Gameplay

Halo 3 multiplayer ranks

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

All of Halo 3's multiplayer ranks.
Ranks in Halo 3

This page lists the ranks that are used in Halo 3's Matchmaking.

Overview[edit]

Multiplayer ranking in Halo 3 consists of two components; Skill and EXP. Skill employs a 1-50 ranking system for ranked playlists similar to the ranks included in Halo 2 multiplayer, while EXP ranks are military-style ranks designed to show a player's experience in playing Halo 3.

Skill (1-50) ranks[edit]

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A player's 1-50 rank shows in ranked but not social playlists.[1] An in-depth analysis of the skill ranks and its relation with TrueSkill is available here.

EXP ranks[edit]

EXP is awarded to players who emerge victorious in multiplayer matches of Halo 3. In team games, this requires being on the winning team, and in Free-For-All this requires being in the top half of the leaderboard. Wins award 1 EXP, losses award 0 EXP, while quitting matches will take away 1 EXP. EXP ranks consist of two components: global rank and playlist rank. Global ranks are the player's overall Halo 3 multiplayer rank, based off a combination of the player's skill and EXP level. Playlist ranks are per-playlist indicators of a player's experience in that mode.

  • Global ranks are the sum total of the player's EXP awarded from all playlists, and require the player to hit certain skill rank thresholds in any playlist (the highest available value is used) to unlock. Global ranks are displayed on the player's service record in-game and on Bungie.net. A player can have 5,000 EXP overall but may not be awarded the rank of General unless they also have 50 EXP in at least one playlist. If a player's EXP and skill values are right, players are able to "skip" global ranks; this may occur due to a player having the necessary EXP to level up, but not having the skill requirement.
  • Playlist ranks are a system introduced in Title Update 2, that allows players to track their individual progression within a playlist. Playlist ranks are the sum total of the EXP awarded to the player in a given playlist, and are unique to that playlist. As such, a player can be a Sergeant in one playlist and a General in another; playlist ratings do not have any skill requirements, and are available for both social and ranked playlists.[1]

The EXP ranks are military ranks awarded to players as they hit new EXP thresholds. There are thirteen ranks total, each divided into 1-4 "Grades" - with all ranks after Gunnery Sergeant having 4 grades. Each rank's fourth grade has a unique name. For global ratings, EXP ranks are divided into two classes: Enlisted and Officer. Enlisted ranks do not have any skill threshold required to achieve them, while Officer (starting with Lieutenant) require a player to have skill and the necessary EXP value to achieve; as such, the Enlisted and Officer difference does not have any practical bearing on playlist ratings.[2]

Rank EXP and skill thresholds[edit]

Global ranks

This section shows the skill and EXP requirements of global ranks.

Rank Name Required
Skill
EXP
Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4
Recruit 0 H3 Rank Recruit Icon.svg
1 EXP
N/A
Apprentice 0 H3 Rank Apprentice Icon.svg
2 EXP
H3 Rank Apprentice G2 Icon.svg
3 EXP
N/A
Private 0 H3 Rank Private Icon.svg
5 EXP
H3 Rank Private G2 Icon.svg
7 EXP
N/A
Corporal 0 H3 Rank Corporal Icon.svg
10 EXP
H3 Rank Corporal G2 Icon.svg
15 EXP
N/A
Sergeant 0 H3 Rank Sergeant Icon.svg
20 EXP
H3 Rank Sergeant G2 Icon.svg
30 EXP
H3 Rank Sergeant G3 Icon.svg
40 EXP
N/A
Gunnery Sergeant 0 H3 Rank GSgt Icon.svg
50 EXP
H3 Rank GSgt G2 Icon.svg
60 EXP
H3 Rank GSgt G3 Icon.svg
150 EXP
H3 Rank GSgt G4 Icon.svg
Master Sergeant
300 EXP
Lieutenant 10 H3 Rank Lt Icon.svg
70 EXP
H3 Rank Lt G2 Icon.svg
85 EXP
H3 Rank Lt G3 Icon.svg
200 EXP
H3 Rank Lt G4 Icon.svg
First Lieutenant
400 EXP
Captain 20 H3 Rank Captain Icon.svg
100 EXP
H3 Rank Captain G2 Icon.svg
150 EXP
H3 Rank Captain G3 Icon.svg
300 EXP
H3 Rank Captain G4 Icon.svg
Staff Captain
600 EXP
Major 30 H3 Rank Major Icon.svg
200 EXP
H3 Rank Major G2 Icon.svg
300 EXP
H3 Rank Major G3 Icon.svg
600 EXP
H3 Rank Major G4 Icon.svg
Field Major
1200 EXP
Commander 35 H3 Rank Cmdr Icon.svg
300 EXP
H3 Rank Cmdr G2 Icon.svg
450 EXP
H3 Rank Cmdr G3 Icon.svg
900 EXP
H3 Rank Cmdr G4 Icon.svg
Strike Commander
1800 EXP
Colonel 40 H3 Rank Colonel Icon.svg
400 EXP
H3 Rank Colonel G2 Icon.svg
600 EXP
H3 Rank Colonel G3 Icon.svg
1200 EXP
H3 Rank Colonel G4 Icon.svg
Force Colonel
2400 EXP
Brigadier 45 H3 Rank Brigadier Icon.svg
500 EXP
H3 Rank Brigadier G2 Icon.svg
1000 EXP
H3 Rank Brigadier G3 Icon.svg
2000 EXP
H3 Rank Brigadier G4 Icon.svg
Brigadier General
4000 EXP
General 50 H3 Rank General Icon.svg
600 EXP
H3 Rank General G2 Icon.svg
1200 EXP
H3 Rank General G3 Icon.svg
2500 EXP
H3 Rank General G4 Icon.svg
5 Star General
5000 EXP
Playlist ranks

The ranks and requirements of playlist ranks, which will only show up at that Playlist and on Bungie.net.

Rank Name EXP
Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4
Recruit H3 Rank Recruit Icon.svg
1 EXP
N/A
Apprentice H3 Rank Apprentice Icon.svg
2 EXP
H3 Rank Apprentice G2 Icon.svg
3 EXP
N/A
Private H3 Rank Private Icon.svg
4 EXP
H3 Rank Private G2 Icon.svg
5 EXP
N/A
Corporal H3 Rank Corporal Icon.svg
7 EXP
H3 Rank Corporal G2 Icon.svg
10 EXP
N/A
Sergeant H3 Rank Sergeant Icon.svg
12 EXP
H3 Rank Sergeant G2 Icon.svg
15 EXP
H3 Rank Sergeant G3 Icon.svg
20 EXP
N/A
Gunnery Sergeant H3 Rank GSgt Icon.svg
25 EXP
H3 Rank GSgt G2 Icon.svg
30 EXP
H3 Rank GSgt G3 Icon.svg
35 EXP
H3 Rank GSgt G4 Icon.svg
Master Sergeant
40 EXP
Lieutenant H3 Rank Lt Icon.svg
50 EXP
H3 Rank Lt G2 Icon.svg
60 EXP
H3 Rank Lt G3 Icon.svg
70 EXP
H3 Rank Lt G4 Icon.svg
First Lieutenant
85 EXP
Captain H3 Rank Captain Icon.svg
100 EXP
H3 Rank Captain G2 Icon.svg
110 EXP
H3 Rank Captain G3 Icon.svg
120 EXP
H3 Rank Captain G4 Icon.svg
Staff Captain
135 EXP
Major H3 Rank Major Icon.svg
150 EXP
H3 Rank Major G2 Icon.svg
160 EXP
H3 Rank Major G3 Icon.svg
170 EXP
H3 Rank Major G4 Icon.svg
Field Major
185 EXP
Commander H3 Rank Cmdr Icon.svg
200 EXP
H3 Rank Cmdr G2 Icon.svg
225 EXP
H3 Rank Cmdr G3 Icon.svg
250 EXP
H3 Rank Cmdr G3 Icon.svg
Strike Commander
275 EXP
Colonel H3 Rank Colonel Icon.svg
300 EXP
H3 Rank Colonel G2 Icon.svg
325 EXP
H3 Rank Colonel G3 Icon.svg
250 EXP
H3 Rank Colonel G4 Icon.svg
Force Colonel
375 EXP
Brigadier H3 Rank Brigadier Icon.svg
400 EXP
H3 Rank Brigadier G2 Icon.svg
425 EXP
H3 Rank Brigadier G3 Icon.svg
450 EXP
H3 Rank General G4 Icon.svg
Brigadier General
475 EXP
General H3 Rank General Icon.svg
500 EXP
H3 Rank General G2 Icon.svg
1000 EXP
H3 Rank General G3 Icon.svg
1500 EXP
H3 Rank General G4 Icon.svg
5 Star General
2000 EXP

Unlocks[edit]

Achievements[edit]

Main article: Achievements (Halo 3)

Several achievements in Halo 3 are tied to a player unlocking a given rank. At launch, this was dependent on the player having the appropriate global rank, though as of the launch of Title Update 2 required ranks are now in the playlist ratings system; global ranks no longer apply. As such, their specific EXP and skill requirements depend on whether the circumstance in question is pre or post-Title Update.

Caption text
Achievement Gamerscore Unlock criteria
H3 Achievement Graduate.png
Graduate
10 gamerscore Reach the rank of H3 Rank Private Icon.svg Private in multiplayer by playing one match.
H3 Achievement UNSC Spartan.png
UNSC Spartan
15 gamerscore Reach the rank of H3 Rank Sergeant Icon.svg Sergeant.
H3 Achievement Spartan Officer.png
Spartan Officer
25 gamerscore Reach the rank of H3 Rank Lt Icon.svg Lieutenant.
H3 Achievement Vidmaster Challenge Lightswitch.png
Vidmaster Challenge: Lightswitch
0 gamerscore Reach the rank of H3 Rank Lt Icon.svg Lieutenant in the new (playlist) progression system.

Armor permutations[edit]

Main article: Armor customization (Halo 3)

Several armor permutations in Halo 3 are tied to a player unlocking some of the above achievements, and thus are tied to rank. Their unlock triggers are tied to the achievement unlocks and not the rank itself, though are listed here for comprehensiveness. These include the following;

  • ODST helmet - Unlocking the Graduate achievement by reaching the rank of H3 Rank Private Icon.svg Private.
  • Mark V helmet - Unlocking the UNSC Spartan achievement by reaching the rank of H3 Rank Sergeant Icon.svg Sergeant.
  • Rogue helmet - Unlocking the Spartan Officer achievement by reaching the rank of H3 Rank Lt Icon.svg Lieutenant.
  • Recon armor - Prior to March 2012, unlocking Vidmaster Challenge: Lightswitch was one of seven achievements required to be unlocked to acquire the Recon armor. As of the shutdown of Bungie.net online services, this is no longer possible.

Trivia[edit]

  • The 2009 edition of the Halo Encyclopedia erroneously described the in-universe UNSC rank structure to be identical to that seen in Halo 3 multiplayer and described on this page. In the book's 2011 reprint, the page was updated to also-erroneously describe the UNSC rank structure as identical to that of the multiplayer ranks of Halo: Reach. Neither of these facts are true or considered canon.
  • The rank structure for Halo Wars' multiplayer uses identical icons to those found in Halo 3.
  • The in-game VISR database found in Halo 3: ODST uses Halo 3 multiplayer rank icons to represent each of the members of the ODST unit Alpha-Nine, though the ranks and icons do not match up 1:1. See the gallery section for a full comparison.

Gallery[edit]

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ a b Bungie.net, Bungie Weekly Update: 8/01/08: Title Update 2 and Playlist Ratings explained (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2020) [archive]
  2. ^ Bungie.net, Halo 3 Rank History: Fluffball Gato's service record (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2020) [archive]

External links[edit]