Hello all! Perhaps you are new to Halo as a franchise, new to video games, or a returning fan who just hasn't played in a while, this guide is a detailed description of the various difficulty levels in the series, mixed with some tips and tricks that will help you along the way.

The amount of options can be intimidating to someone inexperienced with the franchise as the difficulty in-game descriptions are, at best, vague. But I hope to use my experience to help clear up what choice someone may want to make.

I want to remind you all that no matter your skill level, Halo is a franchise that is welcoming to all players. Don't feel bad if you struggle at higher difficulties, as these options exist for a reason. Without further ado, let's get into it.

Halo Combat Evolved is the first game in the franchise and is, by far, the best balanced and therefore has the most "fair" difficulty of any of the games. For this reason, my recommendations may vary from future games. I will be listing bullet points that indicate reasons you may wish to choose a difficulty in question, as well as a brief overview of what that difficulty is like.

Here are some general tips for playing Halo CE that will generally apply to all difficulties listed below:

-The Plasma PIstol is the strongest weapon in the game and the Halo CE plasma pistol may in fact be the strongest weapon in the entire franchise. No, I am not joking. It melts shields with regular fire, can insta down shields with a charged shot, has five HUNDRED trigger pulls from a full charge, has impressive range, and can fire as fast as you pull the trigger. There is only ONE downside of the CE plasma pistol and that is that the charged shot's tracking capabilities are sometimes unreliable/random. Overall though this downside is nothing compared to its many upsides.

-Don't pick up a Needler. Just don't. The Needler is very viable in many later entries but the projectile speed and tracking is so bad in CE that if you're playing on any difficulty other than Normal or Easy enemies will easily melt you before you get viable kills with it.

-The AR is a good trash cleaner and can out-damage many other options at close range. That combined with its high maximum ammo count make it a good workhorse.

-The orange part of a Hunter counts as their head and for that reason two headshot capable weapons in the game (The Sniper Rifle and Magnum) one shot kill the Hunters in these areas. This will absolutely trivialize them.

Halo Combat Evolved's higher difficulties will seem intimidating to first time players but I'll include some advice to help you through it.

If you're new to Halo or new to shooters, Halo CE's higher difficulties are definitely the first step to getting better at Halo as they are inherently more balanced than some of the later entries.

Easy:

Easy's name says it all. In this mode, enemies have very little health, and do far less damage to the Master Chief. This allows for an experience that is not punishing even for those without technical skill at video games. There is, contrary to what a toxic community may have you believe, no shame in playing on Easy. Easy is a good choice for people who are new to video games in general and thus may need a mode that is very forgiving. It allows accessibility to the game for those who otherwise might not be able to play it.

The main reasons to play on Easy are:

-Speedrunning for the par time achievements

-New to video games as a whole, particularly if someone is either very young or very old.

-Learning the controls/mechanics

-Being drunk but really craving some Halo while blasted

Normal

Normal is the next difficulty up from Easy and is set as the "standard" by 343. Bungie considered Heroic to be the way the games are meant to be played but 343 seems to have chosen to balance around Normal, so for this reason you will find playlists for the games are often set to this difficulty.

Normal is not an overly difficult experience and will become very easy once someone is familiar with the game's mechanics and controls. Despite this, there are perfectly valid reasons to play on Normal no matter what the skill level of the player is. Damage to the player is at it's default value and enemy health is reasonable. Normal is more forgiving of mistakes than higher difficulties but you will find yourself dying if you make mistakes that Easy would allow.

The main reasons you may choose normal are:

-Playing the playlists built into MCC

-Trying to get through levels at a reasonable pace. Normal is a good choice if you want to play some Halo on a lunch break from work, for instance.

-Being a first time player of shooter games but not of video games as a whole. If you're already comfortable with a keyboard/mouse or controller but don't have experience with the shooter genre, Normal may be a good starting point.

-Wanting to learn strategies for approaching enemies. Normal is a good tool for learning enemy weaknesses, i.e. practicing snap headshots on grunts and jackals or sidestepping elites.



Heroic

As Heroic's description in-game says, Heroic is the way Halo is meant to be played. It is a decently challenging experience that will still forgive minor mistakes. Heroic is my personal favorite difficulty as I find it has the best balance between feeling like a badass supersoldier and difficulty. There's nothing wrong with playing on Heroic even if you're very experienced, either.

Enemies have slightly boosted health and do a bit more damage. Some weapon combinations that were feasible on Normal or Easy are not as valuable on Heroic. The most obvious example being the Needler which will be practically useless within a larger crowd of enemies due to the Halo CE Needler being the slowest and arguably weakest in the series.

On Heroic, enemies of higher ranks become somewhat more common and you will at times face more enemies than you would on Normal or Easy.

Many of the achievements for different in-game feats require you to play on at least this difficulty.

Heroic is my go-to for a fun time and for good reason. In my opinion it is quite literally the perfect balance and Halo CE's Heroic difficulty is my favorite balancing of any Halo game. It holds up extremely well.

Reasons to play on Heroic may include:

-Bungie's intent was for this to be the default experience and thus for the sake of artistic intent you may wish to play this.

-This is a good choice for first time Halo players who have experience with first person shooters as a genre as it provides a fine amount of difficulty and will be about on par with what you'd expect for what reflexes are expected of you.

-It's fun as hell.

Legendary

Legendary is the highest difficulty included by default. One could go higher and do LASO but that's a subject for another time.

Legendary is the least forgiving difficulty. Enemies do much higher damage, have way higher health, and there are more of them. You will find that marines are even more useless than ever before as they will struggle even against grunts.

However, since Halo CE is well balanced Legendary is firm but fair and you will not find yourself dying to unreasonable things very often. Almost all mistakes can be avoided by correcting your approach to scenarios.

My biggest point of advice to people playing Halo CE on Legendary is two important pieces of information; use plasma grenades to stick elites while they do the taunt animation as they first see you, and do not underestimate Jackal majors as they can take you down incredibly quickly with the rate of fire of their plasma pistol.

Do not underestimate the power of the plasma pistol. Halo CE's plasma pistol is by far the strongest weapon in the game. It melts shields, has 500 shots from a 100% charge, can hit at insane ranges, is extremely common from enemy drops due to jackals and grunts carrying them, and does decent damage to flesh. The plasma pistol is something I'd recommend picking up the first time you find one in a level and never putting it down. It is your workhorse.

While people will tell you the CE magnum is the strongest weapon in gaming, those people clearly have not used the plasma pistol to its fullest potential. Just trust me on this one.

It also fires as fast as you can pull the trigger so if you're on mouse you can go absolutely ham.

Legendary is a rite of passage in the community, so to speak.

Reasons to play Legendary are:

-Legendary-only achievements

-Good for those seeking a challenge.

-Heroic no longer provides adequate challenge for your skill level in terms of reflexes.

-You have mastered the mechanics

-If you have something to prove.

So, you've made it through CE and are onto Halo 2. Halo 2's development was quite a mess, and there are many documentaries on it should you be interested. But for the sake of this guide the only thing you need to know is that Halo 2's balance is....poor, at times.

Halo 2 is well beloved in the community for its amazing story telling and ambitious feature list, but you may find yourself struggling in ways you didn't before.

For that reason, you may find yourself enjoying Halo 2 on a lower difficulty than you did Halo CE. The specific reasons for which will be delved into in each section.

As a general rule about entries from here on, Halo 2 is when the franchise began to lean into the "precision meta" way more, meaning that you will find that headshot capable weapons dominate the franchise going forward, to the point it will often feel pointless to bring anything else.

Here are some general Halo 2 tips:

-Don't bring the SMG. It is worthless. It might as well be chambered in .22 birdshot for how much damage it'll pull at any difficulty higher than Easy.

-The Needler is good now. Really good. It's one of the only viable non-precision weapons on higher difficulties. It has better tracking, faster firing and supercombines melt enemies.

-They turned the glorious Halo CE magnum, the M6D, into the M6C or as I like to call it the Supersoaker someone forgot to make orange. Don't touch it.

-The Plasma Pistol got nerfed. It's still definitely worth bringing for shields but don't try to use it to score kills on its own anymore.

-Elites got a huge buff in this entry. Close quarters is not ever a good idea with Halo 2 elites. Unless it's a Heretic with a sentinel beam, because they do zero Melee damage due to a glitch.

Easy

Easy remains more or less unchanged from Halo CE. And therefore my recommendations for why you'd play it are more or less unchanged. This mode is still good for beginners to video games as a whole and for those looking to speedrun.

Easy will not be very fulfilling gameplay wise as it practically plays itself in Halo 2, especially since your allies AI is somewhat improved compared to the previous entry.

You may choose Easy in Halo 2 if:

-You are going for par time achievements

-You are new to video games as a whole, especially if you're very young or very old. My mother played through Halo 2 on Easy, for instance.

-Only care about the story and not the gameplay

-Are drunk

-You are attempting to play the game with your feet, or a DDR dancepad, or a Guitar Hero guitar.

Normal

This is where the guide changes from the Halo CE section. Halo 2's Normal difficulty is only slightly easier than Halo CE's Heroic difficulty. For example, elite melee is an instant kill even on Normal and you will likely find yourself still dying on occasion, moreso than on Normal in Halo CE. For that reason, my list of reasons to play on Normal will be slightly different than for CE.

Generally the principles of it remain the same. It simply requires more reflexes than Easy. The primary difference between Halo CE's normal and Halo 2's Normal is that there's more things that can instantly kill you even on Normal in Halo 2.

You may play Halo 2 on Normal if:

-You are displeased with the imbalances of Halo 2 but still want to enjoy it's story and gameplay

-You are new to Halo as a Franchise but have experience with video games

-You hate Jackal Snipers as much as the rest of the community does

-Brutes are as annoying to you in Halo 2 as they are to the rest of us

Heroic

Heroic in Halo 2 is where things start to get a bit..different. Enemies do far more damage and at times can melt you in seconds, making this difficulty far less forgiving of mistakes than Heroic on Halo CE.

Generally I would recommend you are very familiar with the weapons sandbox before attempting this as Halo 2's enemies are far more polarized to their weaknesses and strengths than in Halo CE. Facing a brute without a headshot capable weapon can be daunting at the best of times.

You will find yourself dying on occasion to things that seem entirely contrived. Jackal snipers are far more common and have many more spawns on Heroic than on Normal. Brutes are bullet sponges unless you bring a precision weapon, and elite melee is, as you guessed, still instant kill.

You may play Heroic on Halo 2 if:

-You enjoy the core gameplay of Halo 2 despite it's quirks and can forgive occasional BS.

-You want achievements locked to Heroic or higher

-You are comfortable with the weapon sandbox and have enough knowledge of enemy weaknesses to stack up.

-You want to respect the artistic intent and play Halo 2 "as intended"

-You find Normal not challenging enough but don't hate yourself enough for Halo 2 Legendary

Legendary

This is the section most of you were waiting for. Halo 2 Legendary is best described as a joke at the expense of the player. Jackal snipers are almost always instant kill and will snap shot you in under a second if you are not careful. Brutes are essentially invulnerable except for headshots. Elite shields feel like they're powered by nuclear generators, allowing them to survive direct rocket launcher shots. Ultras and zealots are everywhere (Zealots only spawn on this difficulty)

Your allies might as well be your little brother without arms holding the controller because they will be melted into puddles of blood and regret before you can even get to a first name basis with them.

If you must play on Legendary, the Noob combo remains reliable. Take the battle rifle and plasma pistol, down Elite shields with the plasma pistol and then go for a quick headshot. The tracking on the plasma pistol is somewhat more reliable than in Halo CE, though in all other ways the plasma pistol is downgraded. It isn't the workhorse it was in CE, so only rely on it for shields.

You may play Halo 2 on Legendary if:

-You hate yourself

-You love jackal snipers

-You want the Legendary achievements that definitely aren't worth the suffering

-Actual war wasn't challenging enough for you.

-You are on some kind of cocaine binge and are thrill seeking.

Halo 3 returns to normalcy after Halo 2. The difficulty imbalance is addressed and overall the game is incredibly polished. I will say it's not AS balanced as CE but it's still quite fair. Three is a fan favorite gameplay-wise for a large section of the community.

Difficulty wise it's easier than Halo 2 but has less balance than CE.

Generally it continues the trend of a precision meta, though Halo 3 also places much more emphasis on the use of power weapons. It's a good idea to carry a Rocket Launcher, Sniper, or Spartan Laser if you can find one.

Easy

Easy on 3 is probably the easiest in the series. You could probably play this in your sleep. Still, it has some value to it. For example, if you're looking to just see what new weapons/vehicles are in Halo 3 and aren't looking to actually 'play' it yet, it could be smart to pop open a level on Easy and try to learn it's intricacies.

You may play Halo 3 on easy if:

-You only care about the story

-You are missing one or more limbs

-You are new to videogames as a whole

Normal

There isn't a whole lot to say about Normal on Halo 3, it's about as average as possible difficulty wise. For an experienced player it will likely prove too easy. Still, it's a fair pick for your first time playing Halo 3.

Normal on Halo 3 may be for you if:

-You are not new to video games but are new to Halo

-You are going to play one of the default playlists

-You wish to get through levels somewhat more quickly

Heroic

Heroic is extremely well balanced on Halo 3 and my personal favorite way to play it. The game is still somewhat forgiving of mistakes but isn't too easy. Again, it's a fairly fun experience that is balanced in a way that makes you feel like a bad ass Spartan.

The Brutes are generally less difficult to deal with than the Elites and Brutes from Halo 2 by a wide margin, no longer being the bullet sponges they were previously. Some people believe they were nerfed too heavily. It's actually something of a contentious topic in the community. While I don't necessarily agree that they were nerfed too hard, I do agree with the idea that brutes are generally less fun to fight than Elites.

Enemy weaknesses are a good knowledge to have but the game is a bit more forgiving on missteps than previous entries. Still, ranged precision weapons reign supreme in Halo 3 as they have in Halo 2.

Heroic on Halo 3 may be for you if:

-You are new to Halo but used to shooters

-You are a returning player looking for a more casual experience

-You wish to play the game the way Bungie intended

Legendary

Bungie learned from the mistakes they made in Halo 2 and have crafted a more well-balanced Legendary in Halo 3 that is far fairer. Make no mistake, it will still be extremely difficult, but many of the issues that made Halo 2's Legendary unfun have been corrected. Iron is no longer forced on (Although MCC eventually allowed you to play 2's Legendary without it as well) and Jackal snipers are hard-coded to miss the first shot and are much more visible.

Jackal snipers now feature a purple helmet light that helps you easily identify them.

Legendary on Halo 3 is still less forgiving than Halo CE's and you will find that the TTK (Time to kill, a measure of how much continuous fire it takes to eliminate a player or enemy) is ridiculously low for you, with plasma pistols from grunts shredding you if you aren't careful. For that reason, taking cover in Halo 3's Legendary can be important in large swarms of enemies, and the aggressive style of gameplay Halo CE's Legendary promotes it at times impossible to recreate with Halo 3.

The biggest issue in Halo 3 Legendary in my experience is Pure forms, especially ranged. They can melt you like you're a stick of butter in a griddle if you aren't careful.

Legendary is very doable as long as you understand the Sandbox and enemy weaknesses to their full extent. It will take more effort but you can prevail if you put your knowledge to use.

You may choose Legendary in Halo 3 if:

-You are looking for a challenge

-You wish to get Legendary-exclusive achievements

-You wish to get the last terminal's full message

ODST is a spinoff of Halo that puts you in the shoes of an ODST, the Rookie, in the streets of New Mombasa. Chronologically it occurs in the middle of the events of Halo 2, but I'd still recommend you play it right after 3 which was when it came out, as your knowledge of Halo 3's sandbox is essential to prevail.

ODST is a fun game but one that is quite different in gameplay. You will find yourself needing to employ more intelligent tactics and use cover in order to overcome your foes rather than relying on the sheer strength of a Spartan. Aggressive gameplay will generally not cut it unless you have mastered the movement and weapons to the extent you can overcome your reduced Health and lack of shields in order to push an advantage.

More than anything, the difference i'd note between Halo 3 and ODST can be boiled down to this: In Halo 3 you can rely on Master Chief's advantages to give you an edge in combat, but in ODST you need to focus in and utilize each weapon in the game's arsenal to the absolute best of your abilities on higher difficulties.

Some things to keep in mind about ODST on all difficulties:

For some reason you can still rip turrets off and carry them around like a Spartan, in fact you actually move faster than Chief with them. Congrats on the gains.

The grenade throwing arc is different than the other games and will take some adjusting if you wish to consistently land sticks.

____

ODST is a fan favorite and for good reason, but it plays quite differently than other Halo games.


Easy

Easy on ODST is just about as forgiving as it is in all other Halo games. In fact, if you play on Easy you'll practically feel like you're still playing a Spartan considering how helpless enemies will be against your unending onslaught. Brutes will fall before you by the handful and you'll at most come out of it with a few scratches.

You may play ODST on Easy if:

-You're new to video games

-You only care about the story

-You have lost one or more hands

-You just received a laptop in the Nursing home and are looking to pass time between Bingo nights

Normal

Normal on ODST is average. It'll be fine if you understand concepts like occasionally taking cover, the fact you can't outmelee a brute at full health like you could in Halo 3, and you've hopefully learned the value of grenades.

You may choose Normal for ODST if:

-You're not too confident in your abilities

-You are new to Halo but not to video games as a whole

-You are still learning the tactics that make ODST differ from other franchise titles

-Your knowledge of the weapons sandbox is incomplete.

Heroic

Heroic. In ODST, from this difficulty up the differences between this game and Halo CE, 2, and 3 should be well understood by the player if you hope to do well.

For example, by now you should understand that your starting loadout's Automag is almost exclusively useful for trash like Grunts and Jackals. Exploit it's firerate and precision to pile on bodies and deprive Brutes of their companions, after which you can focus on taking them out individually with whatever other weapon you are carrying, or your grenades.

You should also by now understand that not every encounter is worth fighting through. On Mombasa Streets for example, flight is as good of a choice as fight if you find yourself low on ammo or in a position that is strategically unviable. If you don't have cover, don't reveal yourself. There's no shame in bypassing a Covenant patrol. You aren't the Chief and the UNSC aren't expecting you to win the war single handledly.

You should be used to using your VISR to check for Sniper Jackals along the rooftops and balconies by now, otherwise they will be an unpleasant surprise at several points in the game, though not nearly to the point Halo 2's were. The little bird raptor bastards still remain quite annoying.

You may choose Heroic on ODST if:

-You want to play the game the way it's meant to be played

-You have gained total understanding of the mechanics of playing as an ODST

-You are looking for an experience that is challenging but also somewhat forgiving

-You're new to Halo but not new to Shooters.

Legendary

What can I say other than ouch. You better be an expert of the new mechanics if you choose Legendary. If you make foolish mistakes like taking a low-firepower weapon into a gun fight, engage with a lack of cover or forget to throw grenades, you will find yourself dying again and again and again.

In spite of that, ODST on Legendary can be very fun if you HAVE mastered these mechanics as overcoming the enemy through sheer tactical prowess, overwhelming firepower, and strategy is a great hit of Dopamine. For example, using a sniper rifle to pluck off a Brute's support, then closing in and sidestepping him.

Generally, the best strategy for Legendary on ODST is, as self-explanatory as it sounds: Don't get hit. The longer you spend firing at enemies at times where they can't fire back, the better. Don't feel forced to rush, take things as methodically as you need to in order to ensure your tactical advantage.

You may choose ODST on Legendary if:

-You are a master of ODST's mechanics in every sense of the word

-You wish to feel vulnerable

-You are a veteran Halo player looking to style on some Covenant bastards.

-You have complete familiarity with Halo 3's weapons sandbox and can utilize the arsenal to its full potential

-You are looking for a challenge that will test your ability to think quickly in tense situations

Remember Reach, they said. And indeed I'm sure for anyone who played it, we all do. Reach is a bit of an odd one because much of the gameplay is quite different from any previous entries. Enemy behaviors are changed quite a bit, especially Elites which behave in a way we haven't seen before, or since.

Reach is a prequel to CE but I'd still recommend first time players play the games in the order of release rather than Chronological order.

Easy

Easy on Reach is brain-dead levels of easy. It maintains the tradition of Halo on Easy being able to practically play itself. The main difference I will note compared to other Halo games on Easy is that first time players may still find themselves killed/caught off guard by suicide Grunts.

You may choose to play Reach on Easy if:

-You are new to video games

-You only care about the story

-You are trying to get that one achievement towards the end of the game that shall remain unnamed.

Normal

Normal on Reach is pretty balanced. It's the last difficulty you can likely get away with using guns like the Assault Rifle and Plasma Repeater and the highest difficulty where it'll feel like the marines (technically Army troopers in Reach) around you are putting in any real work.

Normal on Reach is a decent experience.

You may choose to play Reach on Normal if:

-You're going through a default playlist

-You're new to shooters

-You hate Reach Elites as much as 80% of the community does

Heroic

Heroic on Reach is slightly harder than Heroic on Halo CE and Halo 3. You will find that Grunts suicide-charge you more with plasma grenades, Elites dodge your vehicle ramming/grenades more often, and Grunt Heavies and Ultras actually begin to pose a threat in numbers.

If you try to use weaker weapons such as the AR or Plasma Repeater on this difficulty you will find that you might as well be shooting at the enemy with airsoft guns because you're only going to get yourself killed.

On this difficulty and up you're going to carry a DMR or Needle Rifle on you at all times if you want this experience to be relatively painless. If you are the kind of person who thinks they're going to rush into combat with a plasma rifle and a concussion rifle you better either be a Halo veteran player or a recent Asylum escapee as it's probably not going to work out.

You may choose to play Halo Reach on Heroic if:

-You can tolerate a moderate but not overwhelming amount of BS.

-You have learned the mechanics well enough that you feel comfortable countering the Reach Elites

-You want to babysit Army Troopers constantly to ensure their survival

-You want to play the game the way Bungie intended

Legendary

Reach on Legendary, what can I say. It's not quite Halo 2 levels of hair-greying madness but it can feel close.

Elites will have a tendency to dodge grenades they weren't even looking in the direction of, you will find that Grunts kill you fairly easily if you underestimate them, Drones are the spawn of Satan and bringing any gun combo that isn't a DMR and a plasma weapon for dealing with shields means you might as well just jump off a cliff because you're going to die anyway.

Elites on Legendary in Reach are almost as frustrating as Jackal Snipers in Halo 2. Not quite there, but almost. You will find yourself emptying entire magazines of certain weapons into them only to find their shields are only about half-way down, you will find them making dodges that put Olympic runners to shame, and all the while they will lay fire on you with pinpoint accuracy. In the hands of the player the Concussion Rifle is practically worthless, in the hands of an Elite it's essentially broken in how strong and accurate it is.

You will watch legions of Army Troopers die without even killing a single enemy. You will see suicide Grunt after suicide Grunt charge you, and you will die. A lot.

You may choose Legendary on Reach if:

-You hate Army Troopers and want to watch them die

-You have mastered sidestepping Elites to the point you're comfortable doing this to large numbers of them under pressure

-You don't like any gun that isn't the DMR

-You want those spicy Legendary achievements

-You want to feel what being on Reach probably canonically felt like

Well, we now arrive at Halo 4. The black sheep of the MCC. This game was incredibly divisive at it's release and continues to be a subject of much contention. Mainly the criticism focuses around the story and I agree without a doubt that Halo 4 is well...not great. Though in my opinion it's also not as bad as many say it is. Perhaps I'm just retroactively more appreciative of it as it's less of a dumpster-fire than Halo 5.

In spite of that, you may still wish to play it if it strikes your fancy. While I'm not a huge fan of it's mechanical and visual changes there are undoubtedly some who are. For that reason I'm including it in this guide. Please do not turn the comment section into a fight club where you beat each other to death over whether or not you think Halo 4 is good.

As for me, I have a mixed opinion of Halo 4, I'm not huge on it's story or art but I enjoy, for example, the rebalance that actually makes the Assault Rifle a viable weapon and I enjoy much of the arsenal's audio design.

Easy

Easy on Halo 4 is like ripping a bandage off. It'll be quick and easy but still quite painful, just not due to it's difficulty. Enemies are weak and you slaughter them with the might of a thousand raging bolts of testosterone-fueled lightning even if you play with the skill of a blind deaf toddler with no arms.

You may play Halo 4 on Easy if:

-You want to get it over with as quickly as possible

-You care about the story (oof)

-You want to take out your anger on the art's redesign by bashing these ugly elites in uncontested

Normal

Normal is actually the difficulty I'd recommend most players play Halo 4 at. Not because Heroic or Legendary are super difficult, but for reasons I'll elaborate on in those sections. Normal is still relatively easy but enemies put up slightly more of a fight. The AI assisting you can still do a decent job holding their own when they aren't running headfirst into a wall repeatedly.

The main reason I recommend Normal for Halo 4 is that it can be mindless fun if you turn your brain off. It won't reach the level of greatness of other Halo games but can be a decent time sink if you just ignore the egregious story and hold down the fire button.

You may choose to play Halo 4 on Normal if:

-You feel like trying to actually enjoy yourself with Halo 4 (oof)

-You're playing through the default playlists

-You respect your sanity

Heroic

Well, here we are. Heroic. Halo 4's Heroic is best described as...tedious. It won't be insanely challenging in the conventional sense but Prometheans were seemingly designed with driving you slowly crazy as a key design element. Knights will teleport away right as you think you're about to take one down, Watchers will pop out of nowhere to catch and toss your grenades away, and overall you'll be questioning what you could be doing with your time instead.

You can get through Heroic on Halo 4 with time but the real question is why you'd bother.

You may play Halo 4 on Heroic if:

-You enjoy Prometheans annoying the hell out of you

-You want achievements

-You want to play the game the way 343i intended

Legendary

Welp. If you're seriously considering playing Halo 4 on Legendary I question your sanity. Will it be the hardest game on Legendary? No. Will it be worse than Halo 2 on Legendary in terms of difficulty? Absolutely not.

What it will be is mind bogglingly slow and tedious. Aggressive play is simultaneously a bad idea and the only way to really take on Knights. You'll have to meticulously clear each area one enemy at a time from behind cover, employing every cheap trick you can think of. Because the enemies will employ a high number of cheap tricks on you.

Knights will telegraph an instant kill melee which is fine if they're doing it from the front, you can dodge that. But if they try that from say...behind you, enjoy being reset to last checkpoint by an instant kill attack you couldn't see or dodge.

Crawlers will eat up your shield in seconds with their fully automatic Forerunner BB guns in preparation for a Knight to trick shot you straight into Hell with their RGB gaming Forerunner DMR.

Incineration Cannon Knights will shoot with the accuracy and rage of Thor on steroids after you slept with his wife and will teleport away any time you're even close to killing them.

Finishing a Knight on Legendary is more about luck, the luck that they either teleport somewhere that you can still hit them from rather than behind cover, or that their idiot AI just doesn't choose to teleport when their shields are down. Both can be quite rare.

Beyond that, vehicles might as well be made of paper on Legendary. You will struggle to drive five feet without hearing an enraging BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP from your vehicle indicating it's about to crash and burn harder than Bitcoin did a few days ago.

Your AI companions may as well be toddlers with cap guns considering how useless their assistance will be. You'll watch marines and Spartan IVs alike get decimated by any enemy, no matter whether it's a Grunt who is blind in one eye and armed with a stick shaped like a gun, or world champion Heavy Weight boxer Hunters defending the title on Sunday. Either way your allies are as good as dead.

It's beatable, sure. But is it worth it?

You may choose Legendary on Halo 4 if:

-You don't respect yourself

-Fun is illegal in your country or against your religion

-You want the Legendary achievements that 100% aren't worth it.