Halo 4 Grind Guides: Infinity Slayer

In these War Games-oriented Grind Guides, my aim is to give players a rundown of what commendations are easiest to come by in various game modes, as well as a basic overview of what the modes are all about, including mentions of items of note on specific maps. To start things off, let’s talk about the most basic of the basic: Infinity Slayer.

What is it?
Infinity Slayer is fairly straightforward. You’re on a team with three other people, either red or blue, and you want to kill the guys who aren’t the same color as you. Simple enough.

What commendations can I work on?
As for Weapons commendations, you’re most likely to get some work done on your various Loadout weapons; that is, the ones with which you start the match. If you want to cover the whole board, make a variety of Loadouts with different weapons, but my personal advice is to work one primary/secondary/grenade combo until you’ve cleared at least one element of the three, then swap in something else you need to work on. Not only does that make for faster progress in more specific areas, but it also gives you time to learn specific weapons rather than scattering your skill set. Spend some time with different weapons early on, to find what you like and don’t like, but try to narrow things down once you’ve sampled everything.

Vehicle commendations are fairly hard to come by in vanilla Slayer, but the Complex map features a Ghost or two you can usually use to get some Splatters. Pretty much all of the Player commendations are fair game, though the smaller levels and lower number of enemies to take out make things like Close Quarters, Payback, Avenger, and Exterminator a bit easier to work in this mode. And, like all the play modes, Slayer has its own category of commendations, but they’re based solely on victories and being one of the top three scorers in a round (regardless of victory or defeat), so get to killing dudes.

It helps that Big Team Infinity Slayer, SWAT, and Team Snipers all pool into the Slayer commendations as well, so don’t worry about camping this playlist if you want a little variety.

Any other tips?
Communicate. This is a team effort, which is why you’re all color-coordinated. If you have a headset, use it, preferably to keep your teammates appraised of situations, such as all four members of the opposing team bearing down on your position. Even if they don’t have headsets, there’s a good chance they forgot to turn off headset output through their TV, so they should be able to hear you. And, if you are going to call things, don’t worry so much about knowing the “official” or “pro” names for different locations, so long as you can be quick and precise in your descriptions. Even so much as “hill base,” “river arch,” or “blue hallway” can be a lot more helpful than “over there,” or “by that thing.”

Also on the teamwork note, don’t get butthurt about kill-stealing. If you want to rack up kill counts, go to Regicide or the Free-For-All playlist that’s on rotation if it’s up. You’re here to help one another, and besides, there’s an Assist commendation that gets you a sweet, gradient-colored visor once you max it out. The more other guys die, the better chance you have at coming out victorious, regardless of who puts the last bullet in them.

And thirdly, also regarding team play, don’t go lone-wolfing it if you can help it. I’ve had better times with (and been trounced most often by) teams that stuck together, covering one another’s backs and owning the map rather than running around wherever, only to get picked off by mobs of two or three opponents. Splitting into teams of two can be super effective for pincer attacks, especially on maps like Adrift where you can assault an entire enemy team from opposite ends of a hallway, and even a lone sniper can use a little help sometimes from someone covering access points to their nest that they may not be able to see while scoped in. That’s not to say you should bunch too tightly, mind you, as that makes you and your buddies grenade fodder, but stick close enough or at least pay attention to your squaddies’ positions so you can lay down fire for one another and avoid ambushes.

While it’s not the best for any particular grinding, Infinity Slayer is as good a place as any to work on your basics, and to develop familiarity with maps that appear in almost all the other game modes in War Games. That, and it’s almost always one of the two most full playlists, so you can always find a match, which will likely take less time to bang through than some of the other modes given its 600-point win condition and simple, head-to-head nature.