Headshot

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This article is about the gameplay mechanic. For the medal, see Headshot (medal).

A close-up of a headshot in Halo 3. The weapon used was a Sniper Rifle. The remains of the crippled shielding and blood from the exit wound are clearly visible.

A headshot is a shot fired at an enemy's head. Headshots, when fired from a precision weapon, will instantly kill an unshielded target. Due to the size of a target's head relative to the size of their body, however, headshots are relatively difficult to perform. They are typically performed with scoped weapons. It should be noted that while any shot to the head could be (informally) called a "headshot", headshot-related awards (like medals) are only given if the headshot was a fatal shot. That is to say, a kill will only count as a headshot kill if the headshot was the killing shot.

Damage System

Headshots will instantly kill an unshielded opponent, but does not do any extra damage to shields. That is to say, a shielded opponent will take the same amount of damage no matter where they are shot. Shooting a shielded opponent in the head does exactly the same amount of damage as shooting them in the foot. However, in Halo Infinite, headshots with the shock rifle do extra damage to shields.

In Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite, headshots with weapons such as the assault rifle, the M739 SAW, and the M20 PDW do extra damage to health, though they don't kill instantly.

Damage Bleeding Through Shielding

The reason that Sniper Rifle and Beam Rifle headshots can instantly kill a shielded opponent is because Sniper and Beam Rifles do more than enough damage to drain an opponent's shields and cause slight damage to Health as well. If the shot hits the head, the "leftover" damage is inflicted on the newly-unshielded opponent's head. Any headshot-capable damage inflicted upon an unshielded head will then kill the victim immediately.

For example, in Halo 3, 12 shots from a Battle Rifle does a total of 72 damage. A player has 70 shield points, so 11 and ²/₃ bullets are used for the shield and the remaining ¹/₃ bullet does the fatal headshot. A sniper round does roughly 80 damage, 70 of which is used for the shield and 10 of which go for the body, which means a kill in the case of a headshot.

In Halo: Reach, the damage system has been altered where damage applied to a shielded enemy wouldn't do any damage to health. In order to successfully produce a headshot, the player has to eliminate the enemy's shield first, though the only exception to this would be the sniper rifle. The Title Update brought back the ability for players to inflict damage through a small amount of shielding.

In Halo Infinite, damage from weapons such as the BR75 battle rifle, the Bandit, and an overcharged Rohakadu-pattern plasma pistol won't do any damage to health on a shielded opponent. Therefore, even though 11 shots from the battle rifle would do 140.03 damage, exceeding a full shield of 140 points, it would still require a twelfth shot to land the headshot.

Aiming

Scoring a headshot on a multiplayer enemy is relatively straightforward, as the head is clearly identifiable and almost always visible.

Face painting is an effective technique when going for a headshot, as is the act of leading one's target. Watching the reticule on the heads-up display is also useful; in all Halo first-person shooter games after Halo: Combat Evolved, a small red dot will appear at the center of the reticule when aiming at an enemy's head.

Headshot-capable weapons

Not all weapons in the Halo series are headshot-capable. It is entirely possible to shoot an opponent in the head with a headshot-incapable weapon, but the hit will not count as a headshot.

• BR-series Battle Rifles
• M392 DMR
• M395 DMR
• M395B DMR
• VK78 Commando
• M6 series sidearms
• Mk50 Sidekick
• SRS99 series sniper rifles
• Zubo-pattern beam rifle
• Gadulo-pattern needle rifle
• Sulok-pattern beam rifle
• Vostu-pattern carbine
• Mosa-pattern carbine
• Ukala Workshop Mangler
• Rohakadu-pattern plasma pistol (overcharged)
• Veporokk Workshop Ravager (overcharged)
• Sicatt Workshop shock rifle
• Flaktura Workshop Skewer
• Elutuzem-pattern stalker rifle
• Z-110 Boltshot
• Z-250 lightrifle
• Z-750 binary rifle

Trivia

• In Halo 3's campaign or matchmaking, players can unlock the "Headshot Honcho" Achievement by getting ten headshots with a Sniper Rifle. Additionally, scoring headshots in Halo 3's meta-game will earn more points.
• In Halo 3: ODST, the achievement "Boom, Headshot" is unlocked by killing 10 opponents with headshots with the M6C/SOCOM.
• In Halo: Reach's Firefight mode, AI enemies can headshot players.
• In Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite, headshots will cause a different hit marker to signify increased damage.
  • This critical damage marker will also be shown when a target is hit in their weak spots, like a Promethean Knight's cores, a Hunter's exposed orange flesh, or the core on the Warden Eternal's back.