343 details changes, reveals maps coming to Halo Infinite Season 2

Halo Infinite Season 2 launches on May 3rd, and developer 343 Industries has released a lengthy blog post detailing changes that players can expect when it launches, while also revealing the names of the two new maps coming to the game.

Starting with the maps, Halo Infinite is getting two new ones in Season 2, one for Arena and one for Big Team Battle. The latter is called Breaker and features a “giant moving laser that cuts across the center of the map and destroys anything that gets caught in its beam.” It’s also “tighter and faster-playing” than the other Big Team Battle maps currently in Infinite.

The new Arena map is called Catalyst. Unfortunately, 343 didn’t release any further information on the map, but it will be accompanied by the return of King of the Hill to “multiple playlists.” Attrition is also finding its way to multiple playlists, with improvements to the revive process so that players can move immediately after spawning back in. And players will finally be able to 100 percent Infinite with the “Medic!” achievement with Elimination making its debut in Season 2.

As far as content is concerned, it’s unclear if two maps and two-and-a-half new modes are enough to bring players back for the long haul. However, 343 also has a ton of quality-of-life changes coming in response to community feedback.

Here is a “TL;DR” rundown of some of the fixes coming with Season 2:

AUDIO

• The ability to hear an opponent’s shield recharge sound will be reduced to prevent providing too much information about a player’s location
• The volume of the Grunt Birthday Party sound effect will be increased in Campaign

MULTIPLAYER

Arena

• Catalyst (new Arena map) will be added to multiple playlists on day one
• King of the Hill will be added to multiple playlists
• Attrition will be added to multiple playlists
• In Attrition, a revived player will be able to move immediately after spawning back in
• Motion Tracker (Radar) will have its outer edge detection enabled for shooting and sprinting in social playlists

Big Team Battle

• Breaker (new BTB map) will be added to matchmaking on day one
• Jeff Steitzer’s voice is returning to call out player-earned medals
• Issue causing asymmetrical Weapon Rack spawns has been addressed

Matchmaking

• Rather than track a player’s entire session, the CSR progression bar will now reflect the progress made from their most recent match

Custom Games & Forge

• Addressing some Custom Game bugs, with more coming down the road

Personal AI & Spartan Chatter

• Balance adjustments were made to emphasize what’s most important for players

PC

• Noticeable stability improvements; the team has resolved dozens of PC crashes

SANDBOX

Networking

• Melee fights should be more consistent, with opponents “phasing” through each other less and “whiffing” less when a melee should’ve connected

Weapons

• A global melee damage decrease of 10% on all weapons will require the Mangler to land two shots and a beatdown for a kill.
• The Ravager’s base (non-charged) shot will see a damage increase

Friend or Foe (IFF) Recognition (Player Outlines)

• This system will now have options allowing players to modify the opacity and thickness based on their preferences

Equipment

• Drop Wall will see slight performance increases
• Overshield will provide slightly more shielding

Vehicles

• Chopper collision (splatter) damage will be increased to its vehicle-splattering glory
• Banshee’s agility and damage output will be increased to improve its role as a strike fighter
• Warthog & Razorback should be more resistant to flipping and bouncing

The rest of 343’s blog post goes into way more detail about what the development team is currently working on, so we recommend heading over there if you want a more in-depth rundown of Season 2. One thing that won’t be launching with Season 2 on May 3rd is Infinite‘s campaign co-op mode, which is now coming later in Season 2. Forge mode is still on track to launch with Season 3. There’s no release date for that, though.

Halo Infinite is available on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.