Despite the praises of Halo Infinite's gameplay, many have complained about the game's progression system. Halo Infinite's multiplayer has a seasonal battle pass structure, allowing players to rank up and earn new cosmetics for their player profile and Spartan. This system has received a lot of criticism since the Multiplayer Beta began, as XP for the battle pass can only be earned through completing challenges with no measure of performance. In turn, 343 Industries has implemented some slight changes that increase the speed at which players can rank up, though there are more steps that players should take to truly optimize their progression.
As a free-to-play game, all players have access to Halo Infinite's battle passes, the first of which being the Heroes of Reach; but like other games, players will miss out on items and perks if they do not purchase the full battle pass. While this guide will assist players with and without the battle pass, ranking up faster will have more benefits for those with it. Players without the battle pass can only work towards three challenges at a time, but those with the battle pass can work towards four. With that in mind, ranking up as fast as possible in Halo Infinite involves exploiting the game's challenges through the Challenge Swap and XP Boosts tokens.
The Power of Halo Infinite's Player Boosts
Halo Infinite's Weekly Challenges are where players should expect the most of their XP to come from, as they give tremendous amounts of it for completing relatively simple (if sometimes tedious) rewards. 343 Industries introduced a reoccurring challenge to help expedite player progression that rewards players 50 XP for every match played, but doing that alone to rank up would be very time-consuming.
Navigating to the Challenges screen will show all of the currently available Daily and Weekly Challenges, which will range from completing and winning certain matches, to performing various objectives, and killing enemies with specific weapons.
As Weekly Challenges are completed, tougher ones will be moved in (which players can also preview to see what's coming down the road).
Taking a step back, this is where both Halo Infinite's Challenge Swaps and XP Boosts come into play. These items can be acquired through the battle pass or purchased through the Item Shop for 200 Credits, giving the player two of each.
As the name suggests, players can use Challenge Swaps to replace any Weekly Challenge with a random alternative, while the XP Boosts will grant double XP for an hour. They can be redeemed from the Boosts menu accessible from either the Season Overview screen or from the Boosts tab after selecting a multiplayer mode.
Now, the difficult part is knowing when to use these items, as there is no blanket answer. Generally speaking, players should use XP Boosts when the challenges they are pursuing are more open-ended and easily grindable, like killing enemies with certain weapons or involving selectable game modes like the current set of Fiesta Mode challenges.
Until specific modes like Slayer and Capture the Flag can be independently chosen, it may be wise to use Swaps on challenges pertaining to them as currently, players are left at the discretion of the Quick Play and Big Team Battle playlists to properly place them. It is worth noting that some challenges can be completed in Bot Training unless they specify "in PvP" in their description.
By first getting rid of any undesirable challenges, activating XP Boosts timely, and focusing on the challenges either in PvP or in Bot Training, players should see the rate that they level up to be much faster. Using the above picture, it is possible to rank up twice by completing the Dogged Determination, Competitor, and Brutal Stalker challenges within an hour XP Boost.
The 1600 XP from these challenges, plus an additional 200 XP from the doubled Practice Makes Perfection challenge at two games, brings the total to 1800 XP, resulting in two level-ups. When appropriately used, Halo Infinite's boosts can indeed speed up the leveling process.
Halo Infinite's Multiplayer Beta is available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with the full game launching on December 8.