Halo Halo 4 Weapon Stats

[RogerDodger]

THIS THREAD AND THE STATS HAVE BEEN UPDATED FROM JUNE 2013​

HERE IS THE STAT CHART.​

Now for those of you who are not technically savvy, here's a brief description of what the stats mean:

Spoiler

DAMAGE
Shield Damage: Shots to down the target's shields. Not affected by any headshot multipliers.
Body Damage: Shots to kill when the rounds are not targeted at the head when the shields are down.
Headshot Damage: If it's a precision, then one extra shot is needed to kill an enemy after their shields are down.
FIRE RATE/TIME
RPM = Rounds per Minute (relating to the fire rate of a weapon)
Test RPM = A simple equation determining how unload time relates to magazine size
Actual RPM = More complex equation based on the delay between shots. This is what is most people refer to in terms of RPM.
Frames = Halo, as it is a video game, runs at 30 Frames per Second (FPS). Converting to real time in seconds, means that frame values are divided by 30.
VELOCITY
If a denoted value is present, that means the round takes a feasable time before it reaches its target. This is measured in meters/second.
Other values not denoted mean that the round is a hitscan and travels infinitely fast, generally over an infinite distance.
Explosives at this time have NOT been tested for velocity.
LETHALITY
TTK = Time to Kill. Calculated using the shot delay and shots to kill. Non-precision weapons have the same TTK regardless of headshot
Effective distance/radius (d or r): Past this distance, the target will not be affected by the round.
Shield d or r: At this point up until the Lethal value, the target's shields will be destroyed.
Lethal d or r: From here to direct impact, the round will be lethal.
Direct Impact Y/N: If the answer is "Yes", direct contact with the round will cause death. If the answer is "No", reference the effective/shield/lethal radi or distances.

Many of you are wondering the specifics of the June 2013 Matchmaking Weapons update.
Here are the details that 343i claims to have edited into the game. The auto-aiming adjustments really don't matter so much to me. There are more important changes, anyways.

In response, here are the specifics for each weapon affected.

Assault Rifle:

• Used to take 10 shield shots and 6 body shots for a kill, for a total of 16. This is now 8 and 5, respectively, making the total 13.
• Accuracy buff (yet to be tested for values)

Storm Rifle:

• Used to take 10 shield shots and 6 body shots for a kill, for a total of 16. This is now 8 and 4, respectively, making the total 12.
• Previously, the Storm Rifle did not fire like a normal automatic. It used to skip around, and every fifth shot would fire at 900 RPM. The fire rate is now homogenous at 600 RPM, tied with the Assault Rifle. The above damage change was implemented to offset the loss of the odd firing mode.
• Accuracy buff (yet to be tested for values)

Suppressor:

• Used to take 12 shield shots and 7 body shots for a kill, for a total of 19. This is now 10 and 6, respectively, making the total 16.

SAW:

• I have lost my record as to what the previous damage was, although it was around what the Suppressor is currently. It now takes 8 shield shots and 5 body shots for a kill, for a total of 13 shots. It actually only kills 50% faster than the Assault Rifle, rather than the 100% (twice the speed) suggested in the Bulletin.
• Accuracy NERF (yet to be tested for values)

DMR:

• Decreased the auto-aim range. At least now the other guys get a chance at tracking.

Covenant Carbine:

• Damage was increased. The shields go down in 6 shots compared to 7, making for 7-shot kills compared to 8.
• Once shields are down, body kills take another 4 shots as opposed to 5 (12 shots compared to 14).

Light Rifle (Scoped Beam)

• Rate of Fire has increased. It is now on par with the DMR at a delay frame of 11 between shots, or around 163 RPM.

Battle Rifle:

• It previously took five bursts, four complete bursts (3 * 4 = 12 shots) to break shields, and one of the three shots in the fifth burst to kill with a headshot. Now it takes 10 shots (four bursts) to down the shield, meaning that only two of the three shots fired in the fourth burst are lethal to the head.
• Alternatively it took 7 shots additional unshielded body shots for a kill. From full shields to death, this would be 6 bursts with the last burst needing one of three shots to kill. To offset the 10 for the shields, it now only takes 6 shots without shields. This still means, though, that six bursts will be required. Again, the last burst only needs one of three shots to kill.
• According to 343i, they decrease the Rate of Fire (ROF). My records in comparison record the same as before the update. Essentially the bursts fires three shots in three frames, so that will never change. The delay time, or the likely factor that they would edit, has remained at 11 frames.
• It can 2-burst melee, just like the DMR. Not a big deal, but whatever.

Light Rifle (Hipfire Burst)

• It has reverted into the version given on release. Essentially it is weaker than the current and previous Battle Rifle. As using this mode is not a game changer, take a look for yourself at the stats. Either way I wouldn't recommend using it.

That looks to be about it. Thanks for your support on the previous stat chart! The feedback was spectacular. If you notice any errors, please report them. Now that the new one is updated, maybe you have some thoughts?

 

[FreakyBrettzky]

DMR ruins the weapon balance in this game. If i wasn't in H4, the lightrifle would be the long range weapon of choice and the BR and Carbine would be the go to short to medium range weapons of choice. everything would be great as the carbine and BR is a really even fight 1v1.

 

[RogerDodger]

DMR ruins the weapon balance in this game. If i wasn't in H4, the lightrifle would be the long range weapon of choice and the BR and Carbine would be the go to short to medium range weapons of choice. everything would be great as the carbine and BR is a really even fight 1v1.

I agree with you partially. Your theory would be correct with the LR/BR/CC being the three precision weapon options. However due to the nature of the Carbine at the moment there'd be little reason to use it over the BR or DMR. With the proposed changes to it, it would make it more competetive.
Although I'd love to remove the DMR, buff the Carbine, and end the story there, there's no way we're going to convince 343 to remove the most popular weapon in the game, let alone any weapon. That's why I made this thread (partially) so that we can address these issues on a technical basis and get to the bottom of the whole balancing game.

 

[RogerDodger]

BLUE TEAM

I'm not sure what you mean here...

 

[FatThe2nd]

I say we improve the assault weapons, in my opinion, they're the funnest guns in the game. Also, i know i was hoping for the dmr to absolutely destroy in this game, but it destroys the weapon balance. We should make it worse so that everybody uses a large variety of precision weapons. You're completely right about the boltshot, too.

However, i KNOW that some of these changes won't be made, and its not 343's fault. These changes are too big, and the competitive players (not the REAL mlg players) won't like them.

 

[PandaMan]

Seems like those are good ideas. Honestly, the DMR is just too OP right now.

 

[Fuzzle]

Seems like those are good ideas. Honestly, the DMR is just too OP right now.

you use that word but i dont think you know what it means

 

[RogerDodger]

you use that word but i dont think you know what it means

Even if he didn't know what it means (who doesn't by now, honestly) he's right in that the DMR is currently too powerful.

 

[Fuzzle]

Even if he didn't know what it means (who doesn't by now, honestly) he's right in that the DMR is currently too powerful.

but its not overpowering every other weapon, thats my point. its not so powerful that it breaks the game

 

[FragsturBait]

I can't argue with any of this. Implementing all of your suggested changes would go a long way towards balancing gameplay. It seems like you're focusing primarily on loadout weapons, but one fix I feel could be helpful is to give the Scattershot a slight buff. Removing the random aspect might be all that's needed, but I feel like Scattershot should beat all at extremely close ranges, but have a faster dropoff in effective range vs Shotgun.

 

[MC Stargate]

you use that word but i dont think you know what it means

Inconceivable!!

 

[MC Stargate]

Am I the only person who actually really likes the DMR? I guess it comes from me being a Reach player, not a 3 player.

 

[RogerDodger]

Removing the random aspect might be all that's needed, but I feel like Scattershot should beat all at extremely close ranges, but have a faster dropoff in effective range vs Shotgun.

If you've noticed, all the above proposed changes revolve around not changing everything. To be more specific, the general population would be quite confused when their weapons are no longer remotely similar to the way they worked before. Changing the Scattershot that much would make a lot of people just go "huh?", because right now, the Scattershot fills a niche as a medium-range shotgun (even though the estimated lethal distance is only something like 10 meters without guarantee).

To make the Scattershot better fill it's niche and not step outside of it, they can just increase the fire rate and maybe add a couple more shells. Increasing conic accuracy means increasing lethality and range (keeping current drop-off). Given you keep the Shotgun as the CQC king, this would make the Shotgun obsolete. Instead, firing more shots at random makes close-quarters more unpredictable than the Shotgun, while leaving later ranges open for Scattershot dominance.

Tbh I didn't include it in the proposal because I feel like it's usable as it is at the moment. People get mad if they get spammed out by a shotgun anyways.

 

[RogerDodger]

Am I the only person who actually really likes the DMR? I guess it comes from me being a Reach player, not a 3 player.

Well, it's not like the gun decided it would be too powerful for the game, so I blame the staff at 343i.
Being in Reach meant that you had to go out of your way for it like every other weapon. The way H4 is implemented with Loadouts, this makes the DMR particularly dominant. Inevitably Loadouts caused some problems, but in the end with a good weapon balance they would have made the game better. That's why I've examined the weapons - to see what they've done, so we can see what they've done wrong.

 

[MC Stargate]

Given you keep the Shotgun as the CQC king.

What about the Sword/hammer? I wouldn't call either of them CQC king But what are your thoughts on them?

 

[RogerDodger]

What about the Sword/hammer? I wouldn't call either of them CQC king But what are your thoughts on them?

Melee weapons are pretty simple-minded: Kill the other guy in an instant before he kills you from a distance. That being said, I don't see any reason to change those weapons as they stand. Each is already built with a risk and a reward. The Shotgun is better than them at their job for the most part, since you just have to get relatively close to kill, rather than having to be touching. The tradeoff is reloading and time between shots, so it also has its fair balance in mind.

 

[xCASx ROB]

I'm going to bring up something about the storm rifle. It was mentioned at the top that the storm rifle is inferior. One of the reasons was the cool down time vs the reload time made the assault rifle superior. I beg to differ. Yes the reload is faster, but I see the use of the cool down an advantage. Let me explain...

Having a cool down means no reload is needed. Now with this, using either controlled bursts or shots here and there will allow you to never have to worry about being vulnerable during a reload action. The gun will keep firing until it over heats, giving you this almost bottomless clip feature. Now this is where you would say that it's fault is located. But it's still an advantage. If you are in the situation where you need to spray your gun and it over heats, you can switch your weapon or melee the enemy and by the time your done with that its already ready to use again. Never once were you vulnerable for more than a second. Where as using a reload would give you no other option. And lets just say you were using an assault rifle and your clip was depleted. And if you chose to switch your weapon to your pistol, boltshot, etc. you will still need to reload the gun you had sheathed at some point. Where as the storm rifle is all ready for use again.

I love the storm rifle. It's my most used weopon(second being the pistol). It's served me well, and like is said, you never have to reload! Just use it right and you won't ever have to worry about stopping your fire. Hope people see this and have a different view about the storm rifle now. Thank you all

 

[RogerDodger]

I'm going to bring up something about the storm rifle. It was mentioned at the top that the storm rifle is inferior. One of the reasons was the cool down time vs the reload time made the assault rifle superior. I beg to differ. Yes the reload is faster, but I see the use of the cool down an advantage. Let me explain...

I've thoroughly examined that strategy, and before I found out about the SRs RPM being the same as the AR, I thought that this would be the superior strategy as the SR would fill a role as a medium between the Suppressor and AR. However, I counter-argue with this...

In nearly every circumstance in Halo, the goal is to dispatch an enemy as fast as possible. Note, that means one enemy. Against others, at the right range and circumstance, the SR can take on more enemies than the AR because of this cooling vs. reloading. So, that brings up two questions:

1. What circumstance does the SR beat the AR at dispatching multiple enemies? The range constriction is about 10 meters. If for whatever reason you find three enemies within that proximity, it would (from common knowledge) be a bad idea to tackle both on at the same time. All other damage factors aside, the user would have to complete a single gunfight almost untouched (to preserve shield health) in 1.50 seconds, and then presuming the user is out or low of ammo, wait roughly the same or longer time it takes to reload the Assault Rifle. You claim that this time can be compensated for as one uses their secondary weapon to dispatch the second enemy. The AR can also be swapped out. In the unlikely circumstance that they win the second gunfight with the secondary (with health to spare), the only advantage the SR would have is on that third enemy, when the SR would be ready to go when the AR still needed to reload. Very, very circumstantial. I didn't defend the point about the melee because it's obvious that bashing three people to death already leaves one at a disadvantage.

2. In a regular 1v1 gunfight, the SR is definitely worse than the AR. Like stated previously, it has more range and more ammo per magazine. In the unlikely event you have to reload with the AR during a 1v1, swapping to a secondary for the last shot and then reloading afterwards is easily done.

I'm not saying you're wrong to use the SR, but if you can use it better, good for you! I'd think you'd agree through that it needs a buff.

 

[xCASx ROB]

I like all your points. I wasn't trying to prove how anything is better or worse but more about how the storm rifle isn't as bad as most people think. The assault rifle would probably win in most 1v1 circumstances I agree. Basically the point in my whole post was to show everyone that there are reasons to use the storm rifle because it can do some things that the other guns can't.

And I guess the buff would be more be towards the ammo. Both the storm rifle and the plasma pistol use up their energy extremely fast. In most of the previous games it would take two plasma shots to use up 1% energy, but now on this game one shot itself uses 2% of its energy. Why they did this, I don't know.

Anyways, I like this thread and I can't wait to read more posts on it in the future

 

[Ariel Morgan]

I've thoroughly examined that strategy, and before I found out about the SRs RPM being the same as the AR, I thought that this would be the superior strategy as the SR would fill a role as a medium between the Suppressor and AR. However, I counter-argue with this...

In nearly every circumstance in Halo, the goal is to dispatch an enemy as fast as possible. Note, that means one enemy. Against others, at the right range and circumstance, the SR can take on more enemies than the AR because of this cooling vs. reloading. So, that brings up two questions:

1. What circumstance does the SR beat the AR at dispatching multiple enemies? The range constriction is about 10 meters. If for whatever reason you find three enemies within that proximity, it would (from common knowledge) be a bad idea to tackle both on at the same time. All other damage factors aside, the user would have to complete a single gunfight almost untouched (to preserve shield health) in 1.50 seconds, and then presuming the user is out or low of ammo, wait roughly the same or longer time it takes to reload the Assault Rifle. You claim that this time can be compensated for as one uses their secondary weapon to dispatch the second enemy. The AR can also be swapped out. In the unlikely circumstance that they win the second gunfight with the secondary (with health to spare), the only advantage the SR would have is on that third enemy, when the SR would be ready to go when the AR still needed to reload. Very, very circumstantial. I didn't defend the point about the melee because it's obvious that bashing three people to death already leaves one at a disadvantage.

The real problem is the shots fired rate to overheat.
It is not feasable for someone to dispatch the first person fast enough, and with enough heat left over to finish the second person in a timely fashion.

Furthermore, the bloom and shot accuracy feels a little more spread when compared to the AR. This makes the effective range more erratic (at least this is what I felt/noticed when playing with/against the SR). Lastly it does the same damage as the AR and it takes the same shots and time to kill. The issue is that the margin of error is more slim, as the overheat time and the TTK are completely skewed as you miss (which seems more likely with the SR vs AR).

Think of this, if you flank two people with an AR you can easily finish one (assuming you hit all the shots) and then weaken the other's shields (without ever taking your finger off the trigger) and have enough left to melee them for the kill, I do not think that can be done with the SR on any sort of consistent basis, as every shot missed is screwing you worse than the AR. If you ran a poll, I think most people would select the AR over the SR for the reason that the AR is flat out superior in far more situations than the SR is.

I love the assessments Z3R0FLAME.

AR - I agree somewhat, but as I use it more and more it works quite well in CQC as it is, making it more accurate at a further distance may make it ridiculous on maps where CQC is very common.

SR - Yeah, it needs a defined role. I think if it reduced shields faster (like all the older plasma weapons) it would be a nifty initiation type option (guy lowers lotsa people's shields, precision cleans up.

LR - IDK about double zoom, but the current zoom is annoying to use, I think if they pulled it back a bit it would be better, Only a bit.

CC - Needs to have something... maybe better TTK, as the effective range is worse than the other semis? The spam cannon needs a tiny bit, but not too much considering the incoming nerfs to the DMR

DMR - They just need to be sure they don't overdo the nerf while buffing the other weapons. I do like the idea that it should have worse hipfire accuracy, I really think that would be good.

Boltshot - yeahh.... Once it is nerfed, just wait for the PP poularity to start. It's really under rated.

Beam Rifle - Needs the overheat to happen sooner, agreed.