Commendations

Commendation progress.

Commendations are awards originally found in Halo: Reach, Halo 4, and Halo 5: Guardians. Following shutdown of Xbox 360 Halo online services on January 13, 2022, commendations were discontinued in Halo: Reach and Halo 4. Commendations are advanced through gameplay and provide bonuses such as credits, Experience Points and unlockables. Commendations are also intended to serve as an indication of how a given player tends to operate.

Although some have similar names and even identical icons, commendations are not to be confused with medals. Commendations can only be advanced while connected to Xbox LIVE.

Halo: Reach

Main article: List of Halo: Reach commendations

In Halo: Reach players advanced commendations through campaign, multiplayer, and online Firefight gameplay. Following the shutdown of Xbox 360 Halo online services, commendations in Halo: Reach can no longer be advanced or even viewed. Players earned credits as they performed certain actions, many of which were Medals in and of themselves. Each commendation was represented by an icon plate. These commendations advanced through five levels: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Onyx before becoming Maxed Out. Upon advancing a commendation to a new level, players received bonus credits. There were 16 campaign, 15 Firefight, and 14 multiplayer commendations.

Levels

• Iron rank (1 bar): rewards 100 - 500 cR (Average = 200 cR)

• Bronze rank (2 bars): rewards 200 - 1250 cR (Average = 700 cR)

• Silver rank (3 bars): rewards 400 - 2000 cR (Average = 1000 cR)

• Gold rank (4 bars): rewards 400 - 3000 cR (Average = 2400 cR)

• Onyx rank (black bars): rewards 400 - 3000 cR (Average = 2400 cR)

• Maxed out commendations looked the same as Onyx, but with flames if viewed on Bungie.net and Halo Waypoint. There was no cR reward for maxing any commendation.

Halo 4

Main article: List of Halo 4 commendations

Commendations returned in Halo 4. Certain commendations in Halo 4 unlocked armor permutations upon completion. Following the shutdown of Xbox 360 Halo online services, commendations in Halo: 4 can no longer be advanced, though they can still be viewed.

Halo 4 commendations were primarily advanced through playing War Games and Spartan Ops; only nine commendations could be completed in the campaign. Commendations are organized into five categories: Weapons, Enemies, Vehicles, Player, and Game Types. Weapons and Game Types commendations were earned only in War Games. Enemies commendations were only earned in Spartan Ops. Vehicles commendations could be advanced through Spartan Ops and War Games. Player commendations were all advanced in War Games save for the nine commendations completed by beating the campaign on Legendary.

There are seven tiers of commendations: Novice, Qualified, Proficient, Adept, Expert, Distinguished, and Master. Not all commendations utilize all seven tiers- the majority contain only five. If a commendation has only six tiers, it does not include Qualified. A five-tier commendation will also omit Distinguished.

Upon completing a tier, players were awarded bonus XP. The amount of XP varied from tier to tier and commendation to commendation, ranging from 250-10000XP.

Halo 5: Guardians

Main article: List of Halo 5: Guardians commendations

Halo 5 commendations are advanced by playing Warzone and Arena matchmaking; for the first time, there are no campaign commendations. There are five categories of commendations: Enemy, Weapon, Vehicle, Game Mode, and Multiplayer. Enemy commendations are only advanced in Warzone; all others can be advanced in both.

Every commendation, save for Mastery commendations, has five tiers. Completing a commendation (and in some cases, advancing tiers) awards REQ packs and XP. Compared to earlier games, commendations in Halo 5: Guardians feature much lower totals and as such are much more easily completed.