Halo 4 skulls

This article is about the gameplay modifiers in Halo 4. For other uses, see Skull.

All the skulls featured in Halo 4.

Halo 4 skulls are game modifiers featured in Halo 4 with the appearance of a human skull. The skulls are the same from Halo: Reach. In addition, just like in Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach, skulls are no longer easter eggs in-game, and can also be accessed in the campaign menu without claiming them in campaign levels.

List of skulls

Famine

Weapons drop much less ammo.

Tilt

Enemy resistances and weaknesses are increased. This also affects the player.

Mythic

All NPCs have doubled health.

Catch

Enemies throw grenades more often.

Black Eye

Energy shields don't recharge unless the player melees enemies. The following actions also recharge energy shields:

• The RT attacks of the Gravity Hammer and Energy Sword
• An enemy being in the Gravity Hammer's shockwave area of effect
• Boarding/hijacking an enemy vehicle
• Punching (not boarding/hijacking) an enemy vehicle, manned turret, or Shade Turret
• Punching the Lich's core, in any levels that feature Liches
• Deploying a Regeneration Field
• Betraying allies and punching them

The following missions feature scripted events that recharge the player's shields regardless:

• Forerunner - Only on Easy difficulty, when John-117 kicks the Promethean Knight away, and the latter teleports out of the scene, the player's shields will recharge.
• Infinity - When the player reaches the checkpoint "THE GUN SHOW", their shields will be fully restored.
• Shutdown - When the player goes to the left tower and enters the energy field, their shields will be drained and recharged seconds after, even with the Black Eye skull on. This is missable, however, if the player chooses to skip the two main towers and fly to the final tower.

Unlike past Halo games, the low shield beep and shield down beep sound effects are removed when the Black Eye skull is active.

Tough Luck

Enemies always go berserk, always dive out of the way, and never flee.

Iron

On campaign solo, player death results in the mission restarting. On cooperative play, player death results in reversion to previous checkpoint.

Thunderstorm

Major upgrade to the capabilities of enemies. Sangheili, excluding Zealots, will always appear as Sangheili Warriors. Unggoy will always appear as Unggoy Heavies. Kig-Yar will always appear as Kig-Yar Heavies. Promethean Crawlers will always appear as Alpha Crawlers. As with previous games, specialists, such as Rangers, are not affected. Promethean Knights and Promethean Watchers are also immune to the Thunderstorm skull's effects.

Cloud / Fog

Motion tracker is disabled.

Cowbell

Acceleration from explosions is increased. Melee attacks also increase knockback.

IWHBYD

Rare combat dialogue becomes more common.

Grunt Birthday Party

Headshotting an Unggoy results in an explosion and sounds of cheering people. The following weapons can trigger this effect:

• Magnum
• Battle Rifle
• DMR
• Sniper Rifle
• Carbine
• Beam Rifle
• Boltshot
• LightRifle
• Binary Rifle

Blind

The HUD and the first person arms and weapon are hidden.

Trivia

In the level Forerunner, the animation of the Promethean Knight leaping onto John is changed if the level is played with the Black Eye Skull on (except on Easy). In the alternate animation, the Knight shoots him after being kicked off to ensure the player's shields don't recharge after their melee.