Halo 2: Project Cartographer Guide

Halo 2 largely refined Halo: CE's sandbox and added a few new elements and weapons to it, such as dual wielding and hijacking vehicles. But what are the new roles of the weapons in the sequel? Take a look at this guide and find out.

Battle Rifle:

Much like the Pistol in Halo: CE, the Battle Rifle is this game's utility weapon. Every other weapon in the game is balanced around it. It is a jack of all trades and can be used in every situation, but gets outshined by weapons in their specialized roles in some situations. There are no notable weaknesses other than availability during some of the longer missions.

SMG:

This weapon replaces the Assault Rifle as the human's fully automatic weapon. Compared to the Assault Rifle from last game, this weapon is focused on a much closer range spray and can also be dual-wielded for been more firepower. This weapon can rip through hordes of weak enemies rather quickly. Its main weakness is how ineffective it gets outside of close range and how little shield damage it does on higher difficulties, as well as how there are a lot of options for killing weak enemies, making it somewhat obsolete on higher difficulties. It also has recoil that requires you to drag the reticle down to compensate.

Pistol:

This game's pistol has been nerfed to the point of being obsolete. It's only potential use is being dual wielded with a plasma pistol for a quick precision kill on an Elite with an overcharge, but otherwise it's completely overshadowed by the Battle Rifle.

Shotgun:

This weapon has been nerfed significantly from the last game. It's spread is atrocious and anything outside of close range will barely take damage. It's fine if you're fighting Flood, but it is still totally overshadowed by the newly added Energy Sword in almost all cases.

Sniper Rifle:

This weapon remains as effective as it used to be, able to kill every Covenant enemy in 1-2 headshots except for the newly buffed Hunters. It also does enough damage with body shots to be able to kill every weak enemy in one hit. Its main weaknesses are its tiny clip size and lengthy reload time.

Rocket Launcher:

Its area of effect got nerfed slightly from Halo 1, but in return, it received a lock-on function that makes it much more effective against vehicles than ever before. Its weakness is its tiny clip size and ridiculously long reload time.

Energy Sword:

Replaces the Shotgun as the premiere close range weapon. It kills everything it strikes in 1-2 hits and has the unique property of being able to completely dismember Flood so they can't revive while also taking a quarter of the energy it would when fighting other enemies. That makes it this game's best Flood slayer. Its main weakness is how vulnerable you will be if you lunge into a group of enemies.

Carbine:

On the Covenant side, this is similarly a utility weapon much like the Battle Rifle. It is arguably superior to the Battle Rifle in the campaign due to high availability and a bug where it can fire much faster than intended. Otherwise, it does decent damage to everything and can kill in one headshot to an unshielded enemy like the Battle Rifle.

Plasma Rifle:

This weapon has the highest DPS of all the Covenant weapons, especially if you dual wield it. It can strip away shields incredibly quickly. Unfortunately, the Plasma Pistol overcharge is relatively superior due to its quick hit and run nature in the campaign, making this weapon less useful overall. Fortunately, this is an incredibly effective weapon against the Flood when dual wielded.

Plasma Pistol:

Again, the overcharge feature is the best part about this weapon. An overcharge shot will take out the shields of anything it hits instantly, and when paired with a precision weapon, makes it perfect for killing Elites.

Brute Shot:

An incredibly powerful weapon that can kill enemies on Legendary in 2-4 shots easily. It also increases your melee damage, letting you oneshot weak enemies with a melee. Its main weakness is availability and its slow travel speed.

Needler:

Works much like its Halo 1 counterpart, except now it can be dual wielded, letting it supercombine much faster than before. Its main use is as an easy kill for Brutes in the campaign, but isn't as useful in many other ways.

Particle Beam:

Is much like its UNSC counterpart, the Sniper Rifle. It can, however, shoot faster and doesn't need to reload, as well as having much higher availability thanks to the numerous Sniper Jackals in the game. Its main weakness is it can't shoot twice quickly without overheating - however, pacing your shots will lead to it having a much larger effective magazine size.

Fuel Rod Cannon:

Functions much like the Rocket Launcher, except with a larger clip size and a much higher firing rate in exchange for less damage overall. Is the most effective weapon against infantry in the game, with only its low availability holding it back.

And that's it! That's a quick overview of every weapon in Halo 2.