Halo 2/Glitches

Lag

One of the most powerful weapons in Halo2 Xbox Live is the 'Host' powerup. All games have a single Host who basically keeps track of the other players and game events; since the internet naturally has some delay time (lag) between players, the player who is acting as host is able to perform actions (such as a sniper headshot) that register faster than the other players. For example if both players have the sniper rifle, and both fire at exactly the same wall-clock time. In game the host player will appear to have shot sooner, while the non-host player will be shown having shot after a split second delay (or even dying without shooting).

It is rumored that you can 'steal' the Host powerup by pressing the 'back' button at exactly the right time while joining Matchmaking. As well as by pressing it at the right moment after getting a 'blue screen' when someone disconnects from the game. When you are Host, Always take advantage of your faster timing by using instant-kill weapons such as: sniper rifle, sword, shotgun, or BR (the BR is not a strict instant-kill weapon, but in a BR vs BR fight the host will get an accuracy and speed bonus)

In a Team game, always give those weapons to the team-mate who has Host and protect him.

The best way to fight against someone with Host is to avoid them entirely; especially in Sword or Sniper-only games. They will always win a 1on1 fight. You can try hiding near them and stealing their kills, or simply go to the other side of the map and try outpacing them; but any direct attack will only add to their score.

The advantages of the Host powerup can vary, it works best when the internet lag is high, as well as in games that focus on the aforementioned weapons. Standby is the official name for a cheating method, where the Host increases the amount of lag to help improve his advantage using special features of his router. However, since some people have bad internet connections to begin with, they receive this for 'free', and there is no way to know if someone is cheating or just has a lucky Host. To be safe it is best to report them as cheaters in all cases. If you know you have Host, it is best to quit out of the game at a score of 24, to let everyone who wasn't so lucky keep playing.

Movement glitches

Players have discovered many glitches in Halo 2. For example, the player can leave the ordinary map boundaries by performing a "sword jump," in which the player presses , twice, and then the button on their gamepad, while having their rocket launcher out and their sword equipped, while facing another player. They will charge at the player but not slash them, allowing the sword user to fly over the other person and get over a boundary. Players could also use the "rocket glitch" to reach past the boundaries. However, this has been removed from the game by an update from Bungie. It works by having one player already in the position they wish to reach. While the player above is jumping, the player wanting to reach the position must have a rocket launcher, without ammunition, and a sword. While targeting the jumping man, from the bottom of the cross-hair, the player must switch between the rocket and sword to obtain access to the new area. The "rocket glitch" was disabled in the autoupdate, due to misuse in multiplayer battles. Two players can still use the "sword cancel" to gain access to new areas, or a technique called 'butterflying,' in which one player jumps upon another's head, jumps again, and then is sword-canceled. The player doing the canceling is propelled up to the first, who jumps again. This method of play can be used to attain incredible heights, as long as the first person maintains his position on top of the other's head. Invisible walls on most levels stop the players from traveling 'out of the map,' but it can still lead to unfair play in objective games on maps such as Relic.

Players have also discovered "super jumps", or bounces. Super jumps can be found on every map and are executed by crouching under something, releasing crouch so that you are 'stuck' in crouched mode under the object (this is key…it is not known exactly what this does, but it does increase the probability of the jump working enormously), and jumping on one of the lines that make up the map's geometry, at which time the player will be propelled very high. Some theories as to why exist, but the most appreciated states that you actually begin to fall out of the map, and the physics engine forces you back up; hence the effect of being thrown up into the air. Players have discovered many of these jumps and there are possibly many more, especially in the newer maps.

One of these "super jumps", or bounces, can be found in the map Zanzibar. This can be achieved by first going inside of the base. Where you find the battle rifle you would be able to see two windows with glass. Break these windows by either throwing a grenade or hitting them until no glass is left. If you look at the window to your nearest right, there would appear to be a glass shard in the wall. By walking left to the edge of the window and crouching, you should be able to get stuck into the wall. By jumping onto or near the line on the floor directly under the wall, you can be propelled to the top of the base. According to several non-US players, the superbounce can only be used on both Australian and American systems. However, it is much easier to perform on American systems. Also there is another superbounce that allows the player to get on top of the wheel in the middle of the map. You first crouch and walk into the corner of the wheel nearest the building which the flag is located. You then turn around and jump on the handrail near the ramp where 'Camp Froman' (where the defender's sniper rifle respawns) is located. When done correctly, you are propelled into the air, allowing you to get onto the top of the windmill.

These glitches have become a major problem in Halo 2's multiplayer over Xbox Live. For example, players can use the aforementioned "super jump" on the level Zanzibar to jump to the top of the level out of reach of most players. Since the release of the downloadable maps, Halo 2 hackers, users who edit the game with formerly illegally modified consoles (modifying Xbox consoles is now legal in the United States), began to mod the maps on the hard drives of their Xboxes to receive advantages, such as weapons that do more damage, flying ground vehicles, etc. This has become such a widespread problem in the "Matchmaking" system that Bungie was forced to resolve the problem by releasing autoupdates which ban hackers from the system and terminate their accounts. They have currently banned thousands of players and are working on cleaning up the rest, earning the process the moniker 'Banhammer.' Several sites offer a list of cheaters and hackers.

Weapon glitches

Numerous weapon glitches have been discovered in Halo 2, most of them dealing with the MLG starting weapon, the Battle Rifle. Note: all of the following commands assume the default controller settings.

Quick reload

(, , or , , )

After a certain time in a reload animation, the weapon is reloaded, pressing , , enables you to fire again. This also works to cancel out the sword's 'reload time' since there is a period of waiting after a swordlunge. If you don't have a secondary weapon (, is switch back and forth), then press and after the weapon is reloaded press to melee and to cancel it again.

Cancel reload

(, )

During reload you might decide to want to open fire again, press , before the weapon has reloaded and you can continue firing with the ammo left.

Quick switch

(, , , )

If you want to be the faster combo-whore after releasing a plasma bolt, just switch, melee and switch, switch and you'll be able to fire a split-second before your combo-opposition can.

Double melee

(, , )

As soon as your melee has hit your opponent and the damage is done, you can cancel the rest of the animation with and melee again. Note: with the battle rifle, you can double melee without the cancel when the first melee is horizontal.

Switch melee

(, , )

As soon as your melee has hit your opponent and the damage is done, you can switch to your other weapon with and melee with that weapon again.

Melee fire

(, , )

As soon as your melee has hit your opponent and the damage is done, you can cancel the rest of the animation with and open fire again. If done optimal it will seem like a melee and shot at the same time. This should be done with a full clip — otherwise, will cause you to reload.

Melee snipe

(, , )

This trick is meant to use your melee lunge as an auto-aim for your sniper in order to successfully no-scope. Works the same way as melee fire, but try to press before hitting your opponent, because then you still have the full use of the lunge.

Melee stick

(, , )

When you lunge towards an opponent for the melee you can cancel the full animation in order to use the lunge towards your enemy to get a plasma grenade attached. Works best when the melee has not yet hit, since then you are still moving towards him.

Overheat grenade

(Charge, , , )

When you release a plasma bolt after the pistol is charged and released you can hit and quickly after each other. What will happen is that the grenade will fly without its throwing animation. Helps if you missed the plasma shot because your opponent goes behind a wall. After the grenade is thrown, there is a small time you can not shoot, but doing a cancel reload (, ) fixes that.

Double grenade

(Charge, release, pause, , )

When you release a plasma bolt after the pistol is charged or when another plasma weapon has overheated (beam rifle, plasma rifle) wait one second and press , in order to through two grenades rapidly after each other. With the right timing you can throw them almost at the same time. You can also set traps with this, deliberately missing a plasma shot, then surprising your opponents with a rain of grenades. You can switch back to your battle rifle, but only after the first grenade is thrown.

Dual grenade

(, , , (as host))

Not to be confused with, but can be combined with the double grenade. The dual grenade is an entirely different trick that uses the picking up and dropping of dual wieldable weapons to cancel the time intersection between two grenade throws. Basically you stand on a dual wieldable weapon, holding a dual wieldable weapon, then press to throw your first grenade, hold to pick up the dual wieldable weapon, to melee and throw the weapon away and to grenade again. With boxer settings the sequel would be , , . Note: This trick can also be used in combination with the double grenade, using the plasma pistol as the first dual wieldable weapon for a deathtrap of three grenades.

Double fire

(, , )

The hardest one of all; quickly press , then as soon as you have your released, quickly squeeze it again and this time hold; quickly after the controller has registered the start of the holding, press in order to have the two shots burst out at the same time or rapidly following each other. Timing is crucial, there is about 1/10th of a second to do so and within that second, pace of the shots is also determined. You will know it's successful when you see no reloading animation, but have a full clip again with 6 bullets less. You can also cancel the actual reloading by the cancel reload, but more useful is to double fire and then instantly throw a grenade to cancel the reloading, this also seems to be the quickest way to get damage across a map.

Grenade reload

(, (not as host))

If you have shot a few rounds out of your clip already and you want to reload and shoot at the same time, then press , then quickly press while doing the reload animation and then just keep shooting the rounds you have left in your clip while the gun reloads at the same time. Note: Works only when you are not host, due to communication error towards the host.

Suicide shot

(, , (secondary weapon))

This is a technique that can help you get out of a bad spawn without losing a point. When you press , , (all quickly after each other, the results of the button pressing comes later) and move forward the following happens: you will fire one shot, then switch to your other weapon and then fire another shot. If you have moved forward during the button sequence, the second burst will hit you, because it will still come from the place where you pressed the second .

Extended second burst

(, , (no secondary weapon))

A very useful trick if you want to land two precision shots without having the pulling of the trigger as an interruption so you can use the auto-aim optimal. The shots will come out at normal speed, but the second burst will come automatically.

Instant death

(, , , )

The hardest to pull off, but also the quickest way to make someone die with a battle rifle. Stand in front of them and aim at his/her head, then by pressing , , , quickly you will first fire one shot, then switch, melee and fire the second shot. The melee is to be pressed when you see the secondary weapon model. You could use the , , , but with this trick you will always do damage, because of the first shot and on top of that you can do it with a not-full clip. Note: You do not want to run forward while getting in range for the melee, because then you will have the second shot hitting you in the back of your head.

Keep in mind that these glitches can also be used to expand each other, basically until it turns into Tekken Tag combat!