You can’t select your game mode in Halo Infinite multiplayer. You just can’t. Players have had to find their own workaround. An update on December 14th added new playlists for Slayer, Fiesta, Free-For-All, and Tactical Slayer — but that only solves a portion of the problem. Now rookie Spartans can leap into SWAT, Slayer, or other weird variants, but you won’t be able to instantly jump into any of the other game modes like Oddball, Capture the Flag, Strongholds, or Total Control. Not yet, anyway. We’re all crossing our fingers and hoping for new playlists. We’ve been waiting since the initial early beta release!
For now, players have found their own workaround. It isn’t great, but it does avoid dropping out of games before you join or going AFK — basically, this is the only way to skip modes / maps you want to skip without ruining the experience for other players. To gain tiers in the Battle Pass, players are often required to tackle certain game modes. Some challenges are tied to certain modes — you can’t do vehicle challenges without a vehicle map. We’ll explain the method below, but it’s up to you whether it’s worth using. Or if it’s a complete waste of time.
Personally, I just enjoy playing every mode. But I understand the burning desire to just jump straight into your preferred choice.
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How To Skip Matchmade Maps / Modes
After joining a Playlist or Matchmaking — in addition to the new playlists, you can also select Quick Play, Big Team Battle, or Ranked Arena. Bot Bootcamp is another good choice if you want to whale on some bots in a calmer multiplayer environment that can also be using to complete weapon challenges.
- Wait 3 seconds after joining a playlist and you’ll enter the queue.
- Go to the Fireteam Menu and select your name.
- On the right, you’ll see Fireteam details. This will show you the Mode & Map you’re about to join.
- If you don’t want to play on that mode or map, wait for the loading percentage to appear at the bottom of the screen. Exit by backing out here.
If you exit at this point, you’ll cancel matchmaking and won’t join the mode / map, saving everyone the hassle of exiting later. After exiting, wait about 5~ seconds for the Matchmaking Cancelled message to fade. Once it does, you can join a playlist again and hope for a better role of the dice.
In my opinion, this method is completely asinine, but it is also the only way players are able to select the specifical modes and maps they want to play. This isn’t an indie multiplayer game with only a handful of players, this is a F2P Halo. There should be plenty of players willing to join, right?!
