The Degradation of the Halo Magnum

[@AscendHyperion]

Thanks for watching part one of this topic! Get a friend to subscribe to the homeslice! What do you think of Bungie's war on the Magnum?

[@indiesslice]

So when's part 2 coming out?

[@captain6255]

Halo Mccs halo 3 Automag is the most balanced in my opinion

[@bake4795]

What about halo 3 magnum in swat

[@S1erra107]

Then 343 came, and the magnum was a beast of a side arm once again.

[@AscendHyperion]

Next video, friend. Next video :D

[@idkaname9582]

Not in h4. Absolutly not in h4.

[@AscendHyperion]

Lol don't worry we'll talk about it

[@SKITTLELA]

Bungie brought it back for Reach (albeit not to original glory, but darn good.) Then H4 nerfed it again.

[@jorge8108]

@@idkaname9582 if you don't know how to use it

[@mythiclegend117]

gotta hold back my tears whenever i think of the transition between halo CE and 2 magnum

[@afanoflafear]

The BR is basically the OG magnum for Halo 2.

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Halo 5 bringing back the H1 magnum was like a breath of fresh air

[@BioGoji-zm5ph]

Halo 5 did a lot of things right in its multiplayer. Granted, it took a couple years of sorely needed updates for that to happen, but it's here now and that's what matters.

[@indescribablecardinal6571]

I see you in every Halo video.

[@xeli3046]

@@indescribablecardinal6571 as well as many other game-related channels.

[@avery2306]

Yeah but the bullet magnetism hurt my brain

[@trey6555]

@@xeli3046 as well as every other comments section on youtube lol

[@Unbias3d]

Iirc, bungie received feedback back in the ce days that the magnum felt like a rifle and the ar felt like an smg, so in h2 they did exactly that. The br is essentially identical to the og magnum in performance, and the smg is very similar to the og ar.

[@Sonicfan-wi6oy]

Facs

[@crispybits6737]

"Fairly unique to halo" Arena shooters: Am i a joke to you?

[@AscendHyperion]

In the grander pool of FPS games, Especially those released in the past 20 years, it's still a gameplay style Halo has dominated. I tucked the "fairly" in there as an acknowledgement.

[@crispybits6737]

@@AscendHyperion As a quake player this hurts me deeply. I mean you're right but i'm sad

[@jorgeoaa]

These console players lmao. That comment about it being unique to halo is a straight up lie.

[@hexaltheninjawow9531]

tbh tho, Halo is just an Arena Shooter without all the crackpot movement. Plus Halo has vehicles. But in general, you’ll see people FLYING in Quake, and jogging in Halo. And TBH, I also Titanfall 2 movement with Halo gameplay is the most modern version of a fast-paced Arena Shooter.

[@kaa8646]

@@hexaltheninjawow9531 the slower movement started in H3 , playing Halo 2 at max FOV definitly makes it feel more like doom. IMO

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

"Imagine being a CE fan then playing halo 2 and picking up the magnum." Oh boy, I don't have to imagine. How ever, a lot of context is missing. The CE pistol isn't broken because EVERY THING killed faster in CE. The AR will beat the magnum up close, especially with a double melee, the grenades are mini nukes, the sniper is the most op sniper in the entire franchise, the rocket launcher has a massive blast radius. To put it simply, you just died faster in CE and I loved it that way. Halo drastically changed after the first game and it took me a while to accept that before I could really enjoy Halo 2. I also am not salty at the Halo 2 magnum because the BR replaced it, not the H2 magnum. The H2 magnum's purpose is just dual wielding, that's literally it.

[@ShadowGaming-ft4fh]

I agree about ce, sure the magnum was good as a standard but other weapons were better when they were in their situation. Flamethrower (pc) dominated extreme close quaters, then shotgun for close quaters and so forth. The flamethrower could dominate rooms in a way that could be considered op. The sniper could 1 shot tank drivers (fun incarnate). And so forth. Halo 2 duel weilding made the magnum tolerable, especially if you mixed it with another weapon like the plasma pistol, which turned it into a versitile weapon.

[@afqwa423]

At the time we already knew the Battle Rifle was supposed to be the new CE pistol. It was just disappointing.

[@pateceinsanity7715]

The magnum was op because you get it instantly at the beginning of the match unlike power weapons.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

@@pateceinsanity7715 Then it's a good thing it's not a power weapon and loses to power weapons. That does not make it op.

[@typorad]

X to doubt the AR beat the magnum up close. I mean the AR only stands a chance at very close range if you flank someone and land all your shots. I frequently turned around fights against AR users with a quick 3 headshots.

[@KevinKoolx]

I've played Halo since 2001 and I never really had an connection with a specific weapon as the utility weapon. Bungie saw what the CE magnum was capable of and divided up it's utility with other weapons. As long as I enjoy the CE mag, BR and H5 mag as well. Those weapons fit the sandbox as the base gun to use in the game and everything else compliments that weapon either CQB or longer range etc. IMO H5 has the best weapon balance in the franchise as MANY other weapons very viable. Great video and looking forward to the Revival!

[@BioGoji-zm5ph]

What? More than one weapon being viable?! What madness is this?! This is Post-Halo 2 Halo! All weapons except the utility weapon must suck!

[@zacharyalfano9846]

Halo 5 did have balanced weapons until all automatics where nerfed because they are “spray and pray weapons” if you missed a round with a assault rifle at close range with a br or pistol you where done for before that update now you can’t even break there shields before they kill you. It’s rediciluase I just want to kill people with AR it’s much more fun to use the under dog weapon and shit on the meta users not to mention I think is it he coolest and unique looking weapon in the games.

[@DsiPro1000]

incorrect on the weapon balancing: because everything is hyper lethal the balance is equal but that means you die is a instant. which makes it feel like cod

[@hypersonicfalcon6802]

Bungie and metas. Makes me think of Destiny and the Shotguns.... sheesh.

[@chickenstrips5138]

going into a destiny match without a shotgun is like going to war in afganistan without a gun.

[@hypersonicfalcon6802]

@@chickenstrips5138 lmao, this is true. You can kinda sub a shotty for some snipes if you want too.

[@nunothedude]

Who plays that garbage

[@hypersonicfalcon6802]

@@nunothedude Not you, obviously.

[@nunothedude]

@@hypersonicfalcon6802 yeah i dont play destiny thank god

[@GeorgeMazur29]

Bungie: "With dual wielding, you have to greatly nerf the individual weapon, otherwise it won't be balanced and no one will want to play" MachineGames: *gives a shirtless 14-year coma patient double firepower with every weapon except for the draidil railgun*

[@epicdude3659]

thats Wolfenstein, right?

[@rickyrain7773]

@@epicdude3659 yessa sirrr

[@0lionheart]

Machine-era Wolfenstein doesn't have competitive multiplayer, that's the critical difference.

[@Leo.23232]

its not true though, you can add significant penalties to dual wielding such as reduced accuracy, more recoil and slower reloading to balance it, do it to enough of an extent and you can have the gun be useful single and dual wielded, look at ruby of blues campaign mods for example

[@dsdy1205]

​​@@0lionheart honestly, would that be so bad? if it were just some weapons that could be dual wielded I could see the argument for balancing, but what if EVERY gun had it? What if you could dual wield every weapon, however ridiculous that would be, with differing levels of detriment? would that really fj over the sandbox that hard, especially if you locked yourself out of melee and grenades?

[@SKITTLELA]

While many hate bloom, Reach's Magnum might be the best.

[@chickenstrips5138]

i think bloom adds a little more of a already existing skill curve, maybe even more than curving your shots in 3. i kinda love bloom cause of that lol

[@SKITTLELA]

@@chickenstrips5138 Fair enough. I didn't hate bloom, but I can see why people did.

[@MayaNormusAss]

I agree. I agree very much

[@daftpunkin5912]

Reach had an amazing magnum it was fantastic for the punch/headshot combo. I think if ODST’s magnum had a chance to be in pvp it woulda been great too.

[@chickenstrips5138]

DAFT PUNKIN welp we’ve got it now in pvp and it 5 taps with headshots 😏

[@rustediron4062]

Reach has the best magnum. Not THE meta, not useless.

[@jackcolson4745]

I don't like the fast fire rate I'd give the ce mag and h5 mag a tie for 1st

[@TheChocoboRacer]

H4's is better cuz less bloom.

[@TheChocoboRacer]

and actually H5 has the best magnum post CE

[@Cameron088]

Absolutely not. When thete is NO BLOOM, yea. But looking at base Halo Reach, too much bloom. Halo 5 indeed has the best post CE Magnum

[@Rexfuselier]

That's what I feel about the best of most loadouts weapons. Just that line were it's not quite an op meta weapon but it's not a pea shooter ether

[@SAClassHunterZero]

I loved the Magnum in H2 for one reason: That incredible glitch, before they patched it, where if you dual-wielded a magnum and an SMG it would deal full damage, instead of being reduced like in every other dual wield combo.

[@derianefrain5745]

I came across this video on my KZbin feed, and i enjoyed it a lot, i was expecting the ending with the revival on H5's magnum, then i saw that the video was from almost a month ago and i thought that the 2nd part was already up but sadly it wasn't, so i started to watch a lot of your channel, this kind of "Chronology"/"Analysis" videos are your best to me, great channel! already waiting for part 2!

[@AscendHyperion]

Wow thanks alot! It means a ton to hear this type of comment, especially on this new brand of content on my channel. Dont worry, the follow up to Mag vid is in this months pipeline. Thanks for checking out the channel!

[@GumballMicjones]

Ascend Hyperion just wanna piggy back and say I’m also super excited for the revival video, but I’d also love to see this series-spanning analysis of the magnum applied to other weapons too, I’d love to see a video on the BR.

[@CrushLD]

I'd argue the reasoning for throwing out the Magnum Meta wasn't because of the dual weilding mentioned or even the previous games prevalence of the weapon, a hand cannon or a pistol doesn't have the same feel or visual impact as a rifle does to the player or an audience watching the player play (whether that be LAN parties, an observer (parent, friends) or tournaments). I think Bungie realized that early on in development of Halo 2 and changed the 'meta' of Halo for arguably the better, while Yes you could come from CE and be mad that the previous meta isn't in place all I'd say to that is, it was replaced with something better AND if every game has the same Meta you won't see or have a still enjoyable experience long term for the majority of players (IE the players who come back but don't play daily) People Conflate H2's Samdbox as a BR only area when in OG H2 the BR was outclassed by the carbine and power weapons, along with combos you could do with certain weapons like plasma rifle smg and the "noob combo". Also the two halfs of what you'd normally get analogy I believe only applies to Halo 3 as in Classic Halo 2 (don't know about Vista port aka what's on MCC) none of the weapons were slowed in fire rate or damage output from their base counterparts

[@AscendHyperion]

Ya' see that first point is bothersome. If you observe games like Counterstrike or Goldeneye, there is a prestige with wielding a pistol in a skillful way. There is a finesse to it that can be appreciated. If it's just about appearances, there are most def routes to translate the coolness factor in a sidearm. I'm sure I said it in the video, but i agree, the BR was a good correction and further step in the precision weapon meta. That I dont have an issue with. But it's silly, to me, that Bungie didnt put any effort into preserving the Magnum as it were. There was no direct reason to not do so. (See: Covenant Carbine) By 2 halfs, I mean from a "what if view" Good example being the Halo 5 SMG. It is notably stronger ALONE than the Halo 2 SMG Alone. But two H2 SMG's are pretty much the same as a single H5 SMG. Does that make sense? It's about how duel wielding cuts a weapons potential in half so it is not broken if duel wielded.

[@CrushLD]

@@AscendHyperion To my current knowledge counterstrike is the only game that works with, and even so its only for the first round or so because most people use an AWP or AK in the following rounds, both in Comp play and casual. Currently in today's (definitely the eSports scenes) general game markets: Battlefield, CoD, Rainbow6, and Valarant all gameplay ditches the pistol entirely except for a whip it out scenario when you're out of ammo. I get what you're saying, but the games industry as a whole in both eSports scenes and more casual experiences all go for similar ideals when it comes to pistols because of how a rifle looks, not just in translation to the player, but to an audience as well To my knowledge the current H5 SMG takes almost the entire clip to kill somebody and the H2 SMG takes 95% of the clip if not dual weilded and about 35% of the total bullets if dual-ed. If any of this sounded hostile my bad lol, I'm just attempting to have a discussion with ya and texting comes across weirdly sometimes

[@InnuendoXP]

@@CrushLD Titanfall's smart pistol has that. Maximum Action has that. If you put the RoboCop pistol in a game it'll have that. CS still has the pistol relevant after the first round as a sidearm or in close range encounters when you have a ranged loadout. This is all beside the point though. The prominence of Halo's pistol isn't a problem just because its analogues are thin on the ground elsewhere. You don't see many games do rocket-jumping, plasma climbing or strafe-jumping, but Quake's not about to get rid of those because CoD & Battlefield don't have them.

[@BioGoji-zm5ph]

Harry Callahan would like to argue against that point of a hand cannon not having the same feel as a rifle.

[@derekk.2263]

Plus remember Halo is a military science fiction game. Issuing your marksmen with pistols instead of rifles doesn't make sense in this setting, or even just visually. And it especially makes no sense if you've ever fired a pistol and rifle before. In video games pistols are usually seen as low magazine precision headshot weapons but in reality they absolutely are not. They're definitely worst guns in every category and the sole advantage is portablility.

[@LiterallyIzutsumi]

I’m gonna be controversial and say the halo 2 magnum nerf was the right call, but bungo took it way to far. By ‘right call’ I mean it was a necessary change even if dual wielding wasn’t a feature in halo 2 and 3. I am however going to correct the mistakes made by bongie. 1) adjust damage to make it a 9 shot headshot and 12 shot body 2) give it a 2x scope 3) increase fire rate 4) increase accuracy 5) heavily increase weapon switch speed 6) add a burn animation when dual wielded with a plasma rifle/pistol when they overheat (I know 6 changes is a lot, but that’s why I said bungy took it too far) This gives the magnum a new role in the sandbox, where it shines in conjunction with a sniper rifle, plasma rifle, plasma pistol etc. Hit a body shot with a sniper? Drain somebody’s shields with a plasma rifle or pistol? Lack the ammo in your BR to finish someone? Quickly switch to your pistol and you should be safe, unless your aim sucks. All of this functionality is lost when you dual wield it, but you can kill players faster. Tl;dr halo 2 mag needs change but boingie had the right idea

[@naughtybear2187]

Jesus it's a pistol not an smg

[@guiscardusx7752]

I personally found the Halo 2 Magnum usable with a weapon like the SMG and the Plasma Rifle in dual wield, you'd melt people if you were careful and picked your targets. It was even more deadly in Halo 3. Then again, I overly rely on dual wield SMGs a lot in Halo 3 and Halo 2A

[@asm7406]

reach magnum, 4 and 5 are better

[@MT-guns]

I wholeheartedly believe their decision was warranted, if not overdone. The pistol in a game should *never* rival all other weapons. It should be treated as "Plan B" when all goes wrong or when you need to swap weapons because reloading would be slower. Granted yes, it shouldn't need two whole magazines to kill soneone. But it shouldn't kill in 5 either. There *can* be a happy middle ground where either the Magnum does less damage over range, or needs only 6 to 7 shots to kill. It shouldn't be the weapon to rival all others, it should have its own usefulness and I will admit going from CE to 2 was too far. But 3 was much more manageable as a *sidearm* goes.

[@ripamoramee14]

The Halo 5 Magnum is the only true successor to the CE magnum

[@E_Rice]

“The guys in marketing said it’d be cool if MC had 2 gun because this 2 game” 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@spikypikachu1162]

I just now realized that dual wielding didnt make the guns better. Its horrible! I never even thought about that! Now I dont think we need dual wielding back unless they actually make it balanced. And not garbage.

[@AscendHyperion]

To be fair, it's a tricky system. But I agree. It detracts from gameplay more than it adds. 343 has done good to keep it out.

[@AMABotelho]

If I recall, Halo 2 effectively split the weapon damages in such a way that you needed two of them to be effective. Halo 3 bumped up the damage on the weapon by itself, but then each weapon wasn't doing full damage when dual wielded. With Halo 2, you doubled your damage when dual wielding, but alone the weapon was bad. In Halo 3, dual wielding didn't quite double your damage, but alone the weapon was more viable. Also Halo 3 allowed reloading the dual-wielded weapons individually, while you had to reload both weapons in Halo 2. Halo 3 vastly improved dual-wielding.

[@jackcolson4745]

@@AscendHyperion removing dual wielding takes away from the fun factor and badass factor, you could give it that

[@mariobadia4553]

@@jackcolson4745 it can be fun but it's not really fun when the weapons suck

[@Beanpolr]

I always hated how dual wielding reduced the damage, imo it would've been better to just reduce the accuracy a ton and keep the damage to make dual wielding a very strong close range option but doesn't allow you to sniper people, and you would have to work for mid range kills. It would allow it to actually be useful while not being overpowered or always the better option. Also two guns in fun.

[@yorkshire_tea_innit8097]

I feel like you're erroneously attached to the image of the pistol. The BR fills the same role as CE pistol, it is the spiritual successor, so just think of the BR as the next pistol, why do you need an identical copy of it? The only reason they changed it is because it isnt good design language to have a pistol, which should be a secondary, be more powerful than everything else. And when you think of the H2 and H3 pistols as secondaries, you see that they shouldnt even be used to kill someone outright, the good thing about them is that they allow 1 shot headshots after shields, therefore they can be used in conjunction with other things that take down shields e.g. melee, grenade, grenade, AR, plasma pistol. Also, the H3 pistol has another function in that it 1 shot destroys fusion cores.

[@Tyler-nr6kl]

Glad you put it this way, the entire video i was like 'its a side arm. If the gun is taking 20 odd shots to kill you probably should only rely on it as a finisher. Its not Bungie's fault you cant make the inference based off pretty simple game design

[@williekuehn3803]

I would like to further point out that dual wielding the pistol with any other weapon (except maybe the needler) is a very deadly combo. Smg/pistol combo makes a lot of the people I play with rage.

[@mattd5857]

Bingo, the BR and it's successors and derivatives are the CE Magnum in all but appearance. One of the bigger, and quite frankly fair, criticisms of CE was how bizarre the performance of the human weapons was. A pistol that functions like a precision rifle and an rifle that functions like an SMG was very strange and Bungie rightly acknowledged this with Halo 2 having a precision rifle that handled like a precision rifle, a pistol that handles like a pistol and an SMG that handles like an SMG. Also it's worth noting that the Halo 2 and 3 iterations of the pistol were hugely unique in being the only dual-wieldable weapons that could score headshot kills. In Halo 2 especially this made it beastly when used alongside any plasma weapon to quickly strip shields and land headshot kills faster than even perfect BR bursts could manage.

[@adrianoss.bougas3720]

The pistol was very fresh, very scifi and unique. It was a great touch

[@adrianoss.bougas3720]

@@mattd5857 The bizarreness was what made Halo 1 unique and alien, this wasn't criticism, it was just debate

[@milkmonstrosity]

I'd argue the Shotgun went through a similar range of performance, even loosely corresponding to the progression of the Magnum.

[@AscendHyperion]

I agree strongly. A shotgun evolution video would be fun too

[@dantheman340]

@@AscendHyperion the needler* am I joke to you

[@wulfeeclipse1840]

@@AscendHyperion The Assualt Rifle went through essentially the opposite transition.

[@kingkjc1935]

This is one of the most entertaining, informative, well thought out channels ever. Deserves more love

[@AlphalanceVO]

I’m surprised it wasn’t mentioned that the CE magnum turned into the H2 BR. A 2x scope weapon that fired 12 times (36 round mag on a 3 round burst). The name and model changed but I always considered it the magnums child

[@spunchles2781]

-Halo CE: God himself -Halo 2: Fast fire rate but low damage and no scope. However with dual-wielding you can mix and match. -Halo 3: No scope, 8 bullets, slight damage increase but can still dual wield so you can still mix and match -Halo 3 ODST: Scope returns, back to 12 bullets, fast fire rate, can't dual wield however but still effective. -Halo Reach: Back to 8 rounds, still have a scope, decent fire rate, still effective. -Halo 4: Same as reach. -Halo 5: -Normal: Fire rate is similar to CE, no scope but can aim down, 12 bullets. -Gunfighter: Fast like reach, aim down, and 18 bullets -Extended Mags: Literally just the normal variant but with 18 bullets. -Tactical: Almost similar to ODST, scope returns, 12 bullets, has a silencer, but has the fire rate of the normal varient. -Halo CE: Almost the same, could be wrong tho

[@lennyward7662]

I think the issue at hand is more likely that Bungie didn't intend for the Magnum to be so powerful in the first place. It's been treated like a sidearm. They are your hold out weapon. I agree they needed it too much in Halo 2, but perhaps it's strength in Halo 3 is good enough as your sidearm.

[@0lionheart]

IIRC a designer buffed it last minute, didn't test it enough, and it shipped overpowered. See: one shot kill on Hunters. It was never meant to be like this, but now it's become deified by Halo fans like some genius stroke of game design. Funny how that happens.

[@docc_]

@@0lionheart That really shows a problem in the Halo community, they be thinking a PISTOL should be more powerful than a fucking Assault Rifle when it should be what it was in Halo 3: a side weapon, that's just wrong bro. The worst thing is that the devs also think like that when designing the weapons in Halo. Edit: also the H3 magnum is pretty viable when dual wielding if you ain't got a BR.

[@kapthas59]

@@docc_ whatever class the weapon falls too, pistol or ar, it needs to be good, has its own unique use, a strong one. The sidekick is how you design pistols. Don't take what makes pistol bad, take what makes it good, which is fast handling.

[@docc_]

@@kapthas59 Sidekick still is stronger than the supposed "main gun" of the spartans. That's not how it should be and you can't change my mind. If they are going to make an AR it should be treated as an AR, if they're going to treat it like a SMG or something they should pick the fking SMG instead.

[@docc_]

@@kapthas59 And your argument is weak. The BR has all the uses on a single gun and no one talks about it.

[@mikeyahl7363]

Dual-Wielding in H2 & H3 would have been fine if Bungie didn't place a damage reduction on weapons while they are being dual-wielded, and if they kept a similarly high DPS with those guns whether or not they are dual-wielded. Dual-Wielding should be disincentivized by purely it's accuracy reduction.

[@Hi_buddy_waz_sup]

I think the Halo 2 magnum is pretty fun when dual wielding with a plasma pistol. But maybe that’s just me.

[@River_of_Egypt]

As a Halo 1 puritan, this re-saddened me. Do the shotgun next? I know it's not quite as dramatic but I was so shocked picking up Reach on Steam MCC and it being a 2' ranged limp noodle vs Halo 1's boomstick. Good video but my eyes kept trying to focus the blurred footage back into sharpness :D

[@derekk.2263]

I think the shotgun was a much sadder story than the pistol. They replaced the pistol with the carbine and BR which are just as fun, but the shotgun just got nerfed into basically a melee weapon.

[@kedsarama]

Honestly, I think the Halo 3 magnum is worse than the Halo 2 pistol. In Halo 2, it looks like a dinky little pistol, and that's how it acts. In Halo 3, it looks more similar to the classic magnum and gives the illusion of it being potentially good.

[@moderncrusader3503]

I hate when channels like these are underrated.

[@Ryxis]

0:32 - 0:49 Lol, he has no idea what original doom deathmatch is. Or quake for that matter. Those games gave birth to this kind of gamemode.

[@Voltaic_Fire]

I think they should have kept dual wielding in the campaigns and simply disabled it in multiplayer, it was a fun mechanic. They should have upped the damage and made the reload time the way you pay for it.

[@dalekbumps]

Man, I've only just found your channel but I've got to say every single video so far has been brilliant

[@AscendHyperion]

Welcome to Team Homeslice :D

[@jadecain6943]

I feel like this about the shotgun as well. it feels like every game it was completely different

[@TheVengefulVadam]

The Magnum in Halo 2 was originally a bit stronger at launch, being able to kill with 9 headshots, I believe. However, when dual wielded, this thing became such a monster that Bungie ended up patching the Magnum in an update that made its damage output to the 13sk peashooter it is now.

[@Mollifier16616111]

I remember figuring this out, on ivory tower I'd rush to the mags at the lower back corners and they'd always be free to grab

[@KopperNeoman]

Ironically, dualie Magnums without the dual wield penalty were STILL weaker than the BR with button combos.

[@J0nnyTheJ3w]

I appreciate how Hyperion knows people watch these videos and just get distracted by the gameplay, so he puts that green filter on everything

[@theguy8763]

You say that the CE magnum is borderline broken, however I'd say that it was extremely broken. If a weapon makes the rest of the sandbox almost useless, it's extremely broken

[@RealMisterChef]

Wittle baby magnum

[@ThunderbolttheFox]

My first experience with Halo was at the local 'Boys and Girls Club' when our awesome computer teacher 'Jared' brought in his Xbox and we played Halo CE 4-player split screen on a projector. I was like 7 at the time and didn't understand the game, and thought it was some game about dirt bikers shooting each other, cause that's kinda what the armor looked like to me. Well we had a good couple hours playing around in blood gulch. It wasn't until later when I started hearing more about the game and Halo 2 was being hyped that I realized what I had played. When a friend gave me their old game magazine with a huge article about Halo 2, I became totally obsessed with the series. Though it wasn't until 3 launched that I started getting more and more chances to actually play the game, and I was able to get copies of CE and Halo 2 for PC, that I started playing them almost religiously, solo on an old computer with no internet. 2009 after I got my first laptop is when I finally had my online experience, playing both CE and Halo 2 online whilst the servers were still going, and then 2011-ish I both got a job at Pizza hut and then bought a 360 just for 3, and then bought reach next, from there I just played a lot of Halo, even pre-ordering MCC for the xbox one. Now I play MCC a lot on PC, which imo is the best place to Play Halo, being that it was for a few years, the way I played it back when Halo 2 was still fairly relevant. In writing this I forgot what prompted me to write this, but I do want to say that even though I never got many chances to play the original trilogy besides occasionally at a friend's house in my early years, Halo was the series that defined my early life, through grade school, middle school, high school, and then even my early adulthood.

[@DrsJacksonn]

What happened to the magnum and plasma pistol in Halo 2 is what made me happy that dual wielding was gone in Reach.

[@KarmicXRestrictions]

I would say the halo 2 Magnum is still fun especially in phantom swat or dual wielded

[@DreccoDen]

Plasma Pistol + Magnum = dual wielding noob combo. You really should have mentioned that!

[@b-conn6624]

One of the greatest disappointments of my young life was finally getting Halo 2, finding magnum and realizing what had happened...

[@PhillipOnTakos]

As a kid before I really got into Halo I watched Red Vs Blue and they did a PSA about the update from Halo CE to 2 but with an in universe explanation. It was really funny to see but was very imformative and helped me in knowing about the legacy of the CE Magnum.

[@YasaiTsume]

Halo 2 Magnum was useless on its own but was a terror when paired with a Plasma pistol in FFA matches. Alot of FFA Slayer matches were mainly dominated by Magnum + Plasma Pistol because of the ability to drop shields immediately, negating the Magnum's weakness, then bullet dumping the body with Magnum's hitscan. Also FFA matches have tighter maps where CC is prevalent, so the effectiveness of Magnum + Plasma Pistol just shot through the roof. This reason was why in Halo 3, they made bullet dumping the Magnum impossible by lowering the fire rate drastically, while keeping dual wield in the game.

[@ccclll987]

Imho: the magnum SHOULD be bad. it makes no sense at all from lore perspective that such a weapon can be so powerful and it's utterly ridiculous to see spartans choosing a pistol over a rifle. Bungie did good introducing the BR in halo 2 and 3 and the dmr in reach to take the same place in the gameplay of the magnum while being lore friendly and honestly better looking. Then came 343 with broken sidearms like the forerunners shotgun pistol and the halo5 magnum that was basically a power weapon. I miss bungie. I miss shooting people with low accuracy guns only to finish with a fist fight. pls gib back

[@chickenmotherhalo]

Got to admit, the few times I’ve scored a kill duel wielding magnums in halo 3 I felt like such a badass afterward.

[@hermanchan2794]

I got killing frenzy with halo 3 magnum when I duel wield

[@travisty4644]

Your video's are extremely well made!

[@sageryan25]

I'm of course the exception to the rule. I magnum all day every day in all Halos. I just know to strip shields first.

[@liamhartrey9014]

sageryan25 damn who tf asked

[@Tyler-nr6kl]

Same. Personally, i think the comically low damage+headshot capability was pretty intentional game design and pretty easy to infer. But 'MUH GOON BAD NOW'

[@unluckydova]

Listen I love the Magnum like everyone else but I strongly disagree that it should be a powerful weapon, lets be honest it's a pistol. The Halo CE magnum did not feel like a pistol, that's a hand cannon lol, now that's not a bad thing. I feel like Reaches pistol should be the spawn pistol and Halo CE magnum should be a power weapon. Keep the same damage and everything, just only give it 2 clips. Have the best of both worlds lol. (Just an opinion)

[@Helljumper117]

I hate to say it, but my first halo game is halo 4, my favorite being halo reach and halo 2.

[@jackp492]

Magnum in halo 2 team swat was so much fun, nothing quite like it

[@SnipeMD]

The magnum combined with the plasma rifle or plasma pistol is a god tier killer in Halo 2 and Halo 3. It's a quicker noob combo than PP into BR

[@nathan4660]

im pretty late to this video but this is really well made, i just subscribed :)

[@royal-wolf]

I do like their in world reasons for the changes, it adds a level of potential customization to the gun that we never actually get to play with. We have a small feel for it in Halo 5, but that's about it.

[@dangerwarg9682]

It's never strange. Ever since CE the magnum has been balanced to be in line with starting weapons. Namely to be one of the worst guns in the game, but with the benefit of instantly killing with headshots. Halo 2 made it weapon but fast shooting. Halo 3 made it slow and removed the extended ammo capacity, having only enough ammo to kill one player, where as even the AR has enough ammo to kill two players. Halo Reach, brought back the fire rate, but the thing is horribly inaccurate unless shot at Halo 3 speed. Halo 4? Refer to Reach. Halo 5 undoes all that shit and made it a weird mix of CE and 3. It appears that Infinite is leaning more toward Halo 5's version.

[@derekk.2263]

I actually thought it was appropriate to make the magnum into a weak pistol and replace it's role with a rifle. Even as a kid it didn't make sense to me why such a tiny gun with a short barrel was more accurate and powerful than the assault rifle, especially not after actually going shooting and seeing how hard it is to hit anything with a pistol. I think it at least makes sense for them to turn it into the BR which is just as fun. A big part of Halo is that the world feels a lot more grounded than in most games, and I think that the "believable" Sci fi weapons are a huge part of selling this feeling. Mowing people down from 100 yards with a pistol with a 4 inch barrel and then switching to your full length assault rifle for close range and firing off 30 rounds for one kill does not make sense to a new person seeing the game for the first time. The gun has to be as big as it's effect is to make sense.

[@Callmehazy509]

The halo reach magnum felt like the power of the halo 2 magnum with the zoom scope from CE

[@seanbyrne7919]

H2 magnum was actually pretty decent on release but got nerfed big time over the life through updates

[@tloz_games9261]

Tbh I prefer halo 2s magnum model then the others

[@church348]

To be honest I'm glad the Magnum was hit with the Nerf bat. Nothing more boring than being forced to only use a pistol because everything else in the game is worthless compared to it

[@Malice_doll]

I basically only play CE on MCC because of the mag and because it was my first halo back in the 2000s. I always thought the Halo 3 mag was the worst because the Halo 2 one at least has a rapid fire. I do enjoy the reach magnum and besides the DMR it’s one of the weapons Ive always stuck with since the game released. And oh man the Halo 5 mag what a beauty it is and not only that the game include the M6D as a power weapon eventually. I just wish I could imagine how OP duel wielding the CE mag would be like.

[@artemissaidan8136]

If I may ask, what was the magnum's place when a plasma pistol could be dual wielded in the other hand to reduce kill times? Was it just too up close and personal to work out, or was the plasma pistol too slow?

[@LifeIsntHealthy]

There's no dual wielding in Halo CE, and the plasma pistol was only really useful for shield breaking

[@artemissaidan8136]

@@LifeIsntHealthy I'm talking more 2 and 3, where the magnum was relegated to a sidearm rather than a primary weapon like CE. The ability to shield break and fire a precision weapon within milliseconds of each other sounds strong, but it obviously didnt shake out so much in practice and I'd like to know the factors that prevented that.

[@calexplas_5734]

New to this channel but am a heavy halo player and from my experience I had no issue with Halo 3s magnum. I doubled down usually got me kills. The halo 2 magnum was good for support for headshot-ting dual wielding with an smg. The thing is I didn’t play competitively with Halo 1. Maybe that’s why I don’t have the original experience hinder my experience with the new magnums

[@levijonathansix]

"Can you think of any other weapon that has had such a range of performance? No!" *Laughs in Needler*

[@AscendHyperion]

Haha now that's fair. The needler has been on its own personal roller coaster

[@Paul-A01]

The H1 Magnum did not become the H2 magnum. It became the BR, and the H2 magnum is a completely new weapon, just sharing the same name.

[@michaelkaleita4442]

Yep, this exactly. The CE Magnum was just given a different name and skin, as well as a three-round burst. But it was essentially the same gun that performed the same role.

[@51TD0wN]

I've played Halo since CE, and I had no problem with the magnum being nerfed. Mainly because it having the best range other than the sniper rifle didn't make any logical sense. It's playstyle still existed in other games, the weapon was just a rifle not a pistol. The magnum was reduced to an emergency weapon to pull out of your back pocket if you got caught reloading or something. Which is what I always believed it should have been. Reach is the best place for it to sit in my opinion, it's usable, but generally inferior to the other precision rifles. I never believed it's dominance was a good thing, and Halo 5 is a game I like, but am frustrated by its lack of weapon diversity. The H5 magnum more or less out shoots most other precision rifles, and ends up dominating the sandbox. It's 40 meter red reticule range is superior to everything but the DMR, and sniper rifles. Making it an extremely oppressive weapon. It has strangely good bullet magnetism considering it's reticule size, and it's kill time is better than the BR despite the fact that it has better range. I frequently see players go the whole game without picking up another weapon, because they don't need to, because pound for pound the magnum is just as good, if not better than anything on the map in terms of range, accuracy, and consistency. Plus you can swap to it more quickly to finish people off if you're using a power weapon. It's essentially turned Halo 5 into a one gun game, with the exception of the sniper rifle and rocket launcher, which are the only two weapons on almost every map worth picking up. Which is such a shame when you consider that Halo 5 has the largest weapon sandbox in Halo's history, especially when you include REQ weapons. Halo 5s reluctance to stray away from pure competetiveness, and put some of the awesome REQ weapons they made in some of some of the maps is one of the greatest missed opportunities. The variety in power weapons would keep the game feeling fresh and varied, but instead all we get is magnum / sniper / rocket launcher, on almost all the maps. Just because that's how it was in the beginning, doesn't mean that's how it always should be.

[@mat_max]

Isn't the halo 2 magnum intended to be dual wielded?

[@e.clectic2533]

The Magnum in Halo 3 was OBVIOUSLY just something to hit people with, lmaooooo

[@asm7406]

fanboy

[@lastfirst5863]

Magnum has utility in H3, for when you encounter unshielded enemies. I also use the magnum over the AR every time.

[@sebastiansethd.lastimosa6610]

in halo ce it was so op you can literally snipe people with it

[@BioGoji-zm5ph]

And then 343i added the ODST magnum to Halo 3's multiplayer, gave it a boost in damage and accuracy in comparison to the standard H3 magnum, made it dual-wieldable, and thus, through bizarre retroactive meta-time-warping, gave us the single most versatile and powerful magnum in the Bungie games since the M6D of Halo 1 and the Reach Magnum.

[@Reshi9984]

its fun using the halo 2 magnum in swat imo

[@Megacaillou]

If you know how to duel H2's magnum with a plasma pistol, you can do pretty well. I'll admit it's easier to do the BR with a plasma pistol secondary though.

[@ausaskar]

Who dual wields 2 H2 Magnums? It's supposed to be used in conjunction with a DPS weapon like the Plasma Rifle to spam out the final headshot. A solid definite niche, even if you disagree with dual wielding.

[@cadaver4985]

Magnum, its SHOULD be the same as Big Fucking Pistol, but 343 came and just like 343: _NO_

[@smile4cs]

I really think that Reach did the magnum the best, it acted like a less accurate DMR which made it still really good, but not as good as the DMR.

[@Leo.23232]

why should it be just worse than the dmr though, it should do something better, which it kind of does in rate of fire, but its got too much recoil to make use of, it would be better if the recoil was reduced and converted to be controllable not random

[@thelouster5815]

Honestly Halo Reach’s magnum was the best. It had the same mechanics as the DMR (5 shot headshot/8 shot body), and could be fired rapidly at the cost of accuracy. Not to mention it had a scope. It perfectly fit the role of a sidearm in the sandbox.

[@asm7406]

its better Halo 4's magnum and 5

[@kashifshaik857]

Yeah it did fit the role of a reliable sidearm you could use , the only thing that was wrong was how strong the dmr was

[@GeistInTheMachine]

Great vid.

[@samtheweebo]

With the halo 2-3 mag you need to take into account the dual wielding ability. Sometimes I can do quite well with a plasma rifle and mag in halo 3. Same with halo 2. Plasma over charge and one pistol shot. I do agree with the statement that dual wielding was a terrible thing to add to the weapon sandbox. It was kinda fun though.

[@solitare4602]

The CE Magnum was a rifle that looked like a pistol, so they made it a rifle.

[@SooWavyFliiBoiWalt]

343 needs to give us the model cosmetic of the magnum from halo CE & Halo 3. It looked so good. Now it looks like a basic training weapon that's beastly when it comes to precision damage.

[@BigTylt]

The best part of the M6D for me was the fact that instead of needing a hitmarker, the bullets flashed when they hit something, so you could easily correct your aim on a far away target. Also, you could hit people outside of the reticule IIRC (at least on PC and if you are careful enough).

[@RiskyRandom]

Halo 2 mag is amazing. Halo two added comboing. And I’m not talking about duel wielding. I’m talking about comboing plasma damage and precision weapons for weapon swapping

[@wifine1951]

So where’s the follow up

[@thedrbat9572]

Halo CE: Explosive sniper Halo 2: BB Gun Halo 3: Explosive Pistol. Halo 3 ODST: BB Pistol. Halo 4: idk.....

[@Ruiluth]

I love duel wielding, I just think Bungie did it the completely wrong way. I think the changes made in Ruby's Rebalanced campaigns are the right way to do it. It's a classic rock-paper-scissors choice. Single wield, you get fast reloads and great medium range accuracy. Dual wield but single fired, you keep the accuracy and gain a backup, at the cost of substantially longer reload times. Dual wielded and simultaneously fired, you gain a massive damage boost but also a massive accuracy penalty, along with keeping that severe reload penalty. I'm not a competitive player but I really like how it feels and I think it's a ton of fun to have the three options available, and I find myself using all three situationally.

[@machina5]

Contending for power weapons on the map isn't unique to Halo, Arena Shooters are an entire game genre lol

[@stridertechz]

i agreed with most of ur video and i like how you presented everything, but i just dont simply agree with what u said on dual wielding. for me dual wielding expands on the sandbox and can be a lot of fun to use at times. pf course sometimes dual wielding can be a pain in the ass but i mostly had fun with it a lot

[@AscendHyperion]

I'm not saying duel wielding isn't fun, cause it can be. Its quirky. But even Bungle acknowledged it had adverse impacts on gameplay OUTSIDE their intentions. The point here was to highlight how DW does not "double your power"

[@ddiondewitt369]

I was in complete agreement until dual wielding 😂😂😂 dual weilding with a needler and handgun felt aesthetically amazing!!!

[@adamscheu4218]

I wish you went all the way through halo 5 with these videos.

[@AscendHyperion]

But I do. In the 2nd part lol check my channel

[@adamscheu4218]

@@AscendHyperion oh thanks lol, also great content subbed

[@LegendStormcrow]

Honestly you overstate the effects of duel wielding. It made the pistol plasma pisyol.pistol more valid, which no matter what you say, was actually far more of a bigger gambit than most think. I think I'm the only person I ever met who used magnums in serious games

[@blood3215]

Halo CE-epic Halo 2-No Halo 3-yes Halo 3 ODST- yes Halo reach-yesn't Halo 4-b r u h Halo 5- epic

[@GarrettBlackmon]

Gonna be an unpopular opinion here... But maybe Bungie just thought: "Hey, isn't it a little silly that your pistol sidearm is the most powerful/versatile weapon in the game?" Also bungie: "yeah, I do think that, it should be some type of precision AR. That'd make more sense."

[@ZayOsirisGaming]

Bungie Added both the Magnum CE (Named Forerunner) and the battle rifle into Destiny 2. They’re both absolutely fantastic weapons. With so much versatility. I strongly recommend you try it, if you’re a hardcore CE magnum/Battle rifle fan :-)

[@ayybdon]

Honestly if you had just used clips of the H2 Magnum being pure shit, that would just me more reinforcement to your case

[@austrager7765]

Imagine a if a rocket flood and jackal sniper combined and they duel wielded both weapons

[@Cologne_Trooper]

Yeah I started on H3 and when I went back to HCE I was like WTF?! And then played H2 and I just got really confused...