Season 3 of Halo Infinite is live!
“Echoes Within” brings with it a vast amount of new content to the game – new maps and modes, a new 100-tier Premium Battle Pass (that never expires), new narrative events that pick up where Season 2 left off, two new Armor Cores, the M392 Bandit and Shroud Screen, Forge updates, a new Fracture event, and so much more…
Let’s explore all the things that await you when you jump into Halo Infinite today. Additionally, you can view the full patch notes for Season 3: Echoes Within at the Halo Support site.
Welcome to Season 3 of Halo Infinite
Mindfall
Back in Season 2 of Halo Infinite, the Spartan Academy received some unexpected guests. Spartan Sigrid Eklund emerged from a commandeered Phantom with an unconscious Hieu Dinh, whose life was jeopardized by the Banished AI known as Iratus who resides within his neural interface.
Season 3 picks up from here, kicking off with the Mindfall event which explores a pivotal moment from Spartan Dinh’s past as Iratus plunders his mind.
Mindfall runs from March 7-21 and brings with it a free 10-tier Event Pass containing a variety of cosmetics to outfit your new MIRAGE IIC Armor Core, along with new cinematics.
This is the first of two narrative-focused events, as Site Unseen will conclude the story of Season 3 from May 2-16.
New Maps
Season 3 delivers three new dev-made maps: Oasis, Cliffhanger, and Chasm.
Oasis is an all-new BTB map that is a perfect mosh pit for vehicular combat and big team mayhem. Cliffhanger is an asymmetric Arena map set on an ONI black site overlooking a vast mountain range, featuring varied elevation and tight indoor spaces. And Chasm is an Arena map set within the cavernous substructures of Zeta Halo, answering the question of “What would you get if you took the spirit of Boarding Action from Halo: Combat Evolved and put in some Grappleshots?”
With three new maps to play on, we know you’re going to want to jump straight into the action, and you can do exactly that in the New Arena Unlimited playlist. This playlist will run from March 7-14, and the New BTB Unlimited playlist will run from March 14-21.
Looking to jump straight into the new stuff? These playlists, which exclusively feature Season 3’s new maps, are your first port of call. Of course, these maps have also been added into the rotation of other playlists as well.
For a more detailed breakdown and Q&A with some of our multiplayer designers about the new maps, check out our Season 3 Maps & Modes Preview blog.
For more information about Playlist updates, check out our Season 3 Playlists & Ranked Matchmaking blog.
Escalation Slayer
In Escalation Slayer, players progress through a list of weapon and equipment loadouts as they score kills (and can de-level opponents by meleeing them in the back). With each elimination, you advance towards a new loadout, culminating in a final challenge to win: getting a kill with the Oddball.
This mode is launching in Season 3 with two variants: Team Escalation and FFA Escalation.
Team Escalation progresses all players on a team through the loadout list together. Kills are summed across the team, so everyone’s effort counts. And FFA Escalation is, of course, every Spartan for themselves!
And yes, there will indeed be a BTB version of Escalation Slayer, along with a “Super” version of the mode which will bring in the special weapon variants and upgraded equipment that you can obtain in Halo Infinite’s Campaign. You can expect to see this arrive a little later into Season 3.
M392 Bandit & Shroud Screen
Halo Infinite’s first new weapon and equipment item have arrived: the M392 Bandit and Shroud Screen.
Designed to reward accuracy and careful precision, the semi-automatic M392 Bandit rifle is perfect for mid-range encounters. Touting formidable stopping power fit only for a super-soldier, the Bandit is at its deadliest with well-timed and well-placed shots.
The Shroud Screen features a hand-held launcher that enables the player to fire an opaque, spherical shroud. While projectiles can still pierce the shroud (make no mistake, this ain’t no Bubble or Drop Shield!), players outside it can’t see through – and vice-versa.
In addition, players inside the shroud are concealed from their opponents’ motion sensors. Tactical positioning, map knowledge, and key timing are the name of the game for gaining an edge over your enemies with the Shroud Screen.
New Armor Cores
I SPI with my little eye… two new Armor Cores in need of some accessorizing!
MIRAGE IIC
With roots that extend to the jungles of Onyx, MIRAGE IIC comes to Halo Infinite as one of two free Armor Cores for all players in Season 3. Based on the fabled SPI armor of previous Spartan generations, MIRAGE IIC provides a sleek and stalwart solution to any danger the galaxy throws at you.
CHIMERA
Born from the ashes of a failed AI uprising, the free CHIMERA Armor Core serves as the theme for the Fracture: FIREWALL event series, offering a unique vision of a potentially dangerous digital future where artificial minds and augmented bodies become one.
Speaking of which…
Fracture: Firewall
Fracture events return in Season 3!
Fracture: FIREWALL showcases the deadliness of a perfect synthesis of mind and machine through the new CHIMERA Armor Core.
Featuring a free Event Pass with 20 CHIMERA-focused cosmetic rewards, Fracture: FIREWALL will run across four separate weeks over the course of Season 3, providing players ample opportunity to build out their wardrobe as FIREWALL fashionistas.
Each of these recurrences will also be accompanied by a Story Shard – titled Precipice – on Halo Waypoint, diving deeper into the fiction of this new Armor Core and its close connections to the artificial minds that shaped it…
Stay tuned for a full blog on this upcoming event.
Echoes Within Battle Pass
A new Season means a new Battle Pass, featuring over 100 tiers of rewards – including 1000 Halo Credits.
The Echoes Within Premium Battle Pass will be available for 1000 Credits, never expires, and includes:
- 100-tier reward track
- Bonus Match XP per match during Season 3
- Redsteel Splinter armor coatings
The Echoes Within Premium Battle Pass Bundle costs 2800 Credits, never expires, and includes:
- 100-tier reward track (including 1000 Credits)
- Bonus Match XP per match during Season 3
- Fourth Challenge slot whenever this Battle Pass is equipped
- Redsteel Splinter armor coatings (pictured below)
- Jumps you ahead 25 levels in the reward track, offering a 64% level-up discount
Earn Match XP and unlock rewards for your MIRAGE IIC Armor Core at your own pace because, once purchased, the Premium Battle Pass is yours to keep and complete at your leisure.
For a full breakdown of the Echoes Within Battle Pass, head over to our Season 3 Customization blog.
Fresh Coatings
Arriving in Season 3 are a variety of new coatings, including Watchdog Neo, Shred Shift, and more.
To those who fought their way to SR 152 in Halo 5: Guardians, the Watchdog Neo coating is getting shipped to your Armory tomorrow (March 8)!
Watchdog Neo will be added to all Armor Cores and will also be available as a weapon coating for your M392 Bandit and S7 Sniper. Note that this does not replace the original Watchdog coating, which is also still available.
Season 3 also brings with it an updated version of the MARK VII Armor Core’s Red Shift armor coating, known as “Shred Shift.” We’ve got some additional free items in the form of three Steel Series coatings (available in red, green, and blue variations), along with some new Cadet coatings which are available on all Armor Cores for all players, and the special Master Builder coating and visor for Forgers who get their creations into matchmaking.
For more details on all things to do with the latest updates to customization in Halo Infinite, and a full look at all coating and customization images, give our Season 3 Customization Preview blog a read.
Forge
Ever since Forge launched in Halo Infinite’s Winter Update, we’ve been utterly blown away by the creativity shown by the community.
We delivered the Custom Games Browser to Halo Infinite back in December, giving you the ability to make every night a custom games night. And then, in February, we brought a selection of incredible community-made Forge maps to matchmaking in the Community Collection playlist.
The Community Collection playlist is here to stay, we expect it will grow and evolve over time, and it’s where you can earn Match XP playing on community-made maps. For further details, head over to our Community Collection Playlist Launch blog!
With Season 3, we’re bringing a number of updates to empower players even more with the tools of creation.
- Editable dev maps
All dev-made maps – past, present, and future – can be edited in Forge.
- Toggleable Friendly/Enemy Outlines and Friendly Player Collision in Custom Game mode options
Four new options are now available for outlines on friendly and enemy players, as well as friendly and enemy vehicles. Friendly Player Collision is also available as a custom game option – go jump on some heads!
- New Game Mode/Gameplay objects
Players can now create Land Grab and Total Control experiences in Forge with the added Land Grab Capture Zone and Total Control Zone objects. Also added Invisible Gravity Lift and Invisible Kinetic Launcher objects.
Various additional bug fixes and improvements have been made. To see the full breakdown, please check out Halo Support.
Shop & Capstone
Shop: Aquahex Bundle
Kicking off the launch week of Season 3 in the Shop is the Aquahex Bundle – our first “super bundle” which offers a plethora of cosmetic items for your MIRAGE IIC and MARK VII Armor Cores, along with additional weapon coatings.
The purpose of this experimental change is to deliver more valuable bundles at a reduced price out of the gate. What this means is that players get the chance to obtain more of Season 3’s cosmetic content early and at a lower price than buying them all individually.
MIRAGE IIC items include:
- Erinyes helmet
- Erinyes Hymn helmet attachment
- TAC/LACEWEB SCM-P shoulders
- TAC/SCM-P knee pads
- Void Ultra armor coating
- TAC/LACEWEB TRM CORE chest gear
- TAC/SCM-P wrist gear
MARK VII items include:
- Security GEN3 helmet
- Oppressor Mark II helmet attachment
- UA/AHALA shoulders
- UA/MACROSPLINE chest gear
- Project CASKLOOM wrist gear
- Pattern Shift armor coating
- Cyan Sky visor
Additionally, the bundle also includes the Aqua Hex coating for these weapons:
- MA40 Assault Rifle
- MK50 Sidekick
- BR75 Battle Rifle
- VK78 Commando
- CQS48 Bulldog
Players can obtain this super bundle for 2200 Halo Credits, offering the best value and discount for the combined total of these items, but after Week 3 it will be split into separate bundles at a different price point.
You can read more about these changes to the Shop over in our Season 3 Customization Preview blog.
Purple Reign
Our first Ultimate Reward for Season 3 is the Purple Reign weapon coating for the brand-new M392 Bandit.
Complete all of your Weekly Challenges and the Ultimate Challenge this week to outfit your M392 Bandit in a manner that will help guide your enemies to the purple rain (if you know what I’m singing about up here).
Additional Attachments
Finally, we’ve got a few additional free goodies for all those who log into Halo Infinite in Season 3 in the form of helmet attachments.
This includes the MK62 CBRN/ISES helmet attachment for the FIREFALL helmet on the MARK VII Armor Core, and the UA/TYPE O5 which is available on the Mark V , CQC, HAZOP, Air Assault, JFO, ODST and Recon helmets on the MARK V Armor Core.
Tracin' Rays
Ray tracing comes to Halo Infinite on PC in Season 3.
For the curious, ray tracing is a technique that gives greater dynamism to scenery in video games through the addition of physics-based lighting and shadows.
With the launch of Season 3 today, the PC experience of Halo Infinite has been enhanced with Ray Traced Sun Shadows, which – when toggled on – will give greater visual depth to the Arena and BTB multiplayer experience.
Note that this feature will always be off by default because this is an optional visual feature that consumes additional GPU performance, so it must be manually enabled via Spec Control in the game’s Video settings menu.
Learn more about ray tracing in Halo Infinite over in the patch notes on Halo Support.
Pin Program
Halo Gear Rewards are back for Season 3: Echoes Within!
Halo Gear Rewards are exclusive limited-edition products in the Halo Gear Shop that players can earn access to purchase after completing specific in-game accomplishments. The first reward was introduced in Season 2: Lone Wolves with the amazing Fracture: Entrenched Tanker Jacket.
In Season 3, we are introducing a new earnable reward – official Halo Infinite Pins! Players will have the opportunity to earn access to four collectible pins, each tied to a specific event in Season 3 and featuring unique designs inspired by their respective events.
These will include:
- Shroud Screen Pin: Complete the Season 3 Mindfall Event Pass
- M392 Bandit Pin: Complete the Season 3 Site Unseen Event Pass
- FIREWALL Logo Pin: Complete the Fracture: FIREWALL Event Pass
- Season 3 Insignia LE Pin & matching in-game emblem: Complete the Season 3 Battle Pass
Complete the qualifying event, sign into your Halo Waypoint profile, and you’ll receive your reward code in your profile’s notifications. Please note that it may take up to 24 hours for the code to be delivered to you after completion of an event.
Head to the Halo Gear Shop, add the pin to your cart, and then enter and apply your reward code in the “Gift card or discount code” field. These pre-order items will ship in Q3/Q4 of 2023.
We’ll have a more detailed breakdown on the Pin Program for you in tomorrow’s Mindfall event blog, so stay tuned!
See Something, Say Something
Season 3 brings with it a host of updates and fixes that the team have been working on to improve the Halo Infinite experience. Head over to the Halo Support site to check out the full list of patch notes.
Run into a bug, glitch, or other unexpected issue? Submit a ticket and notify the team on the Halo Support site.
You can submit tickets on a wide range of topics that include reports of Audio Issues, Crashes, Game Save Corruption, Report a Player, General Bug Reports, and more.
In the time you’ve read this, hopefully your Halo Infinite update has finished and you’re ready to dive into Season 3!
Build your MIRAGE IIC Armor Core in the image of the legendary ghosts of Onyx as you level up that new 100-tier Battle Pass; master the new tools of the sandbox with Escalation Slayer; continue the story of the Spartan Academy as Iratus delves into Dinh’s traumatic past; unleash your creativity with the latest update to Forge; and explore the stunning new locales of Oasis, Cliffhanger, and Chasm – Season 3 is just getting started.
You can get Halo Infinite’s free-to-play Multiplayer here. And, in case you haven’t yet experienced the Master Chief’s epic return to battle the Banished on Zeta Halo, be sure to get the Halo Infinite Campaign here.
Season 3 Press Kit
Download the Season 3: Echoes Within press kit with full 4K images here.
See you on the battlefield!