Like any competitive shooter worth its salt, Halo Infinite has a ranked mode for players who really want to test their skills.
While the free-to-play multiplayer is still in its beta mode, players are already grinding the Ranked Arena mode to reach the top rank on the leaderboards.
But the ranked mode in Halo Infinite has a complex system and includes some notable differences compared to the casual multiplayer modes.
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Nonetheless, whether you're a long-term competitive Halo player or you want to test and improve your skills, Ranked Arena has a place for everyone and provides all players with an opportunity to be seriously competitive.
Below you will find everything you need to know about Halo Infinite's Ranked Arena as well as some useful tips and tricks to give you a bit of an advantage.
The ranks available in Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite has six ranks available, five of which are split into six tiers that get higher the more you progress in each rank.
The ranks consist of the following:
- Bronze I,II,III,IV,V,VI
- Silver I,II,III,IV,V,VI
- Gold I,II,III,IV,V,VI
- Platinum I,II,III,IV,V,VI
- Diamond I,II,III,IV,V,VI
- Onyx
Onyx is the top rank and has only one tier, instead, giving a unique prestige number to any Onyx player.
Unlike some other ranked game modes, players in Halo Infinite can fall down a rank, making the stakes in each match extremely high.
How Halo Infinite determines your rank
When players first head into the Ranked Arena they'll notice a countdown in the centre of the screen showing that the player is unranked.
To qualify for a rank, players must first play 10 games in Ranked Arena.
A player's rank will be determined by their individual performance, such as their Kill/Death/Assist ratio as well as the number of matches they win.
Therefore, it's vital to have a high Kill to Death ratio in Ranked Arena if you want a higher rank - it doesn't matter if you've bagged 25 kills if you've died 20 times as it shows the game you're actually a liability to teammates as you're effectively trading kills each time.
If you find you've been placed in a lower rank, however, don't get discouraged, the beauty of Halo's ranked mode is that you can progress to higher ranks as you improve in the game.
It's also important to note that being put in a lower rank doesn't mean you're a bad player, you could have simply had a lot of bad games in a row which negatively impacted your ranking.
The game modes available in Ranked Arena
Ranked Arena consists of four game modes that players will inevitably have to play, therefore it's important to familiarise yourself with all of them.
These game modes are:
- Strongholds - where players must hold at least two of three points on the map to score points.
- Oddball - where players must hold the ball for 100 seconds to score a point.
- Slayer - where a player's team must reach 50 kills to win the match.
- Capture the Flag - Where players must steal the enemies flag and return it to the base to score a point.
If you haven't had much experience with these game modes don't worry too much, they're all available in the casual Quick Play mode which can provide plenty of practice.
The rules in Ranked Arena
There are some key differences between Ranked Arena and Quick Play which are put in place to make the game more competitive and difficult while punishing players more for playing recklessly.
Firstly, friendly fire is enabled in Ranked Arena which means shooting or throwing a grenade at your teammate will deal damage and could even kill them.
Furthermore, the radar located in the bottom-left of the screen that allows you to see enemies on the map is no longer there, meaning you have to rely more on team communication to identify where enemies are located.
Players will also start with only one weapon in Ranked Arena, the Battle Rifle (BR75) which shoots in three-round bursts - there is no secondary weapon available at the immediate start of the match.
Playing solo/duo vs open
When choosing to enter a Ranked Arena match you may notice there's an option to solo/duo queue or open queue.
This effectively means your choosing to play with crossplay enabled or not.
If you're a console player and prefer to only play against other console players while queuing in ranked on your own or with one teammate who's also on console then this is the best choice for you.
If you're a PC player teamed up with three mates who are on console then you have no choice but to choose open if you all want to play together.
Despite the choice, it won't have any effect on your ranking or performance, just the type of players you may encounter.
