There’s a lot of gun variants in Halo Infinite — and I honestly had no idea what most of them actually do. What does the Calcine Disruptor actually do? I had no idea! And until I sat down and actually extensively tested each weapon was I (mostly) able to tell what makes these variants special. Some variants are obvious upgrades over the original weapon — the Elite Bloodblade just makes you feel like a killer. Others are pretty opaque. If you’re one of the curious few, here’s a full rundown of every single variants in Halo Infinite. Learn what they do, and how to unlock them.
More Halo Infinite guides:
All 12 Skull Locations | Legendary All Skulls On Guide | All HVTs & Weapon Variants | All Collectibles | Warship Gbraakon & Foundation | All Collectibles | Outpost Tremonius & FOB Golf | All Collectibles | Ransom Keep & FOB Foxtrot | All Collectibles | Tower & Redoubt of Sundering | All Collectibles | Excavation Site & Forge of Teash | All Collectibles | Pelican Down (Region 3) | All Collectibles | Armory of Reckoning & Horn of Abolition | All Collectibles | Riven Gate & Annex Ridge | Giant Sandwich & OG Xbox Easter Eggs | Flood Easter Egg | Craig The Meme Brute Easter Egg | Outpost Tremonius Airstrike Easter Egg | 20 More Tips & Tricks | Beginner’s Guide | How To Skip Tiers | How To Easily Unlock Multiplayer Achievements | PC Fixes
HVT Variants | What They Do
HVT variants are special guns that are unlocked when you defeat an HVT. Each variant has a unique effect, and are mostly related to the plasma, shock, or hardlight weapons. The only UNSC weapon here is the M41 Tracker, which is one of the best unlockable variants in the game.
Duelist Energy Sword: Defeat Okro ‘Vagaduun HVT to unlock. Increases movement speed, attack power, and recovery time after an attack.
Unbound Plasma Pistol: Defeat Briglard HVT to unlock. Charges faster and shoots multiple energy pellets when released. Disables shields faster, and each shot is larger.
Volatile Skewer: Defeat Ik ‘Novus HVT to unlock. Skewer spears explode on contact.
Riven Mangler: Defeat Balkarash HVT to unlock. Fires slower, but fires multiple bullets per shot and deals more damage.
Arcane Sentinel Beam: Defeat Thav ‘Sebarim HVT to unlock. Increases damage output, faster ammo consumption, less total ammo, and improved cooldown.
Calcine Disruptor: Defeat Bipbap HVT to unlock. Adds more damage and large area-of-effect to the electrical discharge effect.
Ravager Rebound: Defeat Arthoc HVT to unlock. Causes all shots to ricochet and bounce off walls.
M41 Tracker: Defeat Zeretus HVT to unlock. It’s a rocket launcher that locks onto target. Keep your cursor over a target until the target is marked with a red icon. Now all shots will track them.
Stalker Rifle Ultra: Defeat Barroth HVT to unlock. Increases fire rate and lowers heat consumption. Projectiles also travel faster.
Pinpoint Needler: Defeat Writh Kul HVT to unlock. Fires a barrage of homing bullets that track multiple enemies.
Rapid Fire Pulse Carbine: Defeat Inka ‘Saham HVT to unlock. Adds rapid-fire and reduces heat consumption.
Backdraft Cindershot: Defeat Myriad HVT to unlock. A special cindershot with bouncing ammo that leaves behind a trail of three explosions after bouncing.
Purging Shock Rifle: Defeat Skimmer Alpha HVT to unlock. Very simple upgrade that increases range and damage.
Scatterbound Heatwave: Defeat Ordo ‘Mal HVT to unlock. Adds ricocheting shots that also track enemies. Weird!
Rushdown Hammer: Defeat En ‘Geddon HVT to unlock. Deals increased damage, increases your movement speed, and attacks faster.
UNSC Variants | What They Do
UNSC Variants are unlocked by earning Valor. The more valor you gain by completing main missions, HVTs, saving squads, unlocking FOBs, or clearing Banished bases, the more special UNSC weapons you’ll unlock at your FOBs.
Striker Sidekick: The Striker is more accurate with a tighter bullet spread, but has more vertical recoil.
MA40 Longshot: Special MA40 Assault Rifle with enhanced accuracy for better long-range usage.
Convergence Bulldog: Variant that increases magazine size and tightens pellet spread per shot to deal more damage with enhanced range and accuracy.
Impact Commando: Increased magazine capacity and more deals more damage per shot. Accuracy is even lower than normal when going full-auto, though effective range is increased.
BR75 Breacher: A more powerful battle rifle with shorter effective range.
S7 Flexfire Sniper: Special version of the sniper rifle with much larger capacity magazines and a faster fire rate, but less damage per shot.
Pursuit Hydra: Enhanced Hydra with upgraded lock-on capability. Rockets also fly faster and for longer.
Campaign Super Variants | What They Do
There are two bonus ultra-powerful variants that are unlocked in the House of Reckoning by defeating each of the bosses.
Elite Bloodblade: Defeat the Jega ‘Rdomnai boss to unlock. This blood red blade gives you an even bigger buff — it attacks faster, increases your movement speed more, and deals more damage than the Duelist.
Diminisher of Hope: Defeat Escharum boss to unlock. An ultra-powerful Gravity Hammer that’s one of the deadliest melee weapons in the game per hit.
That’s all of them! Until we get new variants in the future. Crossing my fingers.
