Part 13: Info - Armor Abilities

Armor Abilities are a new feature to Halo: Reach. These armor modules can either upgrade a specific function of the Spartan's armor or synchronize separate hardware with the armor to create new functionality, while others add entirely new physical components. There are seven Armor Abilities in all, although only six are usable by the player in the main campaign.

They are, in order of discovery:





Sprint, as the name implies, allows the user to run at an enhanced speed for a limited duration of time. While sprinting, you are unable to fire your weapon, melee, or throw grenades.

FIELD DATA: S-320 is largely responsible for this plug. While not quite a hack, it does temporarily override the safety limiters on actuators and "muscles" - cheating the system regulators to keep the operator cool as well.





Armor Lock is a controversial Armor Ability in Reach, at least in multiplayer. Its effect is simple: you become completely invulnerable, at the cost of being completely immobilized. After releasing from Armor Lock, the immediate area around you is subject to an EMP, disabling energy shields as well as vehicles for a short time. This blast intensifies the longer you remain in Armor Lock. Multiplayer aficionados say that Armor Lock takes the skill out of the game and is just a crutch for noobs who couldn't otherwise win gunfights. These guys are dumb. Armor Lock is easy to beat: Just stay away from the Locked player until they run out of charge, then finish them off.

FIELD DATA: Fairly effective even in this early prototype stage, it has internal components nearly identical to the Covenant gear that spawned it. The biggest drawback is that the local gravitic effect essentially immobilizes the operator.





Drop Shield is a fairly useful Armor Ability and is one of my favorites. Based off the Bubble Shield from Halo 3, the Drop Shield, when deployed, absorbs incoming damage for a short time. It will break either after approximately 15 seconds, or when it sustains a major amount of damage, such as from a grenade or rocket. As it takes damage, the shield will change color, going from blue to red to indicate shield strength. Another useful feature of the Drop Shield is its ability to regenerate the health of those who stand inside it without the use of medpacks, making this Armor Ability invaluable on the harder difficulties.

FIELD DATA: An evolution of the Bubble Shield employed by β5 Strike Teams, it creates a temporary, semi-spherical protective shield that also provides a curious restorative effect (still under investigation).





Active Camo, when activated, causes the user to turn nearly invisible - the only sign of presence being a barely noticeable refraction of light. On higher difficulties, the AI can spot a user with Active Camo more readily and from farther away. Other effects include the jamming of nearby enemies' (and the user's) motion tracker to further evade detection, as well as the muffling of all outside sounds. However, upon moving quickly or firing a weapon, the camouflage is broken and the user becomes visible. Furthermore, its energy reserves are drained much more quickly when performing these actions, so the user must show tact while using Active Camo.

FIELD DATA: Renders the operator virtually invisible. Overall effectiveness is dependent on operator discipline - rapid or sudden movement tends to overtax the system.





Hologram is an Armor Ability which generates an extremely realistic holographic copy of the user's physical form and movement, and can trick enemies into revealing their location, or to draw their fire away from the user. These projections have a slight flicker to them, and shimmer when fired upon, revealing the deception.

FIELD DATA: This gives the operator the ability to create a virtual, holographic projection, which can be used as a decoy to draw enemy fire. The decoy has a regular lifespan of 10 seconds, but my be cancelled at any time.





Jetpack lets you have a, well... Jetpack. You can fly around with it for a limited time before it needs to recharge. Useful for negating fall damage, and also for everything else a Jetpack is useful for.

FIELD DATA: This newest model portable jump-jet finally has the power to lift a Spartan in the latest-generation MJOLNIR armor.