Halo 5: Guardians Xbox One X Update Out Today, Brings Weapon Balance Changes

343 Industries’ Halo 5: Guardians is still receiving patches and that includes an update today at 9 AM PT which adds Xbox One X support to the first person shooter. You can also expect two new multiplayer modes – Oddball and Oddball FFA. New medals have also been added so if you missed these modes the first time around, now’s your chance to enjoy them.

There’s also new announcer audio and the Oddball skull that can be used in Forge Mode. The update also adds a local server app for Windows 10, thus letting players host “low-latency” multiplayer parties. New weapons for Halo Championship Series teams like Luminosity, Splyce and more have also been added.

Perhaps the most controversial of changes are those to the weapons, namely the Battle Rifle and Assault Rifle. You can look at the Battle Rifle’s rate of fire being reduced by 50 percent even with its damage remaining the same. To see all the changes made to weapon balance, head here.

New / Updated Features

• Halo 5 now looks better than ever with 4K UHD support for Xbox One X!
• Play Ball! Oddball and Oddball FFA return as official game modes:
  – New Oddball medals added
  – New announcer voice over audio added
  – New Oddball skull object added (it’s back!)
• Host and play low-latency Halo 5 multiplayer matches with the Halo 5: Guardians Local Server app for Windows 10 PC (to be released at approx. 2PM PT 11/2)
  Support your favorite HCS team with new weapon skins for Splyce, Luminosity, and Str8 Rippin. Current release dates: Luminosity 11/7, Str8 Rippin 11/21, Spylce 12/5
• Represent your Halo World Championship home region with new United States, Canada, UK, Mexico, and Australia weapon skins. These skins will be available during the Halo World Championship 2018.
• New Weapon Tuning for 14 items deployed across all game modes (full details coming Wednesday, 11/1)
• New Commendations added:
  – Brute Plasma Rifle
  – Sentinel Beam
  – Gravity Hammer
  – Reach Grenade Launcher
  – Wasp Destroyer
  – Wasp Gunner
  – Grunt Mech Slayer
• Assault changes:
  – Changed default settings for Assault to have ball explosion damage enabled on score
  – Changed default settings for Assault to no longer include double thrust for a ball carrier
• Forge changes:
  – Added the Relic Sword to the weapon palette
  – Added Forge entries for the new Gunfighter Flagnum
• New Custom Game Options:
  – Oddball support on default Custom game maps coming soon (in the meantime enjoy the new Oddball playlist – launching 11/2!)
  – Ball Mode Options:
  – Ball Type: Allows selection between the default UNSC Ball and the newly added Oddball Skull for use as the game ball
  – Ball Explosion Damage: Allows enabling/disabling of explosion damage when the ball is scored in an Assault mode
  – Score Per Kill While Carrying: Allows configuration of points awarded for killing an enemy player while carrying the ball
  – Ball Carrier Traits -> Melee Damage Modifier: Added a value for “Standard Weapon Melee Damage”, which configures ball melee damage to be exactly equivalent to that of a normal weapon melee