This grind guide takes a look at Halo 4’s returning Oddball mode, and what commendations are optimally worked on therein.
What is it?
Oddball is the Halo equivalent of Keep Away. Two teams start the match making a dash for one ball, this time around taking the form of a glowing, skull-containing orb, and then it’s a matter of hanging onto it amongst your teammates or trying to get it back from your opponents. The ball can be thrown now, with your grenade button, either to teammates to keep the points racking up, or to an opponent to interrupt whatever they may be doing and throw off their game. The objective is to, cumulatively, reach a certain amount of points while holding onto the ball, which sounds a lot simpler than matches can turn out once they get heated.
What can I work on?
Given that Oddball tends to be four versus four, team-wise, the map selection leans toward the more compact side of things, thus making mid-to-short range weaponry some of your better choices with which to work. Granted, Complex comes up in this gametype occasionally as well, so be ready for it.
Oddball-exclusive medals focus on carrying, beatdowns while carrying, and killing enemy ball carriers, so it can be a bit difficult to gain much ground if you’re just assisting the carrier. Good assistance gets you wins, which go towards a commendation as well, however, so don’t be salty if someone beats you to the ball.
Any other tips?
Every stage has decent hidey holes; find them, learn them, and stay out of exposure to crossfire if you’ve got the ball. Have/hope your teammates cover exits, and while it may be tempting to go in for beatdowns when you have the ball, don’t get too cocky.
In addition to knowing where to hide, know where to move in a given level; knowing easy jumps and other traversal tricks can mean the difference between repeated ball drops and endlessly frustrating your foes. There are a lot of alternatives on any map to the obvious paths, so fire up a custom match or Forge and explore a bit. And, don’t forget, holding the Oddball disables your armor abilities, so you won’t have jetpacks or thrusters to rely upon.
Pass! The pass functionality was put in there for a reason, and adds a new dynamic to things that can make matches that much more frenetic. And remember, as mentioned above, throwing the ball to someone makes them auto-catch it if they’re where it’s going to land, regardless of which team they’re on, and you can buy yourself a few seconds of confusion by hurling the ball into the hands of an opponent trying to take you down.
That’s all there really is to say about Oddball. It’s one of the more underpopulated lists, with most players preferring Slayer variants, but you can still find a match pretty much anytime, and it has its own charm if you’re willing to give it a chance.
