Armour Abilities: How They Work - Part 2

As everybody knows by now, when Halo Reach hit the shelves back in Sept 2010, and having sampled the beta myself in May 2010, the newly included armour abilities were introduced into the game.

The idea behind armour abilities is to give a player a certain advantage in battle. And to fit in with the story of Halo Reach, the planet Reach was primarily a military fortress world where new technology was being developed. Hence we get these armour abilities. From the next game in the series point of view the armour abilities are a more refined version of the deployable, and 1-time use, equipment from Halo 3.

Now, there are several armour abilities you get to choose from when you begin a match in Halo Reach. These armour abilities are preset by the gametype and match you are playing.

The armour abilities include:

• Sprint
• Evade (elites)
• Armour Lock
• Jet Pack
• Medic (drop shield)
• Camouflage
• Hologram

We'll take each armour ability at a time, describing how it works dynamically, and then a brief note on how to use it to full effect.

Note: all armour abilities have a cool down time once used, which replenishes automatically, some take longer than others. And you get the choice to switch which ability you want to use each time you respawn. So you can keep changing them each time if you want.

Copy and paste over. In part two of this article we will look at another two of the Armour Abilities. We'll talk abut Jet Pack and Drop Shield.

JET PACK


As you would expect jet pack allows you the ability to fly around for short periods of time. When activated the JetPack will send you upwards a certain height as long as the button is pressed. To cover a gap or distance over the ground you can pulse the trigger for short burst to cover a long distance.


Things to know about JetPack. You can fire your weapon whilst flying. If you fall from the air you will still take fall damage. When falling if you activate a short burst of your JetPack you will soften the fall and can avoid sustaining heavy amounts of fall damage. JetPack recharges fairly quickly when not in use. JetPack can be used to hop up several levels in a short space of time than if you were manually running on foot.

JetPack works very effectively if you have a rocket launcher. The added height advantage affords you air to ground shots, with a much reduced chance of blow back on your character. Caution is required for JetPack-ers as flying around all the time with no cover makes you an easy target. Also a neat trick is to jump before activating your JetPack for a better climb in the air.




DROP SHIELD


When deployed the drop shield creates a bubble, sphere, of protection from damage. It also heals the health, not shields, of any player inside it. This bubble can only sustain so much damage before expiring.

Things to know about Drop Shield. When activated your ability meter will drain entirely, giving you only 1 bubble shield per shot. However if you press the button accidentally and the character does not compete the animation, you will not drop a shield and the meter will remain full.

Drop shield is great for blocking in door ways, and then protect them with melee weapons. Or just for a quick heal. Also the protection offered in objective based games proves a very powerful armour ability to have.


In part three the last two armour abilities will be discussed.