Halo Infinite multiplayer has a wide variety of game modes, each with their own rules to determine the winner. 

1. Arena Modes
   • Attrition
   • Capture the Flag (CTF)
   • Escalation Slayer
   • Extraction
   • Fiesta
   • Firefight: King of the Hill
   • Headhunter
   • Infection
   • King of the Hill
   • Land Grab
   • Last Spartan Standing
   • Oddball
   • Slayer
   • Strongholds
   • VIP
2. Big Team Battle Modes
   • Capture the Flag
   • Sentry Defense
   • Slayer
   • Stockpile
   • Super Fiesta
   • Total Control

ARENA MODES

Arena modes are designed for games with up to 8 players. Some game modes are only available during special events.

ATTRITION

Two teams of four players face-off in classic Slayer fashion, however, the teams have a shared pool of respawns. Once that pool of respawns has been depleted, downed players will drop their Personal AI. Teammates can use the dropped AI to revive downed players while enemies can use the dropped AI to eliminate players entirely.

Players must work together across multiple rounds to ensure they can eliminate the enemy team first.

If the round continues long enough, a Danger Zone will begin to close in on the map. Players caught outside of the Danger Zone will begin taking damage.

CAPTURE THE FLAG (CTF)

Pick up the enemy team’s flag and carry it back to your team’s flag stand to score. In Arena (4v4) games, you can only score a point while your own flag is at home.

The first time to reach the required number of captures or the team with the most captures when time runs out wins the match.

ESCALATION SLAYER

Two teams of four players work to eliminate members of the opposing team and work their way up a ladder of weapon loadouts. 

Eliminating an enemy team member rewards 100 XP towards the next weapon loadout. Each team's progress towards the next weapon loadout is tracked on a pair of bars located near the bottom center of the screen. Once 500 XP is earned by a team, all team members will level up to the next weapon loadout displayed by their progress bar. 

Players are given a 10-second window to either manually level up to the next weapon loadout by hitting the designated button/key or they will automatically level up after the 10 seconds have passed.

In total, your team is required to get 55 kills over the course of 11 weapon loadouts. The first team to get 5 kills with the final weapon loadout wins the match.

EXTRACTION

Two teams of four players compete to arm and defend Extraction Sites on the map.

When a player reaches an Extraction site (indicated by an Extract icon and ground highlight) they must press and hold their interact button (default E on keyboard and X on controller) without interruption to deploy an Extraction Device. Only one Extraction site is available at a time.

Extraction Devices can be armed anywhere within the Extraction site's highlighted area.

Once a team arms an Extraction Device at an Extraction Site, they must defend the site to prevent the enemy team from converting the device's ownership to their team.

The Extraction Device can be converted when an enemy player stands near the device and holds their interact button without interruption.

If the device successfully completes its Extraction, the extracting-team earns a point, and the Extraction site moves.

The first team to get 4 points wins the match.

FIESTA

All players spawn with a random weapon and equipment loadout. Killing an enemy player earns a point for your team. To win, reach the maximum score (50 points) or have the most points when the time runs out.

FIREFIGHT: KING OF THE HILL

The match begins with an incoming capture zone, also known as the hill, and enemy AI spawning. Players must enter and defend the hill from the enemy AI. Once players are in the hill, they automatically start to capture it.

Waves of enemy AI units will continue to spawn and attack the hill, trying to take control of it from the players. If a player is killed by enemy AI units, they will drop a revive orb. Other players can approach the revive orb and use the listed button to bring their teammate back into the action. Players are unable to attack enemies when reviving a teammate.

• Alternatively, a player can activate the Repair Field equipment near a teammate's revive orb to bring them back. Using the Repair Field means players can stay in action while their teammate is being revived, however, it will also heal nearby enemy AI units.

The longer that players or enemy AI units have control of the hill, the more their team's meter fills up. An enemy Boss Wave spawns when the player team is close to capturing the hill.

The player team earns a point if they eliminate the Boss Wave and their team's meter is full. The enemy AI team earns a point once their team's meter is full. Once a point is earned, a new hill will appear at a random location. All item spawners and ammo crates on the map will replenish.

Skulls, which act as gameplay modifiers, can be earned or lost when capturing the hill:

• If the player team captures the hill and none of the players are downed, a Skull is activated. Skull do not unlock in a standard order, but they will ramp up in difficulty as more Skulls are activated at the same time.
• If the enemy AI team captures the hill and downs one or more players, one active Skull is disabled.
• If the enemy AI team captures the hill and no players are downed, the active Skulls are not changed.

As Skulls are awarded after a hill is captured and a new hill appears, player teams can gain a maximum of 4 Skulls in a standard five-round match. The following Skulls are available as unlocks when capturing a hill in Firefight: King of the Hill:

• Black Eye: Your shields only recharge when you melee enemies.
• Catch: Enemies throw and drop more grenades.
• Fog: Disables motion tracker.
• Famine: Weapons dropped by enemies have half the ammo they normally would.
• Mythic: Enemies have increased health.
• Thunderstorm: Upgrades the rank of most enemies.

Additionally, there is a small chance that one of the following Skulls will be active as soon as the match starts:

• Bandana: Grants unlimited weapon ammo and grenades, and removes equipment cooldown.
• Boom: Doubles explosion radius.
• Cowbell: Acceleration from explosions is increased.
• Grunt Birthday Party: Grunt headshots lead to glorious celebrations.
• IWHBYD: Rare combat dialogue becomes more common.

The match continues until one of two conditions is met:

• All five rounds are completed, or
• All players are downed at the same time. If this occurs, the enemy AI team will win the match.

To learn more about the Firefight: King of the Hill mode, visit the "Firefight: King of the Hill Preview" blog on Halo Waypoint.

HEADHUNTER

Eight Spartans battle to collect one another's skulls and race to deposit them in the designated zone. The first player to collect 25 skulls wins the match. If a player deposits 10 skulls at once, they will instantly win the match regardless of their total score.

INFECTION

Players compete against each other as either Infected or Survivors. When a Survivor is killed, they join the Infected. The goal of the Infected is to infect every one of the Survivors, while the Survivors try to make it to the end of the round without getting killed by the Infected. 

Infected work to eliminate each of the Survivors, while the Survivors try to stay alive for the remainder of the round.

The Survivors' starting ammo is limited, however, turrets and the weapons of fallen Spartans are strewn across the map. 

If every Survivor is killed, the Infected win the round, but if there is at least one Survivor remaining when time runs out, the Survivors win the round.

Members of the Infected are selected at random at the start of each round and, by default, are limited to two players.

There are two different types of Infected: Alpha and Beta. Alpha Infected are players who were Infected at the start of the round, while Beta Infected are players who were killed during the round and became Infected. Different starting loadouts for the Alpha and Beta Infected, as well as the Survivor starting loadout, can be customized in Custom Games. 

When all but one of the Survivors have been killed, a blue navigation point will appear above the head of the Last Spartan Standing, which will indicate to the Infected the location of the remaining Survivor. The Last Spartan Standing automatically receives an Overshield. 

Infection uses Free-For-All (FFA) scoring, meaning the first-place position goes to the player with the highest Personal Score at the end of the match.

KING OF THE HILL

In King of the Hill, two teams of four players race to gain control of a neutral zone on the map. This neutral zone is known as the Hill. When the Hill is captured, the capturing team receives a point and a new Hill will appear somewhere else on the map.

Capturing a Hill requires a team to fill its Capture Meter. Each team has its own Capture Meter which will begin to fill when a player enters the Hill's zone. If an enemy enters the Hill while it is being captured, it will become "contested" and neither team's capture bar will fill. All enemies in the Hill must be eliminated before capturing can resume. If all team members leave the Hill before their Capture Meter is filled, the Hill will remain "owned" by that team but quickly decay back to a neutral zone.

In Ranked Arena matches, Hill locations follow a strict sequence on each map. In non-Ranked matches, however, the first Hill will always appear in the same spot on each map while later Hill locations are randomized.

In Custom Games, "classic" scoring can be enabled for KOTH. This option will reward points over time rather than rewarding points when the Capture Meter is filled.

LAND GRAB

Similar to the King of the Hill mode, Land Grab pits two teams of four players to capture neutral zones. The key differences in Land Grab are that there are 3 neutral zones active at a time and the goal is a quick capture of each, rather than maintaining control over time.

To capture a neutral zone in Land Grab, players will need to have uncontested control of the zone for just a few seconds. Once that zone has been captured, it is no longer available for capture and the capturing team scores a point. Once all three active zones are captured, a new set of three neutral zones will appear on the map and teams must race to capture them before the other team can.

When one or both teams are one point away from winning the match, the number of active zones will reduce to drive more players towards the same zone(s).

LAST SPARTAN STANDING

In this free-for-all (FFA) experience, 12 players spawn with a confined loadout and 5 respawns. Once a player runs out of respawns and can no longer participate, they can either spectate or leave the match without penalty.

Similar to other FFA playlists, Last Spartan Standing has a max Fireteam limit of 1 player. Players will not be able to matchmake in this playlist with friends in their lobby. Last Spartan Standing is available in Custom Games for groups of players who would like to play together.

This new free-for-all (FFA) mode pits 12 players against one another on Big Team Battle maps. Each player has five respawns per match, and can level up to new weapon loadouts by gaining Personal Score.

Personal Score is earned by killing enemies, earning assists, and collecting eliminated players' AI. When an enemy's AI is available for collection, a "Bonus XP" waypoint is visible for all players in the match. Capturing an AI awards more Personal Score than any other action in the mode.

Once enough Personal Score has been gained, a prompt will appear on-screen to Level Up the equipped weapon loadout. These weapon loadouts unlock in the following order:

• Level 1: Disruptor and Sidekick pistol
• Level 2: Mangler and Disruptor
• Level 3: Assault Rifle and Mangler
• Level 4: Commando Rifle and Assault Rifle
• Level 5: Bulldog Shotgun and Commando Rifle
• Level 6: Battle Rifle and Bulldog Shotgun

In addition, a Danger Zone will begin closing in on the map once five minutes have passed or when all players are out of respawns. Staying in this Danger Zone will damage players, so it's important to keep moving towards the center of the Zone.

The match will end when all enemies are out of respawns and one Spartan is left standing. Players who used all five of their respawns before the match ends can leave the session without penalty or continue spectating the match.

ODDBALL

The “oddball” (a skull that players can pick up and hold) appears in a neutral area of the map at the beginning. Any player holding the oddball scores 1 point per second. To win, reach the maximum score or have the most points when the time runs out.

SLAYER

Killing an enemy player earns a point for your team. To win, reach the maximum score (50 points) or have the most points when the time runs out.

STRONGHOLDS

Three capturable “stronghold” zones appear on the map. Players capture the zones by standing in them while no enemy players are in the zone. The more allied players in the zone, the faster the capture. If a team controls two of the zones, they score 1 point per second. Controlling all three zones at once earns 2 points per second. The first team to score 150 points wins the round. The first team to win two rounds wins the match.

VIP

Two teams of four players must eliminate the other team's VIP while defending their own team's VIP.

Each team of four players has a single VIP. The initial VIP is selected randomly at the start of the match. When a team's VIP is eliminated, the next player to respawn will return as the team's VIP.

The VIP can endure more damage than other players and they can be identified by glowing effects around their armor. VIPs are also made visible to their own team and the enemy team by a waypoint over their head.

Teams earn 1 point each time the enemy team's VIP is eliminated. The first team to earn 10 points or the team with the most points after 12 minutes wins the match.

To learn more about the VIP mode, visit the "VIP Overview" blog on Halo Waypoint.

BIG TEAM BATTLE MODES

Big Team Battle features up to 24 players battling across larger maps with a different set of modes.

CAPTURE THE FLAG

Capture the Flag works similar to Arena but on a larger scale in Big Team Battle. Pick up the enemy team’s flag and carry it back to your team’s flag stand to score even if your team’s flag is away.

SENTRY DEFENSE

Two teams of 12 players must defend their base’s AI-controlled sentry. The two sentries are Sentinel Bosses, also known as Adjutant Resolution in the Halo Infinite Campaign.

Each team’s sentry starts with 2000 hit points, which is reflected in the match score. Attacking the enemy team’s sentry will reduce their score while using the Repair Field equipment on your team’s sentry will increase your team’s score. The first team whose score is reduced to 0 will lose the match.

SLAYER

Killing an enemy player earns a point for your team. To win, reach the maximum score (100 points in Big Team Battle) or have the most points when the time runs out.

STOCKPILE

Pick up the “power seeds” on the map and carry (or throw) them to your base. Deposit the power seeds at the spot marked on your screen. When a team has deposited 5 power seeds, they score 1 point. The first team to score 3 points wins the match.  

SUPER FIESTA

As in the existing Fiesta game mode, players in Super Fiesta receive a random loadout on every respawn. In Super Fiesta, however, all weapons have been replaced by variants originally found in the Halo Infinite Campaign. 

Additionally, player loadouts contain a random piece of fully upgraded Equipment from the Halo Infinite Campaign. 

• Grappleshot: Delivers a shockwave blast when holding down melee while grappling.
• Threat Sensor: Increased area and uninterrupted enemy visibility.
• Drop Wall: Increased size and strength. Electrifies projectiles through the Drop Wall.
• Thruster: Active Camouflage effect is added to the player, lasting 4 seconds after activating the Thruster.

All Weapon Racks, Equipment Pads, and Power Weapon Pads are disabled during Super Fiesta matches. Player loadouts also contain 2 Frag Grenades on every respawn.

TOTAL CONTROL

Three capturable zones appear on the map. Players capture the zones by standing in them while no enemy players are in the zone. The more allied players in the zone, the faster the capture. If a team controls all three zones at the same time, they earn 1 point and the zones reset, appearing in new locations. The first team to score 3 points wins the match.