Teamwork

All of the multiplayer game modes available in Halo 5: Guardians are team-based. Whether fighting together with a 12-player team during Warzone or attempting to secure a win with your 4-player team during Arena matches, coordinating with your teammates is crucial. A team who communicates and works together will have a huge advantage over those who don’t. Here are a few pointers to help give your team an edge.

Communication

If you’re not playing Halo with a microphone-equipped headset, you’re putting yourself at a tremendous disadvantage. Even worse, you’re putting your team at a disadvantage because they can’t talk to you. So get over any anxieties you may have and speak up, becoming an active, talkative member of your team. While your communications with teammates will vary, the most successful teams don’t have time for superfluous trash talk and banter—they’re too busy calling out the locations of enemies and informing their teammates of upcoming power-ups and weapons appearing on the map.

In Halo 5: Guardians, all maps have universally defined call-outs—each location name appears beneath the Motion Tracker. This makes communication easier and more precise than ever, since all players can reference the same location names, eliminating the confusion of using generic nicknames.

Before speaking up, consider what you want to communicate. Did you just see an enemy? Are you under attack? Next, condense your message into as few words as possible. Brevity is extremely important since multiple teammates are talking over each other at the same time—unnecessary chatter masks meaningful communication, hindering your team’s responsiveness. Instead, stick to what and where. For example, saying, “Sniper Rifle at Tower Two!” informs your team that an opponent wielding the Sniper Rifle is on the second floor of the Tower. Saying something like, “Need help at Turbine!” tells your team that you’re under attack at Turbine and need assistance. Teams who use brief, precise, and relevant communication techniques will always have an edge over silent or chatterbox-prone opponents.

The Buddy System

Whether you’re new to Halo or not, roaming the map with a teammate is highly recommended, particularly in the new Warzone mode. This is called the buddy system. By staying within line of sight of a teammate, you can support each other, which is ideal for overwhelming lone wolf players. When facing off against single opponents, you and your teammate have a much better chance of walking away from the fight.

The buddy system works well for executing bait-and-switch plays. In this scenario, the lead player should attempt to lure opponents into a fight. Once the enemy has taken the bait, the lead player can retreat to their buddy’s position and wait for the opponent to follow. As the baited opponent comes into view, trigger an ambush, attacking from multiple angles.

Don’t get discouraged if your buddy system tactics don’t work every time. If you’re the lead player, attempting to distract opponents, you will die often—that’s expected, and the selfless aspect of teamwork. But over time, these tactics pay off, leading to multiple two-on-one advantages. So keep the lines of communications open and continue collaborating with your buddy to set up ambushes and flanking maneuvers.