving laterally makes you a harder target to hit (running at them or jumping make you an easier shot). Keep track of rounds fired, and make your move while they reload.

Rocket Launcher

Aim for the feet. Sometimes jumping will give you a better angle to hit your opponent's feet and makes it more difficult to hit your feet if your opponent also has a rocket launcher. The more you are in the air the better; descending on someone from above with the rocket launcher is excellent, especially when playing Rockets in Multiplayer.

The rocket launcher has good splash damage; shooting a low ceiling or wall next to an opponent can put him in a world of hurt. One shot will kill when used properly; make it a good one as the reload time is horrendous and the delay between shots feels like an eternity when your first shot misses and your opponents rush you with guns blazing. Rockets have a pretty slow velocity too so remember to lead your targets by quite a bit, especially if they are in a vehicle. Rockets are very good against vehicles as they will not only do a great deal of damage to your enemies but often flip their vehicle as well. A super shield is no match for a well-aimed rocket ; and don't melee with a rocket launcher, it isn't worth your time (unless your opponent is facing the wrong way). A rocket launcher and shotgun combination is what Halo is all about.

When playing Oddball games, a rocket launcher is surprisingly useful for quickly removing the ball from its current surroundings. If the enemy is closing and you really don't think you'll survive, launch the skull and deny them the time.

If you fire a rocket and miss, switch weapons, even if you have one shot still left. That final shot is your emergency shot. Also, if you miss that first time, you're probably not going to get another rocket shot off without killing yourself; by the time you're ready to fire again the target will be too close.

Plasma Pistol

This gun reminds me of the Cricket in 'Men In Black'. The uninitiated might think this weapon sucks, but it doesn't. Charged shots are extremely important and brutal: they track their targets and will instantly drop shields. Don't rely too much on the guidance, however, and bear in mind that charged shots won't track vehicles. One charged shot will bring down a 400% super shield on a guy in a tank (and try it against a tank with four passengers!). This is especially key when playing Iron CTF or other custom variants with extra health. You can kill someone in two shots by wiping out his shields with a charged shot, then switching to the pistol and ventilating his skull.

The plasma pistol's primary fire is also useful, as it stuns opponents and you can get a pretty good rate of fire if you twitch the trigger at the moment when the plasma shot fires. You can really hurt enemies by shooting them in the back rapidly. Even better, the melee on the pistol is incredibly fast. Try an overcharge shot as you are running full-bore at someone, keep hitting him with primary fire until the gun overheats, then melee attack as you are right on top of him. This is a good gun to carry in tandem with a weapon like the pistol or AR; wipe out your enemies' shields with the plasma pistol and then switch weapons to finish them off.

Plasma Rifle

This is a well-rounded weapon, suitable for a variety of situations. The plasma rifle is good against shields, but watch that overheat meter to avoid what could be a fatal pause while your gun overheats. Once the shields are gone, aim for the head, as head shots do twice as much damage; as with the pistol, learning to keep the plasma rifle trained on the opponents noggin will always pay off. The plasma rifle also has a stun; very useful against the tank. Like the plasma pistol, it's a good weapon for shooting someone in the back or pinning him in place (if they are charging you with the shotgun, for example). Melee attacks with this weapon are pretty fast, and it's a great weapon to run and gun with (close quarters fire + melee). A great weapon to have at your hip, the plasma rifle complements almost any other weapon in your arsenal.

Needler

Don't use the needler in multiplayer unless you know what you are doing. A tight collection of needles in an enemy is your best friend - unless you are right next to him. Use more as a stealth weapon, or perhaps kamikaze style to take them with you. The melee attack speed is horrendous, and if you pick it up you had better make sure you have something short-range to complement it. The needler is most effective when used against an enemy who is unable to sidestep. Ladders, tight corridors, and narrow gangplanks are all good places to catch a person and put enough needles into them to seal their fate.

Fragmentation Grenades

These have a short fuse so they're more useful in closer combat situations. They're good to use when you have the drop on someone, and good for ambushes as they are more difficult to see and more difficult to avoid. Toss a frag grenade on the ground just as someone is coming around the corner, or throw one behind him as he's backing up. If you're being chased, juke around a corner and drop a frag grenade at your feet, then turn around and finish off your pursuer. When you're about to die, squeeze the grenade trigger! The "suicide grenade" eventually becomes a reflex, and sometimes it injures or even kills your own killer.

Plasma Grenades

Plasma grenades are good against the tank and somewhat less effective against other vehicles. Be aware of the longer fuse however! If you want to school someone, stick a plasma grenade to his head. Feel free to point and laugh at him; just watch that he doesn't charge you and take you out with him. Use plasma grenades to get at hard-to-reach spots like high ledges by tossing them at a ceiling or wall near your target; the grenades will just fall straight to the floor and stay there, instead of bouncing about like frag grenades.

Melee

You probably won't want to use melee attacks as your primary attack. However, they are good to finish off opponents, especially when you consider the humiliation factor! Run at someone and charge-shoot him, then melee attack on the run. Hit someone in the back of the head and you get a free taunt. When using plasma weapons, melee attacks are the perfect solution for those overheating incidents. Though all weapons do the same amount of melee damage, the plasma pistol has a superior melee attack in terms of speed.

If you're running when you hit a person with a melee attack, you'll do about 50% more damage. If you're running and near the peak of a jump, you'll do about 75% more damage, almost enough to kill an opponent outright.

Both the flag and the skull can be used as melee weapons - extra humiliation for killing someone with either!