Originally Posted by Overswarm

Before reading my guide, know that it is just that. A guide. A guide will help you, but you still have to take the steps yourself. Reading this will not allow you to get perfect results every time, and reading this will not make you a professional gamer. Reading this will have the same effect as reading any other "how to" book. If you want to be a professional anything, you must do more than read the book about that profession’s skills; you have to understand, absorb, and apply what you read. If you are weak, if you are lazy, or if you are stubborn, this guide will do no good. If you do not take the game seriously, you will be crushed by those that do. You have to admit to yourself that you want to get better, and you have to admit that you are not perfect. I know that I am not perfect, and I strive to be. That's what this guide is about, and that's what this guide is to help you with. Getting on the path to perfection.

I'm not going to baby you through this; that's not my style. This guide was meant for intermediate players, not beginners. If you still have to look at your controller when you want to find the X button, this guide is not for you just yet. A lot of this information is common sense, but as the title of my guide implies, a lot of the information you will find here has merely been overlooked by the community. The slight differences found in the game, different playing styles, various glitches and many more things are simply overlooked. Expect to see those in this guide.

As you read this guide, you may find that I update it with various team strategies. These strategies require 100% cooperation between teammates. That means no glory hogs, no star players, and no independent thought. When you are using one of my strategies, you have to be a machine. One player ignoring the core of the strategy will make all the other players fail in their tasks miserably. The one player who ignored the strategy will always look like he has done better, but at the cost of losing the game.

On the other hand, there will always be times when strategies fail. All good strategies rely on not only the understanding of said strategy, but the application from each individual. There are times when players will fail at their tasks, or be interrupted by the enemy. In instances in where your teammates fall short of expectations, or the enemy overcomes you, you have to know what to do yourself to help the team.

Since you have to be able to hold your own, even if your teammates fall short, I'm going to have a wealth of information provided to you to help you control your actions and achieve victory regularly. A lot of this will be basic information, and some of it will be rarely known information. It will all start out as general information, and then will focus in on one specific point. I will teach you first how to move. After you know how to move, I will teach you where to move. After you know where to move, I will teach you how to use that location to your advantage. After you know how to use that location, I will teach you all of the various anomalies that are brought about by that location. After all of that, I will teach you how to play against what I have taught. This is how I will progress through my teachings, and is the same order you should follow.

Originally Posted by Overswarm

There are several "rules" you can follow that can help your overall success rate when it comes to BR duels.

Rule #1: Aim, then shoot

This is as close to common sense as you get, but in the heat of battle sometimes people get excited, and the fact that a BR has a three round burst seems to exacerbate the tendency to have an itchy trigger finger.

What you need to realize is that each BR burst has three seperate bullets, and when you shoot, those bullets are spread across a small area. When you are looking around while shooting, those bullets hit three seperate and very different locations. When you have your reticule in one place and then shoot, they will be more accurate. Many people make johns about lag, but in reality they are just trying to sweep their reticle around in an attempt to hit the enemy instead of taking the time to aim.

Rule #2: If it's red, they're dead

Halo 2 has two things that make it exceptionally easy to aim: Magnetism and Auto-aim. Magnetism is what makes your reticle "stick" to the enemy. If you haven't noticed by now, once your reticle is red, it becomes almost locked-on to the enemy, making it much easier to aim via strafing alone. When your reticle is red, the auto-aim kicks in as well. What happens is your bullets literally curve towards your enemy if they are near him, almost as if the spartan has a gravitational pull. This occurs when the reticle is red; when your reticle is blue the bullets merely move in one direction.

So you have learned so far to aim at them first, and now to keep the reticle red. The ACT III video shows you strafing techniques to help you keep that reticle red, so you should have the basics of BR fights down by now.

Rule #3: Get to the high ground

Getting to the high ground always gives you an advantage. While enemy spartans don't slow down or tire like a soldier may in real life, forcing your enemy to look skyward to hit you puts you at a distinct advantage.

For one, they are blindsided from anyone approaching on the ground. This means your teammates can easily help you out with little threat to themselves. More importantly, the higher up you go, the easier a headshot is. If you are standing directly above an enemy, every shot can be a headshot with virtually no effort on your part. As he walks away from you it becomes more difficult, but rarely more difficult than it would be to stand on equal footing.

Rule #4: In case of emergency, melee

Meleeing should be a last resort, not a first. Many players are addicted to the BXR and want to rush straight forward and get that "quick" kill and don't realize that just shooting would have worked.

On the other hand, if you are a shot or two down, getting close and getting into a melee battle can be your best bet. This is especially true in cramped quarters where you can drop a suicide nade.

Just keep in mind that melees make a BR battle much more random. If you are ahead, you don't want that randomization, so act accordingly.

Rule #5: Every glitch has its place

If you watch the video Advanced Combat Techniques: Volume II, you'll learn about all the different glitches and button combinations that can help shoot you straight to the top.

However, what that video doesn't tell you is when to use them.

The general rule of thumb is that if you don't have to use a glitch, don't use it. BXRing, RRXing, double nading, or double meleeing just for the sake of doing it is always a bad idea. The good old four shot is perfectly capable of eliminating your enemies, and is much more consistent too.

If you're down a shot, or if your opponent is running away, then it might work to throw the glitches in. Every BR fight is a new scenario, so you need to judge quickly as to whether or not you should use a glitch, and make sure not to hesitate.

Rule #6: Don't be a hero; just run

I have seen pro players get into one on one duels on gigantic projection screens at several MLG events, and the crowd always screams in joy and awe when a player that is down a shot or two comes out on top. They do this because 90% of the time, the player that is down a shot or two dies easily.

If you find yourself in a "Fight or Flight" situation, you've already got the answer. Flight. You know when you are the predator, and you know when you are the prey. Going off and challenging every approach by an enemy is one of the worst ideas out there. Do not challenge your opponents. Wait until you have the advantage, then strike. While players such as Karma and Gandhi can take up every challenge that comes their way and win with their amazing strafe and impeccable aim, you are more than likely not Karma or Gandhi. You are more likely Joe Schmoe that has, at best, an average of 5 shots per kill that will choke under pressure.

Just run. Run away, as fast as you can, and let your shields recharge. The moment your shields are up, it's like hitting reset. Rule #7: Play to live

Play to live, not to get kills. Don't go out hunting players, because when you are hunting someone that has rechargable shields the tide can turn around quickly.

In the words of Gh057ayame, "Just don't die. It evens out".

Playing not to die means you have less deaths, and when you are alive you can help prevent your teammates from dying and give them good spawns. While you may have a dry spell here and there, at the end of the game you end up going very positive and have more than likely helped your teammates out a tremendous deal.

Rule #8: Grenades are either an appetizer or a dessert.

Grenades are never the main course. You use grenades in the beginning, or you use grenades in the end. Using them in the middle isn't even hit-or-miss; it is just miss. Any competent opponent will move away from the blast radius and get a free shot or two on you (or even worse, a melee or two!) if you throw the grenade mid-battle.

Use grenades as an approach, or as a finisher. As a finisher, they should only be thrown if you are about to die or if the enemy is running out of range and you need to cut him off.

Originally Posted by Famous210

Nice Desevers A Sticky Somewhere

Originally Posted by Mindfreak61

yea this wasnt helpful at all