Editing Damage types

'''Damage Types''', also referred to as "damage groups", are a method utilized by the ''[[Halo_(disambiguation)|Halo]]'' [[Blam engine|engine]] to calculate the strengths and weaknesses of damage effects and how they apply to different materials.

Any time damage is dealt within ''Halo'' it is done so via a '''damage effect''' [[tag]], which controls the minimum and maximum damage, whether it possesses any random damage, and the radius of damage. The tag also contains other variables which can be set to true or false such as the ability to headshot or deal friendly fire damage. Once values are set for min and max damage a damage type or two can be assigned. Damage types are defined in the '''globals''' tag and multiply againt the values assigned in damage effect tags. The [[sniper rifle]] in ''[[Halo 2]]'' deals 45 damage. Its first damage type, known as generic damage,  is set to "bullet_fast", which defines all of its base traits such as a 50% damage reduction against [[Brute]] health. The second damage type, called specific damage, is "sniper" and adds an additional 2x damage multiplier to spartan and elite shields. By ''[[Halo Reach]]'' the practice of using specific damage types was dropped and the sniper rifle of that game simply uses one damage type named "sniper", containing all necessary data without needing to multiply with another damage type.

''[[Halo 2]]'' is the first proper title in which a damage table appears, allowing multiple damage effects to share the same damage type, such as both the [[SMG]] and [[Magnum]] utilizing "bullet_slow".

Starting with ''[[Halo 3]]'' an additional damage table was introduced. This second table is used whenever the Tilt skull is activated.

''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'' features largely the same damage tables as ''Halo 3'' but with bullet based damage types having a damage reduction to personal energy shields. Interestingly "plasma vehicle" received a similar nerf but "bullet vehicle" did not. With the inclusion of the [[battle rifle]] in ''[[Halo: The Master Chief Collection]]'' an additional damage type was introduced called "bullet_fast_h3".

With sandbox elements such as the [[flamethrower]], [[Flood]], and [[Sentinel|Sentinels]] not returning, the damage tables in ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' were greatly reduced in complexity. Specific damage types such as "anti flood", and specific armor modifiers such as "soft organic flesh hunter" and "sentinel" were removed.

''[[Halo 2: Anniversary]]'' multiplayer features the ''Halo 4'' damage table modified to recreate the balance of ''Halo 2''. Many damage types are left over from ''Halo 4'' and go unused, including the tilt damage table despite ''Halo 2: Anniversary'' not featuring any skull modifiers.

''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]'' features one of the more expansive damage table sets in the series. The returning storm rifle and Promethean weapons were reworked to possess unique damage types of their own.

Despite appearing in almost every game, damage types never had much attention drawn to the mechanic. Aside from recognizing plasma as an excellent shield stripper, other damage types acted in less impactful ways and were more subtle. The developers of ''[[Halo Infinite]]'' sought to correct this by simplifying the existing damage types while also creating more unique distinctions between them. Weapons now fall into one of five categories:

* [[File:HI Kinetic.png|x19px]] [[Weapon_types#Kinetic|Kinetic]]

* [[File:HI Plasma.png|x19px]] [[Weapon_types#Plasma|Plasma]]

* [[File: HI Hardlight.png|x19px]] [[Weapon_types#Hardlight|Hardlight]]

* [[File:HI Shock.png|x19px]] [[Weapon_types#Shock|Shock]] (newly introduced){{Ref/Site|Id=WaypointDamage|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/inside-infinite-january-2021|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Inside Infinite January 2021|D=09|M=12|Y=2023}}

* [[File:HI Power.png|x19px]] [[Weapon_types#Power_Weapon|Power]]